Q re: points....

[Dsnygirl]

Okay, for those of you that know me, this question probably won't surprise you, as you know I research things "ad nauseum" before we do (or don't do) them.

So, my DH and I were discussing DVC last night at dinner, and we were talking about the whole "pre-paying your vacation for the next 20 - 30 years" thing with timeshares, DVC in particular.

I've seen a lot of you use that as a big basis for why you've bought into DVC, paying for your accomodations at today's dollars and thus saving money over the upcoming years/trips. Makes sense.

What I'm wondering about is how the points factor into this.

If you buy 200 points at your home resort b/c you know you need about that many per year for your desired time at Disney, and this is considered to be "prepaying" your upcoming trips for years to come, what happens when Disney keeps changing the point allotments each year? I've not watched too closely, but it seems that over the past few years, the number of points you need per day/week has gone up -- and if you've purchased the points you want, then what do you do? You either have to buy more, which means you haven't really pre-paid your vacation... or you have to stay at Disney less & less time to keep your cost equalized.

Does this question make sense? We truly are interested in DVC in the future, not just for Disneyworld, but for using it elsewhere as well, but if they are going to continually up the points you need to stay there, which would de-value the points we currently own and force us to always buy more, it doesn't seem to make as much sense as I originally thought.

Maybe I'm coming at this totally wrong, or misunderstanding how it works -- if so, someone please shed some light on it for me, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Otherwise, let me know how you guys handle it and what you think about how it's done.

Thanks! :thanks:

[dlpmikki]

It's a good question. The total number of points needed for a resort each year can not change. Disney can change how many points one season costs but would have to change another one to keep the total the same (ie if ones goes up another must come down).

Swapping out of DVC is very different. There have been big changes in that - sometimes meaning far fewer points needed and sometimes more. It depends on the deals they can get with folks like Interval International.

So if staying at DVC the points should not devalue (and this feels true in practice too after 16 years as a member) but if staying elsewhere it could change either way.

[Maleficent's Dad]

dlpmikki really answered your questions perfectly.

what happens when Disney keeps changing the point allotments each year?
The simple answer is that Disney cannot change point allotments.
They can juggle points - as stated above, but essentially it doesn't happen.

An example would be something like this:
IF - and this is just an example - DVC wanted to raise the number of points for a stay from December 1-14, they'd have to lower the point value for a stay for another fourteen/fifteen days of the year. Essentially, it has to even out over the course of the year.
I'm not sure they've ever adjusted their calendar with point values.

What has happened is that different (read: Newer) DVC resorts may have different point values. Everyone knows that you usually get the "most bang for your points" at OKW. The BCV were always among the more expensive for points, but I believe that the AKLV Concierge level has now taken the top spot.

Once DVC establishes a point chart for a resort, it doesn't change.

[Dsnygirl]

:mickey: Thank you so much you guys for your answers... that was exactly what I needed to understand! Of course, it makes the DVC much more attractive knowing that, which doesn't help when you're trying to do the responsible thing and wait a bit... :D ... but still, it's great to know that you truly are "pre-paying" your Disney trips, w/o a de-valuation of your points. That will make my DH happy.

I'm sure I'll have more questions as time goes by -- thanks for answering this one!! :thumbsup: