Pros/Cons of purchasing points third party instead of direct
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:19 am
My wife and I have been going back and forth on purchasing DVC points for about 3 years now. Her extended family has always had points, and they absolutely love using them. After doing all the analysis we could, it's clear that owning DVC for the LONG term that allows us to stay at a Deluxe resort every night we stay at Disney World would be significantly cheaper than staying at the same type of resorts and paying even the promotional rates. Again we did all the math we could - totaling the one time points purchase, adding the annual dues each year * however long the deed lasts vs spending ~$450 a night for the same amount of time each year for the length of the deed. It always comes out cheaper with DVC (obviously if we wanted to stay at All Star Sports each time, then that would be significantly cheaper than owning DVC ... but with a new baby coming this year, we feel an investment in these special trips might make sense so we can always stay at the best possible resort).
The question of getting third party or direct is now at the top of our list. We know the perks you get with direct include 10-20% off dining, some tickets, annual passes, merch. The problem comes in when we look at the current listings for third party points. I could get 150 points at Old Key West, Saratoga Springs, or AKL for roughly $14,280-16,250. That is at most 50% less than buying direct ~$12,000-14,552ish LESS (right now 150 points at Riviera is around $29,000 after a promotional rate applied). If the discounted dining, tickets and merch were ever going to add up to $14,000 over the 40-50 years of the direct DVC purchase, we would obviously do it. But I just don't see that happening. At most for a 5 night stay, we will spend $700. Not every place will have the discount available, but if we take 15% off that, we save $105. We would have to do that 93 times before we reach $14,000 in savings. That's an extreme example, but it's still valid. We don't buy a lot of merch - sure with the discount we would probably be more inclined too, but we still won't save enough over time to reach that $14,000.
So my question to any Hoppers out there that thought of this same thing, or purchased third party over direct, or the other way around - what was your thinking of all this and why did you make the decision you did?
Thanks!
The question of getting third party or direct is now at the top of our list. We know the perks you get with direct include 10-20% off dining, some tickets, annual passes, merch. The problem comes in when we look at the current listings for third party points. I could get 150 points at Old Key West, Saratoga Springs, or AKL for roughly $14,280-16,250. That is at most 50% less than buying direct ~$12,000-14,552ish LESS (right now 150 points at Riviera is around $29,000 after a promotional rate applied). If the discounted dining, tickets and merch were ever going to add up to $14,000 over the 40-50 years of the direct DVC purchase, we would obviously do it. But I just don't see that happening. At most for a 5 night stay, we will spend $700. Not every place will have the discount available, but if we take 15% off that, we save $105. We would have to do that 93 times before we reach $14,000 in savings. That's an extreme example, but it's still valid. We don't buy a lot of merch - sure with the discount we would probably be more inclined too, but we still won't save enough over time to reach that $14,000.
So my question to any Hoppers out there that thought of this same thing, or purchased third party over direct, or the other way around - what was your thinking of all this and why did you make the decision you did?
Thanks!
