What incentives would make you buy (more) DVC points? New blog! - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
What incentives would make you buy (more) DVC points? New blog!
This week's PassPorter DVC blog poses the question: what would make you buy into or buy more Disney Vacation Club points? With the arrival of a new incentive - and this one is a good one! - this started me thinking about this... and I'd love to hear what you think as well.....
I agree that this is a great incentive... Enough so that I just purchased 260 points at AKV! [I purchased 220 points and got 40 "for free"] I never though addonitis would strike me quite the way it did...
Brad
__________________
"Esprits et fantômes sur vos fièrs destriers, Escortez dans la nuit la belle fiancée." -- Madame Leota in Phantom Manor, DL Paris
I looked into the AKL incentive and if you purchased 100 pts then it is a savings of $2,500 or $104 per point. You may get 20 point free you are still responsible for paying the maintenance fees.
Is this a savings? I've seen resale prices as low as $68 for AKL.
I must admit I have not purchased resale. I am not sure I would because of the options that have been taken away. (I understand that DVC can take way the options from direct purchases as well).
This is a great blog topic Cheryl! I have been wanting to add on points for a while now, and sadly, we have not been in a position to do so. Lately we have very much enjoyed staying at AKL, so it woud be nice to have some home resort points there (though we have never experienced difficulty getting what we wanted there even well under the 7 month booking window).
I am hoping to be able to add on during our Cruise on the Fantasy in November - when we were on the Magic in 2010, the incentives were very good but we had to hold off.
I think this current incentive is a good deal but not enough to make me buy right now since it would still be a stretch for us. But it would be great if some fellow Passporters got in on the current deal
I agree that this is a great incentive... Enough so that I just purchased 260 points at AKV! [I purchased 220 points and got 40 "for free"] I never though addonitis would strike me quite the way it did...
This last incentive is really good! Usually the only incentive that would get me is a really good price break. Not indulging myself this time, but congrats to those who are!
I looked into the AKL incentive and if you purchased 100 pts then it is a savings of $2,500 or $104 per point. You may get 20 point free you are still responsible for paying the maintenance fees.
Is this a savings? I've seen resale prices as low as $68 for AKL.
I must admit I have not purchased resale. I am not sure I would because of the options that have been taken away. (I understand that DVC can take way the options from direct purchases as well).
I am aware that buying points through the resale market would have been cheaper, however I just can't justify buying more DVC points and knowing on day 1 that my options are severely restricted (no Disney collection? No way.). I hadn't heard that the options can also be taken away from direct purchasers, but even if that is so I doubt Disney would do that, since it is the one carrot it has to encourage people to buy from them rather than through resale.
Quote:
Originally Posted by revral
I can't see myself buying in to DVC. I stay at the value resorts & my trips cost $3000 or less (think my February 2011 trip was about $2000) with typical buy in being $15000 or more plus the DVC equivalent of homeowner's dues which from what I've read would easily pay for my hotel & possibly airfare for a trip each year it just doesn't make financial sense for me to buy. Even if you factor in that DL now has DVC & I go there at least once year it still wouldn't make financial sense as I stay at an EconoLodge off property. In order for me to buy in either my travel priorities would need to change to the opposite of what they are now so that buying in made financial sense or the cost of the value resorts would have to get high enough that buying in would make financial sense. The only other way I would "buy in" would be if I won the points since than the cost would be taxes & "homeowner's" dues but even then I would be doing some serious number crunching to see if keeping it made sense financially.
If you are happy always staying at value resorts and the EconoLodge, then I think DVC is probably not for you. You probably would never "break even" on a cost basis. In my opinion, DVC is mainly geared toward those who appreciate the extra amenities of the Delux resorts, who want kitchen facilities, extra space, etc. Different strokes for different folks...
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Wow - congrats!
Thank you! We are very excited to book our first stay in the AKV concierge level....
__________________
"Esprits et fantômes sur vos fièrs destriers, Escortez dans la nuit la belle fiancée." -- Madame Leota in Phantom Manor, DL Paris
when we bought in they had the price reduction on points and gave use a years points,plus the $500,so we couldn't pass it up.
but like others we only got 160 points, we would like to get 50 more since looking at 1 bedrooms it seems like they are around 210 points.
I have emailed my rep a few times and never heard back
we will be there in June so maybe just go to one of the meetings they have and try and sell you more points,we went to one at BLT last year in the top of the world
__________________
"Raindrops taste like tears without the pain"
1186 miles from Home
I can't see myself buying in to DVC. I stay at the value resorts & my trips cost $3000 or less (think my February 2011 trip was about $2000) with typical buy in being $15000 or more plus the DVC equivalent of homeowner's dues which from what I've read would easily pay for my hotel & possibly airfare for a trip each year it just doesn't make financial sense for me to buy. Even if you factor in that DL now has DVC & I go there at least once year it still wouldn't make financial sense as I stay at an EconoLodge off property. In order for me to buy in either my travel priorities would need to change to the opposite of what they are now so that buying in made financial sense or the cost of the value resorts would have to get high enough that buying in would make financial sense. The only other way I would "buy in" would be if I won the points since than the cost would be taxes & "homeowner's" dues but even then I would be doing some serious number crunching to see if keeping it made sense financially.
Incentives are just incentives and I have yet to see any that make up for the extreme price difference between direct and resale.
I only bought resale and even with the restrictions would still only buy resale. Though if Disney helped keep the resale market somewhat stronger I would buy points direct when GFV is available. With the resale market going downhill it makes me hesitant to buy more points. Don't get me wrong, I love DVC and we have broken even on our first contract already. We have no regrets. And we can always use more points But if my life changed I would like to think I could sell the points it I needed.