Wow! You are such a WDW pro, to be honest I'm shocked to uncover anything you havent done hahah. Glad I can give you a sneak peek!

Ooohhh I mean I did actually way prefer Frontierland. It was so much darker than Main St, and also idk it feels like you have to wait less long. I have no clue if that's true. But like. its not the most popular spot, so felt easy to get a spot on the rope. And then its the start of the route, so parade comes by, its done, you are free to go. Don't really have to wait for it to come to you. So yes Frontierland for darkness and perceived efficiency!

If you want to private message me over on instagram, twitter, or send me an email I will! I just feel weird about putting peoples full names out in the open like this :)

Ah wouldnt that be nice. I doubt it will happen though. If they're sticking with a G+ model, I'm not holding my breath for any discounts lol

Hahah truly, though not gonna lie the 3:30 am ones around this time of year I could do without!

BLT contracts are a good buy on resale, too

Ahhh hiya neighbor, and I'm glad you loved it! And hooray for the add on!!! So exciting :)

Short answer: yes, that's correct. Explanation: September Use Year 2023 points run from September 2023 - August 2024 If you bank them into the next Use Year, they are then valid from September 2025 - August 2025 You can't bank points further than one Use Year, so they will fully expire starting September 1, 2025. Hope that helps!

@@PixieDustPhD Thank you. I’m watching all your videos like crazy right now.

Agh sorry for the typo above, was replying on my phone and stupid fat thumbs. the banked points are valid Sept 2024***-August 2025, but I assume you figured that out haha. If you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment wherever and I'll do my best to help ya out!

Aw cheers, thank you so much for dropping that kind comment :)

it totally does make sense. I haven't seen anything official from Disney about split stays, so refrained from commenting lol. It's weird because with ADRs you are "punished" for having a split stay, right. But I'm pretty dang certain with old FP+ you did not incur this same penalty. So to me right now it's totally 50/50 on how split stays will integrate with the advance booking window or not. Sorry I can't be more helpful!

Wow, thank you so much for these kinds words - that really means a lot to me!

Yeah that's a good point - with this being paid, I wonder if usage will drop compared to the free FP+. A very real possibility! But definitely we shall see lol. I kind of always remain grateful these days I never have a trip coming up right as changes are happening. I feel so badly for folks who have to go through the first wave of new offerings, but I hope it's smooth sailing for everyone!

@@PixieDustPhD oh 💯 yeh! We aren’t going until next October, so sure there will be tonnes on it by then thankfully. I will definitely try it out though!

Ahhh oh my gosh congrats!!! BoardWalk hold such a special place in my heart and I constantly have to fight off invasive thoughts of buying a small contract there, haha. Crossing my fingers for a speedy situation of your points hitting your account!!!

Ahhh great point! I mean, it's still pretty dang booked though hahah

Wowww, thank you so much for sharing those kind words! I honestly had such a tough day today and grinded this video out the past couple days, so its extremely validating to get feedback like this! Congrats on your Riviera contract!!! Did you like just just purchase it, or do you have your points already and are booking a trip?!

@@PixieDustPhD Thank you! I just submitted the signed closing documents and payment and now waiting. I realize that many folks frown on purchasing Riviera resale due to the restrictions but it is the resort that checked all of the boxes for us! Thanks again for your great content!

Eeee yay!! I hope things go through quickly. I mean I know every day feels agonizingly slow, but hopefully you don't hit any real delays. And yeah, if you love it that's all that matters! Another super good friend of the channel here has a Riv resale contract and he loves it. People will always be spouting their opinions about what's "right", but so much of this is subjective. I'm glad you found your DVC home!!

Um for the most part. There would be a few small differences. So until you hit the 150 points purchased directly (assuming you aren't already an eligible member), then yes you do not qualify for membership extras (so right no points exchange, no discounts at shops, no discounts for hard ticket events, etc). But, since your points would have been purchased directly I believe they should be eligible to book at otherwise restricted locations. So your 120 direct points I'm fairly certain (but not 100% - if this is super important to you, it's worth clarifying with DVC member services or similar) you could use those points to book at Riviera and Cabins at Ft Wilderness, etc. Versus if your 120 points were resale, unless they were for those home resorts, you would not be able to use those resale points to stay at anywhere Riviera or newer. I hope that helps!

​@@PixieDustPhD Thank you for your quick reply! Yes - I value purchasing direct, so I'll double check w a DVC cast member just to be sure.

Depending on what home resort you're thinking about purchasing, also ask about any incentives or Magical Beginnings (this is a promotion sometimes offered where you can effectively give up your first use years' worth of points, but Disney will buy them at some rate - often the same as the one time use points rate so $20/point right now (if that's s till accurate)). TBH the difference between 120 points and 150 points might be minimal in initial / up front cost if there's a good promotion at the 150 point level and if you are able/willing to participate in Magical Beginnings (this is not always offered, and you often have to ask). I hope this doesn't come off as pushy! I am not trying to sway you haha, but if being a "full" member with access to all the perks matters to you, 120 points is just so close to 150 and depending on pricing promotions it might not be toooo different monetarily. Just something to think about!

​@@PixieDustPhD Thanks Jacqueline and no, not pushy advice at all! It's much appreciated!! Well, I get your point and would definitely ask about those incentives - but - from what I found out today, I am *definitely* leaning towards starting at 150 points for a full, no restriction DVC membership... My sales advisor basically said owning 120 points direct would have far less restrictions than a resale owner, although even with 120 direct points, one cannot exchange their points for bookings with the Disney collection Worldwide (ie. Disney Cruiseline, Disney Hotels outside of DVC, etc) !! "That is a benefit currently offered to full direct purchase members with 150 points or more." All in all another bummer!!! So, while I also *thought* I wouldn't be restricted at 120 from booking these extras, I would! So 150 it will be! Thank you again!

Oh that's fantastic! As it should be, really glad to hear the positive stories!!

Yeah so I had the cash on hand, but given that there's no additional fee to use a credit card I saw no reason not to rack up points too. Beyond the points, I even got a free hotel night for hitting a yearly spend goal, woohoo! But yeah, no I don't ever have a balance on my credit card. I would never buy a timeshare with the intent of having credit card debt, nor would I encourage anyone to ever do that lol

Oh wow.... what an interesting question! I don't think I've ever thought about how I feel, just because it's been a policy the entire time I've known about DVC so just accepted it as fact. Ummm... I don't mind it honestly. I think the timeshare aspect is fundamentally different from a hotel in that it does cater to folks who plan ahead, and the idea is your plans are a bit more cemented (compared to the flexibility of a hotel booking). I see it as a way to dissuade people making "just in case" type bookings to then cancel relatively short term, which in my head kind of makes the landscape a little bit more fair for everyone. But I don't know, that's just my gut reaction and not a deeply formed thought. What do you think??

@@PixieDustPhD ya fairness is an issue. I'm in a pretty good situation where i can play with it quite a bit. like the trick where people can slide their start date after booking as long as the points are the same. things like this i am very interested in.

Yeah, "walking" a reservation. I don't have particularly strong feelings about that but a lot of people in the community do haha. TBH I have found if you're able to plan 11 months in advance, with very rare exception (peak holiday time looking at low inventory rooms), walking really is not necessary. But everyone has their own experiences, for sure!

Oooohhh that would be so great!! I hope it all works out in your favor! I am having to fight back those invasive thoughts telling me to buy in when I totally don't need it haha

Hey there! They are always subject to change their own rules, so a little bit TBD, but yes - at least last time I checked you can buy bit by bit directly from Disney and have those accumulate! The min purchase directly from Disney can vary (based on time of year you buy and resort) - 50 points, to my knowledge, has always been okay, but I know some folks want like 25-30 points or so and that's not always something Disney is willing to sell directly. So, sorry to ramble, haha. Long story short: largely yes! But for the exact/fine details, you will want to speak to a DVC guide!

@@PixieDustPhD lol no worries, I like a ramble myself 😂…. That’s very interesting to know, thank you!! 🤩

Yeah it is really nice to have something new that's appropriate for everyone. And for sure I could see it fitting in AK, but it doesn't NOT fit at EPCOT and like you said it adds a lot of non-thrill-ride ambience.

Ooohh good catch!! I did not eye spy that. I always look at the fine print in the emails they send but never the videos. $235 is in the ballpark of what everyone's been saying, seems "reasonable" (at least looking at current direct pricing for other resorts). And yeah I'd definitely assume that's for 100 point min first time purchase. Good point about coffee to go cups. I haven't stay not-DVC on WDW property in a long time, but that seems pretty standard in normal hotel rooms (actual cups for coffee/sink, to go coffee cups too). I wonder what's in the typical hotel rooms? That might tell us! Or do the 1-bed villas and up get to go coffee cups in addition to their real cups? (As a studio dweller, I also do not know the answer to this haha)

VDH is $239 so it makes me wonder whether they will really have 3 pricing options on active properties, or whether they’ll raise everything before it goes on sale. We should know soon!

I would bet everything will get a roughly equivalent bump... so Riv/Aul/Cabins/Poly at $235, and then VDH bumped up to $249 or so. I think they know Disneyland is such a different situation and so charge more for it hahaha, but I'd be so surprised if they charged more for say Poly than Riv when they are neighbors!

Hi there!! So resale vs direct really depends on if you'll be bothered enough by the resale restrictions to justify paying more to purchase direct. If you want to hear infoin video format rather than read the below, check out-- This DVC 101 video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6cxx7K3MXKc.html at 8:35 high level goes over the below typed response This video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9Hd-KUIp3HA.html at 15:53 (my partner and I discussing DVC) So resale contracts have a couple of caveats (I'm assuming you are not already a qualifying DVC member): 1) You don't qualify for 'membership extras' - these are things like the DVC member cruise, access to the DVC lounges, some discounts on merch/food, any special promos (recently in slow season they've run discounts on VIP tours for example), etc. You also don't qualify for the 2nd highest tier annual pass at WDW, which imo is probably the most obvious/important monetary savings if you are normally buying the highest tier AP but would be happy with the second tier. You can browse member benefits here: disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/discounts-perks-offers 2) If you buy resale now, those points are resale restricted. So you won't be able to use them to book any resort Riviera or newer (Cabins at Ft Wilderness, Villas at Disneyland Hotel, and any new builds). You can still use resale restricted points to book the DVC resorts that were live prior to the restrictions being implemented in 2019, which is most of them. 3) The resale process takes a long while, a couple of months. If you want/need your vacation points more or less right away, direct purchase gets you your points kind of instantly. In this video I compare my experience buying resale vs direct: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5mMP1xfe3pU.html 4) Annual dues are the same no matter how you buy, but your initial purchase price resale will almost always save you money compared to direct. That can be a meaningful amount. For my BLT contract, I think I saved like $8k by purchasing on the resale market. With PVB right now, resale prices are a bit up given this news, and it's likely the direct price will be ~$235-$240 or so + an incentive if you buy 150 points (this won't be announced until sales go live, but it could be $15/point for example). So let's just pretend it's $235 sale price + $15/point incentive, then your initial direct price is $220/point. If resale is, for example, $195/point, is the $25/point difference worth it to you to buy direct? Maybe! 5) Note that if you have no DVC points currently, there is a minimum number to buy in direct. It's been 100 points usually, but they can change this whenever they want and it's usually not announced/published anywhere - you just have to call. So if you want a smaller contract, resale may be your only option. In terms of when they'll start selling PVB again, no one knows. It's a shot in the dark guess at this point. Cabins at Ft Wilderness went on sale Feb 1 for existing members, I think end of that month for non-members, and that resort opened in July. Sales for Villas at Disneyland Hotel started early May, with the resort opening I believe end of September. So sales usually start within a few months of opening, which for Dec 17 Island Tower opening would put us in the range of anywhere from July to September maybe. It's really up to Disney, they can launch as soon as they're ready or wait as long as they want. For your third point - yes, because this is in the same condominium association as existing PVB, which came into play prior to resale restrictions, if/when you have resale restricted points you should be able to use those to book Island Tower at PVB. Though note, we do not know when points bookings at Island Tower will come available, and even if you initiated buying a resale contract today, you probably won't have points in your account for at LEAST six weeks, more likely to be ~8-9 weeks. Hope this helps!!!

Thank you so much, this helps a lot.

There will hopefully be some incentives at the beginning to help with direct costs. It would depend on whether you want to use your points at Riviera or cabins someday when deciding between direct or resale. a combination of the two may be a good compromise

$235 is in my ballpark, definitely somewhere in the $230-245 range I think -- hopefully more on the $232 side for everyone's wallets haha. Incentives is a great point - who knows. And if they'll be doing magical beginnings. I am also a bit curious to see in coming years if annual dues dramatically change, but that's obviously not an immediate factor for anyone looking to buy in asap. But yay! resale points victory!!!

I can't wait to have real cups and real bowls (if/when I stay). The disposables are so annoying; even without a dishwasher, there's a small sink and dish soap - I am totally capable of rinsing out my ceramic bowl! It is pretty beige... that's super fair lol. For me the textures make up for it (and I'd still prefer beige to dark tone woods, but yeah totally subjective). I'm hoping the cash pricing is just them testing the waters? And it's that mid-December high crowd timeframe. Like what will a Tuesday in September be? But yeah, the cash rates are making me hesitant about the points chart... we shall see. it'll be SUPER interesting to see if the current studios and Tower studios are priced differently or the same, given how vastly different they seem. Cheers man, thanks. It's nice to see you around these parts again :)

@PixieDustPhD Hahaha yep!! I completely agree! Makes everything feel more high quality no doubt Ya forsure. I think your point on something as simple as a bedrunner or some other small splash of color would've done the trick for me. Esp in those Deluxe Studios

And yes!! I have high hopes on pts not being too bad but LOL jokes probably on me there... looking forward to your analysis once we do finally get point charts!!

Cheers, thank you!!

Hi there! Unfortunately I can't know if DAS will still work for you given that I'm not affiliated with the company. The best you can do is contact them directly. I do hope it works for you!!!

I didn't eat breakfast there (I don't normally eat breakfast, and find hotel prices to be too high haha), but they do indeed have hot breakfast options! you can check their website or call to find out more.

Ooohhh points at VGF levels?! I could see it. I haven't really thought about it deeply yet but yeah you make good points. I'm definitely very intrigued by the 2bed penthouse situation. It would be awesome if there was living/shared space, but I just have a hard time imagining they wouldn't shove sleeper chairs/couches in there to claim it could sleep more than 9? I hope you're right though, that would be truly wonderful.

@@PixieDustPhD the reason I suspect the villa costs will match VGF is that the current PVB deluxe studios are costed between [-2 … +2] under or over their VGF counterparts (varies by season).

SO much negativity around it, and I am totally cool if something isn't right for someone... but the wide reaching statements that VDH is horrible for everyone and the active bullying I've received about my purchase, etc., is just ridiculous. Sure, it's not the best DVC deal. Sure, the taxes are annoying. Yes there are downsides. BUT! Inventory at Disneyland is basically nonexistent and yes especially with Disneyland Forward on the horizon... There's things to like for sure. I'm glad you didn't let the haters get you down, and congrats on your purchase! thanks for sharing :) Always nice to chat with someone reasonable haha

Ah so 1) yes, definitely. But 2) generally anywhere that's an ala carte menu you should be able to split food no problem. My partner and I have definitely just done like an app each and split one entree and we've never gotten pushback about it. (We even did this at California Grill before it was a prix fixe menu and I felt a little bad, but we did buy a bottle of wine so our total spend was still pretty large and we tipped well, of course). But yeah so even if you want to pop into Grand Flo Cafe and split something, shouldn't be a problem!!

Lol everyone is always all up on my back about disliking the monorail. Here's my thing. I dislike all Disney transit. Transit to me is utilitarian, to get me from point A to point B. I live in a place with good public transit. The monorail headways are obscenely long, the doors are way to slow, the people don't seem to understand how transit works (the amount people will scoff if you hop on to a car that's somewhat full as if they are owed space to do a cartwheel around them), the cars themselves are too slow. I hate it haha. But precisely yes, I picked BLT so I could just * walk *, much faster than the monorail. If the monorails operated properly as if it was transit and not an attraction, that'd be good. Frankly, I'd rather pay like $2 per ride to have a well oiled machine then have it be free but a monstrosity. EPCOT, I mean mostly we do split stays and try to be at BWV. So. There ya go. Also walking. But regardless, for a long trip we always have a rental car. For shorter trips, I suck it up and deal with the Disney transit or pay for rideshares. Glad you find the room tours helpful! Thanks for the feedback!

Cheers, thanks so much for the feedback. And whatever you decide, I hope it's right for you and you are happy with your choice!! if you have questions, feel free to leave a comment wherever :)

Yeah, agreed - there's still so much we don't know. Adding more entertainment would be awesome!

Oooohhh I hadn't even considered brunch! Hot tip, thank you!!

June is like... now haha. Do you mean 7 months for June? I did do one short term availability video ages ago (but it was for february I think), but the general takeaway is its quite bad on short term notice haha

Ooohhh yes that definitely makes sense! I own at Bay Lake Tower already, otherwise I would probably be buying at the Poly haha

Ahhh so much to look forward to! That's awesome. I'm glad the points are working out for you. I sometimes do talk to people who regret it, but it's always nice to hear from folks who are enjoying their purchase! And thanks as always for the kind words - you're a real one.

What script?