What to consider when making a purchase

[surena]

I have seen that a lot of you have purchased points at many different properties. I am looking at purchasing 320 points and would like to know if I should purchase them at one resort or a few? We are really excited about the Hawaii resort. I wonder what the cost per point will be at that resorts.

[newjerseynick]

Which resorts have you stayed at? Which is (are) your favorite(s)?

Nick

[surena]

We have been to GCH, DLH. We have not been to any of the resorts in wdw. We live on the west coast so going to wdw would only happen every 3 - 4 years. We are very interested in the Villa's at the GCH, AKL and the new Hawaii resort.

[donald is #1]

How did you calculate the 320 points? i.e. were you basing it on multiple trips, one big trip every year, a really big trip every couple of years? What size accomodations?

[surena]

We are looking at taking one big trip per year.

[donald is #1]

OK for 1 big trip per year, I would do one of 2 things:

1) Buy all my points at one resort. However, I would split it into multiple contracts with the same master contract (for example 160 point master contract plus two 80 point sub-contracts). By splitting the points up, if you decide that you want to have points at another resort later, you could sell some of your points but not all of them. Once you purchase, a contract can not be split.

The advantage of this option is that it will let you book your entire stay at the 11 month mark. If you have 2 resorts, you may have to wait until the 7 month mark to complete your booking. If most of your trips are at DL, then I would probably purchase at GCV and then book WDW at the 7 month mark.

2) Buy 2 resorts: Take the 2 resorts that you will visit most often and put 1/2 the points at each resort. Then alternate years between the resorts. So let's say that you buy 160 points at GCV and 160 points at Hawaii. Year 1, book GCV for 320 points using this years points and next years points. Bank the Hawaii points.

Year 2, book Hawaii using the banked points plus year 2 points


Year 3, back to GCV, etc

[AFMom]

Here's my $.02 -
The VGC are tiny, and currently there are no plans for another resort in CA. Depending on the time of year you will be traveling - it could be very difficult to get the rooms and dates you want there. I think the 11 month booking window will be important to you there.
Hawaii will be a larger resort - with more ressie opportunities, and I think the demand may be a bit lower, and peak season more spread out. Might not be as hard to get a ressie there at 7 months or less.
Also - AKV is HUGE and once the "newness" wears off - you shouldn't have too much trouble getting a room there. If not - there are so many other wonderful resorts at WDW, that when you do decide to go, you'll be able to find something you love.
One more thing to think about - will you be taking advantage of the 11 month booking window - or are you only able to plan a few months out? If you can't take advantae of the booking windows, home resort won't matter much at all.
All that considered, IMHO, you should buy a few split contracts at VGC, all with the same use year, of course.
Good luck with your decision!

[Stitch]

The other advantage of having multiple smaller contracts is for your estate plans. You could leave equal number of points to different parties, rather than all your points to one, or having to force them to sell and split the proceeds in case it gets ugly.

Ex: two kids and two 160 point contracts, each kid gets the same. Now if my parents were smart enough to have bought points it wouldn't have mattered much because I would be getting all of them anyway and my brothers would get none, but heh, that's my story and may not be yours.

Good luck!