JackReacher said:
Any difference in membership perks when you buy resale instead of directly from Disney?
Sadly, quite a few now. DVC changed their contract about a year ago and stripped away some of the benefits for resale buyers. Any resale buyers already members at the time of the change were grandfathered in.
I'll preface this by saying, when you buy into DVC, the only perk you should be expecting is a discount on a hotel room for a long time. Its a RE transaction and that's all.
But DVC does offer some perks for membership and in the last few years they seem to have increased them.
Some of the perks that are now only available to direct purchase members are merch and dining discounts, access to special members only parties, cruises and other private events, access to the DVC lounge, and discounts on tickets and annual passes. This last one is the one that many people complain about b/c we often look at ourselves as the most loyal WDW travelers and spend a lot of time in the parks throughout the year, and to not pass along a little love over the typical traveler who only comes every 3-4 years kinda sucks. Plus, APs have the same food/merch discount as DVCs, so you can't even claim that.
What they are doing is issuing a plastic DVC card to those who fall on the 'full membership' side of the line and only digital cards to the others. So when you go to an event or buy something and need to show your card, plastic gets you in; paper—hit the pavement.
Also, when I bought, there were 2 restrictions on resale buyers. We couldn't use our points on cruises or on Adventures By Disney trips. however, both of these are bad uses of points financially so it wasn't an issue for us.
Now there are ways around some of these limitations. To make up for losing the dining discount, there is a card called Tables in Wonderland which (some say) gives you a larger discount then the DVC b/c it includes alcohol. But its about $150 per year so you need to weigh the cost/benefit.
The other loophole people are using is to buy a resale contract, and at the same time, invest in the minimum amount of direct purchase points, I think 25. This way, you gain the plastic card and when ever you need a perk or discount you flash that. No one knows which set of points (direct or resale) you are using at any given time. GRanted its a bit of a PIA b/c you need to manage 2 contracts, but for some they would do it for the perks.
So for anyone considering resale, you just need to consider the cost/savings of the overall contract vs the savings of the lost benefits/perks. For people who dont eat or shop much, it may not be a big deal. People debate the actual savings of the rooms overall, so there really is no good answer.
But, for me, I kinda hate DVC for doing this. Even though i'm on the positive side of this, IMO it creates a 2nd class member. And thats not what Disney is (was) about. I understand that they are trying to protect their properties and maximize revenue though their company. But, Disney does have 1st right of refusal on any resale contract, so they review the deal and either approve it or kill it and absorb the points back into their inventory (the seller gets paid regardless). So they can control the flow of points changing owners. However, as owners, we want the resale market to stay healthy. Who knows may be one day the contract is not worth it to me or I fall on hard times and I need to unload it. I never looked at it as an investment, but out of all the TS markets out there, its good to know I'm not going to take a bath on it.
IMO, Disney made their money on any contract at the point of original purchase (b/c they all had to come direct from DVC originally). And if the original owner held on to it forever (as expected upon purchase), DVC would never have made another dime of of it except for the annual dues. However the orig owners couldn't use it or afford it anymore and instead of it going unused or foreclosed, they sold it to a family who will use it and continue to support WDW in other ways like tickets, food, etc. Its a big double dip by Disney IMO. And when they are selling points at over $170 per point, they are cannibalizing any of the attractive room savings that DVC make it worth it. In order to get a good vacations worth of points will be in the $30-40K and onward and IMO thats an investment I don't know i would be comfortable spending on a vacation.
I think I was sick the day they taught self-discipline at school.
