DVC confussion:(

[DjdBrit]

I have been looking into DVC and I am still very lost on more than a few things....

1. Someone please explain the points system, yes I know you buy so many and need so x amount to book x trip. But what if you don't have enough? Can you pay cash for the difference? How does it really work?

2. How do you then pay for park admission?

3. What about the dining plan? And how do offers like 4/3 and free dining affect DVC booking... can you still get these deals?

Just need some honest comments from those of you who actually own and use

Thanks

 

[BEASLYBOO]

1. You should 1st determine how often, what time of year and what type of accomodations you are most likely to always need and buy enough points for this. Above that, should you require additional points they can be rented/transferred from other DVC members at a rate of $10-12 p/ point or you also have the option of discounted cash reservation. Most of all buy where you want to spend most of your time.

2. You can buy AP's and tickets on-line, at the gate, at the resots or even discounted from Undercover Toursit etc.

3. Dining Plan I don't use, too limiting and way too much food. If you are a DVC owner staying using point you cannot participate in free dining. For free dining you must pay rack rates, not discounted DVC rate.

Personally, free dining doesn't appeal to my family we love the resort and the villa kitchens, tha't why DVC works for us.

Good luck in you endeavor!

 

[Tara]

I have been looking into DVC and I am still very lost on more than a few things....

1. Someone please explain the points system, yes I know you buy so many and need so x amount to book x trip. But what if you don't have enough? Can you pay cash for the difference? How does it really work?

You can pay cash for some nights of your stay, but you can't mix points and cash for a single night. So if a 6-night stay is 200 points and you have 199, you can book 5 nights on points and pay cash for 1 night.

2. How do you then pay for park admission?

You can order it ahead of time or pay for it upon arrival. Note that there is currently a discount on annual passes for DVC members. (~$100 for theme park AP and ~$125 I think for the PAP)

3. What about the dining plan? And how do offers like 4/3 and free dining affect DVC booking... can you still get these deals?

DVC members staying on points are able to purchase the dining plan at regular cost. It must be added to the reservation ahead of time and is paid for upon check-in. All guests on a reservation must have the same plan for the full length of stay.

You can still get deals like free dining but not using DVC points. These deals are ONLY good for cash stays.

Just need some honest comments from those of you who actually own and use

Thanks[/QUOTE]

 

[Greysword]

1. Most people bank and/or borrow points from previous and following years to get the number they need for a particular stay. You can also pay cash, rent points, or have points transfered from other members (usually family or friends with DVC).

2. You buy park tickets just like everyone else visiting WDW. You can buy at the park, the resort concierge, from a ticket broker, from ITT, or any other regular outlet. The AP discount is the only ticket discount for DVC members that I know of.

3. The special offers Disney releases for filling their resorts are not available (generally) to members staying on points. That said, we have other "perks" instead (such as pool hopping).

Someone correct me if this is wrong. Thanks for the assist!

- Chris

 

[DjdBrit]

Thanks for the info, I have been reading alot on this recently and I feel like my head is spinning with info. I have figured out how many points I would need for a week for our family (of 5) around 250 depending on where I would wnt to stay. I realise that buying at the resort you actually want to stay at is key and have actually looked at resale.

I was getting confused on how it actually works, since things are never quite how they seem on paper.

Any other advice would be great

 

[Metsoskil]

Thanks for the info, I have been reading alot on this recently and I feel like my head is spinning with info. I have figured out how many points I would need for a week for our family (of 5) around 250 depending on where I would wnt to stay. I realise that buying at the resort you actually want to stay at is key and have actually looked at resale.

I was getting confused on how it actually works, since things are never quite how they seem on paper.

Any other advice would be great

You may want to rent points from a DVC member for your next stay to "kick the tires" without the commitment of buying. You'll learn about DVC without being locked in, maybe take the DVC tour while you are there, and then make your decision. Taking the tour does not mean that you can't still buy resale if you want.

 

[eliza61]

Thanks for the info, I have been reading alot on this recently and I feel like my head is spinning with info. I have figured out how many points I would need for a week for our family (of 5) around 250 depending on where I would wnt to stay. I realise that buying at the resort you actually want to stay at is key and have actually looked at resale.

I was getting confused on how it actually works, since things are never quite how they seem on paper.

Any other advice would be great

My first advice is to take a look at your families travel style. Is there a particular time of year, you guys go to wdw? for example, we don't take our kids out of school for vacation so when we decided to purchase we calculate points using the end of August as a reference.

Are you the "maximize your points" type of person? weekends use up a lot of points, so we have many dvc'er who will stay at a value resort for those nights and use their points during the weekday.
My family is the "sit and squat" crew. Once we part ourselves at a resort, we ain't moving...

I've found my dvc ridiculously easy to use. I've never had a problem getting a room at my first choice at the 7 month window but there are some things I work around. I don't own at VWL, I know that this is a widly popular resort at Christmas time and it's also one of the smaller properties, so I know and accept that getting a room there during the holidays is probably not going to happen.

 

[DjdBrit]

I have stayed at SSR twice now in a 2bed villa. Having 3 kids this seems to be the best solution for our family. While I am aware that AK and the new Baylake offer 1bed villas that sleep 5 I think we would prefer to stick with a 2bed. My kids will only get bigger and I think this works.

I have considered doing a tour before but always been a little concerned about how pushy they can be. Having ordered the DVC DVD 2x now both times I have gotten many calls from the sales guys after

It does look like resale is a great option when you look at the price per point v's Disney sales.....

Thank you all so much for the advice

 

[Sammie]

The only advice I can give is it is not the least expensive way to see Disney. It is however the most cost effective way to get a 2 bedroom villa on the Disney property because rack rate on the 2 bedroom DVC villas is ridicously high. You can rent a vacation home with private pool off property for what one night can cost you.

The Disney offers such as free dining, 4/3, AAA, Annual pass discounts never affect a DVC point stay.

You can at times, subject to availability get a 25% discount off DVC bookings paying cash.

The problem with the sales speil is they want to convince you are only going to need X amount of points.

As Eliza61 suggested, decide when you would most likely go and then figure out how many points you would need.

Don't forget to figure maintenance fees into the price, they are yearly. So even after you pay off your purchase price for the 250 points, you are going to pay this cost every year. For SSR with 250 points that would be a little over $1000.

Then you add in tickets and food, DVC is not a package deal, you get your room and that is all.

DVC does offer a discount on annual passes and some discounts on food, but these are perks that are not guaranteed.

 

[CaskPeg]

Thanks for the info, I have been reading alot on this recently and I feel like my head is spinning with info. I have figured out how many points I would need for a week for our family (of 5) around 250 depending on where I would wnt to stay. I realise that buying at the resort you actually want to stay at is key and have actually looked at resale.

I was getting confused on how it actually works, since things are never quite how they seem on paper.

Any other advice would be great

DjdBrit
My husband, Caskbill, created charts that you can use for free to figure out points etc. at various DVC resorts in "Disney seasons" (time of year that you might want to go). Go to Caskbill.com and click on the chart for further explanation. This might help you in that you have already done some research. Feel free to use them....we bought OKW in 1993 and have enjoyed it each year to the utmost. Good luck in your decision..."Welcome Home" in advance!
CaskPeg

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

One thing you want to be cautious about when determining the number of points to buy is figuring that the exact same vacation will cost the exact same number of points forever. Calculate a small "buffer" into the amount you buy.

While DVC can never change the overall number of points a room costs for an entire year, they can make adjustments to the point charts that reallocate points from one season to another, change the dates of seasons, or change the balance between weeknight and weekend rates. The 2011 point charts were an example of these changes, when the point charts were changed somewhat dramatically. The difference between SUN-THR and FRI-SAT points shifted. It's entirely possible a similar shift is in the works for 2012. (In some cases last year, DVC maxed out the amount of change permitted under the contract. This leads many of us to speculate they'll continue with additional shifts next year.)

Some people were caught off guard by these changes. They'd calculated the number of points needed for their annual vacation to the point. Those who planned stays from Sunday to Thursday (to avoid the higher weekend rates) were the ones caught most off guard. While the cost of staying for a full week didn't change too much, the cost of these Sun-Thr trips really went up.

Banking and borrowing go a long way to shift the points you own to where you want to use them. These transactions can only go so far, though. Other options include renting points or paying for cash nights. The best plan, though, is to anticipate your real needs and get the points up front.

The other side of the coin, though, is the phenomenon referred to on the boards as addonitis. The more points you own, the more points you'll want.

We bought enough points for a week at SSR in a one bedroom. Then we realized we could spend two weeks each year if we stayed in a studio instead. Got ourselves used to two weeks each year. Then we started talking about how nice it would be to have the kitchen, tub, and laundry back. Need more points to stay two weeks in the one bedroom. Then we took some friends along for a trip. Realized how nice it is to travel with friends and family and decided to look into enough points for an occasional two bedroom stay. Then we stayed at the Beach Club for the first time and fell in love with it. Decided we'd better get some points there for the home resort priority.