Heading down to WDW for DVC Tour

[mattymo12]

Ok, so I'm finally taking the plunge and I'm going to get Disney Vacation Club. We have 4 young children so we always have to stay in suites or two rooms, which is adding up over time. We go every 18 months, so after doing the math, this makes sense. (or, I've talked myself into the fact that it makes sense!)

I'm pretty sure we're going to purchase through resale, but I'm still trying to get a better understanding of what benefits I'll forego by doing that. I'm mostly concerned that Disney will continue to take benefits away from resale members in the future, but I also don't want to pay double through Disney for no reason.

So, we're going to do the DVC tour at Saratoga and then visit each resort to check out which one we want to choose as our home resort.

Any tips, tricks, promos, etc. that I should know about before heading down?

Thanks for all the help!!

 

[Callymum]

Hi, all I can say is that you won't be pressured into making a decision when viewing the Properties. Just enjoy the Tour and they will give you a card and you tell them you will contact them if you make your mind up.

It's the best thing we have done and we don't regret it one bit, they will give you all the information you need to make a decision on your home Resort.
I would not say I was thinking of Resale and keep that to yourself while viewing unless you want to that is. Anyway just enjoy the pampering and the Tour.

 

[Caren90]

Hi, all I can say is that you won't be pressured into making a decision when viewing the Properties. Just enjoy the Tour and they will give you a card and you tell them you will contact them if you make your mind up.

It's the best thing we have done and we don't regret it one bit, they will give you all the information you need to make a decision on your home Resort.
I would not say I was thinking of Resale and keep that to yourself while viewing unless you want to that is. Anyway just enjoy the pampering and the Tour.

I agree with the above sentiment. The problem with visiting the model units and taking the tour is that you will want a 2 bedroom every time you stay at Disney

 

[disneynutz]

Ok, so I'm finally taking the plunge and I'm going to get Disney Vacation Club. We have 4 young children so we always have to stay in suites or two rooms, which is adding up over time. We go every 18 months, so after doing the math, this makes sense. (or, I've talked myself into the fact that it makes sense!)

I'm pretty sure we're going to purchase through resale, but I'm still trying to get a better understanding of what benefits I'll forego by doing that. I'm mostly concerned that Disney will continue to take benefits away from resale members in the future, but I also don't want to pay double through Disney for no reason.

So, we're going to do the DVC tour at Saratoga and then visit each resort to check out which one we want to choose as our home resort.

Any tips, tricks, promos, etc. that I should know about before heading down?

Thanks for all the help!!

While the Disney presentations are low key for the most part, their goal is to sell, period. They will make you feel all warm and magical and then make you feel bad that you kept your family from the DVC for so long. Like all sales people they will tell you all of the great reasons why you should buy and buy today and then add that prices are going up.

They will tell you that they will give you an extra years worth of points, a $500 gift card maybe, some Fast Passes maybe and that if you don't sign today, they can only honor this great deal for three days. They are not giving you any extra points, you are paying for them, let them keep the gift card and lower the point price by $500, why the gift card? It's because a $500 gift card may only cost Disney $200 in merchandise or other products.

This should be a business transaction, not an emotional transaction. Visit the models and the model at BWV. Learn about UY's and read as much as you can here on the DIS prior to your tour.

Good luck and have fun.

Bill

 

[stitchlover]

We are here now and did the tour. But I sat at the DVC desk at Beach Club two days before and picked the guys brain. Asked him every question that I could think of. So when we went for the open house they knew we didn't need the whole thing explained to us, we really just needed the nuts and bolts. We want the dollar amounts, etc. Because we want flexibility of using some points off site resale is not an option for us. I will say I went into it thinking enough points for a studio would be fine. The hubby fell in love with the one bedroom an wants enough points for that. Eek!

 

[zavandor]

I'm mostly concerned that Disney will continue to take benefits away from resale members in the future, but I also don't want to pay double through Disney for no reason.

I think that one should not take a decision based on what Disney might do in the future. We simply don't know, and probably neither Disney does.
Someone says that if Disney will introduce any resale restriction in the future, they will grandfather the existing contracts like they did last year.
Others think that they will not.

All perks (except making a reservation at your home resort at least one month before people who do not own there) can be taken away from everyone, direct or resale. If Disney thinks that it is not convenient for them to let DVC members to use points for cruises or hotel rooms, they will remove that perk. They have already removed free tickets, the best benefit ever of DVC.

Paying double (maybe even more) the price for a contract for benefits that can be taken away any moment did not make sense for me. I bought resale.

 

[backyardponder]

Welcome to the boards.

Your approach to going there and doing your own tour is what I recommend to everybody. A few tips:

If you are flying, rent a car. It is much easier to jump around the different resorts that way.

When you get to a resort, stop at the front desk and ask for a map of the resort. Ask them for a recommended route for going through the resort.

And, if you have time, take a drive over to Vero Beach and check out that resort. It is one of those unknown gems of DVC.

Good luck with your excursion and soon we'll all be saying "Welcome Home" to you.

 

[abner1776]

I agree with the previous post..overpaying now for something that Disney may or may not do in the future is just not good business sense and remember that this is a business decision. I also agree that if Disney makes future changes they most likely will grandfather ALL current DVC members and not just ones who purchased direct.

In 2006 when I bought into DVC the price difference between buying direct and resale was not that much so I choose to go with buying direct, but today the price difference is very large so you really need to run the numbers and decide if buying direct is worth the premium you would have to pay.

 

[mattymo12]

Thanks for all the great information!! In order to schedule my DVC tour and get some info sent, I called them last night and talked to the guy and asked him some quick high level questions. He was nice and didn't give me any big kind of sell job.

For those who did buy resale, how did you handle getting the DVC guys off of your back after you came back from touring the resorts?

My two biggest concerns right now:
1. Picking the wrong home resort and risk getting shut out of the other resorts in the 7 month booking timeframe. The other financial concern is balancing higher up front costs w/ lower maintenance vs. lower up front w/ higher maintenance, but I'm running those numbers now.

2. Once my kids get older and we want to take a year or two off from disney (hard to believe, but we'll get there), I'm concerned about not being able to get rid of / sell my points to someone else.

It looks like it'll be late April when we head down for the grand tour, so I still have some time for more research!

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[disneynutz]

Thanks for all the great information!! In order to schedule my DVC tour and get some info sent, I called them last night and talked to the guy and asked him some quick high level questions. He was nice and didn't give me any big kind of sell job.

For those who did buy resale, how did you handle getting the DVC guys off of your back after you came back from touring the resorts?

My two biggest concerns right now:
1. Picking the wrong home resort and risk getting shut out of the other resorts in the 7 month booking timeframe. The other financial concern is balancing higher up front costs w/ lower maintenance vs. lower up front w/ higher maintenance, but I'm running those numbers now.

2. Once my kids get older and we want to take a year or two off from disney (hard to believe, but we'll get there), I'm concerned about not being able to get rid of / sell my points to someone else.

It looks like it'll be late April when we head down for the grand tour, so I still have some time for more research!

Thanks again for all the help!

I would rent points and go on a fact finding vacation, that's what we did. Looking at a beautiful model room is different than staying in a room and getting a feel for the place.

I'm a believer in buying where you love to stay. Why spend all of this money and not be guaranteed your favorite resort/room category. Same with dues, many bought at a resort because the dues were cheaper there, well some resorts just had a 8% dues increase and do you really want to fight the competition at 7 months booking a room where you really want to stay?

Expect your ownership to be worth nothing when you sell, that way if you do get some money back, you can go and celebrate.

Bill

 

[MyCathryn]

We drove down last November to tour a bit down there. We met with a rep. Ours wasn't available. He talked to us for a bit and answered our questions. We walked around a few resorts to get a feel from a DVC point of view. Relax enjoy the trip, tour a bit and remember to enjoy the magic of Disney while you are on property. We decided to buy direct soon after our return. We don't regret it yet. We are going on points to AKL and a cruise that are already booked!

 

[ToddyLu]

There is a very inexpensive Guide to DVC on the Passporter website that you can purchase and download and read. I think it was about $10. You can get info from all the stickies at the top of the DVC forums for info on picking a home resort, UY and other info. Another good site is www.dvcnews.com. He keeps up with pricing and incentives. Read, read, read. There is so much information out there to learn when you are spending big bucks. I wouldn't have had a clue if it weren't for the DIS.

We purchased direct from Disney in 2009. Our loan is for 10 years, 10.75% preferred rate. When we purchased it was difficult getting any kind of loan for a timeshare type mortgage. We did not know about resale and we purchased 210 points at AKV site unseen. DH and I were going to Disney annually and staying in values....boy did we make a leap of faith and have never looked back.

So we did several cardinal sins when we purchased...we financed a luxury purchase in our 40s, the horror...we didn't get a great UY for our typical travel time, we have a DEC UY and we travel...yep you guessed it Oct-Dec..but that was what "they were selling at AKV at the time". We didn't know that we had choices to make. We had never stepped foot on AKV property...luckily it was perfect for us and the best choice but we lucked out and I wouldn't recommend that to anyone now. Buddy I read up on it now and am getting more proficient in my understanding. In picking the home resort we knew of the different DVC resorts and I just couldn't get passed some of the decor and locations, etc. I spend a lot of time looking at the vidoes on the web site.

You are doing a great job at starting out the right way and learning what you can before you approach ownership.

 

[mattymo12]

Ok, one more thing here. I'm staying 3 nights while I'm down there, but I wanted to stay 2 of those night in a DVC resort to get a good idea of the resorts. I looked at dvcrequest.com to rent points, but they don't offer one night rentals.
Does anyone know a website or something else who would be interested in renting points for one night at any of these resorts on 4/9 or 4/10:
- AKV
- BCV
- BWV
- WDL

Thanks!

 

[Homemom]

You could try the rent/trade board here.