Thank you in advance. I greatly appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions. DH and I have rented DVC points a few times and really like the villas. Our family consists of myself, DH, DD (5 but will be 6 in July), and DS (1 but will be 2 in April). We have been staying in the studios but realize as the kids get older, we are going to need a 1 or 2 bedroom. We go to Disney at least once a year and always stay deluxe and like the dining plan but also have a TIW card for when we stay at the Dolphin. On our last trip, 12/23-1/1, we stayed 2 nights at BCV in a studio on rented points and 7 nights at the Dolphin in a standard hotel room with a balcony resort view using DH's employee discount (he does not work for the Dolphin but the company he works for has a discount). Our total hotel costs for that trip were: $1720.
So this is my first question, 1) Would a DVC purchase make sense for us if DH is able to get a discount at the Dolphin and I could continue to rent points? But then of course I would have to rent one or two bedrooms or get 2 hotel rooms at the Dolphin as the kids get older.
2) How do you check availability? Can you just go online and book online or do you have to call?
I like to call but you can book online.
3) Do you have to pay any additional fees when booking your stay using points? I know RCI charges $150 at time of booking and then $95 at the time of check in. Does Disney charge anything to DVC members?
You would have yearly maintenance fees. The costs depend on which resort you choose. For my 280 points at AKL I pay in the $1500 range currently. These fees have and can go up.
4) Do you like the RCI and II resorts when using your DVC points to book them? How does your points convert?
I have used RCI transferring my DVC points. I liked the particular resort we went to and thought that the particular resort was a good value. We went to Princevalle, Kauai Hawaii and stayed in an ocean view condo that easily slept my family of five for 7 nights for 160 points.
5) We do not have a house but are saving for one. However, we love to travel. Is it bad to buy a timeshare before buying a house? We would be able to purchase the DVC in cash but prefer not to as we like to hold onto our money. We have high credit scores and would want to take a personal loan with a small interest rate. Good or bad idea?
Buy a house first!! And when you have purchased that house, save the money to buy DVC. I would never take out a loan for a timeshare. My main two reasons are that you are paying interest thus spending more on the timeshare and you are not going to gain any equity on your DVC purchase. You never want to put yourself in a situation where you may owe more than what the item can sell for.
6) Are resale buyers able to purchase a discounted annual pass?
7)I like to go to Disney at least once a year but DH does want to go to other places. Ideally, we would like to go to Disney as well as take another non-Disney vacation a year. How has owning DVC points saved you money? More specifically, has owning DVC points made it more affordable for you to travel to both Disney as well as take other vacations or have you found yourself bound to Disney?
8) Can you sell your resale?
9) Will GFV cause an increase in the value of DVC's? DH and I think so and that is why we want to buy before they are for sale.
10) Is it hard to find availability at 7 months out? We are looking at BLT, BWV or BCV but want to be able to stay at other resorts.
11) If you didn't want to go to Disney that year and rented your points to travel elsewhere. Have you lost money by having to pay maintenance fees and then the cost of the trip? Or were you able to recoup those fees and earn some money towards your trip?
12) Do you have a spreadsheet I could see?
13) I see that there is a year the contract is up. So if you buy BCV or BWV resale, you only have it for 29 years? Do they offer you an option to extend this?
Ok I think that is enough questions TIA