Just took a DVC tour

bradr325

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 2, 2013
So the other day we took the DVC tour. We were bussed to SArasota Springs and saw the rooms. We loved it!

So the questions begin...
1. Buy from Disney or Resale? I would like to explore resale, wife is less enthused.
2. If you buy resale do you still get many of the perks you would get if you bought direct? (I understand that you can't use points for DCL, Adventure, and Concierge).
3. We are in education so we can really only travel during peak times, does the month matter?

If I'm missing anything, I know I am, please feel free to add other thought.

Thanks so much!
 
1. Buy from Disney or Resale?

resale is better if value matters to you.

if you are loaded and sometimes set benjamins on fire just to watch them burn, direct is the option for you. you'll spend thousands extra for a tote bag and the right to make overpriced trades and finance a luxury purchase at high interest rates...

if your wife likes the idea of trading for cruises, at least make sure you've looked at the point charts for how much they cost (and understand that unlike point charts for the DVC resorts, point charts for trades like that are NOT fixed in any way and can change from year to year.)

2. If you buy resale do you still get many of the perks you would get if you bought direct? (I understand that you can't use points for DCL, Adventure, and Concierge).

so far, the perks are the same except for trading out for concierge collection and disney options (cruises, ABD and hotels like the poly and POFQ).

perks can change at any time for both direct buyers and resale buyers.

3. We are in education so we can really only travel during peak times, does the month matter?

UY month only matters if you need to cancel.

if you mostly travel in spring and summer, a march UY would allow you to travel earlier in your UY and give you more options if you needed to cancel. if you had a march UY and booked a trip for feb (i.e. late in your UY) and needed to cancel after your banking window closed on oct 31, you would need to scramble to avoid wasting points.

UY has nothing at all to do with when you can call to book. you can book 11 months out for your home resort and 7 months out at other resorts. no matter what your UY, 11 months = 11 months.
 
So the other day we took the DVC tour. We were bussed to SArasota Springs and saw the rooms. We loved it!

So the questions begin...
1. Buy from Disney or Resale? I would like to explore resale, wife is less enthused.
2. If you buy resale do you still get many of the perks you would get if you bought direct? (I understand that you can't use points for DCL, Adventure, and Concierge).
3. We are in education so we can really only travel during peak times, does the month matter?

If I'm missing anything, I know I am, please feel free to add other thought.

Thanks so much!
First, do your research before buying. Peruse the DVC threads, read various views on what's important and what's not (you'll get conflicting notions, but that's part of the education process). Beyond that, keep in mind that in the end only you can determine what's right for you--it might not be DVC at all. With those thoughts in mind, here are my initial reactions:
1) Resale vs direct buy will likely engender the most discussion. Certainly, the least expensive route is to go resale, especially given that you're aware of the restrictions regarding DCL, etc. However, there is the school of thought that if DVC ever does do more restricting, it would be with those with resale contracts, though in the past they've grandfathered contracts bought before a given date.
2) Keep in mind, however, that no perks to anyone are guaranteed. Perks, like water in the desert, can evaporate (and have as many would argue). The decision to buy into DVC should solely rest on whether it works for you family in terms of accomodations now and in the future. All you would truly be doing is prepaying for deluxe accomodations over the next 40 years or so.
3) Month and resort do matter, especially the latter. You want your points available each year so that you can book 11 months out at your home resort during the timeframe you can visit. Keep in mind, though, that your situation may change in 10 years or 20. That's very hard to foresee, naturally. Back on point, you shouldn't buy a contract for a resort at which you would mind staying. At the 11-month point, nearly always you'll be able to get into your home resort, but it gets dicier at the 7-month point, especially if you are locked into a particular time during the year. Here's a good example. We own at VWL, meaning we can book for the Christmas holiday season 11 months ahead. VWL is perhaps the most popular resort during the holidays due to its gorgeous theming, so at the 7-month point it becomes extremely difficult to secure a suite there.

Thus, if you buy at SSR, but only mildly like it, you might be disappointed come 7 months out and you're attempting to get into BCV for a summer date or BWV for the Food and Wine Festival yet no rooms are available. In short, love where you buy. That way, if your 7-month request doesn't come through, you won't have any regrets. We love VWL, and we've had fairly good success at getting other resorts at 7 months out, but those times when we haven't succeeded, it didn't matter since we do love VWL.

One last note about resale vs direct buys. Disney has direct options for most resorts, even the older ones, but they aren't as numerous as the contracts you'd find resale, and you will pay far more for them than via the resale route. On the other hand, there are no restrictions on those points; you generally get the points right away; and if you plan to finance, Disney is far easier to work with.

Hopefully, these few notes will help you come to an educated decision. I'm sure others will offer links and advice--take each with a grain of salt. Good luck! :thumbsup2
 
resale is better if value matters to you.

if you are loaded and sometimes set benjamins on fire just to watch them burn, direct is the option for you. you'll spend thousands extra for a tote bag and the right to make overpriced trades and finance a luxury purchase at high interest rates...

if your wife likes the idea of trading for cruises, at least make sure you've looked at the point charts for how much they cost (and understand that unlike point charts for the DVC resorts, point charts for trades like that are NOT fixed in any way and can change from year to year.)

so far, the perks are the same except for trading out for concierge collection and disney options (cruises, ABD and hotels like the poly and POFQ).

perks can change at any time for both direct buyers and resale buyers.

UY month only matters if you need to cancel.

if you mostly travel in spring and summer, a march UY would allow you to travel earlier in your UY and give you more options if you needed to cancel. if you had a march UY and booked a trip for feb (i.e. late in your UY) and needed to cancel after your banking window closed on oct 31, you would need to scramble to avoid wasting points.

UY has nothing at all to do with when you can call to book. you can book 11 months out for your home resort and 7 months out at other resorts. no matter what your UY, 11 months = 11 months.

Thanks for the response! Are there companies that come more recommended than others to help with the purchase?
 


First, do your research before buying. Peruse the DVC threads, read various views on what's important and what's not (you'll get conflicting notions, but that's part of the education process). Beyond that, keep in mind that in the end only you can determine what's right for you--it might not be DVC at all. With those thoughts in mind, here are my initial reactions:
1) Resale vs direct buy will likely engender the most discussion. Certainly, the least expensive route is to go resale, especially given that you're aware of the restrictions regarding DCL, etc. However, there is the school of thought that if DVC ever does do more restricting, it would be with those with resale contracts, though in the past they've grandfathered contracts bought before a given date.
2) Keep in mind, however, that no perks to anyone are guaranteed. Perks, like water in the desert, can evaporate (and have as many would argue). The decision to buy into DVC should solely rest on whether it works for you family in terms of accomodations now and in the future. All you would truly be doing is prepaying for deluxe accomodations over the next 40 years or so.
3) Month and resort do matter, especially the latter. You want your points available each year so that you can book 11 months out at your home resort during the timeframe you can visit. Keep in mind, though, that your situation may change in 10 years or 20. That's very hard to foresee, naturally. Back on point, you shouldn't buy a contract for a resort at which you would mind staying. At the 11-month point, nearly always you'll be able to get into your home resort, but it gets dicier at the 7-month point, especially if you are locked into a particular time during the year. Here's a good example. We own at VWL, meaning we can book for the Christmas holiday season 11 months ahead. VWL is perhaps the most popular resort during the holidays due to its gorgeous theming, so at the 7-month point it becomes extremely difficult to secure a suite there.

Thus, if you buy at SSR, but only mildly like it, you might be disappointed come 7 months out and you're attempting to get into BCV for a summer date or BWV for the Food and Wine Festival yet no rooms are available. In short, love where you buy. That way, if your 7-month request doesn't come through, you won't have any regrets. We love VWL, and we've had fairly good success at getting other resorts at 7 months out, but those times when we haven't succeeded, it didn't matter since we do love VWL.

One last note about resale vs direct buys. Disney has direct options for most resorts, even the older ones, but they aren't as numerous as the contracts you'd find resale, and you will pay far more for them than via the resale route. On the other hand, there are no restrictions on those points; you generally get the points right away; and if you plan to finance, Disney is far easier to work with.

Hopefully, these few notes will help you come to an educated decision. I'm sure others will offer links and advice--take each with a grain of salt. Good luck! :thumbsup2

When you say Disney has direct options - what does that actually mean?
 
The Timeshare Store (sponsor of this board) has always been great to work with. We've been sellers and buyers both and it was smoooooth. :goodvibes
 


When you say Disney has direct options - what does that actually mean?

I think he's referring to the fact that while they don't tell you, Disney has the ability to sell you points at any of the "sold out" resorts. They get contracts back from owners via foreclosures and by exercising ROFR on resales. Then they mark these points up and resell them to new customers, like you.

Since they don't make as much on these as they do on new sales, you have to express an interest in a "classic" resort to get the sales guide to talk about them.
 
So the other day we took the DVC tour. We were bussed to SArasota Springs and saw the rooms. We loved it!

So the questions begin...
1. Buy from Disney or Resale? I would like to explore resale, wife is less enthused.

I would recommend that you have your wife do some research. If, after that she is still interested in paying double for essentially the same thing, then you're not going to convince her.
 
Do all resorts have models that you can see without doing the tour or only the ones they are actively selling?
 
Do all resorts have models that you can see without doing the tour or only the ones they are actively selling?

there are the ones they are actively selling and then there is also a BWV model on the boardwalk.

but no, all resorts don't have model rooms available. i'd just look at pictures online.
 
Although I have not been since they were showing Grand Californian Villa I do believe the Disneyland DVC office is showing the Aulani model rooms.
 
Looking back, I would say that for the points I added on, I would have done resale.

I would recomend for your first amount of points to go through Disney if you can. You can finance with them and then don't have to worry about not getting the perks

If you go to disney alot I would go this route and add on later if you want to.

I have to say, buying DVC was the best thing my family ever did. My wife and I bought about a year before we got married. IT has paid for itself a few times over by now.

We have a baby girl who will be turning one and she has already been to WDW 2 times already. And we are headed back down in September of this year.

also, go with the annual pass discount. We did this, and with that you get other discounts as well. Also look into the tables in wonderland card. You get a DVC discount with this and it takes 20% meals, including alcohol at many restaurants.
 

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