Can someone talk me OUT of purchasing a DVC membership???

[bwvBound]

I would love to hear more from you! We have owned WorldMark since 2006 and really love it (especially when we have used it to trade into DVC!). I'm wondering what a good balance of each timeshare would be? We have 20,000 points at WM (started with 7,000, added to 12,000, and now are at 20,000 (for non-WM people, 20,000 is enough typically for two weeks in a two-bedroom, or two week long exchanges into two-bedrooms)). I think if we bought into DVC, we'd only be using it every other year for Aulani or WDW. Historically we've been to Disneyland every year (that we didn't go to WDW), but the WorldMark Anaheim (or even cheaper, WorldMark Dolphin's Cove) are easier and cheaper to stay at than VGC, even if I were a DVC owner. Although if VGC were open, I'd jump on it in a heartbeat! So maybe 150 points of DVC would be right? We've been spoiled by condos over the last year and I don't think any of us would happily stay in a studio, so a one-bedroom would be right, every other year.

Our WM histories sound very similar. We are also at 20k having started at 7K ... jumped to 12K (our intended "perfect spot") ... then to 20k when a NHK resale landed in our laps. Even with 20k we book many reservations using Monday Madness and BT. Of the 125 entries in our Past Vacation History, I'm ashamed to say how many are at WM Anaheim or Dolphins Cove ... but will confess that of the last four, 3 are D'Cove and the other is Anaheim. Oh, my! (On the other hand, we've stayed at 40+ WM properties -- so we do branch out as often as we can.)

150/yr with intentions to bank/borrow for 300/yr will be a tight squeeze depending on how long you wish to visit Aulani. That said, it is exactly the size of our 1st DVC contract even though we needed 200 points for our annual BWV stay. We survived initially by trading in through II/RCI when we could combined with banking and borrowing when needed. In your case, an Aulani summer week, 1BR pool view is ~380 DVC points. You'll have to be a little crafty, but there are ways to get there. You might spend fewer points (~240/w, early summer) on the WDW trip and have more available for the Aulani year. You might rent points and have them transferred into your account (much like we do w/ WM) or you might rent up to 24 One Time Use Points directly from DVC to complete a reservation at the 7-month window. Play with the reservation calculator at David's Vacation Club Rentals to see how many points are needed for various dates, properties, unit size and views.

As you research DVC (starting with the DVC Info Center on this board), key in on a few key differences between WM and DVC:

• Use Year is a big deal in DVC. Especially as related to Banking deadlines and restrictions on certain types of non-DVC reservations.)
• DVC Banking and Borrowing are not automatic and cannot be reversed.
• DVC uses a 'Home resort' system. This defines your lease (membership) expiration date, your dues amount, and most importantly, your reservation windows: 11 months from start of travel at your home resort; 7 months from start of travel for other DVC properties.
• DVC's waitlist system is more restricted -- you may only have two waitlists at any given time per membership.

If you are already handy at getting any WM reservation you ever wanted using tricks like "book early," "stalk inventory online," "use the waitlist!" (etc) -- you'll do just fine with DVC reservations. If you are disciplined and willing to play the game -- you should be mostly successful w/ DVC.

Happy researching!

 

[Ashlotte]

Our WM histories sound very similar. We are also at 20k having started at 7K ... jumped to 12K (our intended "perfect spot") ... then to 20k when a NHK resale landed in our laps. Even with 20k we book many reservations using Monday Madness and BT. Of the 125 entries in our Past Vacation History, I'm ashamed to say how many are at WM Anaheim or Dolphins Cove ... but will confess that of the last four, 3 are D'Cove and the other is Anaheim. Oh, my! (On the other hand, we've stayed at 40+ WM properties -- so we do branch out as often as we can.)

150/yr with intentions to bank/borrow for 300/yr will be a tight squeeze depending on how long you wish to visit Aulani. That said, it is exactly the size of our 1st DVC contract even though we needed 200 points for our annual BWV stay. We survived initially by trading in through II/RCI when we could combined with banking and borrowing when needed. In your case, an Aulani summer week, 1BR pool view is ~380 DVC points. You'll have to be a little crafty, but there are ways to get there. You might spend fewer points (~240/w, early summer) on the WDW trip and have more available for the Aulani year. You might rent points and have them transferred into your account (much like we do w/ WM) or you might rent up to 24 One Time Use Points directly from DVC to complete a reservation at the 7-month window. Play with the reservation calculator at David's Vacation Club Rentals to see how many points are needed for various dates, properties, unit size and views.

As you research DVC (starting with the DVC Info Center on this board), key in on a few key differences between WM and DVC:

• Use Year is a big deal in DVC. Especially as related to Banking deadlines and restrictions on certain types of non-DVC reservations.)
• DVC Banking and Borrowing are not automatic and cannot be reversed.
• DVC uses a 'Home resort' system. This defines your lease (membership) expiration date, your dues amount, and most importantly, your reservation windows: 11 months from start of travel at your home resort; 7 months from start of travel for other DVC properties.
• DVC's waitlist system is more restricted -- you may only have two waitlists at any given time per membership.

If you are already handy at getting any WM reservation you ever wanted using tricks like "book early," "stalk inventory online," "use the waitlist!" (etc) -- you'll do just fine with DVC reservations. If you are disciplined and willing to play the game -- you should be mostly successful w/ DVC.

Happy researching!

Thank you so much! Yes, I know most of the ins and outs of WM. Every time I've been to a presentation, the sales people have been surprised at what I know and have offered me a job a few times. Ha! I can tell that you know all of these things as well (7,000, 12,000, and 20,000 aren't accidental numbers of points to have... they are the highest value you can have within those maintenance fee categories. I also usually max out the Monday Madness opportunities and use bonus time liberally- I love it!). Thanks so much for your reply. I really appreciate it!

I am still leaning towards an SSR contract because of cost and annual fees. I guess I need to research Use Year a bit more to wrap my head around it. If we usually don't travel October through January, what would be the best UY?

 

[bwvBound]

I guess I need to research Use Year a bit more to wrap my head around it. If we usually don't travel October through January, what would be the best UY?

Two threads to read (and reread, as needed) on Use Year:
a) CarolMN's original thread: http://www.disboards.com/threads/understanding-use-year-updated-january-2-2015.1942668/
b) Mike's rewrite of Carol's thread: http://www.disboards.com/threads/understanding-your-use-year.3443000/#post-54329290

If you indeed don't see yourself using DVC in Oct, Nov, Dec or Jan ... then a Feb UY would be, on first impression, a good place to start. HOWEVER -- do consider that your travel times may change after the youngsters are away to college. Oct, Nov and Dec are favorite times for most on this board due to Food & Wine, Mickey's Not So Scary H'ween Party, Christmas Decorations, Candlelight Processional, DVC Merry Member Mixer, etc. You might regret not having those fall/winter months ...

Another tricky factor that I've personally experienced are the different travel windows for WDW vs DLR vs Aulani. Our UY is Oct, simply PERFECT for our WDW travel (Oct-Apr). When we first purchased neither Grand Cal nor Aulani were forecast. FWIW, the OCT UY doesn't work well for our typical DLR (Apr-Dec) or HI (Sept) visits. Oh, well ... we can still use the points for travel anytime of the year -- but things become risky if you must cancel a trip booked for the last four months of your UY. Sigh. (Not as flexible as WM!)

 

[jerseyduke]

I am still leaning towards an SSR contract because of cost and annual fees. I guess I need to research Use Year a bit more to wrap my head around it. If we usually don't travel October through January, what would be the best UY?

Ideally you would like to be travelling in the beginning of your UY, or NOT travelling at the end of it. If you do not (usually) travel October through January, February would be a good UY.

Understand UY, but don't over complicate it. The earlier in your UY that you travel, the more options you have if you have to cancel.

With a Feb UY, your banking dead line would be the Sept 30th. That is kind of perfect if you tend not to travel Oct-Jan. Most of your reservations would be before your banking deadline, which is really the ideal.

 

[Whitters87]

So I'll caveat by saying I haven't purchased yet since I haven't fully completed my vacation and financial analysis to decide how many points to buy (we will be doing SSR resale but will likely not use points until 2018). But I have been to Disney World 3 times and Disneyland 3 times in the last 5 years. And I've tried out numerous options for boarding. Below are my findings:

For Disneyland, I saw no arguable financial value using DVC points here. There were some good multi room suites off-property within walking distance, and the shuttle service from the airport works for all the resorts near disney land. This coupled with the fact that Disneyland is difficult to book 7 months out and the points for Disneyland are very pricey makes it hard to justify financially (since I would need it to be my home resort if I wanted to stay there). Also for me, I usually only do 4 day weekends there with us and our two kids, typically more spur of the moment and in peak seasons, so it would be big points to use DVC (it's only a 2 hour flight for us). Our plan for our Disneyland is to either rent points if we plan it out in advance enough or just stay offsite within walking distance. We did do a big family vacation and rented a house and actually really liked having a house. But I don't think I'll ever do a week trip to LA again. Traffic ruined any relaxing effect of a vacation!

For us, Aulani is definitely worth using points on. We've been to Hawaii a few times, but was never really able to find a good value resort that would work for small kids. If we were to go there with the kids, we would likely do a 4-5 day trip in a 1-2 bedroom suite in February. For us personally we didn't find any comparable hotels, so if we didn't have DVC we would pay rack rate for Aulani, which means using points would save us a boatload. We would like to go every three years ago and just use up any leftover points.

But Disney World is really where it makes the most sense for us. When we do Disney, we have a huge party of 9-10 of us going, plus any future nieces, nephews, etc. We just went in February and rented a big 7 bedroom house with it's own pool in a gated community and everything. You'd think it was perfect, but it definitely was not. I'll only stay on-site from here on out. Coordinating driving was a pain. It was a 20 minute drive to each park, plus a 15 minute walk from the parking lot to the entrance of the park. And getting to magic kingdom was awful: 25 min drive, waiting in line anywhere from 10-20 minutes for a ferry or monorail, and then a 15 minute ride to the park. We had 2 cars, so everyone had to go together in two groups. It ended up becoming contentious since most of us wanted to be at the park at opening, but my 21 and 16 year old sisters wanted to sleep in and then stay late. And getting young kids back to the house to nap or have a midday break was impossible. For me and our large parties, the flexibility of staying on site and everyone being able to stary or go as they please is invaluable.

I would prefer to not rent a car (took us 2 hours to get our two rental cars!), not haul my car seats on the airlines and in the rentals, not have to deal with parking and just let more things be taken care of for me. Plus, SSR is actually fairly close to Universal. I figure when the kids get older the resorts are still in a great location, so we won't even need to go to DW. I definitely think people can age out of Disney, but I highly doubt people are going to age out of going to Florida!

 

[bwvBound]

I have no argument on your logic, at all. Just one comment: VGC is a lovely, guilty pleasure. Please try a full-size unit (not studio) for one of your long weekends, even if only once. Enjoy it.

So I'll caveat by saying I haven't purchased yet since I haven't fully completed my vacation and financial analysis to decide how many points to buy (we will be doing SSR resale but will likely not use points until 2018). But I have been to Disney World 3 times and Disneyland 3 times in the last 5 years. And I've tried out numerous options for boarding. Below are my findings:

For Disneyland, I saw no arguable financial value using DVC points here. There were some good multi room suites off-property within walking distance, and the shuttle service from the airport works for all the resorts near disney land. This coupled with the fact that Disneyland is difficult to book 7 months out and the points for Disneyland are very pricey makes it hard to justify financially (since I would need it to be my home resort if I wanted to stay there). Also for me, I usually only do 4 day weekends there with us and our two kids, typically more spur of the moment and in peak seasons, so it would be big points to use DVC (it's only a 2 hour flight for us). Our plan for our Disneyland is to either rent points if we plan it out in advance enough or just stay offsite within walking distance. We did do a big family vacation and rented a house and actually really liked having a house. But I don't think I'll ever do a week trip to LA again. Traffic ruined any relaxing effect of a vacation!

For us, Aulani is definitely worth using points on. We've been to Hawaii a few times, but was never really able to find a good value resort that would work for small kids. If we were to go there with the kids, we would likely do a 4-5 day trip in a 1-2 bedroom suite in February. For us personally we didn't find any comparable hotels, so if we didn't have DVC we would pay rack rate for Aulani, which means using points would save us a boatload. We would like to go every three years ago and just use up any leftover points.

But Disney World is really where it makes the most sense for us. When we do Disney, we have a huge party of 9-10 of us going, plus any future nieces, nephews, etc. We just went in February and rented a big 7 bedroom house with it's own pool in a gated community and everything. You'd think it was perfect, but it definitely was not. I'll only stay on-site from here on out. Coordinating driving was a pain. It was a 20 minute drive to each park, plus a 15 minute walk from the parking lot to the entrance of the park. And getting to magic kingdom was awful: 25 min drive, waiting in line anywhere from 10-20 minutes for a ferry or monorail, and then a 15 minute ride to the park. We had 2 cars, so everyone had to go together in two groups. It ended up becoming contentious since most of us wanted to be at the park at opening, but my 21 and 16 year old sisters wanted to sleep in and then stay late. And getting young kids back to the house to nap or have a midday break was impossible. For me and our large parties, the flexibility of staying on site and everyone being able to stary or go as they please is invaluable.

I would prefer to not rent a car (took us 2 hours to get our two rental cars!), not haul my car seats on the airlines and in the rentals, not have to deal with parking and just let more things be taken care of for me. Plus, SSR is actually fairly close to Universal. I figure when the kids get older the resorts are still in a great location, so we won't even need to go to DW. I definitely think people can age out of Disney, but I highly doubt people are going to age out of going to Florida!

 

[Whitters87]

I have no argument on your logic, at all. Just one comment: VGC is a lovely, guilty pleasure. Please try a full-size unit (not studio) for one of your long weekends, even if only once. Enjoy it.

Oh don't you worry I will! If I'm able to book at the 7 month mark with points I totally will. Worst case, with the cash I save buying points at SSR instead of VGC there I could afford to pay cash for the room.

 

[Dream big]

Something that we considered before just buying is that there is so much to do in Orlando beyond Disney. We are planning a trip that includes only Universal. As the kids get older maybe we just lay at the pool, play golf, and go to the water parks. There is so much to do there that it will grow with us. I like that we are "forced" to take a vacation every year or every other year to Disney!

 

[ColonialMouse]

Something that we considered before just buying is that there is so much to do in Orlando beyond Disney. We are planning a trip that includes only Universal. As the kids get older maybe we just lay at the pool, play golf, and go to the water parks. There is so much to do there that it will grow with us. I like that we are "forced" to take a vacation every year or every other year to Disney!

I think if you're planning to go to just universal it makes more sense to rent the DVC points and then stay at a universal resort. The early admission, express pass, and location benefits are just too much. We've driven from Disney to Universal when we've gone, but it was just two days out of a week. Especially if it's not offseason, I'd think seriously about splitting our stay.

Bruce

 

[bakerworld]

We looked into DVC since early 90s and walked away until it was just us. Frankly, since owning in '08 we've vacationed twice with adult kids and it was not as nice as when we're on our own.
U just returned from a great VaCa but wait, go again. We didn't purchase until we found ourselves returning multiple times for several years in a row.

 

[DisneyLady81]

So grateful to have fallen upon this thread! I grew up going to Disney with family since 1990! Now married & with 2 kids ages 4 & 9 we go to WDW about every year or every other year! We just went this past Sept & stayed at Boardwalk & ever since have been contemplating DVC but we are still half one way half the other. We would buy resale & would have the cash to pay in full but are not sold because of the annual MFs that are always increasing. That makes us skeptical a little on savings in the long run! We def plan to continue to take our kids, later go with grandkids & hopefully by ourselves as well! Many of my fondest memories are at WDW and I just want to continue to create more and don't want to keep staying at moderate resorts or over paying at deluxe resorts if DVC could be a better fit!! So many posts here and I love everyone's opinions! Last question/comment has anyone experienced or heard of the member benefits bring a big negative on the resale side of things that were taken away this past April?!? We have a Disney Visa so would still get some discounts & would solely purchase for staying at Deluxe resorts but was just wanting feedback if there was any?!? Thanks in advance!!

 

[disneynutz]

So grateful to have fallen upon this thread! I grew up going to Disney with family since 1990! Now married & with 2 kids ages 4 & 9 we go to WDW about every year or every other year! We just went this past Sept & stayed at Boardwalk & ever since have been contemplating DVC but we are still half one way half the other. We would buy resale & would have the cash to pay in full but are not sold because of the annual MFs that are always increasing. That makes us skeptical a little on savings in the long run! We def plan to continue to take our kids, later go with grandkids & hopefully by ourselves as well! Many of my fondest memories are at WDW and I just want to continue to create more and don't want to keep staying at moderate resorts or over paying at deluxe resorts if DVC could be a better fit!! So many posts here and I love everyone's opinions! Last question/comment has anyone experienced or heard of the member benefits bring a big negative on the resale side of things that were taken away this past April?!? We have a Disney Visa so would still get some discounts & would solely purchase for staying at Deluxe resorts but was just wanting feedback if there was any?!? Thanks in advance!!

If you love to stay at a certain DVC resort, you want the DVC room, size and room amenities are a good fit and you would stay in a deluxe resort every 2 years, than DVC may save you some money.

You can always rent a reservation from an existing DVC owner which will allow you a DVC stay at a discount and you don't have to go to Disney every year or two.

Bill

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Last question/comment has anyone experienced or heard of the member benefits bring a big negative on the resale side of things that were taken away this past April?!?

No, particularly when you look at the savings of buying resale -- and the challenge of buying a resort like Boardwalk direct. As well, it's important to remember that for all DVC owners, "benefits" can be changed or taken away at any time, and are not part of your deed. Only the real estate interest is guaranteed.

 

[PSUDinsey]

Glad this post resurfaced - i didn't stumble across it when I first joined DIS (forgot my username and pw so this is a new account). I have been debating and even placed a few resale offers at SSR and wilderness lodge. I agree with almost everything that was said-

I'm not convinced it's a money saving tool or even convenient - but I still want to do it and still don't know why.

I read the OP summation on why not to buy and I could have written it myself yet I'm still sitting here with my mouse hovering over the send button on an offer.

 

[disneynutz]

Glad this post resurfaced - i didn't stumble across it when I first joined DIS (forgot my username and pw so this is a new account). I have been debating and even placed a few resale offers at SSR and wilderness lodge. I agree with almost everything that was said-

I'm not convinced it's a money saving tool or even convenient - but I still want to do it and still don't know why.

I read the OP summation on why not to buy and I could have written it myself yet I'm still sitting here with my mouse hovering over the send button on an offer.

The power of Disney!

If it doesn't work out you can always sell, thousands do each year.

Bill

 

[Kwkiwi]

My family and I just got back from a fantastic vacation at WDW and since we stayed in a 2 bedroom villa at OKW for approx. $2,900 for a week (that was with 40% off--my brother has a connection who was able to give us a discount), I decided to do some research into owning DVC points to see if it would make sense for our family. We have 4 children, ages 3, 6, 9 and 11 and they had never been to Disney before; it would be an understatement to say that they were blown away! I was too!!!! My husband and I grew up in Orlando and of course, Disney had no attraction for us as we got older and moved away, but wow a lot has changed in the 20 years since we've last been there. It was all very familiar but a lot more amazing than what I remember... I couldn't believe Downtown Disney!

Anyway, my children have already planned that they want to go back in 2016, 2018 and 2019 (we can't go in 2017 because my husband won't have enough time off). As my older son remarked, "How could we go anywhere else?". I totally agreed with him. We all had a blast from the 3 year old on up.

So since we already know that we'd like to go back 3 more times in rapid succession, I decided to run the numbers and based on what I have, owning DVC points SORT OF makes sense. I say "sort of" because the numbers weren't bad (not a huge win for DVC but I can definitely see how it makes sense for long term usage), but it's the commitment to a Disney vacation that's the issue and I'm trying to get more clarity on that.

I compared purchasing 220 points for a 2 bedroom villa at OKW to paying cash each year for the same through renting points at David's (both the rental cost at David's and the 40% off rack rate discount that I got end up being about the same, and I can't always assume I'll get that 40% off). By year 8, we will start to see a savings over what we're paying but based on my numbers, those savings aren't huge. For instance, in year 8 of owning the DVC we will have spent $25,984 total for our DVC ownership (this is assuming a 3.5% increase in annual fees). If we pay cash and assume a 3.5% increase each year in room rates, then on our 8th visit to WDW we will have spent $27,499. In year 9 of owning our DVC we will have spent $27,588; if we paid cash as free people we would have spent $31,499. Here are my questions:

1. Is that $1,500 savings after 8 visits or $4,000 after 9 visits really a savings when it comes with the cost of inflexibility and uncertainty with where life will take you? Maybe looked at differently, for just $5,500 you can vacation wherever you want (or not at all) for the next 9 years! Is it a big savings for a vacation or a small price to pay for freedom?

2. Are there people out there who totally regret it? I'm assuming there are many of those of who do because they're the ones selling their points on the resale market I've been looking at!

3. What about selling if we decide it's not for us? I know Disney has ROFR but will they exercise that option as much as contracts get closer to the exp. date? For instance, if we purchase an OKW contract that expires in 2042 and we decide to sell in 10 years because it doesn't suit us anymore...we're selling a contract that only has 16 years left on it. Do you think there will be any buyers for that? Should we assume we're in it for the long haul after 10 years and our only option would be to recoup annual fees by renting out points? Maybe that's just a guessing game since there's no history to refer back to.

Anyway, I'm looking for opinions to help me gain some clarity. I'm so intrigued by the idea but I feel like I haven't been convinced that it's a great idea or that it's a terrible idea. I'm not looking for platitudes like "It worked for us, but it may not work for everyone." I need real opinions! Did you crunch the numbers and wonder if you were really going to love it after 10 years and it turns out you did? I'm using 10 years as my base number because by that time my youngest will be 13 and my oldest will be 21...will we still want a Disney vacation? What about people who went for it and were totally surprised at the use they got out of it? Will it be great to own to give as a gift to our adult children when they want to take their children or we take the grandchildren...should I really be thinking that far out??? I also don't agree with comparing the money we'd spend on a DVC to what we could make if we invested the money because that argument assumes that no vacations will be taken, DVC or otherwise so to me it's just not a logical argument to make. I'm basing my calculations on the fact that money will be spent each year on a family vacation...the big question is: Should it be at a DVC resort????

Although this is an old post I found it very helpful as going through similar thought processes with regards to whether to buy into dvc having just had a wonderful time at WDW recently. I'd be interested to know whether 6intexas ended up buying into Dvc. if you did let me know. Just curious if it stacked up in the end.

 

[Kwkiwi]

So I'll caveat by saying I haven't purchased yet since I haven't fully completed my vacation and financial analysis to decide how many points to buy (we will be doing SSR resale but will likely not use points until 2018). But I have been to Disney World 3 times and Disneyland 3 times in the last 5 years. And I've tried out numerous options for boarding. Below are my findings:

For Disneyland, I saw no arguable financial value using DVC points here. There were some good multi room suites off-property within walking distance, and the shuttle service from the airport works for all the resorts near disney land. This coupled with the fact that Disneyland is difficult to book 7 months out and the points for Disneyland are very pricey makes it hard to justify financially (since I would need it to be my home resort if I wanted to stay there). Also for me, I usually only do 4 day weekends there with us and our two kids, typically more spur of the moment and in peak seasons, so it would be big points to use DVC (it's only a 2 hour flight for us). Our plan for our Disneyland is to either rent points if we plan it out in advance enough or just stay offsite within walking distance. We did do a big family vacation and rented a house and actually really liked having a house. But I don't think I'll ever do a week trip to LA again. Traffic ruined any relaxing effect of a vacation!

For us, Aulani is definitely worth using points on. We've been to Hawaii a few times, but was never really able to find a good value resort that would work for small kids. If we were to go there with the kids, we would likely do a 4-5 day trip in a 1-2 bedroom suite in February. For us personally we didn't find any comparable hotels, so if we didn't have DVC we would pay rack rate for Aulani, which means using points would save us a boatload. We would like to go every three years ago and just use up any leftover points.

But Disney World is really where it makes the most sense for us. When we do Disney, we have a huge party of 9-10 of us going, plus any future nieces, nephews, etc. We just went in February and rented a big 7 bedroom house with it's own pool in a gated community and everything. You'd think it was perfect, but it definitely was not. I'll only stay on-site from here on out. Coordinating driving was a pain. It was a 20 minute drive to each park, plus a 15 minute walk from the parking lot to the entrance of the park. And getting to magic kingdom was awful: 25 min drive, waiting in line anywhere from 10-20 minutes for a ferry or monorail, and then a 15 minute ride to the park. We had 2 cars, so everyone had to go together in two groups. It ended up becoming contentious since most of us wanted to be at the park at opening, but my 21 and 16 year old sisters wanted to sleep in and then stay late. And getting young kids back to the house to nap or have a midday break was impossible. For me and our large parties, the flexibility of staying on site and everyone being able to stary or go as they please is invaluable.

I would prefer to not rent a car (took us 2 hours to get our two rental cars!), not haul my car seats on the airlines and in the rentals, not have to deal with parking and just let more things be taken care of for me. Plus, SSR is actually fairly close to Universal. I figure when the kids get older the resorts are still in a great location, so we won't even need to go to DW. I definitely think people can age out of Disney, but I highly doubt people are going to age out of going to Florida!

Was interested in your comments re dvc not being worth it for Disneyland as I was considering VGC as home resort but it just seemed too much capital outlay. You mentioned there are some good multi room suites within walking distance from Disneyland. Which ones are you talking about? I'd be interested to know. I've stayed in some non Disney awful ones near the Disneyland entrance. Never again. I also agree with the hassles of transportation at WDW taking out a lot of your time. We stayed at the Contemporary and I realised how much staying near the parks enhances your stay, albeit at a price. The monorail was so much more convenient even than the buses we used to get round the parks.

 

[bwvBound]

Was interested in your comments re dvc not being worth it for Disneyland as I was considering VGC as home resort but it just seemed too much capital outlay. You mentioned there are some good multi room suites within walking distance from Disneyland. Which ones are you talking about? I'd be interested to know. I've stayed in some non Disney awful ones near the Disneyland entrance. Never again. I also agree with the hassles of transportation at WDW taking out a lot of your time. We stayed at the Contemporary and I realised how much staying near the parks enhances your stay, albeit at a price. The monorail was so much more convenient even than the buses we used to get round the parks.

I know your question was directed @Whitters87, but from our experiences as SoCal residents ... we often stay at either of the two Wyndham/Worldmark properties:

• Dolphins Cove
• "Anaheim" (no other name)

Both are an easy walk; both have easy access to the Anaheim Resort Transportation system (ART); both have 1BR/2BR/3BR unit configurations. The "Anaheim" property also offers Studio and 3BR Penthouse configurations.

I've not stayed at the nearby Wyndham/Shell Peacock Suites. Often unused timeshare can be booked by non-owners through ResorTime, Wyndham Extra Holidays, other commercial rental websites and By-Owner websites.

 

[Kwkiwi]

I know your question was directed @Whitters87, but from our experiences as SoCal residents ... we often stay at either of the two Wyndham/Worldmark properties:

• Dolphins Cove
• "Anaheim" (no other name)

Both are an easy walk; both have easy access to the Anaheim Resort Transportation system (ART); both have 1BR/2BR/3BR unit configurations. The "Anaheim" property also offers Studio and 3BR Penthouse configurations.

I've not stayed at the nearby Wyndham/Shell Peacock Suites. Often unused timeshare can be booked by non-owners through ResorTime, Wyndham Extra Holidays, other commercial rental websites and By-Owner websites.

Thanks I will have a look at those sites. I was referring to the fact that I couldn't find any non Disney hotels that would be an alternative to VGC. However that's interesting to know there are other options out there to rent unused timeshare. Cheers

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

This has been one of the best conversations against DVC that I have read on the DIS.

I totally agree! OP, great post and loved reading your initial and later after feedback analysis.

We bought DVC at Disneyland (VGC) the first year it was on sale (mid-90s per point, I think) and are in the camp of having made money on our contract were we to choose to sell. But because we were going to Disneyland 2-3 times a year and always stayed in 2 rooms at the Grand Californian it was an easy decision--we were going to be in the green pretty quickly. We also have a special needs son who *loves* Disney and were pretty sure it would be his #1 vacation choice for years to come. He's 20 now and that holds true. Had there been more high-end property choices at Disneyland to stay at or had my son not been special needs, I doubt we would have done it. But ironically I've gotten into RunDisney lately, and we are in the process of buying more points!