I need help

[KingdomHearts]

Hey fellow disneyfanantics! My family and I love going to Disney. We go every year. We are talking about getting a dvc but I have some questions. We always stay at the yatch club and usually concierge. I guess my question is what is the pros and cons of getting a dvc vs paying outright for a room? We usually stay for 5 nights 6 days. I heard that mousekeeping isn't part of the dvc deal. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[sndral]

The only DVC offering concierge is AKV and those are very hard to get even for AKV owners. You can pay a per diem to get daily housekeeping if you like. The two DVC resorts closest to the Yacht Club location wise are Beach club villas and Boardwalk villas.

 

[sleepydog25]

Hey fellow disneyfanantics! My family and I love going to Disney. We go every year. We are talking about getting a dvc but I have some questions. We always stay at the yatch club and usually concierge. I guess my question is what is the pros and cons of getting a dvc vs paying outright for a room? We usually stay for 5 nights 6 days. I heard that mousekeeping isn't part of the dvc deal. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

In short, buying DVC allows you years of superb accommodations for less cost than what a cash outlay would be over a period of years. How soon you would make up that difference depends on several variables such as cash room discounts, number of years you plan to keep going to Disney, where you buy (some resorts cost more per point than others), how often you visit WDW, and whether you buy direct or resale to name just a few. It is true that DVC members don't get daily mousekeeping services; in your example, you'd get serviced on day 4 (though you can pay OOP for daily service). For us, that's not an issue since we keep our room picked up and re-use towels. Further, you will not have the concierge level of service at the check-in desk nor any sort of food lounge.

What you do get are excellent rooms at a variety of resorts. At your home resort (the one you would buy into), you get to book as far out as 11 months; your non-home resorts are restricted to 7 months out for the earliest reservation. Moreover, in 1BR, 2BR, and Grand Villas (3BR) rooms, you get a full kitchen with a complement of dishes, pans, pots, and utensils. You also get a washer/dryer in those rooms and a jetted tub in the master bathroom.

I've done concierge a few times and have enjoyed its benefits; however, in the long run, owning DVC is going to save us significant money. Hope this is a good start for you.

 

[crisi]

I'd encourage you to rent a DVC room from an owner and give it a try.

We like the Deluxe hotel accommodations a LOT better than we like the DVC rooms - but we own DVC because we find having multi-room units to be even a better value for us - the kids sleeping in a different room.

DVC rooms are a little different - a studio will have a Queen bed and a pullout couch - for a couple that travels that is often far preferable to two beds - for a family, often beds are nicer. Housekeeping does not happen every day. Rooms are renovated less often - so rooms sometimes feel a little shabby with the combination of longer renovation cycles and near 100% occupancy. Booking is based off availability - and DVC sells its resorts to be pretty full all year - so you need to be able to plan ahead - if your trips are last minute, it often doesn't meet expectations.

For owners who are happy with their purchase, none of this is a big deal, some are even pluses. One way to find out is to rent points and try it out.

 

[Dasha Hermosilla]

Hey fellow disneyfanantics! My family and I love going to Disney. We go every year. We are talking about getting a dvc but I have some questions. We always stay at the yatch club and usually concierge. I guess my question is what is the pros and cons of getting a dvc vs paying outright for a room? We usually stay for 5 nights 6 days. I heard that mousekeeping isn't part of the dvc deal. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

How far out do you plan your trips? If you buy where you like/prefer to stay, then you need to pretty much book at the 11 month booking window. If you don't, you may find yourself placed out of your home resort and going to another (perhaps) less desirable resort to find availability. We own BLT and VGF and paid pretty money for them so I want to stay there vs say SSR. I've stayed at SSR and liked it just fine, but I want to stay where I own. Now, if I goof up our plans and that's all that is available I'll take it certainly, but I'd rather stay at our monorail resorts b/c that's what we like and prefer.

 

[HokieGCC]

Here are some general guidelines:
1 - do you homework to understand DVC completely before buying anything
2 - DVC might make sense if:
a - you go every year or every other year at a minimum
b - you normally stay in Deluxe resorts
c - you can plan your trips 11 months out
d - you have enough cash on hand to buy your contract (don't borrow)
3 - DVC Pro's
a - under certain conditions it may save you money
b - saves you for shopping around for "deals" and the churn of planning Disney vacations
c - good season pass discount (at least for now)
4 - DVC Con's
a - can't take advantage of meal plan special deals with stays
b - ties up a pretty good chunk of cash
c - reduced room cleaning etc

Based on your description (yearly visits, Yacht Club is sounds like you might be someone who may benefit but there is a lot more to look into.

 

[Dean]

Hey fellow disneyfanantics! My family and I love going to Disney. We go every year. We are talking about getting a dvc but I have some questions. We always stay at the yatch club and usually concierge. I guess my question is what is the pros and cons of getting a dvc vs paying outright for a room? We usually stay for 5 nights 6 days. I heard that mousekeeping isn't part of the dvc deal. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Given your trip habits I'd assume that finances are not an issue, that you could pay cash for a DVC points package. Then it comes down to whether DVC offers enough benefits for the compromises. Given you're used to concierge and the upkeep of the YC, you need to be sure you're prepared for less stellar upkeep and a lower level of service than you've been accustomed to including, but not limited to, no daily housekeeping. Certainly a DVC studio will save you money in about any scenario you can come up with for your situation and you can likely get to a 1 BR for around the same you're paying now or maybe even less. Once/if you decide that DVC makes sense in general terms, then it comes down to home resort choice and contract size. IF YC is important to you, BCV and BWV may be your first thoughts. BWV will be much cheaper, esp if you can use the standard view villas.

 

[bakerworld]

Personally I don't think you'd like it - if you stay concierge you obviously like the Coffee, food, personal concierge services and the mint on the pillow.

With DVC - there's not only NO mint on the pillow - a vacuum resides in the closet

 

[crisi]

Personally I don't think you'd like it - if you stay concierge you obviously like the Coffee, food, personal concierge services and the mint on the pillow.

With DVC - there's not only NO mint on the pillow - a vacuum resides in the closet

You can bring your own mints and put them on the pillow. Make your own coffee (remember to bring it, and the filters, and the half and half and sugar). And for that Disney touch: http://www.amazon.com/Towel-Folding...&qid=1396810423&sr=1-3&keywords=towel+animals

(and run your own vaccuum cleaner).

 

[bakerworld]

IMO part being on vacation is getting a break from housekeeping tasks

 

[bakerworld]

You can bring your own mints and put them on the pillow. Make your own coffee (remember to bring it, and the filters, and the half and half and sugar). And for that Disney touch: http://www.amazon.com/Towel-Folding...&qid=1396810423&sr=1-3&keywords=towel+animals

(and run your own vaccuum cleaner).

This clearly illustrates the differences of DVC vacationing - you're at a different location still doing the same housekeeping tasks

 

[sleepydog25]

Perhaps I'm just not a neat freak, but I don't vacuum every day at home, nor do I clean our bathrooms every day nor even--gasp!--make my bed every single day. I wash my own clothes and don't prefer mints at all. I guess DVC suits me just fine.

 

[Msmithmd]

Perhaps I'm just not a neat freak, but I don't vacuum every day at home, nor do I clean our bathrooms every day nor even--gasp!--make my bed every single day. I wash my own clothes and don't prefer mints at all. I guess DVC suits me just fine.

Preach it, brother.



To the original poster's question, as a family that stayed at deluxe on cash for years before deciding DVC was the way to go- DVC isn't quite the premium product that a cash concierge experience is. But it is a larger accommodation at a lower price, still in the deluxe location.

My family likes Disney well enough that we decided to reallocate our funds: DVC allows us to pay for airfare and tickets more often than we could have, while staying in the same resorts with moderately less service. It was well worth it in our circumstance, and I don't regret the decision at all. We were able to double our yearly trips for no additional yearly net cash cost. If we hadn't increased our visits, then our annual Disney expenses would have decreased considerably.

But no doubt, DVC villas aren't the same experience as a cash concierge stay. Only you can decide how much value that holds.

 

[sleepydog25]

Preach it, brother.



To the original poster's question, as a family that stayed at deluxe on cash for years before deciding DVC was the way to go- DVC isn't quite the premium product that a cash concierge experience is. But it is a larger accommodation at a lower price, still in the deluxe location.

My family likes Disney well enough that we decided to reallocate our funds: DVC allows us to pay for airfare and tickets more often than we could have, while staying in the same resorts with moderately less service. It was well worth it in our circumstance, and I don't regret the decision at all. We were able to double our yearly trips for no additional yearly net cash cost. If we hadn't increased our visits, then our annual Disney expenses would have decreased considerably.

But no doubt, DVC villas aren't the same experience as a cash concierge stay. Only you can decide how much value that holds.

There's the beauty of DVC to Disney--they rope us into coming more often! Your comments are spot on. No, the concierge-like service doesn't exist with DVC (then again, I never was told or assumed it did), but the accommodations have been excellent in my 10+ years of ownership; the flexibility of vacation timing and locations has been very good; and having a washer/dryer and kitchen in most of the suites we stay in has been a real boon. DVC isn't for those seeking the lap of luxury, but it certainly works (for us) in terms of deluxe accommodations, comfort, convenience, and variety.

 

[crisi]

Perhaps I'm just not a neat freak, but I don't vacuum every day at home, nor do I clean our bathrooms every day nor even--gasp!--make my bed every single day. I wash my own clothes and don't prefer mints at all. I guess DVC suits me just fine.

That's one of the reasons to rent points and see if it makes a difference to you. I don't vaccuum at home every day or make my bed either, which is why on vacation its such a treat to walk into a room where the bed is made and the bathrooms been wiped down by someone else. I have used the vaccuum in a DVC room - traveling when my kids were little and there were cheerios all over the floor.

Disney deluxe hotels honestly aren't great, and DVC isn't much of a step down - but concierge level means an additional step - and if someone is buying who already has made the decision that concierge is important enough to pay for, making sure that the compromises DVC brings are worth the value you get is important.

 

[lovin'fl]

Personally, since our WDW trips have been 3-6 nights the past few years, I prefer Mousekeeping to stay out of our villa. I agree with the above posts, we never really need the floor vacuumed or the bathrooms cleaned in just 5 nights (our typical trip). We hang up our towels after we use them and if need be, I'll throw them in the wash since I usually do some wash while there anyway. I don't clean and I don't cook...I guess that is no different than being at home . When they come for trash and towel day, I try to head them off at the door and sometimes just ask them to give me clean towels, but I tell them the service is not needed.

We bought DVC after staying at POR and knowing we'd be coming back to WDW frequently. We are a family of 5 so we were limited to what resorts we could stay at and we'd all 5 be crammed into 1 regular room. That wasn't too bad when the kids were 6, 4 and 4...but now at 17, 15 and 15 . So, we knew we needed condo type accommodations with a bedroom for us parents separated from where the kids would sleep (and once they hit the teen years, we needed 3 separate sleeping spaces to separate twin DDs from DS so we started getting 2BR villas). We also like to be able to do laundry. We only use the kitchen to make coffee and keep other drinks in the fridge...we do bring in continental type breakfast foods too so that we can eat and run off to the parks in the morning (teens sleep through breakfast and head out in time for lunch most days). Though, DS's last trip was in Dec...so he says (he is 17). So, we will be going back to the 1BR if it's just the 4 of us. I look forward to saving those points.

 

[sleepydog25]

That's one of the reasons to rent points and see if it makes a difference to you. I don't vaccuum at home every day or make my bed either, which is why on vacation its such a treat to walk into a room where the bed is made and the bathrooms been wiped down by someone else. I have used the vaccuum in a DVC room - traveling when my kids were little and there were cheerios all over the floor.

Disney deluxe hotels honestly aren't great, and DVC isn't much of a step down - but concierge level means an additional step - and if someone is buying who already has made the decision that concierge is important enough to pay for, making sure that the compromises DVC brings are worth the value you get is important.

True enough.