Should I Buy?

[samfsu]

I concur that resale is the way to go if you are patient and have the 45-60 days to wait it out and will be ok if a contract or two does not pass ROFR (right of first refusal). Disney has the right to purchase the contract from your seller in lieu of you.

That said, with the money you will expend for 600 points, resale will greatly benefit you. I also highly suggest 150-200 pt contracts as those will be easier to sell later on. Though if you do not care much about that you can buy higher amounts. Since you seem to know that you will come two weeks at a certain time a year. I would get all points at the same resort. Reason being that will give you the 11 month booking window so you are assured you have the resort u want when you want it. That said, keep in mind that certain resorts have certain deed ending dates (2042, 2047, etc) so be cognizant of that as well.

All in all you will love it. We do

 

[Dean]

Thanks Dean.

We havent gone every year but we do plan to. We have had 5 children born in the last 8 years so travelling from UK has not always been possible. There will be no more kids though!

I am in a position financially where I can treat my family to a WDW holiday every year. Due to there being 7 of us, I worked it out on the last 2 weeks in August costing me 317pts per week for a 2 bed villa savannah view at AKL.That was how I got to 600pts being required.

So I think I have already decided to buy resale, although I am thinking maybe buy 400 resale (maybe split between 2 resorts) and wait to buy 200 retail for Poly. How does that sound?

There is of course always the option to buy say 350pts split over 2 resorts and plan to visit Disney every other year and just go elsewhere on those "inbetween" years.

It doesn't sound like you have knowledge of the system yet to buy and it seemed you weren't thinking EVERY year anyway. Once you have more info you might consider buying one contract of maybe 250 roughly and seeing how things went for a trip or 2 then add another if things seems comfortable.

 

[lolobug]

Shazammm! That's a lot of money. With resale I just bought akv at $65/point. I agree with others about smaller contracts.

Where do you find out about resale? We are leaving in a few weeks, we'd never be able to book in time, right?

 

[Msmithmd]

Where do you find out about resale? We are leaving in a few weeks, we'd never be able to book in time, right?

Purchasing a resale contract is usually 60-75 days from offer to ownership of the account. And DVC members book their stays from 7-11 months in advance. So there's zero chance you could buy resale and book a DVC trip in a few weeks.

And the price spread for a retail purchase is so large that it would be unreasonable to buy retail just to book quickly. Even if you did, there's little chance to book a trip in a few weeks, unless you got a salesman to agree to that as a condition of purchase. And even then the odds are small.

As to where to find out about resale, check out the link to the timeshare store (board sponsor advertised on top of page.). They will send you out a packet of info. They're not the only company that sells retail- other companies do as well, often cheaper. But they have a very good professional reputation.

 

[Minniesgal]

You can book online or by phone with member services. When you call you will need a member number and when you log into mydvc your membership is all there. Now the question....the only points you can use at 11 months would be the AKV.... the VGF, could be used at AKL at the 7 month mark. That is why I don't get the multiple resort theme. If you own at 1 resort, you can book at 11 months....everywhere else at 7.

We own at multiple resorts so we can book a stay at multiple resorts at 11 months. We love split stays. So we would use the AKV points for AKV at 11 months and the VGF points at VGF at 11 months. In fact this is what we have. For us it means switching at 7 months is never essential unless we want to go to Aulani as we have all the variety of resorts we really want as home resorts.

 

[Dean]

Where do you find out about resale? We are leaving in a few weeks, we'd never be able to book in time, right?

You need to spend time learning about DVC before buying, this takes more than a fe days or even weeks. What you could potentially do would be to rent for this trip to both realize some savings (or increased value) compared to a cash reservation AND to checkout the system.

 

[bookwormde]

If you were buying direct (I do not recommend this) you would want to buy much smaller contacts 50-100 points each since the resale is $10 -30 higher if you ever decide to sell.

Since you are buying resale, someone else has already taken the large contract penalty as long as you do not overpay.

Contract over 400 pts often sell at a very deep discount to smaller contracts so as long as you can get one for much less and do not think you will be a big hurry if you resell or will not want to reduce you total points incrementally then they can be a great way to get a lot of points cheap.

You might get ROFRed some, but for big contacts offers in the low 50s or even the 40s are often accepted because there is such a limited number of buyers at the level or large contracts.

As a note if you are looking for (BLT, VGF, VGC etc) large contracts are much less frequents since most who read up before buying got the direct purchase advice you heard above

 

[Nabas]

And the price spread for a retail purchase is so large that it would be unreasonable to buy retail just to book quickly. Even if you did, there's little chance to book a trip in a few weeks, unless you got a salesman to agree to that as a condition of purchase. And even then the odds are small.

I agree with your post but wanted to note that DVC guides often can pull from Disney's own inventory and book something last-minute.

Essentially, guides help new DVC members book their first DVC stays.

It often helps close the deal, rather than telling a new member that they have to wait 7 to 11 months to enjoy their new purchase.

 

[Msmithmd]

Yeah I am aware Nabas, that just wouldn't be a reasonable thing to do for any Florida resort (except VGF) because of the cost differential of direct versus resale.

Taking AKV as an example, the cost difference direct versus resale would conservatively be $50 per point. On a 160-point contract that would be spending $8,000 extra to have a "guide" help you make one short-term reservation. And this benefit of purchase only happens once. That guide does nothing for you in booking your second through one hundredth trip, unless you buy more points from him/her at that time.

Now if a person were buying VGF anyway, where to date there isn't a cost differential (as very few have hit the secondary market), then this wouldn't be a crazy idea. But I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to buy VGF without being very aware ahead of time what they were getting and what the point chart implications were of owning that property.

Overall, Dean's points are the most salient. To reiterate, say a person is relocating to a new town for a new job, and needs to buy a home. If that person wouldn't buy a house unseen and without researching the various areas of a town where they might potentially live, then they shouldn't approach DVC any differently.

This timeshare is a very expensive proposition. While not as expensive as most primary residences, the full costs of ownership (and the vacations inherent to ownership) will be well into six figures when added up over decades. So rushing into it to book a short-term trip seems a terrible idea.

 

[crisi]

If I were in England with your apparent resources, I wouldn't do Disney every year. There is so much of the world for you to expose your kids to - a bunch of it practically at your doorstep. And if you like the U.S., its also filled with stuff.

For us, we've only done Disney every other year. We went to Germany, Washington DC, San Francisco, Mexico, Hawaii and camping. Disney is nice, and its fun, and when your kids are toddlers and they aren't getting much from looking at the Grand Canyon anyway, its a really great vacation, but as they get older they might want to give skiing a try, or you might want to show them Rome, or visit China or take them surfing in Hawaii, or take them to New York City.

 

[holula]

If you are in the UK I would not buy DVC. The packages you can get far outweigh the cost saving benefit of DVC - in the USA there is nothing close to the UK packages! We didn't buy in until we moved to the US. If after going to WDW each year for a couple of years you still want to buy in then go for it.

And being in the UK, there is so much of the world at your doorstep! There is so much I see and do in Europe (and you could do a lot with that money) that I would see that first. Even DLP is close.

 

[markmcalear]

My package for my upcoming trip was £8000 plus flights. That includes park tickets and deluxe dining plan

 

[Deb & Bill]

My package for my upcoming trip was £8000 plus flights. That includes park tickets and deluxe dining plan

You can't include the price of tickets and the dining plan when you compare costs. Only lodging because that is all you get with DVC.

 

[Dean]

You can't include the price of tickets and the dining plan when you compare costs. Only lodging because that is all you get with DVC.

Overall I agree, just like you can't count the other items included in a cruise when you use DVC points above the dollar costs. However, if you have access to packages that overall may be cheaper, you can assign the cost of those other items somewhat. I'm not sure how the packages from there work. IF it's pick and chose at the special price, I wouldn't count it at all but if it's a package that's cheaper overall then you might. I've also seen reports in the past discounted DVC for cash at SSR at least plus FD for the UK buyers.

 

[forceword]

We are UK DVC owners and I would dispute that you shouldn't do it from the UK. We bank and borrow to go every 2-3 years for about a 14 days. We usually go in summer but as our family gets older we look forward to Food and Wine or Christmas and Halloween.

I would agree that we wouldn't want to go to WDW every year as our main or only holiday but if you know you will want to go regularly for at least 10 years then it can be a good idea for you.

 

[holula]

Overall I agree, just like you can't count the other items included in a cruise when you use DVC points above the dollar costs. However, if you have access to packages that overall may be cheaper, you can assign the cost of those other items somewhat. I'm not sure how the packages from there work. IF it's pick and chose at the special price, I wouldn't count it at all but if it's a package that's cheaper overall then you might. I've also seen reports in the past discounted DVC for cash at SSR at least plus FD for the UK buyers.

You can do a total inclusive package or a pick and choose package. We just did hotel through the UK sites in 2011. A value over Xmas was around $100. On the USA site I have never seen it that low for Xmas.

 

[Dean]

You can do a total inclusive package or a pick and choose package. We just did hotel through the UK sites in 2011. A value over Xmas was around $100. On the USA site I have never seen it that low for Xmas.

I guess the question would be whether the components of the package is the same cost as done in it's entirety like it would be for the US package. I didn't know and thus why I qualified my answer. I do recall there were some combinations a couple of years ago with a room discount AND free dining something generally not available in the US either.

 

[markmcalear]

so, current prices for room only for 2 weeks end of August:

Poly - MK View - £4484.00 (Sleeps up to 5 so I would actually need 2 of these so total is now £8968)
AKL - 2bd Villa Savannah View - £6664.00
GF - MK View - £4590.00 (Sleeps up to 5 so I would actually need 2 of these so total is now £9180)
SSR - 2bd Villa - £4294.00

So in terms of points, I would need roughly 650 per stay for 2 weeks at end of August. I am thinking of buying enough to go every other year. So I would buy the 360 pts package.

Using GF as the example and buying retail
Upfront cost = $54,000 (£33,000)
Annual Dues = $1947.60 (£1190) Total dues are £59,500 but to allow for increases lets call it £65,000.
Total cost = £88,000
Lets assume 25 stays, thats an average of £3520 per stay which puts me almost £800 better off (per stay) if I stayed at SSR. The reality is that I would prefer to stay at a monorail resort or maybe Beach Club Villas.

I am actually thinking that I might hold fire for Poly DVC to go on sale and buy that as my home resort. Home resort would certainly be Poly/AKL/BCV. Obviously with DVC I would be looking to stay at a 2bd Villa rather than booking a suite or adjoining rooms as I would non-DVC.

On the years when I dont go I would just go elsewhere or if the kids really wanted to go I could do Disney out of pocket if required.

One question... with the annual pass, do I pay the standard price or the Florida residents price?

 

[Minniesgal]

so, current prices for room only for 2 weeks end of August: Poly - MK View - £4484.00 (Sleeps up to 5 so I would actually need 2 of these so total is now £8968) AKL - 2bd Villa Savannah View - £6664.00 GF - MK View - £4590.00 (Sleeps up to 5 so I would actually need 2 of these so total is now £9180) SSR - 2bd Villa - £4294.00 So in terms of points, I would need roughly 650 per stay for 2 weeks at end of August. I am thinking of buying enough to go every other year. So I would buy the 360 pts package. Using GF as the example and buying retail Upfront cost = $54,000 (£33,000) Annual Dues = $1947.60 (£1190) Total dues are £59,500 but to allow for increases lets call it £65,000. Total cost = £88,000 Lets assume 25 stays, thats an average of £3520 per stay which puts me almost £800 better off (per stay) if I stayed at SSR. The reality is that I would prefer to stay at a monorail resort or maybe Beach Club Villas. I am actually thinking that I might hold fire for Poly DVC to go on sale and buy that as my home resort. Home resort would certainly be Poly/AKL/BCV. Obviously with DVC I would be looking to stay at a 2bd Villa rather than booking a suite or adjoining rooms as I would non-DVC. On the years when I dont go I would just go elsewhere or if the kids really wanted to go I could do Disney out of pocket if required. One question... with the annual pass, do I pay the standard price or the Florida residents price?

When we bought we never compared it to the cost of a hotel room we bought because it made staying in a 2 bedroom more affordable. Sating two to three weeks in a hotel room would for us be a nightmare but with a full kitchen we are not stuck with Disney Dining night in night out which is great for short trips but gets old quick on a 14-21 night trip. Also laundry facilities mean I can keep my kids clean without actually feeling like I am spending time doing laundry. I throw a load in as we walk out the door and throw it in the dryer as we come back to go to the pool. With DVC save me money heck no as we will now go more often but it will enhance our holidays so for us that is value for money. Even my ten year old prefers the resorts to the parks now and visiting parks is an afterthought

 

[markmcalear]

When we bought we never compared it to the cost of a hotel room we bought because it made staying in a 2 bedroom more affordable. Sating two to three weeks in a hotel room would for us be a nightmare but with a full kitchen we are not stuck with Disney Dining night in night out which is great for short trips but gets old quick on a 14-21 night trip. Also laundry facilities mean I can keep my kids clean without actually feeling like I am spending time doing laundry. I throw a load in as we walk out the door and throw it in the dryer as we come back to go to the pool. With DVC save me money heck no as we will now go more often but it will enhance our holidays so for us that is value for money. Even my ten year old prefers the resorts to the parks now and visiting parks is an afterthought

Savings and increased comfort are my two main things. I would even be happy to pay the same or more for DVC compared to two hotel rooms just for the added comfort and conveniences.