Using points outside Disney

[kimviolin]

HI, I am considering buying DVC. My family usually travels to various places, like CO, Northern MI, Cape Cod, etc. I know most of you on this board go to Disney every year or every other, but I would love to hear from those who might like to go to Disney a few times in the next 10 years, but want to use points for other travel. I am also comparing to Hilton Grand VAcation Club. Any thoughts about the best way to go?

We love to ski, and looking into Whistler, we noticed we could have 7 days for 80 points at a great time of year with DVC! That seems like a great deal... But the cruises seem very expensive - a family of 2 adults, 1 4yr, 1 baby to go to alaska is 533 points. We were thinking of buying in at 300, but I would hate to use almost 2 years worth of points in one week. Paying cash on a deal from vacations to go could turn out cheaper??

Also, if one year, we do wish to go on the cruise only having 300 points available (I know we can borrow, but perhaps we wish to save them for the next year), can we "rent" points and combine the rented points and our own points for one vacation? I read in the rules that transfers cannot have any form of compensation, but I've also read people talking about how to pay for a transfer...SO, I'm a little confused

Sorry so many questions, but I've spent multiple hours reading the threads and have stored them up

Thanks for all your answers.

Kim

 

[MinnesotaChill]

I'm not sure why, but it seems that most people have found it is best to use cash for a cruise. I mean that I'm not sure why the points work out that way. We've also thought about doing this, but we would need the largest room possible and it would cost us the same as a week in a GV (which we would never do by ourselves, since we are a family of 5)! Seems like a lot of points to us too.

 

[CarolAnnC]

Hi and welcome to the DIS!

There is no doubt that using your points at the DVC Resorts will be the best value. But there are times that a different vacation is desirable and DVC makes it happen for us.

When I first cruised DCL using points, I combined points with cash. You must use points for at least one adult in the stateroom, then there is a contracted rate that you can pay in cash for the remaining passengers. This was useful for me.

I know 533 points sounds like a lot, but for a 7 day cruise to Alaska for a family of 4 I think it is quite reasonable. Remember, cruising includes your meals as well as on board entertainment.

 

[Dean]

You'll likely be better off with Hilton or another timeshare than DVC as the trade situation compared to cost and options will be much to your advantage with other timeshares. You may want to look at something that works with II rather than RCI though and try to trade back in to DVC a few times over the years.

 

[Mtnman44]

Just my opinion: Although there are outside of disney trade options, one should not buy into DVC primarily for using the points for that. DVC only makes sense if you travel to disney at least one big trip every other year.

You can get top of the line HGVC or Marriott 1 week, two 2 bdrm points for around $14k on the resale market. These are for premuim platinum seasons and are great for trading as well. Maint fees will vary, but just say around $700.

Compare to DVC. A two bedroom week in Value season will cost a minimum of 218 points at OKW. To compare apples to apples you really should look at at least the mid-range season, which is 263 points at OKW (the lowest cost DVC resort). Purchase of 263 points would be roughly $21,000 and the maint fees would be roughly $1,196.65.

DVC is an expensive timeshare that only makes sense if you are staying on-site at WDW. All the disney property perks, free transportation, etc are what justify the price premium.