1 pro and 1 con about DVC!

[Anal Annie]

Pro - love the flexibility of the point system. WE have not had any big problems (yet) of not being able to book a trip at 7 months but then WE also like to resort hop. So it's just a matter of calling to see what's available at 7 months. Again, flexibility is the key but it's on US too. We really like to spread our points out over 2 or 3 trips per year & it's been very easy so far to do that.

Another Pro for me - personally, I LIKE not having Mousekeeping in every day!!! I don't want to feel like I need to tidy up & lock up everything every day before we head out.

One more Pro for us is that we'll be able one day to take DS's family (Grandkids). It's great for our family NOW and will be GREAT again to be able to treat his family. Of course he's only 13 now so there's plenty of time to look forward to how our use will change.

Con - this is a big peeve for me. I wish they offered DVC members discounts on other types of tickets besides just the AP's & PAP's. The AP's are great if you can plan extended trips or multiple trips per year but I would like to sometimes just buy the 10 day non-expiring tickets but they are REALLLLLY some big bucks. I would LIKE to plan a 4 night trip for next Memorial Day but the price of reg. park hoppers is crazy for 3 days. We are going to Europe for a DCL in August so have no other plans to hit FLA and will be shelling out a good chunk for passes at Disneyland Paris too. The price of park admission for those 3 days over Memorial Day weekend is preventing me from planning the trip. Likewise, the new bi-coastal AP's are also cost prohibitive and offer no discount. I always said I wish they had one for both coasts & they finally DID but then didn't offer a discount on it. We want to visit DL on the way to / from Aulani in 2012...but once again we're facing some big bucks for park tix. I think DVC could (should) offer other types of discounts on admission for its members to have REAL flexibility in how they use their membership.


I don't mind the annual dues - I think most timeshares are going to have some form of annual dues so not a biggie for me. We have ours taken out of our bank account every month via EFT - so it just happens. I don't have to write a check - I don't even THINK about them any more. They just happen.

 

[cseca]

I know myself and a bunch of other posters mentioned the fact that DVC is expensive but if you already plan to come to disney at least once a year for many years this is a good membership.

It is expensive but compared to other vacation places, it's not ridiculously expensive considering what you get with it.

For example:
One year we went to NY for my bday, just the hotel (regular hotel room) was $300 in a good location (we didn't want to stay in a roach motel to save $). And for entertainment and transportation we had to spend more and more $. Total cost for our stay there for 3 nights were more than the total cost of staying at WDW for a whole week. It was mind boggling.

The same thing with local fairs. They priced by each ride and it gets expensive very quickly.

So yeah, it's expensive but if you're already planning to go often then doing some research might just save you some $.

 

[nickspace]

Pro: I love going on DVC vacation!

Con: I wish I could go more often!

 

[Coach81]

Pro- Best money you could ever spend on your family.
Con- I takes a lot of it.

 

[Cheloconnell]

Pro - Always staying at a Deluxe accommodation.

Con - Not getting other perks like free dining

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Pro: The flexibility of DVC, both in choice of resorts, accomodations and time frame.

Other timeshares never appealed to me for the simple fact that you were stuck with one type of accomodation, for one specific week. With DVC we take long week-ends, book 4 day vacation getaways and or 1 week staight stays. Then of course depending on the reason for the stay we choose which resorts suits the vacation best, along with the size that fits our travelling party best. Star Wars weekends or Food & Wine, its BWV for it's proximity to DHS & Epcot and for just plain relaxing it's OKW, SSR, AKV. Family reunions, nothing beats an OKW GV and DVC affords me this possibility.

Cons: The dues! I wish I dind't have to pay them but oh well, it's a minor con at that!

Also, I didn't purchase DVC with the intent that it would be the only means by which we vacation. DVC suppliments our usual summer vacations up north and abroad. The resorts are more important to me now, I've done the parks so many times, they're secondary to the resort and it's amenities.

 

[kddlm]

Pro: having 44 more years of Disney vacations to plan.
Con: feeling like the kids are getting spoiled and not appreciating how lucky they are to experience these kinds of vacations.

Ditto! Saw a commercial the other day with kids being told they were going to Disney for the 1st time and totally missed the excitement of my kids! Instead I get "again"?

 

[Reddog1134]

Con: the fact that there is no easy online booking tool tonsee availability. The people at member services have always been nice but I would love to be able to book / check availability online myself.

They are adding online booking next year.

 

[Greysword]

Pro: a Full Kitchen and full Washer/Dryer! (When they say DVC is the Best Kept Secret, THIS is what they are talking about )

Con: I would say I have two:

1) Minor: We get so excited when we talk about our WDW trips with friends/family, we are constantly trying to rope someone into going with us, so we rarely visit as a nuclear family anymore. (I guess this could be a Pro, based on your point of view).

2) Major: DVC is easy to Learn but difficult to Master. What I mean is although you can get the idea and book trips without much training, there are a lot of little things that are pretty important to understand (booking windows, transfers/renting points, using other DVC collections, annual dues allocation, perks, mousekeeping/repairs, loan rates/foreclosures, et cetera).

 

[Pakey]

Pro: The WDW accommodations are nice and the variety of resorts available is great.

Con: As our kids got older, WDW has lost it's appeal and we now have way too many points as we have no interest in going to WDW as often as we used to.