About to take the DVC plunge. Advice?

[DisSarahK]

During our recent stay at Aulani, I convinced my husband to go to a DVC presentation. He is hooked. I was hooked a couple of years ago when I went to a presentation during a DCL cruise. Now we are *thisclose* to taking the plunge and buying 160 points at Aulani--enough to get us a studio there for a week.

Any words of wisdom to share with us before we officially buy the points?

Thanks!
Sarah

 

[Jennasis]

Do it!

 

[disneynutz]

During our recent stay at Aulani, I convinced my husband to go to a DVC presentation. He is hooked. I was hooked a couple of years ago when I went to a presentation during a DCL cruise. Now we are *thisclose* to taking the plunge and buying 160 points at Aulani--enough to get us a studio there for a week.

Any words of wisdom to share with us before we officially buy the points?

Thanks!
Sarah

I recommend that you take the time to learn about the product, pros, cons, rules, policies, and consider resale to save some money.

Bill

 

[tasha99]

Buy resale . . .

 

[DizBub]

Buy resale . . .

I agree, buy resale. Or at least be aware of it and give it a good hard look.

Seriously, resale would save you thousands. There are a few restrictions buying resale points but they are few and expensive options that are not good use of DVC points. Resale points used at DVC resorts are treated exactly the same as points purchased direct from Disney.

Good luck!

 

[CMOORE185]

I personally do not think it is worth it at today's price point. I would also do resale, but at a resort at a price point at less than $80 per point.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

It might help to know why you are considering DVC and why you feel it will work well for you? And why you are looking at Aulani?

 

[CMOORE185]

It might help to know why you are considering DVC and why you feel it will work well for you? And why you are looking at Aulani?

Good point, if OP is buying to mainly use at Aulani I guess they need to purchase there.

 

[DisSarahK]

I have done a lot of research, but sometimes hearing people's real life opinions is worth more than the research. I talked at length with one DVC owner while at Aulani and the conversation was quite helpful.

We are a family of four and our children just turned 8 and 10. Currently we do Disney vacations every year--Disneyland, a DCL cruise (I know it is bad to use your points on a cruise), or (this year) Aulani. We love Disney and I am the biggest Disney lover in the family. It isn't something we do "just for the children" or anything like that.

We plan to use these points at Aulani and at Disneyland. I've never been to Florida/Disney World and although we may go at some point in the future, it definitely wouldn't happen very often. We live in the greater Seattle area so traveling to Hawaii and California is much more affordable and interesting to us.

We fell in love with Aulani last week and envision ourselves returning there many times in the future.

I have looked into resale and am intrigued by it, but my husband would prefer to buy direct from Disney. He isn't very good at verbalizing why, but I know he likes the perks they are offering right now--which, to me, would be off-set by the amount of money we would save buying resale.

edited to add: My daughter enters middle school in September (yikes!) and our abilities to travel at off-peak times of the year will be eliminated. Prior Disneyland trips have been in February and September--that won't be happening any more due to her school commitments.

 

[bakerworld]

Do what you feel comfortable and buy where you want to have a home advantage.

See so much advice here to buy where it's cheap and, while we've never done that, we have bought the 'deal' property of the moment in the whole "I'll stay anywhere in Disney" mind-set but reality exists. Reality is that you'll have scattered ability to trade into what you want at 7-mons and you'll end up purchasing more or selling everything in disappointed disgust.

So...do what you feel comfortable and what doesn't ruin your destination anticipation. When drinking the kool-aid make sure it's a fav flavor.

 

[CMOORE185]

See so much advice here to buy where it's cheap and, while we've never done that, we have bought the 'deal' property of the moment in the whole "I'll stay anywhere in Disney" mind-set but reality exists. Reality is that you'll have scattered ability to trade into what you want at 7-mons and you'll end up purchasing more or selling everything in disappointed disgust.

I will disagree with you here. Booking at 7 months is one of the best parts of owning DVC. I do most of my booking at 7 months and for the most part get exactly what I want.

 

[Dean]

I have done a lot of research, but sometimes hearing people's real life opinions is worth more than the research. I talked at length with one DVC owner while at Aulani and the conversation was quite helpful.

We are a family of four and our children just turned 8 and 10. Currently we do Disney vacations every year--Disneyland, a DCL cruise (I know it is bad to use your points on a cruise), or (this year) Aulani. We love Disney and I am the biggest Disney lover in the family. It isn't something we do "just for the children" or anything like that.

We plan to use these points at Aulani and at Disneyland. I've never been to Florida/Disney World and although we may go at some point in the future, it definitely wouldn't happen very often. We live in the greater Seattle area so traveling to Hawaii and California is much more affordable and interesting to us.

We fell in love with Aulani last week and envision ourselves returning there many times in the future.

I have looked into resale and am intrigued by it, but my husband would prefer to buy direct from Disney. He isn't very good at verbalizing why, but I know he likes the perks they are offering right now--which, to me, would be off-set by the amount of money we would save buying resale.

edited to add: My daughter enters middle school in September (yikes!) and our abilities to travel at off-peak times of the year will be eliminated. Prior Disneyland trips have been in February and September--that won't be happening any more due to her school commitments.

You'll likely have a lot more trouble booking DL than HI, if you want both, I'd buy at DL. I'd also suggest resale for most situations, none of the perks are guaranteed and non return a reasonable value. However, for what you're looking for, the price difference may not be as great as say SSR so just compare. For Aulani, I'd look to buy a resale contract with the lower subsidized dues.

 

[DizBub]

Currently we do Disney vacations every year--Disneyland, a DCL cruise (I know it is bad to use your points on a cruise), or (this year) Aulani.

Just wondering why you think using points at Aulani would be bad? I know the point requirements are on the high side but really not much different than the new Grand Floridian DVC. New owners there are buying to stay there. If you want to stay at Aulani, especially at peak times, you probably should own there. Same for VGC.

 

[DisSarahK]

I don't think it would be bad to use points to stay at Aulani--I think it would be bad to use them on a cruise.

 

[DizBub]

I don't think it would be bad to use points to stay at Aulani--I think it would be bad to use them on a cruise.

Oops, sorry. I misread your sentence.

 

[DisSarahK]

No worries!

 

[disneynutz]

I will disagree with you here. Booking at 7 months is one of the best parts of owning DVC. I do most of my booking at 7 months and for the most part get exactly what I want.

It depends on ones tolerance for the "most part".

For our family it didn't work out so we started buying several home resorts for the 11 month advantage. We felt frustrated spending a few thousand dollars on a vacation and not being able to sleep where we wanted.

Bill

 

[Msmithmd]

I would second what Dean said, that VGC is historically more difficult to book than Aulani, so if you're thinking of a 50/50 visit frequency between those two locations, VGC would be the better purchase to maximize your future vacation booking flexibility. As Aulani is still in active sales, one cannot state with certainty whether it will remain easier to book when sold out. But it is dramatically larger than VGC, and dramatically more expensive to travel to for the large majority of purchasers. So I would predict this overall trend will continue.

Cruising on points isn't "bad"; it just gives you a lower dollar value per point used ,versus staying at any DVC property, in most circumstances. Therefore it isn't a good financial justification for a direct purchase versus resale. But it can be a great option, versus most trades out of the system (or of course letting your points expire unused). Most folks can come out monetarily ahead by renting their points and cruising on cash. And of course this indirect mechanism of paying for a cruise is equally available to resale purchase owners.

Only one other piece of advice- the real reason to own DVC is to save money, over booking similar accommodations via cash to Disney or renting the room from a member. Most of this savings gets eliminated if you finance a purchase. So if you're in a position to pay cash now, proceed forthwith and welcome to membership. If you're not, I'd recommend you rent points for stays until such time as you can buy outright. The financials just make more sense that way. This may not have any bearing for the OP, but the point I believe is valid for any discussion of considering a timeshare purchase.

 

[sleepydog25]

I have done a lot of research, but sometimes hearing people's real life opinions is worth more than the research. I talked at length with one DVC owner while at Aulani and the conversation was quite helpful.

We are a family of four and our children just turned 8 and 10. Currently we do Disney vacations every year--Disneyland, a DCL cruise (I know it is bad to use your points on a cruise), or (this year) Aulani. We love Disney and I am the biggest Disney lover in the family. It isn't something we do "just for the children" or anything like that.

We plan to use these points at Aulani and at Disneyland. I've never been to Florida/Disney World and although we may go at some point in the future, it definitely wouldn't happen very often. We live in the greater Seattle area so traveling to Hawaii and California is much more affordable and interesting to us.

We fell in love with Aulani last week and envision ourselves returning there many times in the future.

I have looked into resale and am intrigued by it, but my husband would prefer to buy direct from Disney. He isn't very good at verbalizing why, but I know he likes the perks they are offering right now--which, to me, would be off-set by the amount of money we would save buying resale.

edited to add: My daughter enters middle school in September (yikes!) and our abilities to travel at off-peak times of the year will be eliminated. Prior Disneyland trips have been in February and September--that won't be happening any more due to her school commitments.

DVC can be a wonderful purchase, as it has been for us, but given you can make it to DL more easily than FL would give me pause to purchase at AKV. If you still plan to visit DL more often, then as a couple of others have mentioned, buying into VGC gives you the ability to book there at 11 months, an act which at 7 months (should you buy AKV) will be difficult since as you say above, traveling at off-peak times will be eliminated. Further, though things could certainly change, studios at AKV currently are much easier to reserve at 7 months than at VGC due to its size. It does sound as though you have done some research, but this one issue is one that I would resolve before jumping in. Good luck!

 

[CMOORE185]

It depends on ones tolerance for the "most part".

For our family it didn't work out so we started buying several home resorts for the 11 month advantage. We felt frustrated spending a few thousand dollars on a vacation and not being able to sleep where we wanted.

Bill

You are right. But the other poster to me made it sound as if booking at 7 months means disappointment. I just wanted to make it clear one can have great success at 7 months. I also did not have one particular favorite resort until GFV's came along, but I will not pay that steep of a price.