Active Duty/Retired Military DVC Experiences?

[Blue&Gold]

Hi... First wade into to DVC Board pool!

I am an Active Duty Naval Officer considering purchasing DVC (either through resale or direct from Disney), looking for feedback from any DVC members with military affiliation that could comment on their view of whether DVC is flexible enough for the military lifestyle---deployments/PCSs/short notice TDYs.

Also, though I appreciate that most members of these boards are "true believers," would appreciate critical comment on the financial merits of DVC vs. staying at Shades of Green---which already offers significant savings over the Disney Resort family. Ditto comparisons of whatever discounts DVC members receive vs. those offered to Active Duty and Retired through Morale, Welfare, and Recreation programs.

We are considering resale at BWV in addition (or in opposition) to SSR through Disney... I think childhood vacations at the Jersey "Shore" left their mark.

In advance, thanks for all input. My wife and I are considering a 300ish point buy, and don't want to get this wrong.

 

[flying_tigger]

B+G,

Welcome to the DIS! As you can see, I'm not big on posting, but I've been a lurker here for many years.

I'm AD AF, and had the very same questions you're having a few years ago. Although DVC members since Aug '03, we'll be taking our first trip this March. With that said, I can't answer your questions entirely, yet.

We bought precisely for the flexibility DVC offers. A "traditional" timeshare just wouldn't fit our lifestyle, but we felt DVC provided enough flexibility where we could do a last-minute getaway before deployment, or plan 11 months out, as we did for this March, for a family get-together blowout. There are things to watch out for, of course-last minute cancellations are going to hurt you no matter whether its DVC or SoG. If I remember correctly, DVC offers, through a third party, travel insurance in case you have to cancel last minute (you wouldn't get your points back, but a cash equivalent. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong). I can also say from experience that Disney is very cognizant of the military lifestyle and is willing to work with you if something comes up.

As far as comparing DVC to SoG, if you're looking for a place to sleep SoG can't be beat ... if you're looking for a resort, DVC's your answer.
I just pulled up the SoG rates; I'm pinning on O-4 Feb 1, so a standard room will run me $104/night, and $106 next fiscal year. I don't think DVC will ever beat that. Realize, though, it's not a fair comparison. As nice as SoG is, it doesn't hold a candle to a one or two bedroom 'home'.

That was a lot of blabbering for little information, but at least you know there are other happy military DVC members out there. I'd be happy to answer any other questions you may have.

Chris

 

[AFMom]

We're also Active Duty Air Force, and my husband is now helicopter pilot working with spec ops. When we purchased DVC we knew our schedule would be hard to nail down, but now it will be almost impossible! Anyway - we may only ever be able to get reservations a few weeks out, but as long as we aren't picky as to which resort we're at, I don't think it'll be too much of a problem. As far as cancelations - well - we'll deal with that when we run into the problem, and will probably purchase the insurance on our points.
As a PCS example, we were panning a vacation 12/05, but just found out we will be pcs-ing again right before that, and we were able to rent our points for the year in about 2 days on the rental board - so while I'll be sad when 12/05 comes around and we aren't at Disney - there was no problem using our DVC points and not letting them go to waste.
That said - I've heard very good things about SOG being a nice hotel with large rooms. However - many of my other Disney loving friends who are military end up staying on-site in a Disney hotel/resort because they love the feeling of staying in a Disney resort. While SOG is nice, it isn't the same (so they say - we've never stayed there!). Also - SOG isn't always easy to get into! The reason we've never stayed there is because were never able to get a room there on short notice. We were able to get a 1 bdrm at OKW 3 weeks out for a 7 night stay the same week that SOG was booked up.
Financial merits? Well - it really is comparing apples to oranges, in a way. SOG is a hotel room, where as we were able to stay in a 1 bedroom suite with a full kitchen and seperate bedroom. Yes - it cannot beat SOG price wise, but we were willing to put out the extra money for the ammenities we were getting. If you try to look at price per night - well - we use the rental value of the points (about $10pp) to compare costs. We used about 16 points per night for the 1 bedroom(Sun-Thur), and that would have cost us $160 per night to rent the points from a member. Disney charges much more than that per night, but we were trying to see how much the room was costing us as members. Anyway - basically we figured we were paying about $50 more per night for a 900 sq ft suite that the room at SOG.
It really boils down to how you vacation and what your needs are. We had never had the ability to stay in such nice accomadations, and DVC made it financially feasible for us to do so. Lets be honest - no one is in the military for the paycheck!!! We wouldn't be able to afford these accomadations without DVC. We're still thrilled that we bought, love OKW, and have had no regrets.
As far as discounts on tickets through MWR - now that DVC offers the Annual Pass discounts, DVC's discount can't be beat there. If you're looking at only getting enough tickets for your stay - then MWR might still be the best bet. Dining discounts are nice and we used them many times during our last stay. But the way we saved the most money was stocking our kitchen there and eating breakfasts and some other meals (on off-park days) in our room! The saving was amazing. That alone probably helped make up for our extra expenditure on the room.
Good luck with your decision - and sorry the post is so long!

 

[mrsdon]

Dear Blue& Gold,

I am a retired Navy Chief (ETC(SS)) using my wife's board account to answer your questions.

We made first purchase in 1994 at OKW while I was assigned to USS Kentucky. I too had my reservations about buying into a timeshare while still on active duty, infact, I would highly recommend not buying into a conventional one. Disney's however is quite different because of the point system that is used.

With most conventional timeshares you are locked into a specific week every year. You can change the week that you stay provide you pay a fee and someone else wants to give up their week. For active duty, espically if you are assigned to a ship, this obviously is a very bad thing to get into. Also if you need to change a reservation there is usualy a cost involved. Most timeshare are a 1-week purchase and getting a 2nd week is sometimes complex. Using less that the week will normally still cost you the full week.

I'm sure you've already done some research, and know that Disney has eliminated these negative points. This turely makes their timeshare ideal for someone on active duty.

As far as the Shades of Green, it's OK, I've stayed there once but have no desire to stay there again. I do go back there frequently because their prices for tickets for other attractions are pretty good (Universal, Seaworld, etc.), they have an ITT office in the hotel, and their store at the hotel is basically a small NEX. Pricing is not bad and it is close to the GF & Poly resorts for excellent dinning and getting to the MK quickly.

If you like the Navy Lodge, the BOQ/BEQ and Navy furniture you will feel right at home. My last trip to Disney I saw the same old government issue junk. It is sad that this wonderful resort was fitted out with low bid & recycled furniture.

Shades of Green is also run by the military, the Army I think, and as such, things are run much as you would expect for a military hotel. They don't have the "Disney Touch" in the way they do things.

For the junior enlisted, the price point is hard to beat and allows for a wonderful vacation. For senior enlisted and the officer community where Navy Relief isn't your emergency blanket, there are many hotels on property that are much, much nicer. I would suggest Dixie Landings or Coranado Springs as a much better choice.

A 300 point investment is pretty significant start, with 30 leave it give you pleanty of flexability espically if you're deployed. Our first 5 years of ownership I was assigned to USS Kentucky and never had problems with making reservations or using the points. After our 1st year we realized that the 220 points we bought would not be enough in the future. Six months later we bought another 150 at Vero and have never regretted it.

Now for the down side to all of this. You will get hooked on taking quality vacations using your Disney points. We have been on 3 cruises, a week long white water rafting trip in Idaho, been to Gatlinberg twice, Branson 3 times, Lake George NY for Americade last year, and have another trip for Lake George and a cruise planned for this year, all using the vacation club points. Every trip has had 4 or 5 star accomodations (OK, we slept in tents on the rafting trip but everything else was 1st rate) and we have never been disapointed with Disney's choices or service. Your family will come to expect great vacations and you will find yourself needing more points. We are closing on our 6th contract this week to bring our total up to 900 points, why, I'm still not sure.

My worst experience with Disney came after I retired from the Navy in 99. I no longer get that wonderful 30 leave each year, I started with 2 weeks, not enough time for all the fun time I had become accustomed to. We actually banked points for the 1st time, but my wife has figured ways around the time off/banking points issue, its called Disney Cruise Lines.

With respect to how you purchase you points, it makes little difference. Buy direct from Disney any you can take care of most of it with 1 phone call, they ship you the documents to sign, and provide a prepaid FedEx envelope to send it back in, all very easy (sometimes too easy!). You are limited to which resort you can buy into, Saratoga is the only one available I think. With an outside purchase, you get a choice of resorts based on what is on the market, a slightly lower price, all the other benefits as if you bought through Disney, and you'll likely get better terms (Disney is currently 9.75%/10.75% for 10 years w/10% down). The 2 down sides to a resale purchase are 1)you have to buy the entire contract from the seller, it cannot be broken up, if they have 350 and you want only 300, find a different deal, and 2)Disney has 1st right of refusal on any deal, if it's too good of a deal the seller has to sell the points back to Disney and not to you.

I hope this answers some of you questions. Is it a mistake? Not one that many would ever admit to. If you have other questions just drop me an email or give me a call.

Don Wiley, ETC(SS)(Ret.)
dwiley@midsouth.rr.com
901-213-4893

 

[Blue&Gold]

Tigger, AFMom, and Chief,

Thanks very much for your responses. I also appreciate that they aren't one-liners, which implies that you all take this seriously. You all confirm my entry-level gut feeling that this program has oodles more flexibility than a traditional timeshare. I would never consider a traditional "locked" timeshare given the vagaries of military life.

I also appreciate that this really isn't a financial move per se... Start thinking about vacations vs college semsters and things go south in a hurry. Clearly this is a lifestyle issue. The family (yours truly with Mom and two juniors age 5 & 3) stayed at SOG last fall and have another trip booked this May. (I'm assigned to USSTRATCOM on a Joint Tour and am attempting to take advantage of the ability to plan somewhat in advance.) We were impressed with SOG, but mostly at the location, vice the facilities themselves--which weren't shabby but weren't resort quality either. One of the funnier comments I've read on these boards came from someone observing that the real Disney Magic is how they separate you from your money---definitely true when it comes to the $3 12 oz bottle of water in the park, but this program arguably makes some financial sense. I pin on O-5 this summer and though retirement isn't around the corner, it is in the neighborhood and this is as much about lifestyle post-Navy as about immediate financial considerations.

Frankly, I'm more worried about falling into the trap you seem to be in, Chief! 900 points, yikes!

One specific reservation process question---I understand the home resort 11 month/7 month window, but does DVC membership carry any preferential treatment over cash reservations from the general public? Also, what is the proportion of the various room sizes in the properties---40% studio 30% 1 BR 20% 2 BR 10% 3 BR??? Or is there no real way of measuring since the larger villas are simply combinations of the smaller ones? My target of 300-350 points is predicated on the math that if the situation presented itself due to deployments, etc. I could roll a full year's banked points, current year and full borrow into a whopper 3 BR at the holidays... But there is no logic to that math if there are very few Grand Villas and they've all been rented out to the general public as cash reservations in advance of even the 11 month window. Trust me, I understand there are no guarantees in life, but no sense making decisions based on faulty assumptions.

Again thanks for your thoughts. Given the character and candor of posts on these boards it looks to me like the DVC has some element of the comraderie those of us in the military share... Definitely a plus in my mind.

 

[RobDoc]

I'll add a few comments as a former AF officer (a looong time ago). Shades of Green is certainly a wonderful means to offer some opportunity for military families and DVC will not be able to compete with the financial aspects of that benefit. As already pointed out though, you will be comparing apples and oranges as far as the accommodations go. That should be weighed into your decision.

DVC reservations are certainly available within 7 months most of the time. Basically, each resort will have about 50% of the accommodations as dedicated 2BR villas and the other 50% will be comprised of lock-off 2BR's (this means that 1/3 are dedicated 2BR's, 1/3 are lock off Studios and 1/3 are lock-off 1BR villas). BWV has only lock-offs- so all rooms are either a studio or 1BR with 7 Grand Villas (about 2% of the room totals). OKW has 27 GV's (about 3% of the total room possibilities) and SSR will have 36 (also about 3%) when completed. BCV and VWL have no GV's. There are some minor % differences (I'm sure someone will soon post the EXACT percentages for each resort soon ) but the figures mentioned already are close.

Any DVC villas unreserved 60 days in advance are made available to CRO for cash reservations for the general public and, in addition, any points used by DVC members for non-DVC options are also available for public cash reservations. (DVC also retains 2-4% of each resort and some of those may also be available for cash reservations.)

With the demands placed on active duty schedules, DVC is certainly workable as long as you are able to avoid changes within 30 days of arrival. If your assignment is one where that is not a comfortable time frame, the penalties for cancellation (holding account) may be a deterrent to consider.

Please ask any other questions that come to mind.

Thanks also for your current service to us all!

 

[xterratri]

Having never stayed at SOG, I can't say anything about the feel. But I do know that as an officer even just a baby one, if I want cheap it's better to go to Disney value class resorts. However, if that was the route I planned on taking long term I wouldn't be on these boards as a brand new DVC member. I am currently in medical school so between school schedule and ADT I have very narrow vacation windows. I had no problem getting the dates I needed in late May/early June between my last exam May 27th and reporting to Ft Sam June 12th. We will use points again in Oct and then Dec. I am lucky(???) in that I am non-deployable for the next 4.5 years definitely('cause I'm no use only partly trained) and if everything goes the way I'm hoping, 8.5. That will affect how I can plan my vacations differently than your situation but it is a 49 year term so I'm counting on the flexibility of DVC longterm. Obviously, I'm military due to some deep seated personal beliefs and not for financial reasons as even with incentives, etc. my income will be only 1/3-1/4 of what it would be as a civilian. And if it wasn't obvious, I am Army with the chief reason being they had the best opportunities for orthopedic surgeons. I turned down the AF and didn't seriously consider going Navy again because I don't really want to do a GMO tour at this point in my life.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

We first looked at DVC when my DH was Active Duty AF. Didn't buy because we had the same concerns you do now. I'm glad we waited until he retired as I would have hated trying to rent points out at the last minute if we were stationed overseas or something and couldn't use the points ourselves.

 

[Blue&Gold]

Wanted to pass a thanks to all for your replies, and to the whole "community" for the wealth of information on the Discussion Boards. My wife and I signed a resale purchase contract today for 350 at BWV... See you all there.

 

[debm]

You will love your DVC points! I don't have as detailed of an answer as some of the posters but my DH is AD AF and we bought DVC in Dec. of 1999. Best decision we ever made. Financially it has gotten a little rough because we have added on twice on a "whim." We never have problems spending points. And I have never had a problem getting what resort I wanted when I wanted it. Only time I had a bit of a problem was getting a standard view at BW because it is less points than the Garden view. Don't have problems at other resorts though. We LOVE the BCV but do not own there so I have to wait until 7 months out to book. We are slightly flexible with our dates though usually. Since we have owned my DH has not been deployed and we just plan our vacations as far in advance as we can and he puts it on the "long-term" schedule.

We just returned home from the World on Friday and did something different this time. My parents were originally going with us and we were just going on cash and were going to stay at SOG. Had no problem getting ressies about 3 months out. I was surprised. Turns out plans changed and we decided to only stay there 2 nights and stay at a regular WDW resort that we have never tried before. Since 1999 we have always stayed in the Villas but just wanted to do something different. Was between AKL and Poly. Decided to do Poly but couldn't get a good AP rate so ended up using points that we had instead. It was different being all in 1 room---have 4 kids. But we could still stay in 1 room because the youngest is under 3. Anyhow, it wasn't as great as I thought it would be. I mean, I'll take a Disney hotel over anything anyday but I did miss our Villa!!

As far as SOG. It was very nice since the remodeling. Really only affects the front, lobby, buses, etc. Rooms are the same. They are large rooms compared to some WDW resorts. Pool is so-so. Nice part is they have the large baby pool but nothing exciting for older kids. We didin't eat at their restaurants but my parents were there in Dec. and said they were great! It is nice being able to walk to the Poly and jump on the monorail and now the buses at SOG take you direct to the park rather than only to TTC. But if you want that Disney feel you don't get it there. We feel very strongly about staying on property so I would definitely stay there over off property but I don't feel that the deal is THAT good. I've seen prices at AKL and WL that are about $120 and we paid $104 for SOG. I think it is a great thing for military but I guess I'm not sold on the part that it is such a great deal money wise.

Anyhow, congrats on your decision. And even though I now know that using points for cruises is not always the best deal we still do it. Then we don't have to come up with the cash. As I said before we have NO problems spending all of our points!!!!! Enjoy!!!!

 

[WDWsnooper]

We took the WDW vacation (Poly) after the wife accused me of being a workaholic. My son had just turned 5 and I was AD AF, an 0-5 thinking of retirement. It was '91 and OKW had just opened...they only had the first area near the Hospitality House completed. Wow! What a place!

We also needed a new car if I was to retire soon--wanted to have it paid off by retirement time and I was sitting close to my 20 yr point.

Bottom line, I fixed the older car and we bought into DVC in Jan '92. It was nice to lock in the major expense of vacations for the retirement years. No regrets. It was the best decision for us.

230 pts have been fine for (3) us--sometimes we bank 'em and other times we borrow 'em.

Saw SOG in December--impressive lobby and entry. Didn't see the rest of it. We still go to SOG for our tickets--military discount beat DVC--but the DVC annual pass discount may be the best for the future--especially if we go again 11 mos later. Have found that SOG discounts are better than the tix on base--SOG has a different contract w/Disney.

Retired in '95 and happy we could lock in the vacations for reasonable cost. My son is 18 now--he drives the old car that I fixed.

Have had no trouble getting reservations or modifying them as required. One thing I'll suggest--if you need a 2 BR, ask for a 2 BR lock off--it's easier to morph it into a studio or 1 BR if you need to because of a change in plans. If I couldn't go, my family went anyway--sure wasn't the first time the AF kept me from a family occasion. Just my $.02.

Flying Tigger--there's two of us from Rapid City who are DVC members??
Snooper

 

[Chim Chiminy]

Hi. Congrats on your decision to buy points. You still have to pass ROFR?
My DH is AD Army, has been in recruiting in one form or another for the last ten years. So he is basically non-deployable.

We bought in at BCV in '02. Don't regret it one bit and have been three times since then, adding on at SSR last year. Total of 350 points.

We have used our points to provide great vacations to our extended family. Two of our trips we were joined by my parents and two brothers as well as my two BILs. We are a family of four, kids are 11 and 5. We have found it is much easier to get everyone together at Disney than it is to get everyone together at mom's house in Texas! We have a great time, build great memories and don't worry about who sleeps where, who cooks what, etc. Everyone has their own space, which is good with so many dynamic personalities being put together. Cuts down on the friction........

I have not had any problem booking rooms, changing dates of stays, adding or dropping rooms. Stayed at OKW spring break using the 7 month window and it was easy. I think DVC is very flexible and if unable to use points, it is very easy to rent out your points. We are doing that to use cash for a cruise.

It is true that DVC is not cheap, and people in the military don't do it for the money. We are not usually big spenders, very frugal in other parts of our life. But we felt that making the wonderful memories through DVC was worth it.

 

[flying_tigger]

Congrats on your decision, B+G! Best of luck on ROFR, and let us know when you pass!

I have no doubt you'll be happy with your decision. Oh, and one other piece of bad news ... the flight surgeon doesn't have anything for 'add-on-itis'; I've already checked!

Chris

 

[BCVBRUCE]

Blue and Gold,

From a fellow naval officer, congrats. As others have stated, you will not regret your purchase. As far as timing vacations around deployments, I will let you know in a few months. I also purchased into DVC when I first started shore duty a couple of years ago. Now, the detailer has come a callin' and he says it's time to go back to sea. I can't wait! I have missed driving a sub. So, I guess time will tell if DVC and the Fast Attack Submarine life will work. If not, I guess my wife and daughter and new baby will be taking some vacations by themselves over the next couple of years. No regets on the purchase. Thinking about buying more!

Nothing else to add. It has been covered in plenty of detail here. Just wanted to say congrats to another naval officer. You are the first I have come across on these boards.

Have Fun,
Bruce

 

[Blue&Gold]

Will report back when we pass ROFR. (Not if, when...)

Already seeing a sense of community here... Old saying is that it is a small Navy, but it looks like a small DVC as well! Noticed Chim Chiminy is in Brunswick, ME---my last duty station---and BCVBruce is in Summerville, SC, where my wife's Uncle and Cousin are dentists.

Thanks again for the comments and encouragement!

 

[flying_tigger]

Snooper,

There may be more Rapid City DVCers, but you're the first I've seen. Counting down the days ... are we there yet ... are we there yet ...

Chris

 

[Goofyzgurl]

My dad was stationed in Ellsworth and consider it home. Graduated it from Douglas HS. I haven't been back to Rapid City in a while and miss it! It feels like reminicing abouit home whenever I see a south dakota plate around here in Ga. I often wonder how the base is doing and wished I went back for my ten year last year.

 

[xterratri]

Where in GA are you now? I'm splitting my Spring Break between Augusta and Hilton Head Island with most of it actually being spent in Augusta/Ft Gordon so I can check out the ortho residency program at Eisenhower. I was a little dismayed when I saw how far that area of GA is from the mountains but it could be worse(TX anyone?).

 

[poohbear1029]

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in (nothing better to do with this snowstorm!). DH is Active Duty AF and we have found DVC to be great! bought BCV in 2002.... BLue & Gold, I hope you get your BWV...the Epcot Resort area is awesome! We have had great luck. DH current job doesnt have too many surprises, but this fall his leave got pushed out a week, just before the 30 day marker....DVC was great. It was October and Food and Wine, so I was nervous. We were able to squeek a week out at SSR. Not our favorite resort, but we had a great time! Also, on another note...when I talked to Delta Airlines, they switched our flights with no penalties, because DH's leave had been changed due to military orders (and he was only going TDY to TX!)

We have also booked our vacations 11 mos out or as soon as 2 months out...depends on availability and how flexible you are with resort, room size, et.

Only snag we have had so far is we decided to cancel our usual Feb vacation as we are PCSing this summer and want to save $$ for a house hunting trip whereever our destination ends up. So, we pushed out to October again and I already told DH if he cant get leave, I am still going!

SOG is great if you need to add night here or there too....some people dont like to use weekend points (I am sure you can search many threads on that theory, to each his own). We have never stayed at SOG, but have gotten overflow rates at other resorts when we have needed a night here or there. DTD Hilton was great!!! Also, if you need typical "sundries", their gift shop is cheaper for the basics, water, etc....if you arent going off property. During the FUNAI GOlf Classic we also had lunch at the sports bar and it was great and cheaper than WDW!

Dont forget to at least use them for your tickets! NO TAX if you buy them at SOG! As far as the AP's go...check and compare prices...they had a great discounted rate +no tax...but not sure if it still beats the current DVC AP discount!

ooh...also, while they wont confirm they waive the typical penalities for late cancellations, when I have asked the what ifs about deployments, etc, I have always been told, call us, but we cant guarantee. Check into the insurance....I researched once, but found it wouldnt give a great 'return' for what we would lose....and we have been fortunate to have at least 30 days lead time for any changes in DH schedule.

 

[Blue&Gold]

17 days after I started this thread I wanted to report that we've passed ROFR on a BWV contract and are eagerly awaiting the completion of the closing process so we can book our first DVC stay. Thanks again to all for the great info and encouragement.