Alberta DVC Owner

[bjensen25]

I was curious because everywhere I look it seems as though you can only be a DVC owner if you are from the province of Ontario even ordering a cd to explain the vacation club only lets you choose Ontario. Does anyone know if it matters if your from Alberta or can I still buy into Disney Vacation Club.

 

[dlcharbonneau]

I believe that you can buy in - but only when you are in FLA - must be there in person

 

[bbangel]

Disney doesn't have a license to sell anywhere except Ontario. You can buy direct from them in Florida or California, but not while you are in Alberta. You can also buy from a reseller. That is what I am in the process of doing (and it's cheaper too!)

 

[drag n' fly]

I believe that you can buy in - but only when you are in FLA - must be there in person

Also when you are in DL in California.

 

[bjensen25]

o.k well thats good to know I was concerned that I wouldnt be given a chance to even buy, now to convince my wife!!! its usually the wife wanting to go to disneyworld but I seem to like it alot more... go figure

 

[Calgary DISHeads]

Disney doesn't have a license to sell anywhere except Ontario. You can buy direct from them in Florida or California, but not while you are in Alberta. You can also buy from a reseller. That is what I am in the process of doing (and it's cheaper too!)

Did this work out for you? Who did you use? We have put down our initial deposit on AKL and are now mulling it over - but would like BCV as our home -just spent 9 nights at the BC and loved the location. So I'm assuming your reseller was registered in your province?

 

[Ham Ham]

Unless you are planning to stay at Beach Club at peak times, AKV as your home resort should do just fine.

Just my 2 cents. Do what is important to you. If Beach Club Villas is that important to you buy there.

How much a point is BCV going for on the resale market?

We own at AKV and are staying at a 1 bedroom Boardwalk Villas this March break.

Beach Club was sold out of 1 bedrooms and studios

 

[bbangel]

Did this work out for you? Who did you use? We have put down our initial deposit on AKL and are now mulling it over - but would like BCV as our home -just spent 9 nights at the BC and loved the location. So I'm assuming your reseller was registered in your province?

I bought through the Time Share Store (there is a link from the DVC pages on these boards). It is like using a real estate agent.
I had a great experience. They made everything easy and answered all my questions. It ended up being cheaper for me as I only bought 100 points and paid less than what Disney was charging.
If you really want a certain resort or a certain amount of points, just tell the agent what you are looking for and they will contact you when they have what you are looking for.
Best advice I got when I started was buy where you want to stay!

 

[Calgary DISHeads]

Unless you are planning to stay at Beach Club at peak times, AKV as your home resort should do just fine.

Just my 2 cents. Do what is important to you. If Beach Club Villas is that important to you buy there.

How much a point is BCV going for on the resale market?

We own at AKV and are staying at a 1 bedroom Boardwalk Villas this March break.

Beach Club was sold out of 1 bedrooms and studios

We have passed on AKV - and are now looking at resale for both BCV and WV (100 points each). Price depends on lots of factors - whether it has points available for immed. use etc and how many points but it looks around $90 a point for BC and $88 for WV. I really hate spending time on the buses on holiday, even going from AKL to AK we waited 20 minutes for a bus, and with AKV you have to take a bus everywhere (we never drive down there) with both WV and BCV there are more options. As our kids are now older, 13 and 10 we are limited to peak times so in order to get into either resort we will need to own there. Our rep is great, the only regret I have is that he doesn't get his commission. Although to be fair, we are still playing around with the idea of 225 points at AKL with 160 free - didn't know that deal was there when we were down there, but it looks as if we could make it work from a visit to Ontario. I don't know!! I'm so torn, DH is fine with whatever I do, he trusts me but what a decision to make!

 

[epicureangirl]

If you buy from Disney, you can't do it from home. I just bought Beach Club Villas resale through GMAC. Everything was done by e-mail, phone, fax and Canada Post.

I paid $88 per point (which I think is one of the best deals so far), on a 150 point contract with the 2007 points and beyond still available. If you hold out for a good contract, you could find one with loaded points.... 2007, 2008 and 2009 points still in tact would be fantastic!

I love AKL (haven't stayed in the Villas), but the location of Beach Club couldn't be beat for proximity to Epcot and MGM. I was showing my daughter pictures of the resorts when I was leaning towards choosing Boardwalk as our home resort, and she said to me "but THAT one (BCV) is so much nicer"! I think she couldn't live without trying out Storm Along Bay, and with no-pool-hopping we would have to own there (or be VERY lucky at the 7 month mark).

Good luck.

 

[joech]

Although to be fair, we are still playing around with the idea of 225 points at AKL with 160 free - didn't know that deal was there when we were down there, but it looks as if we could make it work from a visit to Ontario. I don't know!! I'm so torn, DH is fine with whatever I do, he trusts me but what a decision to make!

We stayed at AKL this past Christmas and looked in DVC but were not convinced it was a good deal for us. Can you further explain the 225 points with 160 free deal. Thank you

 

[Ham Ham]

When we bought this past October on a Disney Cruise the incentives were the following.

At the start of the Cruise:

Minimum purchase of 160 points Points were $104 USD. With the following options.

• $8 off a point

or

• Free. eequivalent number of extra points that must be used within on year of purchase. EG. if you bought 160 you received 160, 225 you receive 225, 320 receive 320.

Mid way through the cruise the above incentives were still an option and DVC added these to your choice. Minimum purchase of 225 points Points were $104 USD.

• 160 extra points, must be used within 1 year & 8 dollars off a point

Don't know if those offers are still current. Call DVC directly and ask them about what's on the table.
Here's the members services number and they can put you in touch with a DVC Guide (salesperson).
800.800.9800

Home resort is really a personal preference.

We choose AKV because we really like the vibe at the Hotel. Also the full 50 years of points was a great bonus.

If a little bit longer bus ride drives you up the wall, AKV is not for you.

There is something to be said about being able to walk to some of the parks from BCV & BWV.

Our children are 13 & 9 and we usually travel at the end of August and at March break. This arch Break we are staying at Beach Club Villas and had no problem getting a 1 bedroom villa.

We plan to stay this summer at AKV & the HH resort

We've stayed at Saratoga Springs and were lucky enough to get a room within a short walking distance to the main pool. We really like how close we were to DD.

 

[drag n' fly]

You cannot request any information from DVC (direct purchase including add ons) if you live outside of Ontario. They are not licensed to sell in Alberta and cannot give you any info. We bought at Disneyland in November (we live in Calgary)at AKV. You will need to be in Ontario or travel to a Disney Park to get all the info and sign the papers. The incentives offered at the time were:

160 points: 8 dollars off a point OR 160 developer points

200 points: 8 dollars off a point OR 160 developer points AND 2
free annual passes to WDW or DL

225 points: 8 dollars off a point AND 160 developer points AND 2
free annual passes for WDW or DL with a referral from a present DVC member in good standing.

Since we bought our contract at DL we also received founding members or first rights to purchase at the new GCV being built at DL.

We received a 100 dollar gift card for taking the tour as we were staying at the GC at the time HTH

 

[Calgary DISHeads]

We stayed at AKL this past Christmas and looked in DVC but were not convinced it was a good deal for us. Can you further explain the 225 points with 160 free deal. Thank you

This deal was not offered to us over Christmas, but I found out after on the DVC boards here. If you know a DVC member (easy to get a name off these boards), and you purchase 225 points, you will get $8 off per point and 160 free developer points. Apart from the standard $8 off at AKV and $10 off at SS that was all that was offered at DW. I understand from numerous posts that offers are different at other places ie: DL and DCL. After much soul searching and investigating both DVC direct and resale we have decided that the DVC is not for us, we are choosing to put our money elsewhere. Doesn't mean that we won't go back, just not as DVC members. And yes, if you wish to purchase Ontario is your closest point to do so. Good luck! It wasn't an easy decision for us either. If we had of done it, or decided in the future to do it BCV would be our hands down choice. We really, really loved the hotel, pool and the location.

 

[dvcdisney]

We used to live in Ontario and that's when we first became DVC members. Then we moved to another province. When we wanted to purchase more points we were told that the only way we can is if we are physically in Orlando and then there's no problem. I didn't have much problem with this since we go twice a year.

HOWEVER, the offer for the Tapestry for AKV came along with the purchase of 150 pts, limited time offer (expired before we went on our next vacation) and I tried everything I could to find out how I could get this. Needless to say, we couldn't and we waited until our next vacation (May 2007) and ended up purchasing less points. Of course when we went again in October 2007 - there were no real offers other than the same $8 off.

THEN, now they are offering a free vacation (points) if we purchase more points. Of course, if we want to take advantage of this, we couldn't until we get there. Unfortunately, it's likely it will expire before we get there.

 

[calgarygary]

I'm probably going to be in the minority here, but I'm going to suggest buying outside Orlando in a quality resort within one of the major hotel systems such as Marriott or Starwood. As you live in Alberta, you may or may not be going to Disney every year but it is very certain that you will not be breaking up your points to do multiple short visits so you will not be able to take advantage of that feature of DVC. What many DVC members are not aware of, is that a quality timeshare located outside Orlando will pull DVC at almost any time of year outside of the busiest periods (Christmas, Easter, etc.) when you likely won't want to experience the crowds.

If you were to look at eBay, a recent Westin Kierland (Starwood) sold for $5325. That was for a 2 bedroom lockoff that could get you 2 separate weeks at a DVC through II or you could use the 81,000 staroptions for trading within the Starwood system. The same value within DVC would cost you at least 4X as much money with higher annual maintenance fees.

Not buying DVC does mean you won't have the reduced AP and other deals but if you were to take the difference and invest it in a GIC you would certainly be able to pay for the savings you lose out on.

Many DVC'ers know that it is one of the very few timeshares that have actually increased in value but by buying through eBay, you have allowed the typical decrease in value to be taken by others.