Any Timeshare Owners??

[fehr4jesus]

I Am Just Wondering If There Are Any Timeshare Owners Here And If So Who Are You With?? My Husband And I Are With Wyndham( Use To Be Named Fairfields)...

 

[Starr W.]

We're DVC'ers, with 2 home resorts. Did research fractional ownership types(you get 3-4 weeks per yr) up in Northern MI, didn't buy. We liked the flexibility of the DVC system and the ability to add-on points if we need to.

 

[fehr4jesus]

Umm ..we Have Never Heard Of That One.where Are You Located?have You Ever Heard Of Wyndham? Use To Be Fairfields.we Really Love It.

 

[NJtoATL]

I own a timeshare property in the Poconos - Shawnee and I own a timeshare property in Orlando area - Star Island. Enjoy owning both. I use the Shawnee to trade and I usually stay at Star Island every year. Last summer my husband and I almost bought one in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Decided not to because it is out of the country and it is not a deeded property.

Good luck with your decision. The only advice I will give is buy the property as a resale. I learned the hard way. I paid about $17,000 for both of mine (I mean in all). Some places charge $20,000 for an unit. No timeshare is worth that amount of money.

 

[NJtoATL]

I forgot to mention that I was able to trade into a Disney property. It is difficult to do but not impossible. We were able to stay at OKW in 2004.

Good luck!

 

[mom2LLN]

My husband and I have been talking about buying into the DVC. We've recently had our third child and the DVC will probably fit our needs better in the coming years. For those of you who are already members, would you recommend it to others? Are there a lot of advantages to being a DVC member?

 

[In Luv with Disney]

The only advice I will give is buy the property as a resale. I learned the hard way. I paid about $17,000 for both of mine (I mean in all). Some places charge $20,000 for an unit. No timeshare is worth that amount of money.

I cannot echo your statement enough! We bought ALL three of our timeshare weeks via the developer. Granted, we got a great deal on our 1st 2 weeks...way below the market! We paid full retail for our 3rd week...and THEN I found TUGBBS.com!!!! I found out that I could've bought my same week resale for a third of the price. WHO KNEW???

Anyway, as I was saying, I have three weeks. One with Sheraton Vistana Resort LAKES, one with Sheraton Vistana Resort CASCADES, and one with Sheraton Vistana Villages. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Starwood program!!!!! I couldn't be happier with our purchases, really. We have gotten MULTIPLE VILLAS at the Atlantis every year for the past 5 years! We have MORE than made our $$ back, just with those ressies alone.

In a year or so, I totally plan to buy more timeshares within the Starwood Network as well. And POSSIBLY a small DVC contract!!!

 

[I'mNoPrince]

My husband and I have been talking about buying into the DVC. We've recently had our third child and the DVC will probably fit our needs better in the coming years. For those of you who are already members, would you recommend it to others? Are there a lot of advantages to being a DVC member?

Our only regret is not purchasing several years ago when we took our first tour. Money just wasn't right then but looking on what we spent anyhow it could have been done.

Best thing is your on-sight at Delux resort for a fraction of the cost. Flexablity if you can book 11 months or 7months in advance
is a real plus. discount on the APs right now is good as well.

We just came back from BCV and we would have never been able to justify staying there before DVC. We also love our Home resort of SSR as well and can't wait to try all the others.

We looked into others as well and even though they were cheaper, we just thought DVC was for us.

 

[bunny213]

We have four weeks (2 in the spring and 2 in the fall) at Orange Lake on 192, and I just love them. We never trade. No surprises, and we always enjoy our vacations so much. Have to agree with the "buy resale", that's the only way to go now because they've all gotten so high. We bought years and years ago...couldn't do it now - but I'm so glad that we did then! Make sure it's deeded, and be aware of yearly maintenance fees. Come on October...I'm ready to go!!! Barb

 

[Starr W.]

Umm ..we Have Never Heard Of That One.where Are You Located?have You Ever Heard Of Wyndham? Use To Be Fairfields.we Really Love It.

DVC=Disney Vacation Club. We own at Saratoga Springs(at WDW) and the location at Vero Beach.

We love the points and I think we have figured the system out . We'll be at SSR for Thanksgiving, Beach Club Villas for MLK weekend, then Easter week at Vero Beach. All 2br villas and the trips very in length(6,4.6 nights). Plus we just did 5/5-5/8 at Wilderness Lodge Villas.

 

[Stimpy]

DVC members here too I never thought we would own any timeshare until we bought our DVC a few years ago. I love the flexiblity of it! With other timeshares, we just couldn't get over the 1 set week thing. I know alot of timeshares aren't like that anymore but it still stuck in my mind. We're very happy with our DVC membership.

 

[Mrs Potato Head]

DVC'ers here too! Bought in Jan 06 when we'd finally had enough of staying in my in-laws offsite timeshare in Orlando. Even though we had been able to use it for free from them, it was too inconvenient to use for us and didn't give us a lot of flexibility for rooms. We always need two bedrooms when we travel with our boys (20 and 17) and it was hard to find those on trades even with my in-laws top tier status of what they owned. The two bedroom units go fast with other timeshares!

DVC is so flexible, and perfect for us. I was able to go 6 times between May 06 and May 07 with our initial 305 pts..using a variety of room configurations and staying in a variety of the locations on property.

We love our DVC and I will probably get more points out of my DH in the coming year or two....

 

[Desnik]

Another DVC member here! We own at SSR and AKL!! My only regret is not buying sooner!! I can't believe the vacations we can take and how often we can go! The flexibility is fantastic! I don't have to go away the same time every year in the same size unit at the same resort! I can and have done 2-3 trips a year in a studio, or 1 bedroom, for 5 nights, 3 nights, at the BW, or Vero, or SSR! To me that is the biggest advantage, then add to that you are on Disney property, in a deluxe resort, and you get a big discount off of AP's, 10% off discounts on some things like disneyshopping.com, the spa at the GF, 20% off at the spa at SSR, and there are other perks, but that isn't why we bought in. We were going to WDW every year and saw ourselves doing that for many more years. We loved the deluxe resorts and it was just a perfect fit for us.

 

[eliza61]

My husband and I have been talking about buying into the DVC. We've recently had our third child and the DVC will probably fit our needs better in the coming years. For those of you who are already members, would you recommend it to others? Are there a lot of advantages to being a DVC member?

We are DVC's also. Our home resort is the BCV's. Yes I would recommend it to others. Not sure about the advantages. The main advantage would be that we get to go to Disney often. We do get discounts on AP's, restaurants and disney shops but they are perks not guarentees.

 

[all4fun]

We're DVC members too - you'll probably find a lot of us here on the Dis! I think the main benefit of being a DVC member is being able to vacation at WDW and always stay on property. You can trade w/an outside timeshare to stay at DVC but it's not easy. We love to vacation at WDW so DVC is ideal for us. If you like to go to a lot of other places then another timeshare might work better for you. You can trade DVC points thru Interval International though so it's pretty flexible if you want to vacation somewhere else. Not that we've tried, lol.

Oh and we also own some Worldmark the Club points w/MIL which we hardly ever use.

 

[crisi]

My husband and I have been talking about buying into the DVC. We've recently had our third child and the DVC will probably fit our needs better in the coming years. For those of you who are already members, would you recommend it to others? Are there a lot of advantages to being a DVC member?

The only guarenteed benefit to DVC is prepaying the vacation and therefore getting pretty good rates on pretty nice accomodations. There are a few perks - but they are subject to change and should not be a consideration when buying - currently there is a pretty nice discount on annual passes. There are a few dining discounts.

Downsides - its an expensive timeshare - if you are happy being off property Orlando has a ton of timeshares that you can buy resale for much less and pay less in dues each year. It ties you to Disney. It also becomes very easy to spend MORE as a DVC member than you did before. Suddenly you are booking bigger rooms, taking guests, your cash flow changes with no hotel bill immediately in front of you and you go to Cirque. Trading out of DVC - even into things like Disney Cruiseline is not often a "good value." If you can't plan at least several months in advance, DVC may not be a good deal (October availability for this year is pretty much booked up - as is most of December already). If you like the thrill of the bargain (i.e. this years Free Dining promotion) DVC may not be a good choice.

I would recommend it if you go to Disney every year or every other year, if you normally stay in Deluxes, if you can afford it without stretching whatsoever, if you want to have multiroom units, and if you can transition from hotel to timeshare (no daily housekeeping, for instance), if you plan several months in advance. I would not recommend it if it was a financial stretch, if you were happy in values or perhaps moderates, if you are happy offsite, or if you don't go to WDW every year or every other year.

 

[THE-ELLA'SMOM]

I was hoping to get some insight, I am staying at the star island for 2 weeks in Nov, I read some unfavorable reviews. One review even mentioned roaches. Please make me feel better!?!?!?!

 

[Janet Hill]

I don't like Star Island. It's not so bad, it's just that there are so many better resorts in Orlando. My biggest complaint is the less than friendly staff. We own Fairfield and have stayed at the other FF resorts in Orlando (Bonnet Creek and Cypress Palms), and just enjoy these two resorts a lot more.

 

[mom2LLN]

Thanks for all of the replies. We usually go twice a year, one small trip and one week long trip or longer. We do enjoy the free dining and will be going again during that time this year. My husband has been doing most of the DVC research and he sees the greatest benefit after our youngest is older than 3. However, alot of people say they regret not buying it earlier than they did.

 

[Love the Mouse]

We are DVC members as well...Wilderness Lodge is our Home Resort. We both LOVE being a part of the Disney Family! We have consistently taken 2 trips a year since we bought 6 years ago. Our only regret...we didn't know about it sooner.

We will be trying out Disneyland in a few months and can't wait. We LOVE the flexibility of the membership and we would NEVER be able to stay in the resorts that we stay in, whether it be a studio OR 1 BR.

Now we are able to go on vacation with our daughter and I don't worry about paying extra for a hotel...and I love that we can also take her on the Disney Crusie as well.

You can't be it...and it's Disney. Now if I can just add on some more points! Soon.


But, I would recommend the DVC to anyone who is thinking about a timeshare!