Canadian DVC Members?

[jburns]

Anyone in here a DVC member from the Great White North? Just wanted to see what you thought about the program since (A) we're father away (b) can you write off Florida property taxes?

Thanks all... any impressions you have would be great. Heading down in a month and looking to buy into the program.

J

 

[madonna31]

I have but one regret about purchasing.

I wish I bought sooner.

 

[dsneygirl]

No regrets here. But we only live 1 hour from Buffalo so can fly for cheap. Paying $400/person would influence my decision.

No you cannot write off your property taxes.

 

[jburns]

I usually drive.. just with the little guy and busy trips I like having the car handy. I think flying out of Buffalo with be a for sure thing to do in the future. It's only 2 hours away max. There is also the Rochester ferry from Toronto.. that might get me to an airport quicker as well.. never really looked.

 

[Questforthemouse]

Hi jburns,

Too tired to think right now but I'll post tomorrow. Just bought DVC in October. Did a couple months of research, ran a number of scenarios, crunched numerous numbers. Be glad to share my thoughts after a good sleep .

Cheers...

 

[Scratch42]

I usually drive.. just with the little guy and busy trips I like having the car handy. I think flying out of Buffalo with be a for sure thing to do in the future. It's only 2 hours away max. There is also the Rochester ferry from Toronto.. that might get me to an airport quicker as well.. never really looked.

FYI, ferry no longer runs from TO to Rochester!

As for DVC, if you travel to WDW at least once every two years, then it's a good start!

I've also used points to stay in NYC and will be using points to go to DLP next summer!

No complaints here!

j

 

[explorer1977]

Glad we joined and can't wait to add more. We researched for over two years and bought in by resale last spring but we wish we would have bought in sooner. We just started small and added on another small contract after closing.

 

[sean-1966]

We love our DVC membership. We can leave home at 5 am and be in the parks by noon. Flights out of Buffalo are pretty cheap so we only have to worry about the cost of food and park tickets. Makes those quick trips pretty affordable. We actually flew down and stayed at OKW for 5 days on 2 weeks notice. We started out with 160 points, but have added on 3 times. Total points 380, and that's all she wrote!!

 

[tigger2on]

We too are DVC members.... fly out of Buffalo because it's a 1 hour drive and soooo much cheaper!
However... bad news is there is no Ferry anymore between Rochester and Toronto... not enough interest and way too much expense on both side so they ditched it.. Sorry (

 

[jburns]

No more Ferry... I thought I heard it had started again. Oh well... once hockey season starts I pretty much shut down to all outside news aside from TSN and Sportsnet! Looking forward to the vacatio, DVC Tour, and then buying into the program! My wife and I have been discussing and I think this is really the plan to go for us.

 

[Daddio]

We too are DVC members. The downside is 'you always want to go more'.

Be sure to get in on the friends and family discount before you purchase. By supplying a DVC member as a referral you can save up to $15.00 per point.

 

[ont/ohana]

Bought in 2005, only regret as mentioned earlier, should have bought sooner. We are only a hour from Buffalo and grab cheap flights, 4 of us for $550usd. Our whole family enjoys Disney and this just gives us more reason to go. Only been back for 5 days and already counting the days to our March trip. This can be addictive!

 

[bdtracey]

I would really love to become a DVC member...as you can see below DW and I have only been once and she was the big Disney fan before...now I'm totally hooked!

The only thing that really holds us back from going is the cost of airline tickets. Decent tickets are still close to $550 CDN round trip per person. If we could find them cheaper it would make it so much easier to go. Now that WestJet has come out with their direct flights it might make things easier but we'll have to see.

Heck, we're still renting an apartment and want to become DVC members. Maybe we should focus on getting a permanent property before we get a vacation property.

 

[minniemomof3]

We became members this past August and are very happy with our decision. We are about 1 hour away from Buffalo and are able to get cheap flights down.

 

[hematite153]

The only thing that really holds us back from going is the cost of airline tickets. Decent tickets are still close to $550 CDN round trip per person. If we could find them cheaper it would make it so much easier to go. Now that WestJet has come out with their direct flights it might make things easier but we'll have to see.

If you are willing to drive a bit, you could fly from the US. I know that you don't have the ease of a close american airport but the taxes associated with crossing the border by plane are quite high. I did a quick search with southwest and they fly from spokane (about an 8 hour drive) for $270 return. Frontier Airlines flies to both Billings (9 hr drive) and Orlando and there are probably some other choices.

Good luck with the decision.

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

Only regrets we had are that we didn't buy sooner and that we didn't originally buy more points - we will buy more but not until I have the cash to do it!

 

[jburns]

I called my sales rep the other day and I have a package of resale stuff coming in the mail. I'm currently using 250 points on this trip down but that gives me almost 12 nights in villas and 3 nights on the cruise. If I wasn't doing the cruise I could be down there for another 2 weeks. It's actually AMAZING to see how far you can stretch those points out. Since we Canadians travel in the off-season (to find some sun and warmth) this just becomes a totally great deal.

I'm still thinking of just buying the basic level of 150 points only from a pure financial point of view... when I have more funds I'll purchase more as my family grows. I'll have a better idea when I read all the info (still waiting for my DVC package)

I love the idea of having a large part of my yearly family vacation covered... along with the DVC flexability. I just wish you could own it for life.

J

 

[cpbjgc]

We bought 100 points through resale (being in Manitoba, we could only buy from Disney if we are actually in Florida) and have been very happy. Our plan was to buy enough points go every two years (even though we are already breaking that rule ) as we like to travel to other places than just Disney scared1: shocking, I know!). Now that our son will be heading to middle school, we are probably going to start going during school breaks instead of off-season, so its good to know we have a lock in on accomodations at a much lower than rack rate price going forward.

 

[belle1627]

We just bought a small contract through The TSS and it was passed, we are so excited that we bought and am sure we will be saving our pennies to add on. We aren't far from Buffalo so we can get cheap flights and we aren't opposed to driving. We knew that we would be going down yearly so it made sense to get into it.

 

[Disney_Mama]

We bought in 2005 and took our frist DVC vacation in 2006. It was by far the best Disney vactaion we had ever had. DVC was the best vacation investment we have ever made.