closed at the VGF

AndyMil

Earning My Ears
Joined
Nov 9, 2012
Hi guys,

I live in the UK and I am really excited to say that I have closed at the VGF!!

I just wanted to share my decision making process to see if others are/were thinking the same as us when they purchased from the UK...

We have only purchased a fairly small DVC membership but for me there were a few big factors other than the actual 'time share' element of it that made me want to do it:

Firstly, actually owning a piece of the WDW Resort is a great feeling. More so as the GF is where I stayed with my wife on honeymoon and it has a lot of great memories for us. The VGF was a big motivation for us, and even though we may not stay there all the time, knowing this is my home resort is a good feeling- though i know this may make booking at other resorts slightly harder at 7 months out. Perhaps I have chosen the VGF more with my heart than brains when it comes to actually visiting WDW??! I know perhaps buying at AKV where the points needed per night are a lot less might have been wiser?

Also, after years of going to the DVC sales talks on DCL and the parks and deciding it probably wasn't for us or the cost was a little too much, we decided to take the plunge and now I have done it I am really, really pleased! When Disney sell the DVC they base your 'break even' on the current room prices for the DVC resorts. I always thought that they missed the point that actually some of the value resorts are excellent and booking a value resort for say 14 nights was sometimes cheaper than just the dues on DVC for a year! However, we love staying in a different Disney resort each time and want to try and get around all of them. I thought that over the years this might actually be a cost effective way of been able to do that.

On the downside, one thing that kept me up at night was the thought of having to pay the annual dues no matter what for 50 years. This is quite daunting but I do think as long as I go every other year I can claw some of the dues back on the discounts offered through the DVC, e.g. park tickets, merchandise, etc...

Also, from experience on DCL and the parks, DVC members certainly seem to be treated and welcomed like royalty by Disney and been able to now visit as a DVC member makes me really excited. I can't wait to do my first stay as a DVC member! Especially at the VGF as they really do look special.

Finally, the DVC cast members were fantastic- helpful, honest and up front and answered all our questions. Judy Kaufman was our rep and I can't praise her enough, I have seen her name come up on here in a few posts saying how great she is.

Well, thats it- sorry to have gone on for a while, i am sure you can tell we are really excited about our dvc membership!!

Andy
 
Congratulations and welcome to the DVC family. We've been members for several years and love it.
 
Congratulations, we love our DVC and don't regret any aspect of our purchase other than we would have liked more points! We have 234 points at AKV.
 
Congratulations Andy and welcome to a very magical membership which we've never regretted and wish we had done it earlier.

Regarding your statement 'On the downside, one thing that kept me up at night was the thought of having to pay the annual dues no matter what for 50 years'

We found there's more flexibility with dues if you can get into the position of pre-paying them.

A few years ago we managed to pay our dues in full in the January and then over the following 12-months phoned Member Accounting (MA) every few months and made a payment, so come the following January we had either paid most, all or even more than the amount we owed.

We would transfer sterling into dollars when we were happy with the rate and pay MA using our US Dollar account with a debit card.

This January after the dues for 2013 were paid we were $98 in credit.

We recently read on the US DVC DisBoards how members were receiving a 5% discount when paying their annual dues and after a little investigation managed to arrange getting the same discount.

So far this year we have paid another $1,000 towards next years dues and it's cost us $950 and that to us is a better saving ($50) than any interest ($8) that we could have earned and will also help if the exchange rate reduces over a long period.

Anyway Andy, if not already done so look into opening a US dollar account as it makes life a little easier, there's a few threads on opening a US account, one is at http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2088394&highlight=us+account and if you have any questions then post a new thread.

And happy planning for your first home resort stay at The Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa (looks and sounds a little better than VGF)
 


We love our DVC and have also just added on a small amount at VGF. I have been thinking about this since 1998 seriously since 2006 and it is the right decision for us. The best thing is leaving WDW is so much easier now as we know we will be back.
 
Thanks guys for all your responses, especially Samaya with the info on bank accounts, very useful info.

also, thanks for all the welcomes, it does feel like we have moved into a new home and the neighbours are all welcoming us, so thanks DVC neighbours!!

Finally, I really think this forum is great, especially for UK residents!
 


Congratulations Andy and welcome to a very magical membership which we've never regretted and wish we had done it earlier.

Regarding your statement 'On the downside, one thing that kept me up at night was the thought of having to pay the annual dues no matter what for 50 years'

We found there's more flexibility with dues if you can get into the position of pre-paying them.

A few years ago we managed to pay our dues in full in the January and then over the following 12-months phoned Member Accounting (MA) every few months and made a payment, so come the following January we had either paid most, all or even more than the amount we owed.

We would transfer sterling into dollars when we were happy with the rate and pay MA using our US Dollar account with a debit card.

This January after the dues for 2013 were paid we were $98 in credit.

We recently read on the US DVC DisBoards how members were receiving a 5% discount when paying their annual dues and after a little investigation managed to arrange getting the same discount.

So far this year we have paid another $1,000 towards next years dues and it's cost us $950 and that to us is a better saving ($50) than any interest ($8) that we could have earned and will also help if the exchange rate reduces over a long period.

Anyway Andy, if not already done so look into opening a US dollar account as it makes life a little easier, there's a few threads on opening a US account, one is at http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2088394&highlight=us+account and if you have any questions then post a new thread.

And happy planning for your first home resort stay at The Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa (looks and sounds a little better than VGF)

So how did they get the discount ? monthly direct debit ?
 
Congratulations and Welcome home :goodvibes

We love our membership for the rooms we get to stay in however as a word of caution - DVC members are not given any special treatment at WDW.

Yes we get a merchandise discount, an AP discounts and a few sundry discounts but that's about it.

However for us the beauty of DVC is in the rooms - we now stay in nothing less than a 1 bedroom for 3 of us. I love my kitchen and the laundry. I love sleeping in a separate room from DD. I wouldn't be able to afford the cash prices for BLT which is our home resort every year.
 
So how did they get the discount ? monthly direct debit ?

We make the saving on our annual dues by paying with Disney gift cards which we buy at a 5% discount, so a $100 gift card cost us $95.

We just call Member Accounting, say we've paying a partial payment with Disney gift cards and just give them the number and value of the card or cards.

One month we might credit $100 while a few months later it could be $250 and found that spreading the payments has been a lot easier to manage.

It takes about 24-hours to show up online in our dues statement and it's listed as a 2013 credit like this <$1,097.99> which will get carried over in January towards our 2014 dues.

We've also used them to buy the Disney dinning plan and hope to use them to pay staggered amounts towards our next Disney Cruise.

Unfortunately you can't go online and buy these cards, but if any UK DVC member who has a US dollar bank account either based in the UK or US and is interested in more info and making the same 5% saving then please send a PM.

Samaya.
 
Congratulations and Welcome Home:cool1:

I never thought I would like to buy at the Gf but having visited the hotel in the summer and seeing what is being built it really looks so tempting:goodvibes

Would love to know more about this 5% discount for gift cards/dues.
 

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