Common Owners - DVC and Bonnet Creek-Buena Vista

[hayesdvc]

Have you purchased DVC and then later on purchased to stay at the "Disney" Bonnet Creek (or vice versa)?

What went into the reasons in making this decision?

What tips could you give ?

Pluses and Minuses ?

 

[chalee94]

I have a different offsite timeshare - the main issues are the same as for any onsite/offsite debate:

Onsite has certain perks like EMH and DME and keeps you inside the disney bubble but costs a lot more.

Offsite means more space for much less money.

 

[ziravan]

I own DVC and Wyndham points I can use at Bonnet Creek. It's cheaper to buy other Wyndham points in the system and use them at BC, something I've never had an issue with when I book reasonably far out.

We love both.

You can't beat Disney theming and proximity and onsite perks (transportation etc).

But. BC is also very close and for what we paid for our Wyndham points (almost nothing on resale market), we can stay in nice, big rooms for very cheap.

We hoard our DVC points in studios for our family of 4 and use our Wyndham points at BC when we want to spread out in 1 and 2 BRs.

Plus. BC allows us to bring family members without burning through all our DVC points.

BC helps us use our DVC points better.

 

[Dean]

Have you purchased DVC and then later on purchased to stay at the "Disney" Bonnet Creek (or vice versa)?

What went into the reasons in making this decision?

What tips could you give ?

Pluses and Minuses ?

IMO, a better question for most is why look at non Disney timeshares in general. DVC is a specialty item that's mostly only reasonable if one values staying on property and is willing to pay more for it. The other component that adds value is the flexibility of different length of stays, unit types, timing and the like. DVC is poor for non park trips and for park trips for DL unless one owns there and can reserve in the home priority window. Other timeshares are a far better value, more flexible for non DVC trips and far better for exchanging. Of course how each compares varies with the needs/desires of a given person and their physical location. Each one is different. Wyndham, Bluegreen and Worldmark likely offer some of the best value and flexibility and are all points mini systems. Marriott weeks is cheaper than DVC in many situations and though less flexible in some ways, offers some great values for many situations and for many is likely the best choice. Marriott Trust points is more flexible in some ways but costs more to get into and has volume availability issues for many resorts. As for owning in Orlando to use, this is often not the best option. RCI points can be a great trade tool but requires a lot of effort to find the best option/value. Owning in Orlando often takes away the ability to trade to DVC or at least complicates it which is one of the best options for DVC owners looking at alternatives. Orlando is EASY to trade to with planning and easy to trade to much of the time on fairly short notice so owning there is generally not necessary unless you need the few weeks that are difficult or want a larger villa (3 BR or greater). Owning DVC and non DVC requires a certain volume of none DVC to make it reasonable. I'd say that one needs to plan something equivalent to a 2BR once a year or more to make owning a timeshare reasonable in general when looking at non DVC timeshares. There are some specialty situations not that dissimilar to buying DVC 25 pts mostly for the perks but one would need to gain a significant amount of knowledge before going that route. There definitely is an economy of scale. One system may be great for one person and horrible for the next.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We also own two flex weeks at a HGVC affiliate. We had a slight issue this year with our one week (a gold week). We were able to get 14 nights in Orlando and Marco Island with our one week. 4 nights Tuscany Villas on I-Drive in a one bedroom (four persons only) in January, five nights in Parc Soliel studio (two people only) in May and five nights at Charter Club in Marco Island two bedroom (six people only) in Sept. I think the biggest difference is the number of guests allowed in the rooms, less for HGVC than DVC.

 

[ScubaCat]

We hoard our DVC points in studios for our family of 4 and use our Wyndham points at BC when we want to spread out in 1 and 2 BRs.

Plus. BC allows us to bring family members without burning through all our DVC points.

BC helps us use our DVC points better.

I'd stay at BCV with DVC points and put the extended family at the Wyndham. That'll keep enough space between us for my own comfort and sanity.

 

[JimMIA]

Have you purchased DVC and then later on purchased to stay at the "Disney" Bonnet Creek (or vice versa)?

What went into the reasons in making this decision?

We bought Wyndham (resale for virtually nothing) after owning DVC for about 7 years, and the reason we bought it was the very limited nature of DVC that Dean mentioned above. DVC is great for WDW, but elsewhere it is quite limited and it's a very expensive vehicle to use for exchanging. We purchased the rough equivalent of 600-700 DVC points in Wyndham resale for a little less than $2,000 including all closing and transfer costs. So it was a nominal purchase.

Wyndham gives us more than 100 resorts that we can use in more than 60 locations in the US. We did a great AZ trip last year for two weeks, with 11 of the 14 nights at great Wyndham resorts in Sedona and Flagstaff. We have spent full weeks with 11 extended family members in three side-by-side 2 BRs at Great Smoky Mountains (our home resort)...using almost exactly one full year's points. One of my daughters will be at Star Island (Kissimmee) next week, following the other adult daughter's trip there last month. Both of those were last-minute bookings. We've all stayed at Bonnet Creek. I have two reservations in October at Old Town Alexandria, and just this morning canceled a stay at Smuggler's Notch VT. For next summer, we are looking at San Francisco and some other resorts in N California.

We've also used Wyndham/RCI to exchange back into an OKW 2 BR for a week in mid-December 2013, for just over half the cost of using our OKW points. (But those days are gone -- 1BR exchanges are doable, but nobody's reported a DVC 2BR since Nov 2014.) We also exchanged into two 1BRs on Cape Cod in October a couple of years ago.

One caution about exchanging -- I personally would never purchase ANY timeshare for the purpose of exchanging. Timeshare exchanges are always a moving target and unless you REALLY know what you're doing, buying something to exchange with is only for those who eat, sleep, and breathe timeshares, IMHO.

What tips could you give ?

Go to school. The main difference between timeshare systems is that they are different. Very different...and some of them are much more complex than DVC. It's not impossible to compare one timeshare system to others, but it's tricky and those are ballpark comparisons at best. You have to really study them from two perspectives: the vacation alternatives they provide and the nuts and bolts of how the systems are used by owners -- and most importantly, how those details will work for your family. Just because something works great for me doesn't mean it will work well for your family.

The first, and overriding, thing I would look at is the locations offered by a timeshare system. It doesn't matter how cheap it is to get into if you can't use the darn thing for any vacations you want to take!

The second thing I would look at is cost -- and not just purchase cost. Look also at the annual cost of MF's and additional fees. One of the ways Wyndham is more complex than DVC is they have little nickel and dime charges for several things -- reservations beyond a certain number, Guest Confirmations if I reserve for a non-owner guest, etc. On the bright side, in five years of ownership, I've never paid a penny for any of those charges.

The third thing is the mechanics of using the system. Every system is different, and sometimes the devil is in the details. Can you use your timeshare to reserve stays at non-home resorts...and more important, are those options realistic in the real world? Some systems yes, some no, others yes, but... So you have to know how the system works -- inside and out. And, to make it even more fun, some systems have more than one type of membership within the system -- with different rules, benefits, and drawbacks.

Pluses and Minuses ?

For us -- with a Wyndham resale contract -- the benefits are huge flexibility and lower cost. The flexibility is not only the 100+ resorts, but also the way the system functions. "Credit Pooling" -- which is Wyndham's approach to banking/borrowing -- allows us to bank points for three years. Their cancellation policies are both more lenient and more stringent than DVC's (cancel prior to 15 days vs 30 -- BUT if you cancel within 15 days you lose the points entirely). Cost-wise, we pay a little over $2000 per year in MFs; with 600-700 DVC points, we'd be paying well north of $3000. (of course, we could be paying much more with Wyndham too, but we own a relatively low-MF home resort).

The other plus for us is that with Wyndham, we have a FULL individual membership in RCI included in our MFs. That's not a big deal, but it's not insignificant either. Two summers ago, we used an RCI Last Call to spend a full week in a Kissimmee resort 1 BR for $225 total, including the resort fee.

 

[JimMIA]

I'd stay at BCV with DVC points and put the extended family at the Wyndham. That'll keep enough space between us for my own comfort and sanity.

Depends on the family. Most of my extended family, I would book next door if I could -- or even with us in a 3 BR at Reunion.

But there are a couple where I would put us at OKW (our fave DVC) and them on Kauai (with them paying the airfare)!