Confused and Feel Uneasy...

[BrettCo]

lol, that is a good way of putting it.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

I don't know about waiting two years before buying but figuring out how the eleventh month window works would be a good idea. If you stay over by the MK normally then a unit over by DTD may not be what you really want. Just because you could trade SSR for VWL or BLT doesn't mean you'd be able to. Buy where you want to stay unless you can't make reservations more than 7 months in advance.

 

[JimMIA]

Being a Disney fan is like having a beautiful girlfriend during the early dating stages. She is smart, she sits on your arm, she is a great time. Everything is wonderful (and when it isn't, it quickly becomes wonderful again). Buying DVC is turning that girlfriend into your wife. You now discover that she doesn't pick up her socks, and she frankly looks like hell before she puts on her makeup in the morning. And she nags you when you don't use a coaster. There are some benefits - you are never dateless on Friday night, and she does your laundry. But the illusion is gone.

I'm sure if we follow this analogy a bit, we could all get banned for life! Where is Rink when we need him???

 

[Dean]

You are setting yourself up to be VERY disappointed. How you would like it to work and how it works are too different - without even investing you are already disappointed in the perks given.

Being a Disney fan is like having a beautiful girlfriend during the early dating stages. She is smart, she sits on your arm, she is a great time. Everything is wonderful (and when it isn't, it quickly becomes wonderful again). Buying DVC is turning that girlfriend into your wife. You now discover that she doesn't pick up her socks, and she frankly looks like hell before she puts on her makeup in the morning. And she nags you when you don't use a coaster. There are some benefits - you are never dateless on Friday night, and she does your laundry. But the illusion is gone.

We were talking the other day about the cost of trading cars every few years and a friend reminded me it is cheaper to trade cars than trade wives. Can't argue with that logic even though I don't have personal experience.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

We were talking the other day about the cost of trading cars every few years and a friend reminded me it is cheaper to trade cars than trade wives. Can't argue with that logic even though I don't have personal experience.

Just remember, your wife is an "appreciating asset", not a depreciating one like a car! DVC....

 

[tjkraz]

In the begining, I was shocked that park tickets were not a freebee for timeshare owners to have (only given to the one whose name appears on the contract). I mean, all they really need to do is open the gate and let one more, out of the thousands of people, inside of the park. My sister works in the park, and for anyone who understands this, is "friends" with Chip! She was told by Disney officials that Disney makes 90 percent of its income off of souveniers from the gift shop, and that, when it rains, Disney makes an absolute fortune on poncho's alone.

I doubt that is true.

While I'm sure that souvenirs have a very high profit margin for Disney, revenue from other avenues is also very important. Disney doesn't operate dozens of hotels, restaurants and theme parks just to earn a miniscule profit.

For a family of 4 to spend a week at Walt Disney World in a Moderate resort with the dining plan, you're looking at about $2500 - 3000 for the room, park tickets and DDP without any package deals. So how much do they have left for souvenirs?

The parks can certainly handle more capacity on most days, but you need to look at it from the perspective of lost revenues. If DVC were to give free park admission for DVC members, that's 350,000 people (plus their guests?) who are no longer paying for park tickets. And that's for the next 35-50 years. Care to do the math on that one? How is Disney going to replace all of those dollars lost?

When points are used economically, you'll see a breakeven point in the neighborhood of 8 years. Vacations taken after that are a fraction of the cost of Disney's rack rates. THAT is the benefit of DVC. Perks will come and perks will go. They'll never be as good as some feel they should be entitled to, and yet there are times when members will benefit nicely from discounts offered.

Buy DVC because of the accommodations it provides...not because of any expectations related to perks or preferential treatment.

 

[Dean]

Just remember, your wife is an "appreciating asset", not a depreciating one like a car! DVC....

Actually I'm very lucky in that I can afford her and she's very reasonable, I know some friends that can't afford theirs. Here's to depreciating together over another 35 years.

 

[DVCGeek]

Just remember, your wife is an "appreciating asset"

Depends on the wife! My current wife- ABSOLUTELY Think shes a keep through our BLT contract ending in 2060 at least!

My ex, well, did I mention she was my ex? I read something earlier about changing wives costing more than changing cars...

 

[DVCGeek]

A minimum stay up to 5 days might be imposed.

Why do you think this might happen? I don't recall anything in the papers I signed one way or the other about a minimum stay as a possibility, but my guide did point out many other things (points charts can change, dues regularly go up...). If one were implemented, why 5 days (as opposed to a week like many timeshares use)?

 

[doconeill]

Whether or not the can contractually enforce a minimum stay, if they did I could see situations that could result it in being impossible for members to use smaller amounts of points (people who purchased small contracts on resale, or just leftover pounts where you can't borrow any more), and that could create a massive uproar, far more than the 2010 points change did.

​

 

[JimMIA]

Truth be told, there is very little DVC can't change if they want to. And yes, they could enforce minimum stays of any length...if they wanted to. They do control the booking of reservations, after all.

I also would not put too much stock in "massive uproars." Just because a lot of people type a lot of posts on the DIS does not mean a particular issue is a big problem for DVC.

The DIS DVC section, as valuable as it is, is just a small minority of DVC owners. I have heard (but do not actually know) that DVC folks read the DIS, but I don't think these forums are the tail that wags the dog.

 

[christa112]

I can understand what OP is saying. I think certain items are omitted, maybe not intentially, but things are. I mean if you included every little detail the sales pitch would take an entire day.

We went and heard the DVC sales pitch in Sept and the sales person said you can stay at whatever DVC property you want to. She never said once with your "Home" resort you could book out 11 mos and with other resorts you had to wait until 7 months. The only reason I found that out was on these boards. I was under the impression that you could book at what ever resort you wanted and it wouldn't be an issue.

I also never heard there was not going to be mousekeeping, not a big deal to me by any means, but still like OP I would just assume there would be. We have still not purchased but are definately going to do so this year.

Yet another good reason to be part of the Disboards. A great place to research and ask tons of questions.

 

[tjkraz]

Whether or not the can contractually enforce a minimum stay, if they did I could see situations that could result it in being impossible for members to use smaller amounts of points (people who purchased small contracts on resale, or just leftover pounts where you can't borrow any more), and that could create a massive uproar, far more than the 2010 points change did.

​

I'm quite sure the uproar here would be massive--and not just for the reasons you mentioned. But as long as the banking and borrowing rules remained in place, it would at least be within members' power to control the small number of points. People may have to plan more to get their banking done in a timely manner, but that is still within their control.

A resale purchase may have fewer options available, but then I've never known DVC to structure its policies specifically to benefit resale purchasers.

DVC certain could impose the minimum stay, but as long as we're paying the vast majority of the costs involved, I'm not sure why they would care. A minimum stay would theoritically lower housekeeping costs, the volume of reservations, the number of check-ins, etc. But since those are covered by our dues, there doesn't seem to be much motivation for DVC to do that.

 

[doconeill]

I'm quite sure the uproar here would be massive--and not just for the reasons you mentioned. But as long as the banking and borrowing rules remained in place, it would at least be within members' power to control the small number of points. People may have to plan more to get their banking done in a timely manner, but that is still within their control.

A resale purchase may have fewer options available, but then I've never known DVC to structure its policies specifically to benefit resale purchasers.

DVC certain could impose the minimum stay, but as long as we're paying the vast majority of the costs involved, I'm not sure why they would care. A minimum stay would theoritically lower housekeeping costs, the volume of reservations, the number of check-ins, etc. But since those are covered by our dues, there doesn't seem to be much motivation for DVC to do that.

I'm trying to think of a scenario that if DVC suddenly sprung a change like this if people could be caught without being able to deal with it (certainly you can plan around it if you know about it), but I'm afraid my tired brain isn't coming up with one right now. Depending on your UY and how they implement, I suppose that if you borrowed all your available points from the next use year but didn't actually use them all (for instance you changed an earlier ressie and gained some free points back), and the change got implemented before you could use the remaining points (they may have been enough for a few days, but not 5), you'd be screwed.

I supposed 25-point contract holders would at least still be able to use their contracts, but their options would be far more limited.

 

[Dean]

Why do you think this might happen? I don't recall anything in the papers I signed one way or the other about a minimum stay as a possibility, but my guide did point out many other things (points charts can change, dues regularly go up...). If one were implemented, why 5 days (as opposed to a week like many timeshares use)?

The legal documents say a minimum stay up to 5 days could be imposed. The OP asked about possible surprises. I do expect a min stay to be imposed at some point, not necessarily 5 days though, more likely 3. In a way the new reservation system where you can reserve up to 7 days on one phone call is a step in that direction. I've chronicled why I think a min stay is needed, the short version is I don't see single day reservations with no other fee as sustainable from a cost and planning standpoint. Still, I do think some of the other issues are larger and more likely risks. A year and a half ago many would have told you that making a full week at one time or a reallocation were just as unlikely, actually they have when I mentioned those type issues previously. Given most people don't do single day stays, I doubt it'd have much of a real impact other than on stranded wait lists and I don't see the members reaction as a driving force just like it wasn't with the other two issues I mentioned. It may or may not happen but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[dianeschlicht]

The legal documents say a minimum stay up to 5 days could be imposed. The OP asked about possible surprises. I do expect a min stay to be imposed at some point, not necessarily 5 days though, more likely 3. In a way the new reservation system where you can reserve up to 7 days on one phone call is a step in that direction. I've chronicled why I think a min stay is needed, the short version is I don't see single day reservations with no other fee as sustainable from a cost and planning standpoint. Still, I do think some of the other issues are larger and more likely risks. A year and a half ago many would have told you that making a full week at one time or a reallocation were just as unlikely, actually they have when I mentioned those type issues previously. Given most people don't do single day stays, I doubt it'd have much of a real impact other than on stranded wait lists and I don't see the members reaction as a driving force just like it wasn't with the other two issues I mentioned. It may or may not happen but I wouldn't be surprised.

I agree, and I too assumed that the change in booking is a sure sign of that.