Considering DVC But a Few Questions...

[Krause]

We are seriously considering DVC but wondering the following:

1) As a DVC member can you take advantage of free dining plan offers?

2) Can you purchase additional points for a specific vacation if you know you are going to need more for a particular time period (ie. basically pay the difference in cash as needed at the current point value)?

3) How easy is it to book in a more "upscale" DVC resort if your home resort is one of the older resorts? HOW IMPORTANT is your home resort really?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[com_op_2000]

We are seriously considering DVC but wondering the following:

1) As a DVC member can you take advantage of free dining plan offers?

2) Can you purchase additional points for a specific vacation if you know you are going to need more for a particular time period (ie. basically pay the difference in cash as needed at the current point value)?

3) How easy is it to book in a more "upscale" DVC resort if your home resort is one of the older resorts? HOW IMPORTANT is your home resort really?

Any help would be appreciated.

1. No
2. Each UY you can one time rent up to 25 points at $15.00 per point for stays.
3. What do you mean by "upscale"?
The main thing your home resort is for is the 11 month booking window. Most will recommend that you buy where you most often want to stay, cause if you want to change and are unable to you will not be unhappy staying at your home resort. Your home resort will also, determine your yearly MFs as each resort has a different amount.

 

[Lynne M]

Not sure what you mean by more 'upscale' resorts, either. All of the DVC resorts are pretty much at the same level. There are differences in theme, in location, some variation in room sizes, some variation in number of restaurants, that sort of thing. But the older resorts aren't any less 'upscale' than the new ones. In fact, the oldest DVC of all, OKW, has the largest villas and the largest balconies.

When selling DVC villas for cash reservations, Disney classes them all as 'deluxe villas'. Most are attached to, and share facilities with, deluxe resorts.

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

1) As a DVC member can you take advantage of free dining plan offers?

No...you really cant. But you do geta nice discount on Annual Passes.

2) Can you purchase additional points for a specific vacation if you know you are going to need more for a particular time period (ie. basically pay the difference in cash as needed at the current point value)?

Yes...you can borrow points from you rn ext use year if they are available to you or you can rent points. I think you can rent them for about $10-15 from DVC or from another DVC member. Look on e bay...
3) How easy is it to book in a more "upscale" DVC resort if your home resort is one of the older resorts? HOW IMPORTANT is your home resort really?

So far we have found all the DVC resorts to be very nice. We have stayed at Animal Kingdon (both Kidani and Jambo House), Saratoga Springs, Bay Lake, Old Key West and Boardwalk. You can book your hime resort 11 months in advance. Then , for other resorts you can book those 7 months in advance. We havealways gotten exactly what we have wanted. DVC will let you do 2 wait lists for a reservation. So if you dont get what you want right away, use a wait list ( or two)...We have had great luck with this. We have booked trips anywehre from 11 months to 1 day in advance. [/QUOTE]

 

[Deb & Bill]

Sure, you can take advantage of free dining, but not on a DVC points stay. You'd have to book that through Disney Reservation Center and pay cash.

If you are short up to 24 points per Use Year, you can buy them from DVC for a one time use for $15 a point. But if you need more, you'll have to pay cash for the night you don't have points for or get a transfer from another member. Members will often transfer larger number of points more quickly than just a few number of points because they are limited to one transfer in or out per use year.

There are no "upscale" DVC resorts. But if you own at OKW or SSR (or another resort), you can attempt to book at BLT or Aulani (or any other DVC resort) at 7 months out. Whether it will be available is a whole nuther thing.

Some times of the year, it is difficult to book a non-home resort at 7 months out or less. From late November to early January is one time. Most of the month of October is another. Plus you have Spring Break and Easter.

 

[drusba]

I think most members believe all DVC resorts are "upscale." At AKV, you do have a handful of "concierge" rooms that offer full concierge services and a lounge thus making them higher scale in service than any other rooms in DVC.

What you are asking is how easy is it to get any particular resort at 7 months out when you do not own that resort. The answer is it depends on time of year, type of room, and resort. SSR is usually easier to get than others even past the 7 month window, followed by OKW, followed by AKV. However, you can often find any resort at WDW 7 months out as long as you call exactly 7 months out and don't wait beyond 7 months out to reserve. For holiday times, spring break weeks, for all of December, for food & wine festival time for Epcot resorts, things can often be more difficult. Also, certain room categories can often be difficult to get at 7 months mainly because there are fewer of them and they are in high demand: grand villas, BLT Magic Kingdom and standard views, BWV boardwalk and standard view, AKV concierge and value rooms, and Treehouse Villas at SSR. Also, BCV and VWL in general can sometimes have more difficulty than others because they are smaller resorts with fewer total rooms than others. Also, studios tend to fill before 2BR and 1BR.

Has to purchasing extra points for a trip, you have options: (a) as noted above Disney will sell you up to 24for one trip per use year at $15 a point but you can only gret those when reserving 7 months or less out; (b) you can seek to get a transfer of points from another member; (C) you can have another member reserve a room in your name for extra nights needed and then link the reservation with the one you make on your owqn points. The latter two are privatew transactions between members.

 

[disneynutz]

All DVC Resorts are considered to be Deluxe resorts, some older and some newer, some are showing more wear than others, even BLT a newer resort has had it's issues.

Your home resort should be your favorite resort because that is the only one that you are contractually guaranteed to get.

Bill

 

[Pennyguy23]

Buy, youll love it

 

[crisi]

Has to purchasing extra points for a trip, you have options: (a) as noted above Disney will sell you up to 24for one trip per use year at $15 a point but you can only gret those when reserving 7 months or less out; (b) you can seek to get a transfer of points from another member; (C) you can have another member reserve a room in your name for extra nights needed and then link the reservation with the one you make on your owqn points. The latter two are privatew transactions between members.

A forth option is paying cash for a night or two.

As for "more upscale" resorts. Ask yourself two questions....

1) There are 400,000+ DVC members, how many of them bought an inexpensive resale and then are on the phone at seven months trying to get BCVs?

2) Why do some resorts sell via resale for more than others - who would spend $75 a point for BCV when you can get SSR for $45?

Don't be too clever here - unless you don't mind staying at your home resort.