Considering HH DVC Purchase

[MJM]

I am new to DISboards and do not currently own DVC. If I purchase DVC it would be at HH due to its location close to my home (3.5 hr. drive) and I would not go to Disney (Orlando) probably more than once every 3 years. Any opinions on whether this may worthwhile compared to other timeshares in HH or paying cash at other HH resorts. I have not been to the HH DVC before so I don't know how it compares to other HH resorts (I have only seen the promo materials from Disney, which I received from a recent tour of SSR). I think the concept of the DVC makes sense especially if going to Disney frequently, but am unsure do to my specific situation.

 

[Tommy]

I bought into HHI sight unseen. I live in Memphis and about equal distant from Orlando and HHI, but I have never regretted my selection. We go to HHI every year, and so far have gone in the off season and got maximum advantage of my points. It is good to know that I have an 11 month reservation window if I wanted to go in the summer.

I have used points at Vero Beach and Boardwalk most often when I go to Orlando. In my attempts I have never had a problem getting on property when I wanted to go. This includes some trips during spring break for my college age daughter.

I consider the point sytem the only way to go. I have used studio, 1 BR, and 2BR at HHI Resort. Have been in January, February, March and October. I did all of this without having to have a "fixed" week or pay any fee to use some week other than the one I was assigned.

Hope this helps.

 

[Judique]

I am new to DISboards and do not currently own DVC. If I purchase DVC it would be at HH due to its location close to my home (3.5 hr. drive) and I would not go to Disney (Orlando) probably more than once every 3 years. Any opinions on whether this may worthwhile compared to other timeshares in HH or paying cash at other HH resorts. I have not been to the HH DVC before so I don't know how it compares to other HH resorts (I have only seen the promo materials from Disney, which I received from a recent tour of SSR). I think the concept of the DVC makes sense especially if going to Disney frequently, but am unsure do to my specific situation.

DHHIR is a great place to visit. I love it there. But.....I would suggest in your case that you do some more research and actually visit a few of the many, many timeshares on the island and see which one suits your needs best. There are many less expensive options. I'm considering one at present as a supplement to my DVC - ie a week at each one. The non disney one is on the beach and less expensive. Good luck.

 

[Daitcher]

MJM,


I would say absolutlely not for the situation you mention. HH DVC isn't not on the ocean. It is 1 1/2 miles from the beach. They do have a pool and parking with a beach house at the beach but you must travel to get there. There are no restaurants on site other than a very limited snack bar meaning you must eat out or cook in most meals. That may or may not matter to you. It matters greatly to me. Who wants to have to constantly get ready to eat out on vacation when you have a 4 year old? Not us. Dues are also higher there than at on site DVC properties. There are far nicer properties on HH than Disney's. They will also cost you far less to purchase and they are oceanfront. Check out the oceanfront Marriott properties like Grand Ocean and Barony Beach, far nicer than Disney's HHI. Who goes to HHI and doesn't want to be on the beach????? Those Marriott properties have lower annual dues and the buy in is less. They would also trade well into Orlando properties for your every 3 year visit. DVc really is best for those that want to visit WDW every other year. Cash rates at Disney's HHI are also fairly low making a buy in questionable at best. Now cash rates for WDW DVC that is another story. Good luck with the decision. At the very least I'd stay at the properties you might be interested in. Buying site unseen isn't a route I'd suggest.

DAVE

 

[crazyaboutdisney]

Hilton Head is our favorite of all the dvc resorts. We will be there at easter this year. This will be our 5th stay at the hh disney resort. We love the bike ride over to the beach house. we own at the bw and bcv. we have never stayed at the bcv because we like the lower point structure at bw. We also own a week at the new marriott at grand dunes in myrtle beach. visiting the resorts is a great idea. marriott has fantastic deals to tour the resorts.

 

[ktmmt]

This is a great resort. My kids like HHI better then WDW. There are many restaurants with in walking distance, over the bridge. You can not go wrong with HHDVC. The dues is one of the lowerest. Someone might be mixing HH with VERO. The price of dues goes from lowerest. SSR, OKW, HH, etc.

 

[MJM]

Does anyone know of another HHI Timeshare that is on the points system similar to DVC, so I can have flexibility regarding number of days to stay and time of year as opposed to a fixed week? Thanks for the input.

 

[Doctor P]

Admittedly we were already WDW DVC resort owners when we bought into HH, but we did do research on other timeshares we could buy there. For us, DVC ended up the best option because of full flexibility, the ability to buy exactly the points we wanted, the ability to change the type of unit we wanted, and our interest in buying in at the studio trip every other year level. Our buy in for HH about two years ago was about $5000 direct from Disney. No other quality timeshares were available for peak seasons or weeks for that little of a buy in, plus we could use the points for WDW to supplement our other ownership on occasion (and, unplanned, we actually ended up getting a couple nights at BCV over this past Xmas holiday using our HH points at the 7 month mark. We never planned on using our HH points at WDW, but due to the timing of our HH trip this spring we ended up actually with an extra year's worth of HH points to play with).

 

[Daitcher]

Does anyone know of another HHI Timeshare that is on the points system similar to DVC, so I can have flexibility regarding number of days to stay and time of year as opposed to a fixed week? Thanks for the input.

You are not going to find a program with the flexibility of DVC. DoctorP's situation made perfect sense. I can see why he would want to buy in under those circumstances. The real question is this, because DVC is truly a great program... Do you have a problem going off site for the majority of meals? Will it bother you not being on the beach? Will you want to trade out of program often? If the answer is no to those questions then HHI DVC might be your best option. If the answer is yes to any of these questions, look elsewhere.


DAVE

 

[RobDoc]

I would agree with Dr P's thoughts regarding HH. We bought there after spending a number of years vacationing at HH in condos and homes. We have found that, with about 300 restaurants available on the island, we prefer to have a nice variety of options to choose from and wouldn't eat at any resort every meal anyway. In addition, almost every visitor has transportation anyway, so the need for onsite dining is greatly overrated, IMO. The resort does have a snack bar, plus another at the Beach House, plus about 6 full service restaurants within walking distance of the resort right at Shelter Cove.

We've found the beach to be a personal taste issue also. We have never stayed at a beachfront resort or property at HH and actually prefer the wonderful marsh view location at the Disney resort and have enjoyed watching sea otters, Dolphin and even manatee right from our porch at the Disney HH resort. We can get to the beach in about 5 minutes - either by driving ourselves or by taking the resort shuttle - and have also biked there and walked many times over the years. If being on the beach is critical to enjoying the area, then there are certainly a few other timeshares that may work fot you, but even those are in the minority at HH and few of those will have the flexibility of the DVC resort.

In addition, for the one-year-in-three that you want to go to WDW, you still can't beat staying onsite- something rarely accessible from any of the other timesahre options at HH.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[KJMickey]

We are a bit biased...we own at HH. We think HH is a great place to own. It gives us the 11 month window to get the summer months locked in. Then if we decide later we want to go to WDW we can always cancel. When we go to WDW, the Resort we are at does not matter much....who spends all that much time at the Resort. When we go to WDW it is for the parks. When we go to HH, which is more often than WDW it is for the Resort. The kids love the activities, we love the relaxed atmosphere. We had not planned on going to HH very often....until the first time we went "home". The entire family fell in love with the resort and island and seemed to not miss the hassle of the parks.

I have said before...We did not buy at HH to stay at HH....but that changed about 12 hours after our first trip home. Look at the resales...you will see that HH has slim pickings. The secret of this place is slowly getting out and we are happy to have the 11 month window.

 

[life with 3 babes]

Hi there,
Well, I must chime in here. We own at SSR and VB, but our first trip "home" was to HH in January. It was our 1st trip without our kids in 5 years. It was FANTASTIC! Now, I don't know if you like to dine out, but let me tell you I was THRILLED with "having" to dine out every meal. (I cook for five munchkins 3 meals a day at home... and with 2 under 3 years of age at home...eating out is NOT a fun adventure.) We bought DVC mainly because I LOVE Disney and my in-laws own a place in Vero that is great for them, but does NOT fit them PLUS all of my crew. This was me after we tried it last year. Hence, we purchased at SSR after 4 days in their condo. I think my DH was ready to give into ANYTHING to not have to tell our kids to stop touching Grandpa's TV one more time. (sure made convincing him easy. )
Anyway, I didn't miss the resort NOT being on the beach because we will most likely only go there in the off season without the kids. (I don't know that I could do a week there with my kids) I didn't miss having restaurant choices at the resort because I wanted to get out and explore the island. We had such GREAT meals while we were there...all out, and all different fare. Seafood, Italian, French and even Thai. We ate all over the island and even drove down to Savannah for a day to explore.
I don't have a lot of experience with how other timeshares work, but BIL and SIL bought one in Cancun last year and now their resort is closed down for hurricane repairs and they had to SCRAMBLE to find a place to go so they didn't lose their week. They ended up in Orlando last week because there was absolutely NO availability at all during the spring and summer anywhere.
I love that DVC has HUGE flexibility. If VB closed for repairs, I know that I'd have 6 other places to go and wouldn't have to take my kids on vacation in February (missing school) so that I wouldn't lose my "week".
I'm happy to say that I'll be taking my crew to Disney in July for 2 fun-filled weeks while BIL and SIL are at home wishing they had bought DVC.

Donna
SSR & VB

BWV July '05
HHI Jan. '06
VB July '06
OKW July '06
Anyway, just food for thought...Best of luck to you!

 

[MJM]

Thanks for everyone's input. It has been extremely helpful in my decision making process. I agree that the flexibility is one of the biggest selling points to the DVC product. Also, the more I think about it we could also use Vero since my sister lives there and possibly incorporate with a trip to Orlando. No restaurants on-site does not bother me since there are so many choices in HH and the marsh view vs. ocean view is not a concern either since there is nearby access to the beach along with facilities for DVC members. I would probably seldom trade outside of DVC and love the flexibility of being able to go Sun. -Thurs. to conserve points especially during spring and fall, when I prefer the beach anyway.

Thanks again for all of the different opinions both + and - regarding my situation. I have made an offer on a HHI resale and hopefully, soon will own DVC at HHI.

 

[life with 3 babes]

YIPPEE! Can't wait to tell you "Welcome Home!"

Please let us know when it comes through!

Donna

 

[Daitcher]

Thanks for everyone's input. It has been extremely helpful in my decision making process. I agree that the flexibility is one of the biggest selling points to the DVC product. Also, the more I think about it we could also use Vero since my sister lives there and possibly incorporate with a trip to Orlando. No restaurants on-site does not bother me since there are so many choices in HH and the marsh view vs. ocean view is not a concern either since there is nearby access to the beach along with facilities for DVC members. I would probably seldom trade outside of DVC and love the flexibility of being able to go Sun. -Thurs. to conserve points especially during spring and fall, when I prefer the beach anyway.

Thanks again for all of the different opinions both + and - regarding my situation. I have made an offer on a HHI resale and hopefully, soon will own DVC at HHI.

Sounds like you have really thought this through. I'd say, based on the information you've given us, that you've made a wise choice. I hope your resale offer is accepted and it passes ROFR. Enjoy your future DVC trips.


DAVE