Contemplating Ownership.. Can You Help Me?

[melomouse]

Hi -
(deep breath - afraid of asking silly questions or offending anyone....)

I THINK I should look into DVC because we do at least one trip a year and always do mod or else WL. Looking into resales at VWL, with a purchase of enough points to do a week in mostly off seasons - we have never gone in peak times and likely won't. Will be paying cash.

From what I understand, you should buy where you want to stay, be able to know how many points are needed for the family's needs, and be able to book 11 months in advance to stay where you want. I understand that basically the goal is to break even on all those WDW vacations by paying "upfront" for all those deluxe stays, and get a 1BR with more room and amenties instead of a room. Is that right?

Where my concerns lie is with maintenance fees going up, and with all I've been reading about folks unable to even get into their home resort because of "investor" types, and Disney not enforcing the "not for profit" caveat. Also room inventory.

I think if I buy, there's a mentality that says I'm "entitled" to get into my home resort without hassle once a year. But no guarantee? There's a few DVC "perks" but really not many anymore. Everyone says they wish they'd bought sooner - I don't want to be one of those!!!

No desire at the moment to be at BCV or SSR or OKW - too large and spread out and tho beautiful, not feeling "Disney" enough for us...

Question - do I look to buy all separate bunches of contracts to get the points? Or that's too costly or confusing? Any sense in buying cheaper points elsewhere - like Vero? - when I would never actually use it as my home resort? Understand fees of $75 and higher maintenace.

I need simple, straightforward. I'm not the best number-cruncher. Currently, we book/plan 6-9 months out. We keep going back. Trying to anticipate the future needs but that's tough. DS is almost 16 and DD is 11. May want to add some friends some time to join us and maybe, God willing, my Disney prince will come. For now, it's us. For the foreseeable future, a 1 BR will do fine at a smaller DVC.

Thoughts? Advice? Direction? TIA!!!

 

[DVC Mike]

I THINK I should look into DVC because we do at least one trip a year and always do mod or else WL. Looking into resales at VWL, with a purchase of enough points to do a week in mostly off seasons - we have never gone in peak times and likely won't. Will be paying cash.

It sounds like you're a good candidate to consider DVC membership.

From what I understand, you should buy where you want to stay, be able to know how many points are needed for the family's needs, and be able to book 11 months in advance to stay where you want. I understand that basically the goal is to break even on all those WDW vacations by paying "upfront" for all those deluxe stays, and get a 1BR with more room and amenties instead of a room. Is that right?

Yes, you should not buy into a resort you would not want to stay at. If there is a DVC resort you absolutely love and would be disappointed if you could not stay there -- buy into that resort.

Where my concerns lie is with maintenance fees going up, and with all I've been reading about folks unable to even get into their home resort because of "investor" types, and Disney not enforcing the "not for profit" caveat. Also room inventory.

As long as you book your home resort at the 11-mo window, you shouldn't have any problem. Yes, there are some "difficult" ressies to get (certain times at certain resorts in certain accomodations). Fees go up every year, but so do resort room rates.

I think if I buy, there's a mentality that says I'm "entitled" to get into my home resort without hassle once a year. But no guarantee? There's a few DVC "perks" but really not many anymore. Everyone says they wish they'd bought sooner - I don't want to be one of those!!!

Again, although there is no "guarantee", as long as you book your home resort at the 11-mo window, you will typically get your home resort, subject to a very few difficult-to-book ressies.

No desire at the moment to be at BCV or SSR or OKW - too large and spread out and tho beautiful, not feeling "Disney" enough for us...

I agree with you regarding the size of OKW and SSR; however, BCV is not spread out at all. We love BCV (we own there)!

Question - do I look to buy all separate bunches of contracts to get the points? Or that's too costly or confusing? Any sense in buying cheaper points elsewhere - like Vero? - when I would never actually use it as my home resort? Understand fees of $75 and higher maintenace.

I wouldn't buy into a resort you unless you plan on staying there. Plus, the maintenance fees at Vero are very high and over the long term, it's the most expensive place to buy into.

I need simple, straightforward. I'm not the best number-cruncher. Currently, we book/plan 6-9 months out. We keep going back. Trying to anticipate the future needs but that's tough. DS is almost 16 and DD is 11. May want to add some friends some time to join us and maybe, God willing, my Disney prince will come. For now, it's us. For the foreseeable future, a 1 BR will do fine at a smaller DVC.

If you just book at the 6-9 mo window, then you won't be taking advantage of the home resort booking advantage. In that case, you should probably buy into the cheapest overall resort (SSR, OKW, etc.)

 

[crisi]

If you are happy with the moderates, DVC may not end up saving you money (in fact, we don't think it saves us any money over the Deluxes - its simply a more efficient way for Disney to take our money). Certainly a one bedroom is not more cost effective than a moderate. It also creates an "obligation" to use your points every year (or every other year). When money gets tight that obligation can be a burden - even with DVC, Disney trips are not cheap.

Edited to add: My kids had to catch the bus and I cut this short. DVC isn't necessarily about being the most cost effective solution - there are a ton of cheaper ways to stay for a WDW vacation. However, it is a very nice way to stay at WDW - and a lot of people feel it adds value (we certainly do). For us (1) We want to be onsite - we wouldn't be happy in a offsite timeshare or condo and (2) we want at least two rooms - we like having the kids in a separate bedroom. DVC is a cost effective way to meet those two criteria, but if were were happy in one room or happy offsite, it wouldn't be. I get nervous when people start talking about crunching numbers, because I think "saves money" is probably the weakest argument for DVC.

There wouldn't be a $75 fee for switching resorts within the system - i.e. you can own Vero and stay at BWV without the fee.

The freezing out at eleven months is some very specific room types at very specific times of year. If you are buying BWV specifically for the Standard View rooms, it is a risk - particularly during F&W and December. Also Grand Villas at certain times. Most rooms don't have that problem at eleven months - and in fact, most resorts have SOME availability MOST times of the year at six or seven months.

 

[Deb & Bill]

VWL is the smallest DVC resort and is difficult to get at times. If you want to stay there the most and can make your reservation at 9-11 months ahead of time, buy there. Otherwise plan on not staying there often.

As more and more points are sold for DVC, there will be more and more members trying to get into WDW for Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter. And the availability will remain the same if they don't add any more resorts at WDW.

If you buy several different contracts and resorts, they cannot be added together at 11 months to get ONE home resort advantage. That is, if you have 100 SSR points, 100 VB points and 50 VWL points, you can't use 250 points at 11 months at VWL. You only have 50 VWL at 11 months (unless you use banking and borrowing to get up to 150 points).

Also, if you get different use years as well, they will definitely be different contacts and you'll have to use transfers to add left over amounts to make full nights (ie, 12 Dec VWL points and 12 Sept VB points for a single 24 point night - you'd have to use your once a year transfer to move the VB points to VWL or vice versa to get the 24 you need).

 

[melomouse]

Thank you Mike and crisi and Deb for your input. I guess I need soo much more info, but this answers some questions at least. Many contracts and use years will be far to complicated for me - and I understand that if I look for a resale I have to look for the right use year time frame, too.

I'm not really looking to "save" money as much as I am trying to figure if and when I might just break even. I prefer the deluxes and usually do WL - being that my kids triple in volume in an enclosed space and we have been taking a more leisurely approach to the parks, I think a one bedroom will be good for now.

Why do some people own at several different resorts? Doesn't that become a full time job? Or as family needs shift, do people buy and sell off their memberships? What makes this happen? What do folks wish they had thought about before they bought?

 

[Pakey]

When DH and I first bought our DVC, we thought it would be just for the two of us and bought accordingly. All 3 of our DS's were grown but single and we didn't do family vacations. Fast forward 2 years. Two of the 3 got married and we started doing family vacations. Needed more points because DH and I would stay in a studio but the boys needed a 2 bedroom (3rd DS would sleep on the pullout sofa). Fast forward to now. A grandchild has been added and the third DS has a serious girlfriend. A 2 bedroom won't work for them anymore. So we are in the process of adding more points again. Plus DH and I like going solo sometimes or we like to take other friends so we need points for that. I'm sure we don't save any money but we sure love the flexibility.

Our reasons for owning at 2 different resorts is that it provides two totally different vacations. I can go on two vacations there in one year and feel like I've gone to 2 completely different places.

 

[DVC Mike]

Why do some people own at several different resorts? Doesn't that become a full time job?

Typically, the reason is that the owner wants the 11-month booking advantage of the Home Resort Priority Period in order to make it easier to get the resort they want, at the time they want, with the accommodations they want. This reduces any possible frustration at the 7-mo window, or having to “settle” for another reservation while missing out on the one you really had your heart set on.