Could we be honest and objective concerning DVC?

[dvc at last !]

I must hold this to read and respond later...

 

[JimMIA]

I see Disney and DVD/DVC as one in the same. Disney sets policy and all units follow. Their policy is to cut costs and increase profits. I don't have a problem with making a profit but Disney needs to realize that they are getting to greedy, and sooner or later the die-hard Disney fans are going to realize that the spirit of Walt is gone for good.

Maybe the new business model doesn't care about the past and only looks at the future? Offer free food and discounts, and you can keep the place pretty full. The fact that the die-hards have stopped coming won't matter.

I agree with you, Bill -- but realistically, there are a LOT more new folks streaming in because of "free" dining and other promotions than there are die-hard Disney fans.

No, those folks won't come back every year, much less 2-6 times a year like some DVCers do. But there is a steady supply - seemingly inexhaustable - of them coming through Disney Channel, movies, and all the other ways of touching their lives Disney has. They're not concerned with the spirit of Walt; they want to rock with the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus or go see Nemo.

I still don't see why DVC can't be a 5 star operation.

Because they make more money not being.

Why does Disney place all of the rules and restrictions on the membership?

Any timeshare has rules and restrictions. Some are looser than DVC; others are more stringent. You have to have restrictions on any shared system or it doesn't work for anybody.

It's almost like they don't want you to book last minute and they want you to forfeit points.

That's not because they are trying to cheat you. If you can book at last minute, they are not operating at the capacity they need. They don't want you to forfeit points, but if someone does that's more roomnights for CRO to have a chance of selling.

They advertise all of the great destinations where you can use your points. but in reality, they make it difficult and/or expensive for you to do so.

I agree. The non-DVC items are the most overblown and least valuable aspects of the program. Other than the rare outright lie by their timeshare salespersons, the non-DVC junk comes as close to unethical as DVC gets.

I really don't think prospective buyers should even consider anything but using DVC and DVC resorts.

As I have said before 90% of their effort is marketing and 10%, a token amount, is spent on supporting the existing members, and we are the ones paying for the 10%. How much would dues go up if they gave us 20%?

I'm guessing double...

I don't disagree with a word you've said, Bill. But I think there are many (most of the folks here on the DIS DVC boards, probably) who consider Disney and DVC one and the same. I don't. I bought a timeshare, and DVC is one of the best...if you use it to stay in DVC resorts.

 

[patsal]

My DVC membership has given me great accomadations for a hubby who travels too much for work to want to stay in a regular hotel room. I enjoy my children--they are teens, but I do not want or need to be with them 24/7 so the 1 Br and 2BR concept works well for us. I got what I paid for, a vacation home set of accomadations, a guarantee that I will get a well needed vacation two to four weeks per year. I have not inhaled too deeply into the pixie dust jar to not see it for what it is--I do not have a financial asset, I have a luxury that could lose all potential monetary value with a penstroke that ends ROFR.

All that said, I have had wonderful vactions with my children that have given me memories for a lifetime. Life is short and if you have the means DVC is a great way to vacation.

 

[newcomer52]

While I still love Disney and am glad to be a DVC owner, I also do not think that it is perfect. I will keep my points as long as I feel the advantages outweigh any disadvantages for me. At that point, I can sell. If I still love to vacation there, I will keep my points.

Jeralyn

 

[Dean]

I see Disney and DVD/DVC as one in the same. Disney sets policy and all units follow. Their policy is to cut costs and increase profits. I don't have a problem with making a profit but Disney needs to realize that they are getting to greedy, and sooner or later the die-hard Disney fans are going to realize that the spirit of Walt is gone for good.

Maybe the new business model doesn't care about the past and only looks at the future? Offer free food and discounts, and you can keep the place pretty full. The fact that the die-hards have stopped coming won't matter.

I still don't see why DVC can't be a 5 star operation. Why does Disney place all of the rules and restrictions on the membership? It's almost like they don't want you to book last minute and they want you to forfeit points. They advertise all of the great destinations where you can use your points. but in reality, they make it difficult and/or expensive for you to do so.

As I have said before 90% of their effort is marketing and 10%, a token amount, is spent on supporting the existing members, and we are the ones paying for the 10%. How much would dues go up if they gave us 20%?

I don't really care what other timeshares do, if I have a savanna view, I expect to stand inside my room and look straight out at a savanna, not the back side of the pool area. Why won't Disney take a more member friendly attitude with DVC room categories, is it because they rent our rooms out for cash and more money is to be made with savanna views?

Bill

While the 2 are interconnected, DVC is a separate entity with different goals, governing laws and rules. I realize that most here don't care about other timeshares but they are a great reference point and actually a much better one that the deluxe non DVCs resorts IMO. One should know going in that the views will vary and that some will be better than others within a category and that someone has to get the worst ones. That's largely the reason that I feel DVC should put real effort into unit assignments so that owners at a given resort will get the best rooms, other DVC members would come next then cash guests and exchangers. As it currently stands, the exchanger is just as likely to get the best room as the owner at a given resort who booked day 1 eleven months out.

There's no doubt improvements can be made and some items have slipped, but not as much as some would say, IMO. It seems that far too many DVC members feel they should be courted with upgrades, extra perks and freebies.

 

[crisi]

I understand what you are saying and also Pakey in previous post.

I think the underlying issue is perhaps disney's limitations for destinations outside WDW. No question II was better than RCI, yet with either one of them, trading out of DVC for either is no bargain!

That isn't at all an issue for us, as we would never own a non-Disney timeshare. We aren't in this to trade....we pay cash for other trips and cash has a LOT more flexibility. We really aren't timeshare people. If Disney as a destination is not longer enjoyable, there is no value in DVC, and there would be no value in DVC for us even if the RCI options were wonderful. We have taken almost every DVC trip at our home resort.

The advantage to DVC for us is it allows us to stay ONSITE at Disney in a multiroom unit for a reasonable amount of money. That's it. When Disney is no longer a destination we enjoy, DVC has no value other than as something we can sell.

 

[Erin_Akey]

DVC was the best choice for my family. We have five kids total.......only three at home, however, as an example.......a trip with all seven of us at a value resort for 10 days cost about 10k with food etc.

We would book a trip once a year, in a value or sometimes moderate, pay on it all year and go and have a blast. Hubby and i also have gone a few times without the kids as we are almost bigger Disney freaks than they are.

Now we finally joined DVC......we decided last week that we needed an adult weekend away. We both put in for next Friday off at work. Our kids are going to grandpa's ranch for the weekend, and we are taking off.

All we have to pay for is food and gas. Oh and with TIW- all of that food and our cocktails will be 20% off.

Fast forward to September- we are having a family trip and that would have meant buying two rooms before because like many other have posted, we like our privacy away from the kids. Now we just get a one or two bedroom and all is good.

We have another mommy daddy long weekend planned for the Food ad Wine Festival in October and then another family trip in January to run the half marathon.

We will be in top notch accomodations. We could NEVER have afforded four trips a year before.

Oh and for the last minute trip next weekend that we planned three days ago- we got all of the dining ressies we wanted too.

There are a lot of other reasons we are thrilled with our purchase, but this scenario is the biggest. More trips more often=more amazing memories!

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

DVC was the best choice for my family. We have five kids total.......only three at home, however, as an example.......a trip with all seven of us at a value resort for 10 days cost about 10k with food etc.

We would book a trip once a year, in a value or sometimes moderate, pay on it all year and go and have a blast. Hubby and i also have gone a few times without the kids as we are almost bigger Disney freaks than they are.

Now we finally joined DVC......we decided last week that we needed an adult weekend away. We both put in for next Friday off at work. Our kids are going to grandpa's ranch for the weekend, and we are taking off.

All we have to pay for is food and gas. Oh and with TIW- all of that food and our cocktails will be 20% off.

Fast forward to September- we are having a family trip and that would have meant buying two rooms before because like many other have posted, we like our privacy away from the kids. Now we just get a one or two bedroom and all is good.

We have another mommy daddy long weekend planned for the Food ad Wine Festival in October and then another family trip in January to run the half marathon.

We will be in top notch accomodations. We could NEVER have afforded four trips a year before.

Oh and for the last minute trip next weekend that we planned three days ago- we got all of the dining ressies we wanted too.

There are a lot of other reasons we are thrilled with our purchase, but this scenario is the biggest. More trips more often=more amazing memories!

Hi Erin:

There are lots of Alabama people here on the DIS-DVC boards.

 

[Lil' Grumpy]

just my 2 cents.

we are new owners & have experienced more than our share of
problems. but in no way have we thought our purchased as
a bad investment or even as a money investment. to us, it's all
about what we like to do & securing the resources when we
go.


in the long run, us having problems @ the start was probably a
good thing because it motivated me into the dvc processing.
instead of being a spectator, i am now taking an active part.

another point, i felt was interesting, reading all the different reasons
many chose dvc. ours were not mentioned so i was a little worry
about making a mistake. however, the potential remains strong &
we just had different preferences was my final conclusion.

we also had friends living in jacksonville,fla & they tried to discouraged
us. timeshare holders, but not dvc.

however, the reasons we purchased are a good match for our family
now, & in the future. [ one of our traditions that has evolved from
our early days, is making our room like home & bringing back the
stuff we collected over the years, like my daughter's gifts from the
candy lady. if it makes her feel special than it's worth it us. or
bringing her pal mickey to play while we rest~ & the
older i get, the more rest is needed so i don't become "all" grumpy ]



we are not influenced by those misusing dvc or taking advantage
of other owners. dvc is what it is, and we are willing to learn their
system & invest our time. why dvc? because we like it there! it is a
refection on how we feel about each other & our family, and what we
like to do for recreation

 

[jade1]

Somebody may have already said this.. I admit to only skimming the thread--

Guilty as well-wouldn't most of us just sell if most of us didn't like it?

 

[RDP]

We love our DVC and it has enabled us to do a family holiday with the in-laws that we would have otherwise been unable to afford. We bought in in 2008 so don't have the comparisons of the vets on the DIS boards in terms of lost perks. However we did get $2 to the £1 exchange rate and got value out of the original purchase that has not been matched. My only criticism is the reallocation of points across the grid, this has eroded our original purchase and I feel engineers an add on at some point (Great long term business strategy by DVC!) Having stayed in regular hotel rooms with the kids, the 1 and 2 bed options are a blessing and we have no desire to return to regular rooms. We went to Disney many times before having children and have been taking our kids since they where nine months old and have no desire to vacation elsewhere. The best value is definitely found by using your points at DVC resorts, most of the RCI options don't appeal (at the moment) if I had wanted more global options I would not have bought with DVC in the first place. I bought to be on-site, to have bigger accommodation and to invest in my future Disney holidays which are a big part of our families life. I feel I have got a safe, clean, consistent vacation, we spend around $3000 just getting to WDW before accommodation costs so this was very important to us.

 

[Erin_Akey]

Hi Erin:

There are lots of Alabama people here on the DIS-DVC boards.

Very cool! Sweet Home Alabama!!!

 

[DisneyDreamingAubrey]

My entire family are DVCers... we love looking forward to our trips together and to sharing such a love of Disney together. It just makes us so happy.

 

[mdsd8700]

We haven't been DVC members long enough to give a long term member's view. So maybe I should not be posting. I do beleive that we have doing Disney long enough (since 1997) to give a honest/objective overall view. First and foremost I Love Disney! Which is why we chose to do something Disney style every year. I do agree that overall the Resort as a whole has dimished. I agree with the other posters that the food (also agree FD and DDP are responsibile) is not as good as it used to be, but more expensive. The service has dimished, the resorts are really wearing around the edges and many other issues that have been well documented in these boards. However even knowing all of this we still recently purchased DVC. I knew what we were getting into, especially after all the reading here. So even knowing the negatives we were willing to accept them for the positives which I think are far greater. Will I still feel that way in 5, 10 or 15 years I think I will, if not then I will have to re-think our purchase and make a decision. However at this time it is perfect for us and we love it.

 

[rentayenta]

the 1200 pound gorilla in the room is................i can rent your points you dont use............and there is always plenty............and get better dollar value out of your DVC membership than you do.........without the commitment. i do not mean this as a negative statement. it is simply the truth.

Points not used?

 

[jakenjess]

Points not used?

I know!! What's that??

 

[SLM]

I think we can be objective-it works for us, but I would never advise anyone else to purchase any kind of timeshare. Everyone's financial situation is different, what they like, what they don't like, how they vacation. We also take non-Disney vacations, but I see us always taking a DVC trip every year. We will be retiring in the next five years and then I see longer and more frequent stays during the colder weather. And we'll have grandchildren to take with us by then .

 

[supersuperwendy]

2 bedroom accommodations that suit our family perfectly....jacuzzi tub...washer/dryer...the flexibility of using our points however we want..PERFECT!

We love DVC...LOVE LOVE LOVE!

 

[jade1]

the 1200 pound gorilla in the room is................i can rent your points you dont use............and there is always plenty............and get better dollar value out of your DVC membership than you do.........without the commitment. i do not mean this as a negative statement. it is simply the truth.

What commitment-we have you pay our dues plus $5 a point in our pockets anytime we choose. Makes owning even more advantageous.