Cynics only reply!

[JudithM]

I know two different families that sold some or all of their DVC interest. One woman sold some points after her husband passed away. The other family sold it due to financial difficulties.

 

[Synonymous]

I've used points to stay at the Plaza Hotel in NYC and I have reservations for a stay at Charleston Place in South Carolina. Both rooms were very expensive, even in comparison to Disney properties (especially the Plaza). There are multidunious different ways to figure out the "value" of your points, but I'm convinced that I got good value on these exchanges. I know I would never have stayed at either one of these hotels if I had to pay cash. I think the fairest way to compare the value is to look at the cash cost of the room you would get at Disney for your points and compare it to the cash cost of the room you're getting outside the program. I believe the Plaza room was at least twice as much.

In any event, I have not had any problem getting exactly what I wanted through the Concierge Collection. The Plaza stay was reserved less than two weeks in advance.

Tom

 

[BillM]

The DVC shoe must fit to make it worthwhile. We bought so we could offer our children and grandchildren DW, HH and VB with great accomodations at no cost to them. It has worked real well for us and them also. One of our DD went on the Disney Wonder for 3 days and were thrilled.
The only downside is that I think DVC should offer us some better park tickets discounts than they do. Only 10% on the LOS pass. Other than that we are pleased as punch. I think Dean's advice in a previous post was on the money.

 

[Richnj]

I used to visit my grandmother in Ormond Beach and take the drive to W.D.W and drive back every night. The only down side I see is the ride back at night. After a full day in the park that drive can be a long one. I used to get tired very quickly and after the second night I found myself trying to find a room so I could get some sleep. Most of the time I found it very hard to find one. There is nothing better after a long day in the park and driving 5 min to your home and plopping down on your own couch. D.V.C. is worth every penny.

 

[Peggy Sue]

To date, we have been very pleased with our DVC experiences. (Members since 1997) We too purchased with the thought of using DVC for travel outside of the DVC resorts (we were time share novices and knew nothing of these boards when we purchased). We have traded once with MS through II for Kauai, HI. We really enjoyed our trip, and the exchange was very nice, although not quite disney standards.

Since joining, we have been having too much fun at the DVC resorts to think about additional exchanges. I am considering doing a direct swap with a co-worker who has time share in Hawaii and wants to take her family to WDW, as we would like to return to Hawaii.

As recommended above, I joined TUG to check out other time share resorts..it is a great place to gain insight on what the time share market is all about.

DVC has delivered to us what they promised..nothing more, nothing less. They have maintained their resorts and every vactation experience has been very enjoyable. We have always shunned other time shares because we didn't like being locked into a block of time..we like Disney because of the point system and the flexibility it offers.

If you search these boards for key works like "exchanges", II etc., you will find quite a few posts from members who have done a variety of exchanges. I've yet to read a negative report. I've also never run into a unhappy DVC member..except over things like pool hopping, maid service issues etc...but even these posts say they are happy with DVC overall. The fact that there aren't many resales available also speaks well for the program, and those that are available don't stay on the market very long.

Good luck with you decision..and we hope to welcome you home soon!

 

[Dean]

Just to touch on a couple of items. First, Maid service is available and has a cost regardless of how it is factored in. Also, most timeshares offer no maid service, though some offere daily. MX tends to offer daily service as the labor is cheaper there. If you want it, you can pay for it and rest assured, you'll pay for it one way or the other even if offered daily for "free". Truthfully, I don't want the maids coming in our room anyway, I want it to feel more like home.

As to the quality of the exchanges, you must check them out for yourself. Some are better than others and one person's dream trip might be anothers nightmare. You can't just assume it's going to fit your needs. DVC is only somewhat helpful in this area partly because they usually know less about the properties and timesharing in general than most on this board. Not a knock, just that's not really what they've been trained or experienced in. Now if one MS member has personal direct experience with a resort or more, that may help. An example is Paradise Village in MX where it is about 20 minutes out of town. It's a great resort but the location is a put off for many who want to be in town.

I would value my points at $10-11 pp but DVC would only value them about $5 pp. In every case I've looked at, I could get a better value using cash than DVC points. Sure there might be a high demand time where you could use points but not get much of a discount but not many. Remember with anything like Aruba or HI, you lose out on the package deals, a big difference that in many cases gives you the room almost for free. I don't think you'll find CC rooms at a 20-50% discount using points and using $10 pp as the value of the points compared to discounted rates and specials. If I'm wrong, I'd love to see an example.

 

[bjcgl]

The $75 fee does apply to the Concierge Collection as well as the cruise line. We have used points for Concierge Collection several times and have had good luck getting where we wanted on short notice.

If you are joining DVC to primarily use the other options, remember that they can be discontinued at any time. Also remember to add your annual dues in when you are figuring your cost savings. Cost of buying DVC is probably around $15,000, 10 years of dues would be approx $7000- That's $22,000 or $2,200/year - add in the interest and you could have a pretty nice vacation for that.
That being said, we have owned at OKW since early '92 and it is the best thing we ever did!!!

Good luck w/ your decision!

inkbounc