Deciding about being a DVC member

[Princesswoodymom]

I am thinking about buying into the DVC at SSR so I was told to look here by a friend and am finding this info very helpful I would like to know from current members If you have one regret about buying DVC what is it and why does there seem to be so much room switching on trips is that members choice or is it more often because Disney can not accomidate the request. Any advice or insight would be helpful. I know this is something I want to do just when and how many points and if I should buy from disney direct or a broker is my thought now. My children are 17 4 and 3 so I am sure we would get our money's worth but it seems if we all want to go we would have to stay at a 2 bedroom unit and that can take a lot of points. and planning. Any insight would be helpful

 

[DVCLiz]

My personal opinion is that a lot of DVC owners begin to see the word "request" and mentally replace it with "demand." When their room requests aren't met, or when (to me) minor maintenance issues arise, people go ballistic and you get the sort of resort reports that make you question your ownership decision. I love my DVC, and I am a fairly tolerant person, so I have been completely satisfied!!!!

 

[jarestel]

First of all, if you like vacationing at WDW, you can't beat the accomodations at DVC. They are by far better than anything else you can find on property.

There are a few gotchas involved though. DVC won't guarantee that the category of room you want( smoking-nonSmoking, or handicapped accessible, non-handicapped-accessible ) will be available for you when you arrive. Regardless of whether you booked your room 11 months in advance or 1 day before you arrived, you're at the mercy of the front desk CM when it comes to getting the room type ( not view ) you requested. For some, this isn't a problem. If you don't smoke, but don't mind getting a room that smells like stale tobacco, you'll probably never have occasion to question your purchase. Likewise with the HA rooms, some people don't mind the layout, others find it objectionable.

Also, it seems that the members are expected to inspect the rooms for proper inventory, working appliances, and the like. DVC doesn't seem to want to have to do this on their own. If a problem is encountered in your room when you check in, it's your responsibility to report it and have maintenance working in your room while you're occupying it in order to correct the problem. And as the resorts age, there does seem to be more and more problems.

Having been a member for 5 years, I still enjoy going to WDW and staying at the DVC resorts. They are very comfortable and spacious. But they're not perfect. I'm evaluating my membership decision over the next couple of years to determine whether DVC will make the necessarily changes required in order to justify such a large initial expense and dues that are extremely high for a timeshare in the Orlando area. ( heck, I'd be willing to rough it at the Poly if need be ) - If they show they're committed to maintaining a first class resort, I'll happily remain a member and enjoy years of vacations to come. I remain optimistic.

My advice would be continue to monitor the boards for a while longer in order to see what the current membership's concerns are. If DVC addresses these, you can be assured they're in this for the long haul.

Good luck!

 

[Deep-Thots]

It wouldn't necessarily take a lot of points to stay in a 2BR, particularly if you are willing to go to WDW only every other year. In that case, with banking, you'd easily be able to stay in a 2BR during all but the most points-costly Premier season (i.e., Christmas and Easter) with an initial purchase of 150 - 175 points (depending upon your home resort).

Most people seem to agree that if you want ease of purchase (as well as easy, though not entirely generous, financing) and 12 additional years of membership, it's most beneficial to buy SSR directly from Disney. Also, keep in mind that if you purchase from Disney, your initial purchase must equal 150 or more points. When you purchase from Disney, Disney pays the closing costs for the sale.

Contrarily, if you have your heart set on one of the other resorts, have your own method of financing, and don't really care about the 12 extra years of membership (and also don't mind the possibility of having Disney snatch a potential contract from under your nose), you can go the resale route. One of the advantages of purchasing via resale is that there is no minimum purchase of points required. However, because the buyer generally pays closing costs in a resale contract, this fact tends to make resales for smaller contracts less cost-effective (i.e., it increases the cost per point).

 

[dairyou]

We purchased a year ago and stayed for the first time at a DVC resort in November. I have to warn you that DVC will spoil you and you will never want to go anywhere else. For us the kitchen saved us 500.00 in food. It was nice to take a break in the afternoon and the kids had the front room and we hung out in the bedroom. It felt like our home was in DisneyWorld. Doesn't get much better than that!

I don't think we'll ever go back to a regular hotel room again...though maybe the Grand Floridian

Deb

 

[CRSNDSNY]

When we decided to buy DVC it was because of all the vacations we've taken, our Disney vacations were the most memorable and worthwhile. We've had some really poor non-Disney destination vacations. DVC seemed perfect for us since we decided that we loved going to Disney, going on Disney Cruises, etc. and that we'd probably want to go every year. Based on that premise, we decided on our amount of points based on a 1BR for 5-7 nights and visiting any season but holiday season once a year. The 200pts we bought seem to be working out nicely so far. We've only cruised once using points and that was a last-minute, needed to use our points decision. I don't think we'll ever cruise using points again...it isn't worth the point value. Cash would be better.

I just wanted to add that even though we bought DVC, we've had a couple stays in normal resort rooms at Disney since then -- once at the Dolphin and once at the Wilderness Lodge. Since it is just me and DH for now, the change in accomodations didn't bother us too much. We aren't too spoiled yet!

 

[mikesmom]

I think the number of complaints about rooms SEEMS high because they are so visible here. You don't see the posts from folks who find the HA rooms perfectly fine (we've had 'em twice and they are no problem. as a matter of fact, the showers are much roomier, we like that). You don't see the the thousands of wonderful vacations posted. First, they don't post as much, and second, the "just returned, we had a great time" posts just aren't quite as "interesting" once you are a member and you are having a great time, too. I read the happy posts a LOT more when I was trying to make the decision to buy and also, when I'm planning on trying a resort I haven't been to yet.

Want some perspective? DH travels quite a bit for business, and i sometimes go along. I also travel for business, though not as much. Let me tell you about some rooms...
- the Hilton where NONE of the rooms had bathtubs (all showers)
- The Crowne Plaza (Executive level!) where the heat wouldn't work. All the thermostat would do is turn on air conditioning colder and colder (it was forty degrees outside). They finally moved us to another room, telling us some of the rooms had issues since the hurricane. ('Scuse me? Was that the hurricane SIX months ago?).
- the Embassy Suites (again, Executive Level) where we had to move because the internet connections wouldn't work. I was there on business and had to be able to access my office system. Apparently, even though they used the high speed connections as a selling point to attract business travelers it was only "actually" installed in a few rooms.
- the hotel in Missouri where the Internet connections worked but only one of the electrical connections worked in the room. So if I plugged in my laptop, I had no lights!
- we've had rooms with stained carpets, rooms with beat up furniture and I could go on and on (and I am NOT talking about Motel 6 level hotels, here)

Frankly, one of the reasons we bought in and continue to be pleased is that the DVC rooms are so nice and well kept up. Have we occasionally had a burner out on the stove? Yes, and we reported it. Have we walked in and realized bowls or pitchers were missing in the kitchen? Yes, and DVC brought the missing item immediately. (As an aside here, the only way that stuff is missing is because a member or guest swiped it. "We" may only have ourselves to blame). I guess I don't think that a resort that probably turns very close to 100% of its rooms every week is somehow less than quality because they don't have time to check every burner and inventory every dish every single time. After all, there is one of "us" fussing and fuming downstairs because we can't get into that room before 4 PM.

I can't much help you with your decision about the number of points. But as to happy and continue to be pleased? We've been members for 6 years and as you've probably heard before - "our only regret is that we didn't buy in sooner".

 

[athenna]

Thanks for posting your point of view. I am sure it helps out the DVC newbies (like myself) realize that not every experience is a bad one and that the bad one's aren't ''exclusive'' to DVC. I guess the negative reports are more ''interesting'' to some, I guess I was just wishing we'd hear more positive posts. Reading some posts over the past few days have gotten me really discouraged, but attitude comes from within, and I won't let others hurt mine.

Thanks again.

 

[Princesswoodymom]

Thanks to all your input has been great I thought it was worth it and these post have added to my list of questions for Disney before buying I will be buying not sure when but it will be for our next trip for what we would pay to take one visit we could become DVC members and have 50 years of vacations ahead and can stay on disney and all the benefits and more Thanks for the positive reinforcement

 

[athenna]

Thanks to all your input has been great I thought it was worth it and these post have added to my list of questions for Disney before buying I will be buying not sure when but it will be for our next trip for what we would pay to take one visit we could become DVC members and have 50 years of vacations ahead and can stay on disney and all the benefits and more Thanks for the positive reinforcement

Good news! Keep us posted so we can ''welcome you home''.
Here's some pixie dust for you!

 

[iankh]

Athenna,

Not sure if you saw the results of my last survey about the resorts, but here is the link to the results again if it helps:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/Report.asp?U=85074065578

 

[Princesswoodymom]

that survey was great it looks like ssr will be a great choice for buying into DVC and my family will be very happy with this choice. Now just to finish raising the funds to get it down then we start planning our first family trip. Husband and two little ones have never been It was my oldest daughter and my favorite place on earth but last trip was in 1994 so I would like to take her back before she leaves home

 

[athenna]

Athenna,

Not sure if you saw the results of my last survey about the resorts, but here is the link to the results again if it helps:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/Report.asp?U=85074065578

I had read the results, thanks.
I didn't take the survey because I haven't stayed at a DVC resort yet. I am glad most people like their DVC's.

 

[O2BNWDW]

I am thinking about buying into the DVC at SSR so I was told to look here by a friend and am finding this info very helpful I would like to know from current members If you have one regret about buying DVC what is it and why does there seem to be so much room switching on trips is that members choice or is it more often because Disney can not accomidate the request. Any advice or insight would be helpful. I know this is something I want to do just when and how many points and if I should buy from disney direct or a broker is my thought now. My children are 17 4 and 3 so I am sure we would get our money's worth but it seems if we all want to go we would have to stay at a 2 bedroom unit and that can take a lot of points. and planning. Any insight would be helpful

The only regret I have with DVC is that I didn't purchase sooner and that I didn't buy more points!!!!

You will be spoiled!

 

[M & M]

We have vacationed at WDW 6 times "96" off site, "98" CBR, "99" GF, "01" WL, "03" YC, "04" SSR, next trip planned for Dec. "05" SSR. Our only regret is not purchasing sooner DVC will spoil you. I wish we had purchased sooner. I was sold in "98" DH took a little longer I would stop at the DVC booth ever trip finaly when we are staying at the YC he just up and walks over to the DVC sales center, then at the Boardwalk, on his own and agrees to purchase 210 points. I could'nt believe it.

 

[WDWLVR]

We bought into DVC in January of 2000 and it was one of the best decisions we ever made. Regrets - like others have said - that we didn't buy sooner

We bought into DVC because we were getting to the point where we wanted to come back to WDW every year. We had done one Disney cruise at that point and enjoyed that as well. We were looking for a way could continue. We look at our DVC purchase as in investment into future trips. Not as a money-making investment, but rather an investment in accomodations. We bought enough points to make sure we could have a one bedroom any time of year we wanted.

We have used our points for that one bedroom a number of times, a two bedroom when we brought family along, a studio a couple of times for quick trips (before and after cruises), a 7 day cruise, a 4 day member cruise and we have the 2005 member cruise booked as well. In all our trips we have always found our rooms in good order. We have never asked to change rooms and if there were minor things wrong (missing something in the kitchen or a remote that didn't work) we called and it was taken care of quickly.