Direct or resale....newbie!

[Humphery58]

I'm assuming 'direct' means you buy from the person who gives the DVC info session? I just went 2 days ago. Thankfully a friend mentioned 'resale' due to the expense of points now. I'm local. I never make reservations 11 months in advance. I don't need to book a room during peak periods and am flexible with where I stay. I'm not too concerned with whether or not I have DVC 50 years from now. I'd really just like to have points to use for my kids and grandkids for the foreseeable future. I was all ready to sign 2 days ago and now I'm thinking it would be crazy to pay $150 per point when a resale *seems* like it would suit my needs for less money. Am I missing something???

 

[Msmithmd]

You're missing the fact that timeshares demand very early booking. If you don't book at or near seven months, you may not get a room at all. Eleven months is only important if you want first shot at your home resort. All points are equal seven months from arrival.

As to the money, you're right on target. The only good reason to buy direct as a first time buyer, is if you want a resort that isn't available resale (currently VGF).

If you don't want to always book way in advance, I'd honestly steer you away from any timeshare, whether disney or otherwise. The most disappointed owners seem to be either 1. Those who don't book early, or 2. Those who didn't understand that the initial purchase price is a small percent of the true cost and realize they can't afford it in the long haul.

Realize that dues over long contract term are much more than the buy in, and that's before you've bought a single park ticket etc. Spend a minimum of two months reviewing these boards (and other sites) before making any decision. And all this said, I love my dvc membership. But I bought it knowing exactly what I was getting, and what I wasn't.

 

[disneynutz]

What is your reason for considering a DVC ownership?

Bill

 

[Humphery58]

Is it harder to book rooms once in DVC than if booking as a regular guest? I only wonder that because last month I booked a regular reservation for January at Animal Kingdom. Saratoga and OKW were also available, and any of them would have been fine. I assume they have a quota for DVC bookings and a very small quota for general bookings, and the DVC quota fills up much faster simply because of the number of members and the demand, which is why advance booking is so important once you're a member?

Why I'm considering DVC....a place for the family to be together. There's just no better place than Disney!

I'm glad I checked out these boards, as I no longer feel the pressure to sign on the dotted line by this Saturday. There is much to learn.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Is it harder to book rooms once in DVC than if booking as a regular guest? I only wonder that because last month I booked a regular reservation for January at Animal Kingdom. Saratoga and OKW were also available, and any of them would have been fine. I assume they have a quota for DVC bookings and a very small quota for general bookings, and the DVC quota fills up much faster simply because of the number of members and the demand, which is why advance booking is so important once you're a member?

Why I'm considering DVC....a place for the family to be together. There's just no better place than Disney!

I'm glad I checked out these boards, as I no longer feel the pressure to sign on the dotted line by this Saturday. There is much to learn.

The availability you see on the Disney website for DVC villas is not available for points stays. There are two separate inventories for DVC. The largest inventory is that sold to DVC members who plan to use them for their stays using their points.

The inventory you saw on the Disney website is inventory either owned by Disney (they own about 2-3% of every resort, plus they take back inventory through foreclosures or buy back inventory through Right of First Refusal - ROFR) or traded by a member for a non-DVC Disney stay. Like a member wanted to use points for a DCL cruise. So they give their points to DVC, DVC turns over comparable inventory from the member points inventory to Disney Reservation Center to sell to pay for the cruise. So that inventory is never available for points stays.

 

[Nabas]

Is it harder to book rooms once in DVC than if booking as a regular guest? I only wonder that because last month I booked a regular reservation for January at Animal Kingdom. Saratoga and OKW were also available, and any of them would have been fine. I assume they have a quota for DVC bookings and a very small quota for general bookings, and the DVC quota fills up much faster simply because of the number of members and the demand, which is why advance booking is so important once you're a member?

Why I'm considering DVC....a place for the family to be together. There's just no better place than Disney!

I'm glad I checked out these boards, as I no longer feel the pressure to sign on the dotted line by this Saturday. There is much to learn.

For me, the single biggest change getting used to with DVC is having to book at least 7 months in advance to get what I want. For the most popular rooms, booking 11 months is pretty much required.

For example, I "own" at Boardwalk Villas (BWV). I wanted a Standard View 2-bedroom villa beginning the day before Thanksgiving. By Tuesday (i.e. the day before I could book), the rooms were gone, taken by those who started their vacations at least one day before me.

I was able to get a Boardwalk View 2-bedroom villa for Thanksgiving but even those were gone in less than a day.

DVC members don't book like "normal" WDW vacationers. DVC members tend to go when it's less crowded or when special events are happening. For example, October during Food & Wine Festival or early December are very popular among DVC members.

What you have to remember is that Disney is allowed to sell 98% of DVC capacity. That means that DVC rooms at every resort except Old Key West (OKW) and Sarasota Springs Resort (SRR) run at near 100% occupancy year-round.

With DVC, if you don't book as soon as possible, you probably won't get what you want.

And yes, take your time to learn all about DVC before buying. You have plenty of time to decide!

 

[JustTinking]

Being spontaneous about vacations unfortunately is not for DVC owners. So you would need to plan further out than you are used to. SSR or OKW are two of the biggest resorts that have some availability during peak times. If you don't care where you stay, maybe an SSR resale is something to look into. But I encourage you to study the boards for a while before deciding.

 

[disneynutz]

Why I'm considering DVC....a place for the family to be together. There's just no better place than Disney!

You can be together at Disney without the DVC. For us Disney is magic, DVC is a discounted room and should only be considered if you would be paying cash for an equivalent room.

DVC isn't the same as paying cash for a room with Disney. Historically we have had more website issues, account issues, changing point requirements, high point costs for some non-DVC uses, and rule and policy changes.

For many DVC may be worth it but the whole picture should be considered before purchase.

Bill

 

[rkold]

Though to be fair, even as a DVC member, sometimes the rooms on offer by Disney on their website are also still available to DVC members. I booked a standard view Studio at Jambo AKL for 4 nights within the last month for January 2014.

Now, to book on short notice, the selection of resorts was quite limited. (I think if I didn't want to change rooms, it was AKL, OKW or SSR) but we actually wanted to stay at AKL again. We could have done 5 nights in Kidani in a studio. All were week nights, we tend not to visit Disney on Friday and Saturday nights.

I think you can't work under the assumption that if you want to book on short notice you will be able to get anything, but there is that possibility depending on how popular a time it is for DVC members to book. (The week I was booking in January is post the Disney marathon and pre MLKjr Day)

 

[crisi]

Is it harder to book rooms once in DVC than if booking as a regular guest? I only wonder that because last month I booked a regular reservation for January at Animal Kingdom. Saratoga and OKW were also available, and any of them would have been fine. I assume they have a quota for DVC bookings and a very small quota for general bookings, and the DVC quota fills up much faster simply because of the number of members and the demand, which is why advance booking is so important once you're a member?

Why I'm considering DVC....a place for the family to be together. There's just no better place than Disney!

I'm glad I checked out these boards, as I no longer feel the pressure to sign on the dotted line by this Saturday. There is much to learn.

Yes,

DVC is sold to run at a high occupancy. When the system is running perfectly, there won't be free rooms available on points the day you check in because they sell pretty much all the rooms nights in the resort as part of the selling process. There may be a few here and there as members cancel trips or don't use their points, but at popular times you can find zero availability even four or five months out. How fast the resort books depends on everything from the popularity of the resort, to the room size to the time of year, to sometimes just weird chance. Some rooms may show up - again - people cancel vacations - but they might get snapped up by another member.

With flexibility, its often possible to take last minute trips, but you need to understand the directions in which you might need to be flexible. You might need to take a bigger room than you want - spending more points. You might have to split a stay between two or even more resorts. You might need to pay cash for some nights somewhere else. You might need to move the trip by a day or a few days. You will only sometimes end up with exactly what you most wanted in terms of resort, room size and nights.

You'll also want to understand the risk of losing points. DVC points are use em or lose them. You can bank forward one year, but you need to do that MONTHS in advance. So if you hang onto points for the last half of your use year, and then can't get a reservation at a time that works for you, bye bye points.

 

[Humphery58]

I so appreciate the advice here. 6 months after attending my initial sales tour, I just passed ROFR today. I've been all over the place during this time and settled on something completely different than what I was thinking I needed 6 months ago. Looking back, I hated that I was tempted to go point-crazy in the heat of the moment. Now, I feel like I bought what I can afford, took the long-term costs into consideration, and will see if what I have fits my needs before purchasing additional points.

 

[chalee94]

good plan. congratulations!

 

[lovin'fl]

I so appreciate the advice here. 6 months after attending my initial sales tour, I just passed ROFR today. I've been all over the place during this time and settled on something completely different than what I was thinking I needed 6 months ago. Looking back, I hated that I was tempted to go point-crazy in the heat of the moment. Now, I feel like I bought what I can afford, took the long-term costs into consideration, and will see if what I have fits my needs before purchasing additional points.

Congrats!! What did you end up buying?

 

[Humphery58]

Congrats!! What did you end up buying?

100 pts at SSR. I love *all* the DVC resorts for different reasons so am quite happy having SSR as home. Since I'm local I can get my atmosphere 'fix' at any resort by walking around the grounds for a couple hours; we really enjoy spending our free time this way and I don't feel I'm sacrificing any preferences by having to choose just one resort. With the advent of Disney Springs, SSR is going to be a great location when family and friends are in town!

 

[lovin'fl]

100 pts at SSR. I love *all* the DVC resorts for different reasons so am quite happy having SSR as home. Since I'm local I can get my atmosphere 'fix' at any resort by walking around the grounds for a couple hours; we really enjoy spending our free time this way and I don't feel I'm sacrificing any preferences by having to choose just one resort. With the advent of Disney Springs, SSR is going to be a great location when family and friends are in town!

I think that was a great choice!!! Welcome Home!! We like them all too...we have our faves but are happy to stay at any and like to switch things up each trip (or I do anyway...DH would just do BWV or BCV each trip). I have my 2nd stay at your new home coming up in Aug and I cannot wait!!

 

[disneynutz]

100 pts at SSR. I love *all* the DVC resorts for different reasons so am quite happy having SSR as home. Since I'm local I can get my atmosphere 'fix' at any resort by walking around the grounds for a couple hours; we really enjoy spending our free time this way and I don't feel I'm sacrificing any preferences by having to choose just one resort. With the advent of Disney Springs, SSR is going to be a great location when family and friends are in town!

Smart move IMO, now you can use your SSR points to experience the DVC program first hand and stay at all the resorts. If you find that you fall in love with a different resort and have difficulty booking it at 7 months, you can always add on and either keep or sell your SSR holdings.

Bill

 

[Tonygee]

Smart move IMO, now you can use your SSR points to experience the DVC program first hand and stay at all the resorts. If you find that you fall in love with a different resort and have difficulty booking it at 7 months, you can always add on and either keep or sell your SSR holdings.

Bill

Can i ask anyone that purchased new, looking back is there anything important you would truly miss had you purchased a resale instead?

Reason I ask is we just purchased Grand Floridian and knowing that the resales were out there i still purchased new because I want THIS resort but buyer's remorse (i love to haggle and get "a deal") as the sales process was like buying a shirt from a department store, no room for negotiations lol...

Money isn't the issue, value is and knowing i can hand this to my children and then to the (possible) grandkids one day (maybe even their kids lol) I was curious if anyone struggled with that feeling as i am now?

I am happy to be a member, longtime coming and until i actually get to experience this purchase i guess i will have that feeling of did i get the best deal?

They say the points for new purchases were around 100/pt in 2009, then they said the points were 150/ea up until a few months ago, i bought them at 155/ea and may 28th they're going up to 165/ea... They even said that once the Polynesian resort DVC is done they project (unofficially) that the points will climb to 220-240/ea?

If that's the case maybe i should purchase more now? I picked up 160 thinking that should suffice with how utilize the smaller rooms and are flexible to resorts (but we are definitely staying in the GF for at least one probably the first vacation we go on).

Thanks for your time, hope this wasn't too long winded!

 

[disneynutz]

Can i ask anyone that purchased new, looking back is there anything important you would truly miss had you purchased a resale instead?

Reason I ask is we just purchased Grand Floridian and knowing that the resales were out there i still purchased new because I want THIS resort but buyer's remorse (i love to haggle and get "a deal") as the sales process was like buying a shirt from a department store, no room for negotiations lol...

Money isn't the issue, value is and knowing i can hand this to my children and then to the (possible) grandkids one day (maybe even their kids lol) I was curious if anyone struggled with that feeling as i am now?

I am happy to be a member, longtime coming and until i actually get to experience this purchase i guess i will have that feeling of did i get the best deal?

They say the points for new purchases were around 100/pt in 2009, then they said the points were 150/ea up until a few months ago, i bought them at 155/ea and may 28th they're going up to 165/ea... They even said that once the Polynesian resort DVC is done they project (unofficially) that the points will climb to 220-240/ea?

If that's the case maybe i should purchase more now? I picked up 160 thinking that should suffice with how utilize the smaller rooms and are flexible to resorts (but we are definitely staying in the GF for at least one probably the first vacation we go on).

Thanks for your time, hope this wasn't too long winded!

For VGF, direct is the way to go if you want VGF as a home resort. Any other resort, resale would save you money but sometimes you just can't find the contract that you want/need, UY or small size so you might have to buy direct.

In your case I would make sure that I really know which resorts that you love and want to call home. Also while the idea of passing your ownership to your kids is nice, I wouldn't buy with that in mind. Maybe they won't care about Disney by then, maybe they would rather have the cash, maybe you decide to sell in 5 years and buy a RV.

Bill

 

[Dean]

Can i ask anyone that purchased new, looking back is there anything important you would truly miss had you purchased a resale instead?

Reason I ask is we just purchased Grand Floridian and knowing that the resales were out there i still purchased new because I want THIS resort but buyer's remorse (i love to haggle and get "a deal") as the sales process was like buying a shirt from a department store, no room for negotiations lol...

Money isn't the issue, value is and knowing i can hand this to my children and then to the (possible) grandkids one day (maybe even their kids lol) I was curious if anyone struggled with that feeling as i am now?

I am happy to be a member, longtime coming and until i actually get to experience this purchase i guess i will have that feeling of did i get the best deal?

They say the points for new purchases were around 100/pt in 2009, then they said the points were 150/ea up until a few months ago, i bought them at 155/ea and may 28th they're going up to 165/ea... They even said that once the Polynesian resort DVC is done they project (unofficially) that the points will climb to 220-240/ea?

If that's the case maybe i should purchase more now? I picked up 160 thinking that should suffice with how utilize the smaller rooms and are flexible to resorts (but we are definitely staying in the GF for at least one probably the first vacation we go on).

Thanks for your time, hope this wasn't too long winded!

There is nothing of real value currently in the new vs resale decision, ASAMOF, DVD is doing resale buyers a favor by forcing then to avoid poor choices. However, for your purchase, you really don't have the option as it's not available resale to any degree and there really isn't any savings to be had for the few that are. One of the problems with buying as the initial purchase retail at a high end resort is that every time one uses it for something else, they are eroding the dollar value of what they put in initially and yearly. So for VGF it's really a simple decision of whether the resort is worth the almost triple $$$ premium compared to SSR and the expected much higher fees.

 

[bakerworld]

Can i ask anyone that purchased new, looking back is there anything important you would truly miss had you purchased a resale instead?

We experienced about 6 months of buyers remorse.

Frankly, I was stunned when my better half agreed to purchase DVC. To this day, I think it was because he could finance the purchase instead of writing a one time large check. We'd been to a few TS presentations and always just walked away with the 'freebie', which in this case was 12 anytime FP - all I was after - that we handed off to our daughter and her friend.

Finally (4 weeks ) our membership info came and I tried to book our February vacation with no luck so I put it away with a "what in the world did we buy?". DH put the phone back in my hand and forced the issue so off we went in February at SSR and loved it. After that there was no looking back. We've bought 2 more contracts - all direct - all fairly small as our largest contract is 160 pts.