Disney Vacation Club for dummies

[HydroGuy]

The guy who has that business is a broker of other peoples' points. Sort of like taking your stuff to sell at ISoldItOnEbay, rather than just selling it yourself on ebay.

As I understand it you are fundamentally correct but he is a little more. I would say he is a DVC point consolidator as well as broker. He sells other people's points, but he also can bundle them in different combinations and sell the exact number of points you need. Buying points directly from someone may not get the exact number you need to buy or they need to sell. With this guy you can do this and do it in relatively short notice. So that is his value add - which works better with how we make our decisions.

Plenty of people rent out their own points if they can't use them.

I am sure Molly knows this but for others' sake, if you want to buy points directly, here is a place you can do it on DIS:

DVC-Rent/Trade

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

As I understand it you are fundamentally correct but he is a little more. I would say he is a DVC point consolidator as well as broker. He sells other people's points, but he also can bundle them in different combinations and sell the exact number of points you need. Buying points directly from someone may not get the exact number you need to buy or they need to sell. With this guy you can do this and do it in relatively short notice. So that is his value add - which works better with how we make our decisions.

Kinda, sorta but not exactly. Points can't necessarily be consolidated (they can, but only to the point of an individuals ownership or by linking) but what Daddio can do is to select the contracts that will be able to accommodate a request from DVC owners that are working with him . He also is personally an owner as I understand it so the points rented might be his directly. Technically he could get a couple of owners to make parts of the reservations at times and link the reservations together but he isn't able to just pool a bunch of points per se.

What he does is the leg work that could also be done by the person looking to rent.

 

[CrazyDuck]

Are you a member? I keep hearing all of this talk of points, villas, etc. and I'm so curious, but every time I look at the web site, my head starts to hurt.

I'm wondering how, in this economy, anyone could possibly afford to join. Also, if you are a member, what was the tipping point for you that made it worth it for you to join? What am I missing?

We bought this past February. The "tipping point" for me was the fact that we tend to go every 12-16 months and have brought a family member(s) with us on our last 3 trips. Our last trip to DL we spent over $6,000 for 2 rooms at GCH and 7 Park Hoppers. Had we already owned DVC we would have only needed to spring for the Park Hoppers which would have been around $1,500. So that's $4,500 that could have gone towards my DVC purchase. We picked up 200 points at VGC so on top of the $19,000 we pay $80/month in dues. If you are considering DVC, first answer these questions:

- Do I go to DL or WDW atleast every other year
- Do I always stay, or want to stay, in the "Deluxe" hotels
- Do I have a stable job(s)
- Do I have extra money lying around after paying the bills and puting some away for savings/retirement/kids education

If you can answer yes to ALL of those questions then you should just consider joining DVC. After you do the tour, and after you do the math, then you should decide if it is right for you.

 

[rentayenta]

Are you a member? I keep hearing all of this talk of points, villas, etc. and I'm so curious, but every time I look at the web site, my head starts to hurt.

I'm wondering how, in this economy, anyone could possibly afford to join. Also, if you are a member, what was the tipping point for you that made it worth it for you to join? What am I missing?

We are members and I wish we would have joined sooner. With a family of 5 who loves to vacation at Disney and who has been to WDW twice and Disneyland twice since 2007, a standard room just wouldn't cut it anymore. The ammenities with DVC cannot be beat: large villas, full washer/dryer, full kitchen etc....... Put it this way, the 2 bedroom villa we have reserved at the GCV for this June would cost about $5800 on the low side- that's over 1/3 of what we paid for our DVC contract. We traded out into RCI for a full week in Mexico and the resort was amazing so the ability to use DVC outside of Disney is a plus for us too for the times when DH and I do our adults only trips.

 

[HydroGuy]

Kinda, sorta but not exactly. Points can't necessarily be consolidated (they can, but only to the point of an individuals ownership or by linking) but what Daddio can do is to select the contracts that will be able to accommodate a request from DVC owners that are working with him . He also is personally an owner as I understand it so the points rented might be his directly. Technically he could get a couple of owners to make parts of the reservations at times and link the reservations together but he isn't able to just pool a bunch of points per se.

What he does is the leg work that could also be done by the person looking to rent.

Thanks for the clarification! I have never worked with him but I think his service will be worth the extra 30% ($13 per point vs. $10) and still the resulting price will be a bargain compared to direct hotel rooms.

 

[FlameGirl]

I really appreciate all of the responses, helpful information and links. I may try to talk to my husband about it but after telling him how much the Grand cost per night after booking our last two nights there for our upcoming trip, he may have a stroke. He thought I was kidding when I told him the room rate.

 

[jlmarr]

We've toyed with the idea of buying in, but we'd go for WDW since we're so close to DLR. There are just so many things to get your brain around, like Use Years, borrowing, banking, home resort, 7 months, 11 months, maintenance fees, etc. But we really like the look of the 1 BR - we've seen the GCH model and I'm pretty sure that the Wilderness Lodge Villas are similar.

 

[CrazyDuck]

We've toyed with the idea of buying in, but we'd go for WDW since we're so close to DLR. There are just so many things to get your brain around, like Use Years, borrowing, banking, home resort, 7 months, 11 months, maintenance fees, etc. But we really like the look of the 1 BR - we've seen the GCH model and I'm pretty sure that the Wilderness Lodge Villas are similar.

Wilderness lodge is nice and all, but be aware of the contract end dates. Right now at WDW they are actively selling Sarasota Springs, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Bay Lake Towers. The contracts at these resorts expire in 2054, 2058, and 2060 respectively. All the other contracts at WDW expire in 2042. That may still be 32 years away but think about what the extra 18 years may be worth when you consider the resort. 32 years may allow for the kids to enjoy your DVC, but 50 years may allow your grandkids to enjoy it as well!

 

[ACDSNY]

We've toyed with the idea of buying in, but we'd go for WDW since we're so close to DLR. There are just so many things to get your brain around, like Use Years, borrowing, banking, home resort, 7 months, 11 months, maintenance fees, etc. But we really like the look of the 1 BR - we've seen the GCH model and I'm pretty sure that the Wilderness Lodge Villas are similar.

The Use Year has to do with the month your point allotment starts each year, so if you have a Feb use year than each Feb you'll have X amount of points to use that year or bank them into the next year. The resort you purchase into is your home resort and you are able to book reservations up to 11 months prior to your arrival. All other members can book at your home resort up to 7 months prior to their arrival. This gives the owners a 4 month booking window over the rest of the membership.

In our case we have a Aug use year since most of our trips are in the Fall and own at Grand Ca and Animal Kingdom Villas. We've been members since 2005 and have use our points for WDW, Vero Beach, DL and Kauai.

 

[ToodlesRN]

We joined DVC a few years ago, we live in Seattle but go to CA at least once a year to visit family and always made a 5 day stay to DL at the Disney resorts (costing us about $1,000-1,600). So instead of putting that money into Resorts we decided to put it into DVC that way we get 50+ years of Disney Which in turn lets us travel more often on off seasons. In 2009 alone we used our points for WDW x1, Disney cruise x2 and DL x1 We have never tought of visiting WDW due to how long the flights are or the cruise since I get motion sickness easy, but with DVC it was affordable to give it a shot, both my husband and I are hooked on the cruises, I see more cruising down the future for us. As far as DL we will make about 1-2 trips a year. I have heard disney has lowered their min buy in amount of points from 160 to 50 points. PM if you have any more questions.

 

[nunzia]

Thank you Molly. I will check into both of those links.

I don't know why this is so hard for me to grasp. I think I'm a fairly intelligent person, but for some reason, this totally escapes me.

Don't worry about it..it took me FOREVER to get it and then when I thought I had it discovered I was pretty much wrong. I read the DVC section over and over and there are lots of friendly and very savvy DVCers over there. Even after all of that I managed to lose 6 points by not realizing I had them and banking them.
It does take a long time to have the light come fully on.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Thanks for the clarification! I have never worked with him but I think his service will be worth the extra 30% ($13 per point vs. $10) and still the resulting price will be a bargain compared to direct hotel rooms.

I think he takes some of the work out of renting but at the same time with a little bit of knowledge anyone can put it together. I have already started a conversation about next year with the seller I am dealing with this year.

Jack

 

[HydroGuy]

I think he takes some of the work out of renting but at the same time with a little bit of knowledge anyone can put it together. I have already started a conversation about next year with the seller I am dealing with this year.

Jack

Cool. I have not done it yet but it also seems you can setup with him on shorter notice - at least for the WDW resorts. Not sure if short notice would work for GCH. Probably not.

In our case we often do not know what week we are traveling or how many kids can come until late in the game - a month or two before. So when I make hotel reservations directly I make multiple reservations sometimes for multiple hotels for different weeks. Then as we get closer I cancel the ones I do not need. That does not seem to work very well with the DVC rental approach where you need to lock in far in advance. If this guy can still give us some flexibility then that works better for us. I will consider it 2011 when we will probably do another WDW trip in early June.

 

[FlameGirl]

Well shoot. I got all excited because I put in a request for a studio villa for two nights in December, and just heard back that there weren't any rooms that met my request.

 

[specialks]

Someone mentioned that the contract buy in has lowered to 50 points. What do you do to get more points if you want them? Is that what the person said about contracts? I am confused about what you need to do if you decide to splurge one year or get a larger room and you need more than your yearly allotment of points. Also, what are the maintence fees like and how long are the financing terms people are talking about (paying off early etc)? Thanks!

 

[bumbershoot]

Someone mentioned that the contract buy in has lowered to 50 points. What do you do to get more points if you want them? Is that what the person said about contracts? I am confused about what you need to do if you decide to splurge one year or get a larger room and you need more than your yearly allotment of points. Also, what are the maintence fees like and how long are the financing terms people are talking about (paying off early etc)? Thanks!

If you buy a lower point contract, you can only use those, or you can buy more or just rent from another owner (or a transfer, but I can't explain those). You just have to try to plan out what you might want.

You can bank points from one year to the following, and you can borrow points from next year into the current, so if you had one big trip you could do it with, for this 50 point example, 150 points. We're planning a big WDW trip in December. We booked most of our points from last year, and we're borrowing from 2011, so we're using far more than this year's 160 points.

I'm sure one of the sites I linked to has maintenance fees listed...they do/can change by a certain percentage each year. This year for Bay Lake with 160 points I pay just over $46 per month for those dues.

We financed for a 10 year term. But they don't mind extra payments and early payoffs...they even have a nice little link on the loan page to make extra principal payments in amounts over $10! That will come in very handy in a few months. I think there was also a 5 year and perhaps a 1 year option. Of course it's always best to just pay it all up front, but not everyone can do that. Many on the DVC boards feel it's a luxury and feel that luxury shouldn't be financed, but we don't feel *travel* is a luxury for us, and we were paying more than DVC will cost us in the end on regular hotel rooms. Anyway, it works for us; might not work for others.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

i am interested in the 50 point contract buy in I have read a bit an see its only for gcv thats ok thats the one we would buy in i think.

dose any one know if they still have the double point incentive? (like if we buy 50 maybe we have 100 to spend the first time) idk im just looking trying to learn more now.

 

[nana50]

O.K. my head is swirling. I was wondering if it would be worth it to rent a Villa for a couple of nights in late September, early Oct. I want to take both kids and spouses and 5 grand kids. Is it worth it to rent points for something likw that. I really love staying on site and being retired I don't have the money to rent that many rooms. I only stay onsite when they are having a sale and that is only for one night. I have to pay for this on my little $1,000 a month pension. My husband could afford it as he still works but thinks Disneyland is a waste of time.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

i am interested in the 50 point contract buy in I have read a bit an see its only for gcv thats ok thats the one we would buy in i think.

dose any one know if they still have the double point incentive? (like if we buy 50 maybe we have 100 to spend the first time) idk im just looking trying to learn more now.

Have you verified the 50 pt buy in with a guide. All posts I've seen from people who have checked have been told it was only a rumor of the 50 pt buy in.

Regarding the double point incentive - that's nothing new and has been in place since DVC started so you shouldn't have to worry about it going away. When you purchase you receive current points. At this time June, Aug, Sept, Oct and Dec are still in their 2009 year so if you purchase any of those UY's you will receive 2009 points and receive the 2010 points on the first day of the corresponding month. Usual banking deadlines are 8 months from the start of your UY but DVC will allow you to bank points on new contracts you have just purchased even if you are past the banking deadline. Then you would have both your 2009 and 2010 points to use in your 2010 UY. Since you are able to borrow from one year ahead you could even use your 2011 points if necessary.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

If this guy can still give us some flexibility then that works better for us. I will consider it 2011 when we will probably do another WDW trip in early June.

I don't think your getting any more flexibility with dvcbyrequest that you won't get from directly renting with an owner. He has to follow the exact same rules as all owners and from what I've read on his site may be less flexibile about changing than you might find with others. That said - I've never rented from him but that's what I've read in his agreement. Some individual owners might be more willing to try to switch your reservation or to let you rent it out to someone else if you can't go.

This isn't putting down his service at all but just trying to help your expectations of what he can and can't do. He has the same rules, restrictions and access to inventory that all owners do. And, if you really are only able to plan a month or two out then you can run across deals from owners that have distressed points for some reason or another that will be expiring in a short time and can get some very good deals. Dvcbyrequest also has an email you can sign up for on his website for when he has some of these distressed points come into his program. I have been getting those emails for awhile. The catch is that you usually don't have an option of places to stay with him - it's almost always SSR. Individual owners will probably be willing to check on other resorts when you're renting directly. Just some more options and tips. Should DVC ever get with the program and get online availability or booking then this may all change.

WDW ought to always be easier to get those last minute rooms b/c there are more. Most expect VGC will be next to impossible for short term planning at certain times of the year unless you happen to catch some late cancellation or are just darn lucky!