Disney Vacation Club for dummies

[FlameGirl]

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?

 

[AmyPond]

I hear people talk about DVC too but I have no clue about any of it. Hearing them talk makes my head spin. I've never even attempted to look into it. Just how expensive is it anyway??

 

[FlameGirl]

I think its around $20K to buy in? But I don't know if you have to pay that up front all at once, or if they amortize it?

 

[AmyPond]

I think its around $20K to buy in? But I don't know if you have to pay that up front all at once, or if they amortize it?

Yikes. And that's basically just for accomodations? I don't think that would ever be worth it for me.

 

[FlameGirl]

Well, that's kind of why I would really love to hear from some members...what was the "aha!" that made it worth the steep buy in price?

I guess it kind of makes sense if your family vacations a lot, since you're paying for it anyway. I don't know...I'm dense.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

For those that live on the west coast and really only go to DL, I don't think it is worth it. Your points go SO much further at WDW. You may be able to do 3, 1 week trips to WDW for the same points that you can do for 1 week at DL.

It sounds like such a great idea but for us it just doesn't make sense. It costs more per year than it would be to stay 1 week at the DLH.

 

[ACDSNY]

I've been a DVC member since 2005 and for us it works out great. We like to stay on-site so the tipping point for us was in the number of trips we were taking each year and usually with multiple rooms. DVC is more flexible than some timeshares as each reservation is based on points per night and you don't have to stay a full week. Most of our DL trips are 3 - 4 nights. I've heard DVC has lowered the min. buy in for some resorts to 50 or 100 points instead of the 160. You can also buy in through the resale market at under 160 points.

Our Nov reservation is for a 2 bedroom that holds 9 with 3 bathrooms, full kitchen and washer/dryer, 4 nights and my cost is around $270 per night.

Here's a link to some info.

You can PM me if you need more info.

 

[HydroGuy]

FWIW, we are not DVC members and I doubt we ever will be. It is a good deal financially, but we like the flexibility of not being owners. However, you can get some really good deals by renting points from others.

You can often rent points yourself for $10. Here is a link to a guy who sells point - http://www.dvcrequest.com/ for $13. He makes it easier and more flexible. If you are confused by the points, just go to the wdwinfo link by ACDSNY or go to the dvcrequest website and do the math. By renting points you can get nice rooms for 5, 6, 8 or 12, at greatly reduced prices. I think when we do our next WDW trip we will rent points for one of the deluxe villas.

 

[FlameGirl]

FWIW, we are not DVC members and I doubt we ever will be. It is a good deal financially, but we like the flexibility of not being owners. However, you can get some really good deals by renting points from others.

You can often rent points yourself for $10. Here is a link to a guy who sells point - http://www.dvcrequest.com/ for $13. He makes it easier and more flexible. If you are confused by the points, just go to the wdwinfo link by ACDSNY or go to the dvcrequest website and do the math. By renting points you can get nice rooms for 5, 6, 8 or 12, at greatly reduced prices. I think when we do our next WDW trip we will rent points for one of the deluxe villas.

Oh you're KIDDING me. I thought all of the talk about people renting points was all from actual DVC members. That is very interesting! Thanks to Hydroguy and ACDSNY!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

i have looked at it before just cant afford the monthly payment. The down i could of done (1600 down) 100(20 i think is what it was a month)

 

[nunzia]

We are DVC members and it makes sense for us. We are west coasters so DLR is our main destination. I don't think we ever would have bought if they hadn't built the VGC. I wanted to get in the system without Disney's minimum buy in (usually 160 points, so about 16K, but this keeps changing). I saved enough cash to buy 25 points resale at OKW at WDW. This way I could add on points as I saw fit without having a huge master contract, and also I got a pre buy in period for VGC. My other contracts, 3 small ones, were done with a large down and Disney's financing (up to 10 years) We live very frugally, with vacations, Disney specifically, being our only splurge. I guess the tipping point for us was the first time we stayed at the Grand we decided we didn't want to stay anywhere else. Then, we took our extended family to DLR for a celebration and paid for three rooms for three nights at almost $400 a night. Points didn't sound so bad Now we are selling our OKW and have paid extra so will have the loans paid off within a couple months and then all we'll have is about 700 a year in MF for the next 50 years. Our points get us an average of 10 studio nights a year. Works for us.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

i have looked at it before just cant afford the monthly payment. The down i could of done (1600 down) 100(20 i think is what it was a month)

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh you're KIDDING me. I thought all of the talk about people renting points was all from actual DVC members. That is very interesting! Thanks to Hydroguy and ACDSNY!

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.

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



It's expensive, but we financed, and the monthly payment is very doable for us. And once we get our car paid off (August, baby, 2 years early!) we'll get DVC paid off in short order as well. We figured that we were working to save more than the monthly payment to pay for our hotels at DLR anyway. And to think of saving for WDW was really hard! But once we bought in, "saving" (aka paying the monthly payment) hasn't been hard at all. And in about 1.5 years when we're done with the payments, assuming we don't buy more, LOL, we won't have to pay on accomodations at all.

Of course the maintenance fees are what'll get you. But probably not as much as rising hotel costs.

We had our first meeting with our guide in '07. Didn't buy in, didn't think we could afford it. Then in '09 we did it, because even though our income hadn't changed much, our outgo had. Then right after the recision period ended, DH got news of a layoff. Somehow, having that debt caused us to rise above the problems...DH did get a job that he started almost immediately after his department closed, but instead of blowing severance and signing bonus, we put it towards debt. The DVC pushed us into being "better" than we had ever been before, and our lives have changed a millionfold for the better, and I'm not sure it would have happened if we hadn't bought in.

But I digress.

We know we're going to DLR, and we knew we were going to WDW. We have family in both areas. So we figured we'd rather put out x dollars to buy in, and pay the maintenance fees, and have the ability to stay in places other than the value resorts (though we're likely adding 2 nights at a moderate on at the beginning of our big WDW trip, and we would gladly stay at a value if we felt like it!) when we visit WDW.

I will also state that I did NOT buy at the Grand, because I'm not the biggest fan of that hotel, and wanted to "leave" the points for those who do love it. So we're just nutty....west coast, go to DLR a lot, hadn't/haven't yet been to WDW, but bought in at a WDW resort.

 

[FlameGirl]

We are DVC members and it makes sense for us. We are west coasters so DLR is our main destination. I don't think we ever would have bought if they hadn't built the VGC. I wanted to get in the system without Disney's minimum buy in (usually 160 points, so about 16K, but this keeps changing). I saved enough cash to buy 25 points resale at OKW at WDW. This way I could add on points as I saw fit without having a huge master contract, and also I got a pre buy in period for VGC. My other contracts, 3 small ones, were done with a large down and Disney's financing (up to 10 years) We live very frugally, with vacations, Disney specifically, being our only splurge. I guess the tipping point for us was the first time we stayed at the Grand we decided we didn't want to stay anywhere else. Then, we took our extended family to DLR for a celebration and paid for three rooms for three nights at almost $400 a night. Points didn't sound so bad Now we are selling our OKW and have paid extra so will have the loans paid off within a couple months and then all we'll have is about 700 a year in MF for the next 50 years. Our points get us an average of 10 studio nights a year. Works for us.

I have no idea what you just said.

I'm getting part of it...the tipping point for you and your family...but the contracts, OKW...I'm totally lost. Sorry.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh, to the question I meant to answer.


This can be a good starting point to working out what it all means.

This should also be of help.

 

[FlameGirl]

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.

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



It's expensive, but we financed, and the monthly payment is very doable for us. And once we get our car paid off (August, baby, 2 years early!) we'll get DVC paid off in short order as well. We figured that we were working to save more than the monthly payment to pay for our hotels at DLR anyway. And to think of saving for WDW was really hard! But once we bought in, "saving" (aka paying the monthly payment) hasn't been hard at all. And in about 1.5 years when we're done with the payments, assuming we don't buy more, LOL, we won't have to pay on accomodations at all.

Of course the maintenance fees are what'll get you. But probably not as much as rising hotel costs.

We had our first meeting with our guide in '07. Didn't buy in, didn't think we could afford it. Then in '09 we did it, because even though our income hadn't changed much, our outgo had. Then right after the recision period ended, DH got news of a layoff. Somehow, having that debt caused us to rise above the problems...DH did get a job that he started almost immediately after his department closed, but instead of blowing severance and signing bonus, we put it towards debt. The DVC pushed us into being "better" than we had ever been before, and our lives have changed a millionfold for the better, and I'm not sure it would have happened if we hadn't bought in.

But I digress.

We know we're going to DLR, and we knew we were going to WDW. We have family in both areas. So we figured we'd rather put out x dollars to buy in, and pay the maintenance fees, and have the ability to stay in places other than the value resorts (though we're likely adding 2 nights at a moderate on at the beginning of our big WDW trip, and we would gladly stay at a value if we felt like it!) when we visit WDW.

I will also state that I did NOT buy at the Grand, because I'm not the biggest fan of that hotel, and wanted to "leave" the points for those who do love it. So we're just nutty....west coast, go to DLR a lot, hadn't/haven't yet been to WDW, but bought in at a WDW resort.

Since we are both fellow Washingtonians, how often do you go?

Do most people use their points for primarily Disney resort vacations? And I'm gathering there are different price packages?

 

[FlameGirl]

Oh, to the question I meant to answer.


This can be a good starting point to working out what it all means.

This should also be of help.

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.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I have no idea what you just said.

I'm getting part of it...the tipping point for you and your family...but the contracts, OKW...I'm totally lost. Sorry.

I don't know if this well help but...

DVC is a point based system - ie, there are charts that will tell you how many points you need for a specific night during the year. You are able to book a stay of only 1 night or up to whatever maximum your points allow. And that point number is different depending on the size of accommodations you want - studio, 1Bedroom or 2Bedroom. Thus, there's not necessarily a fixed contract size or amount - you can buy as many points as you need. But Disney does require a certain minimum when you buy your points directly from them. That's varied over the years from 240 or so when OKW (Old Key West at WDW - the first DVC resort) started being sold. Now a person can purchase a minimum of 100 points direct from Disney but that can change at any time.

Once you own you can add on "contracts" at a minimum of 25 pts to your existing ownership. For example, I have a couple of contracts that are 48 points and 52 points. A contract simply is a deeded amount of points that is yours to use, rent or even sell should you decide that Disney is not your cup 'o tea anymore. It's these contracts that people have sold via resale that allow people to join DVC for less than the Disney direct minimum.

 

[FlameGirl]

I don't know if this well help but...

DVC is a point based system - ie, there are charts that will tell you how many points you need for a specific night during the year. You are able to book a stay of only 1 night or up to whatever maximum your points allow. And that point number is different depending on the size of accommodations you want - studio, 1Bedroom or 2Bedroom. Thus, there's not necessarily a fixed contract size or amount - you can buy as many points as you need. But Disney does require a certain minimum. That's varied over the years from 240 or so when OKW (Old Key West at WDW - the first DVC resort) started being sold. Now a person can purchase a minimum of 100 points direct from Disney but that can change at any time.

Once you own you can add on "contracts" at a minimum of 25 pts to your existing ownership. For example, I have a couple of contracts that are 48 points and 52 points. A contract simply is a deeded amount of points that is yours to use, rent or even sell should you decide at Disney is not your cup 'o tea anymore.

That actually does make perfect sense. That, and the links Molly posted are fantastic. Thank you!

 

[blackjackdelta]

Oh you're KIDDING me. I thought all of the talk about people renting points was all from actual DVC members. That is very interesting! Thanks to Hydroguy and ACDSNY!

We are renting points for our stay 8/15-8/21. We wanted a larger room but did not want to pay the suite price.

Jack