Disney Vacation Club for dummies

[cseca]

Just fyi, I saw on another thread that dvcnews.com broke the news that GCV is on it's last selling phase (or is close to selling out). So if you are interested in purchasing at GCV directly through Disney you might want to keep that in mind. There's always resale route though. Although with the resort being now and so small I can't even guess how much contracts will be available on resale.

I think I read PP listed the basic things to consider before investigating DVC in detail:

How often do you go to WDW/DL? If you go every year or every other year you are a good candidate

Do you just have to stay in a deluxe hotel? If you think Fairfield inn or HoJo is more than enough then DVC might not be necessary.

Do you have enough cash to comfortably pay it?

Do you plan your vacations way in advance?
If you don't then you MIGHT not be a good candidate since some accommodations on certain seasons get completely booked by 11mo out.
If you do then you are a good candidate and you have to pick your home resort carefully

Basically what you need to do is calculate how much a usual vacation will cost you.
And then calculate how much DVC will cost you. Then compare the results.
Is it worth it?
It goes without staying in a tiny hotel room off property will not compare to a 1 bedroom in a DVC resort. So keep that in mind when doing your comparison. That is why most members who've done their homework know that if you like to stay at All Star resorts there's no reason to get DVC. But if you stay in a deluxe resort year after year, then you are a great candidate for DVC.

Another poster also mentioned that you can always rent. I agree with that. I rent my points the past several years and thank God that I've had great renters. But renting DVC is honor based. Depending on whether you are comfortable enough to trust the owner to make and keep your reservation.
Also renting points means you have less flexibility in cancelling your reservations. Each member will set their own contract rules, you can take it or find another member who you think has better rules.

I think doing your own math is the best way to know whether it makes sense or not. Mousesavers has a good analysis on the breakdown/breakeven point. But remember each member's situation is different.

Up until last year, I would be perfectly happy to stay in a DVC studio. And all my analysis was based on that assumption. Now with an additional family member I will upgrade most of our stays if possible to a 1br.

Also when you calculate your point requirement, add 10% to your number. DVC has the right to reallocate points around. And that could mean your usual vacation points requirement be up or down a little depending on the change.

Good luck on your decision. Feel free to pm with questions. Been a member for 10 years and loving every minute of it.

 

[starwood]

I haven't read the whole thread but this is what we did. We bought 100 points on a resale at Old Key West (OKW). I think we paid $73/per point. We then added on 35 points and 50 points so we now have 185 points. The thing that convinced DH that this was a good ideas was that if we ever decided to sell - we would get most of our money back (except yearly dues).

Our first trip "home" we stayed in a studio which was fine. Our next trip we went with another family and got a 2 bedroom which was so spacious (if really will spoil you).

If you don't use all of your points 1 year you can bank them and use them the next year (thereby getting either more days or a larger room). You can also borrow your points from the upcoming year so - hypothetically - if we didn't use our 185 points this year we could bank them and next year we would have 370 points. We could also borrow from the next year and have 555.

You purchase a contract for a set number of points at a particular resort (Old Key West, Boardwalk, Wilderness Lodge, Grand Californian.....). You may book at stay at your home resort at 11 months out. If you want to stay at a DVC hotel other than your home resort you can book that at 7 months out. You can also stay at other Disney Hotels (but they are more points). We are staying 5 nights at the Disneyland Hotel in July this year and we still have points left over which we may use at WDW in December.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

any one have the site where theres a list of reseals an ppl trying to seal there dvc?

 

[JadeDarkstar]

i found it, an ok can some one tell me what the dues are per point for ss,gcv? those are the two we are looking at.

we will eathier try to to resale, or buy small contract from disney.

what is the diffrence between closeing costs?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

i found it, an ok can some one tell me what the dues are per point for ss,gcv? those are the two we are looking at.

we will eathier try to to resale, or buy small contract from disney.

what is the diffrence between closeing costs?

2010 maintenance dues for SSR are $4.461/pt and VGC is $3.938/pt

There are several reputable resale sites if you haven't run across them all.

**********.com (**** and Jaki)
dvcbyresale.com (Shontell)
and dvc-resales.com (who is a board sponsor)

Both ****, Jaki and Shontell have access to other inventory as well.

Closing costs will vary depending on the size of the contract but as a new buyer you'll have them both with resale or direct from DVC. For a small contract it may be around $300 or a little under that. Once you're an owner then if you add on DVC covers the closing costs if you buy direct.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

ty I am looking at being able to put down payment down in sep if all goes right
either gcv or ss.

I am not sure what the points will be 50-100 brand new, or 100-120 resale probable.
can dues be paid yearly? an if so when is it due on your use year?)or can they be paid early?

how much a month for 50-100 points any one know?

we go normally at Christmas times

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

No matter what your UY is annual dues are due by Jan 31st and are considered delinquent by Feb 15th if you do one payment. You also are able to set up to have them deducted from a bank account monthly. In Dec you get a statement so you know how much they will be for the year.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

ty thats good to know
i have tried calling two numbers i had both ppl are not there i wish i could find some one to talk to who was there today lol

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

ty thats good to know
i have tried calling two numbers i had both ppl are not there i wish i could find some one to talk to who was there today lol

Figures, doesn't it!

 

[Brancaneve]

Many people have given great insight into this, but I will add a few more "cents."

Our tipping point was that we wanted to secure a future of vacations for our family. I was a little unsure until I went on our first DVC vacation in Florida. Let's just say, all we had to worry about was our airfare and we had a vacation that would have cost us $6,000 out of pocket, but all we used were our points(we have 210 a year).

1)We did a 7 day DCL, and 6 nights at Animal Kingdom. Imagine a view of giraffes and zebras from your balcony. Imagine a big room, a nice kitchenette, a washer and dryer just a few steps away! It was heaven.

2)The second trip would have cost another $5,000 out of pocket. We did a 4 day cruise, and 4 nights at Saratoga Springs, and 2 nights at Vero Beach to unwind. We had a view of the ocean from our living room window.

3)We just booked our third cruise(again with points) on the new ship and will stay again at Animal Kingdom(hopefully).

I honestly don't think that we could have done this without DVC. We would have probably just stayed at a Marriott off site, but these vacations have added so much to our family memory book. My kids talk about how much they miss Florida constantly. We figure that by our third trip, we will break even on the $17,000 we paid initially.

Do I love the monthly dues? NO! But my DH says that it's what you would pay for a fancy cell phone, or a meal at a chain restaurant. I would rather have my DVC than all those things! And, even if we put $45 into our savings account each month, you could not have saved enough for the kind of trips we go on.

I hope that helps. As for how we paid for it. It's what I call, "free money" or an equity line. It's really the only thing we purchased with our equity back when they were passing it out like candy. Good luck! If we add on, we would have to save for it the old fashioned way!!!

 

[ACDSNY]

Do I love the monthly dues? NO! But my DH says that it's what you would pay for a fancy cell phone, or a meal at a chain restaurant. I would rather have my DVC than all those things!

Well said...Brancaneve!

We're another member that lives without fancy cell phones or cable/satellite in order to enjoy our family vacations!

Oh I forgot...the horror of all horrors...no flat screen HD TVs either! At least according to my sister.

 

[Brancaneve]

Well said...Brancaneve!

We're another member that lives without fancy cell phones or cable/satellite in order to enjoy our family vacations!

Oh I forgot...the horror of all horrors...no flat screen HD TVs either! At least according to my sister.

Thanks neighbor!

 

[stitch4336]

Just posting my cents DVC isn't right for everyone, but the questions others have posted can really help anyone thinking about it to decide if it's right for them.
We purchased in 2006 and are very glad we did - actually wish we would have discovered DVC sooner. The tipping points for us was the ability to stay in suite accomodations without breaking the bank, and the freedom the program offers by letting us use our points how ever we want - not being tied into "a week" program like other time shares. Another tipping for us was the length of ownership we were offered - we'll be vacationing long after we pay this off!

But I would definitely advise anyone to not buy unless they have truely "counted the cost" and evaluated their personal budget!

Owning DVC has allowed us to vacation with friends and family in a way that we might not have been able to do sans-DVC. Last summer we took our teenage nephews to Star Wars Weekend, a six day trip and stayed in a 1 bedroom at the Boardwalk Villas. It was awesome having a full kitchen and separate spaces for all of us. The boys liked doing breakfast in the room and loved having snacks available at night too. We saved money by grocery shopping and having drinks, snacks, cereal, etc in the room. Having our accomodations "paid for" also allowed us to budget a little more FUN money and we let the boys pick some fun thigns to do - like DisneyQuest!

We've also exchanged out points out thru Interval International for a week long stay in Maui. Again, 1 bedroom accomodations that we would more than likely not have been able to pay regular rate for.

So, is DVC rigth for everyone - definitely NOT. But it is right for us

 

[specialks]

Do I love the monthly dues? NO! But my DH says that it's what you would pay for a fancy cell phone, or a meal at a chain restaurant. I would rather have my DVC than all those things! And, even if we put $45 into our savings account each month, you could not have saved enough for the kind of trips we go on.

Are these monthly dues paying your maintenance fees? So do you have to pay:
1) downpayment
2) full payment or financing for points
3) maintenance fees

And, what does it mean when people talk about the term length (or something like that) far into 20__? Do you only get the points for that long. So in essence you could take the above 3 numbers and divide by the number of years you have and get your yearly vacation cost? Also, can you write off any of the expenses on your taxes?

 

[mikayla73]

Are these monthly dues paying your maintenance fees? So do you have to pay:
1) downpayment
2) full payment or financing for points
3) maintenance fees

And, what does it mean when people talk about the term length (or something like that) far into 20__? Do you only get the points for that long. So in essence you could take the above 3 numbers and divide by the number of years you have and get your yearly vacation cost? Also, can you write off any of the expenses on your taxes?

yes, the monthly dues are your maint fees, you can either pay them monthly or all at once if you prefer.

There is an "expiration" date for your points. So yes, you only get the use of the points for that long.

BWV,VWL,BCV,Vero and HH end in 2042, and some OKW. There are some OKW contracts with extensions that go longer. I can't remember the exact length.
SSR is 2054
AKV is 2057
BLT is 2060

The math isn't quite that easy since the yearly maint fees will vary. Once you get the intial buy in paid off, you basically get to vacation for your yearly maint fees. Your maint fees are based on how many points you own. For example if you have 100 points at VGC this year the maint fees are $3.93 per point, so your yearly maint fees would be $393.

You will get a tax doc each year. I believe you may be able to claim some portion of the yearly maint fees. There are of course some rules with that. You'll need to talk to a tax expert about that part, I am not one of those.

 

[specialks]

Thanks mikayla73 -- that helps. I requested the info DVD but I have a feeling the info here is going to be more informative than it. I am very tempted to buy in but my husband is completely anti-timeshare. His dad has had really bad experiences with 2 timeshare programs and it has skewed their opinions. If I can get the math worked out I might be able to talk him into it. I want to stay at AKV when we take our first WDW trip in 2013. We'll have to see what I can work out.

Any other tips/advice is appreciated. I still would love it if someone has experience with the tax benefits of owning and any other pricing info or deals people have found. Thanks!

 

[ACDSNY]

Thanks mikayla73 -- that helps. I requested the info DVD but I have a feeling the info here is going to be more informative than it. I am very tempted to buy in but my husband is completely anti-timeshare. His dad has had really bad experiences with 2 timeshare programs and it has skewed their opinions. If I can get the math worked out I might be able to talk him into it. I want to stay at AKV when we take our first WDW trip in 2013. We'll have to see what I can work out.

Any other tips/advice is appreciated. I still would love it if someone has experience with the tax benefits of owning and any other pricing info or deals people have found. Thanks!

The other tip I'll give is buy where you'd want to stay most often especially if it's a small resort as the 11 month booking window will help in getting the reservations you want. Most of the larger resorts can be booked pretty easily even with less than 7 months notice for non holiday trips.

I'm another one that was against the normal timeshares, but the flexibility of DVC made it work for us. I never like the idea of being locked into a week trip or any certain time of year.

 

[kikiq]

Well said...Brancaneve!

We're another member that lives without fancy cell phones or cable/satellite in order to enjoy our family vacations!

Oh I forgot...the horror of all horrors...no flat screen HD TVs either! At least according to my sister.

Same here, my brothers and DSILs all have iphones, not us. We also are the only ones without a flat screen TV.

 

[specialks]

Okay, another question. I notice that some of you have used your points for a DCL vacation. I cannot find a chart with the point costs for those. Do any of you have a chart or know what the point cost is for some of the cruises?

 

[Golfing Goofy]

This conversation is very interesting. Thanks for all the great info. We go to DLR all the time but we never really thought about DVC. I guess I never really paid attention to it.

My question is can you stay on club level with DVC?