DVC and living in Canada

[GUNER]

I would love to hear from some Canadians that have bought DVC and have had positive and negative thoughts about it. Thanks.

 

[pjpoohbear]

dear Guner

We bought DVC on our recent cruise. Took all the magical beginning options that were open to us. Have made our first reservations for a stay at SSR over the food and wine festival. And looking forward to the Garden Fesitval next year, maybe at BCV or BWV. What type of information are you interested in?

Payments are all via credit card, and maintance is paid on CC as well. The toll free seems to work from home and office without problems. The DS discount is hit and miss, all the managers seem to think it is the old Disney Club program. (But that might be gone as it seems that the DS has been sold, but have not heard about the Canadian Stores yet.)

Any question please e-mail me.

Penny

 

[Canadian Tom]

Hello: I haven't had any problems. We own at BCV stayed there rented points to canadian and americans and all have been positive experiences. Any specific questions?

 

[RoyalCanadian]

We bought our 150 SSR points in January and had no problems at all! Bernard Lebeaupin was an amazing guide to lead us through the process -- regular phone calls from him were appreciated. As another poster did -- we also paid the entire thing on credit card. I have yet to set up the maintenance dues on that option. We haven't received our permanent membership cards yet (the little blue ones), but figure they can't be too far away as our first issue of Vacation Magic appeared last Friday.

 

[barb45]

We bought at Wilderness Lodge Villas in 2001. The only thing we regret is that we didn't do it sooner. We also paid using a credit card and they even billed us over 2 months because my cc limit wasn't high enough to do it all in 1 month. Our dues are paid by cc and it couldn't be easier. Everything else works the exact same as for Americans. We love it!

 

[Tiger926]

We just bought into Saratoga 4 weeks ago and we are very excited to visit our new "home" next July as we just returned from a 2 week vacation from the World! Re: dues: The only way for Canadians to pay dues is a one-time, yearly charge (Jan.) as you must have a US account in order to do monthly debits. The good thing is for the 1st payment of dues, depending upon closing date, they are pro-rated.

As far as final payment, we are putting ours on credit card as well (1% cash back), but if we had needed Disney's financing, there is no problem for us as Canadians to use their financing (approx 10% interest). The only thing you need to know is that you must have a Notary Public sign and seal your mortgage docs - so allow some extra time for this if need be. The rest of the process has been fabulous - we in fact just had Fedex pick-up our package of docs this morning to be delivered to DVC today! Our guide, has been great in explaining everything to us - especially some of the differences between US and Canada requirements such as: Notary Public, tax rules, etc...

Any other questions, feel free to ask. The purchase of DVC for us has been great and we can't wait to make our first reservation!

Tiger

 

[MikeJ]

We bought two OKW resale contracts - one in 2000 and the other in 2001. We purchased through Jaki Apetz at A Timeshare Broker who is very highly regarded over on the DVC board. We've had three DVC stays (with another upcoming in December) plus we exchanged out to the cruise line in 2002. Since you can't typically use credit cards for resales we put it on our line of credit which we then promptly paid off.

For our dues, we set up a separate bank account to which we transfer $150 on a monthly basis. We then pay our dues with the CC in January, then immediately pay off the CC with the money accumulated in the "DVC Dues" bank account. It works out the same as paying monthly, except I get the AirMiles.

There's a bit of sticker shock when you make the conversion to US$ (although when we bought in the dollar was trading around $1.62 ) but we've been able to mitigate costs somewhat by buying annual passes and getting two trips out of them (i.e. get APs in early January and then schedule a second visit for late December). The beauty of this approach is that you can go to a park for an couple of hours and not feel like you're wasting a Park Hopper day as you might if you just had regular PH passes.

And don't believe the, uh, baloney that you'll spend less on vacation because the accomodations are already prepaid. We continue to spend as much or more as we ever did on vacation at WDW, we just now spend it in different things, not the room.

- Mike

 

[mbb]

We bought 160 points at BCV last August, and are looking at an OKW add-on.

Very easy!!

HTH!!

 

[snoopyandpooh]

I just closed on 230 points OKW, there is no problem at all, everything is straight forward.

 

[Louise-Montreal]

We bought in 2001 and like most say, only regret is we did not buy sooner!

Have been to Hilton Head, Vero Beach, OKW, Wilderness Lodge, Disneyland Paris and of course our home resort- BWV. Just bought an annual pass in March for our annual holiday and will return Jume 30th for a week-(although three days are at Dixie Landings with AP rate) and will return Jan 2 to 9, 2005.

All this on 150 pts!!!!!!-with careful planning, and miserly spending(rarely staying weekends and always a standard view). Have a US account with CIBC and throw any extra money in when I can totake advantage of the fluctuating exchange. Used to buy a Canada Savings bond at the office, pay dues on cc, and then pay off cc with bond. Now I am putting some away each month as we no longer have bonds through the office.

If you have any more questions, just fire away!

Louise

 

[Rob&Jan]

Were from Ontario, and quite frankly our membership has given us amazing vacations in resorts we would never have been able to afford to stay at as long or as often as we can now. I can honestly say we have never had a single bad exprience either during the purchase or during our stays in the resorts.

 

[jjohns]

We bought our initial points in March 2001, a small add-on in June 2001, and then another add-on sometime in 2003.

As far as the purchase transactions went... All were purchased direct from Disney. It was all very simple. They FedEx'ed the documents with return envelopes. We paid for the purchase by credit card - not a hitch. In one situation, FedEx lost the documents that were sent back to DVC. In a couple days, they sent up a replacement set and it all worked out in the end.

We have our dues paid by CC - all very painless (except for the credit card company's mark-up on the exchange rate, but that's *another* topic! LOL).

Looking back, if I knew then what I know now, I might be more willing to purchase via the re-sale market rather than direct from Disney - I would probably have to learn some patience, though! The big advantage to buying direct is that it is no-fuss. It all can happen very quickly: you say you want to buy and they send the papers. Once you send the papers back you can book a vacation using your current year's points (can't bank/borrow until the deed is registered, which seems to take ~30 days - that is not under Disney's control). Resale may/may not be cheaper, it depends on a variety of factors, but you can get properties via resale that you can't get from Disney (i.e. if you *really* want to own @ OKW, the resale market might be your only real opportunity). Resale will definitely take longer - you must wait to see if the vendor accepts your offer or it passes by Disney's ROFR time period.

As far as the concept of DVC itself. No complaints. We find the flexibility to be fantastic... Not tied to any particular time of year, not tied to any particular room size - you probably already know those benefits.

HTH, Jeff

 

[Susan--Ontario]

We purchased ours this past March. We were able to book once they had processed our downpayment. We did everything over the phone as we had done the tour in 2002. I just called them up and told them what I wanted, the paperwork arrived (along with the credit card receipt for my downpayment), we went to our lawyer who notarized the mortgage papers, and we sent it back to Disney on their nickel.

We only wish we'd done it sooner. But it is working to our advantage right now because the dollar is lower. We did get Disney financing however, you can pay off whatever you want on the principal whenever you want with no penalty. We are watching the exchange rate and buying a little bit at a time.

The main thing is that for the next 50 years we can go to Disney for about two weeks (in a studio) every year. That is one advantage to buying at SSR verses resale. You have to weigh all the options and it depends on what you're looking for.

Any other questions ask away. Oh yeah! When you're filling out the paperwork we're not considered International owners .

That part of it is easy because all you do is sign at the Mickeys and date at the palm trees (or maybe the other way around). It's simple and there is always someone at Quality assurance to help you out.

Good luck!!

 

[blizzard]

We have owned at OKW since 1997, purchased at Disney World.

We have had no complaints and enjoy our trips down there. Knowing that you will be going back makes the vacations a lot less stressed. (We have done vacations where we didn't enter the parks)

Depending on where you are from, you may have to purchase while at Disney World (I think Ontario may be the only province they are licensed to sell directly to). Not sure how that works with resales.

The only time we have been unhappy is when the Cdn dollar is low against the US, but that isn't Disney's fault! However, it is something to keep in mind if you are travelling on a budget. One option in that case would be to miss a vacation or two and rent your points. That way you get US dollars which you can use to pay your maintenance fees. We have rented points once, and all worked out well.

If you will enjoy travelling to WDW at least every two years, it is a great option.

 

[mbb]

you *can* buy regardless of the province you live in. You're right, blizzard, that Ontario is the only province that DVC is licensed to sell in. DVC can't even send information to other provinces.

HTH!!