DVC anyone?

[kasar]

I know that there is a DVC board and I've tried to check it out but, as we're still in the very early "thinking" phase, I'm not up on all the lingo and codes and acronyms, etc. The DVC folks are very knowledgable and helpful, maybe too much so for where I am right now. I was hoping someone here on the CB could give a BRIEF, easy to understand overview of DVC with the highlights and lowlights (if you have any). We'll obviously get more informed before making any decisions!

Do you love DVC?

 

[DoeWDW]

DH and I joke that we can never divorce because neither of us could give up "custody" of our DVC points. We love our DVC!

Not sure what kinds of questions you have but I'll be happy to answer them (in English, not DVC lingo ).

 

[RyMickey]

DVC members since 2000 here. We love it. We use points at both the Boardwalk and at Disney's Hilton Head Island in South Carolina (it's great and relaxing there). Inevitably, over time, we figured that it would end up being a money-saver (although you gotta plop down a chunk of change at the beginning to make it a money-saver). That being said, it's great having a home-away-from-home. We're an older family so we're able to avoid the character breakfasts/dinners and the like and we often eat meals in the room (another moneysaver).

Honestly, we love DVC. It truly does feel like a home away from home. We often don't have enough points to stay at the Boardwalk as long as we'd want each trip (often that's because we go to Hilton Head DVC after our stay at BWV), so we'll stay at another hotel either before or after our stay for three days. While we're at these hotels, we love them. However, when we're staying at these resorts (AKL, Poly), it just doesn't feel the same as staying at the BWV.

We love DVC....

 

[Morganpics]

DVC is a timeshare that is based on purchasing points rather than a specific week. Each night is worth so many points, with different times of the year being worth more or less. It's great. I can't say we have any lowlights, but we've only owned since May 04 at Old Key West. We're pretty much newborns compared to some folks.

 

[Rozzie]

We're pretty much newborns compared to some folks.

LOL! if ya'll are newborns, we are a fetus!!

We just bought in June, and allready had our first trip, OKW this August.

We love our decision and are very happy. If you are looking into a way to prepay vacations, and not a investment, DVC is a excellent choice.
There is a thread over there that is for newcomers, that explains everything in a very easy to read format, without a lot of our abbreviations.

Good luck with your decision! maybe we will welcome you home soon!

 

[kasar]

Okay, how much do points cost?

How many points would, say, Boardwalk be during school vacation? (You can just take a rough guess here)

Do most people buy a few points at first and then add more or do you bite the bullet and get as many as you can upfront?

Is this an investment? Do people sell their points at a profit when they're done with them?

Do you feel like you can only do WDW vacations since you've laid out so much money?

Once you're all paid up (I'm assuming that's how it works) do you get charged anything? Yearly dues/fees?

 

[dvcfamily41801]

Okay, how much do points cost?

How many points would, say, Boardwalk be during school vacation? (You can just take a rough guess here)

Do most people buy a few points at first and then add more or do you bite the bullet and get as many as you can upfront?

Is this an investment? Do people sell their points at a profit when they're done with them?

Do you feel like you can only do WDW vacations since you've laid out so much money?

Once you're all paid up (I'm assuming that's how it works) do you get charged anything? Yearly dues/fees?

Not sure what the exact price per point is right now. I am *thinking* it just went over $100.00 per point...

As far as school vacation, need to know which time of year and what size accomodations you would need, studio, 1 or 2 BR?? That factors in a lot.

We bought the minimum 150 back in 2001 at Villas at Wilderness Lodge and then did 2 add ons at Beach Club Villas and then 1 at Saratoga Springs. Its just a matter of what you can afford, what you would use and what you are comfortable with.

I don't think most consider it as a money making investment. We are investing our money in family vacations and we know that there was no way we would be able to stay at any of the deluxe or DVC resorts without being members. When we looked down the road, we knew we would not be able to travel to WDW as much as we can now without DVC. The prices are just increasing year after year and our DVC rates are fixed for as long as our contract (for us, thats for life LOL)

We know the only places we want to take our big vacations is WDW. We are not "islandy" type people. We like to take little weekend trips or something, but we don't feel locked in by any stretch.

And yes, there will always be the dues LOL.

Good luck with your decisions, it was a big one for us. But I have to say we are very very happy with ours.

 

[PlaneJoy1]

From what I understand (and I'm not a DVC member, but have looked into it over the years) is there is a resale market as well. Those that have bought into DVC but now want out, for some reason. You might check into that in your research as well.

Any DVC members know if this is true and what pros/cons there are?

 

[SC Minnie]

We love DVC.

We originally bought enough points to stay in a one bedroom for a week in peak season. DH inherited some money and bought a resale early this year.

It forces us to take a vacation. We could not afford the accomodations if we were paying cash.

 

[gdulaney]

We have been members since 2001. Our initial buy-in was at Hilton Head, with add-ons at Vero Beach and Saratoga Springs.

The current price is $98/point.

Regrets? Only that we didn't buy earlier (like back in 1992) or buy more pts when we did join.

We bought -sight unseen- while on the cruise ship. We'd never seen any of the properties (in person). We spent the entire day at Castaway Cay asking folks what they liked/didn't like about the DVC. We could only get two negatives...the same two that we have today. Wish we'd bought earlier and more. We tried to find a negative -- tried to make the numbers "not" work...but we couldn't. What we did find is that joining was low-key. No "super-duper VIP gold" status when you join today....but rather "Here's our offer..."

We've only stayed at Saratoga Springs, Old Key West, and the Boardwalk...but every room has been really nice and the cast members have been great.

Hope this helps.

Ginny

 

[CharlesTD]

DVC since 01 and we love it. We love being able to pool hop legally and the AP discount is very nice to not that we use it but atleast it is offered along with the DDE card for DVC AP holders. The accomodations are great including the fact that mousekeeping isn't in your room every day (we prefer to not have them in) any other questions feel free to ask.

 

[diznygirl]

We did it as in investment in our own vacations, not to get a monetary return at some point. Since it's there and it's paid for, we will actually take a vacation.

We have actually traded points to use at a hotel in California, we plan on trading for a trip to Hawaii someday soon, and we will use points to stay in New York City - if and when we actually get around to doing that.

We like the flexibility that the point system gives us, rather than having to buy and use a whole week like other timeshares.

We looked at how much it would cost for a week at Vero Beach during spring training, and bought a few more points than that. That's when we go every year, and with careful point budgeting we also get in some additional trips during the year. (Like, we avoid Fri and Sat since those are high point days).

Hope this helps!

 

[swilphil]

I looked into DVC about 5 years ago, and it didn't seem like a good investment then. It's a great deal if you go to Disney every year though. Think of it as a pre-paid vacation. One thing that bothered me was that the DVC property reverted back to Disney in something like 20 years, which is probably when I would want to try to sell it. I'm not sure if that's still the case, maybe some one can clarify.

My brother in-law bought Hyatt timeshares in Colorado about 15 years ago (and is able to trade points all over the world). The value of his timeshares have tripled in that time period.

 

[DVCLiz]

Okay, how much do points cost?

How many points would, say, Boardwalk be during school vacation? (You can just take a rough guess here)

Do most people buy a few points at first and then add more or do you bite the bullet and get as many as you can upfront?

Is this an investment? Do people sell their points at a profit when they're done with them?

Do you feel like you can only do WDW vacations since you've laid out so much money?

Once you're all paid up (I'm assuming that's how it works) do you get charged anything? Yearly dues/fees?

kasar, I'll try to answer a few of your questions, too. I've owned DVC since September 2004.

There are two sources for DVC points. One is from Disney directly. In this case, you'll buy whatever is currently offered (right now it's Saratoga Springs) and you'll be required to buy a minimum contract of 150 points. I belive the current price is $92.00 per point, but there are sometimes incentives that lower that by a few dollars a point. Your DVC guide (the salesperson assigned to help you) will know this information.

The second source is the resale market. The sponsor of this page is a good source of resale contracts, and there are others as well. Resale contracts are often cheaper than those from Disney, but you will pay closing costs on them, whereas with a new purchase Disney pays your closing costs. You cannot split an existing contract, so one limitation of the resale market is that you must be willing to buy the location and number of points offered. If you wanted 150 points at Beach Club Villas, for example, and a resale contract was listed for 165 points, you'd have to buy "as is."

Disney exercises a "right of first refusal" on resale contracts. In other words, they must first review the terms of the sale, and if the price offered is too low, Disney reserves the right to buy that contract, which they then put in a pool to offer to existing customers on a waitlist for various DVC resorts. This helps keep the prices on the high end for timeshare resales, but it means you can't sell your contract cheaply to your brother if you fall on hard times!!!!

This is getting very long - I'll post again in a minute!!!!

 

[Jimbo]

From what I understand (and I'm not a DVC member, but have looked into it over the years) is there is a resale market as well. Those that have bought into DVC but now want out, for some reason. You might check into that in your research as well.

Any DVC members know if this is true and what pros/cons there are?

We purchased a 300 point OKW resale in 1996 at $50 per point. Members that join via resale aren't treated any differently than people who bought from Disney. In fact, I'm pretty sure that no one knows or cares how you got your points. We added on 100 BWV points purchased from Disney, and are able to use the points interchangeably.

It's not technically an investment. It's more like you are prepaying for 40-50 years of vacations. But points go for $98 from Disney right now, so I'm sure we could sell our contracts for 50% more than we paid for them. So we'd make money anyway, but your mileage will vary. The resale market is thriving, BTW, and I'm confident that if I ever needed to, selling wouldn't be a problem.

We've taken an awful lot of vacations in the 10 years we've been members, and we've stayed in much better rooms than we would have without DVC. We have no regrets; it really is about the best thing we've ever done.

 

[DVCLiz]

Continuing:

Most people think of DVC as a "prepaid" vacation, not as an investment. No one can predict how the value of a timeshare will hold up over the next several decades. Some people have made money selling their contracts, others have broken even, and I'm sure some have lost. But if you're simply looking for a real estate investment, stay away from timeshares in general, even DVC!!!

People buy what they can afford, within the confines of the minimum requirements if they are buying directly from Disney. Once you have bought that minimum contract from Disney, you can add on in increments of 25 points (50 if you finance, I believe.) People do different things. Some buy one contract and then add another at a different resort (there are options to book early depending on your ownership, but that's a graduate level question and I think we're in the early learning curve stage here!!!)

Once you are "paid up", there are no more associated costs with the trip itself, like room taxes or anything like that, but there are membership dues each year. This is consistent with many timeshare locations. The dues average about $4.00 per point, so 150 points would be $600.00 per year.

I think the issue of other vacations is personal for everyone. Some take multiple vacations outside Disney, and some only take their DVC trips. We go other places in the years when we can afford to do so, but we know that we'll always have a week at BCV and a week at HH!!!!!

Oh, and the contracts last until 2042, except for Saratoga Springs, which lasts until 2054. So they are not "forever" but do manage to suit most people who are in early or middle adulthood now - they'll stretch for the lifetime of your vacations and get your children into their thirties or forties as well, so your grandchildren can get to see WDW!!!!

As tot he number of points, I have two contracts of 165 points each. That's enough for a two BR villa at Hilton head in the high summer season for five nights, or for four nights at the BCV, with a few left over. Points are assigned depending on time of year, season, and size of unit (studio, 1,2 or 3 BR villa.) So look at the top of the page from the DVC board and you'll be able to look at BWV point requirements for next year.

Whew!!! That's all I can think of!!!!

 

[sgtdisney]

We have been members since 1992. We added additional points on a few years after that. We have never really regretted our purchase at all, of course when we purchased the points were a bargain compared to today and we got those wonderful 8 years of free park passes which basically paid for the original investment.

It is so flexible and allows you to stay at other DVC resorts, as well as trade out and use your points else where. One of the best (and shortest) things to keep in mind is to buy where you plan to stay the most. You have a longer window to get prime time reservations at your home resort. We own at OKW, and have used points to stay at Vero Beach. Love them both. Good luck in your decision.

 

[jbthi]

We first bought DVC in 1999. We bought 150 points at Boardwalk and then added on 100 points at Beach Club because we wanted out grandchildren to be able to use Storm-A-Long Bay. (the swimming area at Beach Club that you are not allowed to pool hop to).

We have not been sorry we bought. One thing to consider if you buy a small amount of points is that Disney does not charge a closing charge and buying resale does (maybe $500, not sure). So with a small amount of points, you are not saving as much.

 

[karebear1]

While some people will tell you not to consider buying into the DVC as an investment (and I agree) I will tell you we bought into the BCV before it opened and paid about $74.00 per point, we could resell those points now for anywhere between $84.00-$90.00 per point. That is definetly an increase-- and we've had at least 5 trips using points already. SO that would be like free accomdations if we sold it now.(BUT we're not going to... NOPE! NO WAY!!!) Had we reserved the same rooms through CRO, we would've paid about 9300.00 in room charges alone. We paid about $15,000 for our points. We figure another 2 years and we will be even- and then we will have deluxe accomadations for the next 38 years, at least 2 trip per year, for the cost of a maintenance fee (which is less then $700.00/year for now).
And, I would agree with everyone else about the down falls. The only one I see now is that we didn't buy more points!

 

[geffric]

We bought in '93.. so our investment has increased and as SGTDisney said we had park passes for free in the early years... But DVC has spoiled me for staying other places. I love having a washer and dryer, full kitchen and more space . We used our points this summer for DCA - and it was lovely but I really missed the kitchen and the laundry...we could never afford to stay at a nice or deluxe Disney resort before DVC.Now we stay on property and in a deluxe resort.

We own at OKW and it feels like home to us..