We are
DVC Dissapointed. We are proud to say we are DVC members. The membership does have it's perks. We purchased 100 points at SSR in 2011. We have only been able to use our points once. Why? Because we had to use multiple year's worth of points for that one trip. We now have 2 1/2 years of points available to use, including borrowing from next year, and are unable to find availability for the dates that we want to go. We have wait listed before, thus the reason we have so many points, but did not win the jackpot. Ever. We are a family of 5 and 100 points per year does not get us a week at Disney (which we were told by the CM that this was the way to go). Due to the size of our family, we usually requires one bedroom villas, which uses more points than we have available to use during the times which we are able to use them. Seriously considering selling which makes me super sad! Feeling mislead and needing some pixie dust!
I'm sorry you're having such a negative experience. I will say that we bought 60 SSR points in 2011, and we've taken two DVC trips already and are going on our third in September. So that said, you must be trying to book rooms in the most popular resorts at the most popular times and after the seven month booking window has opened ... because my wife and I have not had a problem getting anything we've wanted, but we did need to make some concessions. For example, we couldn't get a standard view room at Aulani for the timeframe we wanted, but we were able to get an island view room for more points. (It should be noted that we're staying in studios, since it's just the two of us. But one-bedroom units are in high demand.) Our trips so far have been shorter as well, five nights at Aulani and four at Grand Californian. Our week at the Grand Floridian was two years worth of points.
For a family of five, particularly if you have schoolchildren who can only go during breaks, you're going to pay more in points, and you'll be fighting with everyone else for rooms. But if you can take your kids out of school right at the beginning of the year, September is a great time to go with low crowds and better room availability.
Secondly, if you're not using your points at SSR (and you should have no problem getting a room at SSR 11 months out!), you NEED to be prepared to be on the website and ready to book at 8AM Eastern when your booking window opens. This was the only way that I was able to get a studio at the Grand Floridian seven months out (I literally got the last one available). If booking shorter that seven months away, you'll have to go with what's left. DVC is really not for people who want to vacation spontaneously.
Lastly, 100 points probably just isn't enough for a family of five, and I'm sorry if you were led to believe it would be. We were allowed to buy 60, but we had excellent reasons why (and we paid cash), but we knew we'd be stretching those points THIN. With that said, you'll need to make some hard choices, like staying for a shorter period of time, not staying over a Friday/Saturday (when point costs are higher), staying at your home resort, or accepting that you won't get your first-choice resort.
But here's the thing ... if you don't think those are acceptable concessions to make, I'm sure your points won't last long on the resale market. DVC usually holds it's value pretty well.
Still in debate with DH as to what to do.
