DVC, doesn't appear to be for us

[scuba]

We attended a presentation on the Wonder, seems like it's not for us right now. We always felt that you could vacation at any resort. Bay tower just isn't for us because we love the pop century, all stars, and was told that old key west isn't being sold right now. Our daughters are younger 2 and 4 and the cheezy resorts we seem to have more fun....and we seem not to do deluxe well. Any suggestions? I get the value it offers but I just cannot get into the resorts that are being offered. Thanks For anything anyone can offer.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

If you enjoy staying at the value resorts, you will never find value in DVC.

 

[bookwormde]

All the DVC resorts (including OKW) are for sale (both direct from DVC and resale). If your family does not "need" the style of a deluxe then DVC is probably not for you.

bookwormde

 

[arthur06]

To each there own, do what is best for you... but, for us, we have 3 boys (9, 3, 1) so cramming into a standard hotel room just isnt vacation

 

[Chuck S]

AS others have said, DVC isn't for everyone. I enjoy a short POP Century stay for a night or two, but anything longer than that and I really "need" my DVC.

Everyone vacations differently, and with DVC being a timeshare, your best value with DVC is staying in a DVC room. DVC has really never been available for use at a Disney value class resort, likely because in the long term, DVC is marketed as a way to stay in more upscale accommodations for about the same price as a value resort.

If your currently satisfied staying in a value resort for your usual vacationing, DVC may not be the best fit for you. Maybe in a few years as your kids get older and need a little more space.

 

[hakepb]

I completely understand the virtues of value resorts, and DVC is not a way to save money over Values. (DVC might be close to the cost, and DVC is a more known, stable rate than values)

Based on your comments, I do think you need to try AKV Jambo Savannah view before you write off DVC. Watching the animals from your own room is stunningly amazing experience. If your kids like animals, then room time is its own attraction, you do not have to worry much about the kids getting restless. I've experienced a lot of joy from the wimsy of Value design, but the savannah view animals were ja completely different level of entertainment. For instance, we checked in late at night, and I woke up the next AM to some rustling of the curtains, and a "Look! a Zebra!, no 2 Zebras, 3 Zebras! and an Osterich!!!"

(I purposely suggested Jambo instead Kidani just to get you closer to Mara for CS dining. And I think Boma is the best, and most affordable breakfast buffet on property, if you like those. If you never eat at the value's food court, then Kidani could be a equally amazing choice)

 

[ToddyLu]

I agree with Chuck S. DH and I always did value until we bought into DVC. We do not have children so there is "value" for us in staying at a deluxe resort. We can always do Pop and loved the time we were there, All Stars, too. In fact DH and I took a bus to Pop our last DVC trip and got him a Reuben flat bread. I did not realize how nice it was to have a fridge to keep our drinks cold and a couch to stretch out on....then there were the animals. I think you are being smart...when you have two teenagers and want two bathrooms..then we will talk DVC.

 

[Dean]

We attended a presentation on the Wonder, seems like it's not for us right now. We always felt that you could vacation at any resort. Bay tower just isn't for us because we love the pop century, all stars, and was told that old key west isn't being sold right now. Our daughters are younger 2 and 4 and the cheezy resorts we seem to have more fun....and we seem not to do deluxe well. Any suggestions? I get the value it offers but I just cannot get into the resorts that are being offered. Thanks For anything anyone can offer.

DVC isn't for everyone and it may not be a good choice for you but I'm not yet convinced that DVC is not a good choice for you. I guess it depends on what and why you prefer at the values. If it's the more laid back feel, type of location and more spread out nature you may indeed find that OKW, VB, HH and SSR are very good choices for you. You can buy them all resale MUCH cheaper and as pointed out, all can potentially be bought retail as well though at a much higher price. You might consider a stay, or at least a visit, at OKW and/or SSR on your next trip to WDW.

 

[bumbershoot]

Just backing up a little bit.

"We always felt that you could vacation at any resort."

Did you feel that you were told that you could NOT book anywhere but your home resort? Because that's not true.

Yes, you get to book your home resorts 11 months out, and have to wait to book other DVC resorts until you are only 7 months out, and there will be less available at that point, but you can still try. And since OKW (and SSR) is one of the bigger resorts, people have said that availability is better at those places, if that's where you want to try to stay.

But you could, if that's where you want to stay and own, buy OKW from the resale market.

 

[scuba]

everyone has given me such great replies, right now as our kids are much younger it feels best for us to have that cheezy POP CENTURY feel on our vacations but as another post suggested as they get older we might feel that a more deluxe accomodations might be in order. I was told by several folks including a DVC representative on the wonder that there was NO old key west DVC timeshares available......I felt that this was as far away as we would have wanted to go away from the atmosphere that the All-Stars and POP provide. Really it's a shame that the DVC doesn't offer packages that would allow a smaller younger family to join, use the value resorts and allow for an upgrade latter as the family matures....I would sign tomorrow. Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.

 

[missycj96]

You can buy all the dvc properties through resale. OKW resales are a pretty good value. But, if you are happy at value resorts, that will be much less expensive than dvc (especially given the discounts you can get on resorts these days). So keep doing what makes you happy, save your money and in the future if your travel needs change, DVC will be there.

 

[bookwormde]

Your guide is missinformed (I am not being kind by not saying lied). The OKW contracts DVC is selling are 2057 expiration dates.

bookwormde

 

[Crystal_27]

I don't know - - I would think that if you pick up a small OKW or SSR contract via resale, then you would still see a huge savings with DVC in the long run even if you only frequent the Values. We were already sold on DVC when we took the tour, but one thing our Guide mentioned to us when we took the tour is that eventually (in 10-20-30-40 years), the Values are going to be renting for $200+ a night, yet we will still be enjoying our "free" accommodations with DVC. Also, since you seem to be happy staying in studios, you really don't need as many points as those who need the larger accommodations (especially with banking and borrowing). Still, if you are happy and feel that DVC isn't for your family right now, then it's probably not.

 

[rmjohn504]

Wow you have a whole plethora of information here. I love POP too, but as stated earlier, my kids are older 19, 18, and 15. We definitely need more room. We just bought into Bay Lake Tower, but are staying at Animal Kingdom on our first DVC vacation. We're not opposed to staying a night or two or even if we run out of points an entire vacation at Pop thats the beauty of it. Take your DVC vacation until you run out of points, and then you can take another Pop vacation (because of the discounts they are offering these days) then you get 2 weeks at WDW. Again, we just bought into DVC last year and are ready to hear "Welcome Home." But not only that, you get discounts at the world for being a member as well. The DVC will have paid for itself in 8 years in value.

Good luck!

 

[sweetdana]

If you are happy with value resorts, until something changes stay there.
YOU WILL SAVE $$ and take adv of all the Disney sales. Stay there until you want/need more. My Hubby and I were happy at POR/FQ for a while. (Then upgraded one time for 1 - bedroom at the BWV and .. now would only go to FQ for a day or 2 We prefer the closer walk to Epcot, the hot tubs at the resorts or in the rooms. (1 or 2 bed rooms in the rooms). Day care day care facilities, and fancy rest. in the resort really makes it more convenient. We tried 2 rooms (putting my DD4 in the seperate room for some privacy) at the ASM after a 1 bedroom at BWV and... wouldn't go back to the ASM.

At a point you need more space, want your own room seperate from the kids, a spa tubs in the room or hot tubs at the resort, look again. There are OKW resale, and DVC reps sell them (more $$ than resale for that matter). SSR with the lower MF I think is a better deal, for most people and both are readily available at even 3 months out. If you like OKW I bet you like SSR too. They are very similar, but you can walk to DTD and have the benefit of tree house villas 11 month window at SSR.
Until you need to upgrade save the $$ and go value!

 

[Coach81]

Doesn't seem like a good fit for you....

 

[wildernessDad]

We attended a presentation on the Wonder, seems like it's not for us right now. We always felt that you could vacation at any resort. Bay tower just isn't for us because we love the pop century, all stars, and was told that old key west isn't being sold right now. Our daughters are younger 2 and 4 and the cheezy resorts we seem to have more fun....and we seem not to do deluxe well. Any suggestions? I get the value it offers but I just cannot get into the resorts that are being offered. Thanks For anything anyone can offer.

I think you are correct. DVC does not appear to be right for you.

 

[bumbershoot]

I was told by several folks including a DVC representative on the wonder that there was NO old key west DVC timeshares available......

They might not sell them directly to a brand new owner (as in, 160 points right off the bat), but they are available for resale (not through disney) and of course you can add on through disney once you're an owner. So OKW can be bought, and added on (and that one can be through disney).

Don't trust salespeople! DVC salespeople, from my tiny experience, are better than your average car salesperson (from my not so tiny experience), but they are still salespeople. Trust the people HERE more than a salesperson.


If you don't want to buy, don't buy. I'm not replying to make you change your mind. But I'd hate to think this decision was made on BAD information. Good information is needed to make good decisions that you won't regret.


One other thought...just b/c you have DVC doesn't mean you can't stay at the other resorts. The values are inexpensive enough that you could, if you wanted to, just go pay cash for them for the fun of the places. I know I plan to stay at the values for fun, because my cousins absolutely LOVE the places, even though they also love WL etc!

 

[Jason@dvcstore]

We attended a presentation on the Wonder, seems like it's not for us right now. We always felt that you could vacation at any resort. Bay tower just isn't for us because we love the pop century, all stars, and was told that old key west isn't being sold right now. Our daughters are younger 2 and 4 and the cheezy resorts we seem to have more fun....and we seem not to do deluxe well. Any suggestions? I get the value it offers but I just cannot get into the resorts that are being offered. Thanks For anything anyone can offer.

Buying resale through The Timeshare Store, Inc.® all 10 resorts are available to you. Here are the annual dues for each one.

The approximate annual dues per point for 2010 at each resort are: Bay Lake Tower $3.78, Grand Californian $3.94, Saratoga Springs $4.46, Old Key West $4.87, Animal Kingdom $4.95, Beach Club $5.15, Wilderness Lodge $5.20, Boardwalk Villas $5.36, Hilton Head $5.57 and Vero Beach $6.61.

Jason

 

[dmoore22]

I can only speak from our experience. We did agonize whether it was worth it or not. We did the spreadsheets, visited the discussion groups, and took the tours at WDW. Even then we weren't quite convinced. What actually pushed us was more an emotional reaction than a logical fiscal decision. It was the reality of the quality of life my parents had as the result of poor health that prevented them from enjoying their retirement. I decided then and there it was time to go ahead and enjoy my retirement savings while still healthy enough to do so. Once that decision was made we purchased a resale at OKW and then a resale add-on. In the first case it was an overseas owner trying to unload so we received a good deal with a years worth of banked points. With the add-on the seller paid our first year's MF. It was just a matter of patience and finding the right deal fro us.

We have no regrets. Since we've worked our way up from absolutely nothing to a state of extreme poverty, prior to DVC we would stay in the most economical accommodations possible. Since we have 6 kids we couldn't get by with less than at least two rooms. (We loved the All-Star Value Resorts.) We noticed after joining DVC we ended up in much nicer accommodations and we actually stayed longer for about the same expense as we were spending in our pre-DVC economy mode. With two bedrooms and a full kitchen, living room, two baths, a jacuzzi, and a laundry room we felt like we died and went to heaven compared to our pre-DVC vacations. Initially we would purchase annual passes for the parks then stagger our visits so that we would get two visits out of each pass, purchasing APs every other year. Of course, now as DVC members we essentially get what amounts to a Fl resident discount on our passes. Now that we are close to empty nesters, only our youngest is still at home, we've altered our accommodations so that we have enough points to go twice a year. Of course we now do the AP renewals which also have a DVC discounted price. There are also discounts to various events, shopping, dining, recreation, and tours just to name a few. There is in-room free internet access for DVC members, and free movie rentals at the Community Center at the DVC resorts. Of course this is just scratching the surface. One thing to consider is that your basically prepaying for your accommodations as opposed to it being an investment or savings. So far, for us, the costs have remained relatively stable compared to the room rack rate we would have been paying had we not joined DVC. Obviously, in this economy, deals can be found at the rack rate. Unfortunately theses deals never seem to be offered when my DW and I can get time off.