We have a special needs child too and it is one of the reasons we purchased. WDW is an ideal place in that situation. Here are some of the basics:
1. I will use the new Animal Kingdom Villas as an example since it is one of the resorts at which we own and one currently available for purchase from Disney. Currently the AKV is the 5th and 6th floors of the Animal Kingdom Lodge (the hotel). DVC converted those floors from the hotel to DVC rooms. There will be a new, huge building there called the Kidani which will be all DVC and that is scheduled to open in 2009.
2. When you purchase, you get a deed that gives you a small percentage interest of ownership in a "unit" at AKV (which consists of a couple or few rooms) and a percentage ownership interest in the common elements (everything at the resort outside the rooms which is not specifically the AKL hotel run by Disney; the common elements include the pool, savannas, hallways, lobby, the outside areas and all those dang trees out in front). That is a very similar process to buying a condo.
3. Your ownership interest is represented by "points." Points are sacred, they are the meaning of life, they are things that you will think about constantly and pine for more. But legally they have no monetary value -- your real estate interest represented by the points does -- but for the rest of your DVC life you will need to believe that they are the most valuable things in the world, because points control your whole DVC world.
4. The current minimum purchase through Disney is 160 points (you actually buy the percentage real estate interest represented by that). At AKV, the price is $104 a point. However, Disney is an intelligent marketer. If you buy, you automatically get $8 per point off at AKV. Thus, purchasers are immediately convinced they are getting a discount. That kind of marketing works to sell more than they would if they just said it is $96 a point (hell, it worked on me). That means current buy in price is $15,040. I believe new purchasers also pay closing costs which can add $300 to $500 more. You actually go through a closing just like any real estate sale but you don't have to go to the closing, DVC takes care of all of that. With decent credit rating, they will finance (mortgage) for up to ten years. You can buy any amount of points above 160.
5. When you buy, you also get a "use year" designated by a starting month, for example, February or March or December or others. If you bought now, you will probably get a September or October use year. Let's just assume here that you get a September use year.
6. An important point before continuing. Unlike buying a condominium or a home, your DVC ownership will die. A day will come when it is taken back by Disney. That day for AKV is January 31, 2057. So buy now and you will own for 49 years and then you will be left out in the street, evicted, stripped, and denied all further access. They will not give a dime of compensation when that happens. it is all spelled in the offical documents you get when you buy. Those documents are voluminous, written by lawyers and difficult to read. By 2057, you might be able to digest them.
7. With a September use year, you get an annual allotment of 160 points put into your DVC account on September 1 of every year. You don't pay for them ever again, they just go into your account once a year. If you buy now, you would actually get backdated points to Sep of last year (or October if that is the month they are selling now). In other words, you start out with some points that have already been around for several months just waiting for someone like you to come along and grab them.
8. What you do with those points is reserve rooms. You can go any time of year. But points required vary among times of year and days of the week (Fri and Sat nights are higher than Sun thru Thurs). If you go to the top of this page, you will find "DVC
Point Charts." When you get a chance go take a look at those for AKV. How many points are needed to reserve a room depends on time of year, day of week, type of room (studio, 1BR, 2BR, 3BR Grand Villa), whther it is "value" (these are smaller than normal rooms), "standard" view (regular size but view of pool or parking lot), "savanna" view (view of the savanna), "concierge" (yes, actual concierge service rooms, a handful at AKV).
9. Generally, what does 160 points get you in any year? A studio for a week to two weeks depending on time of year and category of room, a 1BR for a week sometimes of year in a value but a week and usually less in other categories. So in buying points, you look at when you might usually like to go, size of room you would like, and check out the points chart and start doing some calculations for what is needed. Then when you realize you can't really afford to buy enough points to go all year long and stay in a 2BR concierge, you come back to reality and decide how many points you can really afford to purchase and what you will actually get annually for that.
10. Now for how to reserve with those points. You can call to reserve for home resort 11 months in advance of intended time of check out from the resort. There are also other DVC resorts and you can stay at those and use your AKV points for those, but you can't call to reserve until 7 months in advance of intended check-out date. This is the home resort advantage -- at AKV you get to reserve times before anyone from another DVC resort can call.
11. Note, you don't have to be in the applicable use year to call and reserve a time in that year. Always remember you can call to reserve 11 months out at home resort (7 at others). For example, let's assume its June 2008 and you would like to reserve May time 2009 using points to be issued Sep 08, You call in June and reserve the time and those points are then used for that 2009 trip. That trip falls within your Sep 2008 use year, which runs from Sep 1, 2008 to August 31, 2009, so those points are actually "current" use year points for that trip. To determine whether you are using current points you look to when you go not when you call to reserve. So never confuse use year with when you can call to reserve (always 11 or 7 months out) or when you can go (any time of year).
12. Moreover, you might never stay in the unit you actually buy. You can stay in any room and you are assigned one by DVC for the trip.
13. Points issued for a use year must be used for a trip which ends in that use year UNLESS:
14. Let's suppose you have points issued Sep 2007 which expire Aug 31, 2008, but dire circumstances prevent from going until after Aug 2008 (it must be dire circumstances for anyone to have to wait that long to go). You can bank those points into your Sep 08 use year as long as you do it by the end of your eighth month in the use year (April 30 for a Sep use year). Those points once bank must be used in that Sep 08 through Aug 09 use year but essentially you will have double the points for that year.
15, You can also "borrow" points. Assume you make a ressie for July 08 using your 160 points issued Sep 07 but you really need 20 more points to get what you really want. You can reserve with those 07 points and borrow 20 from Sep 08 use year. Of course, doing so means you will have only 140 left to use in that Sep 08 to Aug 09 year.
16. Once you bank or borrow points you cannot undue the choice -- the banked points stay in the next year and can't be brought back, the borrowed points stay in the current use year and can't be sent back for use in their original year.
17. You have the option of trading out (using your points) to non-DVC resorts including other Disney hotels and resorts almost everywhere.
18. The points you need for a DVC room won't change annually (except that higher Easter and Thanskgiving times change dates annually). There is an exception that has to do with DVC reserving the right to reallocate points -- lowering them one time of year while raising them an equal amount at another trime. If DVC does that (and it has done so only once years ago at OKW) it must keep the total points applicable to the resort the same. They really won't do it except to meet a sea change in demand for times of year.
19. You don't get to escape paying anything after you first buy. You must pay annual dues. Like a condo, there are costs associated with the resort chargeable to you -- such as property insurance, maintenance, repairs, all those employees working at the resort, annual prperty taxes, reserves for futrue major repairs -- roofs have to be replaced sometime). At AKV, I cannot remember exactly but they are currently in the $4.80 per point per year range. Those can and do go up annually as costs rise annualy (you can't keep paying an employee $6 an hour forever).
20. As a DVC member, you do not get daily maid service. Instead, on the fourth day you are there they do a little trash and towel service, cleaning up a little, taking out the trash, and giving you new towels, soaps, others. If you are there 8 nights you do actually get a full cleaning service the fourth day. You can also purchase daily maid service for a fee (in the $40 to $60 range per day depending on room size) and you can get extra towels, other stuff for a fee. Also, with AKV concierge, you in fact get daily maid service as part of the point cost.
. No other DVC resort is a monorail hotel, so if you end up falling in love with the monorail you will have to wait for the Contemporary.
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