DVC HELP!! Incentives & other ?'s

[gkrykewy]

Thanks gkrykewy! I replied to your VM with my contact information.

Connie - I didn't receive a message from you; perhaps you sent it to someone else?

 

[helloconnie]

hmmm...maybe I can't reply yet due to not having 10 posts.

 

[helloconnie]

Two more posts and I can reply. Sorry everyone!

 

[helloconnie]

Are there any advantages / disadvantages to buying new vs. resale?

 

[christa112]

On a resale the price tends to be a bit cheaper, but you may not your 2009 points up front, depending on if current owner used the points already, but on the flip side you could be getting banked points from 2008 and beyond.

The downside to purchasing by resale is ultimately Disney has the final say. You could offer a certain price and Disney may opt to purchase from the buyer at that price.

I just purchased AKV in April and with the current incentives I opted directly from DVC it worked out to be pretty much the same price without the waiting period.

 

[christa112]

Exactly!!!

So, if I am reading your post right, if I buy into DVC, I get the $8 discount they told me about then with a referral of an existing member I can get with additional $ off OR a Disney Cruise?

 

[christa112]

Also, with the Disney Visa if you put your down payment on it you will receive 0% interested for 6 mos.

This is correct -OR- if you have a Disney Visa you could also choose two free Annual Passes as your "extra" reward, although I don't believe that one requires a referral.

Essentially the bonus is 1) extra $$ discount, 2) cruise, or 3) 2 Annual Passes (with Disney Visa downpayment).

 

[Crystal_27]

Our vacationing style...we like to stay in the more Deluxe accomodations. We had two children ages 3 1/2 and 2 months. We want to be able to have a separate room from them. We also like to travel to destinations other than Disney. With that said, I have some questions I need help with. (Also looking for a referral and reference to talk to on the phone.)

1. How do I determine how many points I need?

2. What are the advantages of the different hotels? We just stayed in the Disney Beach Club Resort and we did not like it as much as we liked the Wilderness Lodge (mainly because of transportion to the parks). We are considering BLT as our home property.

3. Is it easy to book at properties other than your home property?

4. What is an "Add-on"? Is that just adding on points? Or are their other add-ons?

5. Does this make since if you plan on alternating vacations inside the club with other destinations (i.e. ski trips, Vegas, Hawaii, etc.)?

I am sure I will have more questions to come. Please HELP!

Connie, I'm going to call you tonight so we can chat, but I'll try and answer some of these questions for you now so we can either expand on them tonight or they may lead to new questions.

1. Given that you want your kiddos to have their own room, you are going to need enough points for a one bedroom villa. Now, the point ranges for the various WDW DVC properties vary greatly, from, say 270 points at BLT for a week in June to 189 points for the same week at AKV. Obviously, it is the best use of points to stay at AKV, but for some, myself included, find that the AKV location is far too remote, and I prefer to use the extra points to stay on the monorail. However, many love AKV because you can really escape the craziness of the parks and because there are so many activities going on at the resort that you almost don't even need to go to the parks. It's like two vacations in one. I think a fairly good rule of thumb is that the more convenient a DVC resort is to a park, the more points you will use to stay there. I would recommend doing some soul searching about what type of vacation experience you are going to want most of the time, and find the point charts online and start doing calculations as to the dates that you would most likely visit.

2. Each DVC resort definitely has its own set of perks. With BLT, obviously, the draw is its monorail location and the fact that it's within walking distance of MK. Beach Club's perks are location (walking distance to Epcot) and its fabulous pool. Animal Kingdom's perks are the family activities, lower point requirements, the animals. However, likewise, each DVC resort has its own set of drawbacks as well. I think that the advice to buy where you want to stay is great advice.

3. I think that since BLT hasn't yet opened, that's a tough call. However, it appears to me that if you are fairly flexible when trying to book non-home resorts, you should be *okay* most of the time with getting what you want. But, you should buy into a DVC resort where you wouldn't mind staying every time because you may not be able to get a non-home resort at a 7 month mark.

4. Adding on refers to purchasing additional points once you become a DVC member. I hear that adding on becomes quite addictive - LOL. This is another reason why it helps to do the calculations of what you will need up front so, perhaps, you can fight off "add-on-itis" if you're so inclined.

5. No. You will find that vacationing at other destinations, while certainly doable, eats up points. Your best use of a DVC membership is to vacation at Disney (or DVC's resorts at Hilton Head or Vero Beach or, hopefully one day, the planned DVC resort in Hawaii). Even using your DVC points to exchange for a Disney cruise uses quite a bit of points (although since a cruise is all inclusive I don't think it's as bad a use of points as some).

Are there any advantages / disadvantages to buying new vs. resale?

The clear advantage to buying resale is the cost difference. You can get points at SSR for $67/point, which, compared to BLT's per point cost of $98 is a steal. Also, there are some resorts that you can only find through resale (unless you want to be waitlisted by Disney for an undeterminable amount of time). However, buying through resale is a longer process, and Disney can always exercise its right of first refusal, meaning that Disney can opt to buy the points from a seller, and, if they choose to do so, you've just wasted a lot of time. Buying through Disney is a piece of cake, their financing is easy, and you have your points immediately. However, it is obviously most costly than resale. There are upsides and downsides to both situations.

Again, I will call you tonight so we can discuss this more in detail. However, here are my thoughts to give you something to "chew on."

 

[logan115]

The clear advantage to buying resale is the cost difference. You can get points at SSR for $67/point, which, compared to BLT's per point cost of $98 is a steal. Also, there are some resorts that you can only find through resale (unless you want to be waitlisted by Disney for an undeterminable amount of time). However, buying through resale is a longer process, and Disney can always exercise its right of first refusal, meaning that Disney can opt to buy the points from a seller, and, if they choose to do so, you've just wasted a lot of time. Buying through Disney is a piece of cake, their financing is easy, and you have your points immediately. However, it is obviously most costly than resale. There are upsides and downsides to both situations.

"

Agree with everything Crystal said, and here's a few other things :

To keep things apples to apples, SSR resale is around $67-$70 compared to $91ish thru Disney with all of the current incentives - pretty sizable savings for the hassle of going thru resale. We just passed ROFR and closed last week and paid $68 for 160 points at SSR - should be thru estoppel and "in the system" in a few days

One other thing to keep in mind is the amount of points needed at the various resorts. In addition to paying around $5K more upfront for the same amount of points, we also would've needed to buy more points based on our needs.

I'm not saying that BLT isn't a great spot to own (will probably add-on their in the future actually) as I think it is, but it just didn's work out for us at this point in time. In addition to the cost per point you really need to look at how many points you'll need as well.

Good luck, and keep asking questions,

Chris

 

[fgmeister]

Wow - this post sounds like I wrote it. We are going through the same questions. They asked twice about a referral and I didn't have one. If it means that we will get a better deal and you will get some incentive too, does anyone want to be my referral? I'm scheduled to talk to our counselor on Thursday.

We are also struggling with BLT or Animal Kingdom. We go to Florida every year to visit my family who lives near by. Joining DVC seemed like a good idea since we are already planning the trips and we love Disney. We have two small children (3 and 20 months) and I just feel that Animal Kingdom is more child friendly, plus we don't spend all our time at the parks. However, the maintenance is much cheaper at BLT. What are the chances that we buy BLT but then try to get our stays at Animal Kingdom to save on the maintenance? Or should we just committ to the location that would work best? I'm hearing conflicting opinions on how desireable staying at BLT will be because of the point premiums.

Any thoughts or takers to be my referee?

 

[fgmeister]

Oops - Needed to subscribe to thread

 

[christa112]

I will be happy to be your referral!!! I am going to PM you.

Do you know how far out you will be booking your trips? The advantage to your Home Resort is you get a 11 mos booking window.
Since AKV is so large many people are saying it will be easier to get a ressie at 7 mos out at AKV than BLT at 7 mos out.

The Motto on the DVC board is "Buy where you Love" meaning at some point you may not be able to stay at another resort, so make sure you love the resort you are purchasing.

I toured both BLT & AKV in Sept and we fell in love with AKV and purchased there last month. We thought BLT was very nice, but not for us.

With the current incentives going on right now you are saving more money at AKV which also sparked our attention.

I hope this helps with some of your questions. I will be happy to answer more if you have them. There is so much to learn. Keep reading these boards, they have tons and tons of info.

Wow - this post sounds like I wrote it. We are going through the same questions. They asked twice about a referral and I didn't have one. If it means that we will get a better deal and you will get some incentive too, does anyone want to be my referral? I'm scheduled to talk to our counselor on Thursday.

We are also struggling with BLT or Animal Kingdom. We go to Florida every year to visit my family who lives near by. Joining DVC seemed like a good idea since we are already planning the trips and we love Disney. We have two small children (3 and 20 months) and I just feel that Animal Kingdom is more child friendly, plus we don't spend all our time at the parks. However, the maintenance is much cheaper at BLT. What are the chances that we buy BLT but then try to get our stays at Animal Kingdom to save on the maintenance? Or should we just committ to the location that would work best? I'm hearing conflicting opinions on how desireable staying at BLT will be because of the point premiums.

Any thoughts or takers to be my referee?