DVC-I'm not sure...

[Lanie]

Hi guys,

2 years ago we went to a DVC info session, and we came out of it thinking that DVC would be amazing for us.

Now that we are in a financial position where it would actually be possible to do it, it doesn't seem like such a good deal...

Am I wrong? What made you buy DVC?

Thanks

 

[SeanK]

Hi,

I am also looking at buying a DVC, i personally have been to Disney world 5 or 6 times in the last 7 years, at 2 to 3k a trip that's between 10 and 18k. If i would of bought a DVC it would have paid for itself.

If you plan on going every two years it's worth it, if you don't... then save your money. I will be buying a DVC this year just not sure if i am going to go with the resellers or buy it from Disney direct.

from a reseller your looking at 10-14k, i am not sure how much if you get it through Disney....

Good luck, when i get back from my research trip in December i should have more information to share!

 

[who's ur daddy?]

From a pure cost perspective, it isn't the best choice. If you're okay with the hotel style rooms at Disney resorts or are okay with the low to moderate priced rooms, then DVC can be relatively expensive. Plus factor in the cost of separate airfare and those all-inclusive deals you see on itravel2000.com seem to be a much better value.

However, if you like nice accomodations (notice I didn't say luxurious...) then it's a good value. For me, our kids are ripe Disney age and I can see us going for the next 10 years. In the long run and assuming there is some value left in the contract (historically, DVC members have done well on resales... whether that will hold is unknown...), I think its good value. Then we found out about flying out of Buffalo for significantly less which made it an even better deal.

For "onsite" suites (kitchen and laundry), I think DVC is a great choice.

 

[sean-1966]

We visit at least once a year so it was a no brainer for us. We own 380 points at Saratoga Springs and love our membership. Just the 2 of us have gone several times. We have visited with DW's family once and my family once. It was really nice being able to give them a trip each. Meant a lot to us. We have visited Vero Beach and love it. Will we see our membership through to the end? I don't know but right now we love it. BTW, Disney keeps resale prices up so we'll probably get out most of our inital investment.

 

[drag n' fly]

I used to think DVC was a complete waste of money until I did my research.....ignorance is not always bliss! DVC fits our needs perfectly. So much so we are buying our contract at Disneyland next month and then going for a Mom and Dad only trip for a looky loo in April. We were originally going to buy re-sale but the incentives being offered by Disney right now are too enticing! Even with the cost of flights considered we still feel it is a great long term investment for our family.

 

[Lanie]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the info!

Do you know the "specials" that are going on right now? When we were there 3 weeks ago the lady mentionned good deals, but since we only had 4 days at the world, we weren't going to waste any second!

 

[drag n' fly]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the info!

Do you know the "specials" that are going on right now? When we were there 3 weeks ago the lady mentionned good deals, but since we only had 4 days at the world, we weren't going to waste any second!

Depends on where you are buying at.

I believe the specials right now are buy 225 points and recieve 160 developer points. If you can provide a DVC member as a referral you will get more points (not sure how many I think it is 160 (developer)) and your referrer if eligible (some states don't allow) will get some also. Their is also 10 dollars off a point. They change so quick I cannot keep track of them all.

Sometimes DL will also offer 2 annual passes. Anyone wanting to try and get their foot in the door for GCV needs to have purchased their master contract at DL to qualify for first crack at those Villa's.

 

[bbangel]

Anyone wanting to try and get their foot in the door for GCV needs to have purchased their master contract at DL to qualify for first crack at those Villa's.

Where did you hear this? I thought all members would be treated equally when it comes to buying into a new resort?

 

[drag n' fly]

This has been discussed on the DVC boards for a few days. You may want to check out this thread. This is where I found the info.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1617686&page=3

 

[epicureangirl]

Best advice I can give... go read the DVC boards, do a bunch of research and ask a lot of questions before you buy. You will need to figure out how many points you need, what your home resort you would like and if you'd like to crunch-the-numbers, what you should be factoring in over the life of your membership.

If you do that, and decide that DVC is a fit, remember that you do not have to buy the current resorts (Saratoga and Animal Kingdom) from Disney. You can buy those through resale if you want, AND any of the other resorts. Disney's prices will be fixed (though they are constantly running promotions), but you have some bargaining room with resale. Also, if you buy from Disney, you MUST buy at least 160 points. With resale, you can get in the door with a very small amount of points -- I've seen some 25 and 50 point contracts even.

Good luck on your decision.

 

[Ham Ham]

Depends on where you are buying at.

I believe the specials right now are buy 225 points and recieve 160 developer points. If you can provide a DVC member as a referral you will get more points (not sure how many I think it is 160 (developer)) and your referrer if eligible (some states don't allow) will get some also. Their is also 10 dollars off a point. They change so quick I cannot keep track of them all.

Sometimes DL will also offer 2 annual passes. Anyone wanting to try and get their foot in the door for GCV needs to have purchased their master contract at DL to qualify for first crack at those Villa's.

Where did you get the information about the current incentives?

I agree with some of the earlier posts. If you plan to go to Disney every other year and do the moderates DVC might not be cost effective for you.

We plan on going down at least once a year and the occasional cruise. Our kids love being at Disney and so do we. Parks and hotels are well maintained and customer service is unbeatable.
We don't need to go to the parks every day, hanging out by the pool,shopping at DTD or at the outlets, Sea World is great and we even hope to try Universal at some point

Having a kitchen for breakfasts, laundry and a separate bedroom is great. We bought at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and will get a full 50 years of points. I hope I'm around that long to enjoy them but at least my children and future grandchildren can have many vacations.

Also the first time we looked at DVC it was 25 % exchange on the on the dollar. Now one of our dollars is worth $1.03 US. Yahoo!

 

[epicureangirl]

There is a thread posted a few posts above yours that has a link to it. The DVC forum on the DISBOARDS is the best place to find out that information, or anything DVC for that matter.

 

[MikeyNS]

Hi guys,

2 years ago we went to a DVC info session, and we came out of it thinking that DVC would be amazing for us.

Now that we are in a financial position where it would actually be possible to do it, it doesn't seem like such a good deal...

Am I wrong? What made you buy DVC?

Thanks

We purchased our DVC in 2004 and it's "paid" for itself already. We've made 5 trips since then, in everything from a studio to a 2BR, and going by the rack rates and with annual passes in hand, it's paid for itself and we still have 40 some odd years left. Our only regret is not purchasing more points, BUT then again we've been able to do 5 trips in 3 years with the less than 200 we have.
I don't think I could ever do a studio/normal hotel room ever again. It's 1BR+ from now on!

 

[realfam]

We were recently on a Disney Cruise and purchased our DVC there for Saratoga Springs. We looked at it in 2005 and hhmm and hhaad over it.
With the strong CDN$ we decided to purchase it this time. Remember you are not 100% locked in DVC resorts. We also looked at Club Intrawest (since we are also big skiers), and you can trade your points off to over 500 different resorts. They also go along way when trading them off. I think it was well worth it and we plan to purchase more in the near future while the $ is strong. Since we have a young family, we see it as a good opportunity to save on good quality vacations in the future. Take a good look how prices have increased over the past 25 years for a descent hotel.
It got our golden stamp of approval

 

[murcor]

Disney has always been a vacation destination of choice for my family, when I went with my parents and now when I take my kids. So, I knew there will always be Disney vacations in our future. We have stayed offsite with a car, offsite with bus service and onsite in hotels.

Everytime we go we learn what we like in accomodations and what we dont like in accomodations. We want onsite and a balcony This leaves only deluxes.

Checking into DVC we soon realized that you get so much more for resort & amenities. We do not go to parks everyday, therefore, the resort and what it has to offer is a major plus for us!

This Dec/Jan will be our 4th DVC trip. (1x per year)

It is something that when we finally did the purchase, we were very happy and had no regrets

 

[murcor]

Just thought of another thing.

When we go we usually go for 10-14 days. Spending a fair amount of time at the resort. In a regular hotel room for that duration with a family might not seem so much like vacation thats why we like the larger dvc units

 

[realfam]

For all you fellow Canadians out there. The CDN$ almost hit $1.05 US today. Keep watching! It could be perfect timing to increase your DVC points and plan another holiday
For the kids, of course

 

[DbleTheFun]

We did a ton of research... weighing the pros and cons, and ended up just putting in our deposits on 2 different contracts (350pts and 150pts) for SSR!!! We purchased resale, since we dont really mind waiting for closing. We also were able to buy contracts with some banked points from 2007 and for quite a bit less than what DVC is selling. Just waiting to hear if they pass ROFR.

The dollar was the final decision maker for us!! Not to mention, that we cant wait to have our kids build a lifetime of memories at WDW!!!!

 

[Ham Ham]

I wonder if our soaring dollar could turn around and bite us in the tookus?

Any economists out there?

 

[padalyn]

DVC is without a doubt the second best purchase I have ever made (first being my house!).

It allows me to take a vacation with no worries over where to stay, I seldom am told my choice of resort is not available.

Your home resort choices are currently Saratoga and Animal Kingdom. They are not selling any others (as of the DVC cruise last week). They are soon to be working on Hawaii and Grand Californian - but no start dates listed yet.

Please remember to figure in your monthly maintance costs...but the discounts are good for annual pass at WDW, 20% off most dining, the availability of washing machine and dryer in the 1 BR or larger units is a great help for long trips.

We like the fridge/freezer availability - since we take bladder packs with us - I freeze the pack with some water in it and have a cold back the whole day (very nice in June when the temp hits 100+)

I have found that using points for the cruise is not worth it, but I did use them to take the Alaska cruise and the Adventures by Disney: Imperial Cities tour.

I tell people all the time: Disney is not about the kids. The parks change all the time,new decorations new fireworks, new shows. The resorts have competitions at the holidays..neat to see. The Halloween pumpkin carving, the chocolate villages at Christmas.

Enough babble - go buy your furture vacations...and welcome home!