DVC newbie with some basic questions

[tigger2esq]

DH and I are seriously considering DVC ownersip. I got the "package" of stuff yesterday but after reading it ALL about 17 times I still have some questions I was hoping you can help me out with.

1) what are the restrictions on the lowest level of membership? are there date use restrictions etc.?

2) what are the restrictions on the regular membership use of points? (or does this simply refer to the 12 months booking for home resort and 7 months for other resorts?)

3) how difficult is it to use your membership at non-disney resorts? DH and I normally take an annual ski vacation and this would be wonderful if we could use our points easily at the Colorado or Vermont resorts listed (and does this have the 7 month restriction too??).

4) have you found it increasingly difficult to book vacations for the dates you want due to limited availability??? (will I really need to count back exactly 12 months and call every day to reserve???)

5) we are considering the 250 point level.. for those of you who have purchased at this level--have you found that you have too many/too few points for your vacation wants/needs??? we generally try to go to WDW once a year (for either a week or long weekend). and I am having a hard time deciding if this is the right level for us (its just me and DH--no kids yet so a studio would generally suffice).

6) are the Wilderness villas the only option for ownership right now or is there still availability at the Boardwalk? Have you had good experiences at the Boardwalk or does it seem too noisy, too much activity etc.--or have you found that the Wilderness Villas are too far removed from everything and there isnt as much to do there??

7) how large are the studio units in comparison to a regular WDW hotel room? (say---Port Orleans...) will we be cramped with 2 adults and possibly one infant/toddler (just thinking ahead...lol!!!)?

8) what are the drawbacks, benefits from purchasing directly from Disney rather than a resale? Will I be missing out on anything going the resale route?


I realize a lot of these questions could be answered by calling the consultants number given with the package--But I would rather have as much info as possible going into that phone call before getting hit with a sales pitch!!! Plus I think that your actuall experiences are much more valuable than the "sales pitch" information that I will get from disney direct!!

I realize these are a lot of questions--please feel free to email me directly @ tigger2esq@yahoo.com with your own personal experiences!!!

 

[Jimbo]

I'm sure you'll get a lot of responses, and here's mine:

First of all, wherever you say "12 months," change it to 11 months. Your home resort can be booked 11 months prior to your trip.

1. All members are treated equally. The more points you have the longer you can stay, of course, but no one gets preferential treatment. This includes resale purchasers vs. those that bought directly from Disney.

2. If I understand what you're asking, the <b>only</b> difference between booking at a "non-home" resort is that you have to wait until the 7 month mark.

3. Don't know.

4. We have NOT found bookings any harder to come buy, and we've been doing it for 5 years. The only time I've felt the need to call day by day was when we wanted to spend a week in an OKW Grand Villa. And even then it may not have been necessary, for all I know. It pays to be flexible, though. We're not locked into traveling at a specific time, and generally just pick a month that would work for us.

5. I think that 250 points is a reasonable amount. It's a lot for just studio stays. But maybe you'll stay in a 1BR once, and find it hard to go back to a studio. Or you'll want to invite family or friends to come along and need a 2BR one year. I think you'll find that it's impossible to have too many points, especially if you're planning to do non-Disney vacations.

6. WLV is the only onsite resort that Disney is selling. BWV and OKW are available via resale. We purchased a resale and it worked perfectly for us. The DVC resorts are all different froom each other, but they're all great.

7. DVC studios are larger than those at the moderates. Two adults and a toddler would have plenty of room.

8. Like I said, resale buyers are treated no different from direct purchasers. You'll probably want to secure your own financing (we did a home equity loan for tax reasons). You also have to pay your own closing costs, which are about $450. You won't get the DVC tote bag that direct purchasers get. OTOH, resale prices are negotiable, while Disney's prices are fixed. If you're a good haggler, or are willing to wait for the right package and price combination, a 250 point purchase via resale will probably save you a couple thousand dollars.

Good luck!

 

[wdwnut]

hi: regarding your question of the bwv being too noisy, active, etc- this will depend on what you like your vacations to be. with the bwv you can either get away from all the activity or be in the middle of it. we originally chose bwv for their location and added on before they sold out. you can walk to either mgm or epcot from there. as far as the vwl go, we haven't stayed in the villas yet; but we've stayed several times in the wl. it's a different atmosphere from the other resorts and very relaxing. we liked taking the boat to the mk or to the contemporary and then catching the monorail. all the dvc resorts have their own character and appeal. okw is a bit more of a "homey" atmosphere, very relaxing as well; vwl and bwv have a bit more of a "hotel" type feel. both vwl and bwv studios are about 350 sq. ft; the okw units are about 10 sq.ft. larger. you'll really notice the size difference of the units when looking at the 1 and 2 br units and the gvs. as far as the exchanges go, why not post this question alone and see what kinds of responses you get.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Just want to address a couple of things--first, we got a 1BR, bigger than a studio, and had more than enough room for us and our 3 kids (youngest just turned 3). We will be getting a 2BR from now on to follow the rules about how many in a room, but trust me a 1BR is HUGE compared to a moderate room.
Second, I think 250 should be fine for you. We have 160 at BWV and 100 at VWL and the plan eventually is to alternate years at the resorts. With just the two of you, you should have plenty of points for exchanges, cruises, etc. to spare along with your trips to the world. Even if you have two kids or even 3 later, with banking/borrowing it is still really worth your while.
Robin M.

 

[BillPA]

Just some info on room sizes.
The MODs have 312 sq ft, except CBR which has 340 sq. ft.

BWV and VWL studio's have 356 sq ft OKW has 390 sq ft
BWV and VWL 1BR's have 727 sq ft OKW has 1005 sq ft
BWV and VWL 2BR's have 1083 sq ft OKW has 1395 sq ft


As you can see, even the smallest DVC room has more space than the mods. And a 1BR or 2 BR are just grand, there are also 3BR grand villa's at BWV and OKW, each are over 2200 sq ft.

 

[JillU-DVC]

Question 1 - there can be a restriction on the minimum purchase of points - 150.

That may not be enough to trade out to other timeshares - you have to deposit a week at a time, and 150 points may not be enough to do that.

Not sure if you can bank/borrow to get enough points, or if the 150 point is just not allowed to trade outside of Disney.

There is NOT a date use restriction for 150 points.

Question 5 - I bought 250 points for me and my husband - we have no children, and won't be having children.

However, I wanted enough points so that I could stay in a 1 bedroom when we went, and not have to move/pay cash for weekend nights. I also wanted to be able to bring family and friends with us, or give them time there by themselves.

Even then I thought I may have gotten too many points, until we actually started using them - even with teh banked points we got from buying a resale, we've still already used all of our 2000 points, all of our 2001 points, and we've borrowed from 2002.

By the end of Sept this year, we will have stayed for 34 days at OKW, we will bring my brother and his wife with us for our stay in Sept, and I'll be putting my parents in a 1 bedroom for their conference next July (they'll be retired, and they don't have much money, so having a free place to stay is just thrilling to them; WAIT until they see OKW!!!! I can't WAIT!).

The differences between a resale and buying from Disney:

1. you may pay the closing costs on a resale (although, remember, EVERYTHING is negotiable!). My resale owners would not come down $1/point when I bought, but they were willing to pay the closing costs, which actually lowered teh per point cost by about $2!

2. You'll need to get your own financing with a resale - most resale companies will send you info on their financing, but the interest rates are normally not as low as you'd generally find. You can take a secured or unsecured personal loan (if you can get one), or a home equity loan for payment, assuming you're not paying cash.

3. You won't get the DVC tote back on closing.

4. My temp cards took a couple of weeks after closing to come; my understanding with purchasing through Disney is you can make a reservation immediately after closing (sometimes before, but I think they've stopped doing that).

Hope this helps with your decision!

 

[drusba]

Just further responses:

1. As for DVC resorts you can go any time of year and reserve 11 months out at home resort and 7 at others. Number of points does not effect that in any way except that points needed vary by season and weekends are higher than weekdays. In other words, 250 points goes a lot further in January (low point time) than Easter time or Christmas week (highest point times). Also, BWV has been difficult to get many times of year with only the 7 month window. As BWV owners, we prefer BWV over any other DVC resort and, in fact, consider the resort to be the best one of any resorts at WDW. The noise factor is really a non-isssue as (a) most rooms are not over the boardwalk activity area and (b) even there rooms are quiet when balcony doors are closed. Note, also when you buy you get a "use year" like February or another month, which would mean your use year is Feb 1 to Jan 31 or other annual period beginning with the use year month.. Use year determines the date on which you get your annual allotment of points (the first day of the use year), by when they have to be used (the last day of the use year) unless banked into the next year, and by when you must bank if you are going to (generally months before end of use year). Do not confuse use year with making ressies or time of year when you can go as those are unrelated--regardless of when your use year is, you can always go any time of year and can always make ressies 11 months in advance at home resort and 7 at others.

2. The only restriction on having lower points, like 150, applies to trades through Interval International (II), as trades for other timeshares usually require swapping a week for at least a 1BR, meaning you often need enough points for a week in a 1BR at a WDW DVC resort to make the trade and 150 is usually not enough. That restriction does not apply to the Disney Collection which includes other Disney hotels and numerous hotels throughout the country into which you can trade in for just a night if you want. Trading through II, particularly for popular destinations like Colorado ski resorts, can be sometimes be difficult because it depends on owners there trading out and often demand to trade in is much higher than the desire to trade out (that problem particularly exists for other timeshare owners trying to get into a DVC resort). All trades out to non-DVC resorts can be done 11 months out.

3. For comparison on studio size, about 360 sg ft at BWV and VWL, and 380 at OKW, rooms at YC/BC and BWI are in the 380 range, at the MK monorail resorts in the 400 range. Moderates like PO are about 315 except CBR which is 340 and rooms at AKL and WL are 340.

4. 250 points for a studio goes a long way (you can easily get 2 weeks many times of year), but typically gets you only about 6 nights in a 1BR. As we always stay in 1 or 2BR's I would consider it too low, but those who generally stay in studios would likely consider it more than enough. One factor you need to think about is what you will be doing 5 to 10 years from now. If there are kids, you may want and need larger than a studio and buying extra points for your resort later may be difficult; e.g., OKW and BWV are now only available through resale.

Finally, when you make that call the last thing you will likely get is a "sales pitch." The Disney sales pitch usually consists of explaining as much as possible about DVC, financing, and answering questions and then waiting for you to decide.