DVC or bust

[qv09vvp]

We are getting very serious about buying DVC. reading, reading, reading.

We are actually flying in a day early for our Dec stay & the plan is to go visit several of the DVC resorts & see how we like them. It won't hurt that the Christmas decorations will be up! This will weigh heavily into our decision wether to buy from from Disney direct or resale.

My question is. Do I let the DVC folks know that we will be doing this & should I make an apt for them with them?

I'm not a fan of a high pressure sale pitch but I can't help but think they might be able to clarify something I've missed.

 

[Kidanifan08]

I would not share that you are considering resale. It's a good tour, and if you have done your research, you can get specific questions answered.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

I would definitely do the tour. We did it twice a few years apart before buying resale. It's completely no pressure, always involves ice cream, and sometimes involves small incentives like extra fast passes or small gift cards.

 

[suebeelin]

I'm not a fan of the sales people, but can be a good window into dvc. They will show you model rooms for poly and aulani. They will also try to push those specific two resorts.

Unless you're sure you want either of the two resorts, investigate resale. There are some restrictions with resales, but those restrictions aren't make or break IMO.

Do not let them know you're investigating resales. There are usually a few incentives, including $50/$100 gift card and 3-6 fast passes (good for 3 days). Enjoy your investigation!!

 

[DVC Doctor]

Take the tour and do not mention resale. If you want Poly, then buy direct, but the best value is resale at a resort you love. Remember that all points are equal at 7 months, so all you are buying is a 7-11 month jump and pay attention to the annual dues and expiration date for the resort.

 

[brenbrady]

Before we purchased we went to all the resorts, had a coffee or drink, looked around checked it all out actually got a map of resort from front desk. Made our decision on where we would like to stay by thinking If we booked home resort at 11 months and tried to changed to other resorts at 7 month window would we be disappointed if we couldn't get other resort and had to stay at home resort. So far we have been able to change at the 7 month window but would not have been disappointed if we had to stay at home resort which is Bay Lake. After we made our decision we took tour through members service, talked to sales rep, no pressure from her and made our decision.
We have bought direct and added on direct and also purchased a resale contract. so far after having DVC for 8 years no regrets and still looking forward to trips. Good Luck in your decision.

 

[msmith07101]

We just returned from our trip a couple weeks ago. Our first day there we went to Disney Springs and my hubby decided to talk to the DVC guy while I was shopping. When I came out of the store, he said we could go over to hear the presentation if I wanted to. We had nothing else going on and they did give us each 3 fastpasses for almost any attraction we wanted. So we did it. There's really no pressure at all...we never felt pressured. We did end up buying, so we were there for a few hours. I recommend going and asking any questions that you have.

 

[Dean]

We are getting very serious about buying DVC. reading, reading, reading.

We are actually flying in a day early for our Dec stay & the plan is to go visit several of the DVC resorts & see how we like them. It won't hurt that the Christmas decorations will be up! This will weigh heavily into our decision wether to buy from from Disney direct or resale.

My question is. Do I let the DVC folks know that we will be doing this & should I make an apt for them with them?

I'm not a fan of a high pressure sale pitch but I can't help but think they might be able to clarify something I've missed.

I would not buy if you tour but I think it's fine, if not preferable, to just go visit the resorts. Go, look around, ask to see a room if you have time. When I'm evaluating a resort, I like to walk it over and look around at the pool and other amenities as well as the rooms. In many ways I feel I can get a better feel for most resorts in a 2 hr time frame than most people staying there a week. Obviously there are differences but the main one is irrelevant anyway from this direction, the personalities and friendliness of the staff.

 

[disneynutz]

Getting a feel for the resort is one thing, checking out the location, views, amenities is suggested but staying in the rooms is even better. Some of the rooms and DVC areas were really run down, the positive is that after years of neglect, the management company has decided to work on almost all of the DVC rooms to fix them up.

Bill

 

[jessicaknarr]

We went to the sales pitch on Disney Cruise Line. It was very helpful and no pressure at all. We followed the cruise with a trip to Disney. Tehy even arranged for us to do the tour when we stopped by the Poly post cruise. We actually decided to buy, and then had 2nd thoughts. Disney was great with allowing us to hold our contract while we thought it through . They didn't hasell or bother us about making a decision. In the long run we ended up buying but bought less points . Disney was great about altering our contract and overnighting it to us! Also there is (i think 10 days) after signing the contract that you can back out if you have buyers remorse.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Tour will let you see a room if you haven't. They usually have a few show rooms at SS. They will pick you up and drop you off wherever you want to go and will usually give you some super fast passes.

it's worth going on the tour.

 

[chalee94]

Having responded to dozens of posters who have come back from the tours confused or flat out misled, I would vote against taking the tour.

Go look at the models if you want but the information here is better than what you tend to get on a tour.

 

[Dean]

Having responded to dozens of posters who have come back from the tours confused or flat out misled, I would vote against taking the tour.

Go look at the models if you want but the information here is better than what you tend to get on a tour.

Or at least do enough investigation prior so that your far enough along in education so as not to be confused. Generally I recommend against the tour for those planning resale for several reasons that include not wasting the time of the sales team, possibly preventing them making another sale and that I feel it's just a waste of time for someone who's informed with all the info available today.

 

[gmboy95]

I would not buy if you tour but I think it's fine, if not preferable, to just go visit the resorts. Go, look around, ask to see a room if you have time. When I'm evaluating a resort, I like to walk it over and look around at the pool and other amenities as well as the rooms. In many ways I feel I can get a better feel for most resorts in a 2 hr time frame than most people staying there a week. Obviously there are differences but the main one is irrelevant anyway from this direction, the personalities and friendliness of the staff.

This is excellent advice....go see it for yourself...The rooms can be seen online on this site, where there are exhaustive photos of every inch of every kind of room....Its the resort you want to get a feel for at your own pace without a sales person. Go sit in the lobby, sit by the pool, have a drink at the Suitcase (OKW), or the pool bar at Boardwalk.....we have done both through disney, of course when i did it was $72 a point....but a resale is a great deal as well. We added on at OKW which is our favorite by a mile

 

[moericus]

We are getting very serious about buying DVC. reading, reading, reading.

We are actually flying in a day early for our Dec stay & the plan is to go visit several of the DVC resorts & see how we like them. It won't hurt that the Christmas decorations will be up! This will weigh heavily into our decision wether to buy from from Disney direct or resale.

My question is. Do I let the DVC folks know that we will be doing this & should I make an apt for them with them?

I'm not a fan of a high pressure sale pitch but I can't help but think they might be able to clarify something I've missed.

It sounds like you've already made up your mind on whether DVC is worth it for you or not. You're just trying to figure out how you will purchase it. In that case I would avoid the high pressured sales pitch given that you don't like them. (But if you don't mind the pitch then grab some fastpasses ) The only difference from your own tour and a guided tour is access to the rooms AFAIK. The rooms all have their own unique style, but when it comes down to it... it's 4 walls, a bed, and a bathroom. If there was a huge complaint (like BLT's bathroom sink), then chances are it was fixed in renovations. The resorts themselves differ much more.

First rule of buying into DVC: "Buy where you want to stay!" Do not become enamored at resale values of older resorts thinking that waitlist-ing for your preferred resorts is no big deal. It will be a big deal. Use the wait list for "nice to haves" not "must haves". Your use-year is a pretty important decision too, meaning buy for when you plan on going.

So going along with that rule, start focusing less on DVC itself and more on the resorts you like. For me it was easy... I wanted to avoid bus transportation at all costs. So I bought into BLT and BWV. I can walk to 3 of the 4 parks, and use the boats and monorail. After staying at both a few times now I've fallen in love with the actual Boardwalk and can't imagine not staying there when I thought I would always prefer the style of BLT more.

Resale will give you a great value if you're willing to drop some of the alternative point uses OR want to start with a small contract. But you should probably buy directly from Disney if it's a newer resort, large point purchase, or you have a specific use year in mind.

 

[qv09vvp]

Hi - I'm really on the fence here that's why I really need to see what I'm investing in. Another question for me seems to be the expiration year. so 2042 is a long way away but it still looms much closer than say the dates for SS or Poly. What exactly is going to happen when all the timeshares at OKW expire in 2042? tear it down. build a new one? give owners the option to purchase again?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Hi - I'm really on the fence here that's why I really need to see what I'm investing in. Another question for me seems to be the expiration year. so 2042 is a long way away but it still looms much closer than say the dates for SS or Poly. What exactly is going to happen when all the timeshares at OKW expire in 2042? tear it down. build a new one? give owners the option to purchase again?

Well, OKW may not be the best example, so we'll skip over that one as an example.

It is highly unlikely that when most resorts go RTU in 2042 (or another date) they will be ripped down entirely. They might see a remodel and movement into Disney's cash reservation pool, or a heavier remodel and re-sale as timeshares. No one can really predict. It may also depend, in part, on the relative condition of each of the resorts at RTU, and the condition of other Disney resorts. (CR main tower, for instance, will be 70 years old by 2042, and is already sometimes showing some age; having additional rooms elsewhere in the cash pool might make heavy work there possible.)

I suspect they will be evaluated on a resort-by-resort basis. Since the DVC owners will no longer have property interest, tear-down or not is of limited impact to them, save in terms of nostalgia.

 

[chalee94]

What exactly is going to happen when all the timeshares at OKW expire in 2042? tear it down. build a new one? give owners the option to purchase again?

This is not a terribly practical question. When my OKW contract expires in 2042, I will own nothing and I will owe nothing. Who cares what Disney does with what will be their property?

The weird thing about OKW is what will happen with those owners who are sticking it out till 2057? Will Disney still rent some of the property for cash or shutter some of the buildings? Regardless, it won't affect me - my ownership interest will have expired.

 

[moericus]

I really need to see what I'm investing in.

You are essentially locking in the current price of lodging for the next 26 years. Disney hotel prices (much like education costs) consistently grow faster than inflation. So you cannot beat this deal if you plan on visiting Disney often.

It's good in a long term situation pretty much anyway you slice it. However, if you only look short term then sales and bundled packages will make you question the savings. Just keep in mind no matter what the sales include... the real price of the room will keep rising much faster than any money you could have put aside to pay for future trips. I hope that makes sense.

(2042 expiration...)

Disney will owe you nothing, but chances are high they will offer you a 50 year contract extension. I believe the original DVC contracts already had an extension offer.

 

[chalee94]

Disney will owe you nothing, but chances are high they will offer you a 50 year contract extension. I believe the original DVC contracts already had an extension offer.

I was part of that extension offer.

Expect the price to be high to the point of ridiculous...that is definitely part of the reason that my contract still expires in 2042.