DVC Points

[G2MAmber]

My Husband and I are once again considering buying DVC Points. ugh... we always seem to com ie back to thinking it is a good idea and then feeling like the cost just don't add up in our favor. We have rented DVC Points in the past and love staying at Villas - We rent for $10 a point and usually go at the lower times of year so we don't have to get too many points for a week long stay.

I was curious, this being the budget board...

- What are you thoughts on the DVC resales... have any of your purchased them?

- Have any of you sold back your DVC? If so why? Could you not keep up with payments, didn't fully use it?


Would Really Love to hear from you all!! Thanks

 

[lucyem]

You may want to ask this over in the DVC boards. There are many many discussions dealing with pros and cons of resale vs direct.

 

[alyssa810]

We've bought a few different contracts all through the timeshare store. DH first bought a small contract for BWV back in 2004, because we couldn't buy at OKW at the time, then he bought another small contract for WLV; then we sold those back and bought at OKW. The experiences were all fairly easy and we were able to do everything online or over the phone. When we were buying our current contract, the closing happened to be when we had planned to be in Orlando anyway, so we signed that in person, and were able to meet our "guy" and they gave us a nice gift basket. I would definitely recommend them! We saved quite a bit buying resale...

However, if you want to buy through Disney, I'm happy to give you member's referral card LOL! They do tend to have great perks when you're buying...
Good luck whatever you decide to do- it's a great investment, IMO

Going back to your questions, we sold back because we wanted a bigger contract (originally we had 1 75 point, and 1 50 point), and we wanted to buy at OKW, so when we our 125 point contracts, we bought 190 at OKW. We use all our points every year; we've banked and borrowed at various times, and our contract is paid in full, so we're only paying on the annual fees. The best part so far is that we've been able to stay at the grand Californian on our points- it's an amazing resort but so expensive to pay cash....

 

[wheelcap]

Often, people tell you to go to the DVC board. The problem with that is most people on that board are DVC members, and most members LOVE their ownership. I did my research and match for a couple years, then we bought some resale points. It didn't take long and "addonitis" hit, and we needed to add on more points. We've been members for 6 years, and absolutely love it. It's not for everybody, though, so do your homework. Go to the DVC boards and ask lots of questions. Ask me if you want, and I'll do what I can.

 

[ClaireinTN]

Twice we have considered DVC, and twice I have worked through a lot of numbers and both times come to the conclusion that it would not be a good deal for us. But I think you really should sit down and do the math--that was the only way I could satisfy myself that we should or should not buy.

For us, the problem was that because of school and work schedules, we are limited to the peak seasons, when a reservation costs the most points. So we would have to buy a ridiculous number of points to be able to use them when we are be able to go. If your vacation schedules are more flexible, and you can use your points during the value seasons, it might be a good deal.

 

[taaren]

Here's a link on the DVC boards about people who have downsized their DVC ownerships for various reasons. It helps you think of what your needs might be in the future, some have added at other resorts as they plan on spending more time in retirement, some have let go of points because they burned out on Disney or are not needing as large of units as they used to when the kids got older, etc.

We own a combination of points both direct and resale. If you do decide to purchase, I would unequivocally recommend resale, unless in a few very rare cases one is trying to "add on" a smaller contract with a difficult use year at a small resort. You will save a ridiculous amount of money, and with the loss of some perks that are a terrible value, such as exchanging points for cruises which is usually much more cost effective to rent your points and pay cash for.

One of the main expenses is that you are committing to a Disney vacation every year, so you'll be buying tickets and airfare ... if you aren't going to be going anyways (at least every other year), don't buy. We were committed to going annually anyways. The other main budget consideration is that maintenance fees will far surpass the amount that you will spend on the purchase price over the life of the contract, so pick your resort and corresponding maintenance fees widely (most recommend SSR and OKW if you're planning on Florida every year).

All that being said, if you can plan in advance, are going to Disney anyways, and want to stay in a villa, it can be a good value for some. For us, we'd never stayed on-site before, but now we have a gorgeous villa on-property with 3x the space for the same price as we'd been paying to stay off-property in a small hotel room in Anaheim every year, so it was worth it to make the commitment to trade up. But the math will be different for everybody, so run some spreadsheets on what you anticipate spending on your hotel costs, and compare.

Another hint a lot of people say, is to buy half as much as you think you'll need to start, you can always add on later if you want to.

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

We just purchased our first small DVC contract this past March. We paid less than 1 trip cost for it and will now be able to stay in a 1 bedroom villa this December at the Villas at Grand Californian at Disneyland....something we never would be able to afford before DVC. We travel to Disneyland or Disney World close to every year. DVC will end up saving my family tons in accommodations. One thing to keep in mind though..... if you tend to stay at Value Resorts using discounts or Free dining, DVC will not end up saving you money. DVC saves in accommodations only, you will still need park tickets and meals etc.

 

[huskies90]

I think you have to go into thinking DVC is a luxury and not a way to save money. Similar to the dining plan. When you crunch the numbers, you almost always can do Disney cheaper. I bought a small 100 point contract and absolutely love being a DVC member. I used it for the ap discount and then tables in wonderland and never looked back. I have done several small trips using points and my ap and my those trips were great get aways and cost very little out of pocket. I also used points for my 2010 Xmas week trip when there were no discounts to be found anywhere (savanna view room at AKL was going for $640/night) and most recently used points for 2 nights at the Grand Californian where the best discount I could find was 10% AAA. Those rooms were also over $600/ night. So I can definitely say I have already got my $ worth in terms of personal "value". YMMV

 

[elgerber]

I don't think DVC is really a budget way to vacation, more of a prepaid vacation, for better accomadations. I did buy mine through a private resale, then did a small add on through Disney. I love my DVC and have not had any thoughts to downsize. We love having the extra space, and the kitchen and laundry. Not that I cook LOL, but it's good for breakfast.

 

[nunzia]

Often, people tell you to go to the DVC board. The problem with that is most people on that board are DVC members, and most members LOVE their ownership. I did my research and match for a couple years, then we bought some resale points. It didn't take long and "addonitis" hit, and we needed to add on more points. We've been members for 6 years, and absolutely love it. It's not for everybody, though, so do your homework. Go to the DVC boards and ask lots of questions. Ask me if you want, and I'll do what I can.

I'm a regular on the DVC board and although many, many love their DVC there are plenty who will glady tell you all the reasons NOT to buy in, to ONLY buy resale, NEVER finance, that DVC has gone down the tubes, that you'll get sick of Disney, that the exchange company for non Disney vacations suck..etc.

That said, you really need to look at your family's vacation style and your finances. DVC works for us since we only want to stay onsite, we want to be able to gift our kids and family and friends, and go quite often. All of our points were purchased direct and in small increments, all are at VGC. That is a very small resort and it is very difficult to find a resale contract of the right size and use year. I never thought I owuld use the options not available to resale contracts, but found out I needed to last year and was glad to have the ability. We finanaced a couple of the contracts but paid them off within a year. There are many ways to figure out if DVC is financially 'worth it' and all the graphs and spreadsheets in the world can show it is or it isn't. Renting is certainly a great deal, but I don't want to deal with that and I also don't like not having control of my reservation. Renting out is also a great deal, but that can cause problems too. Remember that whatever you decide, it isn't the original purchase price that gets you, it's the yearly MF and the fact that you end up going more.

 

[crisi]

I don't think DVC is really a budget way to vacation, more of a prepaid vacation, for better accomadations. I did buy mine through a private resale, then did a small add on through Disney. I love my DVC and have not had any thoughts to downsize. We love having the extra space, and the kitchen and laundry. Not that I cook LOL, but it's good for breakfast.

It's been a great value for us, but we certainly haven't saved money. It's a matter of squeezing in an extra trip, taking friends or family, deciding that one bedroom or two bedroom units are so much nicer.

Not that you can't save money, certain disciplined people with certain pre DVC travel patterns can and do.

 

[rentayenta]

Our DVC has enabled us to stay in gorgeous 2 bedroom villas, Both at WDW and Disneyland. We also traded out some points for a week in Cabo which was also amazing. It really depends on so many factors but for us, owning DVC has increased the quality of our vacations immensely.

This October were going to sleep in a Treehouse at SSR and have a Savannah View of the animals at AKV. The DVC resorts are so varied and cool, lots of ammenitites if that's your sort of thing. It's mine for sure.

We bought direct with Disney.

 

[Pakey]

OK, I've been flamed before so I'm sticking my neck out there again. Remember, this is just my opinion, I'm not trying to put a blemish on everyone's over the top love of all things Disney related.

I own 500 points, paid cash for all 3 of my contracts (two through Disney, one resale), money isn't really the issue in my situation. I've owned DVC for a little over 15 years and for 10 years, it was a great time for my family.

Today, I regret owning DVC. My vacation styles have changed. I do not find DVC to be deluxe accommodations; I'd rather stay at the Waldorf. My point is that owning DVC is a long term commitment to vacationing at a certain location in a specific type of accommodation. I love Disney but over the years we have branched out and no longer want to go every year or even every other year. My children are grown now but I still have several years left on those contracts; they are not huge Disney fans and my fantasy of leaving one contract to each of my sons isn't going to happen.

So now I'm faced with the hassle of unloading these contracts or trying to use these points. We are going to Aulani in a few weeks just to use up the points. I don't even like Oahu; we prefer to stay at the Ritz on Maui. So I'm going to a place I don't even want to go to use up my banked points from last year.

I realize I have a lot of points but I wouldn't feel any differently if I only had 150 points. I'd still have to use them every year, still committed to vacationing at Disney. The points to value ratio for Disney cruises and AbD is ridiculous and I don't have the flexibility to trade out, nor am I interested in the resorts available through the exchange.

Sorry for the long tirade but what I really want to say that even taking money out of the equation, there are other factors to consider before making such a long term commitment.

 

[Angie789]

I really recommend reading the comments on the DVC boards here. DH & I were seriously considering buying about 2 months ago but a comment we read on those boards made us re-evaluate and ultimately decide not to buy in. The owner said she regretted buying DVC - she bought when her children were young and never thought about all the school & extracurricular commitments her kids would have down the road (both time & financial commitments). She was relaying that it was very difficult to find time in their schedules now for a vacation and by the time they were able to nail down a specific vacation time, the resorts she wanted most were already booked.

That was close enough to our situation to give us pause - our kids are pre-school aged now and we LOVE Disney vacations. But it made us realize that we are getting ready to head into a different phase of life soon where our available time & priorities might change. For us, it wasn't worth the gamble - it's too big of a financial commitment when we don't know for sure what the next 15-18 years of our life are going to look like in terms of vacations.
Obviously, YMMV, but we feel sure we made the right choice for us.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

If renting in the past has worked well why not continue renting??

 

[sissy_ib]

OK, I've been flamed before so I'm sticking my neck out there again. Remember, this is just my opinion, I'm not trying to put a blemish on everyone's over the top love of all things Disney related.

I own 500 points, paid cash for all 3 of my contracts (two through Disney, one resale), money isn't really the issue in my situation. I've owned DVC for a little over 15 years and for 10 years, it was a great time for my family.

Today, I regret owning DVC. My vacation styles have changed. I do not find DVC to be deluxe accommodations; I'd rather stay at the Waldorf. My point is that owning DVC is a long term commitment to vacationing at a certain location in a specific type of accommodation. I love Disney but over the years we have branched out and no longer want to go every year or even every other year. My children are grown now but I still have several years left on those contracts; they are not huge Disney fans and my fantasy of leaving one contract to each of my sons isn't going to happen.

So now I'm faced with the hassle of unloading these contracts or trying to use these points. We are going to Aulani in a few weeks just to use up the points. I don't even like Oahu; we prefer to stay at the Ritz on Maui. So I'm going to a place I don't even want to go to use up my banked points from last year.

I realize I have a lot of points but I wouldn't feel any differently if I only had 150 points. I'd still have to use them every year, still committed to vacationing at Disney. The points to value ratio for Disney cruises and AbD is ridiculous and I don't have the flexibility to trade out, nor am I interested in the resorts available through the exchange.

Sorry for the long tirade but what I really want to say that even taking money out of the equation, there are other factors to consider before making such a long term commitment.

This is what I am sacred of. Even after owning just two years we are wanting to branch our in terms of where we vacation. We see ourselves going to Disney every three years or so but even for that I have too many points at 180, I cant imagine owning 500. We did rent out points and we will rent out more next year but I bought it to use. Renting isn't a huge hassle but it is one more thing for me to deal with. I'm not selling my contract anytime soon but I do regret it in some ways.

 

[sallysue66]

OP, I understand how you feel. We were there a few years ago. If we ran the #'s we knew we could do value resort stays at off times cheaper. But, we had rented points a couple of times and really enjoyed the resorts (SSR & BCV). Locations were better, pools, etc. We knew we didn't want to go back to the values for week long stays. So we bought a 100 point SSR contract resale. First time we used it our 2 grown sons went with us for the first time in years. It took a year and a half of my points for the 2 bedroom but it was so worth it for us all to be in the same unit instead of 2 different hotel rooms at a value or moderate. And it would have costs a fortune to pay cash for that 2 br unit. I recently bought a 25 point resale. My DVC is close to my heart, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I may look at another small add-on for the right price, but I don't have any desire to own a ton of points either. As far as using it if DD13 loses interest in WDW we have the option of Hilton Head. It's just a 4 hour or less drive for us and we love Hilton Head.
You'll see all over the DVC boards that's it's more of an emotional than financial purchase and I believe it. Good luck with your decision.

 

[crisi]

Pakey, I only have 150 points and feel similarly. We like other places. Fortunately for us, we only ever had enough points for every other year at Disney, but now even that is too much Disney.

And we have the school and sports issue as well....with middle schoolers we can no longer justify pulling the kids from school. With sports, the summer is booked. We still have three weeks in August we can travel in, but other than that, it's spring and christmas breaks, and I don't travel to Disney when it's crowded

There are so many things I want my kids to see while I still get to pick their vacations, and I sometimes feel I'm wasting opportunities to show them the world by going back to Disney.

It has been a good value for us, and I don't regret having owned, but I can't say for sure how much longer I'll hang onto it.

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

We own DVC and we see the value. Our kids are still very little though (only 2 and 3) and we've owned for 4 years now. My DH is military so we get 30 days of vacation time a year and still travel to other places. We are looking into some of the RCI destinations since we do travel internationally a lot also. It's worth it for us. Sometimes I wish there were more options though for other places to visit.

 

[SC Minnie]

We own 2 contracts- 1 at VWL and 1 at HHI. We use our HHI point every year. We used our VWL points just about every year either at the parks are we will go to Vero. We have also rented our points on the years we didn't use them and put that $ toward a different vacation. Until we bought into DVC it was a chore to get DH to take a vacation. He wouldn't plan anything and work was always more important. With DVC it forces us (him) to decide each year what we're going to do.