DVC Tour

[Leshaface]

My DH, mom and I will be making a visit on the 1st of April through the 3rd and since we know it will be CRAZY busy with Spring break, we figured it would be a good time to take a DVC tour. We know we won't be able to purchase that day but will eventually in the future.

Do I have to call in advance to set up an appointment? How long is the tour and do we get to see the Villas? Thanks for any advice.

 

[Nonsuch]

Do I have to call in advance to set up an appointment? How long is the tour and do we get to see the Villas?

You can easily setup a tour at any of the DVC kiosks, you can't miss them (in the parks, DTD and hotels). I assume the models are setup for Aulani. You will not get a tour of the actual VGC, those are occupied by guests.

When I took a tour several years ago (before VGC was even built), it lasted about an hour.

 

[taaren]

Enjoy the tour, its fun and low-pressure for being a timeshare pitch. They used to give out gift cards, but lately they've only been giving Fast passes to compensate for the time you lose in the parks (I think 2 per person?), which is a nice gesture. They have a room where your kids can play video games and its a nice break in air conditioning where they give you some drinks, cookies. During busy times they do make a lot of appointments so if you know you want a particular time slot (eg. right after a lunch reservation, etc), it might not be the worst idea to make a reservation for the tour before your trip - if you want to do that, I can give you my guide's e-mail address or phone number, she's pretty nice, or you can just call the DVC desk. If time slot doesn't matter to you then just sign up at a kiosk.

When we went the first time it took a little over an hour for the tour. At the time they were only selling AKV so we declined. When we heard they were selling VGC we built time into our trip specifically to make the purchase, and that tour ended up taking over 3.5 hours from beginning to contract signing (felt bad for the DNeph, we'd only planned on it taking 2 hours). They gave us about half a dozen FPs each though which was handy the next day.

If you're seriously thinking about purchasing eventually, though, before you buy look into the resale market, particularly one of the board sponsors is the Timeshare Store. Exact same product, a lot less $. The few options one can't use the points for are things that are not cost effective anyways. And read lots on the DVC Purchasing board. Its a great system, and we don't regret our purchase, but there are a few things I wish I'd known ahead of time (mostly smaller contracts are better than larger ones in case you want to sell down the road and you can ask for any UY you like).

On the other hand, on the off chance that you do decide to buy directly from Disney, you could always say I referred you then we could both get extra gift cards.

 

[Geemo]

Its a great system, and we don't regret our purchase, but there are a few things I wish I'd known ahead of time (mostly smaller contracts are better than larger ones in case you want to sell down the road and you can ask for any UY you like).

What is "UY"?

 

[taaren]

What is "UY"?

Use Year month. Every contract receives its points on the first day of the month of its use year. My main contract is a June Use Year, which means my points for 2012 are valid from June 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013 unless I bank or borrow them. If I wish to bank them I have to do so by January 31 of that use year. Its not terribly critical except that one should buy a contract that receives its points right before your usual time of travel so that if you have to cancel at the last minute, you can still bank your points. Ie. If I schedule a trip for May, then have to cancel in April, the points still need to be used by May 31.

Fortunately we usually travel in the fall, so ours isn't too bad for us, but I would have picked September if I'd had the choice.

There's also stickies at the top of the DVC Purchasing boards on Use Year.

 

[Disney Dreams]

...If you're seriously thinking about purchasing eventually, though, before you buy look into the resale market, particularly one of the board sponsors is the Timeshare Store. Exact same product, a lot less $. The few options one can't use the points for are things that are not cost effective anyways....

I would just add that if you are thinking about buying resale, be sure to fully understand what rights you are giving up by not buying direct. You are NOT getting the exact same product, as there are ways in which a DVC member who buys direct from Disney can use their points that those who buy resale cannot.

Resale is similar, but there are absolutely things that you cannot do with points that are bought via resale that you can do when you buy from Disney. Make sure you fully understand what you are entitled to before you choose to buy resale, if and when you decide to buy in to DVC.

- Dreams (who is in the process of planning her second DVC trip -- woohoo!)

 

[luckyman_apd]

I would just add that if you are thinking about buying resale, be sure to fully understand what rights you are giving up by not buying direct. You are NOT getting the exact same product, as there are ways in which a DVC member who buys direct from Disney can use their points that those who buy resale cannot.

Resale is similar, but there are absolutely things that you cannot do with points that are bought via resale that you can do when you buy from Disney. Make sure you fully understand what you are entitled to before you choose to buy resale, if and when you decide to buy in to DVC.

- Dreams (who is in the process of planning her second DVC trip -- woohoo!)

I am a DVC member who recently bought from the resale market. I will break it down for you. It is correct that a contract from the resale market does have restrictions. HOWEVER, the restrictions placed on using your points is widely considered as a bad value on your points anyway.

For example, if you have 200 DVC points, you can use them for DVC rooms, or you can exchange your points (based on different points charts) for non DVC rooms (such as paradise peir hotel, or the Polinesian) However, if you calculate the price per point you paid, the points required to get those reservations, and the cash price for the same reservation, you will find that it is almost ALWAYS cheaper to pay cash. By a lot. So, what this means is the value of DVC points is most effective on DVC rooms. If you plan to purchase DVC points for uses OTHER than DVC rooms, then you SHOULDN'T purchase DVC.

There are MANY threads in the DVC section here. I suggest reading up. There are great people over there that will answer all your questions. There is a LOT to learn and consider before purchasing DVC. Took me a year before we purchased. Right now even with the restrictions, the prices on resale are hard to pass up in favor of direct.