DVC - We are thinking about it...

[LovesTimone]

DH and I are thinking about this.
We are just in the beginning and discussing. We are passholders and we visit 3 to 5 time a year twice for normally 5 nights and a couple of long weekends.
Our DD's are out on their own living with there boy friends and we are having our 1st grand child this month. So our family has grown and is changing. We are thinking that this might be a good solution for our growing family.

So how to we get started?

How does it really work.

Basically I need information from the ground up.

I want to hear from you - the good and bad - I don't want a sales pitch. I want to know from DIS'er what you think and what you know. Your so much more knowledgeable.

So give it to me straight.

 

[chalee94]

DVC is best understood as prepaid accommodations at DVC resorts (about 7 onsite at wdw, 1 at hilton head, 1 at vero beach and 1 tiny one at DLR...soon to be another in oahu.)

there are currently numerous perks that are nice for members: dining/shopping discounts, about a $100 discount on an adult AP, pool hopping and free internet during stays. these can go away at any time - so it's best to make a decision based on the long-term real estate lease interest (which expires in the year 2042, 2054, 2057 or 2060, depending on the resort that you buy an interest in) that DVC represents as opposed to paying for onsite hotels at wdw every year.

you pay a certain amount upfront to buy a contract (over $100 per pt direct, usually less than $100 resale) - similar to buying a house. then you pay maintenance fees every year - to pay for insurance, utilities and upkeep - similar to owning a house.

the DVC works "best" for people who:

1) go to disney at least every other year
2) prefer to stay onsite at deluxes (or at least moderates)
3) can plan their vacations 10 or 11 months in advance
4) can limit Fri-Sat stays since weekend point costs are a little higher (not as big of a difference as it used to be, though)
5) intend to use DVC primarily for staying at a DVC resort at disney (rather than trading out for other timeshares or cruises, etc.)
6) need or prefer larger accommodations than a basic hotel room

OTOH, there are lots of good reasons to balk at buying DVC:

1) thousands of $ upfront plus annual fees require a certain level of financial ability and commitment (and you still need to pay for tickets and travel, etc.)
2) commitment to wdw/fear of wdw burnout (sorta - while you can trade out if you buy direct, the best value is staying at the DVC resorts)
3) DVC not as deluxe as deluxe hotels in some senses (limited housekeeping, sofabeds, no room service at some DVC resorts)
4) financing a depreciating (sooner or later) luxury purchase is generally a poor idea
5) happy with value hotels
6) amenities like a kitchen and washer/dryer have no value for you
7) you don't/can't plan vacations 6+ months in advance
8) you enjoy hunting for deals/bargains for each trip

If you’ll be upset when other people can pay cash for a room and get a discount or get “free” dining thrown in, then DVC is not for you.

also be aware that if you think you might keep DVC for 6-8 years and then sell it down the road, it may have little to no value as DVC has begun cutting perks that transfer when you sell your contract.

here is a link to a basic DVC FAQ.

here is another FAQ

it's been worth it to me so far, but i only bought enough for onsite stays at wdw. come on over to the DVC forums for more info and opinions from DVC owners. if you want info on DVC historical annual fees it can be found on the DVC Resource thread. resale listings can be found on links at the top of the DVC forums and direct pricing can be found at dvcnews.com.

but just ask questions if you are curious.

 

[fireflymedic]

DH and I are thinking about this.
We are just in the beginning and discussing. We are passholders and we visit 3 to 5 time a year twice for normally 5 nights and a couple of long weekends.
Our DD's are out on their own living with there boy friends and we are having our 1st grand child this month. So our family has grown and is changing. We are thinking that this might be a good solution for our growing family.

So how to we get started?

How does it really work.

Basically I need information from the ground up.

I want to hear from you - the good and bad - I don't want a sales pitch. I want to know from DIS'er what you think and what you know. Your so much more knowledgeable.

So give it to me straight.

I would not be surprised if this gets moved to the DVC section of this web site.

but to anwser your ?????? if you are stating at the delux's or at least the mod. on your trips it will prob. work out for you. but if your staying at POP or the like it is prob going to be more $$$$$, its the yearly maint. fees that get you they seem to average more than $500 a yr. weather you use your points or not.

 

[hannahdrewmom]

We too are in the begining stages of looking. In September of last year we did the tour and came home to run some numbers. I am by no means an expert. But from what I can see... unless you can pay cash upfront it will take you at least 10-15 years to recoup and actually start to "save" money with DVC. (At least if you are buying direct from Disney.)

Direct from Disney in September was 90-100 per point. Resale now you can get a OKW or SSR for between 55-70 per point. There appears to be alot of "stuff" that you need to be savey about if you really want to get the best deal for yourself. I'd suggest continueing to research. We've decided that we are saving for a smaller contract of 100-150 points and will be paying in cash. Until then we are saving. We personally feel like that if we can't pay cash we really aren't saving... and could just be getting ourselves into a situation that is long term without perks. When we can pay cash we will most likely buy resale.... but that looks to be 3 years or so down the road and ALOT can change between now and then.

Good luck with your research... and I'm subscribing to this to hear more from everyone else!

 

[momof2disprincesses]

DVC is best understood as prepaid accommodations at DVC resorts (about 7 onsite at wdw, 1 at hilton head, 1 at vero beach and 1 tiny one at DLR...soon to be another in oahu.)

there are currently numerous perks that are nice for members: dining/shopping discounts, about a $100 discount on an adult AP, pool hopping and free internet during stays. these can go away at any time - so it's best to make a decision based on the long-term real estate lease interest (which expires in the year 2042, 2054, 2057 or 2060, depending on the resort that you buy an interest in) that DVC represents as opposed to paying for onsite hotels at wdw every year.

you pay a certain amount upfront to buy a contract (over $100 per pt direct, usually less than $100 resale) - similar to buying a house. then you pay maintenance fees every year - to pay for insurance, utilities and upkeep - similar to owning a house.

the DVC works "best" for people who:

1) go to disney at least every other year
2) prefer to stay onsite at deluxes (or at least moderates)
3) can plan their vacations 10 or 11 months in advance
4) can limit Fri-Sat stays since weekend point costs are a little higher (not as big of a difference as it used to be, though)
5) intend to use DVC primarily for staying at a DVC resort at disney (rather than trading out for other timeshares or cruises, etc.)
6) need or prefer larger accommodations than a basic hotel room

OTOH, there are lots of good reasons to balk at buying DVC:

1) thousands of $ upfront plus annual fees require a certain level of financial ability and commitment (and you still need to pay for tickets and travel, etc.)
2) commitment to wdw/fear of wdw burnout (sorta - while you can trade out if you buy direct, the best value is staying at the DVC resorts)
3) DVC not as deluxe as deluxe hotels in some senses (limited housekeeping, sofabeds, no room service at some DVC resorts)
4) financing a depreciating (sooner or later) luxury purchase is generally a poor idea
5) happy with value hotels
6) amenities like a kitchen and washer/dryer have no value for you
7) you don't/can't plan vacations 6+ months in advance
8) you enjoy hunting for deals/bargains for each trip

If you’ll be upset when other people can pay cash for a room and get a discount or get “free” dining thrown in, then DVC is not for you.

also be aware that if you think you might keep DVC for 6-8 years and then sell it down the road, it may have little to no value as DVC has begun cutting perks that transfer when you sell your contract.

here is a link to a basic DVC FAQ.

here is another FAQ

it's been worth it to me so far, but i only bought enough for onsite stays at wdw. come on over to the DVC forums for more info and opinions from DVC owners. if you want info on DVC historical annual fees it can be found on the DVC Resource thread. resale listings can be found on links at the top of the DVC forums and direct pricing can be found at dvcnews.com.

but just ask questions if you are curious.

What a perfect description of the pro's and con's!!

For us, we bought into DVC in 2008 and have never been happier! We originally bought 225 points and then last Christmas added another 125, so now we have a total of 350. Truthfully, I'd still like more!

Like you, we have grown and growing kids. We love being able to bring the whole family and their friends from time to time and have plenty of room for everyone. We also love that the biggest chunk of our vacation expense is paid up front.

Like you also, we typically buy AP's and so what we do is buy an AP and go typically 5 times in that year we have our AP's and then take a break for 9 months to a year and go somewhere else or just stay close to home. Then we use our Disney Visa Rewards points towards a new AP purchase and will go again like 5 times. With AP's and DVC, our trips are almost completely paid for.

My DH gives plasma regularly too and we use his plasma money for getting to FL (driving or flying) and then all we have to pay for is eating, which we can do relatively cheaply with a kitchen in our DVC room and eating offsite when we have a car.

If you have specific questions, ask them here. I know I've received a wealth of information from this board both before and after my purchase. Good luck with your decision.

 

[LovesTimone]

We too are in the begining stages of looking. In September of last year we did the tour and came home to run some numbers.

We are laid back and are they type we wanna check it out, ask some questions and think about it.

How is the tour? Is it high pressure sales pitch? How long does it take? Can you leave when you choose or are you stuck?

 

[chalee94]

How is the tour? Is it high pressure sales pitch? How long does it take? Can you leave when you choose or are you stuck?

not usually high pressure. you can specify upfront that you only have a certain amount of time and that you aren't ready to buy yet. DVC has been good in the past with working with your schedule.

you will sometimes receive gift cards or fast passes for your time, although you may just be offered ice cream - it varies.

(edited for full disclosure: i am going based on dozens of other reports - i've never taken a timeshare tour myself.)

you can set up a tour at one of the many kiosks or you can contact DVC through the main website:

http://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/

there is also a model of a boardwalk villas 2BR just off the boardwalk that you can visit - no sales presentation, just wander around and check out the set-up...although the newer resorts like BLT will be somewhat different...

 

[Simba's Mom]

If you're thinking about DVC, be sure to go over to the DVC boards and ask questions. Before we joined, I had this crazy idea that "those" boards were only for the people who were already members. Boy, was I wrong! We could have learned so much just by asking questions over there. But, we were very fortunate and very glad we joined. I think of points as being like play money-you book a DVC villa with your points and you have a chart that says how many points/play money each villa cost per night. One big plus-unlike real money rates, the play money rates/points needed don't ever change. And a use year is like passing Go in Monopoly. Every time you "pass Go", you get another allotment of points. Like we have 460 points, so every year in August (our UY is August) we get another 460 points (unless we've borrowed).

 

[hannahdrewmom]

We too are in the begining stages of looking. In September of last year we did the tour and came home to run some numbers.

We are laid back and are they type we wanna check it out, ask some questions and think about it.

How is the tour? Is it high pressure sales pitch? How long does it take? Can you leave when you choose or are you stuck?

It took about an hour once we got there. We had our own transportation so if you are relying on them it will be a bit longer but they get you to and from and even have carseats if you need them. If you are staying at a deluxe resort I would book through the kiosk at your resort. By doing this we were given a choice of $$ or free fp's. (We were not offered these earlier in the week when we stopped at a kiosk in the park.) When you arrive they welcome you and there are some refreshments and an area to check your kids (over 3) in for"babysitting". They then have you in a sitting area to wait until your tourguide is ready. It wasn't high pressure but we made it very clear up front that we were NOT buying today but that we were very interested and wanted more information. We were at the SSR location. We were able to see model rooms of BLT, AKV, and SSR there. After the tour we were put in a conference room to discuss finances. We told them very clearly again that we were not buying today and the guy was fine with it. He gave us his card, we retrieved our children, got some free ice cream at the ice cream shop and were on our way. The same guy did call 2 weeks later to follow up. Overall a great experience.... minus the fact that my infant puked all over me in the beginign!

 

[hannahdrewmom]

If you're thinking about DVC, be sure to go over to the DVC boards and ask questions. Before we joined, I had this crazy idea that "those" boards were only for the people who were already members. Boy, was I wrong! We could have learned so much just by asking questions over there. But, we were very fortunate and very glad we joined. I think of points as being like play money-you book a DVC villa with your points and you have a chart that says how many points/play money each villa cost per night. One big plus-unlike real money rates, the play money rates/points needed don't ever change. And a use year is like passing Go in Monopoly. Every time you "pass Go", you get another allotment of points. Like we have 460 points, so every year in August (our UY is August) we get another 460 points (unless we've borrowed).

What is the going rate right now for dues?

 

[chalee94]

What is the going rate right now for dues?

if you want info on DVC historical annual fees it can be found on the DVC Resource thread.

One big plus-unlike real money rates, the play money rates/points needed don't ever change.

just to clarify, the total points for each resort for the entire year don't change, but the details (weekend nights...studios...which dates are in which season) are subject to change. if weekend nights get less expensive then weeknights have to get more expensive...if studios get cheaper then 1BRs might wind up getting more expensive...and so on. nothing can just "go up" without something else going down to offset it. (but your yearly point costs as an individual might wind up going up.)

 

[cvjw]

We have had DVC for several years and absolutely love it. When we purchased, we knew about how much our points were going to cost us (resale), and how much the annual maintenance fees would be. Things I didn't take into account are as follows:

Annual passes for 4 - around $1600 per year. Since we bought enough points to go multiple times per year, we have to buy annual passes.

Money for the dining plan - we enjoy eating at table service restaurants while at Disney - that is part of our Disney experience. We will spend thousands of dollars this year on the dining plan.

Tickets for other theme parks - since we are in Orlando so much, my kids like a little variety in their theme park attractions.

As you can see, even though your room is "paid for", other parts of your vacation aren't. This is just a representation of our expenses for DVC - others won't spend as much money as us. Most people won't be at Disney for 4 weeks per year, or need annual passes, or spend as much on the dining plan. I simply want to point out that there are other expenses involved with DVC besides the cost of the points and the maintenance fees.

 

[sndral]

I have toyed on and off w/ the idea of buying for awhile, but can't seem to commit.
Generally w/ a decent discount on a DVC unit rented from Disney and a decent performance on my invested money for that year, I'm better off keeping my cash invested, not paying maintenance fees and renting w/ a discount from Disney whatever DVC unit I'm interested in (plus, I like housekeeping everyday, and my capital is still there earning money for me instead of in Disney's hands on a declining asset.)
I like deluxe, these days, and certain deluxes are not associated w/ DVC units yet (Poly, GF - altho' rumor has it that GF is going to get one.) SSR DVC is where they send their value guests when disney overbooks values (which seems to happen every summer) - which suggests to me that these units, at least, aren't in much demand. Others, unless you own there, are reportedly very hard to get and I like variety.
DVC timeshare sales were a cash cow when the economy was inflating and credit was easy. Those days are gone, IMO, and I'm seeing signs that Disney is feeling those DVC profit declines and reacting. For example, they recenty devalued resale units by limiting benefits that resale buyers had. Undoubtedly in reaction to falling Disney direct sales. About a year ago Disney also stopped buying back resale points when the sales price was too low (right of first refusal) except for beachclub units, allowing a downward trend in resale prices which suggested to me that they couldn't resell the points themselves, except for beachclub. The one thing that Disney had going for it in the timeshare arena, IMO, was that their points held decent relative value compared to timeshares where people who owned and wanted out couldn't sell and had to pay to get rid of them. Not saying disney will ever fall into that category, but a downward trend and a red flag, to me. Since I don't expect prior DVC profits to return to precrash levels, I am concerned regarding what further cost cutting actions Disney may take. My understanding of the contracts is that Disney has enough legal mumbo jumbo in there to do pretty much as they please w/ changes.
I read TUG - a general timeshare site, to get a feel for the whole timeshare landscape, and an idea of what other timeshares have done to be aware of what Disney might do in the future.
I'm neither pro or con, just not right for me at this time.

 

[Lynne M]

I'm going to move this over to the DVC - Operations board.

 

[mkoerner]

We too have grown children and we bought at BLT last August as a family venture. Everyone helps pay for it and everyone buys their own tickets based on their needs. We purchased DVC as a way for everyone to visit Disney when schedules allow it and we absolutely love it! For the first 16 months we've will have had DVC, we have taken or will take 4 trips of no less than 6 days. As our family grows to include more grandchildren and wives, we plan on adding more points. Because we are Disney fanatics and all have different schedules, DVC is an excellent vacation investment for our family.
Definitely read as much as possible and take a tour if possible. We toured twice and took 2 years to make the decision to purchase to be sure this was right for us.

 

[Sandisw]

We bought in 2009, even though our children were older. We just knew our WDW trips would continue and were paying for deluxe stays. It just made sense to own DVC and guarantee ourselves a set cost for future vacations.

It is so nice knowing that things are paid for and from this point forward, our vacation costs for lodging is simply the cost of MF's. No more waiting for discounts and the flexibility to stay in different size rooms, for more or less nights, etc.

 

[teamtilt]

not buying earlier then we did...It's AWESOME!