DVC worth it for going every third year?

[InstImpres]

I have to tell you IMHO it is a bad plan Every three years turns into every other year, which leads to wanting to go every year, which leads to buying an AP to get 2 trips out of one pass, which leads to an airfare sale and squeezing in an unexpected trip. Just stay away, once every three years will never happen, since "the accomodations are already paid for anyhow"

Best of luck (it's obviously a great investment in quality of life and family but I can bet you'll get sucked into more often than you thought)

 

[Fellowship9798]

I also agree with a smaller contract and buy resale. If you are not in a hurry you can contact The Timeshare Store and they will be on the lookout for you.

One of the reasons DH and I bought is because we can fly so cheap less than $100 return from Buffalo. If I had to pay $400+ for each family member I probably wouldn't be able to go as often.

Good luck, I think my DH (DisneyFunFan) had PM'd you.

Marianne, uh, I mean Dsneygirl:

Flying for under $100 return is great! I would sure go more often if specials like that came around in this area. And I did hear from your DH. Lots of good information from him! Say thanks to him again fom me!

 

[Fellowship9798]

We live even more Northwestern than you, and also thought the once every 3 yrs was a good idea. The long travel times and larger than believable prices on airfare, as well as adjusting to the time difference was why we thought 1 longer trip was better than more shorter trips. We just purchased a 100 pts resale, and thought that 100 pts would work for the amount of time we could reasonably get for travel to that far of a distance. Resale was the way to go for us, the smaller upfront cost, as well as the lower mnt fees, and then the ability to bank and borrow for a combined total of 300 pts. So that is an option to consider, because the minimum for direct thru DVC: 450 pts can be a lot of vacation time (150 x 3) every 3 yrs to use as opposed to a smaller contract. The actual reason DVC looked so much better for us was because we are a family of 5 (DD16, DS15, DS10) and finding a room to fit 3 growing children was becoming difficult (and $$$$). Imagine fitting 2 adults 2 grown teens (both taller than Mom) and 1 lg. 9 yr old who is just shy of Mom's height (takes after Dad's 6' football player stature) in the PO riverside trundle room.
As for every 3 yrs:
we have the next 5 trips planned using pts from '05 -'15
8 day trip in Dec 2 BR @ OKW 2006 252 pts (90 '05 pts, 100 '06 pts, 62 '07 pts)
6 day trip in Dec 1BR @ OKW 2007 120 pts (38 '07 pts 82 '08 pts)
Trying to save $$ by using AP & DDE for 2 trips!
7 day trip in OCT 1 BR @ VWL(hopefully) 2009 214 pts (18 '08 pts 100 '09 96 '10 - just let the 4 pts drop or give away)
7-10 day trip for Spring Break Mar 2012 @ BWV or BCV (hopefully) (only 1 DS left @home) studio or 1 BR 200-300 pts
5-10 day trip Sept 2014 ( no kids, only 2 airfares!!!)
So I guess once the 2 older kids have moved on to college, we'll be implementing the once ever 2 1/2 - 3 yrs. I guess at first I want to cram more trips in w/ the kids while they're still here.

So to answer your question, nope I can't poke holes in your plan, Only poked holes in our own "once every 3 yrs" plan the pull to use those pts and to go, go, go to Disney was just too overpowering for us (me).

Good Luck with deciding what's best (or funnest )for your own family!

Finally someone I can identify with (location-wise I mean)! Thanks for proving there are other people out there using DVC from such a distance. It sounds like you'll really benefit from teh larger space in the DVC resort rooms. There's obviously a number of DVC'ers from the UK as well, who must be on the longer trip with less frequency plan as well, so it can be done!

Very impressive planning so far in advance! Of course who really knows how things will work out in real life, but I hope they do for and you have some good trips with your kids before they're off to university.

 

[JimC]

...As we all know, it's really tough to do a straight apples to apples comparision with DVC since the comparison for smaller value buyers is often really between staying in a studio or one bedroom in a DVC resort or a single room at a moderate. There's no dollar value for the extra luxury you gain by staying in the deluxe DVC accomodations. Most of us small fry buyers would never pay top dollar for a long vacation in a deluxe. A true comparison for many would really be the cost of DVC vs. the cost of a moderate reort plus some very personal value for the luxury and/or magic of staying in a nicer DVC resort.

Can you put a dollar figure on what the value of added luxury and "magic"? Maybe I'll have to and factor that into my spreadsheet too.

For arguements sake who would care to guess at putting a dollar value on their own personal feeling of worth of the difference between staying at say the Boardwalk or beach Club and Port Orleans Riverside? Anyone? Is it even possible? What's it worth to you?

Probably nobody will answer this question, but it came out as a stream of conciousness type of thing.

Darren, that is why these decisions are very personal. Each must decide what assumptions/comparisons make the most sense for their situation.

By the way I am also a fan of Horizons and many other of the classic rides that are no longer on stage. You might like this web site:

http://www.intercot.com/edc/Horizons/

 

[Fellowship9798]

First, don't buy with the idea of using the points other places, it's just not a good value. I think every 3 years is tough but workable for the right person. Basically every 3 years is not always every 3 years depending on your use year. It does mean that you need to chose your use year more carefully based on when you can likely visit. For 2 weeks every 3 years, I would consider buying essentially the points I need or even a few less for maybe a 12 night stay Sunday to a week from Friday. You can always do a day or so on cash if needed occasionally.

However I feel many who are looking at every 3 years won't do so consistently and owning is not reasonable if you may lose points. Another options is to look at non DVC timeshares with or without a few DVC points to supplement your trips. For less money you could have a lot more options including for off years closer to your home.

Dean:
I'm definitely not planning on trading points for places other than DVC resorts. The most off site I would consider would be Vero BEach and any future Disneyland DVC. I can't really see myself getting to Hilton Head anytime. I've thought about the use year issue too and I'm thinking April-June since I can see school summer vacation and fall as our most likely travel times. I'm a pretty big planner so I think the organization of how to make the points work can be done. If we buy and have the points for every 3rd year we will go at least every third year. No question about that!

PKS44:
Interesting point about the 4 year plan. I hadn't thought about it that way. Now that's some long term vacation planning.

InstImpres:
Thanks for the warning about about getting sucked further in. I think I can stay strong, but personally I wouldn't consider it the worst thing in the world to up the frequency after a bit, but we'll see. I've got to plan for the longer term visits as a base and then if budget and time permit in the future maybe throw in something extra here and there. Ahhh, I'm falling down the slipperly slope already!

Thanks to everyone so far for the opinions. This is a great place to learn and very welcoming. Keep it coming!

 

[gramjulie3]

I just ran into your question and felt I just had to reply. I won't go into how it figures out point wise every year but I can relate our experience. We live on the Oregon Coast so travel is very time consuming and expensive. We have been members since 97 and this summer was our first trip to WDW. We had 8 family members 4 adults and 4 kids in a 2 bedroom in OKW for 12 nights. It was the trip we had hoped and dreamed for and more. Up until this year we have made several trips to Disneyland including a 5 day graduation gift for our daughter and 3 friends. We didn't mind being world's best parents for awhile. We are already planning our next trip for summer of 08, with our 2 youngest kids and our 3 granddaughters, a trip in summer of 11 to Washington DC and our next daughters graduation trip in summer of 12. Sure we would like to go more often but with 170 points a year I think we have done exteremely well. Go for it, you won't be sorry.

 

[shellbelle1971]

Except that we have six kids , so for us it's basically impossible to ever book hotel-type or studio rooms. (Even with adjoining rooms we'd be miserable without laundry and kitchen facilities.) This makes DVC one of several good timeshare options. We just like DVC better than other TS because we're kind of Disney freaks and find the outstanding quality of Disney and intangible perks (WDW atmosphere) far more attractive than other places.

Also, at least for now, airfare is cheap for us--DH racks up enough FF miles for us all to do at least two domestic trips per year. But we hope that someday he won't travel so much, and if/when we actually have to purchase plane tix with $, we don't want to be doing that for 8 of us more than every other year or so.

Finally, we think we'd be nuts to take kids to the park during peak visitation periods. We have a strict "no-meltdown" policy in our family, and I'd hate to spend a lot of money on an experience which, in the end, turned out to make our kids miserable. IMO, visiting in slightly cooler weather with shorter lines makes more sense.

So the conclusion we came to was to buy enough points for us to plan a trip every other year on this schedule:

Year 1: 2-br villa in an off-peak week Adventure or Choice season. (Utah fortunately has an unusual school schedule with a great break in mid-October).

Year 2: trip somewhere other than DVC (We like hiking our national parks.)

Year 3: 3-br grand villa in an off-peak week, invite 1 set of grandparents to come with us.

Year 4: non-DVC trip

Year 5: repeat year 1

etc...

I think we're going to end up buying 210-250 ssr points. We'll hope that sometimes we can get the OKW units, and if we do we'll have some extra pts to spend on a getaway for DH and myself, but if not we'll still have enough to meet our needs at SSR.

Is this thinking good? Or am I missing something here?

 

[mydogdrew]

Sorry if others already made these points (I didn't read all).

1. Try to stay only one weekend on a two week trip.
2. There's a difference between once every three years and every three years (if you are buying one-third of the points needed for a two week stay). If your schedule doesn't work for the year you are planning to go then you will have a messy point problem and will likely have to rent the banked and borrowed points out to bail. Flexibility is the key and it is unlikely that every three years will workout ultimately then way you might envision today.

Good luck.

 

[Tennesotans]

Example: August Use Year--- vacation at the end of July 2005- use Aug 2003 points banked into Aug 2004 and use Aug 2004 points and any borrowed 2005 points as needed to book any days all the way through July 31, 2005. Then for days starting on August 1, 2005 and beyond use August 2005 points and borrow any necessary August 2006 points. Thus you have used points from 2003 2004 2005 and 2006 for one vacation. You can do it again in July 2009 with 2007-2010 points.

As a compulsive optimizer... my hats off to you. It would have to be one
spectacular trip for me to use FOUR YEARS of points for.... but nice to
have the option (woo hoo!).

Tennesotans

 

[PinkTink63]

I am a West Coaster too! I just bought in. Matter of fact, I'm waiting for Fed-Ex right now! We go to Disney pretty much every year. We usually spend 9-12 days at WDW or 5-6 days at DL. Now that we are DVC owners we will probably stay longer at WDW.
If you keep an eye on the airfare, you can get pretty good flights from the West Coast. Last year we paid $203/rt. That was out of Portland or Seattle. Set yourself up on Travelocity Farewatcher alert and they will send you emails when flight prices change. If you can plan enough in advance, you can get a pretty good deal. It cost us about as much to fly to Southern CA.
We are also going to rent out our points for this next summer, because we are going to DL and they're are not a good value there. We'll take the cash and pay for our stay at the DH.
It also, depends on how many people are in your family. We have 3, so we easily fit in a studio. They are very nice! So don't think you have to stay in the 2 bedroom or grand villa, to have a nice stay! Well, I'm not that spoiled yet!! LOL
One more thing, we always travel at night when we go there, so we don't lose a day. We have been traveling with our son since he has been tiny and he does great! There are always small children on our flight. Get them used to it while they're young!
We didn't exactly have the money in our back pocket, but it made sense for us! You would pobably find yourself traveling there more often if you were part of DVC.
My husband and I are hoping to go there more often as our son gets older.
My family thinks I'm kind of nuts, because I am always planning my next trip to Disney. If I could just get my brothers to take their families, I know they would be hooked too!
Hope this helps!
Stephanie

 

[PinkTink63]

I would like to mention, that we always stayed in moderates before buying in. (POFQ, which we love!, CS, CB) We always thought they were very nice, but then we stayed at DVC this last summer! Needless to say, there is no comparison! We stayed at OKW, which was my son's favorite. But my husband's and my favorite was the BV. We had the most awesome view and big balcony. Well, you know the rest!
Stephanie
(fellow West Coaster)

 

[lisareniff]

I've always wondered with the once every three year plan, and maybe you already have the answer for this, what do you do with the few left over points? Rent them? Say you have a 150 pt contract and you have 450 pts with banking and borrowing, however your trip will cost 430 for 10 days or 470 for 11 days (not real numbers). What do you do with the extra 20 points if you take the 10 day trip? If you bank them, you can't use them the next year given your three year plan. I guess you would rent them? or rent 20 more from someone else to get the 11 day trip? Is there something I'm missing?

 

[dsneygirl]

Marianne, uh, I mean Dsneygirl:

Flying for under $100 return is great! I would sure go more often if specials like that came around in this area. And I did hear from your DH. Lots of good information from him! Say thanks to him again fom me!

No prob

 

[JoeEpcotRocks]

We have only 100 points (BWV - joined 2005) and were planning our first going home in 2006 for 9 days and 2009 for 9 days.

So it will be every 3 years for us (until our 2 daughters are thru college) then we'll increase our points and try to go at least every two year.

 

[SoCalKDG]

I've always wondered with the once every three year plan, and maybe you already have the answer for this, what do you do with the few left over points? Rent them? Say you have a 150 pt contract and you have 450 pts with banking and borrowing, however your trip will cost 430 for 10 days or 470 for 11 days (not real numbers). What do you do with the extra 20 points if you take the 10 day trip? If you bank them, you can't use them the next year given your three year plan. I guess you would rent them? or rent 20 more from someone else to get the 11 day trip? Is there something I'm missing?

Yes rent them. Or better yet transfer them into another members account. Or use 13 points for 1 night at Beach Club, then use the pool both days(day before & after).

If I was going to do the 3 year plan, I'd buy only enough points for the cheapest season, and go like Dean said, Sunday through the weekend to the end of the following week. If you go when it costs more points, you can then just rent the balance you need. This way you are always borrowing all your points, thus no chance to lose any.

For comparison purposes, you should compare the cost of two moderate or deluxe rooms(since you have already decided 1 room isn't enough) to the cost of a two bedroom(or with the age of your kids, maybe 2 studios as an option as well). Additionally the cost of some 2 bedrooms is pretty cheap midweek, thus also price it with moving out on the weekends. On weekdays, a studio is as cheap as one value room, and a 2 bedroom is cheaper than one deluxe room.

Lastly I'd buy a resale contract that has some points built up, borrow from the next year, and take your first vacation a few months after purchasing your resale. Its really nice to see 25% of your resale purchase cost covered immediately on your very first trip.