My partner and me are looking at options as far as purchasing DVC. We are pretty new but have done some research. We really enjoy the Moderates so we were wondering if Disney offers any kind of contract on those or just the deluxe resorts.
From your response it would seem then they dont offer anything on the moderates. Can you use points from a Saratoga contract on the moderates after you acquire?
From your response it would seem then they dont offer anything on the moderates. Can you use points from a Saratoga contract on the moderates after you acquire?
Not my response, but DVC is Deluxe villas. There are none that are categorized as "moderate". The Deluxe villas can vary widely by resort and date. Low point season is September. You can get a standard studio for 10 points in September, but the same may be 17 points in April.
DVC was great for us because we love Jambo house and can stay for less than the price of a moderate resort.
From your response it would seem then they dont offer anything on the moderates. Can you use points from a Saratoga contract on the moderates after you acquire?
DVC points are best used at DVC resorts. Some direct purchase points can be traded for Disney hotel stays, but the exchange rate is poor and any value or moderate hotel room will cost more in points than a Saratoga Springs studio villa.
If you are happy at moderates or Pop, DVC may not be a good fit for you.
I think we were ALL happy at moderates until that first time we went deluxe.
So no moderates on DVC but even when staying at moderates for the math, DVC will make sense financially if you choose the right contracts. Beach Club Villas (where we just bought) wouldn't or any of the other 2042 expiration resorts. The resorts with longer expirations do make financial since.
Example: Animal Kingdom Lodge (AKL) expires in 2057 (35 years) and you can get those for $135 resale with current dues at $8.24/point. So $3.86 per point ($135/35 years) over the life of the contract plus maintenance fees (assuming no increase in fees, which is incorrect but should not go up as fast as rack rate of moderates) it is $12.10 per point. A middle time of the year (July) at Kindali Village in a standard view Studio is 100 points for a week so $1210.00 for the week or $173 per night.
Current sale price for Port Orleans at that same time of year is over $250 per night. So a savings of roughly $77 per night.
Or you can also book a DVC Villa directly as they are generally available via DisneyWorld.com (which is what we did before buying), although renting as suggested by @KalamityJane would most likely get you a better rate on the villa We also did a stay at Disney Vero Beach as cash customers before buying to get a sense of non-WDW DVC resorts. We've since made Vero Beach an annual summer vacation, often combined with a WDW stay.
I think you'd probably end up with the reverse effect, honestly.
The $ per point is fairly inconsequential without the point chart in mind. If the point chart at a moderate DVC comes in similar to or slightly lower than the AKV value villas, you'd only need about 70 points on average to book a week in a studio every year.
I think what you would find is a ton of owners of the deluxe resorts trying to book into the moderate resort at the 7 month window to maximize the value of their points. And not very much of the reverse.