Floridian Questions

[lovelylady226]

I have been researching for just a few days. I have not found much information for people that live in Florida. I understand (mostly) the point system and have a few questions:

1) How hard is it realistically to get last minute rooms?
2) Can you use your points to book just 1 night several times a year?
3) Is it really that great of a deal? My math tells me if I can get my dream contract it would average to about $70 per night including the current maintenance fees for 4 nights a year (our average stay is 1-2 nights per stay 2-3 times per year). This seems ridiculous!

 

[ziravan]

Anything sooner than 6 months prior to travel is a crapshoot.

DVC works if you can plan 11 months in advance, or at least 7. (Home booking advantage is 11, booking anywhere is 7).

For Grand Floridian (VGF), there have been reported difficulties booking studios even at 11 months during the DVC busy period (last three months of the year).

You can book a day here and there, but again, if your goal is last minute, you WILL be disappointed with selection.

DVC is a great deal: if you're flexible and can book months in advance.

 

[DisneyfromDeland]

We live in Florida, about an hour away. We stay a lot of weekends throughout the year. We do not find it is worth the effort to stay for one night typically, but we do that once a year during Food and Wine. We always book at least 6 months in advance, and typically we book at the 11 month window. If you are going to be trying for last minute bookings most often, I wouldn't buy in as you will probably be disappointed.

 

[ziravan]

Small point contracts are easy to sell. If you want to give DVC a try for the purpose of booking a night here and there at the last minute, then home resort advantage won't matter much.

Saratoga Springs (SSR) is the best mix of price vs. length of contract vs maintenance fees. Buy a 50 point SSR contract and give DVC a try. If you like it, you can go from there.

If it doesn't work for you, it should be easy to sell. It may take awhile to find a small contract to buy, but it will be worth it to test the waters.

 

[com_op_2000]

I have been a DVC member since '93. We live an hour away from the mousehouse.
1. DW and I several times have been at DTD for the day and decided we wanted to stay the night. Called the resorts directly (back before MS was open on Sundays) or MS and checked in within 15 minutes.
2. At MK for the day in Feb ’14 for our anniversary, called MS @09:00, and booked a room at BLT for that night. Checked-in @11:00 and the room was ready. We did not plan on this day going like this until @05:00 while still in bed.
Can you do last minute - yes. It is the best use of your points - not nessecallary. If you can plan out a few trips per year - great. If you are willing to accept staying at SSR, OKW, & AKL mostly for last minute trips then DVC can work out for you.

 

[DenLo]

With last minutes trips you often have to compromise on where you stay and for the room type you book. Often at the last minute the rooms available are usually 1BRs which really eat up your points quickly. And during the busy DVC booking period of October through the first week of January, you might have to do a split stay (one night at two resorts) even for two nights over a weekend or you might find nothing is available.

I would not buy into DVC for only last minute trips.

 

[lovelylady226]

We would use most of our points for out two weekends in April and in October. That would leave some points for an additional 1-2 night stay.

 

[Dean]

I have been researching for just a few days. I have not found much information for people that live in Florida. I understand (mostly) the point system and have a few questions:

1) How hard is it realistically to get last minute rooms?
2) Can you use your points to book just 1 night several times a year?
3) Is it really that great of a deal? My math tells me if I can get my dream contract it would average to about $70 per night including the current maintenance fees for 4 nights a year (our average stay is 1-2 nights per stay 2-3 times per year). This seems ridiculous!

We would use most of our points for out two weekends in April and in October. That would leave some points for an additional 1-2 night stay.

I agree that anything under around 7 months is hit or miss and I would recommend against buying if this would be a large part of the plan. It can be a good deal but for small packages there really isn't a lot of savings but there isn't a lot of risk either when one doesn't have many points, comparatively speaking. Realistically one is looking at around 100 pts minimum, maybe $8-9K (SSR) up front and yearly fees north of $500 in today's dollars. I get more than $70 even just looking at fees since weekends studios can easily be 20-25 points per night so maybe 5 weekend nights a year at 100 pts. IMO the real cost for this plan is north of $150 a night on average, still reasonable for some in certain situations but enough to make one think about it. You've got to take the AKV value and standard views at BWV, VGF and BLT off the table when calculating based on the info you've posted as they won't be available routinely. Only AKV standard (but not value) will likely be available later on a routine basis. Weekend points are higher. Also realize that historically weekend points were higher still and were adjusted a few years ago. I personally feel they swung the pendulum too far and that there is risk for the pendulum to swing back somewhat and weekend points go back up some. Go back and look at some of the old points charts. Ultimately one likely will not save any money compared to a moderate in the situations described, whether the added value of a DVC studios is worth it is very variable.

 

[lovelylady226]

I know that our last two one night stays combined were $400. So, as long as my total cost per night doesn't go above $200 with DVC I will be in the clear. I am calculating the studios as the cost and perhaps I shouldn't do that.

 

[Dean]

I know that our last two one night stays combined were $400. So, as long as my total cost per night doesn't go above $200 with DVC I will be in the clear. I am calculating the studios as the cost and perhaps I shouldn't do that.

IMO one should never use the destination situation as the savings comparison. I believe the 2 best models to compare the savings/value of owning are the rental price of what you'd use with points and the cash price of what you'd get if you didn't own or rent DVC. If this were a studio on cash then it's a valid comparison but that's the only situation I think it is. There is a member of this board who's routine was Disney suites pre DVC, for them it's certainly reasonable to use their costs as comparison for the suite or similar size DVC villa, but not for most other people. Look at it another way. You're investing $8K plus and committing to over $500 a year to save what, $200 a yr. at most, with the time value of money, likely much less. At that level it's not quite as bad as buying an airline to get free peanuts but you get the idea. IMO this is one of the few situations where the other perks of DVC can make or break the deal, one just needs to realize that those cannot be counted on long term.

 

[CarolMN]

.........(snip).........3) Is it really that great of a deal? My math tells me if I can get my dream contract it would average to about $70 per night including the current maintenance fees for 4 nights a year (our average stay is 1-2 nights per stay 2-3 times per year). This seems ridiculous!

Not sure how you calculated your average cost, but it seems low. Keep in mind that the less expensive rooms (value, standard) tend to book early. They will seldom be available for last minute bookings.

If I were to buy even though I didn't want to plan more than a few weeks or months ahead, I'd want to be very flexible. In other words, I'd pick my dates to visit based on what was available when I was ready to book. That could be a lot of fun or very frustrating, depending mostly on the time of the year I wanted to visit.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[bwvBound]

Tossing out $0.02 from a SoCal resident, living near DisneyLAND resort.

We don't plan visits to DLR out more than a few weeks at a time -- often just a day or two from "let's go!" As such, owning at Grand Cal didn't make sense for us -- but we do use the Villas at Grand Cal every now and again as "last minute" reservations. Sometimes we pick up a night or two when stalking the inventory for fun -- no intentions in mind until we happen to spot an available reservation. We can also play the waitlist down to the very end (7 day travel window) w/out negative consequence.

If I'm successful picking up last minute reservations at a location with only one DVC option, I would expect you to have far greater success at WDW!

 

[MiramarQE]

3) Is it really that great of a deal? My math tells me if I can get my dream contract it would average to about $70 per night including the current maintenance fees for 4 nights a year (our average stay is 1-2 nights per stay 2-3 times per year). This seems ridiculous!

You math is likely not far from wrong - just remember, the cost of a vacation at WDW is only PARTLY the room - and while there are some deals on park tickets and occasionally dining/recreation (and some discounts) if you're going to do more than sit in the room you're still in for a fairly expensive time.

As Fl residents we always have passes - but those aren't exactly inexpensive either

 

[lovelylady226]

We talked a little about the extra cost-but as stated we go for 4-5 days a year as is using the florida resident deals. so that cost is not extra-but already budgeted into our entertainment fund.

My concern is really getting the rooms that are cost effective. For example, we just booked at OKW 3 months in advance. It was $260 (with taxes) for a studio. Previously we booked at Port Orleans for a little less than $200 per night, and off property for $150. The rooms have to be less than that average (and honestly the off property was 3 star, but in the Downtown Disney area). We like to stay on property because they are more accommodating with check-in than other resorts and the transportation is MUCH better.

 

[Dean]

We talked a little about the extra cost-but as stated we go for 4-5 days a year as is using the florida resident deals. so that cost is not extra-but already budgeted into our entertainment fund.

My concern is really getting the rooms that are cost effective. For example, we just booked at OKW 3 months in advance. It was $260 (with taxes) for a studio. Previously we booked at Port Orleans for a little less than $200 per night, and off property for $150. The rooms have to be less than that average (and honestly the off property was 3 star, but in the Downtown Disney area). We like to stay on property because they are more accommodating with check-in than other resorts and the transportation is MUCH better.

As I noted, you are not going to get the cheapest room with the plan you laid out other than OKW and AKV standard with any frequency. One thing you may want to consider is non DVC timeshares. They may not work well with your plan either but I'd look at them. For a week off property we're generally paying in the range of $300-600 for a week (inclusive of all costs) depending on specifics. The $600 is a 3 BR presidential on I drive of about 2550 sq ft (price going forward about $800) or a top Marriott 2 or 3 BR exchange. At the end of the day I don't think there's a good timeshare options for the situation that is described. I would suggest not fooling with it unless you think the current perks will add real value to your situation.

 

[JimMIA]

I have been researching for just a few days. I have not found much information for people that live in Florida. I understand (mostly) the point system and have a few questions:

1) How hard is it realistically to get last minute rooms?

Depends on what you want, when you want it, and how disappointed you will be if you don't succeed.

With timeshares, it's critical to understand that they work best with long-range planning and booking many months in advance. That's what they are designed for, and they work well for many families who use them that way.

That said, we have had a good bit of success getting DVC rooms last minute, but the key is that we did not buy DVC for that purpose -- and would NEVER recommend that anyone do so. On occasion, when we had annual passes, we have called MS to see if anything was available for a quick weekend trip. If we got it, fine; if not, we'd go another time. One of my daughters even succeeded in getting SSR 1BRs calling Christmas week for New Years Eve -- two years in a row! One time she called on 12/27. But you have to be willing to say, "Oh well..." if you don't get anything.

2) Can you use your points to book just 1 night several times a year?

With DVC, yes. With a non-DVC timeshare, you need to research and find out. Some timeshares (Wyndham, for example) require 3,4, or 7 day stays during peak periods (although I have gotten one-night stays).

3) Is it really that great of a deal? My math tells me if I can get my dream contract it would average to about $70 per night including the current maintenance fees for 4 nights a year (our average stay is 1-2 nights per stay 2-3 times per year). This seems ridiculous!

I agree with Dean's assessment above. You'd be putting a bunch of money in for a modest savings. If you are looking to save money, there are much better options, with the best probably being renting an offsite timeshare or home.