Grand Californian???

[caimakale]

I am interested in signing up for DVC, but not to stay at the WDW resorts. In the past year and a half (including my upcoming trip), I have spent $8,000+ on hotel stays alone at Disneyland. I am wondering if it's worth my while to buy into the DVC to reduce the amount I spend in the future on stays.

I guess an example I am looking for is for my upcoming trip. We will be staying at the Grand Californian with a downtown disney view for 8 nights starting on May 5th and checking out on May 13th. How many points does something like that cost? I am wondering if there is any reason why I shouldn't buy the cheapest $ per point vacation package on the Timeshare Store. Do the points spend the same regardless of which resort they were originally purchased for? (250 points from resort A is the exact same as 250 points from resort B?)

I am wondering if I should buy now for our upcoming trip and invest the $3100 for our hotel into the DVC and use the points for the stay.

Thanks

 

[Slakk]

I am interested in signing up for DVC, but not to stay at the WDW resorts. In the past year and a half (including my upcoming trip), I have spent $8,000+ on hotel stays alone at Disneyland. I am wondering if it's worth my while to buy into the DVC to reduce the amount I spend in the future on stays.

I guess an example I am looking for is for my upcoming trip. We will be staying at the Grand Californian with a downtown disney view for 8 nights starting on May 5th and checking out on May 13th. How many points does something like that cost? I am wondering if there is any reason why I shouldn't buy the cheapest $ per point vacation package on the Timeshare Store. Do the points spend the same regardless of which resort they were originally purchased for? (250 points from resort A is the exact same as 250 points from resort B?)

I am wondering if I should buy now for our upcoming trip and invest the $3100 for our hotel into the DVC and use the points for the stay.

Thanks

Have you checked the points for that stay? Buying DVC is only good if you vacation at a DVC hotel. The points needed to stay at Disney resorts is usually outrageous.

There is a rumor that DVC is coming to GC but it is only a rumor at this point.

So to answer your question if you want to use DVC points for DVC resorts then yes you will save money on accomodations.

 

[Dean]

And be careful comparing to the current points schedule as they reduced the points about a year ago and this is likely temporary. You would lose money overall buying DVC to use for the Disney collection including DL. There are some unsubstantiated rumors about a DVC at the GC coming on board soon. I'd hang out and wait for that option if you are set on DL for most of your stays.

 

[La2kw]

Points at the GC range from 24 points/night for a standard view, weeknights, low season, to 93 points/night, concierge level, weekends, high season. For your dates, it would cost you 267 points this year. But as previously mentioned, that's the point chart for this year. Disney can change the required points any given year. The points are currently discounted most likely until the DVC units are built here at Disneyland. Currently the rumor is 50 units at the GC, followed by one or more additional DVC resorts in the future. We are DVC owners because we go to WDW every year. Occasionally we will use some points at the GC for a special occasion, but the DVC resorts are where your points are put to the best use.

 

[La2kw]

And be careful comparing to the current points schedule as they reduced the points about a year ago and this is likely temporary. You would lose money overall buying DVC to use for the Disney collection including DL. There are some unsubstantiated rumors about a DVC at the GC coming on board soon. I'd hang out and wait for that option if you are set on DL for most of your stays.

My guess is the point reduction will last until the first DVC units are built. They are selling DVC memberships all over Disneyland, just like they do at WDW. They even have models of the SSR here to view. They have to offer something here in California if they want to sell a membership. Going to WDW for vacation is not that common here in California, like it is in other parts of the country. Not too many people I know have ever been to WDW. It's seen as just another Disneyland here. After all, we have the original (and best ) Disney park, and California is a tourist attraction itself, so why bother going all the way to Florida? It's hard to explain to them that WDW is more than just another Disneyland.

 

[mattnday]

I would like to throw my 2 cents in

Almost Everyone on this board is negative on using points for anything but DVC Timeshares. Honestly, that is where the best value is so it does make some sense. However, that is not the entire picture and does not reflect my opinion. We live in California and are praying for DVC to make the announcement soon that DVC is coming to California. All signs point that it is coming and hopefully the announcement will be soon. With that being said I totally disagree about whether The Grand Californian makes sense to use points on.

My logic is as follows: I am a Saratoga Owner who will jump through every hoop imaginable to buy California DVC once it is announced. I will not be an owner for life. I am watching the market carefully and as long as the prices keep increasing I will hold on to my points. Every indication is that DVC is going to keep building and that prices are going to keep going up. My thought is at worst case I will get my money back when I go to sell in 10-20 years when my 5 year old son is no longer interested in going to Disney . With any luck it might also show some appreciation but I am not holding my breath because of the RTU factor. I also feel with rentals being so easy to come by that a California owner can recover his maintenace fees and nice profit any year he doesn't need his points for use by simply renting his points on this board.

With that being said I think the current point chart is a steal for Disney's California properties. Even at 10 per point rental you cant get close to paying the going rate at the Grand Californian. My current example.

We want to go for 3 nights(standard view) in early May - Rack rate is $400 per night -

It will cost us 72 points for these 3 nights using DVC. Based on our maintenace fees that is a little less than $300 for 3 nights. That is an astranomical savings and will also keep us from staying in crappy motels off site. I know it doesn't work out to quite the same savings when using weekend days but we try and avoid Friday nights and Saturdays at all costs due to the crowds anyway.

My thought is if they don't ever build DVC in California and We get tired of going to FLorida sooner rather than later than we will recoup our investment but will have enjoyed a few nice vacations along the way at places that we would not have payed cash for.

 

[jmtf2004]

I would like to throw my 2 cents in
With that being said I think the current point chart is a steal for Disney's California properties. Even at 10 per point rental you cant get close to paying the going rate at the Grand Californian. My current example.

We want to go for 3 nights(standard view) in early May - Rack rate is $400 per night -

It will cost us 72 points for these 3 nights using DVC. Based on our maintenace fees that is a little less than $300 for 3 nights. That is an astranomical savings and will also keep us from staying in crappy motels off site. I know it doesn't work out to quite the same savings when using weekend days but we try and avoid Friday nights and Saturdays at all costs due to the crowds anyway.

What you have said is all true, but it is extremely important to keep in mind that the numbers you quote are only accurate for the current point structure for GCH. In 2005 the points for staying at GCH were significantly higher...I know because we paid those higher points charges and then had the unpleasant surprise of discovering one month after we stayed there that DVC decreased the points per night by 25%.
At the time, as someone else mentioned DVC explained the decrease by saying it was part of the 50th celebration (and they lowered the points for DLH and PPH as well). It makes sense to me that those points will be going up again.
You are correct that they have lots of DVC sales booths onsite at DL...it is a natural leap to expect they will do something in CA for DVC, but those booths have been there since before we were there in 2005. And now, even with the 'big' YoMD press event this past week, there is still no DVC announced for CA. And just because they announce something does not mean it will happen either. Of course after that happened (announcing a new DVC resort at Eagle Pines at WDW, then not building it) I'm sure DVC will do everything in their power to make sure they only announce things that are actually going to happen, , but you never can tell. For now I would not put my hard earned money into DVC unless I planned to use the points mainly at WDW.

 

[Disneymooners93]

Points are points no matter which DVC propery you buy into. The annual maintenance fees for each property are different though.

We used points for GC in 2006 and found it to worked well for us. When I looked into the point charts (I forget if it was with guide/MS/or GC staff) it was explained that the reduction in 2006 was in part for the 50th, but also in part because they "revalued" the point structure with the DL hotels which came out to be lower - in otherwords, the points weren't going to go back up just because the 50th was over. As it was the points charts in 2007 went down overall (weekends higher, but weekdays much lower). My very weak personal opinion is that was for boosting DVC interest in CA - both for west coast DVC sales (look you can effectively use your points at DL), but also to get WDW folks to DL (potential DL DVC sales down the line??). Just realize points for hotels can change dramatically and I wouldn't use 2007 point charts to predict whether DVC will be good for you in 2013.

Onto whether you should buy into DVC, just to stay at DL hotels. First, currently using points could give more value than using cash rates - you have to look at what times you would use points and what rates you think you could get. (If you live nearby and always go on discounted rates, the value of points may be less than cash. If not and you go weeknights, the point value is higher) I would think, in general, using points right now is a good overall value, that's what we found on our trip. Very rough example using your trip May 5-13, 3 weekend nights (44pts each) and 5 weeknights (27pts each) comes to 267 points total. If you bought into SSR, your maintenance fees on those points would be about $1160. Your nightly rate at GC would be $145 - also you don't pay tax or the resort fee. Of course, everyone puts their own dollar value on points - I expect to get ripped for my analysis. In this example I only used what amount you would have paid this year alone for those points. Looks good, but of course this doesn't include the initial buy in costs!!

If you're buying just to stay in DL hotels that initial buy in has to be factored in to the cost of each trip. If you use DL hotels every once in a while I don't see that being as much of a factor since the large initial cost is offset more when used in DVC properties on other trips.

Now the rumored DL DVC may change everything, but still if you're just going to do DL then I would consider waiting to buy DL DVC when/if it comes available.

 

[jemiaule]

Going to WDW for vacation is not that common here in California, like it is in other parts of the country. Not too many people I know have ever been to WDW. It's seen as just another Disneyland here. After all, we have the original (and best ) Disney park, and California is a tourist attraction itself, so why bother going all the way to Florida? It's hard to explain to them that WDW is more than just another Disneyland.

Wow, what a different experience I have. Most people I know go to WDW because we grew up with Disneyland and see WDW as a vacation spot that has much more to offer.

Personally I think DLR pales in comparison to WDW. Not saying I won't go to DLR but if I have a choice it would be WDW.