HELP! Are we good DVC candidates? UPDATED - We Joined!

[Ricola]

DW surprised me in the midst of my planning for our Oct/Nov to the World, and said she thinks we should give ourselves DVC for our 5th anniversary.

Of course, my nasty right brain kicked in, and I started wondering if this is really a good idea for us.

We are now a family of 4, our kids are 4yrs and 6 weeks old.

We've been to WDW once or twice a year for the past 6 or 7 years. We almost always go in Jan/Feb, or Sept/Oct, and we rarely are able to plan more than 2 or 3 months in advance, often much less time than that. We usually are more than happy staying in the moderates at WDW, and almost always have gotten pretty good discounts on them, even booking last minute like we sometimes do. I guess as our kids grow (and hopefully our incomes as well) the deluxes will become more attractive, but right now we don't need them.

We own half a timeshare on St. Thomas which we visit every even year (the odd years going to the friend I bought it with), so we're familiar with the concept in general. (Unfortunately our resort switched from II to RCI a few years back, so its no help in that department.)

I have a few questions about DVC peculiar sort of timeshare, as well as the practical side of how well it might work for our situation. (In no particular order)

1) My first question is, is Interval International membership required of DVC members? In other words, if I have no desire to trade outside the Disney system, can I save myself the annual II fee?

2) I'm not sure I understand "Use Months" and how they will effect my ability to get a room during the times that I want. Can someone give me a simple explanation of this?

3) I'm not sure how many points we realistically will need to stay when we want to. I'm sure this is (as is everything in life) a compromise sort of thing. We can't afford enough points to stay as often as we'd like, nor can we afford to be not working for that long I think our goal would be to be able to get a week during the summer in a 1BR or 2 weeks in Jan or Oct in a 1 BR on a yearly basis. We may not be able to afford this at first, but I think that's what we want. I can look at the point calculators or charts I have, but what makes me uneasy is how much I can rely on getting "Standard View" rooms. It seems like, perhaps, these are hard to come by, and if that's true, things seem to get dramatically more expensive.

4) People on this board are fond of saying "buy where you plan to stay" yet many seem to stay all over the place. What is the difference between points owned at (for example) OKW versus ones at VWL when it comes to getting a room at VWL? Is it just that someone with VWL points can make the reservation 11 months out while someone with OKW points has to wait until 7 Months out? Or is there something more. (Other than differing maintenance fees)

5) We haven't taken the time to go through a sales presentation while actually at WDW. We're on vacation, and frankly, I've been to enough high pressure timeshare sales things to be frightened to waste a moment of my vacation at one. What are these presentations really like, and should we plan time in Oct. to do one, or just get our questions answered elsewhere?

6) If we were to buy VWL now, and say in a couple years, add points from BC or elsewhere, do they all go in one "account", in other words, assuming we have, say 200 points at each, will we have 11 month reservation priviledges at VWL for all 400 points, or do the priviledges follow the points, meaning we'd have 11mo at WL for 200 pts, and 11mo at BC for 200 points?

7) In practical terms, how hard is it to "rent" my unused points to others. Do they just transfer from one account to another (if that person is a DVC member)? Or do we have to make a reservation together? Is it hard to unload your unused points?

8) How practical is the sort of last minute trip planning we do (sometimes as close as a week ahead) within the confines of the DVC system?

9) I know it's a subjective question, but does staying DVC "feel" like staying at a Pay-to-Stay Disney resort, except your sheets aren't changed as often and your room is bigger? Or does the service and quality of accomodations "slip" a little in DVC. (I've stayed in some timeshare/PTS combination resorts where this is the case, and it bothers me. The "hotel" rooms are maintained at a higher standard than the timeshare rooms, and they also get a higher level of service.)

10) Once I get through 1-9 above, how do I get through the sticker shock? I can already tell that the cost is going to be well above the St. Thomas timeshare I bought 9 years ago, and I'm sure the sicker shock will take a while to wear off. Maybe some happy stories from someone will help?

What other questions should I be asking or thinking about?

Thanks!

Ric

 

[chris1gill]

I'll try to address a couple of your questions (can't remember them all LOL...) First, while at Disney, we DVC'ers are treated like everyone else, and you would never be able to tell the difference, sure, quality might slip every once in a while, but it's not a DVC thing, more a staffing thing....

Next, would you be a good candidate? Yes, I think you would be, and here is why... You could get a studio at VWL or BWV for about the same actual "cost" as a moderate... Actually much less... if a unit requires 12 points, a point generally "costs" 6.00 if you calculate you initial outlay & add in dues.. so you are essentially paying 72.00/night.. except Friday & Saturday when the points are higher (20 points) but using the 6.00/pt figure, that's still only 120.00...

Your next issue, the short term planning... yes, it can be done at last minute.. you might have to adjust your week or your days, you might not get your first choice of a resort....

You are correct about the booking times for your home resort... If you want to be assured to get your own home villa, you have a few months lead time... 11 months for your home, 7 months for your non-home resort....

If I were you, since you go during the low season and you are comfortable staying in a studio, I'd go with a low point package.. seven nights in a studio for your time period goes about 80 points. If you go twice a year for one week at a time in a studio, that's still only 160 points...

By the way, when comparing to the studio/moderates... there is no comparison, the studio units are BEAUTIFUL... of course if you want an in-room kitchen/washer/dryer & master bath/jetted tub, you need to step up to the 1 bedroom villa's... and IMHO these are absolutely the best villa's/rooms on Disney property!

If by some chance you can't get a studio while booking, you could always use your points to stay at one of the deluxe hotels...

About Interval International, don't worry, we don't bother with them, no memberships/no fees unless you want to trade out & very few members trade out!!!

As far as the sticker shock, just figure it this way... you would have spent the money on accomodations anyways... write it all down on paper & you will see that you will have recouped your outlay in as little as four years, depending how you use your points...

Good luck, I say buy where you might want to stay more often!! Each resort is different, although BW & OKW are sold out & you would have to go the resale market for them.... VWL should sell out this fall.... BC is coming up next year....

 

[kem330]

One other point: DVC is for another 41 years. While your children are only 6 weeks and 4 right now, it will not be long before they are school age or perhaps you will have another addition . Once they are older, you may change your travel patterns to accomodate their school and activity schedules. You will also possibly need more room. DVC protects against inflationary room rates. ( Points totals for the year can never increase - if they move up on one time, they have to move down at another). If you have two contracts, your reservation priority is based on the amount of points you have at that specific resort. Many people will borrow and bank points so they alternate which resort they stay at each visit or make a ressie at the 11 month window at one and switch if the other is available at 7 months. You are in a perfect position to enjoy many years in DVC. We have two in college and one in high school, we've spent a lot of money on hotel rooms that would have cost us 1/3 the price with DVC. We finally joined because it got too expensive to get two rooms. So think long term and make the investment now. Location is very important to us so we bought BWV resale. But if you don't care about that, an OKW resale would be an excellent deal and it usually has the most availability.

 

[chainkid]

I have loved every minute of my DVC and have added on several times since 1999. The magic of Disney is only enhanced by owning a piece of the magic for your family. You cannot compare owning at a deluxe with staying in a moderate. You will usually have no problem booking something last minute unless you are talking vacation weeks. You might not get to stay at the bwv but Old Key West seems like it is always available. I made ressies there in May with only two weeks notice and got a one bedroom villa. The upkeep of the resorts is purely disney not regular timeshare. I would never be a timeshare owner...I find most of them are not up to my standards or they are too rigid in set up. Disney's point system is more my cup of tea and the fact that Disney will never go belly up and leave us holding a maintenance nightmare was a major selling point for me.

I haven't traded out yet but plan to in the future. With the internet you could probably make a very good swap with a Marriot member with out going into II. Marriot is the only other timeshare that in my opinion has great quality resorts. I've been too several presentations over the years and declined only to see several years later that the places that looked nice at the time have now fared poorly in management. Westgate comes to mind. Disney must maintain these resorts especially BWV,VWL and the BC because they are part of a resort entertainment complex that s used by all guests. But look how well Old Key West is maintained and its the oldest. Always looks like new. Try it and I think you will find that you will only be sorry about one thing.....that you didn't buy more points. Joan

 

[okwmiester]

As a fellow Minnesota DVC Owner I thought I might be able to give you some travel insight benefits of owning dvc. We were the third family from Minnesota to purchase (92). We bought when our daughter was 4 and another on the way. Over the years we have since added on with HH and have exchanged twice and hava a 7 day cruise planned for this fall.
I have found Northwest and suncountry to be useful travel options to Orlando, However keep and eye on DElta as they have great discounts on their websight as low as 140.00 at times if you are willing to make one transfer.

We used to make the 25 hour drive in years past and for Old Key west this is ideal since you can park next to your room and drive in and out of pards avoiding all disney transportion (Its the only way to go). Weve stayed at all disney
DVC locations and love them all for their unique reasons. I would suggest going resale, and keep calling timeshare storeand you may get lucky to get a seller who has not yet posted on the internet (We lucked out and bought before it was advertised and got a fabulous price ($50.00 a point for HH only a year ago).

I have started to investigate more and more of the II trades and truly hone in on the Marriot locations around the country. Weve exchanged at Boston Custom House (fabulous and great experience when your kids get a few years older) and next spring we will exchange for a ski trip at marriot in Breckenridge/Vail (can'twait). We sacrifice room size for a better deal on point exchange but you can't go wrong with a marriot exchange. Since you travel in off peak periods you will find that the exchange costs (points needed) will be a great value for you!


Feel free to email me if you would like. We live in Lakeville, just across town.

 

[CarolMN]

We bought in at BWV in 1999 and so far, our only regret is that we did not do it sooner.

Nearly all of the posters on this board are very happy with their DVC purchase and will encourage to to purchase. You will not find very many, if any, negative posts.

On the face of it, you are a good candidate. Think of DVC as a pre-paid vacation - one that locks in lodging prices. Since you go at least once a year and stay on-site in one of the moderate hotels, the $$$ will calculate out to be a good deal for you.

However, there are some things that I recommend you think about very carefully. It sounds as though you are interested primarily in the BWV. If you really only plan ahead by 2 or 3 months, you may have trouble getting the accomodations and dates that you want - especially at BWV. Standard view rooms make up less than 20% of the inventory and book very quickly. In popular times, they will book within a week or less of the time reservations are first accepted. Even though some people report getting standard view rooms at the last minute or via the waitlist, this is the exception. You cannot count on getting standard view rooms unless you are able to plan 11 months ahead. You will need to plan on having to use the preferred point schedule.

Also, busy times at Disney do not necessarily coincide with busy times at DVC. Point requirements are designed to even out the demand. (I liken it to handicapping a horserace where the handicapper's objective is to have all horses reach the finish line at the same time). For example, ther period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a slow time for the parks. It is a very popular time for DVC. It has been reported that all rooms are booked at all three WDW DVC resorts from end of November through middle of December. October/November is also reported to be difficult at BWV due to the Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT and several states' school breaks.

That said, if you are flexible with your vacation dates and the DVC resort, IMHO, you should be able to reserve something in the summer. I'm not sure about September and early October or January and February, but if I had to guess, you should be OK then, also. In all fairness, people do buy DVC and take short notice vacations. It can work, but IMHO, it can't be counted on.

I think you will be happier with DVC if you can change your vacation planning habits to take advantage of the 11 month window at your home resort.

Good Luck with your decision. As I mentioned before, we are very happy with our purchase - we added on 50 points before we even took our first trip home. Good luck with your decision.

 

[Lhargus]

In reference to question #5, you will not experience any high pressure at a DVC tour. The tour is done in the typical Disney style, it's more entertainment than sales pitch. If you tell them you are not interested they don't try to pressure you at all ( They don't have to-DVC sells itself and most people end up coming back eventually).

The only problem you might have is VWL may be sold out by October (If you are interested in a direct purchase from Disney).

We have been members only since March and we have already added on twice. We love it and I'm sure you would too.

 

[prplcrzy]

Here are answers to your questions-

1) No you can not save the II fees, they are not seperate, they are part of your annual dues.

2) Use Year refers to the time that your points are replenished. Also gives you a timeframe in which to calculate your banking windows.

3) Standard veiw rooms will be near impossible to get the way you intend to book your vacations. you will need to rethink your point needs unless you want to book 11 months out to try for a standard view. If you want to go on a yearly basis, I would figure out the type of accomodations you want and then figure out how many points it will take to get those on an annual basis or semi-annual basis, depending on what you want. Once you buy points you probably will want to buy more if you think what you have will not suit you needs. I have purchased add ons twice. You can also rent points from other members if you need extra points. they usually go for about $10/pt.

4) Buy where you plan to stay means to look at the DVC resorts and see which one appeals to you the most. The flexibility of DVC is the amazing part about it, but sometimes that flexibility is not a good value. You can stay at any hotel you want but once you stay at one of the DVC resorts, you will probably not want to go back to the others. You can make the reservations where you own 11 months out vs. 7 months out if you don't own there. This is meant to give the owners in a particular resort preference to the other owners since presumably they want to stay at the resort they bought at. You can stay pretty much anywhere you want though.

5) The sales presentations are not like other timeshare presentations so most definitely go to one. This is one of the amazing things. DVC sells itself, the guides do not need to pressure oyu and they did not pressure us. My guide just reminded us that we could get a discount based on the resort that could have saved us about $1000 when we bought, but I was skeptical about it and wanted to do more research. She even left the door open for a couple of weeks after I got home but I waited and thought and lost out on the discount she offered. I think maybe I am more cautious that others but I spent more than I had to and do not regret buying, just losing out on the discount.


6) That is correct. You can only add on points where they are available to purchase, unless you buy a resale. I have and I have two accounts, two use years and it is twice as complicated to keep track of banking windows. I also can take points from both accounts and get whatever I want whenever I want provided I go by the booking windows for those resorts.

7) I am attempting to rent my points right now, and haven't had any luck altough I just started to a couple of days ago. I don't think it would be hard but I don't know if I would rely on it to finance your points. I am just looking to cover the dues for the next couple of years until my salary grows to the point where we won't need to rent them. You can transfer but you are only allowed one per year. This should be used wisely since oyu are only allowed one per year.

8) You most certainly make last minute reservations, you will need to be more flexible and you may find it very difficult during certain times of the year. Personally, I find planning in advance is the way to go to create a stress free vacation, isn't that why we go on vacation?

9) The maintenance does not slip. You do not get daily maid service, although you certainly can if you want to pay for it. Ican't speak for others, but I feel way more comfortable in one of these rooms than in a regular hotel room. I do feel more at home with more space and privacy, especially if you have children. I don't know how others feel but our bedroom is sacred ground, unless our children are sick or something. This provides me that comfort level. The service level is wonderful pretty much where ever you stay but the Boardwalk is even better. I love that i can drive up to the front door, hand my keys to someone and go to my room. I don't see that at most of the other hotels.

10) The sticker shock only applies if you do not plan to use it. You currently don't vacation at Disney often, but if you did think about how much it would be if you paid cash for you trips. Then think about howmuch hotel rooms could be in 10 years and then how much it would cost you cash. There are tons of ways to save money when you go down, from having a full kitchen and preparing you r meals to buying an annual pass and going a little earlier the next year so you buy passes every other year.

If you plan to buy a resale, do your homework and do the math. If there are no points available for a couple of years then the price should be discounted and you should not have to pay dues on points you can't use. Don't just jump right in and buy, take the time to figure out what you want, if it is for you and if you can afford it.

If you plan on going every year chances are it is for you. You will save money and stay in better places than if you paid cash. You have some great questions, if you have more call Disney or post on the boards others will help, we are a special bunch the DVCer's and we aim to help those with questions.

 

[Ricola]

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for your prompt, thoughtful, and friendly responses!

OKWmeister, Thanks for the airline tips. We've found the same. SunCountry is usually our first choice since the smaller terminal here is a dream compared to the Lindbergh, but we just bought Delta Tix for Oct/Nov for 105.00. Yes, that's Round trip!

CarolMN, isn't it great getting out of the snow once in a while? Actually, while I like Boardwalk, I'm not sure I care so much that I stay there. We've stayed all around the property and been happy wherever we stay. It's not so much the location that's important to me, but the "point cost". Our favorite moderate is POFQ, because we like being close to DD; the times we travel it's far more interesting than BW in the evenings anyway, so I have a hunch OKW would be my "first" choice. VWL seems like my 2nd choice, and BWV my third (for now). I don't really see HH or VB being on the list for now; they just don't seem to be our "thing".

Also, it sounds like my hunch was correct about standard view rooms being at a "premium". Is this also true with studios vs 1BRs? It seems like right now we could "afford" studios, but 1BRs might be too pricey.

chris1gill, It's good to hear your opinion that quality doesn't "slip" at DVC resorts. I suspected that they were maintained very well, but I'm glad to hear it first hand.

Chainkid, I'm also glad to hear from you that DVC lodgings are "better" than what we're used to (Moderates). Again, that's what I suspected, but I needed to hear it firsthand.

Kem22, yes, the "hedge" against vacation inflation is one of the best arguments for timeshares of any sort. And our growing family is one of the reasons I want to be sure to get "enough" points; I don't want to get too few run out when we need more space.

So much to think about. From looking at things, I think we would like to have around 250 points, but we will probably need to start smaller.

 

[Ricola]

Thanks, prplcrzy and Lhargus!

Are there "annual dues" in addition to the maintenance fees? I did not realize this. How much are they and what do they include?

Unfortunately, as we are self-employed, planning a year in advance can be hard to do. We're not at a point yet in our business where we can afford to turn down a big job for one of our clients just because we are going on vacation, especially during tighter economic times like right now. Our clients do plan their projects a few months in advance, so that's usually our window. Of course its always nice to squeeze in a last minute trip now and then also.

I'm sure in the future, when the kids have their own schedules to consider, that we will be more inclined to plan well in advance. I guess we could buy now, and still pay cash to stay if a last minute opportunity arises.

I'm glad to hear about the sales presentations, but I'm afraid that we may need to buy before our October trip. I just got off the phone with Judy Kaufman at DVC and she warned me that they are projecting VWL to be sold out by late Oct/early Nov. If we make the decision to go ahead, I'd hate to miss out or have to pay more at BC because I waited, and I don't feel like I need to "see" the properties to make my decision. Would I be making a mistake to buy "sight unseen?"

 

[mikesmom]

Ricola,
Not to tell you what to do,honest, but we're self employed, too, and I know how you feel. We schedule that vacation 10 or 11 months out and view it as a client project out of town. The client is us!

I know you hate to turn down a project when times are tight BUT if you were right in the middle of another project that had to be finished you'd ask the new client to wait a bit, wouldn't you? I just tell clients we have a committment that week and it's usually alright. That being said, we have a college student here to answer the phone in case of a project "melt down" and I take a cell phone and check back once a day.

I'm usually more efficient and creative and do a better job for a client after a vacation!

By the way, "annual dues" or "maintenance fees" it's the same thing. There are not 2 sets of payments.

 

[Ricola]

Thanks, mikesmom!

Don't get me wrong, our vacations are a priority to us. It's just that we've had great success planning them on shorter notice thus far. We already have the week on St. Thomas every other year, which we usually extend by another week camping on St. John. We always take at least a week in the summer somewhere we can drive to, and a couple of other weeks, often to Disney. The Disney trips are nice 'cuz we can go last minute and we don't HAVE to plan.

I guess we can schedule the trip every other year to WDW on points, and the other years sorta "wing it" or bank the points for the year we do schedule. That way we would need to buy less points for now, and we'd still be free to watch for our "bargain" last minute trips at WDW.

I'm glad to hear there isn't a separate payment in addition to the annual maintenance fees.

 

[normr]

Anyway in answer to some of your questions, when you go to a Disney sales presentation, it's no pressure at all, trust me, I've been thru some hellacious ones.

Right now you buy points that are replenished every year on what is called your use year, that's the only thing that is important about use year, you can make reservations throughout the year if you have points in that year or points you can borrow from the next year, you bank bank points from one year into the next and them borrow from the third year to give you one huge vacation every 3 years if you wanted to do that, so if you wanted to change off with your other timeshare with DVC it's very flexible to arrange you vacations, so if you bought the 150 minimum, if you araanged your points by banking and borrowing you could have 450 points to use in one vacation, last minute vacations are posible, but it could be difficult, you may have to go on a waitlist or call every day to add one day at a time, but people have been successful, and I think at more DVC resorts are built on site things will become easier, DVC runs until the year 2042, after that it goes back to Disney, the points are $75 a point and you have to buy at least 150, or you can buy resales, right now the only sites Disney is selling is Hilton Head SC, Vero Beach Florida, and the Villas of Wilderness Lodge, The Beach club is under construction and they recently announced Villas of Eagle Pines that won't start to be built until next year. If you want into Old Key West or Boardwalk then you need to go resale, we own @ OKW, we love it, the units are the largest of all the WDW DVC's, plus the dues are the cheapest, plus we don't have to pay extra for different views, you get an 11 month reservation window at your home resort (where you buy your points), and if you want to go to other DVC resorts you have to wat until 7 months so there is a 4 month premium at your home resort. You don't buy into an II membership, you just have the opportunity to trade into them and have to pay a $75 fee when you do trade out, we are a family of 4, we only do a one-bedroom or larger unit now, we did the studio once but we missed having all the extras you have in the larger units like the full kitchen, jacuzzi, separate rooms, washer and dryer. Plus you can do the Disney Cruise too on points if you want, the last two years they had a special offer for DVC members.

When we go "home" we think it feels better than just staying at a regular Disney Hotel, it feels like we bought a home inside Disney, we think it's been the best decision we ever made, we hated doing WDW Commando style where you stayed in a tiny room and then jumped on the bus at 8 AM and stayed all day until 10 PM and then came back to a dingy little room to crash, waiting first for the kids to take a bath or shower and then finally getting into bed where I might have wanted to watch TV or eat a snack but couldn't because we couldn't turn on the lights or TV since it would disturb the kids, now with a two bedroom, the kids have their own room and bath, my wife and I have a huge master bedroom, we all have our own TV's, plus if one of us wants to stay up, we can go out in the living room and watch the big screen TV and eat a snack, plus as DVC members you can rent videos at the Community Hall for free, so the kids always get a few videos each night, with the full kitchen we stock it up on arrival, this way we save all kinds of money on drinks, bottles of water, snacks, breakfast foods, we love making breakfast, coffee and sitting on the huge patio at the table and chairs and look around the surroundings, you wouldn't believe how much that kitchen can save you just on that, we might do a couple of other meals during our stay or bar-be-cue with friends, my DD loves bringing her drawing things and sitting out there drawing.

DVC has given us the opportunity to really relax on vacation, we don't have to run every minute, we can do all kinds of things besides the parks, we can pool hop to all the different resort pools or try other things around Disney or Orlando and when we get home we can truly relax. But since you already have a timeshare you know how much better a large unit can be over a standard hotel room.

As for the price, compared to your timshare it may seem expensive, but you say you've been going a couple of time for the last 6 or 7 years, look at what you've spent each time on accomodations and you may see that you've already spent that much where your DVC would have been paid off by now and now you'd only be staying for what dues are costing you and you still have 41 years left for vacations.

some people get bent out of shape that it's going to go back to Disney, we look at it as getting fantastic vacations in huge accommodations and our kids will be able to use it half of there adult life too, we've already used our points to go to London and Disneyland Paris, 5 days in each with our kids and in London we had to hotel rooms and in DLP we had a one bedroom suite which was great, the kids had the living room with a half bath and we had our own room with king size bed. Without DVC, we never could have gone on a vacation like that with the kids without spending a fortune.

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask

 

[Ricola]

normr, thanks for the great information!

We're really thinking through this seriously. DW is in sticker shock a bit right now, but I'm sure this would be a good value for us. What remains is to figure out if we can afford it right now, or if we should wait until the Beach club opens sales (although I know prices will go up by then.)

Does anyone think we'd be unwise to purchase without doing a tour first?

-Ric

 

[pentex]

I don't think it would be a mistake for you to buy without seeing first. I can honestly say that we had our minds absolutely made up before we went through the tour because we knew the quality that Disney stands for. We love WDW and knew that we wanted to travel there frequently (hopefully annually) and to have our children enjoy that throughout their growing years. And we had learned that there is no way to stay at WDW like staying on property.

We joined in 1993 when our daughter was 1. Now she's 8 and we also have a 5 year old, and what wonderful memories they have already built up. We always consider DVC one of the smartest financial -- and family -- moves we have made.

The tour did nothing to sell us because like I said, we pretty much knew the point structure, etc. and knew that Disney would always maintain their properties with high standards.

We've stayed at OKW (our favorite), BWV, HH and Vero and they have all been in pristine, beautiful condition. Absolutely beautiful rooms. And at the WDW resorts, as hokey as it sounds, you feel like you remain in the magic even when you are not in the parks.

The resort staffs have been wonderful, particulary at OKW & HH. My 8 year old still remembers one wonderful CM in OKW from several years ago. Most of the CM's go well out of their way to make great experience for kids.

And Member Services is wonderful. They are easily accessible by phone & e-mail and have provided us with excellent service.

(Another plus for you by the way is that it looks like you guys like to travel in low season which is excellent point value.)

Bottom line questions to ask yourself:

* Do you/your family really enjoy WDW?
* Do you think you'll be travelling there frequently?
* Is it important to you to stay on WDW property?
* Do you trust Disney's name for quality?

If you feel these are all yeses, I don't think you'd be making a mistake to buy without the tour.

 

[wdwendyd]

If you are worried about buying at Wilderness Lodge Villas "sight unseen", visit this website:
http://wdwig.com/g_wlv.htm
and check out some of Deb Wills' photos.
Wilderness Lodge is GORGEOUS!

 

[pentex]

Yes, the rooms at WLV are beautiful. We took a look at them during our last trip and they are every bit as beautiful as the other DVC, which we expected of Disney. We can't wait to stay there someday!

 

[penguincruiser]

Ricola,

We bought sight unseen (resale at OKW) based on our experience with Disney Hotels, our love of Disney and these boards. Our first trip will be in November and I'm sure it's going to be wonderful.

Remember there are cancellation policies, you can reserve 11months out and if nearer the time you can't make it you can cancel. I think it's 60 days. But I think that if you're flexible as to which resort you want to stay at and you're not travelling in peak times you should be ok.

JJ Penguin

 

[dianeschlicht]

We have been DVC members since 1997. We love our Disney trips and love staying on site, so DVC made great sense to us. We usually buy an AP and go 2-3 times in one calandar year. Then we wait a year and start the process over again. We have been able to get some great airfares from Minnesota on the web, but then, we usually travel at off peak times like January and early December or September.

We have 380 points at OKW. The proximity to DD and the townhome atmophere as well as larger units, fewer points needed and lower dues make it very appealing to us. Also, we like to use the Grand Villas sometimes, and if you don't have the 11 month option, I doubt those would be possible.

As you have probably noticed, everyone here says to buy where you want to stay. If staying on site is your main objective and you like DD and more privacy, I think you should look at an OKW resale.

When we first bought in, I expected to do some exchanging to other Disney resorts etc, but now that we are feeling like OKW is home, I don't even have a desire to do the others. We have done one exchange to Hawaii, and got a great exchange rate. We have yet to take that trip next April, but it was a very smooth easy process. Of course, now I am really missing those 160 points! We last went to OKW in December and our next trip isn't until the end of January, so we are in major Disney withdrawal at the moment!

 

[Granny]

We bought VWL sight unseen a few weeks ago. I wouldn't really recommend it if you are not familiar with the Wilderness Lodge resort at least.

The WL resort is, in our opinion, the best theming in Disney. And we love the quiet nature of it and the boat rides to Magic Kingdom.

But, the other side of quietness is the bus transportation is not Disney's best. We don't mind waiting 15 minutes or so for a bus but I know that drives a lot of folks crazy.

I did get a chance to visit the VWL this week as I was in Orlando for a business trip. It was everything I thought it would be, but again, I had a pretty good idea because DW and I love the Wilderness Lodge resort.

If you think you would prefer the location and theming of the BC, I would definitely wait. It may cost a little more, but from what I am seeing on this board about recent trends with the DVC, it appears that it is even more important than ever to "buy where you want to stay".

Good luck with your decision. 41 years is a long time so don't rush based on the selling out of a DVC resort. Remember, even after VWL is sold out you can get it on resale. In fact, I saw resales for VWL last week on a time share site.

Hope to welcome you home but mostly hope you make sure this is the right thing for you.


Granny


WL '98
WL '00
VWL Member '01