Help me marshal some arguments, please?

[Anonomom]

I'm starting to consider buying DVC, but I think I need to do a lot more research and be able to make some really good arguments to my DH about why this may be a good idea. Can y'all help me?

First, some background: When I was a kid, we went to Disney 4 times, and I always loved it. Once I met DH (who had never been to Disney), we started talking about maybe one day going. We'd buy the guidebooks, plan the trip and then at the last minute balk at the cost and skip the vacation entirely.

Finally, in 2008, the stars aligned and we actually booked a trip with our DD (then an almost-3-year-old only child). I figured DH would be good for one trip and then be done, since he wasn't all that enthusiastic to begin with. To my surprise, he suggested we go again in 2009 (this time with two kids). Then he agreed to a dream, blow-out deluxe trip this year, meant to be our last trip until at least 2014. But now we're pregnant with our third kid, and i have a feeling DH will be up for at least 2-3 more Disney trips in, say, the next 5 or 6 years.

So now I'm thinking that maybe I could convince DH that DVC could be a good deal for us. I know, though, that he isn't going to want to go to WDW every year for the next 30 years, so:

1. How easy is it to trade DVC points for vacations at other places through RCI? Could we, for instance, use points for a week at a beach in NC in the summer? Are there usually extra costs associated with doing this? (I guess what I'm asking is how points translate to dollars when you're not staying at Disney).

2. Is there are good variety of places to stay through RCI?

3. Is it difficult to book the rooms/times you want at Disney? My eldest DD starts school this year, so from here on in we'll be quite limited in the times we can go to Disney. Since we're far from unique there, would be have trouble booking, in, say, early April?

4. How much do the annual dues tend to rise per year?

Thanks for your help! I know I'll have more questions once I learn more, but these are a good place to start.

 

[DVCconvert]

1. How easy is it to trade DVC points for vacations at other places through RCI? Could we, for instance, use points for a week at a beach in NC in the summer? Are there usually extra costs associated with doing this? (I guess what I'm asking is how points translate to dollars when you're not staying at Disney).

>>>buying into DVC with the intention of trading out regularly may not be the 'best and highest use' of membership. Others can no doubt address this in greater detail than myself.

2. Is there are good variety of places to stay through RCI?

>>>I'm sure there is, it's more a question of what you can get (I believe)

3. Is it difficult to book the rooms/times you want at Disney? My eldest DD starts school this year, so from here on in we'll be quite limited in the times we can go to Disney. Since we're far from unique there, would be have trouble booking, in, say, early April?

>>>So long as you buy your home resort where you want to stay, and can plan 11 months in advance of when you wish to visit you shouldn't have any problem in this regard. If you can't plan at least 7 months in advance, then you'll run the risk of just taking what maybe available.

4. How much do the annual dues tend to rise per year?
>>>someone here (I'm sure) has the math sorted out, but on average I'd guess it's in the area of 3-4%. Some years more, others less.

HTH

 

[Brian Noble]

I would recommend that you *not* consider buying DVC. It sounds like you are visiting "for the children", but a DVC contract lasts quite a bit longer than the children will be at home (and even longer still than the kids might prefer Disney to Universal, or the beach, or...) What's more, using DVC in RCI is a spectacularly bad value.

The reason to buy DVC is because you anticipate staying in a Deluxe-level Disney resort at least every other year for the next several decades.

 

[khmiller]

I think most people will pull their kids out of school to go to Disney, but that is personal preference so please do as you like.

 

[browniemtb]

With a growing family DVC can make some sense if you tend to stay in deluxe Disney Resorts. DVC works for us because we have gone once a year or every other year and wish to stay with in walking distance to the parks. In our case Epcot and DHS....We have never traded into RCI but looking online, there are many resorts around the world available, but DVC is best used for Disney stays. Also I agree with the above, buy where you want to stay so you can take advantage of the 11 month booking window. Certain times of the year this comes in pretty handy. Annual dues.....around 3% a year increase has been the average.

 

[Anonomom]

Thanks for the input. I can see I have a lot of thinking and research to do!

 

[mdsd8700]

From the outset it appears that DVC might not be a good fit for you. I would say that you need to do a lot more research. These boards are great for that and reading many of the threads will give you a good feel for DVC and if you think it might work for your family. It certainly isn't for everyone and doesn't always work even for those who visit Disney on a regular basis. After you have gathered more information (possibly even try renting points) then you will be able to determine if this is something that would work for your family.

Good luck with your decision and I hope your upcoming trip this year is Magical.

 

[Lynne M]

In your situation, I would only consider buying enough points to cover your stays at DVC resorts, and either pay out of pocket for your other vacations, or purchase another timeshare for those vacations.

DVC allows you to bank points up to one year, and borrow points from the year ahead. So, let's say you plan to stay at DVC resorts every other year and you anticipate your point cost for each vacation to be around 200 points. You buy a 100 point contract, bank the points in the off year, and you've got 200 points for your vacation.

The reason I recommend that you only buy points to cover DVC stays is this: DVC only offers a limited selection of RCI resorts for trade, and not all are up to DVC standards. The really popular locations can be very difficult to get, and require a lot of advance planning. As in years.

But most importantly, you can buy timeshares that trade into the full selection of RCI resorts for a tiny fraction of the cost of DVC.

Look at it this way. If you plan to do DVC and RCI in alternating years, half of the cost of your membership will be for RCI resorts. You can cover those vacations for THOUSANDS less with another timeshare than with DVC.

 

[DipsyDoodles]

I think most people will pull their kids out of school to go to Disney, but that is personal preference so please do as you like.

I don't believe this is accurate at all.

 

[Kidanifan08]

I would not say that DVC is not a good fit for you -- it is just a matter of getting the right size that fits! It is in your favor that your DH is a Disney fan -- that helps with the convincing. I agree with other people that you should really purchase DVC for trips to WDW and you should purchase your points at the home resort that you think you would want to stay at most of the time. There are certainly times of the year when you need to call at 9AM at the 11 month mark to even get into your home resort -- spring break, Christmas/New Years, etc.

Since you are going to be a family of 5, you will need a room that holds that many, so Studio rooms are out and 1BR's only hold 5 at AKV and BLT. If you don't see yourself going annually, I agree with another person that you can buy half of the points that you would need for the size room and resort you need. You should plan to buy enough points to work in Magic Season, since it sounds like you will most likely use the points during that time.

You can save a fair amount of money with resales, but on 3/21, DVC limits some of the benefits for people purchasing resale. This does not affect the ability to use the points at DVC resorts or exchanging for RCI. BLT is a little hard to come by on the resale market, but the other resorts have considerable availability at a much lower cost than buying direct from Disney. We did our initial purchase direct from DVC. You may need cash or have to get your own financing to purchase resale, whereas DVC will finance for 10 years at around 11%.

We have never done an RCI exchange. As other have said, you may be better off paying cash when travelling outside of DVC.

Pulling kids from school is a personal decision. We went in December and some frined who stayed with us pulled their 11 and 8 yo from school for a week. They are excellent students, and did not have any problem.

Annual dues will go up, but we look at is as an entertainment expense. DVC is a huge purchase and if MF's are a big concern, then perhaps it is not worth jumping in.

Gettiing back to your plan over 30 years, remember that DVC points make great wedding gifts for your children, and if you can't use them, you may be able to find others who could.

Good luck with the decision. Spend time reading these boards -- there is alot to learn!

 

[mjc2003]

150 points would get you a 2 bedroom every other year. If you bought resale, and got the contract submitted before 3/20, you would save quite a bit.

We are in a similar position. My wife had never been, we have two little girls and are hoping to have a 3rd soon. We've suddenly gone 3 times in 3 years and want to go back. We've stayed in villas at the beach club the last two years, and spent $3000 the first year, and nearly $5000 last year on a 2 bedroom. We finally said, enough spending that kind of money...but were spoiled having our "own place" instead of a regular hotel room. We could go back from the parks and take naps while somebody watched a movie and somebody ate lunch, or did laundry. The space, especially with little kids, is invaluable.

If you are planning a lavish, expensive trip this year, you might be able to put that money towards DVC instead?

We too could not look 30 or even 20 years out. I figured we'll go 5-6 times over the next 10 years. In a two bedroom, that would be $25-$30,000. We'll have leftover points to either rent out, or give as gifts to family. I have a HUGE family that goes all the time, I can rent them points and now they can get lavish accommodations for a fraction of the cash price. There's lots of angles, but ultimately I know I can get rid of it if I need to, unlike other timeshares there always seems to be a market for the DVC contracts.

I did a lot of homework on the RCI angle, basically it's an option but not one that I would factor into the decision. With some legwork you can exchange your points and travel elsewhere, but it seems like a decent amount of work. But, some have had great success so figure it's something you could use, but probably won't more than once.

PS: Your "we're not going til 2014" sounds like us. In Nov of 2009, we came back from WDW and my wife said, "we're going to take a few years off". 5 months later we were booking a trip for last November. We went, returned and again she said, "That's enough of that for a few years". By early February I found her looking up pricing. We laughed about it, and finally realized our kids love it, it's a convenient trip (we live in NJ but only 25 minutes from the airport and there are TONS of flights into Orlando, 2.5 hours), and we genuinely have a great time. We are currently in ROFR at the Beach Club.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Phambiton]

Quote:
Originally Posted by khmiller
I think most people will pull their kids out of school to go to Disney, but that is personal preference so please do as you like.


QUOTE=DipsyDoodles;40236898]I don't believe this is accurate at all.[/QUOTE]


I didn't believe people do this either until...

My husband's ex-boss boasted going to WDW eleven times a year. They have three kids, and an au-pair. With this many times, they had to pull their kids out of school for many of those trips.

Also, a frugal business partner of mine takes his family with three school-age kids on trips in Jan-Feb, while the other kids are in school. They just got back from on a 5-day trip to the Dominion Republic. They don't take vacations during the peak seasons.

 

[KGD]

We have a very similiar story. My husband and I went for his first trip in the Spring of 2004. He (WE) loved it! I had been many times while growing up in central Florida, but it was his first trip. Then in April 2010, we took our daughter when she turned 3, but left our 1 year old twin boys at home with my folks. We took this trip knowing that "there was no way we would return until the boys were at least 4". Well, we just took our family of 5 this past January and again stayed at VWL, spending about $4,000 for the second time in 1 year....it adds up quick!

We took the DVC tour while there in January and knew that we wanted to return again this December. After checking into resales, we knew it was a way for us to get the points we needed, and at the price we could afford, for our growing family (Hoping for baby 4 in early 2012). TWO double strollers fit nicely into a 1br or 2br villa! We just passed ROFR for VWL and are awaiting closing. AND now I am trying to talk my husband into a quick trip this spring! It is quite addicting!!

Good luck with your decision!

 

[JimMIA]

Then he agreed to a dream, blow-out deluxe trip this year, meant to be our last trip until at least 2014. But now we're pregnant with our third kid, and i have a feeling DH will be up for at least 2-3 more Disney trips in, say, the next 5 or 6 years.

There is an inherent contradiction here. First of all, you say that your recent trip exhausted all the vacation money for at least 3 years. Then you're pregnant again, which is not going to reduce expenses any...and despite those two things, you think DH will be up for a trip every other year.

Understand that you would have to find the funds to buy DVC, and then fund vacations you don't see yourself taking to make this all work. Also understand that DVC may save you some money on lodging, but you'll still have all of the other costs of a Disney vacation.

So now I'm thinking that maybe I could convince DH that DVC could be a good deal for us.

The question is not what you can convince him of; it's what is best for your family.

The conventional wisdom (and our experience) is that DVC makes sense if used almost exclusively for vacations at DVC resorts on a yearly or every-other-year basis. If you can afford it, and if you see yourself actually staying at DVC resorts that often, then I'd research further. If not, not. I'm not saying DVC wouldn't be good for your family, just don't try to force a DVC fit for your family.

1. How easy is it to trade DVC points for vacations at other places through RCI? Could we, for instance, use points for a week at a beach in NC in the summer? Are there usually extra costs associated with doing this? (I guess what I'm asking is how points translate to dollars when you're not staying at Disney).

2. Is there are good variety of places to stay through RCI?

My thoughts on DVC/RCI are

• exchanging through any timeshare exchange with ANY timeshare ownership is almost never a great use of your points. The real value of any timeshare system is the use within its own internal family of resorts.
• Because of the high cost of DVC points, DVC/RCI is an especially unattractive prospect generally.
• RCI has 6,500+ resorts. DVC has access to only about 600 of those, with only about half of those being in the US. So...can you book a beach week in NC? Yes -- you have one option, and that's subject to availability, of course.
• IF you are determined to buy a timeshare to use for exchanges through RCI or II, there are many, many less expensive timeshare systems available for a fraction of the cost of DVC. Many of these literally sell for $1 plus closing on eBay -- and I'm talking about name-brand timeshares, not the little ones. We recently bought a pretty large Wyndham contract for less than $2000 including closing costs, and it includes a FULL membership in RCI with access to all 6,500+ RCI resorts.

3. Is it difficult to book the rooms/times you want at Disney?

Not if you can reliably plan more than seven months in advance, and you have realistic expectations. Some resorts, at some times of the year, are very difficult to get. The period from Thanksgiving through New Years is very, very difficult to get anywhere unless you book exactly at 11 months (and I don't mean 2 days past the opening -- I mean the MORNING your 11 month window opens).

We usually visit in November or May, and we've never had any problem getting what we wanted.

4. How much do the annual dues tend to rise per year?

At the top of this forum page you will see a list of stickies. One of those is "DVC Resources" and all of the annual dues data is there.

 

[khmiller]

I don't believe this is accurate at all.

I respect your opinion. This is just the feeling I got when reading about this. I remember a teacher saying she does it all the time. Again, it's personal preference. Let me just state, "some people pull their kids out of school."

 

[Brian Noble]

Well, empirically the parks are MUCH busier when kids are typically off of school: Major holidays, Summer, spring break periods, and even "minor" holidays like Jersey Week in Orlando and "Utah education association" week in Anaheim. Do some people pull their kids? Sure. Do most people? It doesn't seem so based on attendance patterns.

 

[jade1]

All I can say is if you are planning WDW trips for the next 5 to 10 years (your kids) I would still consider/research DVC, at least you have a chance to sell your DVC at that point-cash trips are money thats gone for sure.

 

[drewmer]

There are many RCI resorts to pick from but I would not count on using DVC points for these trips. If you are going for a short stay the $95 booking fee can add a large percentage to the cost of the trip. The points required for some of the RCI resorts is rather high.

I think the advantage for your family would be the number of people in a room. If you research the resorts some allow more people per romm than others

Good luck and enjoy your next vacation

 

[pyrxtc]

It doesn't seem as if DVC would be good for your family right now.

 

[KingRichard]

Everyone here made some great points,but I would like to add that we were looking at the other free(ebay) timeshares and what really turned me off was the very high maint/taxes.

We will pay 40% less with our DVC points(maint/taxes), but we had to pay a lot up front.

DVC info states that you can get a 1 bedroom for 160 points at 500 locations.

So for us that is only about $600 in Maint/taxes. Seems like a great deal?

Of course for some places it would be better to rent those points for $1600 and stay cheaper?

There is lots of great info here if you search.

One of the best things I found is those that joined back in 1992 paid around $55 per point and they are selling them today for more then that!

Not bad for a timeshare!