Help sell us on DVC

[ntburns22]

My DH and I are really interested in this. Mainly for the comfort of knowing the major vacation expense will be taken care of. We have only stayed at values before because the trips were usually shorter ones and we were never in the room. Now that the kids are alittle bit older for our next trip we figured we would start to stay longer. The DVC looks like a great option for us. I have read the boards but I would like to hear more thoughts on why this is a great thing to do. Also I would like to know if anyone has purchased resales and how that went? Is Disney offering anything right now for new "home" purchases? TIA

 

[vascubaguy]

My DH and I are really interested in this. Mainly for the comfort of knowing the major vacation expense will be taken care of. We have only stayed at values before because the trips were usually shorter ones and we were never in the room. Now that the kids are alittle bit older for our next trip we figured we would start to stay longer. The DVC looks like a great option for us. I have read the boards but I would like to hear more thoughts on why this is a great thing to do. Also I would like to know if anyone has purchased resales and how that went? Is Disney offering anything right now for new "home" purchases? TIA

The first thing I would ask is whether you are trying to "save money" by purchasing, or if you are just wanting to secure deluxe accommodations for your future stay. The reason I would ask, if you are used to paying the value rates to stay, the only way DVC could save you any money would be if you only went in the value season for DVC and only stayed in studios on weeknights (Sunday night thru Thursday night).

However, if you are wanting to increase your level of accommodations to make it feel more like "home", then DVC could be of benefit to you. For instance, if you stay in a 1 bedroom, you get a wide variety of amenities (kitchen, jacuzzi, in-room washer/dryer, etc. So, you can save some money on food, pack less because you can wash clothes while you are there, etc.

There's only 2 of us, and we tend to go to WDW at least once a year. We do not intend on ever staying in a 1-br (although we might one day), so for us to stay in a studio it works out to be cheaper for us to stay at a DVC than to get a room at any of the moderates (or even the values in most cases). Additionally, there are perks and discounts (like on the APs) so we can get the AP discount and save a couple hundred $$$.

Regarding the resale market. I purchased my first contract (40 points at OKW) thru resale. I got a great price that passed ROFR and by purchasing this route I was able to become a full member even though I bought less than the 150 minimum required by DVC.

However, I hadn't even closed on that resale before I decided to purchase an add-on at SSR for the additional 12 years.

My advice on the resale market, if you definately want to always stay at one particular resort (BCV or BWV for example), then buy thru resale as long as the per point price plus closing is less than $92 and includes points on the contract. An exception to this could be BCV because you might not be able to get that direct thru DVC, but the others should be available.

Ok, now the current promo to buy at SSR. For new folks, the minimum is 150 points and the cost is $98 per point. They have 2 incentive offers:
First, is the standard $8 off per point, so you'd be looking at $90 per point. Additionally, if you are financing thru DVC, that $8 incentive can be applied towards the downpayment requirement rather than to the overall total (makes your upfront cost much lower).

Second, if you are referred to DVC by a current member, there is a "Friends and Family Discount" of 15%. (Note: this can not be combined with the $8 offer). This makes the cost per point around $83.30. Again, that discount amount can be applied towards the downpayment and reduce the upfront required cost. Also, this is a limited time deal, not sure how long it will be out there. I don't recommend rushing into DVC though just to get this deal if you aren't completely sure it's right for you. IMO it is a pretty good deal though.

If you have any other questions, or need a referral, just let me know. I'll be glad to provide you with that info so you can get the 15% off if you decide to buy.

 

[lovinthemouse]

Right now there is a 15% incentive. You need a referrel for this PM me and I will give you my info as referrel. I love it because of the cost savings. We go to Disney quite a bit. We too have only stayed at Value resorts and one mod resort just to save money and you don't spend as much time in the room. Now that our DD is getting older she and her friends and family can go and do with out us. This gives us an option to do other things around the resort too. We just closed this month and are making our first trip home to SSR in July. We are going to Vero beach over spring break. I think the flexiblity of this time share is great. There are more inexpensive ones you can buy into, but if you love Disney and go often then this is the one to buy. If you buy resale then your time to own might be a little shorter. The new one at SSR is until 2054. Some end earlier. Good luck with your decision. I hope we can welcome you home soon.

 

[southtown]

We have found the more we go the less time we are spending in the parks, and we are spending more time at the resort. This is one reason we are very happy buying into DVC. I would much rather relax at a Beach Club Villas then All Star Music.
And on the money side of DVC while it is a large upfront payment,I think it is worth it. I am going to tell you what we were thinking, and while it works for us it might not work for you. Like we decided that we were always going to get at least a 1br where you might not so thats why our thinking might not work for you. OK so if we were going to pay cash for a 1br at BCV during value season for 5 nights it would run us $400/night and would cost $2000 not including taxes. So we figured if you subtracted the $600/year dues we pay we would save $1400 a year. We paid $11,000 for DVC so if you took the $1400 and multiply it by 8 you have $11,200. So we figured we would recoup our $11,000 in 8 years and then only have to pay the dues to have wonderful DVC vacations. It would be even less if we decided to get a 2br as that would cost $2800 for 5 nights saving $2200/year.
Another thing that swayed our decision was we knew Disney World was our vacation place where we would want to take our children and not having to worry about paying for a nice hotel room for our vacations was kind of relief.
Who knows how much hotel rooms will cost in even 10 years? We heard when Disney World first opened the Contemporary cost around $30-40/night and now is well over $200 so locking in Deluxe accomadations at value prices intil 2040 or whenever the contract ends seemed like a great idea for us. Also we will have alot more space in our 1 or 2 br villa then one hotel room where we would be tripping over each others bags,waking each other up every 5 minutes and other crap that happens when you have 4 people in one hotel room.
Like I said these reason work for us and might not be the reasons your looking into DVC. There are people that say its worth it and people who think its a waste of money. My opinion is if you go to Disney World every year DVC is a no brainer.

 

[ntburns22]

Thanks for all your great information. We have decided that Dsiney will be our vacation destination for years to come with Hilton Head as a close second. We know that with the kids getting bigger we would have to step up our accommidations. I love that you can bank/borrow points. We have always wanted to have BIL and his family joins us on future trips. This is a decision we are not going to jump into without alot of thought. So I thank you for all yours.

 

[spiceycat]

if you decide not to buy DVC - then don't buy in Orlando a timeshare.

too many timeshare it is a very easy trade.

you can get something for under $2,000 (probably closer to you) that will trade into Orlando.

 

[Tarabra]

NTburns22, we recently became members in Aug., and believe me, we lamented over it for years. Every time we were on a Disney Cruise, all the people at our table were members. They always raved about it. We figured in the last 5 years, we've spent about $12,000 on our cruises, and for $14,000 we are set for 50 years. Thinking and worrying about it was the hardest part. We were able to use our home equity, and just wrote out a check. Now we have a monthly payment, but whenever we charged our past trips, it was sort of like we had a monthly payment anyhow. Now as we plan our cruise in May, my husband keeps saying, "well, we can't spend alot of money," (I'm a realtor, so winter months are a little scary ) I said, "honey, it's already paid for (so to speak)" He keeps forgetting!! So that is really nice. Just make the move. You'll be glad you did.

 

[lovinthemouse]

I totally agree with Tarabra. The only regret we had was not doing it sooner. We have been so many times in the last 4 years we could have already paid for it. Come on home!!!!

 

[gppnj]

If you join DVC, you will be one of the cool kids who gets to sit in the back of the bus.

 

[byoung]

We are happy with our purchase 200 BWV points. From Dec of this year to Dec of 2006 we plan on going 20 nights in a studio with the 200 points, not bad at all to me.

 

[AFMom]

We're so happy we bought. We initially bought in 100 OKW points, and now have 150 added on at SSR. We thought we'd be happy staying at a moderate or value - just going there to sleep in between parks! But I really want a resort to stay at and relax at while were on vacation - not just a place to sleep! I love the relaxed atmosphere, the kitchen in our 1 bedroom(we like to cook our breakfasts), having a seperate room from the kids! The jacuzzi tub after the parks! For us - it's more of a vacation this way - you can focus on more than just going to the theme parks - because you're actually enjoying where you're at when you're not in the parks!
We can't wait to take my MIL and FIL there in Dec of 2006 - I'm already planning - we're getting a 2bdrm and it'll be so fun to treat them to a stay there and only 20 extra points for us! We'll hardly even feel it!
Our first purchase was a resale and it went wonderfully - no problems at all, the 2nd purchase was through Disney to take advantage of their offers at SSR. We went through the Timeshare Store, they were great.
Good luck with your decision!

 

[Blue&Gold]

We bought 350 BWV points via resale in Jan and just added 100 BWV points through Disney last month. Don't want to kill you with the math (we got all the '04 points without maint fees, some of the '05 with, etc.) and we are partly borrowed into "use year 06." We have used points for a total of 2 nights in a BWV Grand Villa and 20 nights in BWV 1 BRs this year and have reservations for 8 nights at BCV in a 2 BR for next spring... We have "committed" roughly 2 1/2 years of points towards these rooms that value out (including taxes) around $19,000. My out of pocket cost to date for the points and the maint fees is roughly $39,000. So, after 2 1/2 years of ownership, I am roughly half way to recouping the full investment. Admittedly, the "goal line" moves each year as you pay maint. fees, but I have no doubt the curves will cross somewhere around year 6 or 7. And, that's a zero-sum comparison... The contracts obviously retain value. So, mathematically I have convinced myself I am not a complete loon by buying in. Most importantly, I have taken two wonderful family vacations this year, have one planned for spring, and have a huge incentive to keep planning vacations. I never had that imperative before...