HELP: Thinking about DVC & have questions!

[swich2mac]

Newbie here so please be gentle! We have wanted to join the DVC for a number of years. In fact, 5 visits ago we said we were going to join and never did. Coulda, shoulda, woulda! Anyways, I have a few questions so I am going to fire away.



1. Why is the beach/yacht club so much more expensive (price per point) than all of the other properties?

2. If we don't go to Disney every year is it easy to sell points?

3. If I "bank" points can they carry over each year?

4. Are those of you who are members satisfied and do you see a fairly decent return? When is the break-even point?

5. If we prefer a certain property, such as Beach Club should we buy into it or go for a cheaper price point with a lower maintenance fee?

6. If we were to buy into a less expensive OKW can we still book at the more popular resorts? What are the advantages or disadvantages of this strategy?

7. Should I purchase through Disney or a resale outlet? If resale outlet is recommended do I lose any privileges for doing so?


Thank you all for your assistance!

Regards,
Scott

 

[rogerram]

1.BCV is the hottest resale out there.
2.you can rent your points here or bank and save them for the next year.
3.you can carry them over to the next year only
4.usually the break even is after 3-4 visits. We are very happy. The best investment we have made.
5.SSR resort is the best deal right now until feb. 1st. I have usually gotten other resorts at the 7 month window as long as it wasn't a holiday week like christmas. You book your home resort at 11 months and if you get stuck there, it is still an awesome resort.
6.SSR is a lower maintainence resort as is OKW. Booking other resorts should work at 7 months out.
7.Through Disney has no closing costs, which is great, and SSR resort has a current great deal.

 

[aDVCwannabe]

1. Why is the beach/yacht club so much more expensive (price per point) than all of the other properties?
- effect of spreading dvc costs over a small number of dvc units

2. If we don't go to Disney every year is it easy to sell points?
- that's gonna depend on how many points you have to rent, where you are able to get a rental unit, what time of year you are renting, yady yada yada - ya might wanna research that on the rent/trade board

3. If I "bank" points can they carry over each year?
- you can bank one year's worth of points, no more

4. Are those of you who are members satisfied and do you see a fairly decent return? When is the break-even point?
- can't help ya with that; purchased at age 58 for travel after retirement and never gave brask-even a thought!

5. If we prefer a certain property, such as Beach Club should we buy into it or go for a cheaper price point with a lower maintenance fee?
- buy where you want to stay! we bought ssr because of the 15% off friends and family special because of the great cost and the extended ownership.

6. If we were to buy into a less expensive OKW can we still book at the more popular resorts? What are the advantages or disadvantages of this strategy?
- can book at home resort 11 months out and can book at any other dvc resort at 7 mos out.

7. Should I purchase through Disney or a resale outlet? If resale outlet is recommended do I lose any privileges for doing so?
- you hafta crunch your personal numbers to figure that out - keep in mind that closing costs will prob run around $400 with a reseller - and disney will cost ya $98/point for anywhere other than ssr.

if i can help ya with anything else or with a referral for the friends/family special [ends 2/1/06] just lemme know. hope this info helped.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

5. If we prefer a certain property, such as Beach Club should we buy into it or go for a cheaper price point with a lower maintenance fee?

The age old question; Should you buy where you want to stay? If a specific resort is important to you and you travel during the busy times of the year and you can plan 8 to 11 months in advance, then buy where you want to stay. If on the other hand you just want to be at WDW and don't care which resort you are at, then buy where you think you can get the best deal. Or if you can only plan 7 months or less in advance, then it doesn't matter at this time.

I tend to fall on the buy where you want to stay side of things.

HBC

 

[swich2mac]

Can you send me to a link regarding the 15% discount at SSR? Do they offer a number of options as does the Boardwalk?

 

[byoung]

Buy now.

 

[shantay1008]

I agree that you should buy where you want to stay, or at the very least, buy where you wouldn't mind staying. We bought at SSR two years ago, sight unseen. We're heading "home" for our first visit in a week and are staying at SSR for four nights and then at BCV for the last four nights. I was able to book BCV at the 7-month window by calling every day, which wasn't a big deal for me. Some people don't want that kind of hassle, you know? I really like BCV, but after reading a lot of great reviews about SSR I honestly feel that we would be thrilled to stay there exclusively.

When we were evaluating whether or not to join DVC, we considered what our vacation plans were likely to be in the future. One of my "conditions" for living up north to be near family is that we go someplace warm every year. With four small children, we have found that WDW is a place where we can truly relax. We took them to D.C. to visit family last summer and, while we had a good time touring some of the museums, it didn't have nearly the same special quality that WDW did. You know the feeling when you need a vacation after your vacation?! I'm also hoping that the kids'll still enjoy family trips when they're teenagers, and then before you know it, we'll be vacationing at WDW with our grandchildren! So I think we'll more than get our money's worth out of the deal.

The point is that you have to analyze what you want to get out of vacations, where you're likely to want to take vacations, and whether DVC can meet those needs.

 

[skibum]

disney will cost ya $98/point for anywhere other than ssr.

I believe it is $92/point for the sold-out resorts, with 12 years less on the contracts.