Here's a non-controversial question!

[MN_DizNut]

I have a family of 3, me, my DW and our 8 yr old DD.

How many points would folks recommend?

Some guidelines:

no studios (need the full kitchen!)
most often would be just the 3 of us
trip to WDW no more than once a year(more likely once every 2 with points traded for other trips in between)
trips most often in February or the summer
home resort must be on WDW property, but not OKW (sorry Rich!)

Any thoughts???

Jon

WDW '85 offsite
DL '85
DL '87
WDW '89 offsite
WL '97
WL '97 (again!)
WH '99
WL '99
AStSp '99 (YUCKY!!!)
DCL/Poly Jun/July '02

 

[drusba]

For the time periods you are talking about, a 1BR at BWV ("preferred") or at VWL, which provide kitchens, w/d, and a large bathroom, would be 270 points a week.

 

[gscott8075]

Or, go for Sun-Fri and go for 150-200 points.

 

[CarolMN]

I won't make a recommendation, but maybe the 2002 points for a 1 bedroom at BWV & WLV will help you decide:

For BWV Standard View (in most cases you will need to call at the 11 month window to be assured of getting a standard view):
Dream Season Sun - Thur = 22, Fri & Sat = 50
Magic Season Sun - Thur = 24, Fri & Sat = 51

For BWV Preferred view or any view at WLV:
Dream Season Sun - Thur = 28, Fri & Sat = 56
Magic Season Sun - Thur = 30, Fri & Sat = 60

Dream Season is Feb 1-15, May 1-31, June 1-10, and August 16-31

Magic Season is Feb 16-28, March 1-23, April 7-30, June 11-30, July 1-31, Aug 1-15, and Nov 27-29

Hope that helps!

 

[Dumbo]

If you go to WDW every other year, the minimum 150 points should be fine for you. You can always add on more points later. I would buy the minimum 150 points at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge and then maybe 2 years from now you can buy some add on points at Beach Club Villas. Buying 150 points gives you 300 points every other year.

Dumbo

 

[MN_DizNut]

Think I might not have worded the question well...I have the books, and have spoken several times with my guide. I was thinking more in terms of what people have found out from their own usage patterns over time.

Also especially interested in hearing any reports of time share trades. Have they worked out OK for people? Would you consider it again? etc.

 

[LindaDVC]

We started with 210 points and have added on 3 times for our family of three. We now have 400 points.

We have had a lot of great vacations since joining!
Linda

Disneyland-'66,'81,
Car. Beach '89,
FW cabins 94,95
Joined the DVC 95 !
HH 9x, OKW 2x, BW 1x, Vero 2x, & Magic 2x

 

[Richyams]

I find that 430 points works well for me. You will have to add 25-100% for stay at BWV. I get a grand villa for 10-12 nights every year. You would need 800-900 or more points to do that at BWV.

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs", Karl Marx,This has failed every time it has been tried, why do we still have liberals?

 

[Pluto4President]

Yeh but rich, that doesn't include weekends right?

Just kidding!

<img border="0" src="http://www.raynorpools.com/ftp/plutoplate.gif" width="120" height="61">

"Walt Disney World... been there, done that, GOING BACK!"

Remember the Magic ºoº

 

[Deb]

We are a family of three - husband, 7 yr old son and myself. We started with 175 points at OKW with the plan to go once a year. Have added on 75 and now 50 more for a total of 300. We can go twice a year, Thanksgiving and early summer, in a one bedroom. Or three times a year by staying in a studio. We go when school is out.

 

[orr4444]

a grand villa would be good for you

 

[dianeschlicht]

We started with 230 points for our family of 4. We added 150 points so we could do some exchanges, and have done one to Hawaii which we have not taken yet. We like to take guest with us to WDW, so the extra points come in handy for that too. We usually get a 2BR, but have done Grand Villas too. When it is just the two of us, we do a 1BR. We can't stand the studios. Tried that once after joining, but really missed the amenities of the full size units.

Disneydiane

 

[chris1gill]

I really think 300 is a good number.. although we only own 250, I'm trying to add another 50 at BW... on the waitlist at Disney, so keeping my fingers crossed!!!

 

[MN_DizNut]

My thanks to all of you for the feedback. The more thinking I've done on this, the more affordable it is becoming. Historically, we like to stay in deluxe or home-away-from-home resorts and I kept tripping over the $2000-$3000 charge per week for room and then adding airfare and admission passes and had all kinds of trouble imagining how my fellow Minnesotans (most of whom I DID NOT recognize from my last Minnesota Forbes 400 issue!) could be affording that 2,3 or more times a year. Once I remembered that the 2-3K for the room charge goes away, things started falling in place pretty quickly.

Note to Diane: I'm anxious to hear of your Hawaii experience. We did Christmas there this past year, and can't wait to get back, so some of our future planning will be based on trading for Kauai resorts!

Jon

WDW '85 offsite
DL '85
DL '87
WDW '89 offsite
WL '97
WL '97 (again!)
WH '99
WL '99
AStSp '99 (YUCKY!!!)
DCL/Poly Jun/July '02

 

[Wayne]

We have the same. Family of 3 with 8 year old.
We bought 302 points at Boardwalk 5 years ago.
So far every year we have gone for a week either in July of September. Sometimes just the three of us, sometimes with a fourth.
We have used our points at both the Boardwalk and OKW.
We now have 464 points available for use this year.
If you don't plan on using your points for anything else, I would guess 270 points would be sufficient.
We originally bought 302 points so we could add a weekend at HH or Vero Beach every year

 

[Dean]

DVC is very limiting and expensive for exchanging, especially for every other year. I'd say consider buying 150 points and with banking, you should be able to go about every other year or slightly more and have a 1 Br for 8-9 nights. If you're looking at Premier time, maybe as many as 175 points to get 350 EOY. I'd then consider a different timeshare to use for exchanging, possibly one you can use part of the time. Specific recomendations would differen depending on your travel habits and desires but assuming you'll be limited to school holidays I'd consider something like DVC for 150-175 points and another timeshare like Marriott at HH.

If you plan to just buy DVC and trade out every other year, you're likely going to need a minimum of 270 points for $19940 with fees around $1000 or more per year. An alternative would be say HH Marriott at $6k with yearly fees of $550 and 150 DVC points at $10800 and $600. That gives you a total cost around $17500 with closing costs ($2500 less than just DVC) and yearly fees of around $1150 (about $80-150 more) but you get an extra high demand week you can rent out or exchange. Add to that other factors including that you would get $69 exchange fees for Marriott with internal Marriott exchange priority and of course membership in II which would be around $74 per year and access to getaways. You would also lose all the restrictions that DVC imposes on exchanges and could call II directly.

Other variations would give you buying a South Africa week for $1000-1500 including 6 years of RCI or say a MX or Caribbean week (1 BR) with a transfer fee of $75 or so and a purchase price of around $3000-4000 and fees of $400-550 per year. There are an endless array of similar permutations we could discuss.

What's best for you and your family, only you can decide. If there's a resort you will use a large portion of the time, that's a good place to start looking. It partly depends on when you want to travel, where you want to go and how flexible you are. DVC can be a good exchange option for certain situations on a limited basis but at EOY, it is not a reasonable exchange option for someone in your situation. Buy the points you will use at DVC consider something else for the alternate years.

Dean