Hey all you DVC'rs - why should I do this if it means less availability

[castlegazer]

I have been tossing around ownership for years now and always come back to a no. But this past month I have probably come the closest I ever been to making a resale offer, but then I started to think about what everyone says here about availability.

What I mean is, currently we make our Disney plans usually about three to four months in advance - never before that. Its always during different times of the year due to our current flexibility. So if I were to be a DVC member I would always be making my reservations with MS well within the non-home members windows and thus would have a very limited amount of availability, even in my home resort as I would try and buy reslae for VWL or BWV - (I know how hard this is).

So I got to thinking, I never, ever, have a problem making reservations for FtW cabins at that short of notice.

Tell me how hard it is to travel with short notice to your home resort, especially the smaller resorts. We don't travel in the summer to Florida.

 

[Pa@okw95]

You would not be a good candidate for ownership at DVC because of the way you make reservations. If you are happy staying at FW and with the way you make your reservations than keep doing it. You would have a head-ache trying to get something you want inside the 5 month period. It is tough enough at 7 months. Keep in mind there is no such thing as a home resort after 7 months, everyone's points are equal.

 

[CarolMN]

IMHO, DVC works best for those who can plan 10 - 11 months ahead of time. It will work OK most of the time for those who can plan at least 7 months in advance.

However, I think that unless you care very little where you stay, or are very flexible with your dates or are willing to pay extra points to stay at one of the non-DVC options, you will soon become frustrated with your membership if you can only plan 3 or 4 months ahead of time.

Also, if you can only plan a few months in advance, home resort makes absolutely no difference. If you do buy under those circumstances, chosse the resort with the lowest price and annual maintenance dues.

No one can really tell you with any certainty how easy or hard it is to get in 3 or 4 months ahead of time. Availbility changes so much that it is very hard to predict. You really just never know until you call to make the reservastion.

Probably not what you wanted to hear.

Best wishes -

 

[tjkraz]

First, if you always book on 3-4 months notice, your Home resort doesn't mean diddly. You might as well buy at OKW, which is often the cheapest resort to buy resale, and has the lowest dues in the program.

The reality is there are some times of year when you will always have trouble reserving at 3-4 months, and others when you would have zero problems. With DVC being a timeshare program, DVC sells enough points such that every room at every DVC resort COULD be booked solid for the entire year. But that means that members need to plan farther ahead to make sure they can get the dates / resort / room type they want.

So, in your case, the tradeoff becomes $$$ vs. convenience. If there's no way to change your travel patterns and start booking at LEAST 7 months ahead of time (ideally 9 or 10), I think DVC would be an expensive, frustrating experience for you.

On the other hand, if you're happy with your current accommodations and the price you are paying, then you have no need for DVC.

 

[castlegazer]

You know, its funny, but I had finally just come to the conclusion that I could justify the amount spent to gain a worthwhile ownership as we have started to spend more days at the resorts per visit - prior to having a child I would only spend a few nights per year at WDW due to having a condo out in Cocoa Beach. But then I started to really think about our patterns of travel for the past 3-4 years and prior to that when we didn't have a wee one in tow, and I realized that I would be doomed to make reservations. The farthest out I have ever made a WDW reservation was six months. I do not have a DVC'r mindset apparently.

Thank you for verifying what I was fearing. I do really like the FtW cabins and I also like the value that they represent.

Thanks guys. It was what I wanted to hear, because my DH would have been mighty ticked off next year if we were trying to book and we couldn't get in to where we wanted to after I convinced him that this was a good move.

 

[lovwdwalot]

You just never know about what kind of trouble you could have booking on a short amount of time before you travel. we made ressie at the VWL two months out from our travel date and we were able to get a studio. But before that we tried for a one bedroom at our home resort (BCV) two months out last year and we couldn't. Also both times we wanted to go in the second week in Augest. So you never know what you could book on a short time frame.

 

[Dean]

I would not recommend DVC for anyone routinely planning their trips less than 7 months out.

 

[kda]

We've been very satisfied with our DVC membership and infrequently book far in advance. We've never been there at any of the major holidays or school vacations, so that's not an issue for us, but would be for others.

Depends on the season you're going and how flexible you can be with resorts. We've routinely gotten OKW with 1 wk to 4 months notice in May, August, and late April. Also gotten VWL in May and August with a couple months notice.

We don't particularly care about the Epcot area (although we would like to stay there some time), so I don't usually even ask about them.

I always call 10-11 months out if we want VWL in December, and know that if we wanted to try for an Epcot resort during Food & Wine, I'd want to call at the 7 month window.

I'm just offering our perspective on the situation, and agree that you're asking the right questions.