Hidden Costs???

[kahluacream]

Newbie here... DH and I are thinking about joining the DVC. We're wondering if any members could comment on whether or not you've ever incurred any unexpected fees through DVC.

I think I understand how the annual dues work, and that they normally increase each year.

Aside from that, are there any other extra "resort taxes", legal costs, or settlement fees after you sign up? (We are planning to buy through Disney.)

TIA!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Hidden fees? You bet, PAPs every 18 months or so, Disney Dining Experience everytime we get new PAPs, then you still have to pay for the dining. And you would think we had all the souveniers we would ever need.

We spend a lot every year on Disney that we wouldn't have spent if we hadn't joined DVC. But we're having a great time!!!

Annual maintenance fees have gone up a few cents each year, a few times they went down.

If you trade out to other time shares or the Disney Cruise Line, you will have to pay some booking fees.

 

[Forever a Princess]

No, no hidden costs.

Cost for DVC is the amount you pay for your points and the yearly maintenance fees.

 

[Hibernians]

I'm new to Disboards too and still haven't figured out the acronyms. What is PAPs ? Also, when someone refers to DH or DW I Understand its the husband or wife but what does the D stand for - Disney or Dear ?

Hidden fees? You bet, PAPs every 18 months or so, Disney Dining Experience everytime we get new PAPs, then you still have to pay for the dining. And you would think we had all the souveniers we would ever need.

We spend a lot every year on Disney that we wouldn't have spent if we hadn't joined DVC. But we're having a great time!!!

Annual maintenance fees have gone up a few cents each year, a few times they went down.

If you trade out to other time shares or the Disney Cruise Line, you will have to pay some booking fees.

 

[Caskbill]

PAP = Premium Annual Pass. AP = the regular Annual Pass. DVC members get a discount on these passes if they want to purchase them. Since owning DVC makes going to Disney a lot easier, and often staying longer, the AP's make sense for a lot of people.

To answer your question, there are absolutely no hidden fees. Aside from the original purchase price and annual dues, there are no other fees to use your points at DVC resorts. No fees to bank or borrow, no fees to make reservations. No taxes to pay, thus no sales tax, no resort tax etc (regular WDW hotel rooms have an 11.5% to 12% tax applied).

You may also use your points at some places other than DVC resorts and have no fees. This includes most WDW hotels, DL hotels, or even Paris or Hong Kong and there are no fees at all if staying in these places. In fact if staying at Paris Disneyland, you also get free park passes and free breakfast.


Now in other cases, there are fees you might want to know about, but all of these are optional items.

The smallest fee is it costs $0.35 per call to use your in room telephone for local calls. (Non-owners are charged $0.75)

Optionally you can purchase extra items to use during your stay, such as extra towels, soap, etc. Most users don't do this and simply use the washer/dryer to 'freshen' up their towels, and then get the regular clean set (free) on their 4th day. Some users however want fresh towels every day so they can get them if desired, for a fee.

Optionally you can pay to have your room cleaned daily rather than just have the standard Trash/Towel cleaning (or full cleaning, depending on your length of stay) which takes place on day 4, day 8, etc.

There are fees to use your points elsewhere such as for the Cruise Lines, or non-Disney hotels, Interval International exchanges, and such. In these cases these fees are generally in the $75 - $95 range, per reservation.

Finally, it's not a fee, but, if you didn't know, you may valet park for free at the DVC-resorts which have valet service (BWV, VWL, BCV), but it is still definitely appropriate to tip. Of course, all the resorts have self-park also, which is free.

Finally, keep in mind, that DVC resorts are considered no different than any of the WDW resorts and DVC-members staying there do receive all the regular 'perks' for WDW resort guests. This includes things such as free parking at the theme parks, Early Entry, etc.

 

[Pa@okw95]

Newbie here... DH and I are thinking about joining the DVC. We're wondering if any members could comment on whether or not you've ever incurred any unexpected fees through DVC.

I think I understand how the annual dues work, and that they normally increase each year.

Aside from that, are there any other extra "resort taxes", legal costs, or settlement fees after you sign up? (We are planning to buy through Disney.)

TIA!

No , no hidden costs that is in the context of the question, there are many many costs that do not come with the deal that very very few think about when buying into DVC. I think I may write about these in a seperate thread.

 

[erikthewise]

No hidden costs, but some who buy may not have adequately considered the annual dues. As has been mentioned numerous times, the cost of annual dues over the life of the contract will be more than the initial buyin cost, probably 2 to 3 times as much.

 

[kahluacream]

Thanks for all of the replies! So if I don't request extra cleaning/towels and use my cell phone instead of the resort phone (charges mentioned by CaskBill), could I really check out with absolutely no charge on my resort bill? How cool is that!!

No , no hidden costs that is in the context of the question, there are many many costs that do not come with the deal that very very few think about when buying into DVC. I think I may write about these in a seperate thread.

You've got me really curious now! By costs that do not come with the deal, are you referring to things like theme park tix? Come on, don't tease us!

 

[CarolMN]

Thanks for all of the replies! So if I don't request extra cleaning/towels and use my cell phone instead of the resort phone (charges mentioned by CaskBill), could I really check out with absolutely no charge on my resort bill? How cool is that!!

Yes, you can absolutely check out with no charges. We often do. Obviously, you can't charge food and/or souvenirs back to your room if you don't want to owe anything at check out.

You've got me really curious now! By costs that do not come with the deal, are you referring to things like theme park tix? Come on, don't tease us!

Not sure what Pa has in mind, but here are my thoughts:

DVC only takes care of your lodging. You still have to arrange and pay for transportation, tickets, meals, souvenirs, etc.

Many DVC members end up treating family and friends to "free" lodging. Most would not even consider doing that if it weren't for DVC. They also tend to go to WDW more often after DVC than they did before DVC. Many "upgrade" their accomodations to larger units and thus "spend" more points than they originally planned to spend.

In the end, I suspect many DVC members end up spending more money on their WDW vacations than they ever did before DVC - even though they originally justified their purchase as a way to "save money".

Best wishes -

 

[DisneyTarheel]

Don't forget about the potential for a special assesment in the event a particular resort gets hit with an extraordinary expense. Not sure if there has ever been one, but the right is there.

 

[Disney Doll]

Don't forget about the potential for a special assesment in the event a particular resort gets hit with an extraordinary expense. Not sure if there has ever been one, but the right is there.

But that's not really "hidden" because we are aware that it can happen, even though it hasn't yet.

Some things I have noticed about DVC ownership:
~I buy an Annual Pass(AP)which is more expensive than most other ticket medium, because I go more often
~I spend more on airfare yearly because I go more often
~I spend more on souvenirs yearly because I go more often
~I have more expenses because I go more often
~We spend $$ on car rental because we don't have to come up with that big "chunk of change" to pay for the room anymore. Having it taken out monthly is really quite easy.

Dues go up pretty much every year..there was one or two years that they actually went down a bit, but the increases are pretty marginal, IMHO. Others do disagree with me on that opinion, and think the increases are large.

I own at OKW and we had the higest percentage increase for 2006, and it added $10/month to our dues payment, which is negligible IMHO.

 

[Dale-n-Chip]

Add-on-itis!!!

At the first mention of DVC at DL, I started prepping DH for our eventual add-on there. Here he was thinking we bought the perfect number of points. . . that lasted about a month!