how to decide which resort to purhase

[maearley98]

Hi All,
We're struggling to understand how to buy our points so that we can still have our 10 day vacations. We have two teenage sons so privacy is an issue. We looked at both the Boardwalk and the Beach Club Villas and really love this area. Can anyone make recommendations of how many points to buy? For now our vacations will continue in July or early Aug until the boys are out of college.

We usually do a summer vacation at a beach but even those have become very expensive!

Mary

 

[tinkgrl]

Mary,

Welcome to the boards & DVC!!! I'm new to this but will try to help. Well when mom & I bought we looked @ both BCV & BWV and like the dacore better @ BCV. Very bright & cheerful. BWV was nice too but alittle more subdue (sp?). As for points, you have to consider: what size accomendation you'd like to stay @ most of the time, also what you can afford & how often you'd like to be able to take a trip? We got enough for a 1 bedroom (between 210 & 220 points), we have 210 with a use year of February. There is only 2 of us but I am in a wheelchair & like to have the extra room. With 2 boys, maybe enough points for a 1 or 2 bedroom. Hope this helps! Good luck with your decision!

Allison

 

[JOC]

Click on the DVC Points Calculator at the top of the page and play around with dates and see how many points it takes for the timeframe you' d be going. July and early August is Magic Season so the points required will be high; roughly 400-470 points (depending on what resort) for a 10 night stay in a 2BR.

 

[JimC]

Well, the best advice I can give is to buy where you want to stay. 10 days during Magic season (July and early August) in a 1 bedroom is 360 points at BCV and BW, but only 284 at OKW. OKW is more laid back, but has larger units. If you went with a two bedroom at OKW, which are quite large, you need 386 points. A two bedroom at BCV runs 470 points at OKW. These point estimates are based on only two weekend nights on your ten day visit.

Welcome to the Boards and good luck with your decision.

 

[maearley98]

Okay, so let's say I need close to 400 points to vacation as we wish. To stay 10 days, 2 weeks in either BCV, BWV or ... Vero Beach. We will spend about 30,000 for this deed with no tax benfits other than the home equity loan. It'll take us approx 10 years to realize some savings. I'm good with that, but my major concern is the value of the vacation. We are interested in Disney for one reason only. I don't think you can really beat their quality. But my nagging concern is this, is my idea of a wonderful resort, outside of WDW, such as Vero or Hilton as good as other beachfront properties? We love oceanfront properties and we love the beach. Will we be happy with Disney beaches? I"m sure this is a matter of prefernce but some of these decisions will need to be made without seeing the resorts.

Thanks again for all the help we're getting with this. This board is a godsend for people like me!
Mary

 

[SlyHubby]

We love oceanfront properties and we love the beach. Will we be happy with Disney beaches?

can't speak for VB, but I don't think you'll be too excited with HH - we weren't.

I think that if you are looking for fantastic beachfront property, DVC is not the way to go. other timeshares do have great oceanfront resorts. DVC's attempt with VB is admittedly a failure.

Also, in your 2 weeks a year, if you avoid the DVC property Friday/Saturday that would reduce your point requirements a good chunk as the cost is roughly double the number of points for other days of the week.

Also, regarding tax benefits, the portion of dues attributable to real estate taxes is tax deductible (if you itemize).

 

[tinkgrl]

Mary,

If all you are interested in is beach HH or Vero & not going to disney once in awhile. DVC might not be for you. JMO!!! I've heard that that propoties are lovely. Going to HH in October. You might want into resale of points for HH or Vero instead of buying into a WDW DVC property. Ask others here for help on resale. Good luck with your decsion!

Allison

 

[CarolA]

The problem with the HH DVC resort is that is NOT on the beach (or really that NEAR the beach) I love HH and plan to sell my 50 HH points next year since I don't see me using the DVC there and I have upped by OKW points.

When I bought I had to decide if I was going to go to DISNEY enough to make it worthwhile. If you are planning on other beach type locations you might want to look at some other timeshares that you could trade into Orlando with. (I understand trading into DVC can be difficult, but there are some other very nice timeshares in the area.)

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by SlyHubby
can't speak for VB, but I don't think you'll be too excited with HH - we weren't.

VB is right on the ocean(see picture below in signature) . It is like you have your own private beach when your at VB,it is never crowded at all.

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Originally posted by SlyHubby

....DVC's attempt with VB is admittedly a failure.

What a bunch of baloney. We love our vacations to Vero Beach, and plan to stay there most often. It is a beautiful beachfront resort. It gives us the advantage of being able to stay at WDW on property for those years we decide to go to WDW and the beach which we go to the majority of the time. WE are very, very pleased that the resort was not expanded to include villas on the non-beach side of A1A, we like staying on the beach side.

If there were not nice beach options included as a part of the DVC offerring we would not have purchased. We have no intention of going to WDW for every single vacation. The combination of beach vacations and WDW is a wonderful combination for us.

I think it is extremely unfair and irresponsible to send message to new unaware members asking for information about DVC resorts to confuse the issue by falsely claiming Vero was a failure. Regardless of the overall rate of sales or whether expansion plans came to fruition, or some broad resort placement strategy for DVC, those issues have absolutely nothing to do with and individual purchasers choice as to whether Vero Beach DVC resort or HH resort for that matter is the right purchase decision for them individually.

Vero Beach was definitely the right purchase decision for us, we love it. We preferred Vero over HH because it is directly on the beach, because there was potential for nice vacation weather during christmas and spring break, beacuse the point structure is lower in the summer, and because we like combination vacations, a few days at WDW and a few days at the beach. However the beach at HH is much wider allowing from bike riding and there are many nice vacation activities on HH, including nice bike paths.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Dean]

If you're looking at 10 days with 2 weekends, you will likely never save money with just points alone. You're likely looking at a 2 BR unit so 450-540 points for most on property resorts. You could reduce that number by around 90 points if you look at resale at OKW or possibly BWV if you can plan ahead enough for a standard view unit. The main other savings would be if you eat in the room a lot, there can be a big difference in food costs. This is going to cost you upwards of $32000 and as much as $45000. Yearly maint fees will exceed $1800 per year early and will certainly increase. If you finance, the price will increase significantly accordingly.

Don't get me wrong, DVC is a great option but it is not particularly a money saver for most people unless your main comparison is renting the same type unit cash from Disney yearly. Something few people would ever do. It is the golden handcuff to a certain extent.

CaptainMidnight, VB is a great resort but from a sales and marketing standpoint, it was a failure, relatively speaking. Same could be said for HH to a large extent.

 

[SlyHubby]

I think it is extremely unfair and irresponsible to send message to new unaware members asking for information about DVC resorts to confuse the issue by falsely claiming Vero was a failure

yep, when anyone has anything to say that is not 100% optimistic about your "home" that's grounds for attack. I'm happy you like your home, but the simple fact is that VB is a Disney failure, plain and simple. you think they're offering $10 and $15/point for MB because they're selling like hotcakes? further, if you think that I'm the first person to post that "truth" you haven't been reading much.

sorry bud, but there's no crime in telling someone the truth - even if that truth is my opinion which you happen to disagree with. don't you think the "new unaware member" is entitled to everyones opinion even if it doesn't meet with your standards for happy talk?

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Originally posted by SlyHubby
yep, when anyone has anything to say that is not 100% optimistic about your "home" that's grounds for attack. I'm happy you like your home, but the simple fact is that VB is a Disney failure, plain and simple. you think they're offering $10 and $15/point for MB because they're selling like hotcakes? further, if you think that I'm the first person to post that "truth" you haven't been reading much.

sorry bud, but there's no crime in telling someone the truth - even if that truth is my opinion which you happen to disagree with. don't you think the "new unaware member" is entitled to everyones opinion even if it doesn't meet with your standards for happy talk?

Absolute crap. You do not have exclusive right to any so called truth, and it's wrong to present it as such or make false claims about facts that you don't have. Truth and an opinion are two different things. You can't even describe what the beach is like, you have so little knowledge of the Vero resort.

If you want to present the dissadvantages of Vero, fine. Labelling it your opinion and providing that to a potential owner is fine. But words like "fact", and "truth" are NOT consistent with presenting your opinion, happy talk or not IMO.

Yes, I've read plenty of unfounded Vero bashing, that doesn't provide reasonable dissadvantages of the resort which would be perfectly reasonable to present, just infantile ramblings and name calling....

But none of this helps the original poster with thier questions, and that should be the intent. If you want to know whether Vero or HH are good purchases, talk to owners who regularly vacation there and ask them how they enjoy thier beach vacations.

Good day.

CaptainMidnight, VB is a great resort but from a sales and marketing standpoint, it was a failure, relatively speaking. Same could be said for HH to a large extent.

That's my point, Dean. The potential owner isn't asking about a marketing and sales perspective of the two offsite resorts DVC tried, they are asking is it would be a nice resort for thier beach vacations. It is missleading to present marketing and sales views as something else to a potential new purchaser.

Here's some nice pictures of resorts other than Vero:
http://www.wdwig.com/g_bcv.htm
I hope they have Vero pictures soon.

 

[DVCPAT]

I think VB has promoted DVC sales at all resorts. We may not have purchased our first DVC contract if an oceanfront resort was not part of DVC.

Most people who sit down with a DVC salesperson are interested in an onsite location. I dont own at VB, I think it's a great addition in the DVC resorts.

 

[mmmcq]

I'm not clear from your original post, Mary, if you want WDW plus the added benefit of a beach vacation or just the beach vacation. Most folks have taken it to be the latter.

Even though your boys are teens there are still wonderful things happening at WDW for them. My 14yr old's tastes have definitely changed even from our trip last August to this past week. She wanted to spend more time in Epcot and MGM. She had no interest in AK and little interest in MK (except Thunder MTN, Splash MTN and Space MTN). She wanted to do Downtown Disney and roam the Boardwalk at night. We tried to balance her interests with those of her 12yr old and 3yr old sisters. It's tough, but doable. We didn't get to the water parks...but they are a draw as well. On our next trip in April '04 we intend to spend two days offsite at Universal and then a week at WDW.

Last year we spent 5 nights at the Yacht Club on our DVC points and then 5 nights at Vero Beach. Our trip to VB was a bit of a let-down for a number of reasons, but the beach was lovely - really and so convenient to get to from the rooms or villas. All three of the girls love the beach and pool and surf. The restaurants on site were good and the location is reasonable although a long drive from WDW. We are, however, used to spending 1-2 weeks at a beach in the Northeast each summer (RI, NJ or Martha's Vineyard). Vero doesn't stack up to those resorts we've stayed in or rented homes at........BUT we didn't buy Disney for the beach. We bought our DVC points because we love the WDW parks and we will occasionally take advantage of Vero and/or Hilton and maybe exchange for a skiing trip out West or go to Disneyland Paris.

In terms of number of points if you decide this is right for you... We started with 170 and it became clear recently that this wasn't enough. We need two bedrooms for privacy reasons as well. We just added on an additional 230 points and now own at both Beach Club Villas and Boardwalk Villas. Our intent is to reserve a 2BR unit every other year for 5-7 nights at each resort. Or we can save/bank our points to use for a Grand Villa to bring family and friends....or we'll take a cruise.

For us this was absolutely the right decision. You may need to doa bit more thinking and talking about the pros and cons. Hope this helps.

 

[Richyams]

VB was a bitter, brutal failure. There is no question about it. It was such a brutal failure that not only was "the other side of the raod" never realized, this side of the road is now only a shadow of its original plan. It was such a humilating failure that it got Disney out of the off site timeshare business all together. Disney sold one property that was officially announced as a DVC resort and also another one that was pretty close.

There is no denying that VB was a brutal failure for Disney, any other opinion is laughable.

I do agree that the off site resorts have had some positive effect on sales at WDW DVC resorts, sure. Furthermore, VB is a beautiful resort, one of the finest on the planet. Personally, I am VERY happy to have VB as an option.

That doesn't change the fact that it was a brutal and devastating failure.

I get a kick out of cm's protestations though.

Let me ask you something specific:

If horrible, dissapointing sales at HH and VB were not to blame for Disney getting out of the off site timeshare business, what was?

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Originally posted by Richyams
.... I do agree that the off site resorts have had some positive effect on sales at WDW DVC resorts, sure. Furthermore, VB is a beautiful resort, one of the finest on the planet. Personally, I am VERY happy to have VB as an option.

This was what the poster was asking about, what type of resort is it and would they enjoy thier beach vacations there, with the resorts being up to Disney standards.

They were not asking for the marketing tactics of building offsite resorts, which apparently invites the repetative infantile rambling and vero bashing games that some posters seem to take such pleasure participating in. Here they come out of the woodwork.....

 

[Disney Doll]

The OPs question wasn't to debate the failure of HH ro VB, it was to get opinions on how many points he/she should buy to be able to have some nice vacations. Let's get back on topic people, and if you all want to debate the success/failure of HH/VB, start a new thread.

To the OP, take a look at the points needed to have the type of vacation you want both on and off WDW property. Based on your family unit. I think a 2BR is the better choice. Your children are older, and will be a little too big to be sharing the pullout couch in a 1BR or sleeping on a blow up mattress or whatever. Ideally, a 2 BR, where Mom and Dad have the MBR and children sleep in the 2 beds in the 2nd BR is your best bet. So take a look at the point values for whatever resorts you're interested in, and take it from there. If you're interested in alternating a WDW vacation with a beach vacation every other year, then you need to look at the point values for whatever WDW property you're interested in and whatever beach property you're interested in. Determine the time of year you'll be staying, the size unit you'll be in and purchase the highest point total for what you'll need. One hint that DH and I used before we bought a 2nd contract...if we were doing a more than 5 day vacation at WDW, we would spend the weekend nights(which are the highest point total nights) in a different on-site resort other than a DVC resort and pay cash, and then move to the DVC resort and stay there Sunday through Thursday night. That way we conserved points, we got a little "taste" of other resorts without breaking the bank, and WDW makes moving very easy,IMHO. Now, it's a little different if you're going to be at VB or HH...I have never been to eother, so I don't know what other accomodations are available in those areas or if it would be worthwhile to stay in them and then move to a DVC property. I do have friends who have stayed at VB and they said it was a very nice resort.

We purchased our first DVC contract in 1997, and our second in 2002, for a total of 430 points. Our home resort for both contracts is OKW. We have never regretted the decision,we love the flexibility, we have been able to stay in all the WDW DVC properties without any difficulty.

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Originally posted by Disney Doll
The OPs question wasn't to debate the failure of HH ro VB, it was to get opinions on how many points he/she should buy to be able to have some nice vacations. Let's get back on topic people, and if you all want to debate the success/failure of HH/VB, start a new thread.

AGREED!!! THANK YOU!!!!

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by CaptainMidnight
They were not asking for the marketing tactics of building offsite resorts, which apparently invites the repetative infantile rambling and vero bashing games that some posters seem to take such pleasure participating in.

Well said...........

The OP didn't ask about sales and marketing strategy.I don't think you can get much closer to the ocean than VB.