Is DVC a good fit for annual DL visitors?

[forevercruising]

Hello!

We are on the verge of purchasing 160 pts. at SSR, but, unlike most DVC'ers, we plan to use our points mostly at Disneyland, not Disney World. We've done some number-crunching, and it does save us money in the grand scheme of things, but, I keep reading posts that say things like, "If you don't plan on going to WDW every year/other year or so, DVC is not a good fit."

We are aware of the "risk" of changing points on the DL points charts, unlike the DVD resorts. We are a bit uneasy about that, but, at this point we are feeling as if we are willing to take the risk that our 160 pts. will provide us with an annual or every other year vacation at the Grand Californian at DL.

Also, one concern is whether we should wait to see if DL ever builds a DVC on site; however, that is apparently not in the near future (yes, there are rumors, but who really knows???) and we have two big DL trips planned already, the cost of which could supplement much of our DVC purchase.

So, are we truly crazy to buy in to DVC if we plan to frequent DL, not WDW?

Any comments? Any advice from others in our situation?

Thanks much, in advance!

 

[kjjlouie]

We use our points at the Grand Californian all of the time. However, we don't stay an entire week because we are really close. Beware, the point police will soon take over your post and tell you that using your points outside of the DVC properties is a bad value. If you buy, use your points the way you want to. This will provide the intrinsic value that you get from ownership. Just as long as you are alright with not having the condo style set up. Take daily housekeeping into consideration and find peace in the fact that the rack rate for your room at the Grand is expensive for non owners.

It's worth it as long as you are doing what you want to do.

I've gotta go, I know the point police are right behind me waiting to post.

Good Luck

 

[Dean]

A couple years ago Disney vacation Club changed the points for Disneyland making them more advantageous. By all accounts this was a temporary change but no one knows for sure were. Currently it's about a break-even overall. Given the possibility that to a resort may be added there, I would definitely wait and see if that happens. Certainly anyone that plans to visit Disneyland as their main usage should own there. So I wait to see if they add a resort there in next year or two.

 

[Lynne M]

Sorry if I'm going to sound like the 'point police', or a broken record (I've done similar responses in other threads), but my concerns don't have anything to do with value. Right now, the point requirements for DL resorts ARE a good value.

But, that could change at any time. Point costs at the DVC resorts are essentially fixed for the life of the contract. They can adjust the dates of the seasons, but they can't increase the total number of points required - if they increase the points needed, say, for a 2 bedroom in holiday season, they'd need the decrease the points needed for some other room type and/or date. This is one of the great selling points of DVC; you're locking in your resort costs for decades to come.

That is NOT the case with the non-DVC resorts (including the DL resorts). The point costs are renegotiated annually. At the WDW non-DVC resorts, the point costs are far higher than the DVC resorts, and have gone up annually.

Right now, DL is keeping their point costs at a lower level, I assume that's being done to boost occupancy. What if their occupancy goes up, and they decide they want to go back to higher point requirements? There is absolutely nothing in our contracts to prevent them from doing that. And nothing to prevent them from taking away the right to stay there on points.

So, you could buy a nice contract today and use it to stay at the DL resorts, but would you be happy if, in 5 or 10 years, you needed to buy more points to have the same vacation? And maybe need to add-on again in 5 more years?

That's way too uncertain a situation for me. Go with Dean's advice, and wait for a DL DVC.

 

[kend58]

You have two upcoming trips as offsets against purchase price correct?

You have intentions of using the DL hotels for the forseeable future?

You would likely buy DVC at DL when it come into existence correct?

You could afford for your WDW DVC to be worthless tommorow?
(I say this because you are buying something you have no intention of using in it's primary manner and Disney could change things to render it useless to you)

If the answer to all of the above is yes then buy and use your points as you see fit and feel safe in the knowledge that in the worst case scenario you will be OK. If the answer to any of these is no then IMHO more thought and research are necessary.

 

[wildernessDad]

There may be a DVC resort at or near Disneyland soon. That is in the rumor mill anyway. It is not a sure thing. Perhaps you'd want to wait a bit, if you can, to see?

 

[kjjlouie]

Yes, the point values may increase, but the occupancy rate at these three hotels is well above industry standards. They are thinking of adding more hotels as opposed to upgrading Disney's California Adventure to tap into the lucrative contributions from their resorts.

 

[grizbuzz]

We're annual DL visitors and we just put a down payment on AKL a couple days ago. Hopefully, DVC realizes that there are members over in Disneyland territory and will keep the points reasonable until they eventually open a DVC here. Or else we'll be very sad

 

[crisi]

If you've run the numbers, save money on your usage patterns, and are willing to take the risks, I think you've sold yourself. The two risks are: DVC changes the points for DL hotels to be less advantageous and DVC opens up a DL DVC in the next few years that is difficult to get at the seven month window (if they do open a California resort, they would probably make DL Hotel points much less advantageous). The other risk is that although DVC currently holds its value, its possible that it won't and you will want to sell and not get your money out.

 

[moseral]

I have 200 points at SSR and have used most of them to stay at Grand Californian. We LOVE the hotel, since it's located between the parks, and staying there really adds a lot to our enjoyment. Before DVC, we rarely stayed there due to the higher cost of the rooms. Since we don't plan to visit WDW each year, using the points at DL works really well for us, even though the "numbers police" (I love that might say otherwise. All I can say is that we feel that DVC has been well worth the cost, even though we use the points at DL. If you want to stretch your points, then stay Sunday through Thursday, as a weekend stay is about double the points of a mid-week stay.

 

[6bowmans]

We stayed in a 2-bedroom at the Disney Hotel last October and used about 40 more points than the equivalent at Disney World. The Disney Hotel unit was just a nice as any DVC 2-bedroom except that it did not have a full kitchen. The Disney Hotel is not as close to the parks as the Grand Californian - maybe an extra 5-10 minute walk. However, if you factor in that we drove to California from Arizona, we saved a huge amount in lieu of six airline tickets to Orlando. We will definitely use our points again at DL.

 

[rinkwide]

...DVC opens up a DL DVC in the next few years that is difficult to get at the seven month window...

Indeed. You've got to feel for the Disneyland regulars who are buying points now but ultimately won't end up with the home resort booking advantage when the DLR DVC is finally built.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

If you are serious about using your points exclusively @ DL...why are you paying a premium price per point by buying direct from Disney? Why not get a resale @ OKW or VB for a lot less money? Quite often there are contracts available that have two or three years worth of points that are basically free as the maintenance fees have already been paid by the previous owner. Some of the best contracts never even show up on the resale brokers website because they will contact someone immediately to let them know a new contract has come their way that fits their needs. Plus, you wouldn't have to buy a 160 pt. minimum unless you really wanted to. I'd definitely research this possibility a bit more before I signed on the dotted line. Good Luck!

 

[squidmo]

I live in Northern California, I recently decided to purchase a small resale contract that would fit my needs for a every-three-years trip to WDW. From all the rumors out there DVC at DL is going to happen, and I think for a few years at least it's going to be really tough to get the reservations you want unless you are an owner. So, I decided to wait to buy a large contract until a DL DVC is available. There are a couple of advantages that I could see to getting a small contract now, and then a larger DL contract when available:

1) Disney usually offers new properties to members first, so I'll get a jump on those DL DVC sales

2) I can structure my large contract in a more flexible way- I'm planning to buy three 40 or 50 point contracts rather than one big one, so that I could sell them or give them to the kids in the future without having to sell or give one big contract

3) I can buy exactly the points I need. Looking at the point charts and my vacation patterns, I think I probably only want about 120 - 140 points. Getting my first contract through Disney would have required 160.

4) If they increase the points requirements for the DL hotels, before a DL DVC becomes available, I'm still OK, because the contract fits my WDW vacationing plans. When I first looked into DVC a couple of years ago, the points for the DL hotels were outrageous (something like 70 points a night for the Grand Californian), so I just wasn't willing to risk long-term planning of trips to DL without the fixed point charts a DL DVC will bring.

 

[kend58]

I live in Northern California, I recently decided to purchase a small resale contract that would fit my needs for a every-three-years trip to WDW. From all the rumors out there DVC at DL is going to happen, and I think for a few years at least it's going to be really tough to get the reservations you want unless you are an owner. So, I decided to wait to buy a large contract until a DL DVC is available. There are a couple of advantages that I could see to getting a small contract now, and then a larger DL contract when available:

1) Disney usually offers new properties to members first, so I'll get a jump on those DL DVC sales

2) I can structure my large contract in a more flexible way- I'm planning to buy three 40 or 50 point contracts rather than one big one, so that I could sell them or give them to the kids in the future without having to sell or give one big contract

3) I can buy exactly the points I need. Looking at the point charts and my vacation patterns, I think I probably only want about 120 - 140 points. Getting my first contract through Disney would have required 160.

4) If they increase the points requirements for the DL hotels, before a DL DVC becomes available, I'm still OK, because the contract fits my WDW vacationing plans. When I first looked into DVC a couple of years ago, the points for the DL hotels were outrageous (something like 70 points a night for the Grand Californian), so I just wasn't willing to risk long-term planning of trips to DL without the fixed point charts a DL DVC will bring.

Squidmo - congratulations

OP looks like the analysis works for at least one DL visitor