Is DVC RIGHT For Me?? Help....

[ptriotsfan]

Ok, Here is my situation... Its my wife, myself and we have three children 8,5,4. We intend on going to WDW every 2-3 years, We certainly prefer deluxe accommodations. i know that booking outside of Disney isn't advised but we will likely attempt do that several times within the 50 year window. My only concern is... my wife is a school teacher and we will likely only be traveling during busy times ( Feb, April, June, July, Aug, December ) due to her schedule. We love WDW, recently returned from a 1 week stay at the POLY in April and it was amazing. Crowds weren't as bad as i expected during our stay. Cant wait to go back! I'm thinking BLT due to monorail access. Not looking to buy til March 2011. Any thoughts....

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

Break out excel and do the math. You've got 2010 and 2011 point charts, so you will know how many points you will need.

Once you have that you can run the cost numbers.

For us it was easy. My wife is not teaching anymore so we can go whenever we want and can go at different times to see different things.

We went for mothers day weekend to see flower and garden at epcot and are going for anotherfive night stay in December to see the world at Christmas.

 

[ACDSNY]

I think with a family of 5 you'll find DVC will give you a better value as so many of the regular hotel rooms are only for 4. By banking and borrowing you could buy half or a third of the points needed to go every 2 or 3 years.

 

[brenalexacamp]

DO IT! I bought in in October and we already went in Feb, have a trip for July scheduled, and a quick- out of the blue trip just me and my 20yr old for F&W. Wish I had more points- love the flexibility of calling and saying "I'm coming down" find a cheap airfare-

 

[ptriotsfan]

Thanks for the great input. We are 90% sure we are in come March 2011. My only concern is not so much the crowds during the times where we will be there but the cost of airfare. We were there in April and it costs our family 3000 dollars just to get there and back. April school Vacation week. We live in RI. Thats crazy!!

 

[Dean]

Ok, Here is my situation... Its my wife, myself and we have three children 8,5,4. We intend on going to WDW every 2-3 years, We certainly prefer deluxe accommodations. i know that booking outside of Disney isn't advised but we will likely attempt do that several times within the 50 year window. My only concern is... my wife is a school teacher and we will likely only be traveling during busy times ( Feb, April, June, July, Aug, December ) due to her schedule. We love WDW, recently returned from a 1 week stay at the POLY in April and it was amazing. Crowds weren't as bad as i expected during our stay. Cant wait to go back! I'm thinking BLT due to monorail access. Not looking to buy til March 2011. Any thoughts....

If you just buy the number of points you'll use for DVC and use other options for non Disney trips you should find a good value compared to an every other year (EOY) week in a deluxe resort. If you stray much from that plan you will quickly move to a situation where DVC doesn't make sense.

 

[bookwormde]

If BLT is you resort then buy from DVC when you are ready, but take time to make an informed decision, and always check out the resale market, if an older resort is a possibilty since you can save 10-40% (or get 10-40% more points)

bookwormde

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

Teacher in the household here, too. For the mostpart, this has meant that we've grown accustomed to the heat of going in July/August every year. We have, though, taken trips at Christmas and Spring Break as well.

To be honest, the intense summer heat does take some getting used to. However, we enjoy the fact that there are longer hours in the summer. For us, we like the flexibility of going to the parks in the morning, relaxing at the resort during the afternoon/dinner, then having lots of time at night to head back to the parks again.

It's just the two of us, so we have a little more flexibility when we travel. We've also been able to find good air fares and make a few long-weekend trips at other times of year. We went for a 4-night trip at Halloween, for example. We're doing the same for Memorial Day weekend this year.


Be sure to tell your guide how you think you will be vacationing for the first few years of your membership. Ours was very good at helping us figure out a number of points to start with. We've since added on, but that was because our vacationing style changed over time. For just the two of us, we originally purchased enough points for one week in a one bedroom each year. Without ever staying in a one bedroom, we then found that a studio was perfectly comfortable for us, and we got used to going for two weeks each year. Then we tried a trip with some friends, and decided we wanted to add enough points to do a two-bedroom for one week and the studio for a second week.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Ok, Here is my situation... Its my wife, myself and we have three children 8,5,4. We intend on going to WDW every 2-3 years, We certainly prefer deluxe accommodations. i know that booking outside of Disney isn't advised but we will likely attempt do that several times within the 50 year window. My only concern is... my wife is a school teacher and we will likely only be traveling during busy times ( Feb, April, June, July, Aug, December ) due to her schedule. We love WDW, recently returned from a 1 week stay at the POLY in April and it was amazing. Crowds weren't as bad as i expected during our stay. Cant wait to go back! I'm thinking BLT due to monorail access. Not looking to buy til March 2011. Any thoughts....

Like Dean said, only buy as many points as you need every two or three years using banking and borrowing. Find another timeshare to use for trading out to non-DVC locations. If you get a newer, less experienced guide they will convince you that trading DVC for non-DVC locations is a great deal, easy to do, no problem with short notice. I wouldn't count on it. If you get a very seasoned guide, they may really listen to what you are saying.

You have time to find out all there is to find out about DVC if you aren't planning on buying until March 2011. Do your homework before you sign on the dotted line.

 

[lisareniff]

Although we are not teachers, we have my oldest is now in middle school and we forsee many years of only going during break for us. The fights are very expensive during break weeks.

With 5 in your family it is a good idea to buy DVC if you plan on going at least every 2 years (every 3 could work if you plan very carefully).

It's really not very complicated to decide what you want to buy..

Home resort - 7 at WDW to choose from! Don't be afraid of buying resale! If you need to go during breaks choose the resort you most want to say.

How many Points - For evey-other-year, of course you would need half the points of your normal vacation (then throw in a couple more for good measure)

Use year - This is about the timing of when you get your points. Decide the other two first.

Look at a couple cost of buy-in and amount of points used for your different home resort choices to see if one is more cost effective. A very simple way I look at it...

Say a BCV Resale is $83 per point is good until 2042 = $2.59 per point per year
Annual Fees (this year) $5.15
Cost of each point (this year) = $7.74

One week vacation in the summer in a 2 bedroom=350 points =$2709

HTH

 

[Dean]

Like Dean said, only buy as many points as you need every two or three years using banking and borrowing. Find another timeshare to use for trading out to non-DVC locations. If you get a newer, less experienced guide they will convince you that trading DVC for non-DVC locations is a great deal, easy to do, no problem with short notice. I wouldn't count on it. If you get a very seasoned guide, they may really listen to what you are saying.

You have time to find out all there is to find out about DVC if you aren't planning on buying until March 2011. Do your homework before you sign on the dotted line.

There are several issues with relying on the guides. Other than the ones that have non DVC timeshare experience, mostly simply don't know enough to guide you appropriately for such situations. Plus their job is to sell you and sell you as many points as possible. I think the better guides, which may have been around longer, may at times do a better job of directing one more appropriately for the individual circumstance but it's too hit or miss to rely on.

Other timeshares may be a good option for the OP, I simply don't know enough about their other wishes or situations to say so. However, it's very clear there are several other choices for non DVC options all of which are far better than buying DVC for those options.

 

[ptriotsfan]

Thanks for all the input, Much appreciated. Looks like we will be buying in March 2011. Looking forward to it! Because my wife teaches and we will be traveling mostly in Feb, * April, June, July, Aug, and Christmas Break... what would be the most ideal use yr/month to request? Im thinking Dec or Feb? Thoughts....??

 

[Dean]

Thanks for all the input, Much appreciated. Looks like we will be buying in March 2011. Looking forward to it! Because my wife teaches and we will be traveling mostly in Feb, * April, June, July, Aug, and Christmas Break... what would be the most ideal use yr/month to request? Im thinking Dec or Feb? Thoughts....??

Unless the majority of your travel will be in Feb or Dec, April is likely the best month for you overall as I suspect most of your travel will be spring break or in the summer. Dec and Feb are fine too. Ultimately it really depends on when most of your travel is going to occur.

 

[corpcomp]

We have school winter Breaks in Feb so our Feb use year is just right.

If money is a concern, buy resale. For example 160 points (the minimum contract DVC will sell to you) at BCV is about $115 per point right now (and yes DVC wil sell you any resort if they have buy back points in inventory).

Through resale you can get the same contract for about $85 or a savings of $30 per point or $4800 in total savings (less the $350 resale closing cost).

Of course, who knows what the prices will be in 2011 - hopefuly for us current owners, the prices will go back up (which will really hurt those on the Euro which is tanking). Heck by 2011-2012 we might all be able to buy castles in Europe for practically nothing!

 

[robinb]

Another thing that you will need to consider is if you will be OK in a 1-bedroom or if you will require a 2-bedroom. At the moment only AKV and BLT 1-bedrooms will hold 5 people (2 in the master, 2 on the fold out and 1 on the sleeper chair). If you think you may be OK with a 1-bedroom then you will probably want to buy at one of those two resorts.