Is Dvc right for me?

[Andrew*A]

Hi, my family are huge Disney fans and we have just come home from our 12th WDW trip. We are considering buying into DVC and are trying to work out of this is viable for us. It's for me, my wife and two daughters, 5 & 11 years.
We normally go to Disney every other year and stay for 2 weeks. However we have also gone twice in one year in the past, but this is not a regular occurrence.
Having looked at DVC, we have worked out that 120 points would get us a two week stay in most of the resorts every other year during the summer hols.
We would generally be tied to the school holidays until the girls leave school.
We intend to pay for the points outright and not finance through Disney. It also looks like we would have to bank points on the years we don't go, to pay for our stay the following year.

Is anyone in a similar position and if so, how is the membership working for you. This is a huge decision and any assistance would be appreciated

 

[happyj]

Hi Andrew
We have been going to Disney since 97 when our daughter was 7 and we also love it. We bought DVC In 2005
And wish we had bought earlier.
I don't know where you stay now but for us it meant we could stay in beautiful resorts which without DVC we could not if done.
We now enjoy going on our own as our daughter is now married.
we go every year sometimes more than once and we have added on to our points 3 times
Feel free to ask any questions

 

[craigkerstiens]

We were in somewhat of a similar position, though we've recently had a few more trips in recent years for no particular reason. Our logic was that we would likely be going for at least the next 10-20 years probably every other year. We've stayed at a mix of boardwalk, port orleans, caribbean beach, coronado springs, with our favorite easily being the boardwalk. Our logic was that if we can go every year or every other year, and spend about the same as we would on one of the more moderate hotels then why not. We only just bought in nearly a year ago, but have already had our first trip and love the fact we can stay at the hotel we love for convenience and experience, but then it doesn't break our budget like it normally would. Oh we also bought resale, which made it seem much more reasonable overall. The hard part then is simply picking your home resort.

 

[Andrew*A]

At the moment we are trying to decide between buying direct from Disney, or to buy resale points.

The question we have is,
If we buy 250 resale points at Saratoga Springs, will these points still have the same value when used against a deluxe resort. So just to clarify, does 1 point hold the same value regardless of which resort we stay at?

This may be a stupid question but I can't find the answer. Thanks.

 

[happyj]

We have most of our points in saratoga a few in BCV and AKL the difference is at your home resort you can book 11 months in advance others at 7 months.We like to stay at BCV and so far have never had a problem but we say we would stay at any resort they are all lovely.
Each resort has a different point chart e.g.
August 16-31 saratoga studio 106 points
................... BCV studio 120 Points
we have nearly always stayed in a studio which for the 3 of us was fine.we have rented 2 bed when we were generous to family but would not do it again they didn't appreciate the use of our points

 

[saintrob]

We've been going to WDW since 2001 and bought into DVC in 2012. We're up to our 23rd trip this summer and we only wish we'd bought in sooner. We have 220 points at AKL although we've yet to use the points to stay here. We go twice a year athough we sneaked an extra trip in this year. We normally use our points for a studio although we did bank our 2013 allocation and used them for a 1 bedroom at the Boardwalk for Christmas.

Do your research carefully - there's a great deal of info on here. I've always been able to get my choice of resort at 7 months even during the Christmas period.

 

[happyj]

So Andrew what are your thoughts now

 

[Andrew*A]

I think I will need to brush up on my math skills, but it looks like we are going to buy resale points at SSR.

 

[happyj]

Welcome to DVC
I see you are from Bridgend we are moving that way next spring. Where do you fly from ?

 

[zavandor]

The first question you have to answer is if you plan to go to WDW after you'll daughters will be grown up. With the current market and buying resale, the break even point is around 10 years. If you're not certain you'll still be going to WDW after 10 years, it's not worth the risk.

In which resorts do you usually stay? DVC is going to cost more than staying in Values, a very small saving against Moderates, a nice saving against Deluxes. If you're searching for the cheapest way to go to WDW, it's not DVC. DVC is the cheapest way yo go to WDW and staying in deluxe rooms.

Third question: can you book 11 months in advance and stick to the schedule? Or do you have jobs that may require to cancel last minute or don't allow to plan far in advance? DVC has more booking options open if you can book right at 7 months. And certain resorts or room types can be booked only 11 months in advance at your home resort.

Do you know the system well enough? DVC has a LOT of rules. Booking windows, Use Year, cancellation policies, banking and borrowing. Before buying it's better to understand all the system well. For example, cancellation policies can be a dealbreaker for some and in your case (using points every other year) they can put you in danger of loosing points in case you need to cancel.


Long story short: if you buy, do it resale, not direct.


If you buy 250 points, then you can use them to book at any DVC resort. A point is a point, but different resorts and booking categories have different points.
With 500 points (every other year) you could book one month in August at Animal Kingdom Lodge standard view (and have a few points to spare) or 2 nights in a Polinesian bungalow at Christmas. So have a look at the point charts to understand the amount of points you would need.