Is there any DVC members from Australia

[inhighspirits40]

Hi all,

My wife and I visited WDW for the first time Xmas 2016 for our honeymoon. I really wanted to head to the Maldives, but My wife got her way and I reluctantly agreed to head to Florida for our honeymoon.

I am so glad she persuaded me to go to WDW as we both loved it so much. We really thought that it would be a once in a lifetime trip but we saved hard all year to head back again this Jan just gone. We have been back barely 5 minutes and we are already thinking about heading back Xmas this year or maybe going at food and wine and Halloween 2019.

Now we are addicts we have got thinking about DVC and wondering if we should join.

We realistically would be able to make a trip every 18 months or so.. but with us thinking about kids, there would be a 5 year period where we wouldn't want to travel so far with a couple of little ones.

We would be able to sell our points in that time I guess, or we could hold of membership until any kids that come are old enough.

What I really wanted to know is if any other Australians have DVC membership and what you thoughts on it is, do you use it enough, and do you get your money back, including the monthly dues when you sell your points . Where you able to use the Disney finance option, or is that not available to Australians?

If you dont use points for WDW have you used them for hotels in Australia, or somewhere a little closer to home than Florida?

Thanks,

Craig

 

[ColinA]

We are DVC members. First bought back in 1999.

All of our points are Boardwalk and we paid between 61-68 US$ per point. Initially the Aus dollar was not good, but most of our points were bought resale and when the Aus dollar was above US.

Now the prices are well over $100 US per point. The prices have been pushed up due to Disney have the right to purchase the sale and resell at full prices. The buying back of DVC points by Disney is driven by a number of factors.

At the present time to purchase DVC from Disney or through resale I would think is not worth it.

If you did buy and did not want to use for your own vacations you would have no problems renting them out. You would need to do the maths as to the purchase price to the return.

I would not use DVC points for cruises or hotels in Australia. Better value to rent out and pay for the hotel etc.

If you go to WDW I would look at renting DVC points for the stay.

I would not buy DVC and then sell later.

I would not use the Disney finance option.

 

[inhighspirits40]

We are DVC members. First bought back in 1999.

All of our points are Boardwalk and we paid between 61-68 US$ per point. Initially the Aus dollar was not good, but most of our points were bought resale and when the Aus dollar was above US.

Now the prices are well over $100 US per point. The prices have been pushed up due to Disney have the right to purchase the sale and resell at full prices. The buying back of DVC points by Disney is driven by a number of factors.

At the present time to purchase DVC from Disney or through resale I would think is not worth it.

If you did buy and did not want to use for your own vacations you would have no problems renting them out. You would need to do the maths as to the purchase price to the return.

I would not use DVC points for cruises or hotels in Australia. Better value to rent out and pay for the hotel etc.

If you go to WDW I would look at renting DVC points for the stay.

I would not buy DVC and then sell later.

I would not use the Disney finance option.

Thanks ColinA

Do you get to go often.

How do you love the flight over? I hate it, but well worth it

 

[ColinA]

We go every year over Christmas.

We go through Dallas and overnight makes it better. Never easy but the fun is worth it.

 

[Meemoo]

Hi Craig - We became DVC Members maybe 5 or so years ago. It was the best decision we ever made. Admittedly - it was when AUD was above parity with the USD so it was a great buy. We travel every 2nd year. We bought in at Aulani so if we don't want to go far, Hawaii is always a cheap trip for us now. We have also used our points to stay at The Grand Californian at Disneyland and are in the planning stages for WDW later this year. I'd buy more points if I could!

 

[ozliz]

Bought resale early last year after renting points at both WDW and Aulani the previous 2 years. Later this year will be the first trip as an owner and I’m pretty excited. I intentionally went with the cheapest option (Saratoga springs resale) and ended up with a stripped contract that fit my plans for the next trip not to be until late 2018 anyway.

Without kids it’s much easier to expect that airfares to Orlando every 2-3 years can fit into the budget. I’m hoping to go back to Aulani too-maybe a cycle of bank one year then WDW using 2 years points the next year then the third year in Hawaii before starting again???

Saratoga springs expires far enough into the future that if after 8-10 years it’s not working out or travel priorities change the contract should have some resale value so it can be sold.

I was thinking I can always rent points out through the brokers I originally rented from on the first trips but I’m not sure that is worth the effort with receiving money in USD and potential tax implications etc. might look into it more in a few years if there are some spare points.

 

[ozliz]

Just reread OP and realised I didn’t answer a few questions. I bought resale so limited options to use outside the main resorts and I honestly haven’t looked into RCI exchanges yet. I know they’re not as good value so not sure I will bother any time soon.

Also, DVC can only be bought resale form Australia not direct so I paid cash and never asked about financing. If you want to buy direct you will have to wait until you’re next in USA or other options include Disney cruises (I’ve done a two presentations out of four cruises but never booked in for a more detailed discussion with an agent). Happy I paid cash resale.

 

[Twilight Terror]

We bought into DVC when we were in the UK, and the outlay was recouped in a couple of trips at that point (good exchange rate with GBP/increasing package holiday costs). We took out a loan from our local bank to cover the initial payment, rather than using Disney financial, as the bank had a much better interest rate, payments were local and we didn’t have to worry about international charges.

With the bank, borrow, use year options you could go every 3yrs without an issue. For example, you have a 100-point contract. If you booked a trip for 2019, you could have 300 points to play with, made up of 100 banked points from 2018, your 100 use year points for 2019 and 100 borrow points from 2020. This really helps for those occasions where you can’t get there. We have done a couple of trips to the UK since we moved here, and just banked points those years, and used them the next year and stayed in larger accommodation or for longer.

Disney have cracked down on resales in recent years, making some of the DVC perks and benefits accessible to only those who have purchased direct. They have also made changes to the minimum contract points number required from direct purchase to be eligible, so take that into consideration when weighing up resale v direct. It depends what you might want from it now (lower costs) v. What you want in the future (perks, dimscounts, etc).

Edit to add: We have used our points to pay for a night at Paradise Pier (Californian was sold out), which was reasonable, and we needed to use up points. We also used excess and bonus points (earned when purchasing add-on points) to book a cruise. Generally points are not worth using on other locations, but you have to do a quick calculation - if you rented your points, would you earn more money than what you would pay out if buying out of pocket? Also, we did DLP for 2 nights before we moved, again to use up expiring points