Just purchased DVC Membership, Talk me out of it

[Deb & Bill]

My approach is the conservative way; I am not an "impulse buyer".

If you are in no hurry, then my vote would be to cancel it and wait until the beginning of the year to see if there are any changes to the DVC contract (lots of rumors out there, but no actual facts). If no changes, buy resale to save yourself some money (I don't think it's that big of a difference for BLT, but it is for all the other properties; either way, the $$$ that you would probably save via resale would probably pay for your first DVC trip)!

If you are hesitant in anyway, I would cancel it....what's the hurry!

Evan

Wise words. With the stuff that came out of the members meeting the other day, who knows what is going to happen. BLT members could be the first ones hurt if they decide to take the TOTWL away from them and give it to the preferred members.

 

[crisi]

Reading some posts that they were happy when they bought in 10 years ago, but would not do it now.

Also noticing that people seem to focus on DW or DL, has anyone used the RCI option and stayed elsewhere?

Not solely tied down to Disney, or are we?

DVC is a poor option if you want to use RCI and sometimes go with Disney - you'd be much better off buying a different RCI timeshare and using those points at Disney - at least financially. My sister owns at Marriott - and she uses her Marriott to stay at DVC - for a LOT less than had they bought DVC now. She doesn't have the "home resort window freedom" - but got BCV for this year and VAKL last year.

DVC doesn't give its members full access to RCI, we have to trade using member services as a middleman. Its more complicated (and yet easier - there are less choices). A lot of people have been disappointed in trade availability. For instance, you cannot book a cruise on points in 2011 - they are all booked up for points reservations. Its also a REALLY EXPENSIVE timeshare if you aren't going to use it at Disney.

As to cruising or other Disney offerings, my own take is that you can do a lot better using cash - although if you compare, sometimes you can do a LITTLE better on points - but you give up flexibility to do it. We've cruised with Disney twice, both times on cash, and both times paid less than our points were worth. We took an ABD trip on cash for a lot less than we felt out points were worth. Also the points required for these options can (and often do) increase every year.

The sales pitch on trading is really nice. The reality is that it isn't all its cracked up to be.

We travel a fair amount - every other year its WDW, in the off years we tend to do something else - ABD to Germany, Mexico, California, Hawaii, cruising, camping - all with kids in tow. All on cash. Which has given us a lot of flexibility.

For us - at $63 a point and being onsite snobs, DVC has been a very nice value for our every other year trips. But since we bought, Disney has offered a LOT of deals (free dining), offsite accommodations have sprung up that are wonderful at lower cost and a Disney vacation doesn't really offer the value it did ten years ago - both in terms of quality and the families interests.

 

[ILuvMulan]

We are a family of five and bought 200 points two years ago and we could not be happier!! We received "developer points" and have made 3 trips on points in two years. In all fairness, 10 years ago it would have been about half of the price to stay at the value resorts as it is today too. The price of EVERYTHING has gone up. We feel like that once we meet the "break-even" point of our purchase (which will be in about 2 more trips) that we will be getting a great value for our money. Our dues are around $1,000.00, if we had paid cash for our room our last trip it would have been over $3,500.00. Congratulations on your purchase and WELCOME HOME!!!!

 

[Debbie & Bill]

You did a very good thing, it's life changing and all for the best. The first time you check out and no bill hanging on the door for 100's or 1000's of $$ you'll no exactly what you did. Our first trip was OKW and from the moment we opened the door 1998 till today, it's great no matter the resort, we found they all have the positives....it comes down to what do you want from the resort. All the best and Welcome Home.

 

[Sammie]

I agree about using DVC only for DVC, it is a good suggestion. Anything else is going to be harder to do and more expensive.

If you want to take a trip elsewhere, rent your points and pay cash. You will get a better value and more options.

Someone recently wanted to trade DVC into RCI for a trip to Ireland, DVC only offered one location in the entire country for a trade, while RIC offers 66.

 

[LSZFagan]

Great decision. Worst case scenario, you don't use your points for a year or two and you sell your points right here. We bought 10 years ago and have never regretted it.

 

[ToddyLu]

DVC has changed our way of 'doing' Disney. We took a very slow pace this last trip 11/30-12/10 and more or less wondered around and took pics. It was cold to us so not too many rides were fun to us...and we do not have children. In the 8years we have gone to Disney (this was our 10th trip), we have slowed down. We ate, shopped, relaxed, strolled and basically had a terrific vacation at a world class destination in a great studio. It was Disney, it was fun, it was exactly what we paid for. I enjoyed it so much I made reservation for 5/1-5/8 yesterday.

After reading everything here you have to decide if you are a glass half full kinda person. Could I nit pick about certain things, sure, but where would it get me...if I wanted Four Seasons, I would stay there. To us the room is always clean, the CMs very friendly (more so even this trip) and the hot dogs and hamburgers pretty good. Plaza in fact served me the best french fries I have ever had and my MIL agreed. Had a great filet at Cali Grill. I have been to Europe, NYC, and Washington DCs stayed in very nice hotels and some rat traps...at Dsiney stayed in Values, at Swan and POFQ. AKV has given us the best trips thus far because it is a luxury to us and we are just happy to be at Disney. We have gotten what we paid for and a bit more (bought in June 2009).

 

[jstarcze]

What is this strange thing you ask? Welcome Home and Congratulations from Mickey, Goofy, and Me!

 

[jolia]

Its like any other "commitment"; if you focus on using the benefits of anything you "committ" too you should be happy and in the case of DVC the benefits are tremendeous. Be an active DVC member/user and you wont regret it!

 

[Ukie Mouse]

I want to thank you each and every one of you for your replies. This decision is not an easy but at the end of it all, I sit back and say to myself it is about my girls and our family vacation. We were in WDW from november 28th to December 8th, weather was cold and have decided to switch our time that we go to October where the weather is much nicer (So I hear), and the girls can enjoy the pool more often instead of one night as was the case this year.

I look at things such as the memories that we will create, and give my girls something that I never had when I was a kid. My kids are three and 8 months, we have many years before they start getting sick of Disney (What kid does not love going to Disney) and the smiles, the princess parades my three year old took part in and the character interactions that my 8 month old had and how she squealed is what makes this decision for us.

We did waffle back and forth, reading these posts were helpful but in the end the Melnyk family is coming home.

 

[crisi]

Welcome home. I think if you made the decision with your eyes open (or at least not blind) you have a much better chance of finding the experience to be satisfactory than if you go in believing "its Disney, it will be sunshine and rainbows!"

 

[downontheBW]

Talk you out of it? Why?

Sounds like it wasn't your first trip to WDW; it wasn't an out-of-the-blue decision. If you can afford it and love to take Disney vacations, I can't think of any reason to try and talk you out of it. As others have said, you're asking the wrong people to talk you out of this.

We love it! Hope you will, too! Welcome home!

 

[AKV707]

I want to thank you each and every one of you for your replies. This decision is not an easy but at the end of it all, I sit back and say to myself it is about my girls and our family vacation. We were in WDW from november 28th to December 8th, weather was cold and have decided to switch our time that we go to October where the weather is much nicer (So I hear), and the girls can enjoy the pool more often instead of one night as was the case this year.

I look at things such as the memories that we will create, and give my girls something that I never had when I was a kid. My kids are three and 8 months, we have many years before they start getting sick of Disney (What kid does not love going to Disney) and the smiles, the princess parades my three year old took part in and the character interactions that my 8 month old had and how she squealed is what makes this decision for us.

We did waffle back and forth, reading these posts were helpful but in the end the Melnyk family is coming home.

Glad to hear it. We love our DVC and I think that you will too. So once again, welcome home!

 

[alexandmaddie]

We would never have taken sooo many wonderful trips had we not joined DVC.

We still say... One of our best decisions. Since 1998.

Us, too! We joined in 1998 and have added on a few times since then. We only wish we would have bought in 1997, instead of 1998.

Welcome home!!!

 

[jmpellet]

We opted to purchase a timeshare on the cape (we are from MA) for $139! It's a really good trader in RCI since it's a summer week. The maintenance fees are just $365 and my membership in RCI is $89. To trade into Disney (or any other place) it costs $179. The current points value for my 2011 deposit is 33 and it costs 25 for a 1 bedroom in Disney so my little cape one has more value. I get to keep the change and could use it for a last-minute week. The downfall being is that I don't have a home resort in DVC but that's ok with us as we know that we'll want to vacation other places down the road.