Kinda Bummed

[Anal Annie]

I resemble those remarks!! $69.25/point. The cost, however is minimal compared to the enjoyment and memories created by these great vacations.

Good for you. My cousin just passed on a pretty sweet deal the other day too. I'm just saying that if the OP wants something to be bothered about, how about the dropping prices that have occured since many of us bought in. That bothers me more than their so-called "deals" thru CRO that come & go.

Gosh, you sound like Disney is giving vacations to those starving Sally Struther's kids on TV. Some people actually choose to save $$ at an allstar over getting a more expensive resort. It's not always a matter of not being able to afford it.

Personally, the biggest reason that we purchased our DVC so that we wouldn't have to stay in a value or moderate in order to be able to afford to go. We didn't like dropping below the Deluxe resorts for our stays so we found DVC to be a great long-term solution. Disney was pricing us out of the Deluxes.

 

[going/again]

The deals come & go. I am not jealous of their "deals". What I don't like tho is how they're letting SSR resale contracts pass ROFR for less than $75 / point. Upper $60's in some cases!! That stings when we thought we were getting a good deal at $86 / point a couple of years ago. Hopefully everything will rebound and all will be right with the world again one of these days...

But for now, I'm OK with someone getting to enjoy the magic who otherwise would not be able to. Most of those people are staying in a Value or Moderate resort so I have nothing to be jealous of on that one either...Those are a far cry from being a DVC villa.

the reason its so low is that disney is devalueing ssr with all these deals you can stay there for the price of a value why would you buy for top dollar?

 

[Anal Annie]

the reason its so low is that disney is devalueing ssr with all these deals you can stay there for the price of a value why would you buy for top dollar?

AT THE TIME that we bought we caught a "friends & family" promotion that was $15 off the going rate. That was STILL like $86 pp. Resales were going for approx. the same rate at the time too (mid-$80's). It's just in the past 6-9 months or so) that they've really let the ROFR price drop to next to nothing... It's not like we were out there LOOKING to pay top dollar. There were also no developers points offered or anything else. The price we got was about the best we could find and there were no additional incentives. SSR was the only new resort for sale at the time as well. But we're talking almost 3 years ago. "Things" have changed like night & day since then. I just find it funny that DVC keeps raising their prices to buy direct but then they let the resale market crash.

 

[alamode]

the reason its so low is that disney is devalueing ssr with all these deals you can stay there for the price of a value why would you buy for top dollar?

That makes no sense whatsoever.

First of all, where are "all these deals"? I've seen one recently, which is similar to one given many months ago. They have nothing to do with DVC SSR rooms, only rooms controlled by Disney.

Secondly, Disney still has ROFR. How does these minor once off deals make Disney accept lower prices for DVC resales?

If you would rather wait around hoping that you could possibly get a good deal, then DVC isn't for you. I like knowing I'm getting savings and a nice resort every trip on my own schedule, not Disney's sale schedule.

 

[KiminChicago]

We've stayed in every category of Disney resort before we finally decided to buy DVC (AKV). Although it would be great to get free dining, I'm just happy that this year we had enough points to ask my sister, BIL and two nieces if they wanted to join us for their first visit ever. And, another niece is getting married next year so DH and I are discussing giving them a WDW honeymoon as a wedding gift. We could never do that if we had to pay cash for a deluxe resort. And we definitely prefer the deluxe resorts to the value (just our opinion).

 

[Cajun28]

I think if Disney was constantly busy, we would probably begin using our points to stay places other than WDW, the crowds we experienced this year in February and April made both vacations difficult for us. We chalked it up to sometimes you have good vacas, sometimes not, but if it became standard operating procedure for WDW to be constantly crowded, then we'd have to change how we use our DVC. Luckily we feel that the disney adventures and the dcl both offer nice options for dvc owners, and we're looking forward to the hawaii dvc.

I don't disagree with you. Matter of fact, I loved the days when WDW was almost deserted in the first couple weeks in Dec. But the cold hard fact is Disney is looking to make money and the less busy the park is the less money they make. If they can offer discounts or special deals to get people to visit in otherwise slow times, that is what they are going to do. Actually I feel that DVC'ers are low on the priority list (I won't go as far as saying they don't care) when it comes to enticing people to visit. This has been discussed on many other threads related to free dining. Disney is looking for "new" money when they offer these special deals.

 

[lumpydj]

Personally, I think being a DVC member is my "deal". I'm going anyway - they don't need to entice me with free dining. The way I figure it - I would NEVER be able to afford to stay at a deluxe resort without DVC. Right now, I can stay for a week in a 1 br (love having the living room and full kitchen) for $425 plus that year's dues (MAYBE another $1000). That's $1,425 to say at a deluxe resort with lots of room. Compared to paying a min of $2,100 for a "studio" without the kitchenette at a deluxe resort. AND I get that EVERY YEAR. Not just a one time offer of free dining... To me - I got the better deal...

 

[mnra]

I have a question. Does disney give rooms away that could be booked by members for these upgrades. Thanks

 

[Cajun28]

Personally, I think being a DVC member is my "deal". I'm going anyway - they don't need to entice me with free dining. The way I figure it - I would NEVER be able to afford to stay at a deluxe resort without DVC. Right now, I can stay for a week in a 1 br (love having the living room and full kitchen) for $425 plus that year's dues (MAYBE another $1000). That's $1,425 to say at a deluxe resort with lots of room. Compared to paying a min of $2,100 for a "studio" without the kitchenette at a deluxe resort. AND I get that EVERY YEAR. Not just a one time offer of free dining... To me - I got the better deal...

Good post...that's exactly how I feel. You said it better than I ever could.

 

[vicki_c]

I have a question. Does disney give rooms away that could be booked by members for these upgrades. Thanks

Not exactly. Some are already given to CRO when people use their points to book outside the DVC resorts (cruises, Disney collection, etc.). Some would be DVC rooms turned over to CRO at some point in time (60 days out?) because they weren't booked with points. Some are ones that DVC already owns outright.

So maybe some portion of them were at ONE TIME available for points stays, but there are 2 different pools of rooms - ones available for booking on cash through CRO and ones available for booking on points.

 

[crisi]

the reason its so low is that disney is devalueing ssr with all these deals you can stay there for the price of a value why would you buy for top dollar?

That's a good question for anyone purchasing now. But those that purchased in the past likely paid less, or there weren't these great deals going around. And for those purchasing now, they are buying for the long term - the discounts available in a weak economy are less available and less deep in a strong economy - they are making the bet that the economy will be strong and the deals will disappear.

Frankly, I'm a little shocked that Disney sells many contracts right now. With the deals coming through CRO and the great values available on resale, it seems like they picked a poor time to try and sell BLT at whatever the price per point currently is. But there are still people who can be sold.

 

[mnra]

so if i understand right they take members points that might be used for members for last minute trips and give to others then when members call for last minute trip we can be told that they are full at the resorts.

 

[mnra]

I have another question and i should know the answer but I am not sure. If dvc sells the points to members and they are not booked by members and then turned back to cro who recieves the rent from these units. If it is disney aren;t they double dipping? They sold it and now they get to sell it again.

 

[eliza61]

You know I was all excited about becoming a DVC member and have been for awhile. But I am hearing about free dining in Dec. and free upgrades from value resorts to DVC resorts. Maybe I should have just stayed a non-DVC member? I would like to get some "freebies" because I am a DVC The discounts are OK but I won't do or use a lot of them. Just wanted to whine It kind of stinks!

Ingrid,
Also remember, there is a reason Disney is offering all those discounts. They are hurting. DVC sales are down, park revenue is down almost 45% (these were 2nd quarter figures from May). Earnings per share were down I think almost 18%.
I know the discounts look good but if a company isn't making money some thing has got to give. My concern is that Disney will face what the department stores are facing now. In order to keep people coming you have to keep offering deeper and deeper discounts. I'm so use to sales at the stores, I don't even thing about going when there is not one.
So what happens when the economy bounces back, will people pay full rate to stay.

Also I worry about the effect of all this "free dining" on the quality of the restaurants. Sorry to sound like a negative nelly but they have been mediocre these last 18 months, maybe it's a result of the dining plan and free dining maybe not but all the "free" stuff could come back to bite.

 

[crisi]

so if i understand right they take members points that might be used for members for last minute trips and give to others then when members call for last minute trip we can be told that they are full at the resorts.

They are most likely using unsold points and points that have been foreclosed on or which can't be used by members because they haven't paid dues on them. In the case of someone who wants a last minute reservation, if the points have been turned over to CRO for non-use by members, they can be reclaimed. But I suspect Disney has no reason right now to be using those points for this - they have got to be sitting on a ton of points for non-payment of dues - and probably more than a few contracts they've outright foreclosed on.

 

[Tinkerbella001]

Word got out in the office that I just bought into DVC. One of the senior VPs called me into her office today, and I thought I was getting my walking papers.

She wanted to know about DVC!! What a relief. Even though as a senior VP of a multi-national company she can obviously afford to stay wherever she wants to, she always books value resorts, because for her vacations, "All she needs is a bed" in her words.

Different vacationers have different priorities, needs and requirements for their vacations. Don't be too quick to judge a person's wealth or potential behaviours based on thir resort of choice. For some, the resort "is just a bed".

Well said

 

[crisi]

I have another question and i should know the answer but I am not sure. If dvc sells the points to members and they are not booked by members and then turned back to cro who recieves the rent from these units. If it is disney aren;t they double dipping? They sold it and now they get to sell it again.

Some of it comes back to members and offsets your dues - its breakage income on your report. Not all of it does however and Disney, by contract, is entitled to keep some breakage income. I can't remember how it works, but it is in your contract if you want to go take a peek.

 

[Tinkerbella001]

So if you are a DVC owner, and as someone stated earlier cost around $1400 for a week, do you get an awesome deal on park tickets? Is that $1400 including the initial cost of the points, yearly maintenance fees, housekeeping fees, etc? (What all do you pay?) I am curious to see what a week ACTUALLY costs a DVC owner including tickets and meals. Then I could decide if it was a good value. And it will be helpful to know before I get there. TIA!!

 

[crisi]

So if you are a DVC owner, and as someone stated earlier cost around $1400 for a week, do you get an awesome deal on park tickets? Is that $1400 including the initial cost of the points, yearly maintenance fees, housekeeping fees, etc? (What all do you pay?) I am curious to see what a week ACTUALLY costs a DVC owner including tickets and meals. Then I could decide if it was a good value. And it will be helpful to know before I get there. TIA!!

For us about $10k for a week.

 

[Chuck S]

so if i understand right they take members points that might be used for members for last minute trips and give to others then when members call for last minute trip we can be told that they are full at the resorts.

If the 60 day rooms that are turned over to CRO (breakage units) are not rented prior to the DVC Member calling Member Services, they can be recalled. I've had that happen when I added a night in the 60 day windoow...MS agent had to get it approved...so somewhere in their computer system it must show breakage units.

But in reality, breakage is likely a very small percentage of CRO availbility, so in the vast majority of cases, there really aren't any points rooms avalable in the 60 day window.