Looking at WLV Need Help

[donldisney]

We are looking at buying our first points at the Wilderness Lodge Villas. I have a family of five and we plan to visit Disney every 2 years or so. I know it is worth it from a financial aspect, but should we do this?

We can not afford to pay cash so would need to finance a good portion of it, which is not a problem. I am still working on my wife that we are simply prepaying for our vacations. I have heard all the great things about DVC membership, so I need to hear about problems or the downside. Any experiences that you are willing to share would be appreciated.

Signed-

A DVC member wannabe, I think!

 

[KNWVIKING]

The only downside I see with DVC is if one day I decide I don't like going to WDW. To me all the other non WDW options availible are a nice benifit but the true value of your points is using them at the 5,(soon to be 6), DVC resorts. Other then that most of the complaints you'll read about on this board are usually Disney problems which would apply regardless of wether you were DVC member or cash customer.

PS: We own at VWL,just returned from a 11 nite stay, it was great,no regrets. Could I point out a fews things I didn't like,sure,but those are my complaints and are very minimal.No resort is perfect.

 

[pluto109]

we are a family of 6.we own 400 pts...its the best thing i ever bought!!!!no regrets

 

[Granny]

donldisney....

This board features a lot of satisfied DVC customers, so you won't hear a lot of downsides. However, we do have a sort of check list for whether DVC is right for you.

1. Do you plan to go to WDW (or Hilton Head or Vero Beach) at least every 2 or 3 years for the next 40 years? Your post indicates every other year or so.

2. When at WDW, do you really like to stay on-site? If on-site is not that critical, you might be as well off searching for good hotel deals every trip.

3. Is the Disney commitment to quality accommodations and service important to you? Looking for a new hotel every year is always a risk if you don't know much about the managment.

4. When you stay at Disney, do you stay at moderate or luxury accommodations? When comparing cost savings, these are the categories that make the most sense.

5. Do you like to take a lot of last minute trips to WDW? DVC works best for those who can plan their vacations, especially 11 months in advance?

6. Is your primary interest in DVC driven by trade out opportunities to other timeshare locations in the US/abroad or even to other WDW resorts such as Grand Floridian? Most members find that trading DVC points is often not a good value if primarily used that way.

7. You have a family of five, which will require a two bedroom accommodation whenever you use DVC for the whole family. Your point needs must take this into consideration.

There are other questions, but this is the top of my head checklist. I'm sure others will add a lot of other issues I've left off.

BUT, I couldn't end this message without saying that I went through the same process as you when I bought a few months ago. If WDW is seen as a special place (including where you stay) that you want to visit often, then I think DVC makes a lot of sense. However, if WDW is just another set of nice theme parks you think you want to visit from time to time, I'm not sure the DVC is the best way to go.

Finally, others may mention that you might want to look at other time share properties as well. I believe some members find the Marriott program to be a pretty good program without a lot of sales pressure.

Good luck in your decision.

 

[CaptainMidnight]

1. Do you plan to go to WDW (or Hilton Head or Vero Beach) at least every 2 or 3 years for the next 40 years? Your post indicates every other year or so.

Well, the above is probably the best financial option, but if your thinking, we might go for a longer stretch than 2 or 3 years between going to a WDW resort, there are options to trade out and use your points to visit other places. We plan to save up our points for a couple of years and use them in Europe on a vacation there. We also plan to do the same for Hawaii in the future. There are more economical ways to do those to trips I suppose, but our points won't be going to waste and there are options like these so one doesn't feel "locked in" to WDW totally.

There's even the cruise options.....the Dude Ranch option, and the Grand Canyon rafting trip option..... as well as some top notch hotels in major cities....

 

[spiceycat]

you will do fine - you buy the minimum (150 points) every other year you will have 300 points and you will need (using the present schedule) 200 points for a 5 day (not including fri/sat) or 275 for a 6 day stay in the summer/spring (except for Easter weeks). (7-day is 350). this is at VWL, OKW is cheaper.

when your children are older - you can send them if age 18 or older without you to WDW (most timeshares reacquire the age to be 25 or older) - this makes a great graduation gift.

I haven't found any downsize yet I started with the miniumum (190 points) and now I have 450 - yes that is it watch out for add-ons they can be very expensive and addictive!!! Especially when DVC does a resort that is a long time favorite - both WL and BC are for me.

 

[donldisney]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I still find it hard to believe that not one person has even the slightest regret about joining. I guess that is the Disney Magic!

I still think this is a no brainer from a financial point of view. Better accomodations at fixed prices (other than your annual dues) What is the catch? What is in it for Disney? Am I missing something?

 

[KNWVIKING]

Your money-up front. A paid for resort that all the up-keep is paid for by us. Virtually guaranteed full resorts for the next 40 years knowing full well that we will spend additional $$$ while we stay there. Marriott and Hilton did not get us. We're training the next generation to be Disney nuts who will spend,spend,spend.Years ago when Chevy started making school buses they were asked why,because it really wasn't a profitable portion of the busness. The answer: they wanted kids to see that blue bow tie on the front of the bus every morning.

 

[Granny]

Originally posted by donldisney
Thanks to everyone who replied. I still find it hard to believe that not one person has even the slightest regret about joining. I guess that is the Disney Magic!

I still think this is a no brainer from a financial point of view. Better accomodations at fixed prices (other than your annual dues) What is the catch? What is in it for Disney? Am I missing something?

My understanding is that the DVC portion of Disney (DVD) is actually a very profitable area in and of itself.

Add to that the bonus of getting people on-site who will be more inclined to visit WDW parks instead of other Orlando attractions and you just added gravy.

 

[Richyams]

I am not so sure about the "more inclined" part. We came down this week with my brother and his wife and kid staying with us in the GV, my parents stayed in their own one bedroom. We all ate a meal together at Olivia's, but the other five or six meals we ate together were at Universal and IOA. My dad bought in three or four years ago and also bought an add on with free passes. We are all dumbfounded that Disney will not give us any break at all on passes. Theyt had one day left on old passes and my brother and his wife had two days. We have Fla Res seaonal passes but only used them a couple times, I may not even buy them again.

We still spent the same amount of money we always do, but this time the vast majority of it was spent at Universal. The tickets are much cheaper and there is new stuff there. WDW has not had much in the way of new stuff and it is really almost insulting that they don't give a decent discount to DVC members.

To say nothing of the fact that we were promised a "Substantially similar replacement for the free passes"

No, I don't think Disney is going to get the return they hoped for. I know a bunch of members who have found Universal to be a very noce destination.

 

[KNWVIKING]

IOA and US are a nice diversion,but IOA is nothing more then a one day theme park. It's Fire and Ice roller coasters basically beat your head up leaving one with a headache for the rest of the day.The Dudley Do Right log flume ride is great if you want to get totally soaked but it has no imagination. The reason you get soaked isn't even from the plunge but from water that nozzels spray on you. The Doctor Doom ride is a boring compared to Tower of Terror. The closest to a Disney quality type ride is Spiderman-very good ride. We still like U.S., but the one day admission price is the same as a single WDW park. City Walk does have some nice resteraunts,but WDW has more options.

We probably visit IOA and US about every three yrs for about 3 days. It's fun,but it's not Disney. Our annual passes expired after this trip- we got 3 trips out of them, and probably won't buy any WDW passes for May trip.We made a list of outside activities we want to do this May. But I think that over the course of the next 40 yrs WDW will probably get about 75% of my vacation dollars.

 

[gmboy95]

We are a family of three, soon to be four, and we bought 300 points at VWL....I can say it was the best purchase I have made in a long time....I financed the purchase for five years. The way i look at it is that it will hurt for those five years, but for the next 37 it will be home free!!!!!

we travel to disney at least once per year. My wife and i knew this was a smart purchase due to the fact that we traveled yearly to disney even before we had children. We also spent our honeymoon there as well.

Also take into account that dvc properties also include hilton head. Where you can golf if that is what you like to do, or take some time at the beach. Also Vero Beach that allows you to do the same thing. The point is that there are more then enough adult diversions that the investment is worth it even after your kids have grown......just one mans opinion.

 

[DeeP]

I know Disney is and will be getting 90% of my vacation dollars. I bought into DVC because I love WDW and that is where I want to be. Universal, IOA, Seaworld, etc are all nice places and we have and will continue to visit them every 4 years or so for 1-2 days, but that is enough for us. I would never spend 10 days at Universal there is just not enough there to keep us happy (teenagers included); but we spend 10 days at WDW 3-4 times per year and are always looking forward to our next WDW trip. I also would not like to stay at OKW, BWV, or VWL and drive everyday to Universal and back. To me, that kind of defeats the whole purpose of staying on site and owning DVC. You can buy much cheaper timeshares that are much closer to Universal and save yourself all the driving, if that's the park you want to be at. I never got free passes from OKW so I can't miss what I never had. What made me buy a DVC membership was when I first saw BWV and knew this was for us. We had looked into DVC when OKW was the only game in town and it just did not appeal to us, the free passes were never even a consideration. We average 30-40 days of park use per AP, that comes out to less than $10.00 per day for 4 theme parks, shows etc., to me this is one of the best bargains around! It seems as though the people who are taking their vacation $ elsewhere are the ones that no longer get the free passes, but they are also not getting free passes at any other park so basically are still spending the same amount of money on passes and doing a lot of driving back and forth to boot!

 

[Regina]

One of the main reasons that we bought into DVC was because we are a family of 5. 10 years ago, the Deluxe Resorts were our only choice, and they were, and still are, quite expensive. We exceeded the capacity limits for the moderate resorts. (The All Stars didn't exist, but they also have 4 per room.)

The two bedroom units have been perfect for us. No more complaints from my two girls about sharing one bed, and we don't have to cram a rollaway in for our son.

Since we have a washer/dryer, we don't need to bring tons of clothes.

And let's not overlook having two bathrooms. That's a real godsend when trying to get 5 people ready in the AM.

Best of all, we're at Disneyworld!!! I secretly smile when I hear people complain that their teens don't want to vacation with them anymore. Our kids have never wanted to miss a trip, even through the teen years. Our vacations are always magical.

 

[EROS]

Donld, we've been happy members for over 4 years. I would say that DVC is an EXPENSIVE timeshare. As outlined earlier, IF you would otherwise stay on-site every 1-2 years, then it does offer real value. However, using it as a trading vehicle is ridiculous; there are cheaper timeshares that could afford you the same opportunity to travel elsewhere.

Good Luck,

 

[timC]

We had only regret, and I've seen this comment a few times on this board.... We didn't buy enough points when we first bought into BWV.

I remember being up late with my spreadsheet, plotting out 40 years of vacations, trying to find the perfect vacation formula. Well it didn't take long for us to discover that we can never have enough WDW in our live.

We recently added-on at VWL after the realization that we were beginning to pay more and more for cash for reservations. Once again, after carefully plotting out our new points plan, I then very unscientifically took the number and doubled it.

I don't know the statistics (I'm quite sure Disney's keenly aware) of how many members add-on to their original purchase. You need to factor this into your purchase and vacation plan... the growing affection for all things Disney, and the need to go home more and more.

Good luck.

 

[one_cat]

We just returned from a one-week stay at BWV. Every time we go we reconfirm the great decision we made to buy into DVC. I just wish we had more points.