Many Questions and Possible DVC membership in the future

[AlvaroLuis]

Hi everyone,

We are not DVC members but had the opportunity to exchange through Interval last January (got a one bedroom at OKW) and felt in love with the resort.

We are planning on going back next January and would like to stay at BWV for 2 nights (Fri & Sat)... that's Jan 6 & 7. Time for the first question:

-I noticed that for 2005 the chart shows 22 points for Jan weekends (a total of 44 points) on preferred studio. Does "preferred" mean lake view? And should I rent points from DVC members or should I rent from Disney?

The minute I mentioned DVC at home... DW, DD and DS jumped all over me asking "why don't we buy into DVC?... we go to Disney every year, so..."

That's all I needed to start researching... but got overwelmed by the amount of information out there.

Should I buy from Disney or should I buy a resale? If so, who should I buy from? I thought I could only buy SSR from Disney... what are those waiting lists I've been hearing about?

Enough for now... please help me....

 

[cruise-o-matic]

We are planning on going back next January and would like to stay at BWV for 2 nights (Fri & Sat)... that's Jan 6 & 7. Time for the first question:

-I noticed that for 2005 the chart shows 22 points for Jan weekends (a total of 44 points) on preferred studio. Does "preferred" mean lake view? And should I rent points from DVC members or should I rent from Disney?

Generally, using your points for Fri-Sat night stays is a bad idea. The value of DVC is to either use them for weeknight stays only or at least to dilute the "cost" of weekend points by combining them with weeknight stays.

Preferred means about anything but parking lot view. So it could be canal, pool or garden view. There is also a guaranteed "Boardwalk View" which cost the same as preferred view. Standard views are cheaper in points.

You would be better off renting from a DVC owner. Disney does not rent points. Any left over rooms go to CRO and they are much more expensive than trying to rent from an owner.

Should I buy from Disney or should I buy a resale? If so, who should I buy from? I thought I could only buy SSR from Disney... what are those waiting lists I've been hearing about?

SSR is the only resort that DVC is marketing. If that's not what you want, I think it's been reported that if you are persistent, they will sell you a sold out resort if they the use year you want in inventory. The waitlist comes into effect for those who want to add on but DVC, but DVC doesn't have the combination of resort and UY in inventory. That is most common with BCV at the present.

If you want to go resale, you can buy points cheaper than you can get from DVC. But DVC has right of first refusal, so there is a chance that they will buy the contract and you will need to start over again.

 

[Cruelladeville]

since you are very new to the idea of DVC, you may want to rent points to go to WDW, and then go on a tour of SSR to get a general idea of how DVC works and ask some questions. You may also want to visit the other DVC resorts. Then come home and ask questions on this board before you buy if you are still confused. DVC is quite different than traditional timeshares.

 

[AlvaroLuis]

We are planning on going back next January and would like to stay at BWV for 2 nights (Fri & Sat)... that's Jan 6 & 7. Time for the first question:

-I noticed that for 2005 the chart shows 22 points for Jan weekends (a total of 44 points) on preferred studio. Does "preferred" mean lake view? And should I rent points from DVC members or should I rent from Disney?

Generally, using your points for Fri-Sat night stays is a bad idea. The value of DVC is to either use them for weeknight stays only or at least to dilute the "cost" of weekend points by combining them with weeknight stays.

Preferred means about anything but parking lot view. So it could be canal, pool or garden view. There is also a guaranteed "Boardwalk View" which cost the same as preferred view. Standard views are cheaper in points.

You would be better off renting from a DVC owner. Disney does not rent points. Any left over rooms go to CRO and they are much more expensive than trying to rent from an owner.

Should I buy from Disney or should I buy a resale? If so, who should I buy from? I thought I could only buy SSR from Disney... what are those waiting lists I've been hearing about?

SSR is the only resort that DVC is marketing. If that's not what you want, I think it's been reported that if you are persistent, they will sell you a sold out resort if they the use year you want in inventory. The waitlist comes into effect for those who want to add on but DVC, but DVC doesn't have the combination of resort and UY in inventory. That is most common with BCV at the present.

If you want to go resale, you can buy points cheaper than you can get from DVC. But DVC has right of first refusal, so there is a chance that they will buy the contract and you will need to start over again.

Thanks for such a detailed message!

We have no option but to stay over the weekend on our next trip. We have reservations at an offsite timeshare resort before tha weekend, and reservations on the same resort following that weekend. We need to stay at a Disney resort during that weekend, because I'm running the Disney marathon. I know it's more points, but have no choice.

Based on your explanation of the different views, it sounds like what we are looking for is the guaranteed Boardwal view... We went to the Boardwalk last November and could not help it but to imagine how wonderful it would be to stay at room facing the boardwalk.... it'll be a surprise to my wife.

Not sure if we have any preference for a specific resort at this point. Saratoga would be fine... we are big fans of Downtown Disney! And the few extra years of membership should would be nice for the kids... and hopefuly for grandchildren someday!

 

[AlvaroLuis]

since you are very new to the idea of DVC, you may want to rent points to go to WDW, and then go on a tour of SSR to get a general idea of how DVC works and ask some questions. You may also want to visit the other DVC resorts. Then come home and ask questions on this board before you buy if you are still confused. DVC is quite different than traditional timeshares.

We would definitely try to stay a couple of nights at a DVC resort next January. So far, the plan is to stay 2 nights at BWV... as a surprise to my wife!!! Would most likely schedule a tour of SSR...

I've been researching a lot, and it is quite different from our timeshare (we "own" at 2 different tiemshare resorts).

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

We just purchased a year ago and I wish we'd have done it sooner. We go to Disney all the time and just love it. Even when the kids get older and sick of the parks we'll still go down for the golf and other activities. The resorts are all so nice, clean, and comfortable compared to those of other vacations we've taken.

We usually go down on the Wednesday and stay off site for four nights then check in to our DVC room Sunday morning and go home on Friday morning. Sometimes we stay until Saturday but hate paying the extra points for a Fri or Sat night stay. We try to avoid those nights and save the points.

We are trying to bank a few points every year then stay a very long time once we've built them up a little. At first we thought you couldn't do this but you can. If you save 6 points each year what you're really doing is saving 6 the first year, then using those six the next and banking 12, then using those 12 the next year and banking 18 and so on. I'm dense so it took me a while to figure this one out.


We used to always rent a 2-BR DVC room for around $590 / night in October. I did the calculations figuring out inflation and adding in the annual dues factor and came the conclusion that if we use our membership every single year (which we do anyway) we will have it completely paid for in 7 years and have 43 years of paid for vacation housing. That's good math in my book.