My one problem, when thinking about buying in

[roomthreeseventeen]

My husband and I love the Grand Floridian.

We had a wonderful vacation at AKL/BWI in October, and immediately came home and started talking about going back... to GF.

My husband, in particular, loves RPC, from the lounge to the service, to the free food/beers. I, in particular, love seeing the castle change colors from the room.

DH said that he’s okay with buying at AKL (I didn’t really love the EPCOT resort area, and we’ve never seen BLT/WLV before) but I’m wondering if this isn’t a mistake. We are definitely going to take the tour in August, but if you have any stories to share from going from being a Deluxe family to DVC, please share them!

 

[ccgirl]

As you know, the food/beers are not free. They are included in your accommodation price. If you own DVC, you can just get them delivered and keep them in your fridge and they are much cheaper. We were contemplating DVC but decided against it. We thought the maintenance/taxes were very high for the amount of points we needed. In addition, we wanted the flexibility to stay elsewhere. So, we traded in to BWV instead. Obviously, we already own an RCI timeshare purchased for a fraction of the cost with 1/3 the maintenance/dues. So, you have to ask yourself.....will you be travelling to WDW every year? Are you okay with the taxes/fees for the amount of points you need? If you like staying in a hotel due to room service and their daily housekeeping you will probaby not like the timeshares. Definitely take the timeshare and see what you think though. Good luck with your decision.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Well, since my parents are paying for the vacation, the beers are free this time.

 

[CMOORE185]

I own DVC but GF is my favorite resort. We no longer stay their because it just does not make sense to use points their. Because we own DVC we can now go to WDW more often, so there is the trade off. Lets hope someday there is a DVC component at GF.

 

[disneynutz]

Life is too short to not stay where you love. Does GF cost more, yes, but the DVC has hoops that you need to jump through just to take a vacation and using DVC points to stay at the GF doesn't make financial sense.

I suggest that you rent a reservation from a DVC owner and stay at the DVC resort that seems closest to your perfect resort. That way you can see the DVC from the inside out for yourself.

Bill

 

[timandlesley]

We personally love AKL because you can book concierge, by the sounds of it you guys would like that. You get the daily mousekeeping just as if you weren't DVC plus the food/wine/beer offerings throughout the day.
-Lesley

 

[DVCGeek]

Don't forget that there are only 10 DVC concierge rooms (Technically five 2 BR lockoffs) in all of AKV, so you shouldn't buy DVC counting on getting those rooms, especially on short notice! Being a cash guest @ AKL is a different story of course.

 

[drusba]

If you must stay at GF then you should not purchase DVC. DVC makes sense only if you will usually stay at a DVC resort and GF is not one of them. For a DVC member, points to stay at GF are prohibitive and it is usually cheaper to just rent GF from Disney.

If you must always have concierge service you should also not purchase DVC. You do not get concierge service (including that free food/drink or daily maid servcie) with DVC except for a handful of select rooms at Animal Kingdom Lodge for which the point cost is higher than other DVC rooms at AKL. Those concierge rooms do not even assure best view (some are just pool rather than savanna view) and if you actually want to assure getting them you should always call exactly 11 months before date of arrival to reserve them (the maximum advance reservation time allowed) because otherwise they can be gone.

If you want DVC and have to have a view of the castle, then your only choice is BLT. There is higher point cost MK view there which only owners can usually get at 11 months out and not others at 7 months out. If you are willing to give up GF concierge but keep view, that would be the choice because what you will pay annually for GF concierge is gong to be more in the long run than what you will pay for BLT Magic Kingdom view in a 1BR with DVC and that 1BR will give about 800 sq ft of space with a living room, kitchen, and washer/dryer.

When we originally bought DVC, GF was one of our favorites. But we bought at BWV for the ability to get a 2BR unit and be near two parks; i.e., space was paramount as we hate staying in single hotel rooms. Personally believe the boardwalk view there is better than anything you have at GF. Also believe AKV savanna view is one of the best (we also own there now).

 

[Winston21]

Well, since my parents are paying for the vacation, the beers are free this time.

I have seen a number of your posts. I might not be correct, here, but it seems like you might be looking for very high end, prestigious accommodations. I'm not sure you will be happy with dvc, and I sort of feel like you'll be one of the people who are never happy with their unit or their service.

Frankly, those people hurt the rest of us owners because they give negative reviews to other people. If you have enough negative referrals, eventually, the value of our properties could be affected.

Seems to me that you may want to continue to pay cash for gf or concierge service.

Just a thought.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I have seen a number of your posts. I might not be correct, here, but it seems like you might be looking for very high end, prestigious accommodations. I'm not sure you will be happy with dvc, and I sort of feel like you'll be one of the people who are never happy with their unit or their service.

Frankly, those people hurt the rest of us owners because they give negative reviews to other people. If you have enough negative referrals, eventually, the value of our properties could be affected.

Seems to me that you may want to continue to pay cash for gf or concierge service.

Just a thought.

I'm not sure how the value of DVC properties could be affected by my review. The only DVC property we've seen was the demo on the Boardwalk, which was gorgeous.

The only reason we nixed BWV/BCV right away was because the EPCOT resorts are too loud for us.

 

[ToddyLu]

I can understand wanting luxury when you are on vacation. I think everyone here is advising a little more research.

The only conceirge rooms are AKV--at Jambo only and they are very hard to get at 11 months. So as an AKV owner I know that it is very unlikely my DH and I will ever use points due to difficulty booking even at 11 months--plus cost of points. We may try it for one night to get the special safari they offer to those guests, one day--but never for a several day stay.

You just have to understandi what you are buying...

Need to love Dsiney enough to travel there at least yearly IMO. Do not expect daily mousekeeping--however you can pay extra for it. So yes as an owner you can get it daily for a price. You get limited towels at check in and unless you pay $6 for an extra pack those will last you until trash and towel day on day 4. You need to be able to plan 11 months out to get conceirge and some folks just can't do that. If you can't then you may want a cheaper resort like SSR since at 7 months all points are equal for booking. 7 months from your check in date any points can be used to book at any DVC resort, not just home resort. There are rules for cancelling a reservation, which can affect your points. You need to understand UY and you need to understand cancellation policies. They are especially important. If you want to use your points say in NYC, it is a $95 booking fee. If you want to use them for a trip in the Carribean, then you need to book way in advance so RCI can match you up--then those resorts may not be up to your standards.

You just need to know the ends and outs before you jump in or I am afraind you will be disappointed.

Now for DH and I, DVC is completely awesome. We enjoy the deluxe studios (haven't stayed in a 1 br yet), we go to Disney at least once a year every year, for at least 10 days. We do not care about mousekeeping and we have never had to cancel a reservation. I did a lot of research before our purchase so I would know exactly what we were spending our money on. we will do Dsiney every year for as long as we can, so it made sense and we have no regrets.

If I wasn't sure I would definitely rent points and stay for at least a week

 

[mousefan1972]

We were a "deluxe resort family" before we bought DVC last April. We had stayed at the Poly 3 times, the GF once, the CR once, and Wilderness Lodge 5 times, all in a 4 year span. We bought at Bay Lake Tower because the MK area is our favorite place to be and we love being able to walk to and from the park.

The night we took the tour and signed papers to buy (we were staying at the GF in a MK view room that trip) I seriously had an anxiety attack at the thought of never staying there or the Poly again. But, we just couldn't keep shelling out 3-5K several times a year to stay there (no parents paying for our trips here ). DVC made sense for us. And now, we absolutely love it. Only you can decide if it right for you.

 

[vicki_c]

I felt the same about my beloved Poly when we bought DVC. Lo and behold, the next year they offered the 4/3 deal and it was such a good deal, we booked a trip @ the Poly CL (we used a ton of points the first year we purchased taking 4 trips! and were in deficit mode anyway). So just because you buy doesn't mean you will never stay on cash or where you want again. For some it might, for us it didn't.

But I would be highly concerned with anyone buying into DVC that wants the type of experience you are getting @ GF RPC. That is definitely not what you are going to get. We all know that Disney deluxe is a step down from "real world" deluxe in the first place and just because Disney markets DVC as "deluxe villas," I personally find the only thing really deluxe about them is that they are located at / comparable to a Disney deluxe resort due to the pools, TS restaurants, etc.

It's still a great thing for our family - and I truly am a "deluxe" girl, but I really have different and lower expectations for my DVC stays because it is a timeshare, not staying at a deluxe resort.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

We were a "deluxe resort family" before we bought DVC last April. We had stayed at the Poly 3 times, the GF once, the CR once, and Wilderness Lodge 5 times, all in a 4 year span. We bought at Bay Lake Tower because the MK area is our favorite place to be and we love being able to walk to and from the park.

The night we took the tour and signed papers to buy (we were staying at the GF in a MK view room that trip) I seriously had an anxiety attack at the thought of never staying there or the Poly again. But, we just couldn't keep shelling out 3-5K several times a year to stay there (no parents paying for our trips here ). DVC made sense for us. And now, we absolutely love it. Only you can decide if it right for you.

Thanks for the insight. To be clear, it's our honeymoon trip, and our parents are just helping with some bonds and stuff.

 

[Kymm1111]

We have never and will never stay at GF. That being said, we stay high end when we vacation. Mirror Lake on Lake Palcid, Van Trapp Lodge in Vermont so when we toured the DVC models-after staying at the Wilderness Lodge we were impressed enough to buy. At disney- we aren't in the room a ton, if we aren't in the parks, we are at the pool and the bars. We adore both WL and BLT. Wev'e stayed at Saratoga, Key West and Boardwalk and liked them well enough. If you are truely thinking about buying, go tour the grounds of baylake and wilderness (wilderness is prob the quietest property imo) and see for yourself. We always bring beer and wine from home too because my husband is in the business so our beverage preferences have gotten a little high end also.

 

[Sandisw]

We were a deluxe family as well but our resort of choice was the CR, so buying in when BLT was built was a much easier decision as we felt we were really getting the same resort.

I can tell you that we did try, prior to DVC, staying at other resorts that were not on the monorail and have to say we really missed the ease to/from MK--so much so, that we usually changed resorts mid trip.

I do think that if you love the GF as much as you do, you should really try AKV and possible BLT before buying. DVC is a big investment and being happy with your resort choice is important.

Good luck!

 

[DizGirl20]

Just a thought - you could purchase a small contract - and do a split stay, i.e. stay part of the time DVC and part of the time GF? Or bank/borrow points enough to go every other year DVC and the other years GF?

I consider myself a "deluxe" kinda girl, but couldn't rationalize shelling out $5K every year for a trip when we could've been putting it towards DVC. So far we have stayed at OKW and BCV and loved it (the OKW 1 BR are HUGE and you have your own laundry room!). I know some day we will bank our points and splurge on the GF. Some day but not now, cause we're having too much fun trying out all the DVC Resorts!

 

[princessbride6205]

We also prefer deluxe, but the price for a week was making us cringe. I wanted to join DVC for 4 years before we felt it made financial sense for our family to do so. My DH and I were already Disney people, but now with a child we know we'll keep coming back. We did a lot of research, most of it on these boards, so we felt good about our choice. We started with a small, "cheap" resale contract and have done a small add on. We plan to add on more as we can.
I don't think the DVC rooms are quite on par with the rest of the Disney deluxe resorts. Though there seems to be a bit of a difference between DVC properties as well as personal taste. We find Animal Kingdom Villas to be quite close to the deluxe rooms in that hotel. However, we had a stay at Beach Club Villas last year and visited family staying in a regular Yacht Club room and the difference was vast - our BCV room felt shabby to us compared to a recently renovated YC room.
We don't have enough points yet to take all our WDW trips as DVC, so we've still had occasion to use the discounts and try out other resorts.
Good luck with your research!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We've stayed at the GF, Polynesian, Contemporary, AKL , as well as Coronado Springs, POFQ, Caribbean Beach. And DVC resorts - OKW, BCV, BWV, SSR, VWL.

Our favorites are OKW, SSR and BCV. But we would never say "NO" to another stay at the GF. It was a very nice resort. But we won't use our DVC points to stay there.

Luxury of the concierge/club level is very nice - did it at AKL and GF-Sugarloaf. But I don't miss it at OKW or SSR.

So figure out what is important to you. If you need the luxury of GF, you won't be happy at DVC. If you like space and excellent accomodations, you might enjoy DVC. But it is expensive. If you don't have a house already, that may need to be your first big expense rather than a timeshare.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

May I suggest the OP try the new Waldorf. For the same price I expect you will discover that the GF is charging a VERY high premium for "location" and "cute" but fails to live up to most other true Deluxe accomodations. I found the Waldorf to be 100% nicer then the GF!

That said, if that's what you want you will NOT really be a DVC fan. IT's not "Deluxe". Let's forget the "Free" beers. There's no daily maid service, at some resorts there is limited room service, the quality of the furnishings etc... it's not deluxe.

I own at AKV and LOVE it, but it's a timeshare not a deluxe hotel. (Of course realistically none of Disney's hotels are.. Most independent rating services give them 3 stars. Not four or five like a true Deluxe)