Need Advice - Should we join?

[DevelonRd]

My situation is similar to but not exactly like HusbandAlwaysWorking. We need to know whether or not to join.

My wife and I are both busy professionals. While we enjoy our visits to Disney, we would probably only use a Disney property every 3-4 years. Having said that, we do vacation each year. Usually this involves a couple of 3-5 day trips and a longer trip (7-10 days) in the summer. We travel with our two kids (12 and 6).

I have two questions for the group:

1. Is it still worth joining if you primarily use the non-Disney properties rather than the Disney ones?

2. Is it relatively easy to rent points should we not use all of our points in a given year?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Like HusbandAlwaysWorking, we'd like to make our decision before the 12-1 point increase.

Thanks to all.

 

[Lisa P.]

...we would probably only use a Disney property every 3-4 years.... Is it still worth joining if you primarily use the non-Disney properties rather than the Disney ones?

I don't believe it is. There are too many alternatives that cost less, when your intent is to travel elsewhere. DVC is a great program for those who intend to use it primarily for DVC resort vacations.

...we do vacation each year. Usually this involves a couple of 3-5 day trips and a longer trip (7-10 days) in the summer. We travel with our two kids (12 and 6).

Are your children the same gender or both? (need 2BRs?) Where are your desired destinations for those non-DVC trips? A points program sounds like a good possibility for you, if you are interested in condo-style resort vacations. Perhaps there's another one that would interest you - based upon your desired destinations and level of luxury sought.

Is it relatively easy to rent points should we not use all of our points in a given year?

Never did this. But having rented out our other timeshares, I can tell you that it's not reliable. Outside factors can affect it substantially... the economy, people's willingness to travel, the number of others seeking to rent out the same thing you are at the same time. There will occasionally be a renter who backs out at the last minute or (rarely) who trashes the place and you made the reservation.

It can go well (and often does) but I wouldn't buy DVC with the intent to rent it out. It's not cost-effective, given the large upfront purchase costs!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Visit the Timeshare Users Group - TUG and learn more about various points-based timeshare programs. The "Advice" articles and Bulletin Boards or Forums may be freely accessed by the public. Members of TUG also gain access to timeshare resort reviews and ratings. If you choose to join, please use my name as a referral (Lisa Potter) - it extends my TUG membership too. HTH!

 

[Richyams]

1. No, in general you can buy a cheaper timeshare for trading to other places, actually, cash is cheaper in most instances.

It seems to be fairly easy to rent points out. You need to do a little due dilligence, but its doesn't seem to be much of a problem....now, that could change in the future.

Generally, if you travel to WDW at least once every two to three years, stay in at least moderate accomodations, DVC is pretty certain to save you money and offer you better accomodations.

Once you own, you may find yourself increasing the frequency of your WDW trips. Once every third year, 150 points is 450 points. This can get a GV for a nice length of time, or a two bedroom for even longer.

I think it comes down to your desires and resources. If 150 points and every third(or second) year is within your vacation budget and plans, its probably a good idea.

 

[Terry S]

My personal opinion is not to use Disney for Non-Disney type vacations if it is going to be often.

I think you best bet would be to buy enough points to total 3 years worth. You can bank a full years worth of points and borrow a full years worth. So if you bought 150 points, you could go every 3 years and have 450 points to work with.

 

[pwoodham]

I'm with the "its probably not for you" group - my sister owns more than one timeshare, none are DVC, and she gets to go to all kinds of cool places - Washington (state), Montana, Virginia, Mexico, Australia, plus several she's just considering. Her timeshare weeks were significantly less expensive than our DVC points for comparable times of the year. I've stayed in her accomodations twice, and both of them were on a par with DVC accomodations.
The exception was actually the one in Orlando - they were okay, obviously older and not exceptionally clean, but still acceptable. We did not stay with her there, only visited.
We have 5 young boys and plan to visit WDW specifically for the foreseeable future at least every other year. (I'm blaming this on 5 kids, when really I'm the Disney nut)
If Disney was not our primary vacation destination, we would have bought into another timeshare and stayed offsite or paid cash when visiting WDW.
YMMV, good luck with your decision.

 

[Dean]

Based on the info you have provided, buying DVC is not right for you. You should be planning to use most years and not use much or at all for other options to make it worthwhile. Just rent points from a member or look for on site specials when you go.

 

[EROS]

Fawgedddddddddabout it. DVC is NOT for you . If you don't plan to visit WDW at least every other year, it doesn't make financial sense

Good Luck,

 

[Granny]

I'll toss my hat in the ring with the "don't do it" advice!!


If you're only planning to go every 3-4 years while you have children, how often would you plan to go as empty-nesters? In my opinion, DVC only makes sense if you really enjoy a Disney vacation....with or without the kids.


I think you should pass....and keep your eye out for good deals for those times that you do go to Disney.

Good luck.

 

[johde]

One option could be to buy a small resale through one of the resale agents if you are planning to travel every three years. A 60 point contract would give you 180 every three years (with banking and borrowing) to travel. Every four years becomes a problem where you would need to either rent out your points, use a non-disney option, or lose points.

 

[vernon]

Unless you change your vacation plans (which given all that DVC has to offer isn't impossible) I don't think there is as much value in DVC as there would be in another similar program offered by someone like Mariotte.
For DVC to be worth it, you really need to go at least once every three years ( even then it does require planning with banking and borrowing). Although if you like beach vacations using either of Vero or Hilton Head DVC could make a viable alternate to WDW. Both are top class beach resorts with great accomodation and many things to do.

I have found that since owning DVC I have more time to enjoy the other peripheral attractions and activities WDW has to offer. The resorts themselves are top quality venues with good recreational facilities and I'm sure it would be quite possible to have a great vacation at WDW without setting foot in a Disney themepark (although I have always made at least one day in one of the parks).

Some people get bored with revisiting a destination on a regular basis but others find the familiarity of knowing the area, restaurants , facilities and activities is a bonus and prefer to vacation in that manner.


IMHO, bottom line is that, as you have explained your preferences it is unlikely that DVC makes sense for your family, but it wouldn't require much reworking of your plans for it to be possible

 

[Dean]

Just revisiting this thread. I don't know where you are located or where you like to vacation other than Disney. You may want to consider another timeshare system that has Orlando and some of the other places you like to go. In many ways Marriott would be great but they are only one week options. Some of the other points options might also be a good consideration for you. The ones that come to mind in this situation are Bluegreen, Hyatt, Fairfield and I'm blanking on the one that took over for Westin. There may be others I'm not thinking of right now. There are other points systems but these are the ones that come to mind for Orlando plus otherwise. Map out where you like to go and then see what system seems to fit that the best. The one problem I see is that no system is going to work well for long weekends. For that you're likely better off paying cash.

Rent points from a member and stay, you can always buy resale later if your habits change or you decide you must join. The point made earlier that you might change your habits in favor of DVC is a good one.

 

[DevelonRd]

Many thanks to all of you who took time out to reply (on Thanksgiving day, no less!!!). I really appreciate the advice. It sounds like we need to at least look at some other point based systems or, as you've said, just look for good deals in our preferred destinations and pay cash.

Does anyone have any recommendations for other point based systems for us to look at?

Thanks again and happy Thanksgiving to all

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by DevelonRd
Does anyone have any recommendations for other point based systems for us to look at?

Where and what time of year do you usually visit? What part of the US are you in? How flexible are you as to when and where you travel? My thoughts would be different if you want to go to HH and live in Ohio than if you live in CA and want to go to Washington State. Joining Timeshare Users Group (TUG) where you can get a lot of info. You can do the classifieds for free but it's only $15 for year one to joing then $10 per year thereafter. they have a lot of info including ratings and reviews of around 1800 resorts. There are a number of articles about various points systems. You can also post to the BBS much as you have here and get different suggestions and perspectives.

 

[Laurajean1014]

We thought the same thing. We originally bought 230 points and thought, we purchased too many.

We now have over 600 and can't believe we don't have enough to do all the things we want.

We used to take one trip a year. We now take a cruise and at least 4 other trips a year. Gotta go pack, leaving tomorrow.

CIAO.

 

[jimmytammy]

I tend to lean with TerryS post that you can buy in at entry level and bank, borrow and use year every 3 years but maybe try to get a resale with less pts. We currently have 220 pts and I personally wouldnt use them on anything other than DVC resorts or DCL, just an opinion.

Something that I had in common with you and Husbandalwaysworking is I worked all the time also. I still own my own business which takes up a lot of unpaid hrs of my time. What I want to get across whether you buy DVC or not is time is short. This is coming from a 37 yr old male with DW, DD and DS who depend on me to provide. I saw my 51 yr old Father in law pass with Lou Gehrigs disease 3 yrs ago. Life is short, live while you can. Dont hide behind the work. I dont pretend to know your situation because I dont, but thinking what I have written through, this coming from a different perspective, buy lots of pts., because it will force you to vacation.

Im sorry if I got a little personal but I write this with sincere feelings.