Need HELP! New to DVC with lots of ?'s!

[Momof2princess']

Hi Y'all,
My DH and I are considering buying into DVC around the beginning of 2012 (when we will have the $ saved up.) We have a trip to DW scheduled in Sept. where we will take the tour of Bay Lake Towers. Being new to the whole DVC thing, I have many ?'s. Buy through Disney or resale? Which resale sites are the best to go through? Ideally we would like 280 pts but would be ok with 200. How do the annual fees work? Does the price vary from home resort to home resort? I am sure there are a million more ?'s floating around my head but they are to jumbled to articulate. Anything else I should know? Tips? Suggestions?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Check the DVC Resource thread at the top of the threads for this board. It has tons of general information about the DVC resorts.

Then check the DVC resale companies like the sponsor - The Timeshare Store - they can give you information on purchasing a resale.

And keep reading here. Especially if you won't be buying for a while. There are some changes expected to the program that none of us know the details about, but does have some members concerned. Recent changes as of March 2011, left any new resale purchases unable to book the Disney Collection (non-DVC Disney resorts, Disney Cruise Line, etc) with those points. But if you plan to use your points strictly for DVC, it won't matter a bit. And most of us do use them only for DVC.

 

[janischa]

hi, i know about the recent changes to resales vs direct (like no more using points for the disney collection, such as cruises) but which are the rumors to further changes then ?

 

[Deb & Bill]

hi, i know about the recent changes to resales vs direct (like no more using points for the disney collection, such as cruises) but which are the rumors to further changes then ?

Things like if you have X many points (a big number) you'll get a longer home resort booking time. Or if you have Y many points (a smaller number) you'll have a shorter home resort booking time or less time to book outside your resort. Or elimination of booking outside your home resort. Etc.

 

[Sandisw]

One thing I think is important is to choose a home resort that you will enjoy staying at since at the end of the day, that is all you are truly guaranteed.

We went with BLT because we knew this is where we wanted to be for all of our trips. We have and continue to try a few of the others as we enjoy doing split stays between the Epcot resorts and BLT. It allows us to walk to 3 of the 4 parks.

But, owning at BLT allows us to book there 11 months ahead of time and because of that, we have a great shot of always getting the SV rooms, which cost around the same points wise for our time of travel (Magic Season) as the other resorts we would stay (BWV, BCV, and VWL).

As far as resale vs. direct, it is hard to recommend to anyone to go direct for an initial purchase anymore given the price difference. And, lately, even resorts like BWV are going in the 60's to 70's.

While the direct points do carry the added benefit (for now) of being eligible for cruises, etc., the value for those options is not as great as using them for DVC.

MF's will vary by resort and so will expiration of the contract.

Good luck!

 

[5forDiz]

Things like if you have X many points (a big number) you'll get a longer home resort booking time. Or if you have Y many points (a smaller number) you'll have a shorter home resort booking time or less time to book outside your resort. Or elimination of booking outside your home resort. Etc.

What Deb is saying here underscores more so than ever before

another excellent point that you will see posted here often :

BUY where you want to STAY

 

[normr]

Are these just rumors being spread like Urban Legends? I don't know if they could do that? One of the benefits of owning was to be able to use points for booking at other resorts. If they locked us all into just being able to book at our home resorts, then what is the benefit of owning a DVC timeshare, my kids are grown, I'm not using it to stay solely at WDW.

And apparently they have already made it less attractive to sell to others.

What is going on there?

 

[Chuck S]

Deb is talking about the Owners Loyalty program that was talked about at the annual meeting. No details have been announced, so it is speculation as to what the program will look like, and what point tiers (if any) they use.

Longer home resort booking window is a possibility for high point owners, or better pass discounts, or more upscale trade options. But, again, this is all speculation so far.

 

[DMKEDM]

As a five-year owner, my best advice is to be aware that things will change. In my five years of ownership, so many things have changed--wait list rules, value of resale, nature and number of perks...the biggest "shock" to me was that things I assumed were part of DVC ownership are not.

Now, not all changes are bad! One good one was the addition of free internet for DVC owners staying on points. (Cash guests pay $9.95 per 24 hours.) Another is that just before I bought in, DVC members could not get the DP--now they can. But it used to be you could add it and pay for it at check-in. Now you have to pay for it when you add it. Also, DVC now has a system whereby you can make separate reservations, and then link them into just one, but pay for DP only for the separate ones--for many people that was a very good change.

Other changes haven't been so good (for me). The one that "pinched" most was the rule that you can no longer have day-by-day unlimited number of wait lists. You are now limited to just two at a time, per use year;and all nights in a row have to be wait listed together (if for the same villa size and view and resort)--

Most of the changes haven't affected me one way or the other--loss of free valet parking, for example, upset a lot of people, but since I never have a car at Disney, it didn't affect me at all.

I've never used my points to stay anywhere but a DVC resort, but the ability to do so was something I found very appealing when I bought in. At the time there was no fee to do that (now there's a $95 fee when you book and each time you make any change to the booking). And now there are restrictions on the ability to do it at all based on whether your points were purchased direct or via resale.

So...it's wise to be aware that the only thing you're guaranteed is the ability to use your points at your home resort. Even the lead time you have to make your reservation isn't guaranteed. It's now 11 months at your home resort, and 7 at any other DVC resort. But that, too, could change.

I've loved my 5 years of DVC ownership and have gone to WDW many, many times on my points--I've taken family and friends. It's been well worth the cost. But I don't know that I would have made the purchase had I known about all the changes. On the other hand, I'm glad I did buy in as I've loved it for these past 5 years.

How long I'll keep my DVC points I don't know--I have family changes coming (DS leaving school and starting in the work world and thus much much more limited in his ability to go to WDW w/me...and it's my trips w/him that are at the heart & soul of my DVC ownership). The changes/new restrictions may matter more when that happens. Right now, though, I've been able to adjust to the changes w/out them affecting my desire to own DVC points.

Good luck...read a lot and be aware that despite the changes there's much to still love about DVC ownership...you just have to be sure that if there's one or another feature that really matters to you, you have to evaluate whether you'd still buy in if that feature were to change...

 

[Momof2princess']

Thanks for the info. I have been reading them, and yet im still quite confused. I guess my current frustration is that I am not familiar with the DVC specific lingo. It's a language unto itself, even seperate from the new language surrounding DW
Is there a place I can find out what every acronym? means? Like DVD and ROFR?
Thanks again!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Make sure you buy DVC to stay in a DVC resort, especially your home resort. RCI stays are not all the easy to make sometimes, epecially if you want a specific time and specific location. It all depends on someone who owns that resort wanting to trade into DVC to stay at WDW or an other DVC location.

As much as they try to sell trading out and using your points at 500 other locations, it's not as easy a booking a DVC resort.

And if you have a hard time booking your trip 7 to 11 months out, DVC may not be a good fit for you either.

 

[DMKEDM]

There's a sticky at the top of the Boards called "abbreviations"...the lingo does take a while to figure out...here's what I can think of:

ROFR is "right of first refusal"...it means Disney has the option to buy a contract that is for sale, for the terms the buyer and seller have agreed to. Disney hasn't been exercising its ROFR rights very much lately--but they can. If they do, the seller sells the contract back to Disney and the buyer gets his deposit back, but has to start over in finding a contract to buy.

DVD is Disney Vacation Development--it's the company that owns DVC.

The DVC resorts are OKW (Old Key West), BCV (Beach Club Villas), BWV (Boardwalk Villas), AKV (Animal Kingdom Villas), WLV (Wilderness Lodge Villas), BLT (Bay Lake Towers--the DVC connected to the Contemporary), SSR (Saratoga Springs Resort), HH (Hilton Head), VB (Vero Beach), and GCV (Grand Californian Villas--at Disneyland in CA). There's also a new DVC in Hawaii, usually referred to as Aulani.

MFs are maintenance fees--they vary by resort, but range from just below $5 per point to almost $7 per point. (Actually, I think BLT may be right around $4 per point). They are payable yearly, in January (or you can have them automatically deducted from a checking account, at no extra cost, on a monthly basis). MFs last for the life of the contract and you must pay them each year whether or not you use your points.

UY is use year (sometimes called use month, altho I've seen anyone use "UM")...that is the month (the first of the month) when you will get your year's allocation of points. (i.e., if you buy 200 points, you'll get 200 points each year for the life of the contract, on the first day of your UY (or use month). For example, my UY is Feb. So each Feb. 1, I get a new allocation of points.

DDP or DP is Disney Dining Plan (or dining plan)...

ME is Magical Express--the free motor coach service that will bring you from Orlando airport and take you back there (it only goes to MCO--the Orlando airport, and it's not restricted to DVC trips--any on-site resort guest can use it).

There's an airport check-in desk at each Disney resort that has its own acronym too, but I can't think of it at the moment.

MS is Member Services, the place you call to make DVC reservations (and associated bookings--like adding DDP)

CM is a cast member (a person who works at Disney)

There are probably more I'm not thinking of...check the stickies, or post here if you see one you can't figure out...someone will answer pretty quickly...

DVC ownership is somewhat (some would say very) complicated...it is indisputably correct that when you're spending the kind of money it takes to buy in to DVC you should know "everything"--or at least as much as possible. But truth be told, for me, I learned as I went (which may explain why I'm finding the many changes so disconcerting!)...most of it turns out to be relatively easy to manage (and figure out) once you start using your DVC...but it's hard to get a handle on all of it ahead of time.

One possible approach that might work: try planning a couple of vacations--different times of year, different resorts, different size villas. Imagine when you call to book you're more than 7 months from your check-in date, and also imagine you're 7 months or less from your planned date of arrival. Then imagine that one or more nights that you want isn't available at the resort you want, or in the size villa you want. That will help you identify what you do and do not know about what to buy and how to use your points.

After that, imagine a year when you want to go to a resort or in a villa size that takes more points than you have--and then imagine a year when you won't go at all. That will help you figure out current year points, banking and borrowing.

Good luck!