New DVC members

[disneynutz]

We bought on a cruise last Sept and did no research. One question I have is what is the big deal about your Home Resort? Ours is AKV. We have never been there before and have a trip booked already. We just found out we are moving to florida (military) and have many more weekend trips in the plans...but anyhow,

Do different resorts have different incentitives? We werent given a choice I thought AKV were the only ones to buy at the time. Thanks.

Disney's sales model has them pushing the new/active resorts that they just built. All resorts are available direct and resale but they want to re-coup their construction money so they only tell you about the active resort(s).

As posted, your home resorts give you the ability to book at 11 months out, your can book at non-home resorts at 7 months out. The home resort advantage is important if you want to guarantee availability.

If your resort is important to you, I believe that you should buy where you love to stay.

Bill

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

We bought on a cruise last Sept and did no research. One question I have is what is the big deal about your Home Resort? Ours is AKV. We have never been there before and have a trip booked already. We just found out we are moving to florida (military) and have many more weekend trips in the plans...but anyhow,

Do different resorts have different incentitives? We werent given a choice I thought AKV were the only ones to buy at the time. Thanks.

Often there are different incentives on resorts depending on what they are currently selling.

At the time you bought I believe AKV, VGF and Aulani would have been the resorts in active sales but Disney does sell points at all the resorts - the trick is that you probably have to know and ask about it. And they usually have different base prices for different resorts. Once Disney considers a resort "sold out" (just a term of not actively marketing) then the incentives normally go away and it's just the straight price. However so far they have not offered any incentives for VGF.

 

[HokieGCC]

We bought on a cruise last Sept and did no research. One question I have is what is the big deal about your Home Resort? Ours is AKV. We have never been there before and have a trip booked already. We just found out we are moving to florida (military) and have many more weekend trips in the plans...but anyhow,

Do different resorts have different incentitives? We werent given a choice I thought AKV were the only ones to buy at the time. Thanks.

Each resort charges for points differently but you probably have that information already. Some are more expensive than others. AKV has some of the lowest cost (if not the lowest cost) points required for some rooms. So for making points stretch you picked a good resort for your home resort.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Each resort charges for points differently but you probably have that information already. Some are more expensive than others. AKV has some of the lowest cost (if not the lowest cost) points required for some rooms. So for making points stretch you picked a good resort for your home resort.

You'll need value villas at eleven months out to make them stretch like HokieGCC recommended. Otherwise, OKW probably requires fewer points.

 

[jmedrew]

Thanks for all the great info!

 

[southerngirl528]

As a DVC Member for almost 21 years, and I have 3 kids, which is one of the main reasons I purchased (5 people do not fit in a regular hotel room), and in 1993, the minimum purchase was 230 points when we bought. We toured and I crunched numbers for several days, projecting hotel price increases, factoring in dues & their maximum possible increases, you name it. DVC was so new, they weren't even registered in my then home state, so we had to make a decision before flying home a week after our DVC tour. We bought. And have added on 4 times for a total of almost 500 points.

So, to the question is 300 points too many? And you plan on vacationing every year? 300 points is definitely NOT too much! Especially if you ever plan on using any points at all on DCL, which I have done numerous times. Is using points for DCL the very best bang for my buck? Nope. But it has allowed me to do weeks worth of DCL sailing during times in my life when there was no way I could have paid $3000 - $5500 for a cruise. Just got back from a 4 night on the Dream with my tiny grand princesses, who are 3 & 5. Awesome!

And AKV points per night are quite a bit more than OKW. I generally book a grand villa for a week every year, because my 3 that were very young kids in '93, are now all young adults. I can stay a week in a GV at OKW for about 4 nights' worth of points at AKV in a Savannah view room. VGF and Aulani's points per night are quite a bit higher than most other DVC resorts.

I can tell you I was thrilled to be a DVC member and be able to use points when I looked at booking Aulani on cash! We flew over for a 3 day stay (2 nights) in an ocean view 1 bdrm, and I looked on Aulani's website for those exact dates, same villa and it would have been $1990.00!!! OUCH. And no $35/day parking fee for members! Woohoo! And speaking of Aulani, I personally think it is the best resort Disney has ever built.

Am I happy I purchased DVC? Without question, yes! I find I actually need MORE points now that our kids are grown. I now have 2 step kids, and 3 of our 5 kids are married. 2 grand kids. Thus, an annual GV. And sometimes a studio to go with it! I wouldn't take anything for the memories we have and are creating with my DVC membership. I can earnestly say that without it, we either would not have, or could not have, taken as many lovely vacations. As for RCI, I have never done a trade with them. I have done only ONE trade for another timeshare in 21 years as a member, and that was when we had Interval International. Traded for a fabulous Hawaii resort. Not very interested in most of RCI's offerings, personally.