New Member freaking out

[disneylady]

I just became a DVC member while on the Magic. Now, that we're home, we're not sure that this is the best fit for us. We do not plan to take anymore 7 day vacations due to our work schedules. 4-5 day vacations will be the max for us. However, in looking through our options outside of a Disney property, most require a week's stay. Our paperwork hasn't arrived yet, but we are already thinking of not signing. My DH said, "Well, maybe we'll give it a shot." SO, I call MS and inquire about HHI. All booked. What good does it do to be a member if you can't get in?

Anyone have any insight for me? Right now, I need to hear the good and the bad as I'm expecting our paperwork any day. I'm just wondering if we made too hasty of a decision based on our vacation preferences and what will be work for us.

Sandy

 

[swich2mac]

Although, I purchased into SSR with Disney direct, I would suggest looking at the resale market for properties that are sold out.

 

[JimMIA]

First of all, there's no reason to freak out. Under Florida law, you have 10 days after signing any real estate contract to rescind. And I believe, as a matter of policy, Disney gives you 15 days.

Second, only taking 4-5 day vacations may not be a disadvantage. In fact, if you can play it right, it may work to your advantage. The reason for that is Friday and Saturday stays cost roughly double the points of stays on Sunday-Thursday night.

If you use DVC Sunday-Thursday nights, you really maximize your value. If you go at once a year, I think it's a good deal for you. If you go more than once a year for 4-5 nights -- like we do -- I think it's a great deal.

You called MS and HH was booked. How far in advance did you call? If you are calling within the seven-month window for a summer ressie, of course it's booked! It's a summer place.

I presume you bought SSR on the cruise. Check SSR availability at 11 months, and I'll bet you'll find plenty of availability. Or check OKW at 7 months. Again, unless you are trying to book the first couple of weeks in December, I'm sure you'll find availability. BCV in October at 7 months -- you gotta be kidding!

If you can be happy booking your home resort >7 months out, you will be a happy camper. If you're flexible inside the 7-month window, you'll be fine. If you must have a non-home resort during a peak time for that resort, you are not going to be happy no matter how many nights you stay.

DVC works best if you can plan far in advance, and if you can stay mostly Sunday-Thursday, that's just gravy.

Take a deep breath, take your time, evaluate all the pros and cons, and if it's not right for you, don't do it.

 

[Dean]

If you're looking at trade options and long weekends at DVC, you should seriously reconsider as you'll spend more than you would just cash and/or renting from a member.

 

[Disney Doll]

Depending on what and how oyu vacation, it may or may not be a good fit for oyu.

Weekend points double, so taking a 4-5 dayvacation where you stay check in on Sunday and check out on Friday AM, could be really good for you and help you conserve points. The weekday nights (Sunday through Thursday) are cheaper than Friday and Saturday nights).

If you are willling to do a little pre-planning, I am quite sure you can pretty much vacation where and when you want. You may not always get the resort you want, but you will pretty much always have someplace to stay. Basically, book your home resort at the 11 month window. At the 7 month window, if oyu want to change, call and see if what you want is available. If so, change your reservation. If not, get on the waitlist. I have been waitlisted numerous times, and have always gotten what I wanted. In general, even last minute oyu can find availability...OKW almost always has some availability. Some of the more popular places may not have availability last minute at certain times of the year (ie- you probably wouldn't get a last minute booking at BCV or BWV during the Food & Wine Fest in Epcot), but OKW or SSR would still be available.

Think long and hard though, about your vacation habits. If you decide not to join, let them know.

 

[corinnak]

I just became a DVC member while on the Magic. Now, that we're home, we're not sure that this is the best fit for us.

When I first read this, I thought "on the Magic" - is this a clever euphamism for that Disney vacation euphoria that makes you think it's a good idea to spend $2.50 for a bottle of water or $14 for some sunblock extended into buying a timeshare (cause I have SO been there!)?.......or maybe you were on the cruise ship, The Magic? Well, either way, I guess the effect is the same.

If you were mostly thinking of using the option to trade out and stay off site, I think DVC is probably not going to give you as much flexibility as you would want for the $$. I don't have much more to add - I'm a recent purchaser myself - but it's great that you still have the time buffer to back out if you decide that it's not the best fit for you!

 

[bounceliketigger]

We just joined last week & are going to OKW for 5 nights in March. There was some availability just about everywhere we checked, but definately summer places will be harder to get in summer, etc. We've been looking on the member only site & haven't seen any reference to one week required, but we plan on using 5 night stays for the most part to maximize points. Also, we leave early in the am and come home late in the pm & wind up getting almost 2 extra days.

By the way, we have been contemplating doing this for YEARS! We just took the plunge to get in on the Friends & Family deal. The irony is, years ago it was much cheaper & it would be paid off by now! We paid at least as much in the 3 vacations to WDW before now, not to mention the other places we've gone that we could have used points for.....only regret? Not doing it sooner! (After this year we may even buy more points on the resale!

Good luck!

 

[bounceliketigger]

We thought "the Magic" was that special "Disney air" they pump throughout the park and even in the mall "Disney Store".

 

[txaggie94gigem]

how successful are you at booking ressies for non-disney resorts?

 

[MiaSRN62]

Disney Doll says : Some of the more popular places may not have availability last minute at certain times of the year (ie- you probably wouldn't get a last minute booking at BCV or BWV during the Food & Wine Fest in Epcot), but OKW or SSR would still be available.

Just wanted to add, that I agree about BWV/BCV being tough to book last minute (or even 7 months out) for the Food and Wine Festival. But in both 2003 and 2004 we could not get ANY resort (OKW particularily --we waitlisted) at 60-90 days out for late Oct/early Nov. My waitlist never came through and I inquired about any wdw DVC resort. I just feel MNSSHP & F&W Festival is becoming more and more popular and finding last minute availability is difficult for any resort. I just think OKW and SSR may be a little easier to find availability due the size of the resort and amount of rooms. BWV/BCV/VWL are much smaller and book quicker because of this.
In other words, they're all becoming popular during certain time periods because of the wdw events going on (Oct/Nov/Dec are among the more difficult times to book unless you do so very early). Just wanted the OP to be aware should this be a time of the year they were hoping to vacation during.

 

[paslea_pooh]

If you are interested in Hilton Head why don't you post on the Rent board and see if you can transfer your points to another member who OWNS at HH and they might be able to get you what you need. No need to freak out. We bought in March of 2005 and we often think we made the wrong decision but we went late November early December of last year and would have spent about $6000 on our accomadations alone! If you take small vacations then you can Maximize your DVC. Going Sun-Thurs, you'll be able to go several times a year as opposed to a regular timeshare where you get one week a year.

There's a way out if you think you've made the wrong choice. Just sit down and work out the numbers. You could always rent out your points to help you fund other vacations your interested in. Just a thought

Good Luck in whatever you decide

 

[Figment2]

There is no seven day requirement to stay at the DVC resorts. There is, I believe, a week requirement when you trade out (you use your points to trade into Cancun, etc.).

I have gone down and stayed two nights with no problem. As everyone as stated though, you can't expect to reserve Hilton Head at this late date. DVC does require some pre-planning. Having said that, I will tell you that sometimes you do get lucky. I was able to get a studio at BCV for Christmas weekend two weeks before. I paid a fortune for a plane ticket but it was totally worth it.

Cyn

 

[disneylady]

JimMIA,

My concern is that we were looking forward to staying on properties that weren't owned by Disney. However, the majority of those properties require a week's stay. It didn't dawn on me just how few places there are to stay for 3-4 nights.

 

[JimMIA]

JimMIA,

My concern is that we were looking forward to staying on properties that weren't owned by Disney. However, the majority of those properties require a week's stay. It didn't dawn on me just how few places there are to stay for 3-4 nights.

If your primary reason for buying DVC is to trade out elsewhere, that is really NOT what DVC is about. By far the best value with DVC is staying on-site, or at one of the beach DVC resorts.

If you are going to use DVC mostly to trade out, you would probably be better off buying another timeshare -- although I think you will have the same difficulties of 7-night stays with many of them. Dean can probably give you some good advice on that.

You can use DVC to do shorter stays with the Concierge Collection, but I would certainly not buy DVC just for that. That collection lets you stay as short as one night, but the points costs are quite high in many cases. If you do the math, you might well be better off on those paying cash for the rooms.

 

[disneylady]

Thank you, you have all been very helpful with your posts. Please continue to pass your thoughts my way as we are truly on a fence on this thing.

We discussed in detail last night what types of vacations we want to take in the near future. Here is what came up: Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Universal Studios, etc. None of these have Disney properties. We're only interested in doing WDW or DCL every 3-4 years. Plus, we decided we will more than likely always do a Sunday through Thursday, which basically means we'll be trading 90% of the time.

It does bother me that we are very interested in the HHI property in the summer months and it seems like are chances will always be slim.

I'll continue to research the pros and cons. In the meantime, keep your input coming.

 

[Groucho]

I'm a DVC newbie but it seems to be that it's common to rent points and use the money from that to book non-Disney vacations; that can work out better than using the exchange program.

I wouldn't think that it'd be the best if you're planning a lot of non-Disney vacations. My thinking. for example, is maybe a 1-bedroom one year, 2-bedroom another,then a year off, renting any unused points and putting that towards a non-Disney trip. (And probably squeezing in one or two small non-Disney trips in the other years as well.) The trips you're talking about are not likely to take a full week, either - I live about 1.5 hours from Niagara Falls and I can't imagine how you could spend a full seven days there.

I think that I would do some research into some other timeshares, if I were you - or just skip the timeshare thing and go at it without the need of renting a place for a week. That way, you could do something like Niagara Falls for a couple days then over to Toronto for a couple days, without being bored to tears after several days in one place.

And, you do get 15 days to decide with DVC, so you should be safe. In fact, it MIGHT be 15 days from when you sign the paperwork - I'd check but I just dropped ours off with FedEx this morning!

 

[RoyalCanadian]

It does bother me that we are very interested in the HHI property in the summer months and it seems like are chances will always be slim.

Actually your chances will be just as good as anyone else who takes the time to do some advance planning. Unless you own at HHI you will have the 7 month window in which to book your HHI vacation.

But in reading through your vacation plans it would certainly seem that you bought DVC for the entirely wrong reasons. You should have discussed your future vacation plans prior to getting caught up in the Disney Magic on the Disney Magic when you purchased those 300 points.

 

[SaratogaShan]

If you are interested in HHI in the summer months, you may want to consider a HHI resale contract. This will give you the 11 months homeresort booking window.

If you only want to stay at this resort every couple of years, purchase a small contract. Bank points every other year. This way, every two years you will have enough points for a grand vacation, but at a small price!

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

If you are going to WDW every 3 or 4 years but you might be able to go to HHI every year the "buy where you want to stay" mantra applies especially to you. And even then you might be better off buying any timeshare at HHI not just disney.

My advice would be first to rescind (don't sign) and then sit down and think seriously about whether timeshare is the right thing for you at all. If you think it is then go visit www.tug2.net the timeshare users group. With a little research you can determine which timeshare will let you vacation the way you want to.

That aside if you know you'd use HH with any regularity then a HH contract is what you should have purchased...absolutely resale.

 

[disneylady]

THis is no one's fault but our own. I recall the guide saying that the World Passport Collection was mainly for those wanting to stay a full week. The word "world" made me think international travel for some reason. It wasn't until I got home and started planning our next vacation did I realize that 90% of the resorts in this collection are within the US. Very few outside of Disney allow a nightly stay.

It may be better for me to just start a vacation fund and channel my dollars that way. However, with that said, it does bother me that we've taken 3 Disney vacations and have already spent about $15,000 out of pocket whereas the timeshare thing would have saved us. Perhaps I need to stick w/the timeshare thing, but just come to terms with the fact that there will be some places that we'd like to stay that aren't in the DVC at all and the ones that are will require a longer stay.