New Members???

[pudinhd]

OK... This is a bit long. My husband and I just got home from the first 7-day DCL West Coast cruise with a DCL membership. I had been bugging him (probably for at least a year) to check out Disney Vacation Club just to see if it would be something that was good for us. It was a somewhat last minute decision to go to the final DVC presentation on the cruise. The whole time situation was rushed, and we are both thinking of all sorts of questions we didn't think of before.

Our primary goal for joining DVC is to be able to do more Disney vacations. The other locations sound good, too, and I know we want to go to Hawaii, but I can't deny that I love Disney. In order to break even after 10 years, we would need our points to save us about $2,185 a year. If we kept the membership for all 54 years (our home resort would be Saratoga Springs), we would need the points to save us about $957 a year. Of course, this does not include the rising cost of the annual maintenance fee... Even with our 160 (the minimum) points, the options we have aren't that great, and if we bank and borrow points to have 3 years of points, we still wouldn't be able to go on a cruise for "free."

We have also thought about waiting until Disney starts selling for the Grand Californian Villas in Anaheim, because we would definitely be able to frequent that hotel the most, since we don't have to worry about airfare my husband's aversion to flying. But, at the same time, we are already annual passholders, so we don't necessarily need to stay somewhere overnight, or even somewhere expensive. However, there is also the thought that it would be better to have our home resort in Orlando, so when we have to pay for airfare, we wouldn't have to pay for the hotel.

Neither of us remember either of the guys in the sales pitch mentioning anything about a home resort and booking at 7 months or 11 months. I read about that when I was doing research after we got home. I LOVE to plan, so I don't know if I could wait to book a resort at 7 months...

We are now reconsidering our decision. I am now thinking that it would be best for us to save the money we would have spent on the annual maintenance fee to make Disney and non-Disney cruises and vacations more feasible, cost wise. It's a little disappointing, because we (especially my husband, which is the funny part) were so excited about belonging to DVC. The whole time, I have been saying that I don't want to make the wrong decision, whether it's joining or not joining.

Any thoughts or comments would be MUCH appreciated!!! Thanks in advance!

 

[chalee94]

with fuel costs rising by the day, it's a tough sell to get someone from the west coast to commit to vacations in FL at least every other year...

savings can be tricky to calculate - (i don't understand the numbers you posted at all-they seem to point to an easy "no" decision-but i'd be curious how you are calculating the savings) - but it varies depending on how you vacation. when do you go to wdw? 160 pts is about 12 nights a year in a studio at SSR in dec, for instance...are you happy in a value hotel or somewhere cheap offsite? if you aren't staying around that long in an onsite deluxe or at least a moderate, DVC won't be a good deal.

also, trading out for cruises is a nice option for members to have...but if you want to trade in for that purpose, i'd have to tell you it's not a good deal right now (pt costs for cruises, unlike pt costs for stays at DVC resorts, are NOT fixed and can go up or down in the future.)

if financial savings are what you want, you'd be best off buying the number of pts you would use each year (or half that number if you only are planning to hit wdw every other year) to stay at DVC resorts. but i would definitely hang out on the DVC boards for a while to learn how the system works before committing to buy in...

(BTW, SSR ends in 2054...leaving only 48 years remaining of membership remaining.)

 

[Disney_Villain]

Welcome Home . . . err, sort of.

DVC is really best suited to those who travel at least once a year, every year, to a Walt Disney World Resort primarily (if not VBR or HH). GCV's opening will include Disneyland in this too.

Using the Disney Collection for DCL out of an annual allocation of 160 points is going to be tough. Even at my current 460, I find it a bit of a challenge! Most of my DCL cruises have been cash, combined with a DVC resort stay in WDW (better use of my points that way).

Sounds like you either need more points . . . or maybe DVC isn't for you after all.

 

[Chuck S]

If your primary vacation is Disney World or other DVC resort destination, you'll save money over what you would spend over moderate or deluxe onsite accomodations.

If you are buying DVC primarily to trade to other locations, it probably is not the best decision for you. As far as the 11/7 window, it realy depends upon where yo want top stay, and the season in which you travel. Some people are very successful trading to other DVC Resorts, others are not, and many have success with the wait list.

I uually book my home resort during the 11/7 priority window, and begin my planing (meals, etc) at 6 months. Most member find that DVC, because their stays are often longer and more frequent, are more relaxed and enjoyable. They don't need to be planned down to minute. While I do plan an certain parks on certain days to make my dining arrangements, that is pretty much the extent of my planning now...and those plans often change once we arrive at WDW.

You have to decide what is best for you. Timeshare ownership isn't for everyone, and frequent Disney vacations aren't everyones cup of tea.

DVCs best value is staying at the DVC resorts, with only occasional jaunts into the World Passport (Interval International) Collection. The Disney cruises and regular WDW resorts eat up a lot of points, and it is often more economical to pay cash for those venues.

 

[AKV707]

It sounds to me that you want to stay at WDW and plan on doing that for years. If you plan on going to WDW at least every other year, and you are going to stay at DVC resorts, you will definitely save money. From your description, it sounds like DVC is for you.

YOu also say that you are a planner, and you need to be with DVC. The 11 month home resort advanathe is great.

And remember, you can always add on to your contract.

I would stick with it so.... Home!

 

[pudinhd]

Thank you so much for all of your information! We're still doing research and crunching the numbers... Making an emotional decision, we both want to join DVC 100%! We just need to figure out if it makes sense financially. To be completely honest, we haven't been to WDW since our honeymoon in 1999. It would be great to be able to go every year or every other year, but with the rising airfare, and the smaller amount of luggage we can take, this makes things more difficult. We were given a $10 discount per point, plus $500 off, which is really nice, but I don't think we can do this if we finance 90% - the costs really don't make sense. If anyone has any other thoughts, they would most definitely be appreciated. Thanks again!!

 

[rinkwide]

...we both want to join DVC 100%!..

Instead of emotionally wanting to "join DVC" you should try and think of this transaction in terms of a real estate purchase. Oh yeah, and cancel immediately.

 

[LisaS]

(BTW, SSR ends in 2054...leaving only 48 years remaining of membership remaining.)

The contact ends at the end of Jan 2054 so that leaves about 45 and 2/3 years at this point.