Newbie question

[ksheppard]

Hello,

We are looking into buying a timeshare but are very confused. We want to stay with a points based system.

From what I understand, people are saying that number one, we should buy where we want to travel more regularly ("our home"). The problem is, we don't necessarily want to travel at any one particular destination regularly. We want to be able to travel to different locations. We also enjoy all inclusive resorts but do not necessarily have to travel in them every year.

We were thinking of buying with the Disney Vacation Club. People are saying that it is expensive to buy there. The price is 34000$ for 320 points (equals one week in Bay Lake Towers for onw week in high season). These points can be exchanged through RCI for two weeks in high season.

We are just not sure what the right decision is. We feel that Disney is a good company but can we get the equivalent elsewhere for less money.

Considering that our home resort is not that much of importance what should we do. I definately want to be able to keep the trading power that a Disney property would give us but are there others that are equivalent.

Thanks for the help.

 

[5forDiz]

Hello,

We are looking into buying a timeshare but are very confused. We want to stay with a points based system.

From what I understand, people are saying that number one, we should buy where we want to travel more regularly ("our home"). The problem is, we don't necessarily want to travel at any one particular destination regularly. We want to be able to travel to different locations. We also enjoy all inclusive resorts but do not necessarily have to travel in them every year.

We were thinking of buying with the Disney Vacation Club. People are saying that it is expensive to buy there. The price is 34000$ for 320 points (equals one week in Bay Lake Towers for onw week in high season). These points can be exchanged through RCI for two weeks in high season.

We are just not sure what the right decision is. We feel that Disney is a good company but can we get the equivalent elsewhere for less money.

Considering that our home resort is not that much of importance what should we do. I definately want to be able to keep the trading power that a Disney property would give us but are there others that are equivalent.

Thanks for the help.

The true value of DVC is using your points to stay at a DVC resort. If you plan to regularly use points for non-DVC resort options (like offerings through RCI ) then there are better timeshares out there to purchase instead.

I'd just add that if you plan to visit WDW every 2nd or 3rd yr then purchase less than 320 pts - 160 pts or less may work; with banking or borrowing you can have 2 yrs worth of your points to use EOY and by utilizing both banking & borrowing 3 yrs worth ETY ( ie 2009 Use Year allotment banked into 2010 Use Year + 2010 Use Year allotment + 2011 Use Year allotment borrowed into 2010 Use Year = 3 year's allotment of points to use for trip during 2010 Use Year ).

I believe current minimum buy-in purchase directly through Disney is 160 points so you may want to check the resale market where you can buy-in to DVC for less than that minimum (there are contracts of all sizes available via resale & often at significant savings over purchasing through Disney). All DVC resorts at WDW, even BLT lately too, are available on resale. In the future if you want to purchase more points you can by buying "add-on" contract directly through Disney for 25 pt minimum cash purchase or 50 pt minimum with their financing or you can buy more through resale.

Look over resort point charts to get better idea of how many points you may need based on resort(s) you'd like to stay at/villa size you'd want/number of days/season(s) you'd likley travel and be sure to check out 2010 points charts because adjustments have been made to points required for weekday & weekend days.

Hope this helped a bit and best wishes on your planning !