Newbie questions

[fullup]

Where does a newbie go to get answers to basic questions on DVC? I read the DVC FAQs, but still many questions, and I'm sure the answers will lead to more questions. I didn't do the Sales presentation, because:

A) I didn't want to give up 2 hours of my time for a sales pitch
B) My experience is that the information is slanted
C) If there are first time deals, I want to be ready to buy when they are offered.

My most basic question is, what is the minimum number of points per year you can own?

Secondly, I hear a lot of people saying to buy where you want to stay. Others say that availability at 7 months is easy to get. So which is true?

 

[Deb & Bill]

We bought on our first trip. My husband watched the DVC channel at the hotel several times before he set up a time to talk. We talked and wound up buying 175 points. Have added on four more times since then and now have 500 (300 OKW, 100 VWL and 100 BCV).

Buy where you want to stay is the best way to go. If you decide you want a GV at BWV or a boardwalk view or standard view, you may need that 11 months head start. Especially if you want to go at holiday times or other busy times.

The information we got at our visit with the Vacation Guide was very simple. Buy or not. No pressure at all, none. If we chose not to buy, they really didn't care. Not at all like other timeshares. Yes, they are selling a timeshare, but if you go to Disney often and plan to use the DVC timeshare primarily for Disney, then this is the way to go. Unless you don't care for the luxury of the DVC resorts. You are only sleeping in the room, don't spend any time there and are at the parks most of the time.

We like having the space, full kitchen, washer and dryer, etc. It makes it a nice vacation for us. Plus, if we want to bring someone along and treat them to our villa, it's a nice treat for them.

If you buy from Disney, they will sell you a minimum of 150 points. You can go once a year on 150 points, but you can't go at Christmas time and you cant' get a two bedroom villa for a entire week. That's why we got 175 to start. But we decided we really liked going to Disney and started going twice a year.

If you buy a resale, you can buy less points, but maybe will have to bank them and borrow to get enough to even do anything with them. Use the points calculator to see what it will take you at the time you want to go staying in the size villa you want to stay in. We stayed in studios for a while (used up our points on the DCL), but now we only stay in one bedrooms. We like the extra space. We're even looking at staying in two bedrooms (and we only have one child).

 

[DisneyBill]

Where does a newbie go to get answers to basic questions on DVC? I read the DVC FAQs, but still many questions, and I'm sure the answers will lead to more questions. I didn't do the Sales presentation, because:

A) I didn't want to give up 2 hours of my time for a sales pitch
B) My experience is that the information is slanted
C) If there are first time deals, I want to be ready to buy when they are offered.

My most basic question is, what is the minimum number of points per year you can own?

Secondly, I hear a lot of people saying to buy where you want to stay. Others say that availability at 7 months is easy to get. So which is true?

Welcome to the DIS boards! Wow, Deb & Bill did a great job addressing issues.

You can presently only buy a 150 point minimum from Disney (use to be more), but you can buy a resale for whatever is being offered.

 

[fullup]

Welcome to the DIS boards! Wow, Deb & Bill did a great job addressing issues.

You can presently only buy a 150 point minimum from Disney (use to be more), but you can buy a resale for whatever is being offered.

So I can be an owner with only 25 points?? Is 25 the smallest possible contract, I haven't ever heard of a smaller one?

If you buy 10 contracts of 25 points, would the Maintenance fees be the same as 1 contract of 250 points?

 

[Deb & Bill]

You can buy a contract of 25 points if someone is selling one. You can't break up a contract and sell part of the points. But if you buy a 25 point contract, your closing costs will run you about $450 or $500. Same if you buy 100 or 150. No closing costs if you buy direct from Disney.

Maintenance costs will be the same if you buy 250 or 25 (all the same resort). Fees are per point. But they vary from resort to resort. VB has the highest Maintenance Fees. OKW has had the lowest.

If you only own 25 points, the most number of points you will have at any one time is 75 (bank one year, borrow from the next and use the current year points). You can't do much with 75 points - unless a studio is all you need.

 

[fullup]

Thanks for the info, Deb & Bill. Is any of this info available on the web? Can I look at the entire list of rules online?

 

[tjkraz]

Secondly, I hear a lot of people saying to buy where you want to stay. Others say that availability at 7 months is easy to get. So which is true?

Here's my $.02...take it for what it's worth.

Personally, I think the Home resort issue is blown out of proportion. If you are absolutely certain that you want to stay at ONE DVC resort a very high percentage of time AND you will be consistently booking your trips more than 7 months ahead of time, then you should definitely buy points at that resort.

However, if you recognize that all of the DVC resorts are first-class and don't really have a strong preference for any one resort, then it doesn't matter much. Also, if you are unable to book your stays more than 7 months out, Home resort is meaningless--at 7 months we are all playing on a level field.

The reality is that very few (if any) potential members actually have first hand experience with many of the resorts. Sure you can look at photos, read descriptions and make an educated guess. But even with all of that research, you may ultimately discover that you didn't guess correctly. That's when you start considering an add-on for the resort you KNOW you like.

If finances are a concern, consider a resale at OKW (lowest dues in the program and fairly low initial purchase cost) or SSR direct from DVC (second lowest dues and pretty good pricing on a contract that runs 12 years longer than the others.) Hilton Head is also worth considering, but personally I wouldn't buy points off-site if you intend to use them at a WDW-based resort the vast majority of the time.

Can I look at the entire list of rules online?

No. Contact DVC and they will send you a pile of paper that explains all of the details of the program, and a pretty informative video. There will be no pressure to buy.

For what it's worth, I would have found time for the tour. DVC will pick you up and drop you off at your location of choice, and they would have been happy to answer all of your questions and then some. And there is very little room for them to "slant" information--DVC will pay for itself in 5-7 years for most people and the rules are fairly straightforward. Frankly, the program sells itself.

The biggest mistake that frequent WDW visitors make is not buying into DVC sooner.

 

[CherCrazy]

"The biggest mistake that frequent WDW visitors make is not buying into DVC sooner." Ditto to that!!

Don't be afraid to call DVC to ask questions. They were so incredibly helpful with us, and NEVER pushed us into anything. And yes, the program sells itself so they don't need to push.

Unfortunately, during our purchasing process, my husband lost his job. Disney helped us through that difficult time period by putting our purchase on hold, saving the promo, etc. They absolutely did not need to do that. But, I believe they knew that we were determined to purchase and helped us with extensions. This helped our spirits tremendously, knowing that we could still obtain our dreams, once our difficult time was over.

It's FABULOUS when a big company takes time to help the little consumer!

 

[lllovell]

For what it's worth, I would have found time for the tour. DVC will pick you up and drop you off at your location of choice, and they would have been happy to answer all of your questions and then some. And there is very little room for them to "slant" information--DVC will pay for itself in 5-7 years for most people and the rules are fairly straightforward. Frankly, the program sells itself.

The biggest mistake that frequent WDW visitors make is not buying into DVC sooner.

I agree completely! We have just bought into SSR and I cannot wait to go home. (We put off using our points until March, 2005 to get a discount on them - which is another option you can get by purchasing directly from Disney).

Also, if you take time to do the tour, they will also give 2 fastpasses to you that will jump you to the front of the line and make up for that "lost time", so it doesn't really cost you much!

 

[douggod]

We spent a YEAR researching all the various timeshares: Disney, Hilton, Mariott, etc. You want pressure - go to Hilton!

The 2 hours at Disney was LOW pressure, I mean LOW pressure. The product speaks for itself, if you like Disney. There is a deal for signing up after the pitch, but you have 3 days to decide. Our guide encouraged us NOT to make a decision but go home and think about it.

We basically had to decide:
1) how many points we wanted and
2) if we wanted SSR or a resale.

We looked at our vacation history and made the point decision based on that factor.

We went for SSR because of the extra 12 years, paid a little more.

We have booked inside 7 months without any problem so far; although we do not go in the Magic or Premier times.

Finally, I would encourage you to take the 2 hours on your next visit, take ONE hour and meet a guide. They will give you everything you need and will not apply pressure. You can still go the resale route.

Good luck!

 

[sgtpet]

Disney is currently selling Saratoga Springs. The other DVC resorts are sold out and are available via resale.

If you want or go to WDW once a year then I think DVC is worth it.

 

[fullup]

...
The 2 hours at Disney was LOW pressure, ...

That's not the point. I'm not afraid of salespeople, I can say no and walk out on a high pressure salesman.

1) I just don't like spending an hour to get information I can read in 10 minutes.
2) I prefer it in black and white, uncolored by a salesperson
3) I was afraid they would offer incentives that are good for only 3 days, at a time when I wasn't ready to buy within 3 days.

I will do the presentation if/when I'm ready to buy to get the first time incentives and to sign the contracts.

Thanks again to everyone for your posts. It appears that the best way to get what I want is to request the program rules from Disney and read through them.

 

[cruise-o-matic]

We ordered the Information Package back in June and didn't take the tour when we went in July because we didn't want to take the time to take the tour.

Last month, just my wife and I went to WDW. We were at DTD and had some time to kill, so we took the tour then. The tour and presentation take just over an hour, plus you get vouchers for a free lunch.

Our guide was very informative and answered all our questions. There is no pressure to buy on the spot. The only thing is that once you do take the tour, you have 3 days once you return home to get the incentives, which are $10 off per point. Once you have put a deposit down on a contract, you still have 60 days to sign it and send it back. Then you have 15 more days Right of Recission to still back out.

If you buy from DVC, your building is not scheduled to open til May 05, so your payments and maintenance fees won't begin until then. But as May gets closer, you can probably expect DVC to start phasing out the $10 incentive. So if you want SSR at $85, why not buy now?

150 points is the current minimum to buy direct from DVC, but once you are a Member, you can buy "add on" contracts of a smaller amount. DVC currently has an incentive for present members for free AP's with the purchase of 130 SSR points. DVC also sells add ons to their sold out resorts at $89 per point, but there is a waiting list for these points. (They get these from exercising ROFR on resales.)

You can buy smaller contracts on the resale market, but the closing costs are going to be roughly the same as larger ones, so you'll be paying more per point.

So what did we do? Once we were sold on DVC, we looked at re-sale. We decided on going with a 200 point Hilton Head contract with some banked points. If we were to buy 200 points in SSR, that would cost us $17,000. Once you add up the purchase price, plus closing costs, transfer fee and maintenance fees between now and June (when we would have to start paying MF's on SSR), we were still paying over $2,000 less for the same amount of points. Granted, we won't have the 12 extra years, but we'll be in our mid-80's in 2054.

We plan on alternating summers at HH and WDW. Since summers are harder to book at HH, we like the 11 month window. We figured that we could always book WDW for the summer at less than 7 months out. HH also has the 3rd lowest maintenance fees, after SSR and OKW.

 

[DrTomorrow]

That's not the point. I'm not afraid of salespeople, I can say no and walk out on a high pressure salesman.

1) I just don't like spending an hour to get information I can read in 10 minutes.
2) I prefer it in black and white, uncolored by a salesperson
3) I was afraid they would offer incentives that are good for only 3 days, at a time when I wasn't ready to buy within 3 days.

I will do the presentation if/when I'm ready to buy to get the first time incentives and to sign the contracts.

Thanks again to everyone for your posts. It appears that the best way to get what I want is to request the program rules from Disney and read through them.

While I too am a "let me read all the info" kind of person, I might suggest that you rely on more than the written product info and the DIS DVC forum. You're considering spending a significant chunk of change, and this is something you'll be using for the next 38-50 years - you might want to see what you're buying before "contract signing day". While there are a lot of facts that can be boiled down, remember that this is a pre-paid (plus annual maint. fees) vacation that you're buying, so there are a fair amount of intangibles. Good luck!

IMHO - YMMV