Opinions wanted, lots of questions too (hehehe)

[Shalida]

We are thinking of doing DVC and are going to check out the new Saratoga Springs Resort when we are at WDW in November.

Has anyone here stayed at Saratoga Springs Resort and if so what are your opinions of it and how does it compare to other Disney resorts?

I had read somewhere (ya'll will learn I have the memory of a sieve LOL) that if you buy while you are vacationing at WDW that the room cost you paid can apply toward your purchase price. Is this accurate or someone blowing some sunshine?

On the Disney DVC page there is mention if you buy at Saratoga Springs Resort you will receive a complimentary vacation. Does anyone have any details on this? I tried calling DVC to ask about it but they are closed due to Hurricane Jeanne.

Thanks to anyone who has read this far and decides to answer my pesky questions

Kristen
(Only 43 more days 'til WDW - wheeeeeee!)

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Originally posted by Shalida
I had read somewhere (ya'll will learn I have the memory of a sieve LOL) that if you buy while you are vacationing at WDW that the room cost you paid can apply toward your purchase price. Is this accurate or someone blowing some sunshine?

Think sunshine. They won't let you apply what you spent on a room as a downpayment. About as close as you will come to that is what we did a few years ago. We were staying on cash at the VWL. We checked in on a Saturday and were staying until Friday. On Tuesday we took the DVC tour and purchased that day. The rest of our trip (Tuesday through Friday nights) we stayed on points. Used the cash we would have spent as a downpayment and we were happy. Luckily our guide made this work and was able to switch us over to points. Notice in my example I couldn't do the points for the nights I already stayed. I tried but to no avail.

Good luck. We have heard many good things about SSR here on the Dis Boards.

HBC

 

[Shalida]

Thanks HBC! Sounds like we want to do the tour on the first day we are there.

So here is another question for you (I am terribly pesky that way )

I am somewhat grasping what you said on this. Now I have paid for our entire stay at the Poly in advance. So if I buy the first day what happens to the $$ I have already paid Disney for my room? (around $3300) If I choose to use my points then do they refund what I paid from my current room to my credit card?

 

[DebbieB]

The complimentary vacation is if you buy into phase 2 of SSR, which will not open until next year. They give you an equal number of developer points to use anywhere but SSR. I believe they are good until September of next year. I don't know if they would allow you to apply them to your current Poly stay. You would use alot of points, a garden view at the Poly is 32 points for weekdays and 58 points for weekends (per night) during value season. So if you are staying a week at the Poly, you would need 276 points. I would save them if you will be going next year, you could get a 2 bedroom at OKW most of the year for less than that.

 

[bwvBound]

Originally posted by Shalida
I had read somewhere (ya'll will learn I have the memory of a sieve LOL) that if you buy while you are vacationing at WDW that the room cost you paid can apply toward your purchase price. Is this accurate or someone blowing some sunshine?

Once upon a time, a long time ago ... that was true. But we are talking '98'ish?

 

[Beca]

You can, however, sell DVC your first year's points back at $5 per point, and use that money as part of your down payment.



Beca

 

[tjkraz]

I'd suggest starting a dialog with a DVC Guide (salesperson) as soon as the storm lifts. Just pose the question exactly as you have here--ask if it would be possible to immediately move to a DVC resort and stay on your points if you decide to purchase.

The only unknown would be availability. Obviously they won't reserve a DVC room for you until you've agreed to buy, so it will depend upon there being any availability when (if) you make the decision to move forward. With about 2000 DVC rooms on-site, it stands to reason that there may be something. The time period you are visiting WDW is one of the highest occupancy seasons of the year, but there will probably be a handful of unplanned cancellations. You may not have much choice of resort for your first stay, but all of the DVC properties are wonderful.

Oh, and if you want a referral to a great DVC Guide, send me a PM and I'd be happy to hook you up.

Good luck!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Originally posted by Shalida
Now I have paid for our entire stay at the Poly in advance. So if I buy the first day what happens to the $$ I have already paid Disney for my room? (around $3300) If I choose to use my points then do they refund what I paid from my current room to my credit card?

I agree with DebbieB. I'm not sure you will be able to do it staying at a non DVC resort. What I did was fairly easy because we were already at a DVC resort. Disney may not be as accomodating with the Poly, especially since you have already paid in advance. (Was it through a travel agent?). As already suggested by TJK, you may want to talk to a Guide in advance regarding this situation so you aren't disappointed.

HBC

 

[Shalida]

Originally posted by tjkraz
The time period you are visiting WDW is one of the highest occupancy seasons of the year, but there will probably be a handful of unplanned cancellations.

Really? That is weird because we got in on the Value season rate. I love being a WDW around Thanksgiving but specifically planned our vacation this year so we would be leaving prior to it getting crowded.

Originally posted by tjkraz
Oh, and if you want a referral to a great DVC Guide, send me a PM and I'd be happy to hook you up.

Good luck!

That would be super! Thank you so much!

 

[Shalida]

Originally posted by Happy Birthday Cat
I agree with DebbieB. I'm not sure you will be able to do it staying at a non DVC resort. What I did was fairly easy because we were already at a DVC resort. Disney may not be as accomodating with the Poly, especially since you have already paid in advance. (Was it through a travel agent?). As already suggested by TJK, you may want to talk to a Guide in advance regarding this situation so you aren't disappointed.

HBC

No, I booked everything myself. Call me weird but I prefer not to use a travel agent and go through CRO making sure I get my AP passholders discount.

And yes, I do think I will be calling them back on Monday when they are in the office and get some more questions answered.

I was just reading some stuff on the annual dues that I need to think on. I was just surprised to read about it is all. We were thinking of buying 400 points and that would be around $1470 in dues each year. Ouch!

 

[Shalida]

Originally posted by DebbieB
The complimentary vacation is if you buy into phase 2 of SSR, which will not open until next year. They give you an equal number of developer points to use anywhere but SSR. I believe they are good until September of next year. I don't know if they would allow you to apply them to your current Poly stay. You would use alot of points, a garden view at the Poly is 32 points for weekdays and 58 points for weekends (per night) during value season. So if you are staying a week at the Poly, you would need 276 points. I would save them if you will be going next year, you could get a 2 bedroom at OKW most of the year for less than that.

Thanks for explaining that Debbie! This could work well for us since we think we would like to make our next trip either late February or early March.

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by Shalida
Really? That is weird because we got in on the Value season rate. I love being a WDW around Thanksgiving but specifically planned our vacation this year so we would be leaving prior to it getting crowded.

I think it's safe to say that DVC members are little bit different breed of Disney guest. As I understand it, the summer months are some of the easiest times to book a room. DVC members love the fall months for the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot, the Halloween festivities, Christmas...oh, yeah, and some of the lowest point seasons of our year.

Don't get me wrong--it's not like it's impossible to book that period of time. We just can't say with 100% certainty that you'd be able to get a room on one day's notice.

I'll send you a PM with my Guide's name and some comments on our dealings with him.

Originally posted by Shalida
I was just reading some stuff on the annual dues that I need to think on. I was just surprised to read about it is all. We were thinking of buying 400 points and that would be around $1470 in dues each year. Ouch!

If you're shocked by the number, are you sure you need that many points? DVC Studios are comparable to WDW deluxe resort rooms. With 400 points, you could spend almost the entire month of September in a Studio!!! it's actually 402 points for the month, so you'd have to borrow two points from the next year to cover the entire stay.

The rack rate for that size room is about $250 per night. When you add in the 11% tax, you could pay over $8000 for the same stay that is costing you $1470 per year. Even if you assume 25-30% AP discount off of rack rates, the Maintenance is still just a fraction of cash prices.

You weren't planning to buy into DVC with the intention of using points often to stay at a non-DVC resort like the Poly, were you? While DVC does offer us the ability to trade into the other Disney resorts, it is generally not considered to be a very economical use of points. The points go MUCH farther at DVC resorts, and that's how the program was designed. There's nothing wrong with an occasional non-DVC stay. Many members will pay cash to stay elsewhere on the weekends.

As DebbieB pointed out, a weekday at the Poly is 32 points during Value season. A weekday for a Studio in October is 11 points at SSR or 12 points at the Boardwalk.

Also, the point costs at DVC resorts is virtually guaranteed not to change. Barring a total reorganization of the point charts (which I won't go into here), that studio at SSR will STILL cost 11 points 20, 30, even 40 years from now. On the other hand, I can pretty much guarantee that the trade-in values for the Poly will increase by a point or two each year.

If you're considering that many points because you want to upgrade your stays to a 1B or 2B, you need to take that into account. You really can't do an apples-to-apples comparison between a 700+ sq ft DVC One Bedroom (with whirlpool tub, washer/dryer, full kitchen, separate bedroom, etc.) and a WDW Deluxe resort room.

Hope this helps.

 

[Shalida]

Originally posted by tjkraz
I think it's safe to say that DVC members are little bit different breed of Disney guest. As I understand it, the summer months are some of the easiest times to book a room. DVC members love the fall months for the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot, the Halloween festivities, Christmas...oh, yeah, and some of the lowest point seasons of our year.

Hehehe, you mentioned my FAVORITE....Food & Wine festival! We missed it by a few days last year and I was SO bummed out. I thoroughly plan on eating my way around the world this vacation. (oink!)

Originally posted by tjkraz
I'll send you a PM with my Guide's name and some comments on our dealings with him.

Again, thank you SO much!

Originally posted by tjkraz
If you're shocked by the number, are you sure you need that many points?

Well, there are 4 of us in my family (me, DH, DS2, DS3) and we are going in on this with my folks as the WDW vacations are a family trip(s) we like making together and want to continue to do each year. So that brings us up to 6 people each trip.

A studio wouldn't work because my mom wants to be in the same "room" as us but doesn't want to "room" with us LOL. In otherwords, we at least would be getting a 1 bedroom each trip.

This is what prompted us to start thinking DVC. Getting rooms, grumbling about sharing, etc is getting OLD!

Originally posted by tjkraz
You weren't planning to buy into DVC with the intention of using points often to stay at a non-DVC resort like the Poly, were you?

Nope, the only reason we are staying at the Poly this trip is because it's Mom's & DS's birthdays and so we are treating ourselves to a LVC there. Under normal circumstances the Poly is not my first choice of resorts.

Originally posted by tjkraz
If you're considering that many points because you want to upgrade your stays to a 1B or 2B, you need to take that into account. You really can't do an apples-to-apples comparison between a 700+ sq ft DVC One Bedroom (with whirlpool tub, washer/dryer, full kitchen, separate bedroom, etc.) and a WDW Deluxe resort room.

Hope this helps. [/B]

Good point, hadn't even thought about it that way.

And of course it helps! Ya'll have been wonderful with your advice!

 

[disneyberry]

<font face="times" size="+0">Hi Shalida. I just wanted to comment about the 400 points thing. If you are 6 people in a family, you will probably need a 2bdrm unit. How often are you planning to go to WDW, how long will your trips be, and do you plan to always stay in DVC on Fri + Sat nights?

I think that 400 points is a bit too much unless you were planning on going for two whole weeks a year, or only going during Xmas or Easter weeks when it's peak DVC season. (And in that case, I wouldn't even recommend DVC. It's just way too expensive during Premier Season, especially Fri + Sat nights.) If you plan to book 2 Studios to save points, or plan to travel to WDW not more than 1 week every year, then you could certainly start off with a smaller number of points.

I would recommend downloading Caskbill's DVC Planner software to play around with it and get a better feel for how many points your family might need. I'm not on my usual computer, so I don't have the URL link for the download, but try doing a search here on Caskbill's planner and you should be able to find a thread that talks about it.

HTH!</font>

 

[Shalida]

Originally posted by disneyberry
<font face="times" size="+0">Hi Shalida. I just wanted to comment about the 400 points thing. If you are 6 people in a family, you will probably need a 2bdrm unit. How often are you planning to go to WDW, how long will your trips be, and do you plan to always stay in DVC on Fri + Sat nights?

Well my dad LOVES to vacation at Disney so I am betting it will be two weeks a year. Possibly spread over two seperate vacation, but then maybe not.

The November trip my folks are going to be there a week before we arrive. Originally we were going to join them for 4 days following their first week but then dad said "oh add one more night" and then a few days later "well maybe you should add another night" and then the next day "well we are going to be there 6 days why not make it a whole week - add another night!"

Yes, the man would probably live there given the opportunity. As it stands now he will be there for two full weeks and was trying to convince mom that maybe they should stay a bit longer LOL.

Originally posted by disneyberry
I think that 400 points is a bit too much unless you were planning on going for two whole weeks a year, or only going during Xmas or Easter weeks when it's peak DVC season. (And in that case, I wouldn't even recommend DVC. It's just way too expensive during Premier Season, especially Fri + Sat nights.)

Someday we may do an Xmas there but as a general rule I like avoiding peak season. Maybe put me there the beginning of December where I can still see Xmas decorations and I am a happy gal. But other than that I prefer to go when the crowds are lower

Originally posted by disneyberry
I would recommend downloading Caskbill's DVC Planner software to play around with it and get a better feel for how many points your family might need. I'm not on my usual computer, so I don't have the URL link for the download, but try doing a search here on Caskbill's planner and you should be able to find a thread that talks about it.

HTH!</font>

Thanks for the tip on that! I will go do a Google search and see if I can track it down.

 

[tjkraz]

Here's a link to Caskbill's site. Highly recommended!

http://web.nalu.net/~wneth/dvcplanner.htm

Also, one comment on the number of points you are considering. If you end up with that many, I'd recommend asking DVC to split it into multiple contracts rather than just one 400-pt contract. Once a contract has been created, it cannot ever be sub-divided.

Larger contracts can be more difficult to sell (if you should ever be forced to sell). And, if you want to make accommodations for the contract in your will, it can only be transferred as a whole. If you want each of your two kiddies to share in the contract upon your passing, just purchase two 200-pt contracts from the start. They will function independently of one another, but the points can still be combined for reservations and so forth.

There's no additional cost to you to split the points up front, and I really can't think of a reason not to do it.

Also, just wanted to make sure you know that you can always add-on more points at a later date. You can buy points in any quantity above 150 as your initial purchase. After that, you can buy more points as needed. The minimum add-on is 25 points--50 to finance through DVC--and you normally need to add-on at least 100 to take advantage of any special promotional prices DVC is offering.

 

[pogopossum]

does the free vacation thing not work like it used to? when we added on in 2000, since we were already cruising on points late in the year, we opted to take the yearly allowance that we were credited with and sell them back to get a discount of of the final price. many others on the ship also opted for this option, even those making initial purchases.

we are pretty frugal, travel a lot during value season and not use the points on weekends, etc., but have not found that 400 points is too many for the four of us, plus occasionally in-laws.

 

[Shalida]

Originally posted by tjkraz
Here's a link to Caskbill's site. Highly recommended!

http://web.nalu.net/~wneth/dvcplanner.htm

Oh shoot, it is a pc program and I am on a Mac. Does anyone know if there is a web based program like this?

Thanks for finding the link for me though Tim!

 

[DisneyWorld Delight]

I will first say I am not a member yet. I am still researching and waiting on cash flow. So, the following advice could be off the mark. One thing I took from this board a couple days ago was not to take the tour unless you are ready to buy. Apparently you get a buying incentive at the tour that will expire within 3 days. After that you are out of luck.

The thread was: Guide old issue revisited @nd UPDATE page 3. Written by 3DisneyNuts.

 

[Shalida]

Originally posted by DisneyWorld Delight
I will first say I am not a member yet. I am still researching and waiting on cash flow. So, the following advice could be off the mark. One thing I took from this board a couple days ago was not to take the tour unless you are ready to buy. Apparently you get a buying incentive at the tour that will expire within 3 days. After that you are out of luck.

The thread was: Guide old issue revisited @nd UPDATE page 3. Written by 3DisneyNuts.

Thanks for sharing that - I will go look up that thread. Did anyone mention what the incentive was?