For us in 1999 when we were considering buying an offsite timeshare in Orlando vs DVC, it came down to where we wanted to spend the majority of our vacations. We love Disney and agreed that we would travel there for many, many years with our kids as they get older (now 13, 11 and 2) and, hopefully, in 20 years with our grandchildren.
We have had experience with other timeshares in that my in-laws have had two weeks in Key West since 1990. My husband and I haven't been able to vacation with them in recent years because the cost of airfare is so prohibitive during their weeks (sometimes as much as $5K from Boston over the Christmas Holidays). They give us a week of timeshare every couple of years when they trade out, but they have had a really hard time using their weeks anywhere but Key West. Trading into Disney weeks onsite has NEVER been possible. We've managed to use their weeks once in Orlando and once in Colorado, but it's been really frustrating.
So we decided the DVC options for tradeouts with the Adventurer Collection, etc. were better in the long run if we opted to do that. But we bought at Disney DVC because we plan to use most of our points on Disney properties. We do vacation other places (in CA with family and at the beach) but we do those with cash and credit.
As for flexibility in the program itself, I've found it works well. I don't plan our vacations as far ahead as some folks, but I have still been able to patch together memorable trips anyway. I didn't plan our 8/24-9/2 trip to Yacht Club and then Vero until late April and except for one night at Vero for which we are waitlisted for a room upgrade - I have had no difficulty getting what I wanted. We couldn't stay at our home resort BWV, but I love trying new properties and am thrilled that we'll be at the Yacht Club and legitimately be able to use Storm-along-Bay pools in the August heat!
It just really depends on how and where you want to spend your family time and $$$.
We have had experience with other timeshares in that my in-laws have had two weeks in Key West since 1990. My husband and I haven't been able to vacation with them in recent years because the cost of airfare is so prohibitive during their weeks (sometimes as much as $5K from Boston over the Christmas Holidays). They give us a week of timeshare every couple of years when they trade out, but they have had a really hard time using their weeks anywhere but Key West. Trading into Disney weeks onsite has NEVER been possible. We've managed to use their weeks once in Orlando and once in Colorado, but it's been really frustrating.
So we decided the DVC options for tradeouts with the Adventurer Collection, etc. were better in the long run if we opted to do that. But we bought at Disney DVC because we plan to use most of our points on Disney properties. We do vacation other places (in CA with family and at the beach) but we do those with cash and credit.
As for flexibility in the program itself, I've found it works well. I don't plan our vacations as far ahead as some folks, but I have still been able to patch together memorable trips anyway. I didn't plan our 8/24-9/2 trip to Yacht Club and then Vero until late April and except for one night at Vero for which we are waitlisted for a room upgrade - I have had no difficulty getting what I wanted. We couldn't stay at our home resort BWV, but I love trying new properties and am thrilled that we'll be at the Yacht Club and legitimately be able to use Storm-along-Bay pools in the August heat!
It just really depends on how and where you want to spend your family time and $$$.
