Please share opinions about my DVC purchase concerns

[Deb & Bill]

I am not a DVC member but do have the financial resources to become one if I chose.

The problem for me is that we do not usually stay at deluxe resorts, rather try to economize by staying at value resorts or camping at Ft. Wilderness. I would spend WAY more money with DVC than my usual style of visiting WDW.

Additionally, during this current downturn, you will see that those that don't belong to the DVC are getting some great discounts that don't help a DVC owner in the slightest.

Based on your post, I would say that you probably should pass on the opportunity.

This is good advice.

If you don't like balancing the checkbook and managing the financial aspects, managing the DVC account may be a pain for your. Many members book their reservations at 11 months at their home resort to ensure they have a reservation at somewhere they like. Then at 7 months they call to see if they could move to a different resort. There are banking deadlines that could result in lost points if you don't keep track of these.

You can't just cancel a DVC reservation made with points and not worry about what happens to the points. If you are 30 days or more out, those go into a holding account and you can only use them to make reservations no more than 60 days out. Plus you will lose them at the end of your use year (when you get your new points - kind of like your fiscal year with Disney).

If you don't bank your points at least four months before the end of your use year, you won't be able to bank them and must use them in those last four months before the end of your year. And they can only be banked for one additional year.

So you need to be educated before you give over a large chunk of money to Disney for a DVC membership. At least know what you are getting into.

 

[Trinka]

Thanks very much everyone. You've all raised great points...and touched on a lot of stuff I have been wondering about. I cannot, right now, make reservations 11 months out. I would like to be able to, but my life doesn't currently work that way. I have limited windows of opportunity to travel and they present themselves a few months in advance. This point and several others lead me to believe that DVC isn't the right choice for now. I'm going to lurk here and learn as much as I can for the time being. Thanks again! And I hope everyone enjoys their DVC travels to the fullest.

 

[Dean]

Thanks very much everyone. You've all raised great points...and touched on a lot of stuff I have been wondering about. I cannot, right now, make reservations 11 months out. I would like to be able to, but my life doesn't currently work that way. I have limited windows of opportunity to travel and they present themselves a few months in advance. This point and several others lead me to believe that DVC isn't the right choice for now. I'm going to lurk here and learn as much as I can for the time being. Thanks again! And I hope everyone enjoys their DVC travels to the fullest.

You can still take advantage of most of the benefits of ownership by renting when it works out for you and at least then if you can't get what you want, you have no other commitments or risks.

 

[ppony]

Once for a birthday present I gave her coupons for a professional cleaning service. Each time before they came over she had to "straighten up" first.

This is EXACTLY why we stopped our ceaning service after our year contract was up. It was just honestly a HUGE PITA to clean before they came to clean. They didn't do windows and some other things and honestly, it just frustrated us to have to worry about cleaning for them to clean. SO, as I think about the thought of no Mousekeeping, I kind of like it. My mess will be my mess.