Potential new member with lots of questions

[BTDTGB]

Hello everyone my family and I go to Disney for a week every other year and would happily go every year, so we are giving serious thought to joining DVC. But we have a lot of questions that we have not seen definitive answers to, so I figured I would ask the experts. Thanks in advance for your help.

We originally learned about the DVC on our last visit in June, the ASM had a channel that played an infomercial describing the plan. Is the DVD you can order from Disney about DVC the same thing playing in the room?

I understand that DVC members get 10% off admission to parks; does this discount have a limit to how many passes I can buy?

How does Disney’s buy back program work? How much does it reduce the initial cost?

How does the referral program work and what is the discount?

Does anyone know how you get the 1200.00 incentive being offered for buying at SSR?

Can these programs be combined to greater reduce the cost?

We have the Disney Visa, which gives us rewards points. We use it pay all of our monthly bills, house, cars, utils. etcetera, so we earn between 500 and 1000 points a year. Can these points be used to pay maintenance fees?

I have seen people mention that they have purchased points from a reseller and were waiting for ROFR from Disney. I have also seen that the main thing Disney looks for is points being sold for too low an amount. Does anyone know how low is too low?

Does the amount of points needed for your stay change from year to year? For instance…
Currently a Standard Studio at BWV during the Adventure season is 85 points for a week. Will the amount of points needed be the same every year with the same criteria, or does it go up?

I think I know the answer to this one, but I want to be certain. Can we buy in at two resorts but use the points at other resorts? For instance… We buy 150 from Disney at SSR and 40 from a reseller at Hilton Head Island can we book a 180 point vacation 11 months out at SSR, or do I have to wait until the 7 month window?

All of the pictures of the studio apartments show what appears to be a queen size bed and a sofa sleeper. Can one of your preferences be two beds?

Why do so many people seem to dislike SSR? I see a lot of listings for reselling points at SSR, is it because of the location of the resort? Is it because it is new and a lot of people may have impulse bought while at Disney?

Any suggestions/recommendations of reputable resellers?

I am sure I will have a more questions, but this should be enough for me to put a proposal together for my lovely bride. Again thanks for the help.

 

[greenban]

Sadly, I can't answer most of your questions, but I will answer what I think I know!

Hello everyone my family and I go to Disney for a week every other year and would happily go every year, so we are giving serious thought to joining DVC. But we have a lot of questions that we have not seen definitive answers to, so I figured I would ask the experts. Thanks in advance for your help.

We originally learned about the DVC on our last visit in June, the ASM had a channel that played an infomercial describing the plan. Is the DVD you can order from Disney about DVC the same thing playing in the room?

I understand that DVC members get 10% off admission to parks; does this discount have a limit to how many passes I can buy?

I believe we get $125.00 off a Premium Annual Pass, and $100.00 of an Annual Pass. For members and their immediate family living in the same household (of record)


How does Disney’s buy back program work? How much does it reduce the initial cost?

Not sure, but to the best of my knowledge: Disney offers $8.00 off per point at SSR now, and you can 'sell' back first year points for $5.00. IMHO you are much better off renting them for $12.00 each!

How does the referral program work and what is the discount?

If you are kind enough to list an existing member, when you purchase and close, they get $200.00. Can be Disney Dollars, Maintenace Fee Reduction and more. You get nothing! Many members will split the referral reward with you!

Does anyone know how you get the 1200.00 incentive being offered for buying at SSR?
I believe this is the 8.00 off per point times 150 points? Again not sure here, sorry.

Can these programs be combined to greater reduce the cost?
You can get a zero or low interest rate from the Chase Disney card for your purchase, you can sell your first year's points back for the extra $5.00pp, but that is it, no double dipping or combining other programs!

We have the Disney Visa, which gives us rewards points. We use it pay all of our monthly bills, house, cars, utils. etcetera, so we earn between 500 and 1000 points a year. Can these points be used to pay maintenance fees?
Saddly, despite hating CHASE, I have several of these cards, and don't know the answer.

I have seen people mention that they have purchased points from a reseller and were waiting for ROFR from Disney. I have also seen that the main thing Disney looks for is points being sold for too low an amount. Does anyone know how low is too low?

No one knows. I'm not sure even Disney really knows. See this thread for massive amounts of info!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=720134

Does the amount of points needed for your stay change from year to year? For instance…
Currently a Standard Studio at BWV during the Adventure season is 85 points for a week. Will the amount of points needed be the same every year with the same criteria, or does it go up?

The total points required for a particular room type must remain constant for the aggrigate year. Thus if points go up for some particular season, they must go down for another. So there can be some changes, but no total change.

For purists, there is a technical exception to this rule. From 1 Easter to the next Easter, it is possible for the point total for that year to be higher reflecting 2 Easter's ocurring within a 365 day period, but this is rather esoteric. Technically, a leap year could also increase the total points required for a 1 year period, but IMHO that is hair splitting.


I think I know the answer to this one, but I want to be certain. Can we buy in at two resorts but use the points at other resorts? For instance… We buy 150 from Disney at SSR and 40 from a reseller at Hilton Head Island can we book a 180 point vacation 11 months out at SSR, or do I have to wait until the 7 month window?

NO, you can't. The home resort 11 month booking rule applies only to the number of points you have at that resort. Any other resort has 7 month booking limits. With your example: 150 points is the maximum you can ue for SSR at 11 months. However if you bank this years points into next year (2007) you would have 300 SSR points all with the 11 month booking at SSR, 7 months elsewhere. You could also borrow your 2008 SSR points into your 2007 UY and have a total of 450 SSR points to book at 11 months with.

All of the pictures of the studio apartments show what appears to be a queen size bed and a sofa sleeper. Can one of your preferences be two beds?
Yes, especially if you stay at OKW! All of OKW studios, 1 Br & 2 Br Villas have 2 Queens.

Why do so many people seem to dislike SSR? I see a lot of listings for
reselling points at SSR, is it because of the location of the resort? Is it because it is new and a lot of people may have impulse bought while at Disney?
No way am I going here. I'm too close to be banned as it is.

Any suggestions/recommendations of reputable resellers?
Without hesitation, I can personally 100% recommend The Time Share Store,a sponsor of this forum, their link is at the top of the page. I persoanally recommend Jason at TTS!

I am sure I will have a more questions, but this should be enough for me to put a proposal together for my lovely bride. Again thanks for the help.

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

-Tony

 

[RobDoc]

Tony has done a pretty complete job of answering your questions.

For clarification - currently, the only admission discount is on AP/PAP and , as noted, is limited to immediate family members. There are no discounts on MYW passes for DVC members.

The information about DVC includes a DVD and info packet. The DVD is not the same video being shown in the rooms, but will have mostly the same information.

Maintenance fees may be paid using the Disney Rewards from your VISA card. However, the fees must be paid all at once in January each year if paid by credit card or check. Another option (and better IMO) is to have them autodebited from a checking account on a monthly basis. There are no finance charges or service fees to pay dues in this manner. Then you can use the Disney Rewards for dining, park admissions or souveniers.

All of OKW studios, 1 Br & 2 Br Villas have 2 Queens.

While all OKW studios do have 2 queens (the only DVC resort with that configuration) and all OKW 2BRs have 2 queens in the 2nd BR - NONE of the 1BR villas have 2 queens (at any DVC resort). All 1BR villas have a King bed in the master BR and a sleep sofa in the living room.

As for SSR, each DVC resort has had similar comments while being sold in the past. If you read thru ALL of the comments on this site about SSR, I think you'll actually find many more positive comments from a much larger population of posters than negatives (from a relatively small group). By reading ALL of the comments and visiting the resort yourself you can probably better decide for yourself about the resort. At this time SSR has more owners than all DVC resorts execpt OKW and BWV- so the number of resales you see listed at any given moment is probably a number consistent with usual market factors. Decide for yourself.

Points needed for a stay can change and that has happened only once- at OKW in 1996. As already noted, the total number of points needed for the year cannot change- so if some nights are raised, others must be lowered. AT OKW in '96, a few nights were raised (mostly during Adventure Season) and a few nights were lowered (mostly weekends) and most were not changed at all. While I don't anticipate any changes, it certainly could happen.

Welcome to the DIS!

 

[tjkraz]

Here's my contribution:

Is the DVD you can order from Disney about DVC the same thing playing in the room?

You can view recent DVC videos here...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3597899195595274020&hl=en

...or here...

www.dvcfriends.com

Does anyone know how you get the 1200.00 incentive being offered for buying at SSR?

There's really nothing you need to do, per se. That's just the promotional offer they are running right now. All new buyers are eligible. No coupons or secret codes required.

Does the amount of points needed for your stay change from year to year? For instance…
Currently a Standard Studio at BWV during the Adventure season is 85 points for a week. Will the amount of points needed be the same every year with the same criteria, or does it go up?

As the others have said, the points required during each season rarely change. However, some dates change season each year.

The week before and week after Easter are always Premier season. Also Thanksgiving day, the day before and day after are always Magic season. The rest of the calendar remains static. Unless DVC chooses to reorganize the points, September, January and Dec 1-14 will always be Adventure season.

Why do so many people seem to dislike SSR? I see a lot of listings for reselling points at SSR, is it because of the location of the resort? Is it because it is new and a lot of people may have impulse bought while at Disney?

All of the DVC resorts are different. If Disney built carbon copy resorts all over property, they'd be limiting their marketplace. Variety is a GOOD thing.

With that said, most of the people here have been members for years and they bought into DVC because some other resort appealed to them. That resort might have been Old Key West, the BoardWalk, etc. SSR just doesn't happen to be their cup 'o tea. As such, negative comments can be perceived as "bashing", or at least pile-up to the degree that they are viewed as being the concensus.

Judge for yourself, and don't feel like you're missing something if you happen to be among those who like the resort.

 

[1000th happy haunt]

At this moment, our sponsor has 15 listings for SSR and 18 listings for OKW. They are both larger DVC resorts and basic rules would indicate they would have more resale listings.

There are also 20 listings for VWL but nobody seems to ask if that's an unfavorable resort.

 

[Caskbill]

Does the amount of points needed for your stay change from year to year? For instance…
Currently a Standard Studio at BWV during the Adventure season is 85 points for a week. Will the amount of points needed be the same every year with the same criteria, or does it go up?

The total points required for a particular room type must remain constant for the aggrigate year. Thus if points go up for some particular season, they must go down for another. So there can be some changes, but no total change.

For purists, there is a technical exception to this rule. From 1 Easter to the next Easter, it is possible for the point total for that year to be higher reflecting 2 Easter's ocurring within a 365 day period, but this is rather esoteric. Technically, a leap year could also increase the total points required for a 1 year period, but IMHO that is hair splitting.

-Tony

As one of the techie purist, let's just say that the point charts do not change from year to year (unless they really do a complete reallocation).

But, on an annual basis, the points for any specific vacation might change based on the relationships between weekdays/weekends and Disney seasons, and the holidays.

For example, to get a 1-B/R at OKW for the entire year 1/1/2005 thru 12/31/2005 would have been 10,358 points. But for the year 1/1/2006 thru 12/31/2006 would only be 10,311 points. The subtle variation is due to the way weekends fall within disney seasons. Example: There are only 22 days in Premier season any year. In 2005, 7 of those were weekend days, but in 2006 only 6 were weekend days. Thus the slight difference in the total annual cost in points. Add these up for the different resort villas (Studio, etc), and multiply by the number of villas at a resort, the subtle point differences can add up. The number of points owned by members does not change (is fixed), but the number of real points each year varies slightly. I'm pretty sure DVC handles this subtle difference by bringing more of the breakage units into or out of service so the year's villa inventory matches the membership's point inventory.

For you non-purists out there....Don't worry about it and just look at the point charts for the year you want to vacation....., and have a great trip.

 

[Deb & Bill]

So, Caskbill, where'd you get your math degree??

You don't have to be a mathematician or accountant to be a DVC member, but it helps.

 

[Darkside]

I am not sure why so many people hammer SSR. I think it is one of the nicest resorts I have seen. I mean the counter tops in the kitchen are quartz (probably $3000 worth from what I have seen) All the furnishings are made by Thomasville furniture, which reall high end stuff. The main pool is absolutely beautiful. You are within minutes of Downtown Disney, which have a nice variety of places to eat, most other DVCs have but few restaurants to eat at. I understand some of the older DVCs furnishings are getting well worn, because of their popularity. I mean at the very least SSR is nicer than any value resort or moderate resort that I have ever stayed at?

 

[CherCrazy]

I think SSR is fabulous. We were going to go this May (had to unexpectedly cancel) but were faced with a choice of a 1BR at OKW or 1Br at SSR. SSR won hands down. Just look at the pictures on the DVC web site. If you like upscale, it's a great resort.

 

[greenban]

As one of the techie purist, let's just say that the point charts do not change from year to year (unless they really do a complete reallocation).

But, on an annual basis, the points for any specific vacation might change based on the relationships between weekdays/weekends and Disney seasons, and the holidays.

For example, to get a 1-B/R at OKW for the entire year 1/1/2005 thru 12/31/2005 would have been 10,358 points. But for the year 1/1/2006 thru 12/31/2006 would only be 10,311 points. The subtle variation is due to the way weekends fall within disney seasons. Example: There are only 22 days in Premier season any year. In 2005, 7 of those were weekend days, but in 2006 only 6 were weekend days. Thus the slight difference in the total annual cost in points. Add these up for the different resort villas (Studio, etc), and multiply by the number of villas at a resort, the subtle point differences can add up. The number of points owned by members does not change (is fixed), but the number of real points each year varies slightly. I'm pretty sure DVC handles this subtle difference by bringing more of the breakage units into or out of service so the year's villa inventory matches the membership's point inventory.

For you non-purists out there....Don't worry about it and just look at the point charts for the year you want to vacation....., and have a great trip.

Yeah! What he said, that's what I was thinking!

-Tony