Question for resale owners

[McMasterXX]

My wife and I keep going back and forth about purchasing. One thing that she feels is that Disney/Direct owners treat you like a second rate citizen.

If you go to a dealership, and buy a brand new car with a bumper to bumper warranty, and the dealer throws in a hat, jacket, and accessories;

or you go to CarMax and buy the same vehicle, but 2 years older for less, and they give you a lifetime powertrain warranty, oil changes, etc.

You are still driving the same vehicle.... AND Disney punishes you with less time on the deed, points cost you more than initial sale did (even in resale), AND takes away your perks.

Anybody else feel this way? It's getting harder to justify paying that kind of money for less benefits and time, and lesser treatment. Even with new purchases...the cost of those now limited prieleges (Riviera and on) plus dues...

 

[Spork24]

Nope.

Every contract at each resort (besides OKW) expires the same year, it doesn’t matter if it’s a resale or direct purchase.

I paid significantly less buying resale than I would have from buying direct so I don’t understand the “points cost more” angle

As far as the reduced perks, yes that’s unfortunate but Disney is just trying to change market conditions to drive more value for their product. (Resales are not Disney’s product, they make no profit from a resale). This will however detract from my interest in resales at the new resorts.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

DVC is a timeshare with a fixed end. There are resorts they sold that never even got 50 years. For example BCV got 40 years to match up to the 2042 end date of all the other resorts. VWL was also close to that. If you stick to the basic reason of DVC - to have an on-site room for a lower cost than direct prices or upgraded accommodations for similar then the ancillary stuff doesn’t matter so much.

 

[McMasterXX]

I paid significantly less buying resale than I would have from buying direct so I don’t understand the “points cost more” angle

What I mean is that currently, Riviera and CCV are going for $188/pt new direct. Friends of mine who are DVC BLT original owners bought in at ~$104, which currently resale for way more than that if you can find availability.

Thats what I meant by "points cost more"... I agree that resale costs way less...

 

[_auroraborealis_]

What I mean is that currently, Riviera and CCV are going for $188/pt new direct. Friends of mine who are DVC BLT original owners bought in at ~$104, which currently resale for way more than that if you can find availability.

Thats what I meant by "points cost more"... I agree that resale costs way less...

Disney don't want to sell the old resorts, and there are costs associated with acquiring the old points to sell them again. They build a profit margin and a nuisance margin in.

I would never buy a monorail resort direct right now. But I wouldn't buy CCV or Riviera wanting to book monorail resorts as a matter of course.

FWIW, they often till send the magnet and backpack to resale buyers.

 

[McMasterXX]

FWIW, they often till send the magnet and backpack to resale buyers.

That would make her happy...

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

Disney/Direct owners have no way of knowing whether your points are direct or resale, unless you tell them.

 

[McMasterXX]

Disney/Direct owners have no way of knowing whether your points are direct or resale, unless you tell them.

From everything I read and hear, that just seems not true. Someone today mentioned that they were recently denied access to TOTW because they didn’t have a blue card on their profile with their magic band.

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

From everything I read and hear, that just seems not true. Someone today mentioned that they were recently denied access to TOTW because they didn’t have a blue card on their profile with their magic band.

That is Disney. Not the other owners.

 

[crvetter]

From everything I read and hear, that just seems not true. Someone today mentioned that they were recently denied access to TOTW because they didn’t have a blue card on their profile with their magic band.

Also I might add no owner (resale or direct) is prevented from entering TOTW, and a resale owners DVC ID card is very explicit in stating it gives them access to TOTW and Pool Hopping (written directly on the digital card and the Membership ID portion of the site are explicit about these two rights along with DVD rentals). The only times owners are turned away from TOTW are: 1) fills to capacity, 2) not staying at a Disney Resort (doesn't matter if on cash or on points or value or deluxe) or 3) it is during one of the blackout periods when you have to be staying at BLT to use it.

That person was either misinformed on why there were denied or something else.... I would find it hard for a CM to argue with the official white DVC card that specifically states TOTW access.

See my White Card (for my resale membership):


Blue Card, much less obvious that it gives TOTW access:

 

[Deb & Bill]

From everything I read and hear, that just seems not true. Someone today mentioned that they were recently denied access to TOTW because they didn’t have a blue card on their profile with their magic band.

They may have been denied access because they didn't have either the blue card or the electronic card on their phone. They might not accept just the information on a magic band.

 

[Deb & Bill]

.... AND Disney punishes you with less time on the deed, points cost you more than initial sale did (even in resale), ...

Like Kathy said, every resort has an end date. If you bought OKW in 1992, you got 50 years. We bought in 1997 direct from Disney and we got 44 years. If you buy OKW direct from Disney today, your end date is extended more than likely to 1/31/57, so you'll get 38 years. If you buy BWV direct from Disney today, you'll get 23 years. The exact same if you buy resale.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

From everything I read and hear, that just seems not true. Someone today mentioned that they were recently denied access to TOTW because they didn’t have a blue card on their profile with their magic band.

Nope. There had to be some other reason because all owners get access to TOTWL. The lounge at Epcot th yve restricted to those that qualify for benefits - ie, those with a blue member card.

 

[Dean]

My wife and I keep going back and forth about purchasing. One thing that she feels is that Disney/Direct owners treat you like a second rate citizen.

If you go to a dealership, and buy a brand new car with a bumper to bumper warranty, and the dealer throws in a hat, jacket, and accessories;

or you go to CarMax and buy the same vehicle, but 2 years older for less, and they give you a lifetime powertrain warranty, oil changes, etc.

You are still driving the same vehicle.... AND Disney punishes you with less time on the deed, points cost you more than initial sale did (even in resale), AND takes away your perks.

Anybody else feel this way? It's getting harder to justify paying that kind of money for less benefits and time, and lesser treatment. Even with new purchases...the cost of those now limited prieleges (Riviera and on) plus dues...

Not picking on you, but we see this issue come up from time to time. IMO this is an example of not understanding the realities here. Their goal and actually their responsibility is to sell retail points. If they feel they'll sell more with a different approach, you'll see that approach. If you read the contract and POS you'll see that they are spelling out that there are restrictions and that one should not anticipate being able to rent or sell because of the competition. Carmax doesn't give you a free warranty, it's built into the price and they're charging you more than you could get that vehicle without the warranty, likely a lot more given the way extended warranties work and the poor value they provide. People don't buy a car expecting to keep it for the duration but that's the norm with timeshares. If the car dealer could push you more to retail they would. Even gone onto a lot and try to buy a used but current model car, after incentives it's often more than a new one that's identical. My Toyota dealership has a VIP lounge that you only qualify for if you buy a new vehicle (I'll be there in the AM). You could not go in buying that car from carmax even if it was originally sold by the dealership then resold to you. They don't penalize you on the service side because that's actually where they make their money.

These are the realities of timeshares. One has to be able to hold their nose on the sales side and one needs to know what's contractual vs fluff. Nothing that's been limited or removed is contractual. DVCMC/DVD is sticking to that bargain. If one wants the other benefits, they have every chance to obtain them, just buy retail. Realize that every resale is a lost potential sale EVEN if that person says they would not have bought retail.

 

[Spork24]

What I mean is that currently, Riviera and CCV are going for $188/pt new direct. Friends of mine who are DVC BLT original owners bought in at ~$104, which currently resale for way more than that if you can find availability.

Thats what I meant by "points cost more"... I agree that resale costs way less...

Yeah, so you just can’t compare today’s prices with any prior years prices like that when making a financial decision. The economics of what someone else did years ago just don’t matter to your situation. Today’s resale market price (not set by Disney) and today’s retail price are the only two prices that matter. (Obviously many more factors in purchasing other than up front price)


Buying resale is one of the best decisions our family ever made in regards to how we vacation. We bought resale the first time early enough to get a blue card, but I still can’t imagine buying the number of points we have today if we had only been able to buy direct.

 

[Louis morrell]

I agree with the above, resale was the best vacation decision I ever made. Sure we can not go up to the Epcot lounge (there is a recent thread here so you can read what you would be missing, doesnt sound like much) we do not get the discounts on merchandise or food. What we did do was save many thousands of dollars on our purchase. We get treated the same at the resorts and have the same opportunity to book rooms as any other guest. Oh and the after hour DVC parties, I could buy decades worth of Disney After Dark tickets and still have saved thousands of dollars.

Anyway, that is how I looked at it.

 

[ljmiii]

From everything I read and hear, that just seems not true. Someone today mentioned that they were recently denied access to TOTW because they didn’t have a blue card on their profile with their magic band.

The likely problem was that you need your magic band AND your blue or white card to access the ToTW lounge.

 

[Great3]

Each person must decide what's worth it to them. Either spend more money, buy direct, and feel like you are a first class citizen (and paying for the privilege of it), or buy resale, and feel like a second rate citizen. For the most part, for me, buying DVC is mostly a financial decision / analysis versus the cost of booking Disney Deluxe or Moderate resorts. Everything else is just extras, nice to have. We are in today's times, so you have to forget about the past (and how much better the offers / perks were back than), and make your decision based on whatever restrictions that are in existence currently. I don't think of it as being a second rate citizen, although I may feel that way a little bit , I just try to brush it off.

The only way I can justify buying direct to me, is if you have a large family and are going to buy the Disney's Annual Park passes anyways, the cost savings might add up over the years (hopefully not too much longer than 10 years) to make up the difference in cost of buying direct vs. resale. If that's the case, than that's a Win / Win, and I can see why buy direct.

Good luck with your purchase decision.

Great3