Questions about DVC membership

[bangzoom6877]

I am considering a DVC membership. DH and I are going on our first WDW vacation in July as a family with our 2 sons, older one will be 3 and a half and the little one will be 14 months when we go. Staying at Pop Century this time. Here are my questions though about DVC:

-How do I set up a tour of a DVC resort, like AK Villas? Can I go by myself while DH stays with the kids?

-If I purchase 200 points, I know that costs around $20,000 plus around $850 annually for membership fees. Do membership fees go up through the years or are they set for the 45-year membership? How much per month would 200 points cost me approximately?

-How hard is it to sell a DVC membership if we ever decide to do so?

-I know there is no Mousekeeping at DVC resorts, but do they do anything for you, like give more towels or extra pillows if you ask?

-Any discounts on tickets or dining or anything else as a DVC member?

-For AK Villas (the one I am considering), if I stay in the Club Level studio, do we get to do the early morning Safari and breakfast at AK as long as we have park admission that day?

-DVC points can ONLY be used for accommodations, right? (In other words, they cannot be used for things like dining or tickets).

-I know you can bank from one year to the next. Let's say for argument's sake, I earn my points every June 1st. I do not go at all one year and use none of my 200 points. The following June I earn another 200 points, for a total of 400. What if I only use 150 of them and have 250 left? Do these carry over to the following year still, or could you only carry over the annual amount you receive? In other words, the following year when I get another 200 in June, would I have a total of 450, or only 400? Can you lose banked points? (Sorry if this one sounds confusing).

-Is there a front desk or concierge available at DVC resorts?

-Do they do a thorough cleaning of the room when one guest checks out, before the next guest checks in? Or is it up to the guest? That is something that turns me off to timeshares, or at least the one we looked at 4 years ago in Massachusetts.

-How hard is it to get a reservation for a non-DVC vacation? Are these really limited?

-How hard is it to get a Disney cruise reservation through the DVC? How many points currently for an inside cabin for 4 people in summer 2008?

If I think of other questions, I will post here. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if I sound naive about this DVC thing, but I am so new at this, I feel like I am lost! But very interested!

Thanks,
Bonnie

 

[Chuck S]

1) You can set up a tour at any DVC Kiosk. While it won't include a tour of individual resorts. the sales center will have model room of SSR and AKV (the Kidani bldg, not the rooms in the existing lodge).

2)Dues can increase, and at times, they have decreased. They reflect the operational costs of your resort, as well as property taxes, management fees, and a fund to periodically rehab the rooms. If here is a catastrophe, there may be a special assessment to re-build. So far, no DVC resort has had an emergency special assessment.

3)DVC has historically been fairly easy to resell compared to the majority of other timeshares, however, who knows what the future will hold.

4)Additional towels and supplies are available at additional cost, as are additional full cleanings, if desired. A set of towels (4 bath, 2 hand, 4 washcloths and a mat) are $6 per set.

5) Never buy a timeshare based on discounts, they can, and do, change. However, currently DVCers get $100 off an Annual Pass, $125 off Premium Annual Passes (no other park discount passes). There are dining discounts, they vary by location and amount, and change fairly often.

6) Yes, concierge level at AKV will give to access to Sunrise Safari and breakfast.

7) Correct, points are for accomodations only.

8)Only 1 years worth of points can be banked at a time, so given your example, you could bank 200 points from year 1 to year 2, use 150 points, and bank 200 points to year 3. The remaining 50 points baked from the first year would have to be used or lost.

9)Yes, DVC resort have check-in areas just like all Disney resorts. Remember that Disney rents out DVC rooms for cash when a member trades out, and they operate like as regular Disney resort.

10) They do a full cleaning between guests, and a trash removal and towel replacement on day 4. If you are staying 8 or more nights, a full cleaning on day 4, and trash & Towel on day 8, then full cleaning day 12, etc.

11) For trades outside of DVC, it depends. Remember, if trading to aother timeshare, an owner there has to trade out to make a room available, just as a DVC owner has to trade out to make a room available at DVC. For internal Disney trades, like other WDW resorts, Disneyland, cruises, etc, they are pretty easy to get, but you can not book a Disney collection vacation during the last 4 month of your use year. You can stay at a regular Disney resort during the last 4 months, but the reservation has to be made prior to 4 months. There is also a $95 fee to locations other than Disneyland in CA. I would expect a fee to be added there as well when DVC opens there. There is no fee trade to another DVC resort, only regular Disney non-DVC rooms.

12) Cruises arre fairly easy to book, however, to give you th points required, there are several different cabin sizes and categories to choose from. Cruises in general take a lot of points compared to other trades. Many members rent out a DVC reservation to non-members and use the cash to book a cruise.

I hope this helped answer some of your concerns. Welcome to the DVC boards.

 

[kid-at-heart]

If I may jump in here with a question (by the way Bangzoom, great questions), can you trade points (plus $95) for a regular resort room and if so, where do you find out how many points are needed for the rooms (i.e., if I wanted to stay at Port Orleans, how many points per night?)? Thanks.

 

[drusba]

There are DVC sales booths everywhere including hotels. You can set up tour through one while there or call DVC in advance. You can go without others although they like to have both husband and wife.

This is like a condominium. Dues go towards operating the resort, repairs, upkeep, property taxes, anything else related to maintaining and operating the property. They are keyed to the costs of such things. Costs rise and thus dues can and do rise.

You get limited mouskeeping. On the fourth day, they come in and tidy up and change towels, provide more TP etc. If you stay 8 nights, you get a full cleaning on that fourth day. You can get extra towels, soap for a fee. You can also order and pay extra for daily service. Note, daily full mousekeeping is provided for the concierge level of AKV (consisting of only 5 2BRs that can be made into studio and 1BR. That is the only place where concierge is available and that would be the "club level" you mention at AKV.

There is a fairly healthy resale market for DVC, mainly on the internet. One of the internet based real estate brokers sponsors this site. Price is generally less than what Disney is charging but for many sellers more than they paid. No guarantee such a decent resale market will exist in the future.

DVC points can only be used for reserving rooms not tickets or other extras. However, they can be traded for use at other places -- Disney hotels, resorts all over the world.

Points can be banked only for one year and they must be used in year into which they are banked. In your description you would lose 50 points. You bank 200 giving 400 for next year. Use only 150 (they use banked points first). That leaves 50 which cannot be banked into the next year thereafter; but you can bank the 200 you got in that second year.

There are front desks at all the resorts. Concierge service is available to DVC only for the AKV concierge rooms.

They are supposed to do a thorough cleaning when one guest leaves and before other arrives. They usually do but sometimes you will see complaints (as you do for any hotel) because the cleaning service did not do the job they are hired to do.

Difficulty of getting non-DVC ressies depends on availability at resort you want to go to. Not usually difficult to get other Disney hotels or hotels that are part of the Disney collections. Trading through Interval International can be easy for many, hard for others. Cruise is usually not overly difficult to get as long as you do it well in advance. Don't know current points but be aware the points for cruise and any non-DVC resorts can and often do change annually, including by increasing.

DVC annually publishes to members points required for other Disney hotels and hotels within its collections.

 

[RobDoc]

In addition to Chuck's comments ... You can also schedule a DVC tour right from your resort room or at the DVC kiosk located near the front desk. You might consider both taking the tour - childcare is provided at no charge at the sales center and DVC will provide transportation from/to your resort.

DVC points may be used at all moderate and deluxe WDW resorts - except those with a DVC component. There is a point chart but most will find the cost - especially at moderate resorts - to not be a good deal as you can stay in a DVC studio Tand sometimes a 1BR) for the same or fewer points without the extra $95 charge.

 

[ChelleinNC]

You can take the kids with you. There is a "child care center" at the preview center, they have arts & crafts, video games and stuff for the kids. After your tour, you'll all be invited to have ice cream sundaes My DS wants to go back everytime so he can get more ice cream

 

[javamom]

Yes, the Child Care Center is great. They check the kiddos in and out, and they have a blast in there. Besides, having your spouse with you, will help keep you "on the same page," which is usually helpful.