Questions From A Prospective Owner

[LImom222]

Since I have visited WDW for 3 consecutive years, I have decided to purchase a dvc membership, but I have a few questions:

Is it better to buy through disney or resale, after speaking with a dvc rep, I was told for 160 pts with saratoga springs it would be $16,364 with a $1,664 incentive.........is this better than purchasing okw through resale for about $10,000, 130-150pts, also do I have to purchase ownership at saratoga springs, are the animal kingdom villas no longer available?

what are some of the discounts for dvc owners, has free dining ever been offered?

if I purchase this week how, how long does the closing process begin, how soon will I received my points, will I able to use them by feb or march although they are not my use year?

 

[Caskbill]

You can purchase AKV thru disney also, but I don't know what their current incentives are, and the points you get might not be available until the unit you wind up buying is actually built and ready for occupancy.

SSR units are available now.

You can purchase resale. Just be sure you understand some things:

1. Closing costs for resale will be higher (When buying from Disney, they subsidize part of the closing costs)

2. When buying from disney, you get current year's points. For example if you bought a December Use Year, you'd actually get the Dec 2006 points. If you got other use years, they would be either 2006 or 2007 UY points.

Resale you will get whatever points are left in the contract. This can be good if there are banked points, or bad if there were points borrowed and already used. A stripped contract, for example, might not have points available until as late as 2009.

When you purchase from Disney, you get the points right away and can immediately make a reservation. If you purchase resale, you must wait for the contract to close before you can make a reservation. Depending on ROFR this could take a couple of months.

Resale contracts are subject to ROFR by Disney. If Disney purchases the resale contract, you are out of luck and have to start all over.

With Disney, when you purchase, you pay pro-rated dues for the remainder of the calendar year.

With a resale contract, you need to negotiate this with the buyer based on the point status (banked, borrowed, current). Also many sellers don't understand that dues do not relate directly to use year. For example if someone is offering an October UY contract with all 2007 points available, and expect you to pay the full 2007 calendar year dues, they are overcharging you. In this case the correct amount would be 1/4th the annual dues (which covers Oct, Nov, Dec, 2007)

You can make a reservation, once you have the points, for March for example, regardless of use year. Use Year is NOT calendar year. Someone with an October UY for example, then March 2008 is part of their 2007 use year. But someone with a February use year, then March 2008 is part of their 2008 use year.

Be sure you understand use year and how points apply to a vacation, based on the vacation dates relative to the points' use year dates.

For your other questions, free dining has never been offered. Disney does not offer free dining with anything they have except paying full rack rate, and having to buy park tickets. Since owning DVC gives you a heavy discount as it is, free dining is not offered.

There are a multitude of other perks offered to DVC owners, including pool hopping, free valet parking, discounts at a number of restaurants, some shopping, and some rentals such as boats, etc.
Hope this helps.

 

[chalee94]

Is it better to buy through disney or resale, after speaking with a dvc rep, I was told for 160 pts with saratoga springs it would be $16,364 with a $1,664 incentive.........is this better than purchasing okw through resale for about $10,000, 130-150pts, also do I have to purchase ownership at saratoga springs, are the animal kingdom villas no longer available?

if you don't need 160 pts a year, i would recommend resale (although you may not be able to trade for other timeshares, if that is a factor in your decision.) you can also find SSR contracts resale, if that's what you want...but if AKV is your first choice, just make that clear to your guide.

OKW resales are a little complicated at the moment, since they expire in 2042 but currently have an offer to extend to 2057 for $15 per point...so be aware of that...

i didn't see caskbill mention the $100 discount on APs for DVC members in the perk listing. as always, though, perks can change at any time...(but - as stated - free dining will most likely never make the list.)

 

[hbg4]

I bought my initial 210 points and all of my add ons from 100 to 130 points all directly with DVC.
Every time I bought there was some perk ie double developer points, 2 free annual passes, a discount or something. One more advantage is that there is no closing costs for the add ons and the finance charges were pretty decent.Plus when the paperwork has gone through and been accepted I know that it's a done deal and that I can make my reservations.

 

[Tinkerdreams]

Just to add to what Caskbill has already stated, if you have a Disney Visa Reward card and had it before 9/1/07, then you can get 500 reward dollars if you purchase through Disney and charge the downpayment to the card. (offer good till 11/30/07). This also is with 0% financing for 6 months.

 

[LImom222]

I just wanted to thank everyone for answering my questions, I thinK I will purchase the disney....I just have 2 additional questions, what is the magical beginnings program and if I purchase membership at SSR will I be able to stay at other dvc properties or disney resorts?

 

[JsMom2]

I hope you don't mind if I add another question to your thread....

One of the posters mentioned pool hopping...

Does this mean if I stay at SSR we can use the pool at all of the Disney Resorts, or just the DVC resorts?

Also, some of the properties have kids clubs, but SSR does not. If we stay at SSR, can we pay to use the kids night out program at one of the other properties?

TFS!

 

[CPTJAK]

For Add ONs (probably same as 1st purchase except if 1st purchase need to add closing costs)

Talk to my guide earlier in week regarding add on and I believe these are accurate based on memory

SSR $104 plus developer pts or $94 without developer pts
AKL $104 plus developer pts or $96 without dev pts
BCV/BWV $101
Wildnerness $98
OKW (50yrs) $96
HHV & Vero $92 ($87 for >50 pt addon)

NOTE: I am betting California will be at 107 once start selling and Hawaii ??? 120 in 2010?

 

[Caskbill]

I just wanted to thank everyone for answering my questions, I thinK I will purchase the disney....I just have 2 additional questions, what is the magical beginnings program and if I purchase membership at SSR will I be able to stay at other dvc properties or disney resorts?

I'm not sure if they still offer Magical Beginnings. In the past it has been a program where you give back your first year's points to receive a cash discount. They still have discounts, but I'm not familiar with the details.

You can use points to stay at any DVC resort. The restriction is when you can make the reservation. At your 'home' resort you can call as early as 11 months ahead. At "non-home" resorts you can call at 7 months or later.

Yes you can use DVC points at some of the Disney hotels. You cannot use them at the Value resorts, nor at any resort which has a compliment DVC resort. These then would be BWI (because of BWV), BC (because of BCV), WL (because of VWL), or AKL (because of AKV). Resorts you could stay in would be things like Port Orleans, Coronado Springs, Polynesian, Contemporary, Grand Floridian, etc.

Using points at regular resorts is usually not a good idea. Typically you can get a 1 or 2 B/R DVC villa for the same or even fewer points than getting a regular hotel room at a WDW resort. For example, in September, a weekday night (lowest class room) at the Contemporary is 29 points. A weekday night at SSR is 11 points for a studio, or 20 points for a 1-B/R villa, or 27 points for a 2-B/R villa.

Hope this helps

 

[solgent]

One of the posters mentioned pool hopping...

Does this mean if I stay at SSR we can use the pool at all of the Disney Resorts, or just the DVC resorts?

Yes, IF
* you are staying at a DVC resort on points
* it is not a blackout period

you can use any Disney resort pool EXCEPT those at Beach & Yacht Club and Animal Kingdom Lodge.

 

[JsMom2]

Yes, IF
* you are staying at a DVC resort on points
* it is not a blackout period

you can use any Disney resort pool EXCEPT those at Beach & Yacht Club and Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Thanks!

 

[MaryD73]

You can purchase AKV thru disney also, but I don't know what their current incentives are, and the points you get might not be available until the unit you wind up buying is actually built and ready for occupancy.

Hope you don't mind me adding a question to your thread. I was wondering what was meant by 'points not available' until unit is ready?

 

[CarolMN]

Hope you don't mind me adding a question to your thread. I was wondering what was meant by 'points not available' until unit is ready?

When you buy, you are actually buying a deeded interest in a lease for a portion of a particular "unit". A unit is a grouping of rooms within a building.

If your "unit" is still under construction, obviously no one can stay there. You can't use the points associated with that unit until it is ready for occupancy. In other words, if the first night that someone can stay in your "unit" will be March 15, 2008, then you can't use the points you bought until March 15, 2008 or later. Disney can't "oversell" availability.

This is only an issue for new resorts. AKV sold so well that Disney had to accelerate the construction schedules to try to keep up. Some AKV members had to wait a bit to use their points because the units they were buying weren't ready yet. When that happens, dues are adjusted so that you don't pay for time that you couldn't make a reservation.

A long explanation - hope it helped.

 

[MaryD73]

Sure did. Thanks!