Rec'd info on SSR - I have 3 ?'s

[psu1978]

I have received the info on SSR and think it looks great. My questions are:

1) How bad will the transportation problem be? It is pretty far out and I've heard tales of trans problems from OKW. They say that DTD is a "short boat ride"...would it be better to go to DTD and then hop on a bus?

2) How cost effective is it? I'm not concerned with the purchase price of the points...that's a no brainer. But paying dues on 200 points for 50 years = $38,000. With the cost of the purchase added that comes out to about $1,100 a year. I've heard DVC can pay for itself in less than 10 years...how does this work out? Am I overthinking this? Is any portion of the dues tax deductible?

3) How difficult is it to get ressies for the Consierge Collection? There are some fantastic locations, but I wonder how many rooms are actually available to DVC members? Anyone have experience to share.

I know I'm asking alot...but I know you guys are the best!!!

Thanks for the help.

 

[Disneyolic]

I'm sorry I can't answer most of your questions, but could you please answer a question for me? Do you have the info on how much the dues are per year now? Thanks so much.

Here's one question I can answer. As far as your option to go to DTD to take a bus there. No way. I have heard that it can sometimes take as long as ½ hour just to make all 3 stops in DTD (it stops at the Marketplace, Pleasure Island, and the West Side). I would think that it would be best to take SSR busses to the theme parks. DTD would be good if you want to get to another resort quicker tho.

~DawnMaree

 

[CrzyforPiglet]

Howdy - we just bought SSR and our guide tried to tell us that DTD was a bus hub so that we would have great service if we decided to walk there or take the resort busses - I don't buy it but when I think about the longest we've ever waited for a bus at any WDW resort it was to get to/from DTD so I like that we'll be close by to do our shopping. I also like that if we wanted to get to one of the other resorts like AKL for dinner that we could get there from DTD rather than switching at one of the parks. We are hoping that if SSR is the only resort on the bus line that transportation won't be a problem but only time will tell.

The dues/cost effective thing you would have to factor out how much you spend on vacations now. Our understanding is that the number of points to stay at the resorts won't change - ever. So that is fixed and only dues will change. Maybe that will help in your calculations.

Hope that helps!!

 

[psu1978]

Originally posted by Disneyolic
I'm sorry I can't answer most of your questions, but could you please answer a question for me? Do you have the info on how much the dues are per year now? Thanks so much.

~DawnMaree

DawnMaree...

The dues for SSR are $3.8006/pt and thanks for the bus advice. While I love the 50 year ownership (and it looks beautiful)...I'm just not sure we want to be that far out. It seems like the DVC sites associated with hotels have better transportation services available. But then again, as we age we might enjoy being further from the hubub (spelling ???).

 

[Disneyolic]

Thanks psu1978. I thought the same thing at first about where it was located. But now that I think about it, it seems kind of nice. I looked at the pics. They look beautiful and being near DTD does seem appealing to me now. It actually may seem more peaceful than BCV and BWV.

 

[Richyams]

The cost of dues is a good way to look at it. You are looking at 300 points. Many seasons this will get you more than two weeks in a studio. $1100 sounds like a great deal for two weeks in a studio.

I pay $1400 or so for 10-12 nights in the OKW GV each year. That is less than $150 per night for the Grand Villa!!!

I figure I broke even a very, very long time ago.

Our first stay was '93, twelve night OKW GV, rack rate in the neighborhood of $1000 per night, buying in we had two year's worth of points for that first stay. we had points left over and basically broke even on our first trip. Add to that the free passes that they used to give out and they actually paid us to be DVC members!!!!!

We realized that we were going to need the GV each year, so we bought an additional 200 points during that first stay, points were more, but the buy was for less points(230 first, 200 add on), so it came out to about the same amount of money.

our second trip was another twelve night stay in the GV. So we broke even on the addon during our second trip.

Now we get the GV for less than $150 per night. Seems like a good deal to me.

 

[Geoff_M]

Regarding buses from DTD, one more small point... DTD buses don't go to the parks! They stopped running park buses from DTD a couple of years ago to stop people from parking for free and then going to the parks all day, and thus clogging the DTD parking lot.

 

[psu1978]

Originally posted by Richyams
The cost of dues is a good way to look at it. You are looking at 300 points. Many seasons this will get you more than two weeks in a studio. $1100 sounds like a great deal for two weeks in a studio.

I like the way you think, but...unfortunately, the figures I quoted were for only 200 points, not 300. So we wouldn't be able to get as much out of it as you indicated. However...200 points would get us 2 weeks in a studio during Adventure or Choice. The only problem is that I am a teacher and therefore can only go during Dream and Magic. We would be able to get a week anytime and have points left to bank and be able to get a one-bedroom the next year!

Another option is to only go with 150 points and we could have a week any time other than Premier and it would only be $837/wk or $120 per night.

Ok now my head is beginning to hurt!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Another word on buses...

We have been members at OKW since 1996-97. We have never felt the buses were that bad there, and our trips the last couple years have had wonderful bus service. In fact, last month, we hardly EVER waited for a bus. The only park that takes a longer than normal time to get to by bus is AK. All others it is faster to take the bus than just about anything else. Even getting to Epcot from the Epcot resorts is not easy if you want to see Future World in the morning.

Each resort contracts seperately with the bus service, so how it will be from SSR is unknown. From what I saw last month, I would say you would be best off walking to DTD from SSR, since it adjoins the DTD property. I would say the DTD buses are the ones we don't like. If we have to go to one of the other resorts for dinner ressies etc. We usually drive, because to bus through DTD takes so long. Resort to resort travel has always been difficult like that, but that is where SSR would definately have an advantage with its DTD location. If you are not enamoured with DTD, perhaps you want to look at a resale of one of DVC villas connected to one of the resort hotels. Personally, I prefer the townhouse type accommodations like OKW. I'm not too keen on indoor hallways.

 

[psu1978]

Thanks for the great input. Anyone had any experience with booking from Concierce Collection. I just wondered how limited the rooms are and how difficult they are to get.

Thanks!

 

[JLS]

FYI re buses: As of this year, the DTD buses only make 1 stop, which is at the Marketplace. There is no longer a separate stop at the Westside and Pleasure Island. This makes bus service at DTD much better, IMO because you don't have to wait through 3 stops just to get out of DTD. If you are going to Cirque or DisneyQuest, the bus stop is a bit of a hike, but otherwise it is very convenient to the rest of DTD.

But I think that renting a car is the way to go. Use Priceline or Hotwire - you can usually get a midsized car for $20 per day - can't beat it! It pays for itself by the time you factor in transportaiton to/from the airport and to/from other attractions such as Universal if you go there.

 

[disneycrazed139]

JLS, you are right in that the buses to DTD do not make three stops, but we were just there in June for a week and used the bus to DTD every night. Each night the bus made two stops: first at Marketplace and then a second stop at Pleasure Island. The Westside was the only one skipped. Are you sure the only stop now is Marketplace?

This is a little inconvenient, as you said, if you are going to Cirque or Disney Quest, but still only a 5 minute walk.

Overall, DTD buses took the longest to wait for both going to the resort and coming from.

However, I am looking forward to having easy access to this hub though for other resort access, as well as the water taxi and walkwaydirectly to DTD.

As to cost effectivness, it just depends on how much you regularly spend on room per year, as well as what your personal priorities are.

 

[Geoff_M]

Ditttos... We were there in June this year too and the DTD bus fro WL made two stops at DTD.

 

[Loubon]

Can't help with the concierge collection but regarding buses and points:

Buses - agree that the only time the bus has taken long is to DTD. It is not just the 2 stops (used to be 3, then 1, now back to 2) it just seems to be a more awkward route and since you can't go from the parks, depending on the hotel it can stop at multiple hotels as well. We were at the MK and someone suggested we go from the Contempory. It stopped there, the GF & the Poly plus the 2 stops at DTD!

Points - Look back at Rich's example. Forget the number of points and for a moment even the size and season. What you want to do is just figure out the rack rate cost of a room at a deluxe hotel for a typical stay. Take your investment and subtract as many stays at rack rates that make up a year's worth of points you are considering. You will probably see a breakeven of about 5 or 6 trips. Add the dues for that time period and that may add 1 more trip. Now you must keep in mind that you will be getting better than a deluxe room (even in a studio) so that is a plus. Future dues will probably wash out against normal room increases to rack rates. Even if they don't how much over the remaining 40+ years will it add? A few more trips? Finally, you have an appreciable asset. After your breakeven you can, at worst, get your money back after having taken 5 or 6 first class trips.

 

[JimC]

We have had good experience with the Disney bus system over the years. And having stayed at practically every resort on property we have used it extensively. I would not worry about the level of bus service that SSR will have.

 

[pod2314]

I don't know about your other concerns, but I have had experience with the Concierge Collection. Like any other hotel, it depends on where and when you want to go. Our experiences have been good so far. Last year we closed on our purchase and received our member number at the beginning of October. We thought it would be a great idea to go to NYC for Thanksgiving (Macy's parade, Christmas Decorations, Broadway play, etc.) So we called MS. I figured we would have to go on a wait list being about a month away, but our reservations were made right away for 4 nights in a 1 br suite at the Shelburne Murray Hill hotel. We loved it and the hotel was great. It was so good, we are doing again this year (got tickets to the Lion King for Friday night).

The one trip we had to go on a wait list for was HH in April (we even got into BWV during Christmas week last year). Good luck.

 

[Poohstar]

I called a quality assurance rep. (their phone # came with the SSR contract package) regarding the transportation for SSR. He said SSR is the only stop the bus makes, so it shouldn't be bad at all. Hope this help.

 

[psu1978]

Thanks to all for info on break even, busing and concierge collection.

You have been helpful as always. I would still like to hear about any other concierge collection experiences. How hard is it to get ressies at these locations? I wondered how many spots are open to DVC.

Thanks!