Seriously considering a purchase

[mrsltg]

Hi All-

My family and I just returned from WDW yesterday . We rented points and stayed at BWV in a studio. It was the second time we rented points and I decided I wanted to become a member. We went through a tour and sales pitch 4 years ago and I hated the pressure and the "used car salesman" feel to the whole thing. At any rate, here we are now.

Some questions:

I saw the info about the 15% discount for friends and family. Can someone sponsor us even if we don't know them? Basically, what is Disney looking for in this requirement?

How much does 150 points by? For instance, if we wanted a one bedroom during value season for one week.

Does anyone have any complaints with DVC? Honestly, any complaints?

What are the monthly fees and is there a cap per year?

Any other information you can give me?


Thanks for all of your advice and help. I hope to call myself a DVC member in the near future!

Erin

 

[cobbler]

I would be happy to give you a referral. I am sending you a PM.

 

[jarestel]

Some questions:

I saw the info about the 15% discount for friends and family. Can someone sponsor us even if we don't know them? Basically, what is Disney looking for in this requirement?

Can't help you with this one, but I'm sure someone will know.

How much does 150 points by? For instance, if we wanted a one bedroom during value season for one week.

A full week in a 1-BR wouldn't be possible with only 150 points unless you wanted to go only every other year. During January, September, and December ( the lowest point months ) you would need 160 points to stay a full week at Old Key West and 182 points to stay at Saratoga Springs. Each resort's point requirements are somewhat different, but OKW and SSR are representative. BCV and VWL are a little higher point requirements.

Does anyone have any complaints with DVC? Honestly, any complaints?

There are always things that could be better, but most people on this board are fairly satisfied. One of the major concerns voiced here is the inability of DVC to guarantee non-smoking rooms and also that late check-ins tend to get the "left-over" rooms, which may or may not meet the requirements of the guest. If you're not a "view" person, room assignments tend to be less stressful.

What are the monthly fees and is there a cap per year?

Annual dues are approximately $4 to $4.60 per point, again depending on the resort. They are all different. Dues almost always go up yearly, so factor this into your thinking. I believe the dues can increase no more than 15% per year, though so far I think the average has been about 4%.

Any other information you can give me?

DVC can be a lot of fun for family vacations, but it's fairly expensive from an initial buy in and dues standpoint. Unless you're certain that you want to visit WDW every year or two, you might be better off by continuing to rent points. But if you take the plunge and buy, it'll be great to have you with us!

 

[1000th happy haunt]

How much does 150 points by? For instance, if we wanted a one bedroom during value season for one week.

Check the DVC Point Charts link at the top of the page. That will show you the cost per week for the various rooms at different times of the year. DVC has five seasons, and they're a bit different than the regular hotel seasons. For a hotel stay, value season runs from 7/5 - 10/4, but July and early August are magic season for DVC (the second highest in point cost).

 

[LisaS]

Be aware that you can purchase points at any of the DVC resorts, not just SSR. The 15% discount is only applicable to SSR but you can purchase any of the "sold out" resorts directly from Disney for $92/point or through the resale market for less per point plus around $500 in closing costs. Go to the top of this web page and click on the "DVC Resales" link to see the contracts available at The Timeshare Store (the sponsor of this board). Many of us have become DVC owners by purchasing DVC resales though TTS.

If you purchase directly from Disney, there is a minimum purchase of 150 points. If you purchase through resale, the minimum does not apply so you will see some resale contracts available that include fewer than 150 points. Disney has the "right of first refusal" whenever a buyer makes an offer to purchase a resale contract so if the buyer negotiates a price that is below the current going rate for that particular resort, Disney may step in and purchase it. If you buy through a broker with lots of DVC experience, they can coach you on a price that's likely to pass ROFR.

 

[vascubaguy]

I just wanted to add that no, you couldn't stay for a full week in a 1 br for 150 points, the least you could do that with would be 160 points. However, that assumes you stay on Friday and Saturday night, which would cost 40 points each night. If you only stayed Sunday night thru Thursday night, you could get a 1BR for 80 points at OKW during the Adventurer season.

I'd say many DVC members avoid the high point stays on the weekends and opt to book cash ressies at other resorts for the weekend. For instance, during our upcoming trip we are going for 11 nights.... the first 5 nights will be at the BWV (Sun-Fri), then on Friday we move over to POR for 6 nights.

For our next trip in October, we might fly down on Friday and stay at AKL until Sunday and then move to OKW. Or come down on Sunday and then stay thru Friday at OKW then move to AKL for Friday and Saturday night and come home Sunday.

 

[JoyCrazy]

Approximately $4 to $4.60 per point, again depending on the resort. They are all different. Dues almost always go up yearly, so factor this into your thinking. I believe the dues can increase no more than 15% per year, though so far I think the average has been about 4%.

Monthly fees?? At 150 points that's 600 to 690 a month!. That's more then my mortgage!

 

[nono]

JoyCrazy,

That's an annual cost-per-point. This total can be paid monthly, so you can figure 1/12 the total cost as the "monthly dues."

 

[MrShiny]

The annual dues (which we have taken out of checking monthly - I think we pay about $60/month for our 200 point SSR contract), also include real estate tax, which is probably tax deductible for you. For 2005, our actual property tax was about $220 for the 200 points.

 

[jarestel]

Monthly fees?? At 150 points that's 600 to 690 a month!. That's more then my mortgage!

Sorry, I meant to insert annual dues into my reply. That would be a little expensive if it were monthly, wouldn't it?

 

[crisi]

I just wanted to add that no, you couldn't stay for a full week in a 1 br for 150 points, the least you could do that with would be 160 points. However, that assumes you stay on Friday and Saturday night, which would cost 40 points each night. If you only stayed Sunday night thru Thursday night, you could get a 1BR for 80 points at OKW during the Adventurer season.

I'd say many DVC members avoid the high point stays on the weekends and opt to book cash ressies at other resorts for the weekend. For instance, during our upcoming trip we are going for 11 nights.... the first 5 nights will be at the BWV (Sun-Fri), then on Friday we move over to POR for 6 nights.

For our next trip in October, we might fly down on Friday and stay at AKL until Sunday and then move to OKW. Or come down on Sunday and then stay thru Friday at OKW then move to AKL for Friday and Saturday night and come home Sunday.

We added a Saturday night to the end of our vacation at AKL last time. Extended the vacation, saved points, and gave us a chance to stay in a resort we really wanted to try. Moving at WDW is pretty easy - we just told them to move our bags and when we got there we called and had them brought up. We threw our swimsuits in our daybags, so we had them if the luggage wasn't there when we arrived. The only change I'd make is that next time we will do it at the start of the trip instead of the end - easier to pack and plan for and going from a one bedroom to a single room was a little taxing (we are so spoiled).

I DO have a few complaints....some apply to us and some are just complaints on principle.

1. Not guarenteeing non smoking - complaint that applies to us
2. Not keeping the rooms up to a Deluxe resort standard. We've always found our rooms clean, but things like cracked tiles or missing drawer pulls are always there. To use these aren't major things that make us unhappy, but I think its worth mentioning.
3. Using points at places other than DVC is "not a good deal." This doesn't apply to us at all since we bought a small number of points and have no intentions to use this outside Disney. But on principle I don't like it when the DVC booths feature cruising and staying in San Francisco as prominent features.

 

[JoyCrazy]

Help I live in Alberta and I called DVC today to ask some questions and they said that they can't answer any questions because they aren't registered in alberta yet. They couldn't tell me anything on the phone or let me buy from here. I'd have to go back down there to buy DVC! Is there any way around this???

 

[vascubaguy]

Help I live in Alberta and I called DVC today to ask some questions and they said that they can't answer any questions because they aren't registered in alberta yet. They couldn't tell me anything on the phone or let me buy from here. I'd have to go back down there to buy DVC! Is there any way around this???

You have a couple of options, the first would be to purchase via resale. The other option would be visit a DVC location to make the purchase. You could either take a trip down to Orlando, take another Disney cruise, or it would probably be more economical to plan a weekend trip down to Anaheim, CA. You can purchase DVC from there as well.

Regardless, if DVC is not licensed to sell in your area, they can not (and will not) provide you with any solicitation information - even if you request it (it's illegal for them to do so). Even if you buy in and become a member, if you were interested in doing an add-on, you'd still have to either buy in-person or purchase via resell.

It's all kind of dumb, but many goverments feel they need to protect their citizens from the "evil" timeshare industry.

Meanwhile, if you have any questions you'd like help with, feel free to search the threads here, they might have already been answered. Otherwise, post a new thread and ask away. There are lots of knowledgeable folks on here that will gladly help answer your questions.

Anyway, I hope that helps.

Good luck!

 

[JoyCrazy]

Thank you that was very helpful!

 

[RAD]

I DO have a few complaints....some apply to us and some are just complaints on principle.

1. Not guarenteeing non smoking - complaint that applies to us
2. Not keeping the rooms up to a Deluxe resort standard. We've always found our rooms clean, but things like cracked tiles or missing drawer pulls are always there. To use these aren't major things that make us unhappy, but I think its worth mentioning.
3. Using points at places other than DVC is "not a good deal." This doesn't apply to us at all since we bought a small number of points and have no intentions to use this outside Disney. But on principle I don't like it when the DVC booths feature cruising and staying in San Francisco as prominent features.

For #1, I think this is common with all WDW resorts, they make note of room requirements but can't guarentee it.

#2, IMHO we might notice more things wrong in DVC rooms then normal rooms since there's more to them, such as sinks, stoves, microwaves, DVD players, whirlpool tubs, washer/dryers, dishwashers etc. When I see something wrong in a room I call maintenance right away and request to get it fixed, which is done quickly. I've stayed a a number of deluxe resorts before joining DVC and ran into the same types of issues their.

#3, Yep, it's not a good deal, but they never said it was or wasn't just that it's an option. When we did the sale presentation our guide mentioned it and that the point cost of using non DVC options would go up in the future.