Seriously Considering DVC/Thinking About Renting 1st

[VAgal76]

I've been back and forth on if we should buy into DVC or just keep plugging along.

If I buy new I'll get 49 years @ SSR, right? But if I buy resale at BCV (which is what I really want), aren't I losing out? I don't get 49 years just what's left on the contract, right? I really like the BCV location.

How is the transportation from DVC properties? I know the ones like BCV utilizes resorts transportation (BC/YC). But what about OKW and SSR? The transportation is a perk of doing a disney vacation that I enjoy immensely. Do you find the resorts have better transport vs DVC? Meaning, the buses run more frequently. Do you find that you rent a car and going to the parks rather than using WDW transportation? How does housekeeping work?

Is it better to rent points from an owner or go directly through WDW if I want to give DVC a whirl? I'm going to post an inquiry on the rent board to see if anything is available, too.

TIA for all your help!

 

[unixadm]

When you buy at a resort, you aren't forced to stay there.

We own at SSR and haven't stayed there yet. We went to BCV in May of last year, then Boardwalk in September, Hilton Head for a couple of nights in October, the Disney Cruise in January and we have Boardwalk this April.

The big issue is that you can book your home resort 11 months in advance, but other resorts 7 months in advance, so there are times you can't get the resort you want for the dates you want. We've been lucky and when there wasn't availabililty, I waitlisted and got what I wanted.

I am considering adding on in the future, and am still going back and forth about whether to by SSR or resale at Boardwalk since it is our favorite. I would be happy staying in SSR if that was the only one I could book, but prefer the Boardwalk location.

As you know, buying SSR will get you an additional 12 years. That may be important if
1. You are young and will still be young enough to enjoy it for the next 47 years verse 35 years of the other resorts.
2. You are a bit older and plan on giving the points to your kids when they have their own families.
3. You plan on reselling in 15 or so years.

I fall into the #2 or #3 category. I'm nearly 40. In 15 years, there will only be 20 use years left on the other resorts, but 32 years left on SSR. I would expect that the resale of SSR at that point would be higher than the other resorts. My boys will be in college at that point. If they are all Disney'ed out, and aren't interested in inheriting the points, and my wife and I decided we would rather sell and use the money for different type vacations, we could do that and most likely, make more than we paid back (having 15 years of vacations in there as well). As you can see from the current market the used prices keep going up with the new prices....hopefully, that trend continues, at least with SSR.

There are 2 camps of people....ones that say buy where you want to stay and others that say buy the longer duration. Only you can decide which is more imporant to you.

As far as renting, if you want to stay in a villa and get a feel for a resort, I definitely recommend renting some points.

As far as Disney, you can tour SSR, and if there are available villas, tour some of the other resorts and see the rooms.

 

[Susieab]

DVC is a great option if you visit often.

My thoughts on some of your questions:

Yes, I guess you do lose the 10 years if you buy other than SSR. We have BCV and SSR and our BCV will expire prior to the SSR. However it is still a long time from now. Most people say to buy where you want to stay, although we like to stay pretty much everywhere so not possible for us, we just hope it's available.

We always use the transportation from the resorts to the parks. It is all operated by Disney and we have never had to wait very long to get picked up, etc. We usually have a car but use it only for driving back and forth to town if we want to go, never for driving to the parks.

Housekeeping at the resorts is based on how long you are there. It is not daily cleaning only trash and towels every 3-4 days if I remember right. Washers and dryers are free whether they are in your room or by the pools (in case of a studio) so that is a big bonus for us.

I would rent points from someone on the rent/trade board. You are going to pay a lot more by buying from Disney. There is a degree of trust involved when renting points but if you check references, and correspond with the person then you will have a feel for them and will "know" if you should proceed with renting from them.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy DVC as much as we have.

Susie

 

[adamak]

I would rent first, try it out, and schedule a meeting with DVC sales center. That way, you'll know exactly how the services and the rooms will be, before you buy.

The buses in BCV are plentiful. OKW a little less frequent, and I haven't stayed in SSR yet. I actually found that bus system are a lot better for BCV than WL or MK-area hotels. I almost never rent a car when I get to WDW, but then I have no kids, and no urge to go outside the park. All in all, I never feel like I had to wait too long for buses.

We owned BCV for about 10 years now. I never regreted it. But everyone who considers should look at their own finance and figure out if you can afford it. I always told people that if you have to finance it for more than 10 years, then maybe you should save up money first before you buy. DVC is not exactly an investment, but rather a pre-paid vacation.

Enjoy.

 

[disneydenisel]

We rented for the first time in late November 2005 from a DVC member. It all worked out great...then I came home and tried to find a way to buy BCV points . By late January, we had passed ROFR on a resale. Now I'm just waiting to close (it takes forever) so that we can use our points. It was our first trip to WDW with our kids and we were totally sold! My DD6 was asking, "when can we go back to Florida," so I looked into the resales! Be warned that it's addictive...and now I have addonitis, and I'm not even officially in the system yet ! Good luck! Renting was a great experience!