Should I Join???

[Anevares]

Hey All - I thought i would ask the pros and get your opinion. I am looking to become a member since I saw an ad for the Aulani Resort on a business trip. I have been non stop trying to decide what to do. I am planning on visiting the Grand Cali this saturday to look at the Aulani models since they are sold out of the Cali resort.

I have a few quesitons and need some help:

1. Does the home resort really make a difference? Both my wife and I work at home so a vacation can be flexible. We can go during the week to GCR (sorry i dont know the acronym for Grand Cali) on a whim so I dont know if we would book a vacation 11 months in advance. So I could do the resale and save some money.

2. If home resort if important then I would want to do the Aulani. If I go for a higher point like 200+ is it hard to sell the points. I would like to go every two years or sooner but would like the option to sell them if needed. Is it hard to rent the points?

3. Or should I stick with a 100+ point system and decide to go every two years?

thanks for all your help!

 

[Anevares]

I know this is like every other post but I do have some legitimate questions. I live in California and would be more interested in Grand Cali or the new Aulani Resort. My wife and are work from home and are really flexible so short stays during the week are easy for us. We are going this weekend to check out the Grand Cali to see the Aulani models and get a better idea of how nice the resorts are.

Here are my questions:

1. Does the home resport really matter?

2. Do you really need to book 11 mo in advance?

3. How oftern do cancelations happen within the resorts and are those then offered to people on waiting lists?

These answers will help me detemine if I should buy the new Aulani or if I should buy resale at the Grand Cali. Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[CarolMN]

Moved from DVC - RRA Board and merged with similar thread.

 

[Sandisw]

It matters if you have a preference of where you want to stay and plan your trips to take advantage of the home resort booking period. However, if you book with less than 7 months, than it is less important.

My only concerns is that you mention last minute booking. DVC works best for those that can plan. GCV is small so finding rooms on short notice, even if it is your home, might prove difficult.

Aulani is not open yet so no one really knows how easy or hard it will be to book there if not an owner.

Be sure that DVC is right for you, in terms of how you plan your vacations, especially if you are looking at staying outside of WDW.

Good luck!

 

[Greysword]

Yes, home resort is important (in fact, the collective #1 rule for DVC is "Buy where you want to stay"). This due to several reasons including the 11-month booking window, maintenance fees, and should DVC cease to be a club, you would only be able to book at your home resort (unlikely but anything is possible).

DVC is not as good at short-term bookings, especially to California. The best "economic" value of DVC is staying at a DVC resort. This is due to the deluxe accommodations with locking in today's prices (per se). You can get away with this at WDW, but not as much at DLR.

Based on your current vacation situation, you can probably get better deals staying at a good neighbor hotel, since you are flexible and can go when the crowd level is low. Also should you wish to pursue Hawai'i, there are other timeshares that will likely provide a better value for the purchase price and still allow you to get a hotel at WDW or near Disneyland (for instance, our friends own two Starwood properties in Colorado and they generally use them to stay at Sheraton hotels around the country or at the Vistana resort in Orlando. They could also use their points to stay at the Swan & Dolphin at WDW).

In summary, I would suggest DVC may not be right for your particular situation.

Good luck,

Chris

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'm going to make it three and say that DVC works best for those who can plan and not go on the spur of the moment. Sure, you might get something some of the time, but GCV can be hard to get at 7 months out. Any shorter and it gets closer to impossible to get. You can always book Aulani, the resort, instead of Aulani, the DVC timeshare.

DVC doesn't sound like it will work well for you.

 

[DVC Dude]

There are too many unknown factors here to give an accurate answer. So here are a few tips:

1. Buy only the number of points you can afford to buy cash (w/o financing)
2. Buy at the #1 place you intend to use it at (Hawaii vs Cali)
3. If you want to join, but can't afford $20,000, then buy a tiny contract such as a 25 point if you can find it and rent/transfer points into your account as you need it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

...3. If you want to join, but can't afford $20,000, then buy a tiny contract such as a 25 point if you can find it and rent/transfer points into your account as you need it.

Wouldn't the OP have to buy more than that for a first contract from Disney? Isn't it 160 points or something these days? Unless he goes resale.

 

[Greysword]

To add to Deb's question:

Isn't he going to really want the ability to book a DLR hotel instead of DVC, since it will likely be on relatively short notice (i.e. resales are out due to the restrictions on the Disney Collection)?

 

[adminjedi]

Hey All - I thought i would ask the pros and get your opinion. I am looking to become a member since I saw an ad for the Aulani Resort on a business trip. I have been non stop trying to decide what to do. I am planning on visiting the Grand Cali this saturday to look at the Aulani models since they are sold out of the Cali resort.

I have a few quesitons and need some help:

1. Does the home resort really make a difference? Both my wife and I work at home so a vacation can be flexible. We can go during the week to GCR (sorry i dont know the acronym for Grand Cali) on a whim so I dont know if we would book a vacation 11 months in advance. So I could do the resale and save some money.

YES, home resort matters. Non-home resorts can be booked at 7 months or less. Going on a whim to GCV (Grand California Villas) can be difficult as it is small and often full. We have been fortunate to get reservations at less than 7 months, but you can't count on last minute availability (whether you own there or not).

2. If home resort if important then I would want to do the Aulani. If I go for a higher point like 200+ is it hard to sell the points. I would like to go every two years or sooner but would like the option to sell them if needed. Is it hard to rent the points?

3. Or should I stick with a 100+ point system and decide to go every two years?

Buy as many points as you believe you will regularly use. My guess is it will be easy to rent Aulani points, but there is always a risk factor there (plenty of other threads on renting). As 1 week in an OV Studio is 175 pts, I think that is a good size minimum contract. Anything close to that should be a good resale size later. Extra small contracts (25-75pts) are going to be less popular due to the DVC ROFR fee on Aulani resales IMHO.

 

[juncker]

Consider the size of your contract. As an example, if you buy a 400 point contract, it can never be split up. Smaller contracts are easier to sell and are also usually sold for higher costs because people like to add on to their contracts. There are costs with closing each contract, but 2-100 point contracts might be better. Just something to keep in mind.

I 2nd the thoughts posted here though. If you want to stay a GCV, then buy there and make your reservations 8 months+ in advance (if not 11). If that doesn't work for you, then maybe DVC isn't for you.

 

[crisi]

I'd spend some time here reading. And if I were going to use Aulani, I'd wait until it opens to see what availability is like. The first years will probably be tighter than subsequent years (if its always really tight, I'd expect DVC to open another Hawaii resort on another island). Patience will teach you a lot - looking at other people's experiences and expectations here - and comparing them to your own needs and expectations - is probably a lot better than us anticipating what your needs and expectations may be.

 

[Dean]

If you're set on HI you might also consider the fixed week options there. It's 10% more but you can guarantee your reservation and unit and you still get points to use if you want.

 

[ToddyLu]

You can still get points at VGC even though it is "sold out". You can look at resales and direct form Disney- Disney will have points through ROFR.

I would get wait and get what I wanted because DVC is an expensive timeshare when compared to others. I would read on here for several months before I purchased. I purchased a DVC Guide from Pass porter that was very good and also got lots of info from DVCNews.com.

 

[dmoore22]

To add to Deb's question:

Isn't he going to really want the ability to book a DLR hotel instead of DVC, since it will likely be on relatively short notice (i.e. resales are out due to the restrictions on the Disney Collection)?

Exactly my thought!