Spring Direct Incentives 2/9-4/27

[MonorailCoral]

Another California factor is the parking fee! It cost me $225 for 5 nights just to self park two weeks ago at the DLH staying cash rate!

Yes!!

 

[Lionezz]

I am also happy to pay cash rate at Port Orleans Riverside (really hope they make it DVC in the future!). It’s where we have stayed on most last minute trips, and we would rank it as a Deluxe level in how much we love it.

I feel the same! I miss it havent been there since i bought into dvc 2015.

 

[Girlstar30]

Agree with this, and also just add my view on Disneyland/DVC in general. The California rack rates for Disneyland Hotel/Grand Cal are generally really high. They tend to run less sales on hotels, and more ticket sales deals, given it is a "local" park. So much of the year the only option for staying "on property" is paying the rack rates.

Even with the sales, I have priced out trips for a week and you realize how expensive the hotels can be, and we spent our money elsewhere. DVC really helps keep the cost down out there, so for my family who like to go to Disneyland and need a room that can sleep 5, buying VDH was an easier decision.

Contrasting, in Florida, with or without DVC, there are so many more options/sales, that the hotel component never really sticker shocked me as much as in California. I don't mind spending money on vacations, but when really nice hotels come in relatively cheaper, you hold off on booking that trip. VDH had a lot of appeal in fixing that issue for me.

Really good observation and makes me feel good about my choice even more, thanks!

 

[Girlstar30]

I stayed there in September on Interval certificate (came to around $490 for an entire week), and it’s our new favorite at Ka’anapali. We had the best snorkeling and beach there, with sea turtles in the same spots all week. Very peaceful resort, and beautiful grounds. Walking distance of Duke’s. I wouldn’t hesitate to trade DVC points on some of those Marriott Hawaii properties when I can’t get them on certificate. Our other favorite is Marriott Beach Club Ko’Olina, on Oahu. My hubby prefers it to Aulani (I do not agree with him!). Being able to trade into Interval was one of the reasons I was able to get my non-theme park spouse to agree to DVC.

I need to figure that beast out

 

[Girlstar30]

This is why I chose VDH over Poly. If I can’t get into Poly at the 7 month mark, no big deal. I love all the DVC resort options at WDW, even Saratoga Springs. Excited to stay in a Tree House Villa there in the future. I am also happy to pay cash rate at Port Orleans Riverside (really hope they make it DVC in the future!). It’s where we have stayed on most last minute trips, and we would rank it as a Deluxe level in how much we love it. At Disneyland though, we only want to stay on property with only 2 DVC options. I would be disappointed to be stuck staying offsite, with the exception of the Westin. Even though we moved from SoCal to the East Coast, it matters enough to me to have that home advantage for our California trips, even if we only went every couple years. It’s killing me that we didn’t buy into DVC sooner when we lived in California my entire life paying cash rate onsite having to get two connecting hotel rooms to fit our large family.

Another California factor is the parking fee! It cost me $225 for 5 nights just to self park two weeks ago at the DLH staying cash rate!

Ive stayed so many times offsite at the Anaheim Marriott and I cant believe that owning at vdh never even crossed my mind.

I refused to stay anywhere else but a Marriott on Harbor because I know what im getting (Stayed at Hotel Lulu once and was terrified lolll) but that was farther from Disney and not ideal.

At least were in now! So funny I was just having that conversation about Port Orleans with someone the other day, we would love to see it as dvc too!

The only time I paid for vgc cash was for my engagement and I think it was 700 something then and they gave us an amazing view of paradise pier and they even pixie dusted us with reserved seating for the halloween fireworks unheard of! So that was well worth it! But I dont think id ever pay that again! I was reading news article that people were upset because on valentines day it is over 2 grand to stay in a studio for one night! California dvc is def something I think we wont regret!

 

[Girlstar30]

Location is the big one. Good TS restaurants. Getting a new 50 year contract at Crescent Lake.

I dont know why it always seemed like its for old people to me but ive never been there so I dont know why i have that in my head and it shares SAB right? So i see the pluses. In every survey I ask Disney to please allow my cats

 

[Makai]

I need to figure that beast out

I’m lucky that I have two siblings with Marriott timeshares who send me Interval Certificate offers when they can’t use them. I am still a newbie with navigating the Interval site through DVC though. Not sure if we get those full week Interval Certificate deals for $300. I did hear a great DVC podcast on Interval recently that is making me feel very good about our DVC points! They are valued even higher than Marriott members. I just need more SAP points because my 2027 ones are already borrowed. Is there a case to be made to buy the Saratoga Springs offer along with VDH?

 

[Girlstar30]

I’m lucky that I have two siblings with Marriott timeshares who send me Interval Certificate offers when they can’t use them. I am still a newbie with navigating the Interval site through DVC though. Not sure if we get those full week Interval Certificate deals for $300. I did hear a great DVC podcast on Interval recently that is making me feel very good about our DVC points! They are valued even higher than Marriott members. I just need more SAP points because my 2027 ones are already borrowed. Is there a case to be made to buy the Saratoga Springs offer along with VDH?

I did the calculations on 150 at SSR and 150 at vdh hoping they'd balance out to something enticing but it was pricy i think I would get frustrated with interval and just sell the points for the freedom to book wherever, but I really dont like those tax implications.

I need to do a thread about this because when you create a rental store account it only let's you put one name and thats the name they sent our tax form too and its incorrect because we file together and I didnt like that. Maybe I did something wrong.

Figuring out interval can give me something to do though and you dont get taxed for that right? We love Marriott resorts and id love to stay at the Newport coast villas, I wonder if that ever goes on there, probably not because its popular.

Can you believe I worked I worked there for two years and never stayed there or even saw the beach or whole property. Never thought I could afford it one day so i didnt care and after working there no way I ever thought id buy a timeshare!!! I swore I wouldnt! But Disney is different

 

[Brian Noble]

Not sure if we get those full week Interval Certificate deals for $300.

Maybe, and no.

There are two kinds of certificates in the II world. One is a "generic" certificate that is deposited to every account (or, at least every account except for some corporately-controlled ones.) These are pretty limited in scope, but also the cheapest. I've had my DVC Interval account for about a year now, and I don't think I've ever seen one deposited there, and I've definitely seen them deposited for my stand-alone account that I use for non-DVC weeks, so it is possible DVC owners do not get them.

The other kind of certificate is a "Resort" certificate. Usually these are awarded for e.g. depositing or exchanging an undeposited specific resort week for which Interval wants to incentivize its use/deposit. (My high-TDI unbranded trader will often have such an offer at some point.) Those certificates are usally a little more useful than the generics, are based on the underlying week's size and trade power, cost a little bit more, and can be searched against. I don't think those are given in the resort point-based portals at all, but I could be wrong. (Again, I've never seen the offer in my DVC II account, but I don't look that often.)

For the past couple years, at least, they also have fine print that rules out using a Certificate for Marriott inventory entirely (along with a few other systems: the Four Seasons Aviaras, and maybe Hyatt and a few others). That inventory still can sometimes show up under a certificate but (a) you cannot search against it and (b) it usually is very last-minute, off-season, over-deposited stuff. Interestingly, the Sheraton/Westin weeks still *do* show up, even though Marriott now owns them; they are considered different systems from II's point of view---at least, for now.

 

[Makai]

Maybe, and no.

There are two kinds of certificates in the II world. One is a "generic" certificate that is deposited to every account (or, at least every account except for some corporately-controlled ones.) These are pretty limited in scope, but also the cheapest. I've had my DVC Interval account for about a year now, and I don't think I've ever seen one deposited there, and I've definitely seen them deposited for my stand-alone account that I use for non-DVC weeks, so it is possible DVC owners do not get them.

The other kind of certificate is a "Resort" certificate. Usually these are awarded for e.g. depositing or exchanging an undeposited specific resort week for which Interval wants to incentivize its use/deposit. (My high-TDI unbranded trader will often have such an offer at some point.) Those certificates are usally a little more useful than the generics, are based on the underlying week's size and trade power, cost a little bit more, and can be searched against. I don't think those are given in the resort point-based portals at all, but I could be wrong. (Again, I've never seen the offer in my DVC II account, but I don't look that often.)

For the past couple years, at least, they also have fine print that rules out using a Certificate for Marriott inventory entirely (along with a few other systems: the Four Seasons Aviaras, and maybe Hyatt and a few others). That inventory still can sometimes show up under a certificate but (a) you cannot search against it and (b) it usually is very last-minute, off-season, over-deposited stuff. Interestingly, the Sheraton/Westin weeks still *do* show up, even though Marriott now owns them; they are considered different systems from II's point of view---at least, for now.

Thank you for this helpful information! I have been wondering about the details of it all year.

 

[Makai]

I did the calculations on 150 at SSR and 150 at vdh hoping they'd balance out to something enticing but it was pricy i think I would get frustrated with interval and just sell the points for the freedom to book wherever, but I really dont like those tax implications.

I need to do a thread about this because when you create a rental store account it only let's you put one name and thats the name they sent our tax form too and its incorrect because we file together and I didnt like that. Maybe I did something wrong.

Figuring out interval can give me something to do though and you dont get taxed for that right? We love Marriott resorts and id love to stay at the Newport coast villas, I wonder if that ever goes on there, probably not because its popular.

Can you believe I worked I worked there for two years and never stayed there or even saw the beach or whole property. Never thought I could afford it one day so i didnt care and after working there no way I ever thought id buy a timeshare!!! I swore I wouldnt! But Disney is different

I never thought we could ever be timeshare owners, but it was our experience using my siblings Interval certificates that became the gateway for it all. When I told the DH how much better the resale value is on DVC, using the points system, & annual dues, vs other timeshares, and then went over our past cash stays at Disney, it was a no brainer. The Newport Villas are in a beautiful location, and the Crystal Cove Shake Shack is the best!

Wish the math made sense to buy those Saratoga Springs direct points along with my 150 at VDH. Not sure how often direct points come down to this price in the next year or two, and it would be nice to have more unrestricted points to back up future stays.

 

[tx911]

I dont know why it always seemed like its for old people to me but ive never been there so I dont know why i have that in my head and it shares SAB right? So i see the pluses. In every survey I ask Disney to please allow my cats

Yes, shares SAB with Beach Club. It does have a bit of a "Captain Stubing" vibe

 

[VGCgroupie]

Location is the big one. Good TS restaurants. Getting a new 50 year contract at Crescent Lake.

My husband popped over to Yacht Club since our DoorDash driver ended up there rather than Beach Club. He came back to me at SAB and said "wow, that place is nice, it isnt DVC?" This is after Beach Club didnt wow him at all.

 

[Brian Noble]

Vibes-wise, YC is the adult table at Thanksgiving.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I always kind of assumed BC and YC were almost identical resorts. Interesting to hear that they are different.