Still haven't bought yet...more questions...

[disfanforlife]

We have been seriously thinking about buying DVC for the past few weeks, but to me it feels much longer since I am the one researching, thinking, and yes even dreaming about it 24/7! Everytime I think we are sure another question pops up for us to consider. My husbands latest question is "What if there was a hurricane - is there insurance?" I guess he means is it possible for us to lose our investment in our points. The other thing is since we seem to be waffling, maybe it would be good for us to go and rent just for this year to get to try staying at a villa and that might sell us. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for us is yes it is great getting the free points this year, but we really don't "want" to stay at Saratoga. We really wanted to go to BW or BC. And yes even though it is free, it is still our only vacation for the year and we really want to be happy and enjoy it.

 

[Chic]

If there is a hurricane, you will not lose your investment. Disney would repair the damaged buildings and continue with DVC use. Although anything is possible, I very seriously doubt there will ever be a storm strong enough to cause significant damage to the Disney facilities. The resort property is too far away from the coast for that type of devastation. Also, most everything in the parks was designed to withstand hurricanes. Since the beginning of Disney in Orlando, there has never been a storm which destroyed the property. Of course there has been minor damage but nothing which would cause a complete shut down. As far as staying at Saratoga, I own there and always stay somewhere else. I've never stayed at Saratoga and never plan to stay at Saratoga. I'm just enjoying the lowest maintenance fees of all the resorts. I did have one trip I booked at the last minute during the Food & Wine Festival in October and had to stay at Old Key West. This resort was fabulous and I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again. We have never regretted buying into DVC and constantly bump into other DVC owners who are very happy with their decision to join. We recently did an add-on and received free points which we used for Boardwalk Villas in June and the Grand Californian in Disneyland for an August vacation. You don't have to use you free points at Saratoga. I understand your concerns regarding Saratoga. We hesitated for over a year before buying DVC because we didn't want to stay there. It's a nice resort and a lot of people really love it but we consider it to be very unmagical and too far away from the theme parks.

 

[hellerjw]

That's what everyone's annual dues are for: building maintenance, insurance, reserves, etc.

As mentioned, it would take a very powerful storm to have a significant impact on most of the properties (HH & VB being the possible exceptions) and even then, they have insurance (paid for by our dues) to cover any damages.

 

[Cherta]

This is exactly why I canceled my sale at SSR (bought while at WDW 2 weeks ago) and bought (hopefully) into BWV (currently going through ROFR). Although I found SSR absolutely beautiful, I knew I would never be content staying there (love the location of the Epcot resorts!). I (like you) will only be traveling to WDW once a year, so the ability to make a reservation at the 11 month mark was well worth the loss of the incentives offered at SSR (although DH doesn't think so!) ....

Anyway, good luck with your decision!

 

[rcchello]

Vero Beach resort was hit by two Hurricanes, the following from MousePlanet

"Disney's Vero Beach DVC Resort is undergoing another cleanup in the wake of Hurricane Jeanne. This is the second hurricane to score a direct hit on the property, as both Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Jeanne made landfall on top of the resort. As with the aftermath of Frances, water damage to the carpets and other areas, severe beach erosion, and damage to Sonya's and the children's wet play area are the major problems. The resort is currently scheduled to reopen on November 1. In the meantime, guests who were scheduled to stay at the resort are being contacted and can transfer their reservations to other Disney resorts, rebook for a later date, or cancel outright with no penalty."

It did cause some disruption, since the resort was not available for reservations for a little while and people had to move their vacations. My sister was once chased out of the Hilton Head resort by a Hurricane and they handled giving back her points very well.

 

[disfanforlife]

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it!!!! I think with my husband and myself we are overanalyzing things right now and he has definately cooled off. I should have leaped while I could. Now, I will have to convince him. I think a smaller number of points so that he may feel more comfortable knowing we don't "have" to go every year and can bank or borrow. We really would like to have a 2 bedroom when we do go and that was one of the other reasons to buy dvc since we have a family of 5 and it is always tight in a room. The kids are only gonna get bigger, right?

 

[crys5]

We have been seriously thinking about buying DVC for the past few weeks, but to me it feels much longer since I am the one researching, thinking, and yes even dreaming about it 24/7! Everytime I think we are sure another question pops up for us to consider. My husbands latest question is "What if there was a hurricane - is there insurance?" I guess he means is it possible for us to lose our investment in our points. The other thing is since we seem to be waffling, maybe it would be good for us to go and rent just for this year to get to try staying at a villa and that might sell us. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for us is yes it is great getting the free points this year, but we really don't "want" to stay at Saratoga. We really wanted to go to BW or BC. And yes even though it is free, it is still our only vacation for the year and we really want to be happy and enjoy it.

You sound like me! I think about it all the time...lol I am also about to buy, but i am waiting for the right deal to come along, am doing resale at BW. We stayed there to see if we liked it this past Thanksgiving, we LOVED it. We stayed in a studio, and to me it is big enough for 4 grown people, my kids were very comfortable.I had 2 studios, one for myself , my husband and my 4 year old, and one for my 20 year old, 15 year old , 16 year old niece and another 18 year old friend...it was cheaper on points than a 2 bedroom and we had boardwalk view rooms....if you decide to rent , ask for a boardwalk view, you will be sold on the idea fast....lol i was. before staying there we loved Port Orleans Riverside, it was the only place we would stay, but now we have a new favorite and hopefully soon it will be our new home! good luck, you won't be sorry.

 

[disfanforlife]

Thanks for writing!!!! That is exactly where we were thinking of going this year before we started looking into dvc - Port Orleans Riverside. Infact, I think we will go there this year and tour some of the dvc resorts while there. We have not visited any of them. Except we did stay at Wilderness Lodge in 2/07 so I saw the Villas from the outside, but wasn't even thinking about buying at the time - wish I had thought to peak in while we were there. Our kids are 7, 12, and 14. So, they are a little young to have them stay in a studio alone otherwise I think that would be a great idea. Infact I asked if there were any connecting studios and was told no....

 

[jodifla]

Thanks for writing!!!! That is exactly where we were thinking of going this year before we started looking into dvc - Port Orleans Riverside. Infact, I think we will go there this year and tour some of the dvc resorts while there. We have not visited any of them. Except we did stay at Wilderness Lodge in 2/07 so I saw the Villas from the outside, but wasn't even thinking about buying at the time - wish I had thought to peak in while we were there. Our kids are 7, 12, and 14. So, they are a little young to have them stay in a studio alone otherwise I think that would be a great idea. Infact I asked if there were any connecting studios and was told no....

I think touring them will have the biggest impact on your DH. When you look at the 2 bedroom models, you can ask him if he'd like to cram your whole family into one room, or if he'd like a bedroom for the kids and one for you two!

This pretty much sold my DH on the whole idea, well that, and the Jacuzzi.

 

[GranddadTom]

It's easy to get swept up in the magic of Disney and who wouldn't want to vacation at one of the DVC resorts. As I told another poster, I would enter this discussion from the point of view of the DH who needed convincing - because that's where I was a few years ago. I'll fast forward to the end so you know how our situation ended - we bought 300 points and have been very happy. The whole investment thing didn't impress me. I'm very old-fashioned and grew up fairly poor so money has always been a concern. Our one splurge has been to have family vacation at WDW. We done this since 1973 (with 4 kids) and have probably been there 15 times. Our first time was in the now-destroyed north wing of the Contemporary in a room for $32 (with 3 kids). As another kid arrived and expenses started to go up, after a couple of stays at the Poly, we shifted over to the moderates (we love the CBR). Eventually those started to top $200 a night and we consider switching to the value resorts. We now have 11 grandchildren so we travel to WDW as a group of 21. You have to realize that wherever you make any decision, you never have a complete set of information upon which to base your decision. What you want to try to do is cover the major points. For us the first major point was "would we be continuing to go to WDW every 18 to 24 months". If not, end of story! When you buy those points, you commit to going to WDW and the tickets, meals, transportation, and misc. can get to be expensive. The next question is not is it a good investment but rather "can we afford it?" My feeling is that if you can pay cash for the points, you're probably okay but if you have to finance that purchase, be careful. You have three children and if your plans are for them to go to college, the last thing you want to be doing is sending a check to Disney every month for an upscale vacation and not be able to afford college tuition. We get a bill for around $1,400 every January for our maintenance fee and that's a sizeable piece of change. If you do decide yes to both those questions, then the only convincing DH needs is to visit any of the DVC resorts. They are all incredibly beautiful. All themed differently so you can pick which one you like. And you get a nice selection of room types and sizes. I've also found that it takes some of the uncertainty out of get the rooms you want as you can book at you home resort 11 months in advance (and we've always gotten our first choice of rooms). And the thing you have to remember is you are staying in a Deluxe Disney Resort for the price of a Value Resort. I would urge you to consider the two points that I mentioned and not get swept up into the magic of Disney if it isn't right for you.

 

[disfanforlife]

It's easy to get swept up in the magic of Disney and who wouldn't want to vacation at one of the DVC resorts. As I told another poster, I would enter this discussion from the point of view of the DH who needed convincing - because that's where I was a few years ago. I'll fast forward to the end so you know how our situation ended - we bought 300 points and have been very happy. The whole investment thing didn't impress me. I'm very old-fashioned and grew up fairly poor so money has always been a concern. Our one splurge has been to have family vacation at WDW. We done this since 1973 (with 4 kids) and have probably been there 15 times. Our first time was in the now-destroyed north wing of the Contemporary in a room for $32 (with 3 kids). As another kid arrived and expenses started to go up, after a couple of stays at the Poly, we shifted over to the moderates (we love the CBR). Eventually those started to top $200 a night and we consider switching to the value resorts. We now have 11 grandchildren so we travel to WDW as a group of 21. You have to realize that wherever you make any decision, you never have a complete set of information upon which to base your decision. What you want to try to do is cover the major points. For us the first major point was "would we be continuing to go to WDW every 18 to 24 months". If not, end of story! When you buy those points, you commit to going to WDW and the tickets, meals, transportation, and misc. can get to be expensive. The next question is not is it a good investment but rather "can we afford it?" My feeling is that if you can pay cash for the points, you're probably okay but if you have to finance that purchase, be careful. You have three children and if your plans are for them to go to college, the last thing you want to be doing is sending a check to Disney every month for an upscale vacation and not be able to afford college tuition. We get a bill for around $1,400 every January for our maintenance fee and that's a sizeable piece of change. If you do decide yes to both those questions, then the only convincing DH needs is to visit any of the DVC resorts. They are all incredibly beautiful. All themed differently so you can pick which one you like. And you get a nice selection of room types and sizes. I've also found that it takes some of the uncertainty out of get the rooms you want as you can book at you home resort 11 months in advance (and we've always gotten our first choice of rooms). And the thing you have to remember is you are staying in a Deluxe Disney Resort for the price of a Value Resort. I would urge you to consider the two points that I mentioned and not get swept up into the magic of Disney if it isn't right for you.

Thanks Tom! I appreciate your input very much. I do think we will be going to Disney at least every 18-24 months for at least 10 years. As our kids grow up who knows. I feel though that we will still want to go and then if we are fortunate enough will have the opportunity to one day have grand kids and take them too! That being said, we decided to buy in now and are looking forward to our first trip as DVC owners in November!