Taking a hard look at DVC

[kra623]

Hi All,

This forum was the best thing I've ever found on the internet. I went to disney on my first family vacation and felt like an expert!!! I want to thank Laurajean1014 for renting me points at OKW for my first trip. We LOVED it.

My family took the tour at SSR and were very impressed. I wanted to ask all of the experts on your opinion on buying from Disney vs Resale. Disney is no closing cost, $8 off per point and no maintainence fees for 2005. I believe this is a good deal except that I'm not sure that I need 150 points to start. If someone could PM me with current good prices on resale, I would have a better measurement.

I would love to hear any opinions on Disney vs resale. Time to close etc...

Thanks again Laurajean1014, it was the best vacation of my life. OKW was beautiful!!!

 

[Scoootch]

Well....many around here will tell you to "buy where you would want to stay most" and depending on your vacation habits I have to agree with that. Home resort advantage (being able to book 11months in advance of your check out date at home resorts vs. only 7mos in advance at non-home resorts) is a big deal if:

A. you like to visit during busy season/high occupancy time for DVC (early Dec./Oct./NOv./Easter/Presidents day week/July4th)

B. reguardless of it being busy time of year cannnot (or are not willing to) be flexible about room size/specific resort or dates.

If you're one of those types of vacationer whose trip would be ruined if you could not get exactly the resort,room size and date most trips then the 11 mos advantage is very important...especially if you buy into 1 resort and plan to stay mostly at another.

IF on the other hand you rarely book more then 7months out and or are happy no matter which resort you will end up in then it really doesn't matter as at 7months out all points are created equal and obviously if you'll be happy no matter which resort and/or room size then it won't be an issue either

So if the home resort thing is an issue that alone is a reason for going resale. As you mentioned though Disney will finance you,no closing costs and they have the incentives. Plus SSR has the extra 12 yrs membership so that may weigh in....if you really want to stay at VWL or BCV's for example most often and have the $$ to finance yourself or have the cash upfront you can buy into those resorts resale and maybe for less per point too.....there are many different things that come into play. I'd first decide which kind of vacationer you are and which home resort is important (or if the 12 extra yrs are more important) and go from there.

FWIW...the timeshare store that sponsers these boards are great to work with ....if you're considering resale you may want to brouse through their listings.

Best of luck and pixie dust!

 

[sleepydog25]

I might also add that 150 pts may seem like a lot at first blush, but once you get into the Disney vacation habit, many on here will tell you that 150 is nowhere near enough. With 150 pts, you have a lot more flexibility and options than say 100 pts on resale. Scoootch had great things to say about your needs in terms of how flexible you can be. But, I wouldn't cut your point total too low as you might find yourself going back for more in a short time. Just a thought. Good luck!

 

[Greg K.]

A friend of mine bought 150 pts at Vero and never stays there. He and his family always stay at the Board Walk. I asked him if this was ever a problem.

"Not at all," he said. "As soon as we hit the seven month window, we call and set it up. We might have to slide a day or two, one way or another, but we've always been able to book pretty much what we wanted, when we wanted."

If you're interested in resales, I highly recommend visiting the Timeshare Store (they are one of the sponsors of this site). We just bought an additional 160 pts from them, and it went very smoothly.

FWIW: We bought the pts. at the BWI, at $80 pp, with ALL of the 2004 pts banked. So that gave us actually an extra 320 pts to use this year. On TOP of our regular 150. Whoo hoo!

 

[las3888]

We went the resale route for our initial purchase because we weren't sure we needed 150 points either. We did end up buying more points, but I am not sorry that we went this route. We started small and got comfortable with DVC before committing full force. We also wanted to buy at a sold out resort because that was our favorite choice. It has definitely been well worth it. Good luck!

 

[JodyTG]

Also, if you don't want SSR and it's important for you to have the Disney financing, you may be able to buy a sold out resort through them. The incentive is only for SSR though and you'd have to be flexible on your use year, bit it is possible to do this.

 

[JimMIA]

except that I'm not sure that I need 150 points to start.

It's not as many points as you think. Figure out generally how often you will come, what type of accommodations you will need, and then see how far 150 would go for you. Don't forget about banking and borrowing, which really allows you to leverage your points.

If someone could PM me with current good prices on resale, I would have a better measurement.

The largest list of resales is right at the top of this page. You can buy less than 150 points resale, but those contracts are few, far between, and they go very quickly. If you decide that, in fact, you want less than 150, you may want to call one of the resellers and give them your requirements.

I would love to hear any opinions on Disney vs resale. Time to close etc...

Here's a link to a general discussion of some of the issues. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=778634

I think it is very important to realize that there are no cookie-cutter answers. Advice like "buy where you want to stay" makes perfect sense for many people, but is bad advice for many others. That's one of the issues covered in the above linked thread.