Thought I gave up on DVC but new hubby is open. I have a windfall

[agavegirl1]

i looked at DVC and posted on this forum many moons ago. I ended up buying a lake house that we love. I then sold another vacation property. We have paid off almost everything. I brought up DVC to hubby tonight. He hates the price of lodging at WDW but we only go every four years. When I mentioned we might need to make it worth it by going every two or three years. He then told me "I like Disney World". Just don't tell my friends. Tell me what you come up with but I want to go during F&W. I told him Epcot resorts were not so easy and suggested AKL. He got excited. He loves AK and AKL. We go there each trip for atmosphere.

So, what are the disadvantages of an after market contract vs direct from Disney and should I care? I will not buy annual passes. I will not need parking. I don't care about special DVC events but don't want to be treated like second class as a DVC owner.

Any advice on bank and borrow is appreciated. I might really get to do this!

 

[ScubaCat]

I don't mean to digress from your question so quickly, but you meant "now" instead of "new" in the subject, right?? I was all fired up for some disney drama with that topic!

Maybe if DW decides to trade me in I can sell our deeds to you!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

With resale you do not have access to the membership extras which includes discounts, special events and the most significant monetarily, the DVC AP's. But, since you wouldn't be going often enough to want an AP there isn't anything of enough significance to make up the price difference.

Also, with the resale purchase you would not be able to use the points for the Disney Collection (non-DVC resorts, Disney Cruise Line and Adventures by Disney) nor use them towards the Concierge collection. You could still trade into RCI or thru the Buena Vista Trading Co., but the best value in DVC is to use it for staying at DVC resorts so nothing of any value lost there either. You also wouldn't have access to the member cruise.

Otherwise, as far as booking, calling MS etc. there's nothing "second class" that is different between a direct and resale contract.

Using DVC to go every third year is a bit tricky because you can end up with stranded points. You would want to own enough that with banking and borrowing combined with the current points it would be exactly what you needed for your room, otherwise you would have points left that would expire prior to your next trip. Going every year or every other year is much easier to work with.

 

[disneynutz]

I would rent a reservation from a DVC owner at 11 months prior to check in. That will save you some money, you can do WDW every 4 years and not have to deal with points, rules, and DVC issues. After a few stays if you still want to be an owner and the numbers show that you can save some money, you can buy then plus you will have a better idea of which resort to buy.

Bill

 

[Dean]

i looked at DVC and posted on this forum many moons ago. I ended up buying a lake house that we love. I then sold another vacation property. We have paid off almost everything. I brought up DVC to hubby tonight. He hates the price of lodging at WDW but we only go every four years. When I mentioned we might need to make it worth it by going every two or three years. He then told me "I like Disney World". Just don't tell my friends. Tell me what you come up with but I want to go during F&W. I told him Epcot resorts were not so easy and suggested AKL. He got excited. He loves AK and AKL. We go there each trip for atmosphere.

So, what are the disadvantages of an after market contract vs direct from Disney and should I care? I will not buy annual passes. I will not need parking. I don't care about special DVC events but don't want to be treated like second class as a DVC owner.

Any advice on bank and borrow is appreciated. I might really get to do this!

If the discounts are not of value to you, you lose NOTHING of value resale. IMO the best position is to buy resale then add on 25 points retail so you have options going forward. However, you may not be buying enough points to justify that option. Unless they change the rules, which they can and I think likely will at some point, you could potentially do the add on later. I do believe you need close to every 2 years to make it reasonable to purchase. IF you haven't stayed with DVC, you might want to rent for a trip and try it out if you haven't already. Also, what are your other trips like? Would a non DVC timeshare be a better option? Don't forget there are lots of other costs that DVC does not cover so this will likely cost you significant dollars in the long run if you go more often.

 

[ScubaCat]

I would rent a reservation from a DVC owner at 11 months prior to check in. That will save you some money, you can do WDW every 4 years and not have to deal with points, rules, and DVC issues. After a few stays if you still want to be an owner and the numbers show that you can save some money, you can buy then plus you will have a better idea of which resort to buy.

Bill

I agree with this 100%. Every 4 years is not nearly often enough to buy into DVC. I've only been an owner for a couple of years, and it's practically an extra part-time job keeping up with the thing, and that's before they mess up the season passes, don't process online checkin properly, and lower the quality of the overall product yet again. It's honestly been nothing but a headache and burden for me, and that headache came at a steep buy-in cost.

I'd never recommend buying any timeshare, including DVC, unless you're definitely going to use it every year. I guess the one good thing about owning DVC is that it's cured me of any last bit of desire to visit Disney anymore.

 

[agavegirl1]

Thank you all for your replies. I am a spreadsheet person and will crunch numbers. It is starting to look like renting points would be a better option for us. At least I now know that brand new DH was never against the idea. He was just embarrassed because he is a lifelong skilled tradesman and discovered he really liked Disney Parks. I wasn't really "dragging" him to the parks and we could go more often. So in. A way, the Commando WDW fan wins no matter what. And spreadsheets win arguments.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Thank you all for your replies. I am a spreadsheet person and will crunch numbers. It is starting to look like renting points would be a better option for us. At least I now know that brand new DH was never against the idea. He was just embarrassed because he is a lifelong skilled tradesman and discovered he really liked Disney Parks. I wasn't really "dragging" him to the parks and we could go more often. So in. A way, the Commando WDW fan wins no matter what. And spreadsheets win arguments.

I am the queen of spreadsheets - I use them for everything. While we would like to be every year people, we can't afford that right now so we bought small and plan to go every 3 years by taking advantage of banking and borrowing. Our son is just under a year so we knew our Disney vacations will only increase over the next several years so it made sense for us. If you like spreadsheets then the numbers will help you decide for certain if it's a good idea for you. Just make sure you don't leave anything out. (i.e. maintenance fees, cost of inflation, deluxe vs room rates at a value if you would consider those, etc.)

 

[ScubaCat]

Only issue is that it's hard to quantify things like having a full kitchen, extra bedroom (especially when kids get older), and laundry in your unit. There are definitely creature comforts that come with the villas that you don't get in a regular hotel room. It's also nice that the room portion of trips, usually the biggest line item, is a modest fixed annual cost. It can get tiresome and stressful having to constantly shop for discounts, bounceback offers, availability of said discounts, etc.etc..etc... As much as I'm not crazy about Disney in general these days, at least with DVC I just log on and pick my days and move onto something else. Considering how many other things you have to plan for and stress over, it's nice to have that part settled.

 

[chainkid]

I go every other year and sometimes wait till three years as I usually take my whole extended family and need to bank and borrow all my points to have enough space for everyone. To me it has paid for itself over and over with wonderful memories that fill my wall . I paid cash initially in 1999 but have added several resale contracts to original ones and its the best investment I could ever make in my family. You might find that with DVC you will look at WDW in a new way. I often use points for short getaways to Food and wine festival. I booked a grand villa in Hawaii for 4 couples one year. If it was just me and my husband I think we would have sold after early years but taking family means every experience and trip is different from the one before. I love planning and its a real feat for over 40 people at times but where else could you go where everyone could do their thing and still have together time.

 

[Halle]

If the discounts are not of value to you, you lose NOTHING of value resale. IMO the best position is to buy resale then add on 25 points retail so you have options going forward. However, you may not be buying enough points to justify that option. Unless they change the rules, which they can and I think likely will at some point, you could potentially do the add on later. I do believe you need close to every 2 years to make it reasonable to purchase. IF you haven't stayed with DVC, you might want to rent for a trip and try it out if you haven't already. Also, what are your other trips like? Would a non DVC timeshare be a better option? Don't forget there are lots of other costs that DVC does not cover so this will likely cost you significant dollars in the long run if you go more often.

Dean, does that mean if you buy directly from Disney and also have purchased resale that all of your points receive the DVC perks.

 

[disneynutz]

Points don't receive perks, the member receives the perks. You have to buy direct to qualify your membership as a non-restricted member. As posted, perks can change at any time and you need to decide is they are worth it to you.

Bill

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Dean, does that mean if you buy directly from Disney and also have purchased resale that all of your points receive the DVC perks.

Your resale points after 4/16 still will not be able to be used for cruises or etc., no, if that's part of your reference. That's not actually a perk so much though.

 

[Dean]

Dean, does that mean if you buy directly from Disney and also have purchased resale that all of your points receive the DVC perks.

As noted, no, not for cash type exchanges like DCL. But those options are consistently cheaper just paying cash. There has never been a time when it made sense buying DVC for those options.