Timeshares Near Disneyland

[PrincessMinnieMouse]

Hey everyone!

I've been lurking for awhile and decided to join because I had a question that I do not know if anyone has asked before.

Our family lives in central CA and enjoys visiting DLR very much. We were actually considering buying a timeshare down there... Anyone know of places that are close to the parks that are nice?

I did some research online and found a new place that is opening in November, about 3/4 of a mile away from a company called World Mark, the club. Their other place down the road, Dolphin Cove, looks pretty nice but we would like to be as close as possible.

I guess I am afraid of getting suckered into a place that is not very nice, or kind of sleezy.... but this is definitely something that we have been considering.

I would really appreciate any info or opinions on those places! Thanks everyone!

 

[Disney_Villain]

The best you could hope for would through Disney Vacation Club . . . at the new addition they are making to Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa:

http://dvc.disney.go.com/dvc/miniSite/doorwayToDreams?id=PressReleasePage

The Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa are under construction and soon to go for sale (hopefully this Fall). Search through the DVC section of the DIS boards for more on this.

 

[Feistygirl916]

I believe TrendWest will have one there next year...

 

[wdwrich]

Peacock Suites is 2-3 blocks from DLR and has been selling for at least a year. We stayed there and attended their sales presentation. Didn't buy in. Would rate the property as average as far as TS go.

 

[Keyana]

We will be staying in the Worldmark resort in December (it opens November 9th). We have been Trendwest/Worldmark members for 4 years. We love our membership, although there are drawbacks. It really spoils you from wanting to stay in a hotel ever again. The anaheim resort is quite expensive (16,000 credits for a 2 bedroom 1 week vs. many of the other WM resorts which are 10,000 credits for a 2 BR 1WK).

But then again, I am still going. The location is great, it is right next door to Garden Walk (and is actually considered a part of the Garden Walk development).

If you are interested in buying I would definately look into resale. There are some great deals out there! (But make sure you understand the maintenance fees before buying)
Keyana

 

[bethy]

I'm going to try and buy into the Grand Californian as well but figure my chances of getting in since I'm not an existing DVC member aren't that great. It is a very small resort (only 50 2 bedroom units).

 

[PrincessMinnieMouse]

Thanks everyone for the replies!

The best you could hope for would through Disney Vacation Club . . . at the new addition they are making to Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa:

We have talked about this before, but think that it may be a little more on the expensive side from what we understand. Something to dream about for now or maybe hold off and wait until we save up more money!!!

Peacock Suites is 2-3 blocks from DLR and has been selling for at least a year. We stayed there and attended their sales presentation. Didn't buy in. Would rate the property as average as far as TS go.

I will have to look into this place. Thanks for the info!

We will be staying in the Worldmark resort in December (it opens November 9th). We have been Trendwest/Worldmark members for 4 years. We love our membership, although there are drawbacks. It really spoils you from wanting to stay in a hotel ever again. The anaheim resort is quite expensive (16,000 credits for a 2 bedroom 1 week vs. many of the other WM resorts which are 10,000 credits for a 2 BR 1WK).

But then again, I am still going. The location is great, it is right next door to Garden Walk (and is actually considered a part of the Garden Walk development).

If you are interested in buying I would definately look into resale. There are some great deals out there! (But make sure you understand the maintenance fees before buying)
Keyana

I guess that I did not realize it was part of the GardenWalk development.... hmm... It looks like a decent company that has nice places. We were definitely thinking of doing resale because of the price. And thanks for the heads up about the fees. We do realize there would be additional costs and all that.

We were really just trying to get a feel for what is available down there so that we know what to research a little more.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts! Now I would fade back into lurking-mode until I can think of another question to ask all of you knowledgeable DIS-board people!!!

 

[Jperiod]

The problem with timeshares is the maintenance fees. What you'd pay yearly would equate to a decent hotel right across the street on Habor (often more!!). From what I've seen, the ones in anaheim like Peacock & Dolphin have high fees. Peacock is a converted hotel so they don't even have the full size kitchens that are supposed to be so wonderful about timeshares. Dolphin is a converted condo complex, so it's much better, but further. Both of these resorts aren't rated well in the timeshare world, so some would consider them a waste of a trade when you can get hotels in the area for much less.

I would consider buying a resale week at a resort you might consider going to occasionally, but has low(er) maint fees and is considered a good trader on RCI or II. This could give you the flexibility of trading into Peacock or Dolphin through RCI if you plan enough in advance (even Woldmark, I think they'll be in RCI as well). And if you ever want to go to WDW, you could trade through II and get into one of the DVC properties there (I'm sure GCH will be in II too). Or, you could trade your week for somewhere else in the world if you fancy that year!

Personally, I wouldn't buy into DCV because the fees are soooo high and I can trade into it for so much cheaper through II.

I personally own Diamond Resorts Int'l points (formerly Sunterra). They only trade through II, but they are a powerful trader and I can get into anything (if I put in my request early enough). They also have an internal exchange system that allows their members to deposit non-Diamond weeks for the use of their members and the public. So I was able to get into Peacock, even though Peacock is only traded through RCI. Normally, I would consider it a waste of my points and would rather use them somewhere more luxurious, but we're only going on one vacation this year. The points are kinda a "use them or loose them" sorta deal, I'm paying for them anyway, so we decided to give Peacock a whirl instead of paying additional $$ for a hotel on Habor.

There are some great timeshare info forums like tugbbs.com and timeshareforums.com for research.