TONS of questions from someone considering DVC

[ethanwa]

I'm not yet part of DVC but I have a few questions before potentially joining:

- I read that you can bank points from a previous year. How long do those points last?

- If I have unused points, I can rent them out, is that correct? What is the way to go about doing that?

- Let's say I have 100 points but I want to go on a vacation that costs 150. Can I buy those extra 50 points so I can make my vacation work?

- From what I understand, make your home resort where you want to stay most often. How hard is it to book at the other resorts though? 7-month ahead time seems a lot for non-home resorts.

- What is the best Use Year to buy for a family who travels mostly from Jan-May?

- Can a Studio sleep a family of 4 comfortably?

- What are the main differences between the Studios and the Villas?

- I read resale DVC ownership can take 8-10 weeks to go through. How long does it take if buying from Disney direct? Just curious.

- What is the "wait list" that people on the forums talk about?

- What is "adding on"?

- What resorts should be purchased directly from Disney rather than resale (either based on price or availability)?

- Is ownership worth it if you're within a half-day drive of Disneyland or Disney World?

- The DVC can seem someone complicated (book well in advance, only guaranteed at home resort, points are really only valuable for DVC resorts). What would you say is the MAIN advantages of becoming a DVC member besides just long-terms savings?

Thanks!

Ethan

 

[drusba]

- I read that you can bank points from a previous year. How long do those points last?

You get an allocation of points at the beginning of the use year which must be used for a trip by the end of the use year unless banked; if banked they are good for one more year but banked points cannot be banked a second time so unless used they will expire at end of that second use year.

- If I have unused points, I can rent them out, is that correct? What is the way to go about doing that?

You can rent or transfer. Rent means to use your points to make a reservation in the name of another and the other pays you for the reservation. Transfer is something that can happen only between members; one member actually transfers points to another and the second member can then use them as if they were his own. Whether you can easily do either of those is a different issue. Many do rent when they have left over points but it takes work and there is no certainty you will.succeed.

- Let's say I have 100 points but I want to go on a vacation that costs 150. Can I buy those extra 50 points so I can make my vacation work?

When reserving 7 months out you can actually rent points from Disney when needing some addtional points but no more than 24; current price is $15 a point. Otherwise, you would need to (a) get another member to transfer points to you or (b) get another member to make a reservation for you for some of the nights needed using his points and then link your reservation using your own points with that one. Your other option is to borrow points from your next use year.

- From what I understand, make your home resort where you want to stay most often. How hard is it to book at the other resorts though? 7-month ahead time seems a lot for non-home resorts.

Varies among resorts, type of room and time of year. Always safest to reserve home 11 months out and then try to switch at 7.

- What is the best Use Year to buy for a family who travels mostly from Jan-May?

December.

- Can a Studio sleep a family of 4 comfortably?

That is really a matter of personal preference which varies among members. Many are fine with four in a studio. Others could not live with less than a 1BR.

- What are the main differences between the Studios and the Villas?

There are no differences since the studios are part of the villas. Each villa resort has studios, 1BRs and 2BRs and all but two (BCV and VWL) have 3BR Grand Villas.

- I read resale DVC ownership can take 8-10 weeks to go through. How long does it take if buying from Disney direct? Just curious.

That is an average time and it can take longer from sale agreement to closing. Direct from Disney takes less, average 5 to 6 weeks, but that is not the relevant issue. With direct from Disney you can call to make a reservation as soon as you have confirmed agreement to sell and purchase; with resale you have to wait until about a week after closing before you can even call to make reservation.

- What is the "wait list" that people on the forums talk about?

There are two wait lists. One is when you cannot get the room reservation and time you want and go on a wait list for it in the even someone cancels, and usually you can stay on waitlist until 31 days before your desired arrival time. The second one is when you want to buy a sold-out resort. Disney gets back interest via foreclosure and exercise of right of firts fefusal for resales. As a result often sold out resorts are readily available for sale but if they are not you can go on a sale wait list.

- What is "adding on"?

Once you are an owner you can purchase 25 (the minimum) or more additonal points from Disney in your same use year and those sales are called add-ons

- What resorts should be purchased directly from Disney rather than resale (either based on price or availability)?

For all resale, you will not be able to use the Disney collections, meaning you cannot trade out to a non-DVC Disney hotel, the Disney cruise, or the Disney adventure vacations. Purchasers from Disney can use those. Many do not use those at all or do not consider them good trade out values because points are too high; others consider them of at least some importance. That is thus a consideration for purchasing direct or resale. Otherwise, you can usually find any resort for a resale price less than Disney's price. However, if financing is needed, Disney makes it very easy while with resale you have to find financing. Also, with Disney you can buy any particular number of points you want and with resale you can get only what is out there in resale market at the time.

- Is ownership worth it if you're within a half-day drive of Disneyland or Disney World?

Another personal choice issue and just depends on what you want to do.

- The DVC can seem somewhat complicated (book well in advance, only guaranteed at home resort, points are really only valuable for DVC resorts). What would you say is the MAIN advantages of becoming a DVC member besides just long-terms savings?

You pay one set price that is good for decades of use. You do have annual maintenance fees which are not cheap and tend to raise a little annually. For many like me, the greatest advantage and a main reason we purchased is to be able to get a 1BR or larger room on site at WDW, with a kitchen and washer/dryer, for a reasonable price and never again have to suffer by staying in something the size of normal hotel rooms (including studios; see my comment above about personal preference on staying four in a studio; I am one of those who would die doing three much less four in a studio)

 

[dzorn]

I'm not yet part of DVC but I have a few questions before potentially joining:

- I read that you can bank points from a previous year. How long do those points last?
Banked points expire at the end of the UY they were banked into.
- If I have unused points, I can rent them out, is that correct? What is the way to go about doing that? Depends on if you want to do it on your own or use Davids or other source

- Let's say I have 100 points but I want to go on a vacation that costs 150. Can I buy those extra 50 points so I can make my vacation work?
You can purchase one time use points up to 24. If you need 50 you could borrrow from the next year.

- From what I understand, make your home resort where you want to stay most often. How hard is it to book at the other resorts though? 7-month ahead time seems a lot for non-home resorts.Depends on what time of year and what type of accomidations you are looking for.

- What is the best Use Year to buy for a family who travels mostly from Jan-May?You should get a UY early in the time you would normally travel. Dec or Jan

- Can a Studio sleep a family of 4 comfortably?I would not be comfortable but many do

- What are the main differences between the Studios and the Villas?Studios are a hotel room with a kitchette. 1-2 bed room villas have a full kitchen and washer and dryer

- I read resale DVC ownership can take 8-10 weeks to go through. How long does it take if buying from Disney direct? Just curious. Much quicker than you would think

- What is the "wait list" that people on the forums talk about?If the room you want is not available you can get on a waitlist for the accomidations. You can also get on a list from Disney for sold out resorts if points come available for sale. Both are mentioned on the boards.

- What is "adding on"? buying additional contracts for more points

- What resorts should be purchased directly from Disney rather than resale (either based on price or availability)? Resale will always be cheaper, if you do not care about the membership restrictions
- Is ownership worth it if you're within a half-day drive of Disneyland or Disney World? Personal choice

- The DVC can seem someone complicated (book well in advance, only guaranteed at home resort, points are really only valuable for DVC resorts). What would you say is the MAIN advantages of becoming a DVC member besides just long-terms savings?Nicer accomidations for the cost. It also cause us to actually plan a vacation forcing DH to get away for much needed RNR. Lot easier to justify the expense.

Thanks!

Ethan

You may want to read some of the sticky on the DVC boards

Denise in MI

 

[com_op_2000]

The DVC can seem someone complicated (book well in advance, only guaranteed at home resort, points are really only valuable for DVC resorts). What would you say is the MAIN advantages of becoming a DVC member besides just long-terms savings?
Thanks!
Ethan

PP have covered your other questions very well. I wanted to add my input on this question. Yes, planning in advanced is an advantage and makes making reservations easier. Using DVC outside the DVC resorts, to me is a valuable use of the points. I believe I am in the minority on this board for this question. I had recovered my cost of the purchase within 3 years of trips. So since '96 I have been taking free vacations (except annual MFs) and use them how I want to take whatever vacations I choose for that year. I have traded out for trips to Ashville, NC; Ft Myers, FL; Ft Lauderdale, FL; other trips and multiple DCLs.

 

[Sandisw]

For us, the main advantage has been the ability to book larger rooms for a price we can afford.

It is also nice knowing that we have taken care of a big portion of our yearly trips to WDW now and have the flexibility to go more often and stay in studios or bring family and stay in a larger room.

There is just something about knowing this is all done. Because we pay our MF's monthly now and buy AP's and go 51 weeks apart so we can get two trips out of one pass, it just seems that our yearly costs have gone down.

We just love the fact that vacation is always in the planning stages and that, because we will be going for years to come, we no longer feel the stress about a Disney vacation. We always said that Disney was not relaxing because we felt we had to do it all---we no longer feel that way and think nothing of going to a park for a few hours and that is it. Why? Because we know we will be back over and over again.

 

[crisi]

For us, the main advantage has been the ability to book larger rooms for a price we can afford.

That has been our main advantage as well. If we were to stay in studios, DVC would not be a good deal for us. (Note the for us, studio stays in DVC may be a good deal for the OP).

Note that a DVC studio (except at OKW) is a Queen bed and a full pullout. My kids have slept on the full pullout in a one bedroom for a long time (DVC we've moved to two bedrooms, but we still book a one bedroom when traveling other places where we can - something like an Embassy Suites), but having them in a different room gives us a lot more space (and an opportunity for some adult time on vacation).

 

[mkunichi]

- The DVC can seem someone complicated (book well in advance, only guaranteed at home resort, points are really only valuable for DVC resorts). What would you say is the MAIN advantages of becoming a DVC member besides just long-terms savings?

I'd say that the main advantage of membership is membership.

Let me explain. You can gather all the information you can about current costs, projected on-site resort inflation, depreciation, time-value of money. You can project your current vacation plans along with your plans for family size, your life expectancy and the probability of your kids enjoying DVC after you're gone. You can then choose to crunch the numbers on an expected value basis based on most likely outcomes or you can do a tree-based simulation based on probabilities of various events projected into the future. The result is that it might make a lot of sense or it might not. Regardless of the result of the simulation and analysis, in the end many years from now, you might be happy with your decision or you might not.

Let's roll the clock back to the present. Ask yourself: Do you want to be a member? Does the idea of coming back to WDW (or your park of choice, or Aulani) every year fill you with anticipation? Is it comforting? Do you want to join the club of people who are mysteriously happy all the time? Or does the very idea sound a bit kooky to you?

If the very idea of owning in the DVC will make you tweak the numbers in your favor, then you'll be a happy owner and you will have made the right choice. If you're not sure then you shouldn't do it until you are sure. (Hmm, this sounds strangely like my thought process before asking my wife to marry me)

Caveat: Make sure you can afford it. It is a financial commitment. Do you own your home? (Yes, good; No, bad) Do you have at least 20% equity in your first residence? (Yes, good; No, bad) Are you buying using cash or are you financing? (Cash, good; No, think about waiting until you have the cash)

Hidden benefit for me: I've been able to talk the wife and kids into going to Disney just about every year until they're sick of the place just because it's mostly "free" and we get to stay in an amazing 2 bedroom every time instead of a cramped hotel room.

 

[Dean]

Good answers. I'll just add a couple of thoughts. IMO, with the current economic situation and other specifics, one should buy at a resort they can and would be happy staying at most trips. If close to Disney land, I'd consider buying there. For WDW, I'd buy the least common denominator which is usually SSR for many because it's have the price of BLT, expires 2054 compared to many at 2042 and it's on property at WDW. IF one could get OKW extended or AKV for as cheaply, I'd put them ahead of SSR for this purpose but it's like they will be more.

Since there is no Jan UY Dec is likely your best choice. However, if your situation and plans are usually fairly stable, I wouldn't pass up a great contract that is a poor UY for your situation.

The ONLY situation where DVC makes sense is to consistently stay at DVC resorts for someone who values staying on property and who can afford DVC. There are both better AND cheaper ways to do non DVC trips and some of them can get you into most of the DVC resorts in lower demand times as well for much cheaper. I also would almost never (? never) recommend financing such a luxury purchase.

Unit size is personal to a degree, as long as you don't go over the occupancy that DVC allows. However, I don't think most are comfortable with a studio for 4 ongoing. Yes for small kids but no as they approach preteen years, esp if different gender. If you do focus on studios, I think you need a larger cushion of points than most, maybe 20-30% or more compared to what it looks like you need when you look at the points charts. Previously the timing was important on points needed as well unless looking at full weeks. If looking a mostly weekends, I think you need a larger cushion still and to realize that DVC could change back to where there is no savings if using mostly weekends.