Using DVC points outside the parks

[charwac1]

We are thinking of adding additional points. We already own enough points so that we can get our Disney fix. The extra points would be primarily used for staying at other resorts. I have been checking the boards, but there is not a lot of talk about using points at other locations (besides Hawaii)

Do people stay at other resorts, if so do you find the exchange program easy to use? Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Charlene

 

[cristbaby]

We are thinking of adding additional points. We already own enough points so that we can get our Disney fix. The extra points would be primarily used for staying at other resorts. I have been checking the boards, but there is not a lot of talk about using points at other locations (besides Hawaii)

Do people stay at other resorts, if so do you find the exchange program easy to use? Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Charlene

I would like to no about this also

 

[mark&sue]

everyone will tell you that these are not good value for money. We are in the UK and I have used points during the school holidays to go to Disneyland Paris as it costs us next to nothing to travel and the points seem very good value for us as it includes park tickets. We also are using points for an exchange to UK in school holidays in February.

It works well for us and I am happy, but everyone else will tell you to only buy points for WDW and use cash for everything else.

Good luck


Susan

 

[DISDragonfly]

I actually have used my points to stay at The Plaza in NY, The Mandarin Oriental in Washington DC, and helped friends out with a stay in Las Vegas.

IMO...It may not work out monetarily in most cases, but those stays were wonderful and well worth it to me and my friends. We didn't have to worry about the price of a nightly stay at these $400-$500 a night hotels, were able to be close to lots of activities and have memorable trips. So to me, it's worth using it outside, especially if it's for something special.

But I also make sure I leave myself enough points to get two or three Disney trips a year.

I've also found it quite easy to transfer points to use outside of Disney.

Hope that helps.

 

[DavidRoss]

I have traded points out to stay at the Whitehall in Chicago and at the Wesgate Smokey Mountain Resort in Gatlinburg. Both trips were wonderful. I have traded out 4 times for DCL. These are all things my wife and I wouldn't have done if we didn't own DVC. If you only look at what the rack rate of a DVC room is versus the rack rate of another resort, you will always see the other resort is less than DVC. However, when I look at being able to stay in a 1 bedroom during high season at another resort and it only costs me 160 points for a week versus 220-270 points at DVC, then the value is more in perspective. To be quite honest, I think we get a bang for our buck when we trade out into another resort.

The one thing that bothers me is that so many people on this board over the years have told people to consider the vacation memories and other perks and not to focus on cost alone when they are considering buying into DVC. Then those same people will turn around when someone asks about a trade and focus only on cost and nothing else trying to disuade people from trading. If people are only going to focus on the monetary aspect of a timeshare - then forget about purchasing DVC.

I am glad to have the option to trade out and I also am glad that DVC is selective in the resorts they allow us to trade out to. In addition, I don't have to pay another fee to belong to Interval International like other timeshare owners. Also, the cost of my trades are less than other timeshare owners when booking through II. I know you can always research resorts through various online services but at the same time, there is something I like about having 500 resorts to look at versus 8000 and worry about if what I am trading out to is up to par or not.