VAcation Club

[davecaromom]

Can anyone tell me how to determine at what point it is beneficial to become a DVC member? We are considering purchasing points, but it is confusing. (If this is not the right forum, please redirect. Thanks!)

 

[Janet2k]

Can anyone tell me how to determine at what point it is beneficial to become a DVC member? We are considering purchasing points, but it is confusing. (If this is not the right forum, please redirect. Thanks!)

Hi, I've been a DVC member for years and love it. The best place to ask your questions is over on the DVC Board: click here. You'll find the best info there.

 

[Janet2k]

By the way, it is a very personal decision. When I made mine, it basically came down to the simple fact regarding how frequently I thought my family would be vacationing in Walt Disney World. When I realized that we'd vacation there at least once or twice a year, it was an easy decision for me to make. And after my family's first DVC vacation, I doubled my points.

We've taken many vacations since then and have treated family and friends to their rooms. It's wonderful being able to do that.

 

[Deb & Bill]

If you buy from Disney, you'll need to start out with 150. If you go resale, you can buy as many as the person is selling (they have to sell the whole contract and can't break it up). We started with 175, added on four times and now have 500. We go at least twice a year, mostly during holidays and summertime (we have a middle-schooler). We usually stay in a one bedroom, sometimes a two bedroom if we bring friends or family along. We usually stay 8-10 nights each trip. We don't move out on Friday and Saturday nights when point rates increase.

If you want to have a prepaid Disney vacation and plan on going at least one a year or every other year, DVC could be good for you. If you plan on going to Disney every so often, and would want to trade out a lot to other timeshares, you might want to consider another timeshare. When you own DVC, you get the best value for your points by staying in DVC resorts.

If a value is your idea of a great vacation, the deluxe home-away-from-home atmosphere of a DVC resort might be overkill. If you want to see how little you can spend or only want a place to sleep at night, you might find DVC too expensive for you.

Lots of DVC members just like to hang out at their resort, using the pool, just hanging out in the villa or using the amenities.

If you want to buy into DVC to get the DVC discounts, not a good reason. They change all the time and are not even guaranteed sometimes during the year.

 

[KJHawley]

If you go resale, you can buy as many as the person is selling (they have to sell the whole contract and can't break it up).

I see resales smaller than 150 quite often. If you can't break up a contract, does this mean that the sellers orignally added on a small amount of points, and now are selling the 'add on" points?

 

[keys2kingdom]

I see resales smaller than 150 quite often. If you can't break up a contract, does this mean that the sellers orignally added on a small amount of points, and now are selling the 'add on" points?

Yes, that's exactly what it means.

 

[byoung]

I own a small piece of Disney.

 

[MrShiny]

Can anyone tell me how to determine at what point it is beneficial to become a DVC member? We are considering purchasing points, but it is confusing. (If this is not the right forum, please redirect. Thanks!)

If you go to WDW about once a year, generally stay at moderates or deluxe, and think you will continue to do so for the next 10 years, it's a synch.

If you go every other year and think you will do so for the next 15-20 years, that probably makes sense too.

As far as how many points to get, figure out the next say 5 years and get enough points to cover. If you go every year for the same amount of time, it's pretty easy to figure out.

Yes, you can use points for other vacations, but those tend to vary more, so easier to judge if you just look at thr WDW value.

You may find that when you have DVC, you will go more often. If you have points left, it's very easy to justify a short trip. With AP's, it's just the cost of the transportation and the food and souvenirs.

 

[sleepydog25]

Can anyone tell me how to determine at what point it is beneficial to become a DVC member? We are considering purchasing points, but it is confusing

The answers above are good responses, but the second part of your inquiry indicates you may actually be confused about the point system itself. If so, I'll try to answer that. If not, please forgive my assumption.

Rather than buying a specific time period at one location as many timeshare owners do, the idea with DVC is that you buy points. These points then are used to reserve a suite at any one of seven DVC resorts at any time during the year. Naturally, there are some minor restrictions such as the time of year you wish to travel since more popular times (Christmas, spring break, summer) book up quickly. These points can also be exchanged/used to book accomodations at approximately 500 locations throughout the world--but that's another discussion thread.

Back to the points system. Unless you're buying a resale (which means someone has opted to sell their DVC contract), then the minimum buy-in through DVC is 150 points. You will pay a set amount for the points, currently near $100 a point. Thus, a 150-pt contract would cost you $15,000 (the actual rate is less than $100 currently though I've heard it will go to $101 in the not so distant future). That purchase will give you 150 points EACH YEAR that you can use to reserve vacation accomodations with DVC resorts. In essence, you are prepaying your accomodations for the next 48 years (the current contracts with DVC are solely based on Saratoga Springs Resort--SSR--and expire in 2054. Resales of contracts other than SSR expire in 2042).

Continuing with our example, if you purchased 150 points via DVC then SSR would be your home resort. You are allowed to book 11 months prior to your vacation at your home resort or 7 months prior if it is not your home resort, thus why some popular resorts and dates may be booked before you can reserve there. It costs more points for a larger suite and to book during a peak season, so 150 points may or may not be enough depending on your personal desires. For example, if you wanted a studio at SSR for a week during the Adventure Season (off peak), then your cost would be 95 points. That same studio during the highest peak season (Premier which is Christmas week and a couple of weeks during spring break in April) would cost 163 points. If you wanted a 1BR home (which includes a full kitchen), then the point costs would be 182 and 316, respectively.

Of course, one of the advantages to DVC is that you don't have to stay a week. You can stay one night if you want. . .or two weeks. . .or any number of days and nights that your points allow you to stay. Point values for suites vary depending on the resort you've chosen, as well. And if you have points left over one year? They are automatically banked, or saved, to the next year.

One final note about the points system. Though each year you get only the number of points you purchased--150 in the example--those points can be saved from one year to the next year for a total of 300 points. Or you can borrow from the next year and add that total to your current year for 300 points. OR, you can bank for a year, adding those to the next year, then borrow the following year's points for a grand total of 450 points! DVC is a very flexible, user-friendly timeshare whose point system allows for an infinite number of possibilities. Whether it's right for you and your family depends upon your vacation habits, budget, and particular needs. Again, if this info is too basic for what you were searching, my apologies. I simply remembered wondering early on just how the point system itself worked. Good luck with your decision!

 

[boatboatboat]

To the OP, when looking at the "cost" of owning, don't forget to factor in that for every point you OWN, you will pay every year taxes/dues which are around $4.50 per point EVERY YEAR.

Taxes and dues are not a one time fee, they will be paid EVERY year.

 

[davecaromom]

Thanks, everyone! Very helpful indeed.

 

[sleepydog25]

To the OP, when looking at the "cost" of owning, don't forget to factor in that for every point you OWN, you will pay every year taxes/dues which are around $4.50 per point EVERY YEAR.

Taxes and dues are not a one time fee, they will be paid EVERY year.

Indeed true, though some resorts' fees are cheaper than others. For example, I paid slightly over $3.50 per point for my dues at SSR this year. And the dues will increase over the years--though historically they have increased at a very slow rate--since these fees are used for upkeep and maintenance of all the resorts. It should be further noted that in most cases the mortgage interest you pay, should you finance the purchase, is tax deductible as it is a real estate buy. Still, as boatboatboat indicates, those annual fees should be kept in mind when considering a DVC purchase.

 

[abner1776]

Also keep in mind that part of the annual maintenance fee is property taxes and depending upon your tax situation, you maybe able to deduct those taxes, which would reduce the overall cost of the maint fees. It's not a big savings but over 36 years, it can add up.
Another advantage of DVC is that neither the purchase of the contract nor the use of the points are subject to the various Florida taxes which now are in the area of 11.5%. THis can be a huge savings, plus tourists don't vote in Florida, so when the time comes to raise additional monies for schools, etc. guess where the tax increases will come from ??