We couldn't say no! New members!

[phisigprincess]

Hi everyone! DH and I signed the paperwork on Thursday and now we're owners at SSR!!! We're both really excited and can't wait to learn even more about membership.

My question is, how many of you go to places other than Disney and is it easy to secure rooms? We were really impressed by the list of other places we could travel and I wanted to hear a little bit more about your experiences.

 

[disney junky]

welcome home

 

[dumbo71]

Hi everyone! DH and I signed the paperwork on Thursday and now we're owners at SSR!!! We're both really excited and can't wait to learn even more about membership.

My question is, how many of you go to places other than Disney and is it easy to secure rooms? We were really impressed by the list of other places we could travel and I wanted to hear a little bit more about your experiences.

This is really sad.

If you bought in with this little knowledge you made a huge mistake and likely one that will cost you thousands.

DVC is good ONLY for staying at the DVC resorts. Those trade options are a terrible use of points and unless you are flexible, as in, you could travel whenever, you may never even get a trade through II even if you wanted one. I basically don't even look at those trades or even the Concierge Collection. They might as well not even exist.

Finally, let me guess, you financed this thing through DVC.

WOW.

 

[phisigprincess]

This is really sad.

If you bought in with this little knowledge you made a huge mistake and likely one that will cost you thousands.

DVC is good ONLY for staying at the DVC resorts. Those trade options are a terrible use of points and unless you are flexible, as in, you could travel whenever, you may never even get a trade through II even if you wanted one. I basically don't even look at those trades or even the Concierge Collection. They might as well not even exist.

Finally, let me guess, you financed this thing through DVC.

WOW.

I personally don't believe we made a huge mistake at all. We love going to Disney and are planning to go at the very least every other year. I'm not sure why you feel we have little to no knowledge and you understand our situation. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

 

[DVC Grammy]

home, neighbor!

 

[3DisneyKids]

WELCOME HOME!

Looking at your number of posts here on this DIS, it is obvious that you are Disney fans...I am sure that DVC was a good choice for you! Wishing you many magical vacatioons--

P.S. The above comment was made because it is not necessarily a wise use of points to trade out to the other programs. DVC is most cost-effective if you use it within DVC. You will learn all of the ins and outs...just hang around these boards...

 

[jonestavern]

Welcome Neighbor!

We've enjoyed DVC & ,in fact, just bought an add-on, so we are very satisfied. We do like getting around here & there, but we have a very liberal traveling window & tend to appreciate vaca spots most in their 'off' seasons.

Isn't it charming when you post asking for a little information & get a psychic who takes a shot at guessing your level of research & financial arrangements?

Happy Vacationing!
Jean & Chris

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Welcome Home, Neighbors!

 

[rinkwide]

...how many of you go to places other than Disney and is it easy to secure rooms? We were really impressed by the list of other places we could travel...

I wouldn't take it personnally. It's just that the above comment is typical of someone who bought impulsively after being wowed in the DVC sales presentation.

 

[Fitswimmer]

Welcome Neighbor! One thing you'll find out pretty quickly here, is that there is always someone ready to make a judgement about something.
Personally, I didn't buy DVC for financial reasons. I bought for vacations at WDW and perhaps an occasional trip somewhere else. If you're going to get picky about it, vacations in general are not the best use of my money but I love them anyway!

 

[greenban]

Welcome Home Neighboors!

That is the most important part.

Next take all of our advice with a grain of salt. Only you know what is best for you!

The most important thing is that this is DISNEY!!!!! Not brain surgery.

Many of us (as the excitement, v-e-r-y slowly starts to drop down a notch or two, try to mazimize our 'Disney Return'. You don't have to be a DVC Point Bean counter to have priceless memories, you just have to enjoy yourself.

Having said that, I like to maximize the 'value' of every DVC point from a financial basis, much like dumbo71. Others (perhaps both smarter and wiser) choose to maximize from a happiness or joy basis. I am certain the response was never intended as harshly as it came across.

WELCOME, ENJOY, and BE HAPPY for many, many years!

-Tony

 

[eliza61]

This is really sad.

If you bought in with this little knowledge you made a huge mistake and likely one that will cost you thousands.

DVC is good ONLY for staying at the DVC resorts. Those trade options are a terrible use of points and unless you are flexible, as in, you could travel whenever, you may never even get a trade through II even if you wanted one. I basically don't even look at those trades or even the Concierge Collection. They might as well not even exist.

Finally, let me guess, you financed this thing through DVC.

WOW.

Oh I totally disagree with this. My DH and I have used our points other places and LOVEDit. Yes I do agree you get more value to using your points at a WDW location but we long stopped calculating how to squeeze every single dime out of our points. It reminds me of the folks on the DDP plan who calculate what restaurants they can get the most out of instead of simply picking where they wish to eat. I have already gotten the value of my points after I went to disney for the 7th trip. So far we have used our points in NYC, London, Washington DC and at the Biltmore. Every trip was absolutely magical, which made the point usage worth while.
Oh and I also financed my points though not through DVC, my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner or buy about 500 more points.
Take your points and Fly, you will not regret it.

 

[littlestar]

Congratulations on your purchase. Hey, I feel if you trade out through Interval and get a Westin, Sheraton, Marriott, Hyatt, Royal Resort in Cancun or some other sweet independent resort in some exotic location that's well taken care of, you'll do fine when you want to occasionally trade. Enjoy your membership. I'm personally really glad that Disney offers all the alternatives they do for other trips. When you do want to trade, I feel the points given up for a 1 bedroom are the best deal - 124 to 160. Although, I would consider a trade for a studio on Maui at the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas almost as good as a one bedroom trade. Their studios have jucuzzi tubs and a sitting area (very large). That would take less points than the one bedroom. When you want to trade, just be really flexible on dates (not holidays) and start your search a year out at least.

 

[lovinthemouse]

Congratulations and Welcome Home. Don't let some negativity get you down. If you are enjoying your purchase then that is all that matters. DVC is for many vacation memories how or where you get those is entirely up to you. I wish many happy years of vacationing.

 

[T.E. Yeary]

Congratulations & Welcome Home!!


HAPPY "MAGICAL" VACATIONING,
Tom & Staff

 

[dumbo71]

I personally don't believe we made a huge mistake at all. We love going to Disney and are planning to go at the very least every other year. I'm not sure why you feel we have little to no knowledge and you understand our situation. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Well, at least you are Steelers fans.

I still didn't see an answer posted to my question or in this case suggestion that you used DVC financing? Did you or did you not?

Did your guide also tell you, after showing you all of those lovely pictures of the exchange options around the world, that you could also "stay at BCV anytime using your SSR points"?

How about DCL? See those great photos? Wonder if you saw the enormous amount of points requred? Maybe your guide couldn't locate those point charts.

My post although harsh, really was intended to be only slightly harsh in your direction and really harsh in your guides direction.

Who was the guide by the way? Did he give you some magic 3 days to decide or the offer would be rescinded? Did you get the referral discount?

Make no mistake I hope this ends up being the single best decision you've ever made. Your OP just leaves some doubts.

Please answer my questions and keep us all updated on your future trips.

 

[dumbo71]

Oh I totally disagree with this. My DH and I have used our points other places and LOVEDit. Yes I do agree you get more value to using your points at a WDW location but we long stopped calculating how to squeeze every single dime out of our points. It reminds me of the folks on the DDP plan who calculate what restaurants they can get the most out of instead of simply picking where they wish to eat. I have already gotten the value of my points after I went to disney for the 7th trip. So far we have used our points in NYC, London, Washington DC and at the Biltmore. Every trip was absolutely magical, which made the point usage worth while.
Oh and I also financed my points though not through DVC, my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner or buy about 500 more points.
Take your points and Fly, you will not regret it.

What is worse? My post or the person who , when they are done laughing and saying "right on", starts typing a feel good response that they think wil be popular on the boards?

Sorry but my post is what most of you thought whether you'd type it or not.

 

[gtrist4life]

Phisigprincess,

CONGRATS AND WELCOME HOME!

To answer your question –

“How many of you go to places other than Disney and is it easy to secure rooms?”

You probably know or will learn, It's easiest to book and stay at your home resort SSR with your 11 month home resort booking window.

It's next easiest to book and stay at the other DVC resorts. Since you asked “other than Disney” I'm going to guess that you meant other than Walt Disney World. These include the DVC Vero Beach and Hilton Head resorts. However, some resorts and times of the year are hard to get, search the board and you’ll get some ideas, but generally if you book day-by-day at the seven month window you’ll be able to get what you want; wait listing for these other resorts may be required. My home resort is BWV and I have stayed at Hilton Head in June 2004 and we will stay at Vero Beach in March. 3 months

There is one big note that I have to say, as the membership in DVC increases, there will be more people that have the same 7 month window booking for the non-home resorts. This logically will lead to increased difficulty in getting non-home resort reservations. How much more difficult is debatable.

Finally on the places other than Disney;
Outside of the DVC resorts; I would say that availability of the Concierge Collection and other Disney resort locations would be okay. We used our points last year at the Disneyland Hotel. Economically it’s not the best use of points, but they are to be used as the owner chooses. It just adds more time to the formula where the points “pay for themselves”; like financing points would also extend the “pay-back” time. Not that whether a person financed or not is any of my business, it’s not

For the Interval International locations, we have not used this option. There sure are a lot of places on that list, but I am not counting on availability being very good. If at some point in the future we want to try, I would guess it would be a trip to try someplace new based on what’s available, I would try for a Marriott.

 

[Lesprivate]

Welcome Home.

 

[becker1123]

Hi PhiSig Princess, congratulations! We just joined last week and I wanted to post the exact same question you just did, but haven't had time. I have to say I am a bit offended by what Dumbo71 had to say. First of all, it's none of Dumbo's business how it was financed, or if it was paid in full for that matter. Second, why such negativity? I'd say maybe we mistook the tone, but Dumbo's second post really cleared things up.

We too love Disney, but would rather stay at WDW every other year. So we'd either save up the points and do it big every other year with extended family in a big villa, or go every other year and maybe take a cruise or a stay at Vero or Hilton Head on the off years. Maybe even sometime go skiing in Keystone. Maybe it costs more points to do that, but hey, Keystone is expensive.

So, my question is, what experiences have others had in staying at places like Keystone, or the Biltmore, or even the locations in Europe?

Phisig, welcome to SSR! I'm glad we joined and I hope you are too. We are looking at this as a way to get our family to plan our vacations and go in style rather than always having to go the budget route when we finally get around to deciding to go somewhere.