What are the Benefits of DVC???

[DHar]

I think part of the misunderstanding is that timeshare stays are much different than a hotel stay.

As far as free dining, it is really too bad that your guide mislead you in this area.

But here's how the numbers work for me. Based on what I paid, and my yearly MF's, I will have invested about $33,000 in my DVC ownership over the next 15 years.

That puts my average cost at $2200/yr. and allows me 6 nights a year, in the summer, in a 1 bedroom villa (more if I ever travel in a lower points season or a lot more if I book studios).

Those same 6 nights would cost me around $3200, if I paid rack rate, for my typical CR tower room. Of course, no one really ever pays rack rate, so let's assume, I get a 30% discount. Now, my room cost has just been reduced to about that same $2200.

What I have now done is guaranteed myself a 30% discount for 15 years and I have given myself a free upgrade to a 1 bedroom!!!

Obviously, I plan to own DVC for a lot longer than 15 years so when you consider that, my discount works out to be even more.

I know that some would argue the figures and as with everything, you can make numbers say what you want.

DVC really allowed us to buy ourselves and our children/grandchildren a great vacation future at the happiest place on earth.

Some of the other aspects you mention as cons are not to us. I LOVE not having to worry about someone coming in my room each day. It was so nice not having to make sure everything was locked up tight. Honestly, I don't need a perfectly made bed each night--I don't have one at home all the time so having pulled up covers works for me. Throwing in a set of towels after a few days is no big deal. And, with a studio, I could an entire new set for only $6 which would more than hold me over until trash and towel day.

As far as the towel animals, we never really got them much as cash guests so not something we miss. We also use a rental car to get around the world so any issues with busses and waits I can not comment on.

my dad and step mom bought one in 2009...we have been going every other year since 2004 with them. we started with 240 points. i am now in a position to buy 160 points to add to the original 240. last jan we got a 2 br at bay lake. it was great. we buy bagels, ceral, and muffins for breakfast, so we save a bit there. we can get something quick and out the door we go. we go for 10 days and we dont feel rushed. we all go our own ways and the meet every night for dinner...that's our together time. my dad doesnt get around too well (70 yrs old and did construction his whole life), but he gets a great deal of enjoyment just being there with all of us. definately money well spent!!!! when we plan we have big meeting with all who are going. we even make mickey waffles with ice cream to have a little fun while we plan out where to dine. this year my 2 daughters are bringing a friend each and my brother and sis in law are going too, along with my step sis and my stepmom's aunt, 12 total. we're getting a 2 br and a 1 br for 10 days....can't wait. hoping to get to hawaii in 2012.

a little off topic, but a great place to go for a family vacation!!!!!

 

[dizfan]

One of our favorite things is that we used to travel to WDW based on the deals. We've noticed the free dining period was becoming busier and the menus sometimes became smaller during that period.
Now, we vacation when we want to as opposed to the deals. Particularly enjoying the special event times.
Currently, there is a perk to save on APs. We used this to our advantage and purchased an AP at the DVC discount. Then purchased TIW to save on food/drinks.
Since we know we're going back to WDW more, we take time and enjoy the flowers, landscaping, and relax more.

Best of all are the great people on the DVC boards who keep teaching us about the system.

 

[walkdmc]

I love not having daily housekeeping. It only took one DVC stay for me to realize it's a more peaceful trip if I don't have to worry about getting out of the room, or not returning in the early afternoon, when the housekeeper is cleaning.

The DVC rooms, (1BR and larger) are on a whole different level compared to values, or even deluxes, IMO. They are deluxes with a W/D and kitchen. We've stayed at BLT and AKV. I did not like the bus service at BLT, but the buses were great at AKV, better than any non-DVC resort I've been to (CSR, Poly).

DVCers get a coffee pot in their room so they can make REAL coffee. (don't judge...it's one of the reasons I love DVC ).

WE can join the Tables in Wonderland, get annual pass discounts and discounts on special events - MVMCP, Halloween parade.

 

[Deb & Bill]

OP, you did not purchase a room on a cruise ship. You did not purchase a room at a hotel. You bought into a time share.

Cancel if it's not too late or you will be totally unhappy. Or just don't pay the bills and let it go back to Disney.

 

[Lynne M]

However who in their right mind would imagine no housekeeping? For real? When im on vacation I dont want to cook, make beds or clean that is not a vacation.

Well, limited housekeeping is pretty much standard in timeshare properties. Here's why it works that way at DVC. And by the way, "no housekeeping" isn't accurate. DVC has a pay-as-you-go system for housekeeping.

You, along with your fellow owners at your home resort, pay for the operational costs of that resort. That's what the maintenance fees are for. Those costs include utilities, landscaping, real estate taxes, and housekeeping (among many other things).

So, all of the owners of that resort, together, pay for the wages of the housekeepers, cleaning supplies, etc. Right now, villas get a full cleaning between guests, and once a week during a guest's stay. Partway through the week, housekeeping replaces the towels and removes the trash.

If they went to daily housekeeping for all DVC guests, your maintenance fees would go through the roof. And many DVCers (myself included) don't want daily housekeeping. So, the fair thing to do is have limited housekeeping, and allow guests who want additional cleanings to pay for them separately.

If you want daily housekeeping in your villa, you can have it. Or every other day, or one extra day, or whatever you like. You can have extra towel packs, if you don't want to use your washer and dryer, or have housekeeping empty the trash for you every day if you don't want to take out the trash yourself. But you'll pay separately for that.

BTW, you're already paying for housekeeping when you stay at any resort. It's just buried in the room rate, and you pay for it whether you want it or not.

 

[Sammie]

I would imagine many that buy DVC believe what they are told by sales agents and DVC brochures.

They truly do want you to think that you are special, that you will get the very best that Disney has to offer, that you will be part of a special club, they want you to believe it's just not a timeshare.

Sadly it is a timeshare, and as long as you know that from the get go, you will never be disappointed.

DVC is not Disney resorts. You will not be treated the same.

DVC is great if you need a one bedroom villa or larger.

Honestly though at the price they are selling it for now, I would not recommend it.

Which means many of us would recommend buying resale, which is the very reason I do think DVC will do something to discourage buying a resale over direct sale.

Because due to their lack lusture guest service to current members they have lost their best sales members, their own members.

 

[ELKHUNTER]

One bright point if you want housekeeping book your stays for eight nights and you will get a full house cleaning, beds and all on the fourth day of your stay, which you will not get for seven night stay just trash and towel on fourth day.

 

[Jenngoofys]

Thank you all for your input it was all very helpful. We are staying with DVC. I guess we just needed a different outlook. We just need to enjoy it now.

 

[Anal Annie]

We just joined and so far all I can find are negatives?

1. No Mousekeeping everyday - aka no towel animals :-(
2. Pay in full for DDP at time of booking
3. Pay in full for DCL instead of a deposit, cash and points paid at time of booking.
4. People who book the same resort at the same time I do with free dining get a better deal. (actually my DVC agent did the math)
5. I dont get to book when I want I have to wait for a window to open up - aka 11 months or 7 months
6. after waiting for my window to open up im not guaranteed the rooms availability I may get put onto a waiting list??
7. points go up every year so eventually the points i purchased wont be enough I will have to purchase more at a higher rate than I have now.
8. $95.00 fee for anything Disney doesnt own so there goes any savings you might get and get this they dont own their own Cruise line!!
9. Buses come less often (as compared to value resorts) so I would assume they would be more crowded.


SO what exactly am I paying for if I dont have a guarantee of a room when I want to stay and my room doesnt get cleaned every day?
There doesnt seem to be any positives? We are hoping to find some so Please if you have any to offer please do so.

And you bought DVC because why ______????? Do you always buy then ask questions?????

1) Personally, I love not having mousekeeping every day. I like that we don't have a stranger in our room every day.

2) We don't do the dining plan so that's not a problem...we eat breakfast in our villa and don't have any desire to have to plan around ADR's every day of our vacation. What a hassle IMO. We only eat TS meals 3 or 4 times during a week. Also, they charge adult prices starting at age 10. NO WAY my DS was eating as much as an adult at that age.

3) Crusing on points is not the best value - we did it once but then figured out it's a better value to cruise on cash so that's not an issue for us any more.

4) People who book on cash aren't always getting a better deal. Disney is making their money back SOMEWHERE. If they're getting "free dining" then they're paying top dollar for the room. There is no such thing as a freebie with Disney. Anybody who thinks that is drinking spiked kool-aid.

5) You CAN book when you want - 11 months at your home resort. WE resort hop and try a different resort each trip. I call right at 7 months and we've always found something available - we may just need to be a little flexible (ie first choice, 2nd choice). If we REALLY wanted someplace we couldn't get then we should BUY THERE to have the booking advantage. That is not a big secret.

6) Nothing is ever a guarantee. Even if you were booking thru CRO you wouldn't be guaranteed a room. FWIW we've always gotten something. But we are FLEXIBLE. That's a big thing in the world of any timeshares...

7) Who told you THAT? That is not true. You are mis-understanding something.

8) Again, welcome to the world of timeshares. And what does owning a cruiseline have to do with it?? Anything outside of a DVC villa is a "trade".

9) Who told you this one? The buses still run every 20-30 minutes. You are not being ripped off on any bus schedules. But that's a good one! WHO have you been talking to? Did they give you spiked kool-aid first?!

 

[Anal Annie]

OP, you did not purchase a room on a cruise ship. You did not purchase a room at a hotel. You bought into a time share.

Cancel if it's not too late or you will be totally unhappy. Or just don't pay the bills and let it go back to Disney.

What she said!!

 

[chalee94]

Well, limited housekeeping is pretty much standard in timeshare properties.

this is true.

in my stays in marriott timeshares, there has been no housekeeping at all for a 7 night stay. the marriotts were great resorts, but timesharing is just different.

sorry if the guides did not explain this to you ahead of time. here on the DIS forums, we do try to warn potential buyers about the differences and many owners have adapted and gotten used to the differences, but it can be a shock if you are used to hotel-type vacations...

 

[WolfpackFan]

Wow!! You spent, $15-20,000 and all you can come up with is a list of negatives for your purchase? I need to get together with you, I have some swamp land down in Florida I'd love to talk to you about .

Also, I hate it when people say they "joined" DVC. What you did was purchase some real estate in Florida. It is a timeshare, pure and simple and that is all it is. If you don't fit the timeshare mold, you have no business making the purchase.

 

[Jenngoofys]

I didnt ask for negative snide remarks I asked politely for positive things about DVC. I got my information from the person who sold me DVC apparently she was either misleading or misinformed herself. Either way I purchased DVC and would like polite people who can share what the benefits of DVC are. Some people feel the need to insult me and my opinion so be it but thats not what I asked for nor what I want. If you have to insult or be rude then feel free to skip posting here all I am asking for are the POSITIVE things about DVC.

 

[crazybones27]

I think honestly after your 1st stay on DVC property you will feel differently. We just did our 1st stay this past Sept/Oct. and LOVED it soooo much! We knew though we'd love it and didn't really have the same feeling about our purchase that you do right now. With any big purchase comes questions and doubts. Everyone has them so these are normal to really only see the negatives sometimes.

We did feel we would miss the everyday housekeeping and the "possibility" of free dining, but after our stay it sealed the deal in never looking back! Yes the system is not perfect, but it is close to it for us. We are easy going people who look over many things and just want to enjoy all that we can. DVC gave us a wonderful chance to take our family on a trip with us. We stayed in a 1bdrm and a Grand Villa in AKV in September and we would NEVER had been able to pull that off with money straight out of our pocket at the time.

We purchased in August 2009 after having our tour in July 2006. We were not ready to purchase, did not have the money, weren't married yet, and just weren't stable enough in 2006. Once we were set with our finances and knew we were ready we took the "plunge". It was the best thing we've done for our family!!

The guide who told you they offer free dining should not have done so. It's not nice to be lied too. I'm not sure what the situation was, but that is very unfortunate. As someone else had said we can purchase the dining plan at regular pricing during the peak time when they raise the prices. We also get a $100 off the annual pass which to me is well worth it! There are so many reasons to LOVE your DVC purchase. The negatives you pointed out many people have noticed and feel a little shell shocked about, but they are normal to any other time share. Also before purchasing we had never stayed above a moderate resort level! I have way to many positives to list, but the biggest one is the constant smiles on my families faces when we book our vacations! We had our 1st and now have already booked 2 more for this year and are planning our next ones for 2012 and 2013. I hope you change your mind and see what a great thing DVC can be .

 

[twinklebug]

My view to your points are in Green:

We just joined and so far all I can find are negatives?

1. No Mousekeeping everyday - aka no towel animals :-( We've gotten over 10 TAs over the last 4 years with DVC
2. Pay in full for DDP at time of booking We don't do DDP - Love DVC for the ability to eat in
3. Pay in full for DCL instead of a deposit, cash and points paid at time of booking. DVC is a bad use of points. Always book cash.
4. People who book the same resort at the same time I do with free dining get a better deal. (actually my DVC agent did the math) To me this is comparing apples to oranges since we don't use the DDP
5. I dont get to book when I want I have to wait for a window to open up - aka 11 months or 7 months True, but you have the same advantage as other owners. People booking the villas through Disney aren't competing for the same block of rooms
6. after waiting for my window to open up im not guaranteed the rooms availability I may get put onto a waiting list?? Same as booking a hotel room. If a particular room is in demand it'll be first come first serve, but they don't have a waiting list.
7. points go up every year so eventually the points i purchased wont be enough I will have to purchase more at a higher rate than I have now. Overall points cannot change, they can only shuffle them around.
8. $95.00 fee for anything Disney doesnt own so there goes any savings you might get and get this they dont own their own Cruise line!! Best use of points is to always stay within the DVC family of resorts. Book cash elsewhere.
9. Buses come less often (as compared to value resorts) so I would assume they would be more crowded. I've been on those value resort buses and they can get so crowded and noisy. I do prefer the DVC resort busses, plus many DVCs have alternate means of transportation - BLT has the monorail, WLV, BCV and WBV have boats (walking to/from HS/EPCOT is also an option from 2 of them)


SO what exactly am I paying for if I don't have a guarantee of a room when I want to stay and my room doesnt get cleaned every day?
There doesnt seem to be any positives? We are hoping to find some so Please if you have any to offer please do so.

I can see where you're coming from, I think a lot of your points come from a matter of personal perspective and how you plan on vacationing.

DVC is vacation to me. I love the resorts, the rooms, even the people at the resorts both CMs and guests. It's a different culture from the other resorts where everyone is rushed to get the most out of THEIR Disney trip and treat each other as competition. DVC folk are far more laid back and willing to share a laugh. In many ways we're more like the laid back folk over at Fort Wilderness in their RVs than people like to think. Very suiting that they're building a new DVC over there (or so rumors and gov't filed plans say

Beyond that, for me, the one part of DVC I love more than anything is just knowing there is always a future trip coming. In rough times, planning a Disney trip would be out of the question. Putting thousands of dollars out of pocket for a luxury when I'm worried about what may happen in 3 months time is unthinkable and irresponsible. With DVC I own the contract. I can plan that luxury trip without guilt and change it up at the 7 month mark if I want. I can even cancel and bank the points by my banking deadline if I don't think I can make it happen. Then rebook for the next year all without putting a dime out for the reservations.

I tried a value resort, it just wasn't for me. POR is nice, but I want my room to be home and not just a place with beds and a cramped bathroom. I want to be able to hang out in our room, I want a balcony or patio that I can sit out on in the morning or evening with a cup of coffee. A view of the savanna or boardwalk is a bonus. I need the kitchenette setup (prefer to eat in room for health reasons), and when I can manage it, the full kitchens and washer/drier/whirlpool tub set ups are luxury beyond belief to have right there on site.

Each to their own. It's quite possible you love the hunt for a good deal. I love the hunt too and watching others find deals makes me want to book on top of our DVC stays I don't think what they get is any better of a deal than what DVC provides, but someday, when I have that sort of disposable income, perhaps I will book GV, CR or the Poly just for fun.

 

[Grumpy6264]

There is a lot that factor into everyones individual experience with DVC.

When the decision to purchase is made, there usually is some hard reason why this purchase is justified. This decision can be followed by doubt. I think this is pretty normal.

The 'benefits' to owning DVC have been been debated quite a bit from what I can see. For me it is the intangibles that make the difference. I like how it feels when staying in a DVC villa. It isn't anything that I can touch and it is hard to explain, but there is a more relaxed feel to our trips now that we own a DVC contract.

We had great stays prior to DVC at the Polynesian, but there is a difference. It feels different in a good way.

 

[dizfan]

OP, not sure if it's been mentioned already, but there are also some DVC only events like the Welcome Home Wednesday and the Member Merry Mixer.

Some people don't enjoy them, some do enjoy them. DW and I have been to each once and will definitely go to the Merry Mixer if it's going on when we are there.

There may be something special for DVC members on DCL too. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will post.

Home!

 

[CMOORE185]

I didnt ask for negative snide remarks I asked politely for positive things about DVC. I got my information from the person who sold me DVC apparently she was either misleading or misinformed herself. Either way I purchased DVC and would like polite people who can share what the benefits of DVC are. Some people feel the need to insult me and my opinion so be it but thats not what I asked for nor what I want. If you have to insult or be rude then feel free to skip posting here all I am asking for are the POSITIVE things about DVC.

You are right, people can be very rude on this forum.
(1) The most positive thing about DVC to me is the deluxe accomodations at a discount price. I love being able to do laundry so I do not have to pack as many cloths. I love the kitchen and the space DVC accomodations provide.
(2) I love knowing I own a piece of Disney.
(3) It makes me vacation, which I think is important for a family.

 

[Deb & Bill]

OP, if you felt you were lied to about your purchase, make sure you notify DVC about the deceptive practice. They need to fire someone who blatantly lies about the purchase.

Now if you misunderstood what the sales person actually told you, I can understand trying to find out more information about your purchase.

But if you are still in the timeframe to cancel, you really need to cancel your purchase until you can really thing about it.

 

[dvcdisney]

I agree with others who suggest cancelling your contract if you still can. I don't think it's a good idea to spend that much money only to be miserable or unhappy with your choice. I don't even think Disney would want you to go forward with it if it's not what your want.

I believe the benefits depend on each member. For us:

-We like the idea of no mousekeeping everyday - actually since we joined, we have cancelled housekeeping during our stays in other resort/hotels.
-We purchase APs, so the discount is a great bonus for us.
-We did our own calculation and found that we save quite a bit with DVC vs staying at a Deluxe onsite resort. We are paying about the price of a moderate resort or even less.
-We have a bit more room than a regular hotel room and even a studio has a little fridge. We love the fact that we can do laundry in the suite (for villas larger that a studio). It helps quite a bit since I like to wash everything. It cuts down on the amount of baggage.
-We are able to go stay at DVC more often - 2 times a year lasting 2 weeks each. I don't think we would be able to afford staying at a Deluxe resort for 4 weeks out of the year if we had not purchase into the membership.
-Within a year, we felt like it was a "home away from home".
-And last but definitely not least - the opportunity to book early - a great thing for uber planners.

I'm sure there's others, but that's all I can think of. As for free dining, I also did the calculation and it did come close to being the same cost if we stayed at a Deluxe resort. However, it costs more if we stayed at one of the DVC resorts which in, my mind, is far better and therefore I am still getting a better deal.

Also, the prepayment of the DDP is up to you. If you want to add it but don't want to pay so far in advance then wait for 3 days before (I know it's 48 hours, but just to be on the safe side) and add it and pay for it. Personally, I'd prefer this if I was getting the DDP since it's one less thing I have to worry about at check in. Or maybe, you can do what we're doing - trying the TIW and see if that is a better deal. I agree with those who want DDP cancelled all together. I do believe it has an impact on the quality of food. And I absolutely hate going during Free dining, it's busy, some guests are rude and unruly. I think the restaurants are overbooked for this reason and everyone, including the CMs are increasingly more cranky that in the past.

Anyways, back to the topic. I think the benefits are different for different people. What's important is to figure out if it's best for you.