What are the "real" benefits of joining?

[anotherdisneygal]

What have you found to be the best thing about joining the DVC?

(I've read what Disney has to say about it, but I'd like to know what real members think.)

Thanks!

 

[bwvBound]

The best thing for me: the ability to book our reservation with a single phone call to DVC Member Services instead of waiting for an exchange to come through.

 

[chalee94]

the real benefit is cheaper onsite accommodations.

the other perks come and go...whether you can trade out for a cruise or another timeshare through II or RCI might change significantly...but that benefit is why you choose to buy or not.

 

[Sandisw]

Now that they have BLT, I can stay for my typical 5 nights in a 1 bedroom villa instead of just staying in room at the Contemporary (where we stay each trip).

Plus, if my DH and I want to go by ourselves, we can go for the studio and stay 8 nights a year! Our children are getting older so the likely hood of all 5 of us going every year is decreasing.

Over the course of the contract, it will cost me a lot less to do this than to continue to spend close to $2000.00 every year for my accommodations! And DH and I love WDW and know that our trips there will continue.

 

[wdwnut]

"guaranteed" vacations- you will have the ability to take a vacation every year, every other year, or several shorter trips during a year. We've been members since 2000 and have done all of these versions. Another huge benefit for us is the ability to take family and friends as a bit of a "treat". Last October we had 19 people at BWV. I will have 8+ and 20+ going on two seperate trips in 2010. I think it is awesome to be able to do this; I would never be able to afford regular accomodations for that many people otherwise.

 

[WolfpackFan]

Paying for future vacations ahead of time. We're retired and know that no matter how bad the economy gets, we can still take 2-3 good vacations a year. Now we may just have to stay at our resort, eat in our unit and not do much else - but hey that's okay also .

 

[hakepb]

Last summer, DVC (in combination with a valid AP) became "magical" for me.
While beamoning the ever increasing gas prices (and how that could effect our driving trips) we noticed a crazy low airfare rate to Orlando, and started thinking, "that's a lot cheaper than driving, and we have a valid AP, and we got some points we can use..."
While we could not take advantage of that exact airfare deal, it got the ball rolling, DW and I made the later arrangements and wound up taking couple-only long weekend trip in July to WDW for "just" the cost of airfare and food.

Now I suppose that sort of trip could take place if you had a locked down vacation accomodation budget/bank balance (that you could not spend on anything else) but DVC turned us from a normal once a year vacationer to a "jet setting" getaway likestyle and I could not be happier!

 

[meduck]

we bought 375 points back in 1995, each time we go, we price out our vacation or cruise on the disney web sight. acoording to the web site pricing, we have already recoered our total investment for the origional points, now we just pay the maintenance fee, so our vacation (usually 3 weeks, or 4 day cruise and 2 weeks at disney world) we pay aprox 1/9th the cost to stay on property!!! worth it for us.

 

[wildernessDad]

I like the fact that I have pre-paid for my vacations. It's nice to think about, especially when work gets me down.

 

[rpk1951]

The prepaid vacation lets us know that for years to come we can still keep going. There is an option to trade out to RCI for other locations although I do not see us doing that. Others say not to buy for that reason

 

[JCerniglow]

The real benefit is the larger accomodations that prevents the claustrophia that goes with even a very nice hotel room. also the ability to awaken everyday to fresh coffee before my morning shower.

 

[logan115]

Love the fact that for our next trip (will be our first as owners) we're going to be able to take my parents and have 3 generations on the trip. Instead of plunking down $3200 and renting a ressie and getting nothing for it (other than a great room for a week), I view this as a "2nd down payment" and look forward to a lifetime of trips staying where we want (ie somewhere onsite) in a much larger and nicer room that we could otherwise afford (ie not paying the $5K rack rate).

Chris

 

[ckg]

One already mentioned is the larger accommodations. That is really helpful if you have more than four in your family and especially to share with other families for real fun vacations. Some of our best times have been vacationing with friends. We have little kids so it is especially nice to have other adults to hang out with when the kids are asleep for adult time. This is true of most timeshares though and not unique to Dis.

Another huge benefit that is not quite so common is that Dis is a true points based system so you can spend your points in any combination. A lot of other timeshares require week at a time stays and charge fees just to stay in network (I believe Marriot does this). Dis does not have that. If you have the points you can stay for 2 weeks or individual nights it really doesn't matter. It is incredibly flexible. My Mom is coming in a few weeks and we'll have a 2br at OKW but when we were in HHI a few years back with another family of four we got the 3br villa for the week so we had plenty of room to breathe.

Check for yourself on the points and you'll see many systems are at for the week and may even have specific check in days. That is not the case with DVC each day for the year for each resort has a cost ... how you spend it is it up to you (within reason ... you can't live there )

 

[marynvince]

the joy in knowing that my 3 year old will always know the Magic of Disney. I've decided that I no longer want to collect things and accumulate stuff. Experiencing life with family and friends, that is the "real" benefit of DVC ownership.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

The larger accomodations are priceless. I love having a full kitchen and a washer/dryer and a separate bedroom from the kids.

I also love that the vacations are prepaid so that we always have a vacation option to either stay in a DVC resort or trade out.

The AP discount is a huge savings for us too.

 

[Longhairbear]

We love that our accomodations are already paid for, and only have to budget for airfare, and food. In this economy we love having the perk of a full kitchen, and save a few hundred dollars cooking fabulous meals in. Magical Express, and bus service to the parks costs us nothing for transportation, for even more savings. Discount for an AP makes going twice a year even more economical.
As we live in CA, booking a one, or two night stay at one of the DLR resorts has given us more leisurely trips to Disneyland. No more driving home late at night tired from roaming the parks all day.

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

I view DVC as an insurance policy for my vacation. It ensures that we go back each year. The nicer accomodations don't hurt either.

 

[eliza61]

The best thing for me is prepaid vacations to a place that always brings me & my family lots of joy.

 

[dcamdad]

Having an excuse to go more often. " We already paid for it we might as well use it as much as possible"

 

[wendyinoc]

I love how easy it is to use. You don't have to book out a week. If you want 3 nights then thats fine. I like that Disney holds its value. I know prices are low right now, but wait till the Recession is over. This is the time to buy if you can afford it.