Which DVC makes sense for a family of 6?

[bumbershoot]

Only one person has mentioned OKW. That's our absolute fave so far for a bigger group.

Then again we fell in LOVE with a studio at Grand Floridian in December, and it makes me want to buy points there.

On the one hand, I think 2 trips at $8k and we've almost paid the same amount as a DVC. On the other hand, The DVC is just the room and doesn't include the food and tickets.

Good thinking.


There's two questions. Where you'll generally want to stay (and therefore how many points to buy), and where you want to buy.

We bought direct at Bay Lake in '09 and only I have stayed there LOL. We as a family have stayed at WL, AK Kidani and Jambo (AKL is our least fave), BW, GF, OKW, SSR...and I think that's all. Where you buy doesn't necessarily dictate where you stay.

 

[have2getaway]

There's two questions. Where you'll generally want to stay (and therefore how many points to buy), and where you want to buy.

We bought direct at Bay Lake in '09 and only I have stayed there LOL. We as a family have stayed at WL, AK Kidani and Jambo (AKL is our least fave), BW, GF, OKW, SSR...and I think that's all. Where you buy doesn't necessarily dictate where you stay.[/QUOTE]

That's interesting. I would have thought, as a family, you would stay at Bay Lake but stay elsewhere alone. I'm starting to think we need to do a split stay to check out at few resorts. I've never stayed at a DVC--only the Polynesian and Coronado Springs.

 

[skier_pete]

The MOST important thing for anyone buying into DVC is to REALLY understand what they are getting into. I just saw a post on facebook that someone bought into DVC direct in December and now wants to sell because they didn't realize that they were going to have to pay $1000 in dues every year and they can't afford that. (how they could afford the $20,000 buy-in and not afford the dues is beyond me - but a clear example of not understanding what they bought into.)

Before anyone buys, they should clearly understand:
- The difference between direct and resale, and the benefits of either one.
- That you should own at a place that makes you happy, not just buy whatever is available.
- The booking window, 11-months for home resort and 7-months for other resorts, and how there are times of years where many resorts are booked up before the 7 month mark. (It's also a good idea to know when that is.) Understand that difficulties of last minute booking, and how planning ahead is pretty necessary with DVC.
- Banking and Borrowing points - how it works, and the permanence of it.
- Use Year, what it means (it's unrelated to the booking window) and how it affects booking resorts and banking your points and the importance of a "good" use year.

I won't answer all these questions here, as there is a TON of information on the net that a 5-minute search on these topics would give you.

I just can't grasp people that would spend tens of thousands of dollars buying a vacation property and not understand it at all. Do people commonly buy cars without finding out what car is best for them? Do they just go to the dealer and say "Give me that one!", because it seems like a lot of people do that with DVC.

 

[Dean]

The MOST important thing for anyone buying into DVC is to REALLY understand what they are getting into. I just saw a post on facebook that someone bought into DVC direct in December and now wants to sell because they didn't realize that they were going to have to pay $1000 in dues every year and they can't afford that. (how they could afford the $20,000 buy-in and not afford the dues is beyond me - but a clear example of not understanding what they bought into.)

Before anyone buys, they should clearly understand:
- The difference between direct and resale, and the benefits of either one.
- That you should own at a place that makes you happy, not just buy whatever is available.
- The booking window, 11-months for home resort and 7-months for other resorts, and how there are times of years where many resorts are booked up before the 7 month mark. (It's also a good idea to know when that is.) Understand that difficulties of last minute booking, and how planning ahead is pretty necessary with DVC.
- Banking and Borrowing points - how it works, and the permanence of it.
- Use Year, what it means (it's unrelated to the booking window) and how it affects booking resorts and banking your points and the importance of a "good" use year.

I won't answer all these questions here, as there is a TON of information on the net that a 5-minute search on these topics would give you.

I just can't grasp people that would spend tens of thousands of dollars buying a vacation property and not understand it at all. Do people commonly buy cars without finding out what car is best for them? Do they just go to the dealer and say "Give me that one!", because it seems like a lot of people do that with DVC.

Yes, IMO there are some requisite info that is FAR more important than the UY, number of points or home resort. They include in the order of preference

1. Can one afford it (To me that's pay cash and no consumer debt).
2. Will they use ONLY at DVC locations and that WDW is their goal (very limited exceptions here)
3. Can/Will they plan ahead sufficiently, at least 7 months but preferably 11 months.

As for people buying and not understanding, that's an extreme example but we see it all the time here and elsewhere with DVC and timeshares in general. Or like I've seen a number of times here where someone said they knew it could happen but didn't think it would and were upset with DVC as in reallocation. What % of the membership has actually read the POS and esp what % read it before their cancelation period was up. Anything less isn't much better than the situation you describe on FB.

 

[MamaBelle4]

No one mentioned SSR, my family of 6 plus 3 other adults just returned today from a 7 night stay in a 2 bdrm lockoff.

It was amazing. I loved the convenience of popping over to DS for a snack, a bit of shopping or to catch a bus to another resort. It was an absolute perfect fit for my family.

 

[Cyberc1978]

"The best thing to remember is that you are not locked into your home resort unless you are looking at sept - Dec -- high demand DVC time. So if you love poly you could stay there when you don't have your son."

Thank you! I think we needed to hear this.

Another option would also be to book 2 studios standard or lake views at Poly. You can put in a request for connecting rooms. From what I read no one has'nt got them when requested it.

I know it cost more points than a 2BR at most resorts but you get to stay at Poly which you love. ie a week in may is 153points for a standard view at poly, a 2br standard at AKV is 255 or 317 for a savanna. BLT is 317 for a standard. So to book two rooms at poly you would need 306. But you could also fit twice as many as a single room could.

I would say only use this approach if you tend to go when its low demand at DVC which is before end sep.