Why buy DVC if RCI or II can trade easy to Orlando?

[Chuck S]

I heard you get treated like a "cash" customer, do you know is daily house keeping or the same as our "point" reservations?

No daily housekeeping, you are not a cash customer, you are a timeshare trade guest. Which means you pay a $95 fee, and get onsite perks (transportation, free theme park parking, complimentary package delivery, room charging, etc.) You do not get daily housekeeping or DVC member perks. No free internet.

If you trade in throguh II, and are ALSO a DVC member, the DVC membership card will give you the AP discount, the dining discounts and the valet parking at DVC resorts. If you trade in but are NOT a DVC member, you will not get these discounts.

 

[Chuck S]

Thanks for all the replies. Gave me alot to think about, esp. if I'm not really going to do Disney at least every other or every 3 yrs. then maybe I should rethink about buying DVC. I own a couple of beach location timeshares now and seems that at the times of year I travel, I can easily get into Orlando, so I'm on the fence about buying DVC.

-N

Orlando, in general, is pretty easy to get, and there are nice timshares in the Disney area. For an occasional Disney World visitor, who doesn't mind being offsite, they are excellent options. It sounds like this may the best option for you.

For people who, like us, go to WDW regularly, enjoy the onsite accomodations and being in the Disney bubble, then DVC is the way to go. We love the onsite perks and Disney is our main travel destination with only occasional vacations elsewhere.

 

[JimMIA]

keep in mind that trading into DVC is really hit or miss.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you may not always be able to trade into DVC. Certainly, you will be able to trade for something in the Orlando area, but DVC's exchange arrangement with II could change, or end, at any time.

DVC has already made huge reductions in one of their trading programs, and could do it with others as they expand their own offerings.

 

[Lisa P.]

As more members buy into DVC and keep it for longer, more will look beyond the DVC resorts for variety in destinations. There is much more DVC availability in Interval now than a couple years ago. DVC could easily change their external exchange company at the time of contract renewal but if so, it would most likely be to RCI. No other external exchange company (besides RCI and II) can currently offer the wide selection of destinations and decent availability that members sometimes want for external exchanging. So owning a prime week at a high-end resort which is dual-affiliated gives the best chance of being able to use it to exchange into DVC over the next several years, if that's of interest to someone. At this time, I doubt DVC will drop II for a long, long while.

Bottom line is, if you want to be able to book DVC vacations at least every other year and if you want to have year-round availability of whatever room size you want on WDW property (with early 11-month planning at your home resort), then buying in is the only way to secure that. It puts you in control of your options and you pay a premium for the privilege.

Second option, if you can be very flexible with travel dates and with DVC resort selection, if you want mostly full week stays, if you don't need a larger unit during prime holidays and school breaks, if you may not be visiting a DVC resort every year, and if you can plan 8-11 months out (the earlier the better), then trading in with a good timeshare week elsewhere can be much more economical than buying DVC. If it will fulfill your needs/wants, it may be preferable.

We own three different timeshare weeks which have traded successfully into WDW DVC resorts and a fourth into HHI DVC. None of these have been last-minute flexchange confirmations, so these weeks have the trade power to do this. They are dual-affiliated w/RCI and II. The right reasonably priced resale week at the right resorts can do a LOT to secure Disney vacations at an excellent price but they DO have limitations, as mentioned above. Feel free to email me about this.

Third option, renting points from an owner, is probably best for people who want a rare vacation onsite at WDW, unless they only want a long weekend or they want premier season. Those are expensive on points rentals. But 5-night, midweek stays can be quite reasonable, especially when kids are normally in school. With renting, there's no ongoing purchase investment, no annual dues commitment.

Fourth option, offsite... tons of great timeshare resorts (which we also enjoy!), vacation homes, a whole range of quality in hotels from super-cheap to high-end luxury pampering... but that's another forum...

 

[spiceycat]

DVC doesn't put alot of holiday weeks to II.

so if you want Thankgiving, Easter, Palm, Christmas to NY weeks - then you have to buy DVC.

there is more exchanges because there is more members - I think Dean confirmed it was still only 5% of members who traded out.

 

[eva]

We are onsite snobs. If we weren't, we would own a much less expensive timeshare - or no timeshare at all since its pretty easy to get timeshare weeks on skyauction.

 

[cmul04]

We are also onsite snobs! A lot has been discussed here, but bottom line, if we're doing Disney, there is no other way. And we've done it a LOT of ways. Onsite is where it's at.

 

[ldo]

obviously, trading thru II into DVC would be ideal for you. But, I would also consider just trading into a highly rated TS that is VERY close to WDW---you want Lake Buena Vista area, Bonnet Creek----or Summer Bay or Orange LAkes (b/c they have a great short cut to WDW). Then, see how you like it for your 1st trip-- If you are off-site, but very close, you might find it works just fine for you and that you don't need to buy DVC.
However, if you travel at peak times and are in a farther TS, the travel time and frustration spending 1+ hours to go 3 miles down the road is not worth it. But the Lake Buena Vista and TS above all have short travel times, even at peak.
We never used the EMH or buses for 8 years and it worked fine for us--however, now I like just doing ME and my kids really like the activities--so our needs changed--and we bought DVC.

 

[jamstew]

Hi gang, I'm still looking at buying DVC esp. the 100 AKV points buy in option. While continuing to think it thru, it occurred to me that some of you might own other timeshares that can easily trade to Orlando (maybe some of the nicer ones like Orange lake or the HGVC), so why did you buy Disney? Is being on site that important, do you really think the DVC resorts really offer as much space, amenities, service are comparable or better?

Thanks.
-N

I also own an RCI affiliated TS and traded into the Disney area (within 10 minutes of the parks) several times over the years since 1990. This was fine with me until I stayed onsite for the first time. I knew then that I had to have DVC. It took me 3 years to pull the trigger, and I bought resale to get VWL and BCV, my two favorite resorts. We can still use the other TS to exchange for other places, and it's possible that I'll use it for the WDW area if I run out of points As a pp said, though, it can get expensive with your yearly dues and the exchange fee.

 

[Starr W.]

DVC doesn't put alot of holiday weeks to II.

so if you want Thankgiving, Easter, Palm, Christmas to NY weeks - then you have to buy DVC.

there is more exchanges because there is more members - I think Dean confirmed it was still only 5% of members who traded out.

Doing my daily II search for DVC, I've come across 2 OKW studios for Xmas.
Now I would be surprised to find a 1 or 2br at that time.

 

[Pennyguy23]

We would go to disney if we weren't onsite. Just to much hassle. We HAVE to be onsite.

 

[WaltEeyoreWorld]

There may not be many II trades for DVC on the holiday weeks but the weeks prior and after there usually are. We were able to get the week before Thanksgiving today on II using an accommodation certificate. So if you can be a little flexible and plan a little ahead, we have had great success in getting trades into DVC using Marriott weeks and Marriott ACs.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We would go to disney if we weren't onsite. Just to much hassle. We HAVE to be onsite.

HUH? Did you mean you WOULDN'T go to Disney if you weren't onsite instead of WOULD?

If that's what you meant, I totally agree. If I go to Disney I MUST be onsite.

 

[Dean]

We are DVC members but when we trade into DVC using II we have to pay the $95. Additionally, we do not get the other perks like free internet, v parking, etc.

There are some stay specific perks but discounts, Valet parking, Golf, AP discount are not and you would get them. You'd pay 75 cents for phone calls, not get free movie rentals (maybe) but there isn't much difference if you are a member and trade in. For a 1 BR or less, DVC isn't that hard to trade to if you have a good quality resort that is not in Orlando. For those that do not value (a lot of $$$ worth) staying on property, why bother. A resort that cost $500 with fees of $500 a year can get you in easily to 2 BR units all but about 2 or 3 weeks a year. I have a 2 BR at one of the Hilton's this fall which I traded a studio for. So for about $300 total cost, I have a 2 BR at a resort that is at least equal to DVC other than being on property.

 

[littlestar]

We own DVC points and two other timeshares (one being a Marriott). We like staying onsite when we do the Disney parks. But some trips we stay off site at either an Orlando Marriott or Sheraton when we just want to kick back and relax at the resort. The Marriotts have a lot of resort activities that the DVC resorts don't offer, plus they have better cable movie stations and if we're doing a nonpark trip, sometimes being off site works out better for us. I really like the Marriott Revive mattresses for comfort while sleeping. But I enjoy both, DVC and non DVC for different reasons. If you don't care about being onsite, DVC is pretty pricey compared to what else Orlando has to offer.

For us, it really depends on if it's an Orlando/Florida trip or a Disney park trip.

 

[dvcmommy]

It is possible to trade into DVC for Christmas....I just traded my Sheraton PGA week (that I bought very cheap via resale) for a 2 bedroom at Saratoga Springs December 19-26. Agree that this is not likely, but it is possible!

 

[Brian Noble]

Wow! That's a great exchange.

 

[jodifla]

Hi gang, I'm still looking at buying DVC esp. the 100 AKV points buy in option. While continuing to think it thru, it occurred to me that some of you might own other timeshares that can easily trade to Orlando (maybe some of the nicer ones like Orange lake or the HGVC), so why did you buy Disney? Is being on site that important, do you really think the DVC resorts really offer as much space, amenities, service are comparable or better?

Thanks.
-N

We almost NEVER go for 7 days at one DVC resort.

We like the flexibility that DVC offers...we do long weekends, we do Sun-Thurs., we do a night before a cruise, two nights after a cruise, we do a studio on Friday and Saturday at Vero Beach and then switch to a 2 bedroom for the rest of the week at WDW....

NONE OF THAT can be done with the traditional timeshare model.

 

[Brian Noble]

There are other point-based systems that provide much of the same flexibility. Wyndham comes to mind (though they do have minimum stay reqeuirements in peak seasons.)

 

[Dean]

We almost NEVER go for 7 days at one DVC resort.

We like the flexibility that DVC offers...we do long weekends, we do Sun-Thurs., we do a night before a cruise, two nights after a cruise, we do a studio on Friday and Saturday at Vero Beach and then switch to a 2 bedroom for the rest of the week at WDW....

NONE OF THAT can be done with the traditional timeshare model.

As noted, there are many options that would allow that type of visit including Bluegreen, Wyndham, Hilton and RCI points. Plus for many places you can often get a full week just as cheaply as a few days including trading in to DVC.