Why do people like the DVC resorts?

[fla4fun]

But, if we are in a one bedroom villa, we just toss the towels in the dryer. After all, they are just damp, not dirty.

EEEEWWW! Anyone know how to sanitize a clothes dryer? I'm not putting my clean clothes in a dryer that's had used towels in it!

 

[jcanary]

DVC is for Disney lovers. We were one of the lucky families that bought within the first year 92 of the DVC starting. There was only one resort then, now known as OKW. We received free passes which ended 12/31/99. That was an added bonus for sure. Everyone has already expressed the most common reasons why you would consider the vacation club. One of the benefits that has made some of the best memories for us, is that it allows us to share our vacation memories. With the ability to getting larger accomodations we have taken family, including my mom when she turned 75(and never been to disney), to Disney for the first time. We have spent Christmas there with my family and then we spent new years 2000 with our immediate family and friends from Maine. The friendships we have created is also invaluable. We don't stress as to how much will vacation be this year. The points required will never change. As MiaSRN62 said the points required during certain time of the year can change, just like Easter is a very busy time of the year and those dates vary year to year. Our kids, now 26 and 20, love it at the DVC resorts. My husband's favorit resort is OKW. I look forward to bringing my grandkids there some day. We are a spoiled family thanks to the Disney vacation club and the accommodations.
Also one of the reasons that we bought, we were there for my daughter's big 5th birthday trip which was for 10 days and when we looked at what we paid for our accomodations, Poly conciege with a castle view, food plan, etc, for another $6,000 we could have 50 years of vacations in great accomodations onsite. Yea that vacation cost me about $9,000 back in 1992, I would hate to see the price tag today!!

 

[minnie61650]

I am thinking of buying into DVC if they build one at the CR.
The North Wing at the CR is down, and rumor is the new building will be a 16 story DVC tower .
I would love to call that tower my "home".

However, some of my concerns about owning a DVC are:
1.)Weekend points are very high.
It costs a lot more stay on weekends when staying on points.
(That does not make since to me since Disney does NOT charge more to the public for their rooms on the weekend.)That is why so many DVC'ers split their stays.
I usually stay at least a week to 10 days but I do not want to split my stay so I will just pay the height point price. That means my return for my investment will be a lot less.

2.The fact I will need to book early.
The fact that in order to get my home resort and the room type I want for the dates I want I will usually need to book 8 -11 months before I travel. Any DVC'er can book at any DVC resort at the 7 month mark. If I decide to take a trip 3 or 4 months out my choices may be very limited.

3. The lack of Mousekeeping
There is no daily housekeeping unless I choose to pay to pay an additional $25-$50 (average charge during 2007) for the service.
DVC'ers also get a limited number of towels when they check in.
If they want more towels they need to pay for more.
Housekeeping will take out the trash and bring fresh towels every 4th day and
will come in on the 8th day to clean.
I enjoy fresh towels and daily Mousekeeping so I will pay extra for that convince. Now my return for my investment is even less.

4. DVC'ers have to pay Maintence dues.
These dues usually go up every year but it is my understanding DVC does not refurbish or even do routine maintenance of their rooms as often as Disney. I would think the DVC should keep their rooms in even better condition than a standard Disney room since DVC is collecting dues from every member to keep these rooms maintained.(JMHO)

It is reported that some of the rooms BC comes to mind are really in need repair. I guess it is harder to pull a DVC room out at the last minute for repairs than for Disney to pull one of their rooms out because of the way DVC assigns their rooms.

Just a few things I am thinking about while weighing my decision if a DVC will work for DH and I.

 

[Esmerelda]

Linda,

What's important to one person may not matter to the next. Your concerns are things I would never even think about. (and I don't mean that negatively either)

When buying points, we purchased enough to cover a weekend stay if we wanted. Its really not that big of a deal. One time we even paid cash for our Sat/Sun stay and saved our points (we got a DVC discount on our villa) This has never presented any issue for us.

Booking early? We have booked early (9 months out) and we have booked 8 weeks out before also. I guess it just depends upon which DVC resort you wish to stay at, we have never has any issues with this. Availability seems to always be there for us and we go in the summer months!

As far as mousekeeing; we really don't miss having someone come into our room everyday. We throw our towels in and wash them plus we have gotten extra before. For $5.00 its no big deal. Personally, I don't LIKE someone in my room everyday, things get stolen (and we have experienced this before) so I am fine with it as it is. There is a vacuum if you really need it in the closet also. We never really get a villa too dirty to be concerned with this?

Our dues are about $60 per month (for our contract). I do not feel that is a great deal to pay when you consider our return. We love the fact that we paid for this (DVC) and its available to us any time of the year. We have had no regrets...and no problems in nearly 4 years now.

Its a lot to take in, you have to outweigh your pros/cons..but for us there was no cons. No wait..thee was one..where do we want to add ponts on at?..LOL

best of luck,
E...

 

[MiaSRN62]

Once again I agree with Esmerelda.
Some people prefer concierge, turn-down service, daily mousekeeping. None of these things are high on my wish list. I, personally, see my DVC as my "home away from home". I like the washer/dryer in the room and see no reason to have housekeeping. If I want to sleep in until 11 am one day.....I don't have to feel any pressure of a housekeeper pacing outside my room waiting for me to leave. We do get trash and towel service on day 4 of our stay. This is the traditional way timeshares operate. We also have enough points to stay the weekends, but often choose to stretch our points out and get more stays out of our DVC during the year so we have no problem splitting our stay with another resort (DVC or non).

As for planning ahead......often times, even with the regular disney resorts you need to plan well in advance if you want a certain resort. I can tell you, the WL tends to sell out quickly---particularily the weekend nights. I am not talking about VWL (DVC), but rather just the disney room staying on cash. I've tried booking stays at the WL 3 months out and could not get all my days. Actually, I booked the WL for Aug 4-8 back in Feb. I just checked availability today and my dates are not available. So with any reservation and particularily during busy times, one must plan ahead at disney if they want a specific resort. Holidays, Food and Wine are going to be popular times.
But I've been able to get BWV, VWL, OKW, SSR at less than 60 days out. I got VWL at about 45 days out for this past Oct. BWV and BCV will be tough to get during Oct/Nov due to Food and Wine (though I found availability at BWV this past Oct). The first two weeks in Dec are VERY popular with DVC because this is when the points are the lowest. I even had trouble finding a regular disney resort for the first weekend in Dec last year. CBR was all that was available to me at 45 days out anywhere on disney property. This is not the first time I've had trouble finding disney resorts during Dec less than 3 months out. We've also used our points for disney cruises though it's not the most cost-effective use of points. But it's an option.
Like Esmerelda said, DVC is not for every vacationer. It's for those who like having a home-away-from-home villa type accomodations. Kitchen, multiple bedrooms, washer/dryer are what is important to us. So you have to ask yourself what your priorities are and go from there to determine which vacationing option works for you. We love our DVC.....it's like prepaid vacations until dh and I are into our 80's.

 

[holcomb-mania]

I'm 38, and theoretically my great-grandchildren will be able to enjoy WDW using my points, paid for over 40 years...YEARS...earlier. That's much more powerful than an MK view every once in a while. And as has been pointed out, my point requirements won't increase with inflation. In 40 years, at 2% per year, a $100 room at a value will be over $200 per night. And I'll be cooling out in my in-room hot tub at Kidani Village. For free.

Besides, you can use your points to actually...wait for it...GET one of those views. We've stayed at Poly and will stay at AKL using our points. You are not limited to DVC resorts. That is the most economical way to use points, but you can do as you wish with YOUR points.

 

[danielle782001]

It is a bit of a pain but there is a way to get a hotel that is not your home resort. This trick is helpful getting into the WL and Beach Club:

Call the seven months in advance of your check-out date- NO!

Call for every day of your trip. Instead of waiting for the end of your trip date, you call once a day for the entire week, booking one night at a time. So call seven months and one day after you will be arriving, then every day after that until you have booked the entire trip. Also when you call, tell them your ending date (they put a note on your account), making it easier when you call the following day. This worked for us the past two times we booked. There is more work involved but we got what we wanted. Hot resorts, hot dates, hot rooms.