?DVC membership

[disneynutz]

Disney can be really expensive and DVC locks you into repeated Disney vacations. If that is what you would do anyway then DVC can save you money on your room.

Using 300 points at BCV, over the 30 years remaining on the contract, it will cost us, 2 adults, around $250,000 for our vacations including DVC/Disney costs, food and travel. A larger family can spend much more and of course staying at a deluxe WDW resort on cash would be even more.

Bill

[SCarolinamom]

Originally Posted by myxdvz

How does the 22,000 factor in. Coz at 320 points that's a bargain @$68/pt direct? Or was that just 2 yrs worth of MF?

I am sorry, wow you can tell how tired I am. for the 320 points it is 44000.

[myxdvz]

Originally Posted by SCarolinamom

I am sorry, wow you can tell how tired I am. for the 320 points it is 44000.

Wow, that is a lot of $$$ I hope you're not financing. 320 might also be too much if you don't think you're going to do Disney every year.

We did enough points to travel in a 1 BR EOY (170) but ended up doing WDW every year by stretching our points and travelling off season. We are at a point that I think an add-on (150) is in order though so who am I to say?

So I guess my point is - don't be afraid to start small. Make sure you have enough (including baking and borrowing). You can always add on later. By that time, you'd know the ins and outs of DVC.

[JimMIA]

Originally Posted by SCarolinamom

We have 10 days to decide.

Originally Posted by Brian Noble

If you have any doubts at all, you should rescind and do a little more homework.... Better to learn that before your contract drops in value by thousands of dollars, and that is exactly what will happen when your rescission period ends.

What Brian said.

You don't seem to know what you bought, and you surely do not understand how the system works, what it is/is NOT, etc.

You need to cancel your purchase and start over.

If you want to buy a timeshare to exchange into other timeshares through RCI (the exchange service DVC uses), the first thing you should understand is that exchanges are not the best value in ANYbody's timeshare system. If you are determined to exchange anyway, you can buy better timeshares for that purpose on eBay for $1 and have unlimited access to the entire network of RCI resorts -- rather than <600 out of more than 4,000 that DVC's limited portfolio gives you.

If you want to buy DVC, you can buy DVC resale for approximately 1/2 what you are paying buying direct from Disney. You are paying $137.50 per point and can buy resale for far, far less than that, depending on which resort you are purchasing.

Two things about the "benefits" you are getting for buying direct:

1. ALL of the things you are getting are "perks." They can be withdrawn from you with one swipe of the Mouse's pen...just like they were from resale buyers.
2. They are VERY expensive, low-value options for DVC points.

Rescind and research.

[ELMC]

Originally Posted by SCarolinamom

I am sorry, wow you can tell how tired I am. for the 320 points it is 44000.

Actually, you are asking two separate questions. The first is whether or not DVC is a good purchase for you to make. The second question that you didn't ask is whether you should buy direct or resale. On the resale market those same 320 points would likely cost you about $19,000.

The bottom line is that neither of these questions can be answered in 10 days. I would cancel the contract purchase and research DVC until you feel capable of answering questions on here and not just asking them. Only then will you truly feel comfortable with your purchasing decision. Good luck!

[Deb & Bill]

Originally Posted by SCarolinamom

I am sorry, wow you can tell how tired I am. for the 320 points it is 44000.

The other question: What resort did you buy? If they sold you Aulani, will you go to Hawaii that often? Aulani has pretty high dues.

You know, you could almost buy two cars for the price of your DVC points direct from Disney.

I don't know why they keep pushing 320 points these days. We do have 325 now, had 500 at one point, but started out with 175. We've sold two contracts totaling 175.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by SCarolinamom

My husband and I were just on a disney cruise with our kids. My husband went to the DVC meeting and became very interested about the membership. We love disney but don't see ourselvess going there every year. what we loved about the membership is the ability to go to other resorts all over the world. I have been reading postings and my head is swimming. I hear no one talking about the other non disney resorts out there. Are they good accommodations. Can you get reservations easily? I also hear a lot about your buy in hotel. I thought you could get reservations at any disney property it didnt matter where your buy in was. Currently 160 points is 22,000. maintence fees are 1800. Anyone who can give some feedback it would be very helpful. We have 10 days to decide.

It's really very simple. Buying DVC makes sense ONLY if you plan to use all of the points you buy at DVC resorts routinely would stay in a moderate or above and can pay cash. While there are some other nice options, they are no guaranteed, often very hard to get and usually far overpriced. That someone got a good HI option doesn't mean you will and the truth is, you likely won't but if you did you could get it cheaper with better options with other choices. IF buying makes sense, retail only makes sense for very small purchases or resorts not available otherwise (GF). Buying DVC to cruise or for RCI are extremely poor choices.

I'd cancel and spend 6 months of active investigation to see what truly works best for you and your family.

[k3chantal]

Originally Posted by bumbershoot

That's not right; that would mean per point dues are over $11, and there is no DVC resort that has dues that high.



I believe DVC currently trades out with RCI, right? My mom and stepdad owned RCI a while back, and they, even owning it, had a HARD time getting anything good. The resort they got into in the Bahamas, for their honeymoon, was horrible. They tried for a year to get me a reservation in Ireland, and were unsuccessful. They finally sold it after not getting into a single place they *wanted* to get into for a period of years.

Maybe it has changed between then and now, but it sure soured me on RCI! And having to trade out there, pay $95 for them to even look for you (as I understand it)? Ick.

If I wanted RCI, I'd just buy into RCI.

Just wanted to clarify....it's only 95 dollars if you actually make the reservations and trade your points; NOT just to look. Looking is free if not time consuming.

[a742246]

Financials aside.

What do you want out of this timeshare (dvc)? What would be your ideal "hope"
for a vacation? Where would you want to stay? Have you ever went to WDW?
You have two teens are they into Disney? Can you book in advance? What do you see your vacation plans for the future? There are many other questions you can ask yourself.

For us... Disney works out great, it forces us to take a vacation (now 2x a year). Our children are all grown, we now have family vacations together in Disney (great place for family vacations). We invite friends when we have extra points. Overall we are very happy.

Our timeshare feels more like a second home. We know what to expect.

I agree with the other posts in that you may need more time to research your purchase. As I mention before you can always rent points from someone and sample before buying.

I don't know if you are aware but in the next year Disney will have a new DVC
built in the Grand Floridian. So DVC is not going anywhere....

[chalee94]

Originally Posted by k3chantal

Just wanted to clarify....it's only 95 dollars if you actually make the reservations and trade your points; NOT just to look. Looking is free if not time consuming.

i think the other poster might mean you have to pay to do an ongoing search.

hunting through what is currently available at RCI is fun, but for the most part, you're just going through the leftovers after the online searches have matched to new deposits.

(i'm assuming DVC owners can put in an ongoing search - haven't tried it.)

[tigergrad]

We have been interested in DVC for many years. Up until last year I had never heard of resale. The cost of buying direct really scared us. We did not want to finance and saving that much money would have been tough. We were a family of 5- me, DH, DD, DD, DS and took trips to Disney every other year or so. After a few times of staying off-site, we finally stayed on-site and said we would never stay off-site again. We prefer to stay at the deluxe resorts. As the kids grew it got more expensive. Now we have added 2 DSiLs and a DGS. We knew 160 points would not be enough. When I found out about resale, we began to save and eventually had enough to by a contract without financing. We bought 255 SSR points with 170 banked for $55 pp. We have enough to take a trip every other year or let the kids go on their own when they want. We have a son who plays high school football and I teach so our vacations are usually limited to those schedules. But when he graduates and I retire we can go anytime. Love that about DVC. I am waiting for my membership information to book our first trip "home." We don't care about using points for vacations anywhere but DVC resorts so resale was the best for us. Good luck in your decision.

[Lynne M]

Originally Posted by JimMIA

If you want to buy a timeshare to exchange into other timeshares through RCI (the exchange service DVC uses), the first thing you should understand is that exchanges are not the best value in ANYbody's timeshare system. If you are determined to exchange anyway, you can buy better timeshares for that purpose on eBay for $1 and have unlimited access to the entire network of RCI resorts -- rather than <600 out of more than 4,000 that DVC's limited portfolio gives you.

This is so well put and so important.

OP, it kind of all boils down to how you plan to use DVC. If your primary use will be regular stays at DVC resorts, but you'd like to have the option to trade out maybe every 5 years or so, there's nothing wrong with using your points for an exchange.

If your primary interest is the exchanges, with only occasional stays at DVC resorts, you've bought the wrong timeshare.

I've been trying to think of a comparison...let's say you want to listen to your local AM radio news station. You could:

1. Buy a $10 transistor radio at Radio Shack.

2. Buy a $300 iPhone and put a radio app on it. You'll never use the iPhone for anything but listening to that radio station, and you only get the radio stations that are in the app, not all the ones you could find on the transistor radio.

Well, the iPhone idea would work, but it's not really what an iPhone is for. And it's one heck of an expensive, complicated, roundabout way to listen to AM radio.

That's kind of what buying DVC to trade out is like. It's not the primary purpose of DVC. It'll work, but it's staggeringly expensive compared to buying another timeshare, and you only have limited exchanges to choose from.

[JimMIA]

Originally Posted by k3chantal

Just wanted to clarify....it's only 95 dollars if you actually make the reservations and trade your points; NOT just to look. Looking is free if not time consuming.

If you are just looking at current availability, you indeed will spend a LOT of time looking. You will have to be both patient and lucky.

Your odds of finding what you actually want will be greatly improved if you use an "ongoing search," which is basically RCI's version of a waitlist.

However, if you initiate an ongoing search, you pay the $95 and the points are gone forever. If you don't find a match, you can change your search criteria completely and still use the deposited points, but you don't get the points back if you find nothing.

DVC/RCI users should also understand that you pay additional $95 charges if you change an exchange reservation in any way.

[ToddyLu]

Rescind, research and rent (you can rent a DVC vacation from a broker or Member) to decide over a few months if it is right for you.

A one night trade to stay at a resort outside of Asheville was 70 points A NIGHT! For one person to travel to Ireland with ABD was 400 points.

DH and I only have 210 points at AKV so that is where we stay--we use DVC for only Disney.

[ELMC]

Originally Posted by Lynne M

This is so well put and so important.

OP, it kind of all boils down to how you plan to use DVC. If your primary use will be regular stays at DVC resorts, but you'd like to have the option to trade out maybe every 5 years or so, there's nothing wrong with using your points for an exchange.

If your primary interest is the exchanges, with only occasional stays at DVC resorts, you've bought the wrong timeshare.

I've been trying to think of a comparison...let's say you want to listen to your local AM radio news station. You could:

1. Buy a $10 transistor radio at Radio Shack.

2. Buy a $300 iPhone and put a radio app on it. You'll never use the iPhone for anything but listening to that radio station, and you only get the radio stations that are in the app, not all the ones you could find on the transistor radio.

Well, the iPhone idea would work, but it's not really what an iPhone is for. And it's one heck of an expensive, complicated, roundabout way to listen to AM radio.

That's kind of what buying DVC to trade out is like. It's not the primary purpose of DVC. It'll work, but it's staggeringly expensive compared to buying another timeshare, and you only have limited exchanges to choose from.

Great analogy!