If you knew then what you know now?

[yasuern]

I would have bought all our points through resale

We bought 300 points VWL in 2000? and at the suggestion almost inistance of our guide Kelli Jo we split this into 2 150pt contracts. Then we got the bug and needed MORE POINTS - we found this board and through The timeshare store bought 2 okw contracts one of 190pts the other 210pts and the highestprice /pt(210 pt contract) was $64/pt - I beleive I spent $74/pt through Disney 1 year earlier

Sue

[phyllisnnj]

Originally Posted by dizneed

We're seriously thinking of buying into DVC and I have a couple questions that haven't really been answered. I've read through this topic and several others on this message board and others.

1 - From what I've read, it seems to be very difficult to use points at places that are not Disney. Is it more a matter of the points seeming to be worth less outside of Disney, or is it truly difficult to get reservations at the other places listed as part of the World Passport collection?

2 - If you're not particularly fussy about staying at a particular DVC resort and you're able to be a bit flexible with your dates, is is possible to book a vacation within a 3 month window? For instance, if in June you decide you'd like to visit in Sept/Oct for 5 nights, or in Nov you try to book a Jan/Feb vacation, is that possible? Or are you pretty much locked out of anything unless you book 7-11 months in advance?

We are probably looking at visiting Disney about once every couple years. We are also skiiers (though not so much lately) and might consider using points one year to do a ski trip at one of the resorts that are listed in the plan. Has anyone done that?

These old threads might help you.
NOTE: Most of these threads talk about Interval International (our old exchange company;we now use RCI) however the general exchange discussion still applies.

Using DVC Points for Non-Disney Resorts Question - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1882244
How do you determine if owning is "right" for you? - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1886784
Hardest Resorts to Get 7 Month Reservations - http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2087333
Dvc??? - http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2083681

Also the Disboards has a DVC Resort Reservation Availability Forum. This might give you an idea of what may be available in the 3 or 4 month window but please read the "READ ME" STICKY at the top of the forum - http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=168

I won't count on getting a ski week during high season. If it's a high demand ski resort and/or ski location most owners will either use their week(s) or rent their week.

Good Luck

[dizneed]

thanks phyllis, I'll take a look at those topics you mentioned!

It's funny, we looked into the DVC during a visit in 1996 (our 3rd WDW trip at that point) but my husband was dead-set against it as he thought of it as a time-share, plus the offerings at that time were far less appealing (I believe those were pre-Boardwalk days)

But had I realized that I'd be taking trips to WDW every three years (always staying on-site at the Polynesian and more recently the Dolphin/Swan) we would be staying practically for free now!

Our 3 kids are more or less grown (18 - 24 yrs, all still single) but still love the idea of a WDW vacation and I like the idea of DVC membership because it will in a sense force us (I guess "encourage" would be a better word) to do a family vacation that everyone will be enthused about. So my questions have less to do with whether to buy or not, and more to do with just how many points would we need/use and at what resort.

There certainly is a great deal of information to digest, and these boards are a great resource. Thanks to all!

[Golden Rose]

We started from a roughly similar situation. We started looking casually at DVC years ago, too... and dismissed it because it was a timeshare. We continued to go to WDW almost once a year (with a two year hiatus because of the birth of DS. We always stayed at Deluxe resorts Concierge level (in our case, BC, BW, or GF) and we almost always got either two rooms or a suite because DM enjoyed travelling with us. We looked at DVC very seriously in 2006, and decided we would probably buy in some day (once we'd finished expanding our family - we knew we'd either be doing IVF or adopting and either route was going to use a substantial amount of money.) Even after we knew we wanted to buy in, we took two pretty elaborate vacations. We were planning a third when we realized we were being "penny wise and pound foolish", as my grandfather used to say. Planning to buy in "some day" and continuing to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on hotel rooms just didn't make sense.

Instead of a fall trip last year, we put our trip off to January and bought DVC. We bought one contract from Disney and one resale. I would do either again, depending on the deals and incentives currently offered. Buying from Disney was much faster and easier and we have already enjoyed using up our developer points. Considering that we would have spent at least $3000 on the amount of space for the amount of time we got for using the developer points, I don't think it was a bad deal at all. (We saved ~$2000 on the contract we bought resale, and it was fully loaded with banked points, so we didn't feel like that was a bad deal, either. It was just a headache dealing with it.)

We will echo the sentiment that we wish we had bought in earlier. We had the money to do so, we just weren't convinced it was the right time for us. We now think we were wrong :-) I know there are a lot of people who are unhappy with the direction DVC has gone in the last couple of years, but it makes a lot of sense for some people, including us.

We did buy where we wanted, or at least were willing, to stay all the time. We had heard that advice enough that we knew we wanted to follow it.

We did not buy with the intent of trading out often, if ever. We like to cruise, so we plan to continue to take cruises. We like Hawaii, but not the long flight with a little kid, so we've put Hawaii on hiatus, anyway. (If DVC ever does finish the Hawaii property, we'll be buying enough points for a two bedroom ocean view villa for a week+ once every three years.) We have access to an adequate, if not fabulous, beach nearby, anyway, so beaches aren't a huge deal to us. We'll probably try Vero Beach at some point, just for a change, but it won't be any time soon. We bought our points to stay at WDW, and that is almost certainly what we'll use them for.

I don't know about how much luck you'll have scheduling "last minute" trips. We sort of looked into it last fall, and we couldn't find enough consecutive nights to make it worth our while. (We're not into switching rooms nightly... no more than one room change per trip for us.)

[phyllisnnj]

Originally Posted by dizneed

2 - If you're not particularly fussy about staying at a particular DVC resort and you're able to be a bit flexible with your dates, is is possible to book a vacation within a 3 month window? For instance, if in June you decide you'd like to visit in Sept/Oct for 5 nights, or in Nov you try to book a Jan/Feb vacation, is that possible? Or are you pretty much locked out of anything unless you book 7-11 months in advance?

One more thing I forgot to mention in my previous post....

If your travel dates are tied to a school calendar and you are only planning to stay at WDW during peak travel times (anytime the kids are out of school), you may have some difficulty finding availability within a 3 month window.

I don't recall if the old threads that I provided above stated this, but if you always plan to book less than 7 months in advance then it doesn't matter which DVC resort you own (onsite or offsite). The priority booking window for home resort owners would have ended. Starting at the 7 month mark, everyone has equal access to book at any DVC resort.

The general rule with any timeshare (including DVC), reservation requests are processed on a first come/ first served basis. The best results are achieved by making reservations as far in advance as the reservation window allows. Flexibility with travel dates will also impact your success.

[crisi]

Originally Posted by phyllisnnj

If your travel dates are tied to a school calendar and you are only planning to stay at WDW during peak travel times (anytime the kids are out of school), you may have some difficulty finding availability within a 3 month window.

Some other strange times are hard - early December and October book pretty solid pretty early. In fact, summer is usually better than either of those two times. Events you don't normally think of if you aren't a participant can cause strange blips - the marathon is a good example - people who go to Disney every year for the marathon sometimes choose to own DVC for that trip - and can create tight availability in January - a strange time of year and if you aren't a runner you don't even think about that being a draw. Jersey Week - if you aren't from Jersey it doesn't occur to you that a lot of DVC members go that year every week. It doesn't even occur to folks in the Midwest that people in New Jersey have that week off school.

Also, it depends on what you are willing to accept in terms of availability. Sometimes there is a studio on Monday at BCVs, a one bedroom Tuesday and Wednesday over at SSR, and the rest of the week is available in a OKW one bedroom - if you are willing to move mid trip there will be more availability short notice than if you want to stay in one room.

[JimMIA]

Originally Posted by dizneed

We're seriously thinking of buying into DVC and I have a couple questions that haven't really been answered. I've read through this topic and several others on this message board and others.

1 - From what I've read, it seems to be very difficult to use points at places that are not Disney. Is it more a matter of the points seeming to be worth less outside of Disney, or is it truly difficult to get reservations at the other places listed as part of the World Passport collection?

Well, that is kinda hard to say right now, because some options just changed from II to RCI. It probably remains to be seen whether that is a long-term plus or minus. Certainly the value is usually better at onsite DVC resorts, but I think knowledgeable exchangers can probably do fine. The remark I hear a lot is that there are other timeshares that cost less to purchase that exchange as well as, or better than, DVC. We bought DVC strictly to stay onsite in DVC resorts.

As some others have said, staying onsite may be an overrated value in our particular case. I think it's more important for people who fly in than for those of us who just have a short drive to WDW. We now find that we eat almost all of our meals offsite, so the onsite advantage is not really as big a deal as before.

Obviously, the onsite advantage varies a good bit depending on where you stay and which parks you frequent most. The Epcot resorts are very convenient to Epcot and DHS. VWL and BLT are very confenient to MK. We spend most of our time at MK and Epcot, but we also find driving to the parks only takes a few minutes and the convenience of easy return to our resort outweighs any time spent driving, parking, etc.

2 - If you're not particularly fussy about staying at a particular DVC resort and you're able to be a bit flexible with your dates, is is possible to book a vacation within a 3 month window? For instance, if in June you decide you'd like to visit in Sept/Oct for 5 nights, or in Nov you try to book a Jan/Feb vacation, is that possible? Or are you pretty much locked out of anything unless you book 7-11 months in advance?

We rarely book at 11 months, and probably only would do so if we were going at a peak time. We don't normally do that, and we often book inside 7 months even at our home resorts. Our normal visitation months are May or early November, and we have not had a problem. My daughters routinely book inside 3 months and have always been successful because they are flexible.

Certainly if you are planning a visit any time between Thanksgiving and New Years, you need to book very early. If you want a specific type of unit which is short demand (a GV, or a particular view), you'll have to book right at 11 months. Also, the Epcot resorts are very difficult to get during F&W Festival, and as Crisi mentioned, there are some quirky periods where you'll have more difficulty than you'd expect.

[dizneed]

THANKS for all the comments, as I may have mentioned either here or in another topic, I'm pretty sure we'll buy something in DVC, the bigger question is how many points and where (once I realized I could go thru a resale market and not have to purchase the minimum 160 @ BLT)

it's good to know that the exchange/trade route is not as easy or beneficial as I'd thought from the DVC presentation, so I won't purchase additional points on the assumption that I can always use them on a visit elsewhere

So now I just think I need to learn more about the relative benefits of BWV vs. BCV and Use Year and those things, I know there's a few threads on those topics so I've got some reading to do!

[Adams Mom]

I'd have given more thought to my use year, kids are growing up and schedules are getting harder to match.

I'd also have bought earlier, and more points. The price of points goes up every year, sometimes more often.

[gtrain219]

1. I would have split my contracts up. Just in case I want to sell later.

2. I would have looked at other properties. Now that I know the other properties better there are a few I might like to buy.

3. I would have considered resales. You don't get incentives but you can find cheaper prices.

[JimC]

1. Purchase contracts in 100 and 50 point amounts. Easier to sell and more flexibility to adjust ownership levels as your needs change.

2. Buy based on what is most important to you -- location, cost, dues, theme, expiration, whatever. Ownership location is really important if you want to buy from Disney or if you need home resort booking advantage. Otherwise, best long term value is probably the guiding principle.

3. Use year is important relative to canceling vacations and having alternatives such as rescheduling and banking to save the points. It is a good strategy; however, vacation patterns change over time. Especially true as children age, you become empty-nesters, grandkids arrive, and the like.

[ILuvMulan]

Ditto!!!! We are very new (haven't even made our first trip yet) but I wish I had known that when it comes to selling and bequeathing it is all or none. We have three kids so we would have split contracts so we could leave points to each child

[ILIKEWDW]

I would wanted to buy earlier....... .............

wait a second!, No I would not, because of BLT..............

we love MK and BLT is the best resort for us, so even when it would be good to be members years ago and save all the money of our past vacations, maybe we would not enjoyed it at all as we always have stayed at MK resorts.

So, I am Ok and so happy, thanks for BLT!!!

[Sandisw]

Originally Posted by ILIKEWDW

I would wanted to buy earlier....... .............

wait a second!, No I would not, because of BLT..............

we love MK and BLT is the best resort for us, so even when it would be good to be members years ago and save all the money of our past vacations, maybe we would not enjoyed it at all as we always have stayed at MK resorts.

So, I am Ok and so happy, thanks for BLT!!!

Exactly where I am now. Would have loved to buy in earlier but always stayed at the Contemporary and knew I would be happy in no other place. BLT was the best magic I could have asked for!!!

But, to answer OP question, I would have paid more attention to UY for my resale contract. Got an October UY when we vacation in summer. Didn't think it would make a difference but realized when I was adding on to BLT that I didn't want those points to be tied to that UY. Luckily, I was able to get them to sell me my BLT points with a June UY. I have 2 UY's now but that will be only for a while.

My plan is to sell my VWL contract (it is small) in a few years, after I get a few vacations out of it, and add on more points at BLT with a June UY. Hopefully, I won't take a huge loss.

[rigsby25]

Originally Posted by cheezNE1

That is so true- I think we have become "Disney People" as well. I want to try other places, but since we already have DVC, why pay for other vacations. I did book a trip to VB this year and try not to go to the themeparks. But the Star Wars week is the week I'm gonna be at VB and I'm so tempted to renew my AP so I can be there. Was gonna wait till my BLT october trip, but.....the
Oh no, we've become Mouses....

DON'T DO IT!! We had the same idea. Go for a change of pace. And we fell in love. Its almost like "the island". There is nothing to do and no reason to leave. We go to Publix and get lunch meat and stuff for snacking, etc. But between the ocean and the pool, and just sitting on your balcony relaxing and looking out into the ocean - its heaven. A lot less expensive than disney too! The ocean is the main attraction and its free.