Potential new member Disney Vacation Club

[paoletti]

My wife and I are contemplating joining the Disney Vacation Club.
Does anyone have any warnings, cautions, or advice ?
We have 2 children, married and 3 grand children.
We all live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

[Synonymous]

You should post on the Disney Vacation CLub board- you'll hear all you could possibly want about DVC. Not many warnings, though; everybody seems to love it (I do).

 

[Debi]

This is a great post for the Disney Vacation Club board, so I am redirecting all further replies there. Hope you'll get the answers that you need!

 

[Rock'n Robin]

You'll love DVC. A lot of older people make multiple trips in a year. We only make one big one because airfare is a consideration--may be for you too. But next year we are doing 9 nights in July and not one cent for the hotel bill due to our DVC points! And the rooms are wonderful! Check the Disney website for DVC resorts and you can see some 360 degree photos of the rooms, etc.
Robin M.
Poly 6/2000
BWV 6/2001
BWV/VWL 7/2002

 

[garrett79]

Buying into DVC was by far the best decision we have ever made. We live close enough that we go almost every other month. We made the minimal point plan and have been able in our first year to get 12 nights for 150 points. We have been very lucky booking off of our home site and within the 7 month window ( our first trip home to VWL is June 02). The dues are always there but other than that I really cant see a downside.Good Luck and one last thing...buy where you plan to stay most. I have been visited all of them except HH and I truly havent found any problems at all.

 

[prncssjas]

Hi there! DH and I love our DVC membership. It's just us so we don't own a lot of points (not yet anyway...LOL! ) and only stay in smaller accomodations but enjoy being able to stay at nice deluxe resorts year after year. I know that DVC is not for everyone but for us, it works out great!! This board is a GREAT resource and if you like your DVC guide, he or she can answer tons of questions without a lot of sales pressure. Good luck deciding...hope to welcome you home soon!

 

[Cruelladeville]

Two warnings: if you buy into DVC those points quickly become "family" points, and that means that your kids will want to come along on all your vacations, so forget about being "alone". My other warning: buy more points than you think you will need, for the same reasons as I mentioned previously. But don't buy two contracts at once, because they are harder to get paid off ahead of your regular pay-off date, and believe me, you will want to get them paid off early, because you won't buy enough points, no matter how many you purchased. We have 350 points and my daughter has 250 pts, and we still need more points, since we all vacation at spring break and in July. It takes alot of points to have the whole family vacation at the same time!

 

[sgtpet]

save your money at this point. there are better uses with 15 grand in this slowing economy.

 

[Mary Ellen]

I would suggest that you call Disney, get an information packet -and go to a presentation if possible. Then you can crunch the numbers, ask questions here, and of your DVC 'guide', to come up with a decision that is right for you.

Even if you are planning on buying resale, it is still a good idea to go to a presentation. If you have heard the horror stories of other timeshare presentations, don't worry, DVC is REALLY no-pressure.

If you do decide to buy, the best suggestion we would make is - buy where you want to stay. As an example, we own at BWV and our favorite time is early December. This is a VERY popular time among members and does book up quickly. Making our ressies 11 months in advance isn't a problem for us - more anticipation of our next visit 'home'. However, if you would like to vacation then and are more of a last-minute planner type, or own elsewhere and are hoping to get space at the 7-month window, you could have a lot of difficulty getting in at BWV.

If you are planning on buying with the intent of only occasionally staying in a DVC resort and mainly trading elsewhere, another timeshare would probably make more sense $$ wise. From what We've seen on the re-sale sites, DVC has certainly held its value (we can sell for more than what we paid). The DVC annual fees don't appear to be out of line with other 'high end' timeshares (Marriott). While I don't know anything about them, there are PLENTY of other timeshares for sale at prices that appear to pennies on the dollar of what the original buyers paid. There appears to be something for everyone. That said, we believe you get what you pay for and we've been very happy with DVC.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Dean]

Get information and follow this board. If you go to WDW about yearly, generally stay on property, like having space and privacy and can go for 5-7 days at a time (or avoid weekends); DVC will likely be great for you. The same applies to the other DVC properties of HH and Vero Beach.