DVC Members Resistance

[Todd L]

We get a little frustrated with the whole thing too.

What seems to work best for us is buying an Annual pass and taking Two trips within the year . Then we take 18 months off and start the whole process again.

We save a Ton of money by getting two or three full weeks out of an Annual pass .

we will take a Trip to Universal during the 18 month Disney Break.

We also stopped using the Deluxe Dining Plan...way too frustrating to make all the ADRS 6 months in advance.

We go with the Regular plan now and make one or two sitdown meals during our trip.

I cant imagine spending a whole week back and forth to Universal and not even getting the benefit of the skip the line pass...

 

[dreamfinder]

I do have to comment on the driving to the parks. It is much easier and quicker when we rent a car or drive to WDW. The buses do suck most of the time. One would think our dues on points would also ensure not having to wait 30+ mins for a bus?!

Except your dues are primarily for the upkeep and maintenance at the resort. And the buses should be running on a roughly 20 minute cycle. When they take longer it is often due to things beyond the bus drivers control like have to load/offload ECVs and the like. While no one likes just missing the bus and having to wait another 20 mins, it's not really fiscally responsible for them to run more often. With the exception of park open/close, the buses almost never run full, and added more buses just makes it worse. They end up running buses that have 1-2 people on them, it's bad for the planet, and bad for their pocketbook.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I never saw or heard of a contract that guaranteed a 1 week usage?. If fact our does say the point will be realigned to maximize resort capacity, which also keep dues down as possible. The total amount of points does NOT change.

Like Gregory73, we go to WDW about every 2nd or 3rd year for 8 to 10 days and do cruises and outside resorts as we wish and can afford. Careful Timing and unit size seem to make things work well.

The DVC is the best money we ever spent.

AKK

 

[dreamfinder]

I never saw or heard of a contract that guaranteed a 1 week usage?. If fact our does say the point will be realigned to maximize resort capacity, which also keep dues down as possible. The total amount of points does NOT change.

At Aulani and Grand Floridian they offered guaranteed weeks at something like a 10% premium over just the cost of points.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

At Aulani and Grand Floridian they offered guaranteed weeks at something like a 10% premium over just the cost of points.

Then I stand corrected...........!

AKK

 

[BryanB]

We've been members since 2011, and have just purchased additional points through a Disney Resale Company (wish we had bought our initial points through that route, we could have saved a small fortune) we found we were enjoying it so much that we wanted to go more than once a year. We have never had a problem getting a reservation, and with the fast pass system, putting some "priority" on our ride choices, we've never experienced the horrible lines that so many complain about. One thing we do when scheduling is check out the historical attendance calendar on dadsguidetowdw, it has been pretty accurate in it's crowd forecasting, last trip was a bit more crowded than we expected (Cheerleader convention), but not bad. I don't think we've ever waited more than 20 minutes for a ride. Last time we used the new bands and online fast past scheduling, and found it awesome! No more racing to the Fast Pass kiosks when the gates open. We have the app on our phones and you can schedule or change them on your phone, it even has maps so you can choose your fast passes and route them so your aren't going from one side of the park to the other to use them. Cool stuff. Initially we did find the food prices a bit crazy, then they changed the policy to allow you to bring food and drinks into the park (Of course about this time we noticed the ticket prices went up). Right after we get there we make a trip to the Publics or whatever Grocery is close to our resort, plan our meals and bring snacks for the kids, or if we drive bring the bulk of the food with us. We try to eat out a few times, gotta have my Fish and Chips at Epcot, and the requisite "Turkey Leg", and at least one nice dinner at Downtown Disney. I guess it comes down to how much you enjoy Disney. I have 2 older college age kids, and a 2 and 5 y.o., my older kids enjoyed it the first couple of times, and then had the "been there done that" attitude, the younger two have many years of "magic" left. I think as the older two get out of their "hormonal" years they will enjoy it more, especially Downtown Disney as young adults.
My wife and I enjoy it as much as the little ones, and I guess that is the key. If you don't, buyer's remorse will set in. It is going to be a great legacy for my kids, and Grand kids. I just wish "The Wonderful World of Disney" was still on TV on Sunday nights (right after Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins narrating while Jim was taking down the cheetah or wrestling an alligator) for my kids to watch like we did when I was a kid. Now that was "Magic"!!!

 

[Ralphlaw]

I agree with the "years of Magic" idea. Many of us bought DVC when the kids were young, the place appeared to be huge and magical, and time could be spent with several rounds on Small World and seeing the characters and princesses. Then the kids grow up, teenage years become less magical, and suddenly the place doesn't seem to have limitless options any more. You also become reluctant to pull the kids out of school, so you end up going, if you go at all, at crowded times when school is off. And those teens, they seem to need more money for food, souvenirs and "special" experiences like surfing at Typhoon Lagoon, which they still aren't excited about. Gone are the days when a character lunch was non-stop excitement, and seeing Pluto was an event.

And then, gee, you start to ask if going every year during a peak time like Christmas or Spring Break, or a ridiculously hot summer, makes sense. It's not as fun anymore, and a whole lot of "Been there, done that" takes over your mindset. That's about the time the annual dues statement arrives, and, boy, maybe we should sell.

Yup, it happens. And all those yearly specials with free dining and all the other etcetras . . . make you wonder why you own. And the lines seem longer, the busses more crowded, and nothing was as good as it once was.

Parents do this all the time, never thinking about the family out-growing certain fun times. Cottages, campers, recreational equipment, all get bought in total ignorance of the fact that some day far sooner than you can imagine they'll all be gone and you won't be going to such places or doing such things anymore. Face it, once they're out of the house, will you really get together for a WDW vacation?

With that being said, I just bought a net 140 more points, and we'll keep on going. In fact, several times a year I calculate how long my wife and I could stay, just us, at a non-peak time once the kids are gone and we start pushing toward retirement. Three weeks? A month? Yeah, for now, we'll plan to keep on going.

Bottom line: Splurge and go now. Blow the money. I took the family on a 12 night Mediterranean cruise on the Magic last summer, and we're going to the Baltic in 2015. They'll be gone soon, so go now.

 

[BigTxEars]

I agree WDW sucks and people should stop going....

On a totally different matter I am taking donations of any and all un-used or unwanted points.

 

[Tusportsfan]

As a DVC member since 2003 - we have thoroughly enjoyed our "magical years" in WDW while my daughter was younger. Though as my daughter has gotten older, we've noticed that some of the resort's deficiencies are more noticeable and we have spent less and less time in the parks. What was a twice a year trip (and sometimes more) in now running at least every three years (or more). Some of that is naturally limited by school work loads - but not all.
Disney corporate still has my money and my points - but WDW won't. Our money (and points) have gone to Hilton Head, Disneyland, Aulani and DCL - and will be again - simply because we feel we are getting more value for our vacation dollar - and more of an experience.

Maybe if Orlando is the one piece of the company showing negative returns, problems will be addressed - but I am not sure.

 

[BigRedDad]

My mom went to a DVC spiel and almost bought in until I ran the numbers for her. We were staying at a DVC room at AKL at the time. We knew what we paid another DVC owner for it. I showed her the break even point of the investment and it wasn't until 30+ years down the road. She would be in her 90s if she would live that long.

For us, it simply is not cost effective. In every single instance of DVC rentals and other timeshare rentals we get, it has always cost us less to go than the maintenance fees owners pay. It is a hard sale to me to have me pay more directly to the company than I can get from someone else. My current buy is for $1200 for 240 points basically. This is through an RCI exchange where people trade in very cheap Wyndham Points. The owner is making ~$300 off of it. For DVC members owning in BWV, this is $1400 based on the 2013 maintenance fees. This is what I would be most concerned with as a DVC member.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

My mom went to a DVC spiel and almost bought in until I ran the numbers for her. We were staying at a DVC room at AKL at the time. We knew what we paid another DVC owner for it. I showed her the break even point of the investment and it wasn't until 30+ years down the road. She would be in her 90s if she would live that long.

For us, it simply is not cost effective. In every single instance of DVC rentals and other timeshare rentals we get, it has always cost us less to go than the maintenance fees owners pay. It is a hard sale to me to have me pay more directly to the company than I can get from someone else. My current buy is for $1200 for 240 points basically. This is through an RCI exchange where people trade in very cheap Wyndham Points. The owner is making ~$300 off of it. For DVC members owning in BWV, this is $1400 based on the 2013 maintenance fees. This is what I would be most concerned with as a DVC member.

Not sure what owner would rent out his/her points for $5 as the going rate is $12-14/point. Must have been hard up to use or lose. Don't expect to get that every time.

 

[BigRedDad]

Not sure what owner would rent out his/her points for $5 as the going rate is $12-14/point. Must have been hard up to use or lose. Don't expect to get that every time.

It was not a DVC owner. RCI trade in winds up being cheaper than what DVC owners pay. The person on got the reservation from is someone that does this as a job. They have millions of timeshare points, rent out their timeshares at a profit of a couple hundred at at time. They buy up timeshares that go for nothing, like some Wyndham resort in Oxnard Arkansas with 1,000,000 points, $1000 a year in maintenance fees, and can get 2 weeks of rentals at a DVC resort for $2000-$3000.

 

[note2001]

It was not a DVC owner. RCI trade in winds up being cheaper than what DVC owners pay. The person on got the reservation from is someone that does this as a job. They have millions of timeshare points, rent out their timeshares at a profit of a couple hundred at at time. They buy up timeshares that go for nothing, like some Wyndham resort in Oxnard Arkansas with 1,000,000 points, $1000 a year in maintenance fees, and can get 2 weeks of rentals at a DVC resort for $2000-$3000.

You used to see these trade-ins on eBay all the time from RCI as a side business some folk have. They're still there, but far less frequent, identifiable by the solid week time-frame in which they fall. I'd like to see Disney put a stop to the practice overall, but doing so would probably mean dropping the option to trade out. I wonder what portion of the DVC owners would really care.

My first DVC rental was through a very nice DVC owner who was having some financial troubles that year and I paid her dues up for her in exchange of use of her points. It was an amazing trip, for an amazing price, so I can see where you're coming from. Disney runs beautiful properties, and getting a great trip for cheap is addictive. I did rent several more times, but not having control over my reservation directly bothered me, so I bought in. I am a fanatic when it comes to my finances, and have not regretted my decision one bit.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

It was not a DVC owner. RCI trade in winds up being cheaper than what DVC owners pay. The person on got the reservation from is someone that does this as a job. They have millions of timeshare points, rent out their timeshares at a profit of a couple hundred at at time. They buy up timeshares that go for nothing, like some Wyndham resort in Oxnard Arkansas with 1,000,000 points, $1000 a year in maintenance fees, and can get 2 weeks of rentals at a DVC resort for $2000-$3000.

Hmm, OK, but you will never be guaranteed of getting what you want at the time that you want. Obviously, you can get lucky, but I have heard that lots of people trying to trade in are not having much luck.

 

[GoofGoof]

Hmm, OK, but you will never be guaranteed of getting what you want at the time that you want. Obviously, you can get lucky, but I have heard that lots of people trying to trade in are not having much luck.

Having access to several timeshares available to trade-in via RCI we were never able to get a DVC resort when we wanted to go. We stayed twice at the Hilton Grand Vacation property next to Sea World both times instead. It's a nice place, but driving back and forth was a drag for me especially taking an afternoon break. I'm sure if you are very flexible with dates and resort you can find a trade in. That is not the case for me.