Disney Vacation Club Questions

[cmor42180]

alright i dont really post a lot although i am reading everything.... but anyways, im starting to seriously consider the disney vacation club, especially if the rumors about a contemporary resort being built are true. im probably not going to be able to buy one for 2 or 3 years (i got a wedding and all that coming up with a disney honeymoon.....maybe a dvc one if i can get it by then) but i have a few questions if anyone who is a member could answer for me.

i usually book all my trips through my travel agent and do the whole trip disney, stay on property and all that, now is the vacation club something you can still book the same way? or do you have to piece together everything? and if disney is offering a promotion, like the free dining, can you still qualify for it if you book your trip during that time? do you get discounts on park tickets and all that for being a member? and can you set up your park tickets to be the room key just like you have when you stay on property?

any help would be great, i sent for my dvd already and i dont really want to sit through a salespitch so im looking for any help/ info without actually having someone try to sell me on the idea.....its disney whats there to sell???

and if someone has info on the costs (financing and yearly fees) please let me know

thanks in advance

 

[Ausdaddy]

Try the DVC forum, Here.

:wave:

 

[ktrevarrow]

My family joined DVC 11 years ago. My husband and I purchased our DVC membership about three years ago and we are really enjoying it. Through member services, you can book your airline tickets, car rental, rooms, park tickets and dining reservations. I don't believe that you can still qualify for the free dining or promotions as a vacation club member, but they recently added the dining plan to the list of things that are available. Regarding discounts, the only park ticket discount is on the annual pass ($100 off). You do get discounts at some restaurants and shops, as well as discounts on some of the backstage tours. They give you an updated list when you check in. When we bought into Saratoga Springs, we bought the minimum points- 150 and the cost was about $12,500. It is a 40 year membership. You can finance it over 10 years. Our finance rate was 9%. There are also yearly maintenance fees, which are usually around $625 for our point level. Overall, we are really happy that we did it.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I joined last year. IMHO its a decision based from the heart not the head. Yes I know it will pay for itself in around six years, but I have comitted to visiting WDW to make it pay. You also dip out on the free dinning and other deals. Also if you wish to stay at anything other than a DVC resort your points dont go very far.

In short I think its OK, nothing more or less.

 

[Master Yoda]

I am not a DVC member but I can answer a few of your questions. First go on the tour. It is in no way a high pressure pitch. I can honestly say that I had a great time on the tour. When it came time to say yes or no and I said I need to think about it the cast member made me a package of all the details gave me his card said I could call him with any questions and then offered me transportation to anywhere on property. No "What can we do to get you to buy today" or any of the usual high pressure crap just the typical excellent Disney attitude and service.

There are a number of DVC discounts on AP's, tours, shopping etc and I am pretty sure they can handle all of the Disney arrangements (tickets, dinning etc). I Don't know about airfare but it would not surprise me if they did.

The only reason we did not get DVC is it did not really work well with out our typical Disney trips. We do many weekend trips (about 10 to 12 per year) and few to no week long trips. Points values for rooms on Friday and Saturday night are nearly double that for the rest of the week. We also stay primarily in moderates. I have heard from many people that a good tell if DVC is right for you is at least 1 week stay per year at a deluxe resort. From my research into the program this seems to be pretty accurate

There are a number of DVC members on this board and it won't take long for them to chime in and answer the rest of your questions.