I'm looking into the DVC (within the next year) and I was wondering if you guys could tell me the pros and cons of it and how it differs from other timeshares.
I will be going at LEAST once a year for the next...well, however long I'm alive.
I don't really get the "point system" all that much...and how do you know how many points to purchase???
Pros:
DVC will save you money IF
1) You go for about a week about once a year - at least
2) You can schedule your vactions well in advance (it really does not make financial difference, but DVC tends to fill up in popular times, and last minute bookings may not be available)
3) You stay in deluxe level resorts (or want to stay in deluxe level resorts)
Of course, the more cash you put down up front and the less you finance, the better your savings (as you are not paying interest)
Your vacations are budgeted. You will have your loan and maintence payments. Once your loan is paid off, all you will have is your maintence fee each year.
Cons:
You are "sort of" limited as to what resorts you can stay in. There are a number of DVC resorts in WDW, plus Vero Beach, Hilton Head, and the one under construction at DL in California. You can use your points to stay at just about any resort on property, as well a dozens of hotels around the world, plus the Disney Cruise. The reason I say "sort of" is because there is a $70 transferr fee to use points at a non-DVC place and if you do the math, the dollar value for the number of points you spend is not worth it. It's "cheaper" to pay cash. However if you happen to have a bunch of points that you are not using and you don't want to rent them out, the option to do something beside Disney is there.
Now, how do points work ?
You buy a number of points. Your buy-in and your maintence is based on the number of points you have.
Each room has a point "cost" based on a number of factors
Resort - Some resorts are more than others
Size - Bigger rooms "cost" more
Day of week - Weekends (Fri and Sat nights) are more than weekdays
Time of Year - Just like "normal" WDW rates, there are different seasons (DVC seasons do not match up with WDW seasons)
So how many points do you need? That's hard to say. It depends on how many people are in your family (room size) and how long you plan on staying.
The minimum buy in of 160 points will get you a studio for a week each year. Or possibly a 1 BR for up to 6 days, depending on resort and time of year.
You can also bank points for up to a year, and borrow points from the next year, so if needed you could have three years worth of points available as long as you did not go anywhere the year before or after.
Hope that helps, any more questions just ask. Maybe soon you will be "Welcomed Home"
-dave
Oh, you can also buy more points to add on at a later date if you find you are needing them on a regular basis. Also you can pay cash for rooms if you do not have enough points. Lets say you had enough points for 6 days, but wanted to stay 7, you can pay cash for that extra night.
