Is DVC worth the cost for us brits?

[mrtoffee]

Hi all, im trying to work out if DVC is worth buying into. We are a family of 4 and go to disney every 3-4 years for 3 weeks. Can you roll the points forward or do you have to use them up each year?

Many thanks in advance for the help

 

[JohnW]

You can bank points into the next use year and you can borrow points from the next use year. So, the most points you can use are three years worth if you use them in the middle of three years e.g.

Year 1 - bank all points, use none.
Year 2 - use year 1's banked points plus year 2 points plus points borrowed from year 3
Year 3 - No points available, all used in Year 2
Year 4 - new year's worth of points available

 

[mrtoffee]

Many thanks for that, it could be worth it after all

 

[wideeyes]

be aware that DVC have the right to stop banking and borrowing if you buy with the intention of borrowing and banking points. I am not sure how likely this is to happen however it is in the contract.

 

[sullyandsid]

Given that DVC is a long term investment - I think you kids and their kids will thing it will be worth every penny. So many happy memories to be made.

 

[mrtoffee]

be aware that DVC have the right to stop banking and borrowing if you buy with the intention of borrowing and banking points. I am not sure how likely this is to happen however it is in the contract.

Thats cheeky and would most likely mean we wouldn't be able to do DVC. We love disney but also like travelling to lots of other places, so won't be going every year.

The other thing i am having problems getting my head around is the whole home resort idea, does this mean that this is the resort we would always be staying at?

 

[Hilary]

The other thing i am having problems getting my head around is the whole home resort idea, does this mean that this is the resort we would always be staying at?

In theory, yes. In practice we sometimes stay at our home resort; often we don't.

Using your points to stay at any of the DVC resorts is another 'perk' that Disney could decide to withdraw. I'm not aware that there has been any indication that they will - in the same way that banking and borrowing could be withdrawn but there's nothing to suggest it's being considered at the moment. I suppose for contracts that run 50 or so years, Disney have to write in all sorts of contingency plans to protect themselves and the way the DVC system may need to work in the future.

At the moment you can use your points to stay in any of the DVC resorts, subject to availability. You have a home resort advantage of being able to make a reservation at your home resort 11 months in advance of your stay; reservations at non-home resorts can be made 7 months in advance. So you gain a 4 month headstart on your home resort availability.

The general advice is always that the sensible/safe thing to do is to buy where you plan to stay most, or where you would be happy to always stay if you were restricted to home resort reservations only. But the sensible/safe thing to do isn't always the most appealing

 

[UKDEB]

Always articulate, succinct and helpful. Ever thought of becoming a mod, Hil?

 

[Hilary]

Always articulate, succinct and helpful. Ever thought of becoming a mod, Hil?

 

[mrtoffee]

Many thanks Hilary, i think we will go on the tour when we are in wdw next year and take things from there.

 

[hunty]

I bought in 1997 (wow 13 years ago Now) My kids were 8 - 10 years old.
we bought into OKW, and I still believe it was one of the best investments we made, yes the Annual dues in January are still a reminder I have to pay towads Disney, but I still believe its worth it.

We have had some great holidays normally going for 2-3 weeks every 2 years in a 2 bedroom place, we have stayed in different locations but always prefering OKW

Even now its the only holiday my 'kids' still want to come with us.

I never did a cost justification when I bought I saw the quality of disney and the prospect of having different holidays every couple of years even planned one day just me and my DW will go away for 3-4 weeks at a time (still waiting that one)


If I was to go back in time, would I change what I did - yes I would of done it sooner!

 

[mark&sue]

The only thing that surprised me was the price of flights, as previously not noticed when taking a package. we never seem to get cheap flights (I won't fly indirect as hate taking off and would pay not to do it more than once each way!)

Good luck in deciding


susan

 

[mikki.young]

You can use DVC points to travel elsewhere in the world, currently through RCI. Got to admit we have never used this option but it got tempting a time or two.

I may be wrong but I didn't think the staying at another DVC resort was a perk. I thought they would alays be allowed even if the 7/11 rule changed a bit. The perk was the option of staying at other Diney resorts and that has changed a few times over the years.

Having said all of the above I don't think I would consider buying at the moment in your circumstances, not least because of the dreadful exchange rate.

 

[LaurenT]

If you do take the tour, be sure to have the name, home town and guides name of a DVC owner...if you decided to buy, you'd get a substantial discount for being "referred" by a current owner (and that owner would get a little something too!)

 

[Hilary]

I may be wrong but I didn't think the staying at another DVC resort was a perk. I thought they would alays be allowed even if the 7/11 rule changed a bit. The perk was the option of staying at other Diney resorts and that has changed a few times over the years.

Ah, that may be right - sorry if I've been misleading on that point.

Having said all of the above I don't think I would consider buying at the moment in your circumstances, not least because of the dreadful exchange rate.

Had to smile at this one because we bought in July 2001 when the rate was around 1.4 or even 1.3 (LOW, anyway!). With hindsight, a poor financial call, but I still feel we've had great value from our points

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We thought about DVC ownership a few years ago and had a full tour around Saratoga Springs Resort and a few phone calls following on when we were back home.

We were very tempted, despite the fact ideally we prefer an off-site villa for many of our holidays.

I suppose a few things really stopped us taking it further, firstly I didn't think (and still don't) that it was a significant financial saving, especially in the short term.
Also having to go in school holidays makes the flight prices expensive and didn't want to commit to the yearly annual dues payment.
If we were going to buy we probably should have done many years ago, as we have been 13 times in total so far, with the cost getting higher there is a possibility we may restrict our holidays over the next few years.

Having been fortunate to have gone so many times, we are obviously getting older - not THAT old I might add - and finding the long flight harder each time, even Julie who before meeting me was not a nervous flyer at all is liking it less & less.

Ultimatley the BIG reason we haven't bought is with Joshua's autism there is no chance he could go after me and Julie decide enough is enough, so there is no long term ownership possibility, I suppose that comes back to the point where we should have bought years ago, if we were going to do so.

*I realise my reasons are unique, but I will post them anyway*

 

[lynnemcb]

We bought DVC in 2003 just before youngest son was born. Don't think there was any savings for us as we never stayed onsite before that and probably would never have stayed at the more expensive resorts. However our holidays are fab and I just love all the DVC resorts so am glad we took the plunge.

We do go every year though just now even if its just for a week and I dont think I would have bought if I was going every three years. Never seems like I want to pay for another holiday if Ive got points available for Disney and Ive already paid the dues.

Another bit to think about is when you would be going as there has been free dining at the times of year we've been there for the last few years and I think again that would diminish the value of DVC if travelling in the Autumn

We have only stayed at one of our home resorts once - Vero beach - as the other time we booked it was cancelled due to a hurricane, so i dont think its a problem to book another resort. Unless of course they change the terms of the contracts and then we're snookered>

Lynne

 

[UKDEB]

If you do take the tour, be sure to have the name, home town and guides name of a DVC owner...if you decided to buy, you'd get a substantial discount for being "referred" by a current owner (and that owner would get a little something too!)

Due to the timeshare legislation in the UK, this perk isn't available to us.

 

[Elise79]

We bought DVC last year. We have been going to WDW once or twice a year for 4 years now (and we went a couple of times before we bought our first house)

We bought in becuase we want to keep taking our DD (who is 20mths) and we decided after one stay at CSR with her that we don't want to deal with buses to every park for a while!

We started looking at how much it would cost to stay at the Contemporary (our deluxe of choice) and then quickly realised that we could do very well out of DVC.

If we were only looking at going every 3 years I don't think we would have bought, every other year probably.

I think a lot of the value comes from where you would stay if you didn't own DVC.

 

[mikki.young]

Had to smile at this one because we bought in July 2001 when the rate was around 1.4 or even 1.3 (LOW, anyway!). With hindsight, a poor financial call, but I still feel we've had great value from our points

I was lucky enough to buy at $2 : 1 and when the cost was very low. I think it is the combination of bad exchange rate and a price more than double what I paid that probably influences me - especially if only using it once every 3 years. I'm with you, I have had tremendous value out of mine, far more than a marriott timeshare we bought near DLRP a few yaers later.