PDA

View Full Version : Disney Vacation Club?



junglejoy
06-04-2005, 04:03 PM
Has anyone signed up for this? We went to the spiel today at the BOB (Big Orange Building) next to the DLH (got to see some cool cakes because Wedding Planning is in that buiding). I was wondering if it works as seamlessly as explained? I know only we can decide if it's worth the price, so I won't ask that, but just want to know if anyone has signed on and if you're happy with what you get.

TIA!

Terri
06-04-2005, 04:12 PM
good question...I'm interested too...

Shortiemetoo
06-04-2005, 05:14 PM
My ignorance is showing...can you give a brief synopsis of what it is??
Thanks!

Mark Goldhaber
06-04-2005, 08:50 PM
The Disney Vacation Club is Disney's take on the traditional timeshare. Instead of buying accommodation x during week y every year, you buy points to use as you see fit. Point values vary based upon accommodation type, property and season. Example: 1 week at Old Key West in a studio during January will set you back 80 points. 1 weekend night in a 3 bedroom Grand Villa at the same resort during Christmas week will set you back 162 points. I believe that the minimum buy-in is 210 points, at a cost of $95 per point, if I recall correctly. In addition, you can bank one year's worth of points to the following year (if you do it by a certain point in the year) or borrow points from the next year.

Your best use of points is for stays at the Disney Vacation Club resorts. Using the points at other hotels at Walt Disney World are probably the worst use, value per point-wise. If you wish, you can use points for Disneyland, Disneyland Paris (as efoxx and wfoxx are currently doing) or the Disney Cruise Line. There are also hundreds of resorts around the world that you can exchange to.

We've used our points to stay in a 1 bedroom for fifteen nights, we've stayed at a lovely resort about an hour or so from here for a wonderful Valentine's weekend, we've frequently stayed in 2 bedroom accommodations to bring friends or family with us, and August will be the second time that we use points to stay at the Grand Californian. Oh, and one time we used some banked and borrowed points to bring a group of 23 people to stay in three 2-bedrooms and a 3-bedroom Grand Villa for 5 nights.

If you've got any further questions about DVC, search the WDW forum for "vacation club" and I'm sure that you'll get plenty of hits. Feel free to ask any questions, and if you decide to check it out, tell 'em I sent you. ;)

Mark, DVC member since 1995 :)

Shortiemetoo
06-04-2005, 09:06 PM
Wow!!! Thank you Mark for the great answer to my question!!! Sounds like an awesome idea. I think I will do some more research on this one!!! :)

junglejoy
06-04-2005, 09:51 PM
Thanks Mark! That's what I wanted to know. Since we live in the West it may not be the vest value for us, but today while we were meeting with the salesman I sure wanted to be a member!

A couple of questions about your Grand Calif stay (if I can convince DH to do this, most of our points will probably be used at this hotel). Do you have to pay anything while there, like the resort fee? And I read that you can't use points for certain properties during the last 60 days of your point years? Does this mean if I bought points in June that I couldn't go to GCH in April or May?

Thanks for the help. I really want to do this. Now if DH agrees we'll be in Florida before we know it!

Lanmon
06-05-2005, 07:39 AM
Has anyone signed up for this? We went to the spiel today at the BOB (Big Orange Building) next to the DLH (got to see some cool cakes because Wedding Planning is in that buiding). I was wondering if it works as seamlessly as explained? I know only we can decide if it's worth the price, so I won't ask that, but just want to know if anyone has signed on and if you're happy with what you get.

TIA!
We have been DVC members since 1994 and just love it! We live in San Diego and have used our points with trips to Disney World, Scotland, Hawaii, San Francisco, New York City and Disneyland. We even went on the 7 day Disney cruise! We have not had any problems getting accommodations anywhere. The DVC staff are wonderful people.

You get treated very well. You meet alot of people from all over the world who are members too. When we check in we are "welcomed home" by cast members.

If you attend other timeshare meetings and you will hear that Disney is the best because of the numerous options and locations to go. You are not locked into a certain time of year...we go on our vacations during Christmas, summer time etc.

We like the option of saving or borrowing points too.

Hope you join DVC...and welcome home!

Mark Goldhaber
06-05-2005, 06:11 PM
A couple of questions about your Grand Calif stay (if I can convince DH to do this, most of our points will probably be used at this hotel). Do you have to pay anything while there, like the resort fee?
I believe that all costs are included. (It's been four years since the last time we did it, so I'm not 100% certain.) Note that, if you compare the number of points per night at the GCH vs. the number of points per night at a DVC resort, you're paying a HUGE premium to stay out there. The only reason that we're staying on points is that we really want to go out there this year, but we need to conserve cash a bit. Otherwise, it would probably be a better deal to pay cash.


And I read that you can't use points for certain properties during the last 60 days of your point years? Does this mean if I bought points in June that I couldn't go to GCH in April or May?
It's true that you can't book and use points for most non-DVC properties during the last 60 days of your use year. However, if you book more than 60 days from the end of your use year, you can travel within those last 60 days. From the DVC members-only web site:

You cannot book and travel on The Disney Collection, World Passport Collection (excluding Interval International® exchanges), Concierge Collection and Adventurer Collection vacations within the last 60 days of your Use Year. However, you can travel in the last 60 days of your Use Year as long as you've booked your stay more than 60 days before the end of your Use Year.
I believe that it's related to the fact that, if they swap you over to another location, they need to be able to resell or trade those points before the end of the use year so that the room doesn't go empty while you're staying away from a DVC resort. But you should also know that you should be able to pick your own use year, so you can set it in such a way that you're not likely to run into such scheduling issues.

gengar25
06-07-2005, 05:31 AM
The Vacation Club is a membership that starts at 14,700 (Disney finances this for 10 years :) ). Then there are yearly dues that run about 570 year and they can go up because it is like a property however in the 14 years they have been around there has been only a 4% increase. You are purchasing a deed that is good until the year 2054!! They do have open houses that run about an hour where they explain everything to you and the best part is they don't force you to buy anything.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that who so ever believed in Him would not perrish but have ever lasting life."
John 3:19