Disney Vacation Club

So, If I wanted to join this is there a presentation on the ship with some freebies?

Also, is it worth it? What if I spend all this money and 10 years down the road I need to sell it, can I?

Anyone who loves it? Anyone who hates it? Let me know.

I don't know if they do a presentation on the ship.

We purchased in 1998, added on in 2002. Sold the add-on in 2004 and then sold the original contract this year. It was a good run and we got our monies worth--however we paid half of what points are selling for now. We sold as we don't think the resale market will continue to support the prices it does now, and we just weren't using it enough since we moved to Florida and our son became an adult to warrant keeping.

In my opinion, only you can determine if it's right for you.

There is a presentation on board the ship.

We went to it about 5 years ago and there was a drawing at the end of the presentation for a $200 room credit. But since there was only 2 of us attending we voted ot just split the OBC. I know they offered some kiind of bonus points if you booked on board.

For us it was NOT worth the price. For what you need to put down, maintenance fees, to get your points it was way too much. If we put in the saving each year what we would have paid them, even for the lowest level we could do an awesome 1st class vacation anywhere we wanted.

Yes you can sell it, how ever if you google right now for vacation club memberships that are for sale there are thousands of them. So if you really decide you want to join, look to buy there instead of on the ship for a much better buy. We know people who paid half the price on buying from people who needed to get out from under their payments in this recession.

In fact there was a huge article about a year ago where Disney themselves bought back about 560 million dollars worth back to keep their assets up. If they hadnt done that so many for sale would have devalued their DVC memberships tremendously. You can google and find this information.

I had it saved for months on my computer but no longer have it.

I know that they do have a special DVC cruise with special events for members at least once a year.

Best thing i can say is look it up on line to see prices people are selling them for. Go to the seminar on board and listen, ask questions and then go back to your room for a cooling off period to do the math and see what it would cost you for the level of points you would need for a nice yearly vacation.

Then do the math on what you would pay without the membership for that same vacation

. Then make up your mind. They are great salesmen, so reguardless of what they say, take a cooling off time to to do the math yourself.

Good luck with your descision

If you're considering buying on the secondary market, look up the recent rules changes that reduce some of the priveleges for these buyers.

According to past Navigators, DVC does have a presentation on the ship. I am a first-time DCL cruiser so I am not sure what the freebies are.

I am a DVC owner at Kidani for the past two years and what I can tell you is that it is wonderful for me and my family. We bought into Kidani Village (love it and will be there pre-cruise next month). DVC worked perfectly for our family for several reasons. 1) We have three small children (6yo twins and a 3yo) so we have a long time that we will benefit from the timeshare. 2) Each time we travelled we had to book two rooms because my mom always comes with us. We were paying a small fortune for each trip just for accomodations each and every trip. 3) My kids don't eat the typical things offered on room service menus so a full kitchen always comes in handy. I no longer have to cross my fingers that I will get a mini-fridge or microwave in the room b/c I get that and more. 4) Lastly the level of accomodations that DVC affords you far surpasses what you would get in a regular room. On our trip last October we had a 2 bedroom, 3 bathroom suite with full living room and a verandah that ran the entire length of the room with a parade of zebras and giraffes every morning. FABULOUS!!!

We were lucky we purchased on the resale market and got a good price for our points. We have same rights and priviledges that owners who purchased directly from DVC have. Unfortunately Disney recently changed the rules for those wishing to purchase shares on the resale market. New resale owners can no longer use their points for DCL and some other high-end hotel collections. They can only use their points for DVC resorts. So, in my opinion, buying on the resale market no longer has an advantage. I just wished we had picked up more points before they changed the rules.

I hope this helped. As you can see I am an avid fan of DVC. Afterall, that is how we are traveling on DCL next month. Good luck.

DVC sounds like all the dime a dozen time shares. Nothing wrong if you got a couple hours to go listen, learn and get a few freebies. Just make sure you do some research about time share/vacation clubs and really know that what they offer is for you.

All time share pitches offer teaser stuff if you buy that day, always sounds good; points, fees, etc. etc. Just make sure you know what the price is on the resale market.

Between upfront price, annual fees I really think you never do better than break even, really. Remember they are making a ton of money on this, that is why everyone is developing vacation/time shares. What I think all of these things do is force you to take vacations, a good thing! I bought and upgraded several times to where what I own is now two bedroom one week christmas value time timeshare. We split it often into three weeks of one bedroom. Got it, paid it, so I make sure I take it, man many timeless vacations. Honestly if I do the math I could have gotten condo's/hotels by the day for likely the same, but I know I'd have never done it. So in that sense priceless. NEVER consider it an investment. What you do is get first access to a certain clubs facilities! Its an investment in forcing you to plan vacations for years to come. SO be sure whether its DVC, Westin, Marriott, etc. that the home network is something you'll use often for years to come, transfer and exchanges are easy. Think it thru carefully as exchanges are never as easy as they make it sound...

So, If I wanted to join this is there a presentation on the ship with some freebies?

 

Also, is it worth it? What if I spend all this money and 10 years down the road I need to sell it, can I?

 

 

Anyone who loves it? Anyone who hates it? Let me know.

DVC sounds like all the dime a dozen time shares. Nothing wrong if you got a couple hours to go listen, learn and get a few freebies. Just make sure you do some research about time share/vacation clubs and really know that what they offer is for you.

 

All time share pitches offer teaser stuff if you buy that day, always sounds good; points, fees, etc. etc. Just make sure you know what the price is on the resale market.

 

Between upfront price, annual fees I really think you never do better than break even, really. Remember they are making a ton of money on this, that is why everyone is developing vacation/time shares. What I think all of these things do is force you to take vacations, a good thing! I bought and upgraded several times to where what I own is now two bedroom one week christmas value time timeshare. We split it often into three weeks of one bedroom. Got it, paid it, so I make sure I take it, man many timeless vacations. Honestly if I do the math I could have gotten condo's/hotels by the day for likely the same, but I know I'd have never done it. So in that sense priceless. NEVER consider it an investment. What you do is get first access to a certain clubs facilities! Its an investment in forcing you to plan vacations for years to come. SO be sure whether its DVC, Westin, Marriott, etc. that the home network is something you'll use often for years to come, transfer and exchanges are easy. Think it thru carefully as exchanges are never as easy as they make it sound...

I really can't disagree with a lot of what you said. Former owner but the only reason we sold is because our vacation style changed considerably once we became empty-nesters.

That said, as I mentioned earlier, we bought DVC at half the cost of what it is now--I want to think $58 a point for one contract and $63 for the other. We absolutely got our monies worth out of it when you factor in everything--cost of money (ie if we had put it in the bank instead what we lost in interest), annual dues, etc. We walked away with what we paid for the first contract at closing, and made money on the second contract. Probably unusual, but it was our situation.

Because we sold the first contract for the same price per point that we bought it for after 13 years, it cost us about $1200 in the cash we had tied up in it had we made a 10% annual ROI by putting the cash elsewhere. It also cost us about $9,000.00 in annual dues over that time period. So it cost us about $10,000.00 for 13 years of ownership. or $769 a year. That's the equivalent to three nights in a hotel room, and I can guarantee we spent a lot more nights than that.

Again, it's not for everyone, and people need to look at it from a financial standpoint rather than the "Disney Magic" emotional standpoint. There was no pixie dust for us, it was simply a sound financial decision based on our foreseeable travel styles.

That said, I'm not sure that in today's market it will make as much sense, so crunch the numbers--including the cost of money before you sign on the dotted line.

^^^

Meant "disagree" in the first sentence... Too late to edit. Sorry!

We brought into the DVC back in 93 and it was the best money we ever spent. We have used it over and over, having vacations at DL, WDW, cruises (even RCL back a while ago), sking vacations we could never afford otherwise.

Right now we are booked on the Fantasy and going to Aulani.

We agree it is not a finacial investment, its a investment in family time together, Disney Magic......vacations, etc.etc.etc....

I would not buy any points on the cruise..there is to much Pixie dust around for you to make a honest judgment if it is right for you and your family.................we took the tour/presentation at OKW...........took the papers home and did not pick them up for a month. We then reviewed everything.and frankly.......we signed the next day.

What ever you do.I hope you enjoy!

AKK

As to costing, you always need to cost opportunity cost, and the real measurement isn't money in the bank, its should be costed against some larger benchmark. No question the value statement beyond inflation there is also growing with time. Almost every timeshare/vacation club price I've seen have risen significantly in price ( I'm a sucker for the freebies and have attended too many presentations :o ) The balance is that for the price increase seems the number of facilities, the scope of exchange everything has increased as have their desire for more profit too.

For my family it become an "investment" in vacation time which is timeless and priceless. Without a timeshare I'd probably have never forced myself to take the many weeks away :mad: Also know as they kids start flying the coop, looking forward to continue our weekly holidays with even more bedrooms to house the kids and their guests to keep the tradition going :D

I really can't agree with a lot of what you said. Former owner but the only reason we sold is because our vacation style changed considerably once we became empty-nesters.

 

That said, as I mentioned earlier, we bought DVC at half the cost of what it is now--I want to think $58 a point for one contract and $63 for the other. We absolutely got our monies worth out of it when you factor in everything--cost of money (ie if we had put it in the bank instead what we lost in interest), annual dues, etc. We walked away with what we paid for the first contract at closing, and made money on the second contract. Probably unusual, but it was our situation.

 

Because we sold the first contract for the same price per point that we bought it for after 13 years, it cost us about $1200 in the cash we had tied up in it had we made a 10% annual ROI by putting the cash elsewhere. It also cost us about $9,000.00 in annual dues over that time period. So it cost us about $10,000.00 for 13 years of ownership. or $769 a year. That's the equivalent to three nights in a hotel room, and I can guarantee we spent a lot more nights than that.

 

Again, it's not for everyone, and people need to look at it from a financial standpoint rather than the "Disney Magic" emotional standpoint. There was no pixie dust for us, it was simply a sound financial decision based on our foreseeable travel styles.

 

That said, I'm not sure that in today's market it will make as much sense, so crunch the numbers--including the cost of money before you sign on the dotted line.

Research, Research, Research, for the amount of freebies there is some signficant advantages to signing at the moment, agree its all part of the sales package. If you can, grab the freebies, actually best to know you are buying when you go in. The only way you know is if you already know the going price for the competitors. Negotiate the freebies hard, they are like used car salesman, only worst :D

We brought into the DVC back in 93 and it was the best money we ever spent. We have used it over and over' date=' having vacations at DL, WDW, cruises (even RCL back a while ago), sking vacations we could never afford otherwise.

 

Right now we are booked on the Fantasy and going to Aulani.

 

We agree it is not a finacial investment, its a investment in family time together, Disney Magic......vacations, etc.etc.etc....

 

I would not buy any points on the cruise..there is to much Pixie dust around for you to make a honest judgment if it is right for you and your family.................we took the tour/presentation at OKW...........took the papers home and did not pick them up for a month. We then reviewed everything.and frankly.......we signed the next day.

 

What ever you do.I hope you enjoy!

 

AKK[/quote']

One night while in a crappy room at the Caribbean beach so-called moderate resort, I churned some numbers on my laptop while the kids slept. Figuring in the opportunity costs of the up-front points purchase and the annual maintenance fees, I figured that the DVC would cost about the same as an upgraded room offsite. So basically, I made a 50 year commitment that got me superior accomodations onsite.

Really though, to me theres a lot of intangibles. I seriously hate leaving Disney property once I'm there, trekking to "Realityland" kills the Disney mood. The DVC membershp allow us to stay in a one bedroom suite for a week every year or to do something else with Adventures or a swap. The 1 BR suits goes for something like $380/night if you were to pay cash. Since we bought into Saratoga Springs, DVC has opened resorts at Disneyland in CA, next to the Contemporary, Animal Kingdom, soon on Hawaii and the Grand Floridian Villas is still unannounced. These to me add more variety and value to my vacation choices while still being under the familiar and comfortable Disney umbrella.

There's a down side sometimes though. Occasionally Disney offers things like tickets or dining plan with resort stays. We can't get those.

It's working for us for now. With my youngest a senior in High School and no grandkids on the horizon, I'm curious to see how long this arrangement lasts. Perhaps I'll be vacationing with just my wife to Hawaii in a couple of years.

Thank you all. Keep the tips coming but it basically sounds like it is not about investing money but investing in vacationing at Disney every year....forever..

We are also long term DVC members and like Ducklite bought in at an absolute steal ($52 per point). It has been the right move for us, but it has got much pricier since we made the initial investment, as everyone else has pointed out. In terms of timeshare as a product, I do think that Disney is the best on the market: because of the resaleability, the way it has held its price, etc. One other important factor to remember is that DVC is probably the most desirable timeshare in the world bar none (or very few at least - I'm not an expert)... This means that if you do want to go somewhere else, it is very easy to swap out to a different resort. For the most part though, swapping points for other Disney hotel rooms (as opposed to DVC resorts) is a bad idea and not a good use of points, also you have to be very careful about the value if you are looking to spend points on cruises.

Having said that, I'm not sure I would buy in now at greater costs. Going back all those years, I would be the person getting a full copy of the documentation sent to my house, going through it with a lawyer and making sure it was right for me, not signing on the dotted line while onboard.

FWIW there is a DVC going up in Hawaii so you can go for the mouse even in "Paradise" So as long as the business plan is making money expect all vacation/time shares to continue to expand. Another reason choose wisely as to who you join and consider what your vacation needs are now, as well as 10 or 50 years from now.

For example if you go with a Hotel Chain you get access to not only their Condo/Timeshare but also often great conversion to their network of Hotels.

WOW, is Disney only 50 years. I thought US based were full lifetime ownerships, not such a good deal than. I know many foreign based can be 99 years or something like that.

... So basically, I made a 50 year commitment that got me superior accomodations onsite.

 

..

Perhaps I'll be vacationing with just my wife to Hawaii in a couple of years.

Thank you all. Keep the tips coming but it basically sounds like it is not about investing money but investing in vacationing at Disney every year....forever..

DVC has been exactly what we expected. We’ve been members since 11/2003 when the kids were 5 and 3. At the time, we were visiting WDW at least 2x a year and had been routinely visiting for a couple of years. Taking the emotions out of the equation, we would have saved significantly to purchase DVC 2 years before as we were mostly in the Home-away-from-Home facilities and ate breakfast in the room, packed lunch and came home for dinner each day (excluding the necessary character meals). It also gave us the comfort to come home for kids nap-time, have a drink and snack and have our own area as grown-ups and the same flexibility as if it was our home rather than a small hotel room.

In short, we purchased enough points at Saratoga Springs to reserve a 1 bedroom villa for a week during the season when our April school vacation is (our “average” trip). We’ve done all kinds of trips to WDW with the points, manipulating them for the best use of points/cash. For example, we’ve used the same # of points to get a larger room/better location in a more value period or a higher value period with less nights, etc.

Recently, now that the kids are older, we’ve taken our points and played the ‘save, spend, borrow’ scheme and put our points into the DCL. Thanksgiving this year will be our 4th cruise on DCL – first for the Dream. It’s a mix of DVC points and cash for the 4 of us but my wife has it down to a science – she knows exactly how much a trip costs in DVC points and what that value is in cash and how to work the system to get the best reservation period, use of points and spend the least amount of cash (if necessary).

Outside of moving points to DCL, we haven’t tried any of the other associated programs. We did look at moving points to RCI for a ski trip this spring but the cash value for a special they were running was cheaper out of pocket.

As far as selling, DVC retains first right of refusal and as you’ve seen from other posts there are a bunch out there in the secondary market. From my perspective, my wife and I are goofy enough (no pun intended) to retain the ownership and be very happy to visit WDW, or cruise DCL on our own or adventure to one of the many of other options. There is really no secret to the timeshare game – you are pre-paying for a future of vacations. DVC is a points-based program and your points have a certain value that you can use to measure against other programs, with very little limitations. DVC is also part of the Disney family – there aren’t may companies out there that focus so intently on customer service. I’ve never been disappointed by their efforts.

Listen to the presentation, remove the emotions and analyze the value for you and your family.

/Jeff

P.S. loans for timeshares are limited. I was lucky enough to have a credit union that had a signature loan (i.e. no collatoral), with direct deposit, that was a better rate than DVC was offering. You may want to check what is available prior to being on a boat in the ocean.

The only advice I would give you is to find out for yourself if it is of benefit to you and your family. When people heard that we purchased a "timeshare", everyone and I mean everyone had some criticism or other. And for the most part none of them had ever purchased a timeshare.

All I can say is that it has been great for us. Would I go broke purchasing one? Absolutely not but if you have the means and it seems worthwhile to you, do alot of research, think about it and then make a decision.

One thing I can say is that our Disney agent did not pressure us at all. We walked out of there, came home, researched everything including resale markets and got it for not much more than Ducklite did with his second contract.

I am not sure where you live but in Chicago and Long Island, NY they have a "Doorway to Dreams" store where you can see an actual 2 bedroom model of the room.. Right now I think they have an Aulani mock-up.

Best of luck to you.

Thank you all. Keep the tips coming but it basically sounds like it is not about investing money but investing in vacationing at Disney every year....forever..

LOL:D...well your said it in one sentence, what we all have been saying in paragraths:rolleyes:.................the key is research............see if its for your family.........*G*....Best of luck!

AKK

We're DVC members, too. We own two contracts, one at Animal Kingdom Villas, one at the Boardwalk. We bought our AKV contract direct from Disney when they were offering particularly good incentives, and we bought our BWV contract on the resale market before they changed the resale policy. We love our DVC. It does save us money, and we have no regrets about buying in.

DVC can make sense financially, depending on your vacation habits. If you go to Walt Disney World (or Disneyland) every year, every two years, or every three years, and you always stay on property in either moderate or deluxe resorts, you will save money with DVC. If you're happy enough staying off property or in value resorts, DVC will cost you extra money, and probably isn't worth it.

Because of the banking and borrowing policies, you don't need to go every year to make it worth your while. You can buy half as many points as you would need for a stay if you only go every other year, or a third as many points if you go every three years. Because it is a point system, you are not locked into a particular size unit, or a particular time of year. You're not locked into your home resort, either, you just can book there at 11 months. You can book at all other DVC resorts at 7 months, if the owners of that particular resort haven't already booked all rooms of the type you're interested in. It is easier to get resorts other than your home resort at some times of the year than others. (For example, you're not likely to be able to get into a DVC Epcot resort during food & wine festival in October if you don't own at one.)

If you try to buy on a Disney cruise, they'll almost certainly push you toward Animal Kingdom Villas, Saratoga Springs, or Aulani (if they clear up the current tangle and can sell it again.) Bay Lake Towers at the Contemporary is fairly close to sold out, all other DVC resorts have been sold out for some time (although they'll waitlist you for points they buy back on ROFR,) and they haven't officially announced the next resort at WDW, although most people think that's what the new construction at the Grand Floridian is. You will be able to get a much better deal on the resale market, if you don't mind that you can't trade out of DVC. (You can still use the other DVC resorts, you just can't use your point for things like DCL or Adventures by Disney. Which are both not great uses of points anyway, because the point cost is so high compared to what you can get rooms at DVC resorts for.)

There is a lot of information out there if you're seriously interested in DVC. Research it before you take your cruise if you're considering buying, so you'll be able to recognize a good deal if one happens to be offered, and you'll be able to easily walk away if one isn't.

We just sailed on the Dream last week. They do have a DVC presentation and we purchased. The cost is more than resale, but we purchased the minimum partly because we wanted the benefits they took away from resale. There were many offers depending on how much you wanted to purchase. It's not a pushy presentation, but it's upbeat and obviously all positive.

We did our research and have been looking into this for 4 years. It was a no-brained for us.

If you are planning to purchase at one of the resorts offered the cruise is a great place to do it as you will get the best discount/promotions offered and on board credit - and at the last few presentations I have attended, you also got 18 fast passes for WDW.

I have been a Vacation club member 4 years. I LOVE IT. what it comes down to is that fact you are staying in a deluxe hotel room for the price of a value. You have access to RCI and can stay at sosososo many different places with your timeshare. Disney is not going to go out of buissness, people will always want to visit Disney and if anything ever happened (tornado, hurricane Disney is going to rebuild. I have been on the magic 7 night and I have plans for 2012 to be on the Fantasy. I love the fact I can pick up and stay at Disney 1 day, 2 day 10 days and I am not locked into a week or an amount of days. Disney runs promotions like a free 4 day druise if you sign up or add on bonus of points but they do not wine and dine you like the other timeshares. The timeshares sell themselves. They are selling them because the keep building new timeshare hotels.

If you are planning to purchase at one of the resorts offered the cruise is a great place to do it as you will get the best discount/promotions offered and on board credit - and at the last few presentations I have attended, you also got 18 fast passes for WDW.

18? Wow. We only got four and they didn't work so they ended up giving us 8 more.

Another advantage of doing the tour at the resort is that you get to see the actual rooms. One look at the SSR 1BR and we were sold.