DVC owners share your decision-making process please

I think that rule is outdated now. And I am not sure if it is now 50 points, or maybe even less. Our rep did not give us a hard time at all. Honestly, the DVC rep that I worked with was really great and helped me work through a ton of scenarios based on time of year we like to travel, number of nights, and our overall travel style. I let him know upfront that we did not want to finance the contract, that we only had about $10k to spend and that we weren't 100% sure how many points made sense to us given that we were an (almost) newly married couple without any kids yet. I spent many, many hours over several days on the phone, asking tons of questions. Though our talks, we decided that 55 points was a good starting point and that we could add more from there later on.

Thanks. When I researched DVC previously, there was no advantage to purchasing directly from DVC (direct and resale purchasers got the same benefits) and there was a higher-than-we-wanted points requirement. Now DVC has limited some of the benefits available through a resale purchase and apparently is allowing smaller direct purchases. I'm still leaning toward a resale contract but not as definitely as before.
 
Thanks. When I researched DVC previously, there was no advantage to purchasing directly from DVC (direct and resale purchasers got the same benefits) and there was a higher-than-we-wanted points requirement. Now DVC has limited some of the benefits available through a resale purchase and apparently is allowing smaller direct purchases. I'm still leaning toward a resale contract but not as definitely as before.

I just looked through my email contacts with the DVC rep and he said that there was a 50 point minimum. We purchased a little over 2 years ago, but I have a feeling that this hasn't changed. When we purchased, there were only a few benefits that resale purchasers did not get, but we still felt it was worth it to go through Disney directly for our first contract to ensure that we always had full benefits. Plus, we really wanted Poly and there were no resale contracts available since it had literally just opened. We plan that all of our future contracts will all be purchased via resale to save money.
 
One PP spent a lot of time discussing options with their Guide (salesperson). Don't assume every Guide will do this. I told my Guide what I wanted. He tried to talk me into something else. I stuck to my guns and told him to find out if I could buy what I wanted, and get back to me. He called me back and said I could buy what I wanted.

They may be on commission and might earn a bigger commission if they sell contracts with certain home resorts, I don't know.
 


We researched for several years before buying in. We chose to buy in at our favorite resort because that is where we like to stay the most. Use year is somewhat meaningless unless you have to cancel and rebook. DVC is great if you can plan nearly a year out, which we can. We chose to buy enough points to cover a couple weeks at least, as we like to stay long periods at once. We also have some wiggle room for quick extended weekend trips. Look at your budget, how long you will want to stay, and compare it to the points charts.
 
For years DH resisted buying a DVC contract because, in his words, "we are not timeshare people!". Then he heard Disney was building Kidani Village and being an animal lover like the rest of us he decided "why yes, yes we ARE timeshare people!" We purchased 180 points when available and then Disney offered us SSR at a discount. So we purchased 180 points there. We found out we don't like SSR so we use those points to stay elsewhere. We later bought resale contracts at BCV and VWL. We can travel any time of the year since DH is retired, my work schedule is fairly flexible and DS22 is disabled and "aged out of school". DD21 is in college and prefers to travel with her boyfriend. We have been able to use SSR points to stay at Aulani, Hilton Head and VGC in California.
 
We received an inheritance in 2008 and decided to buy 100 points via resale at AKV with a Feb UY. At the time, our plan was to travel every other year and stay in a 1BR savanna view over spring break. We had no intention of taking the kids out of school for vacations (but they were 5 and 3 at the time) and we also felt that buying a timeshare to use studios was silly. If we were going to buy a "vacation home", we wanted the amenities of "home"....kitchen, laundry, etc...even if we wouldn't use them a lot. We planned to drive down from Michigan (leaving Friday afternoon and arriving Sunday afternoon) and then returning Friday morning, arriving home Saturday night. This meant that we'd only have a 5-night stay at WDW and they would all be weeknights. The 1BR savanna view was 40 points per night in 2008, but in 2010, there was a point reallocation which bumped the weeknights up to 46 points. That meant that we could no longer go every other year under our current plans. We tried some split-stays, doing 2 nights in a studio and then moving to a 1BR for the last 3 nights. This worked out well and we adjusted our travel plans accordingly. We also realized that we really liked HHI as a "cheaper" alternative, so in 2011, we bought 50 points direct so that we could go for 5 nights over spring break every three years....

....but those plans have also changed...

Now, the kids are 14 and almost 12 and DH is "done" with WDW. He has no desire to go anymore and I love to go in October for F&W. So now, even though I still love my 1BR, I can take a friend or just my daughters and stay in a studio every year. The kids are doing great in school and they have a 3-day break in October so we have taken them out of school for fall vacations and we've found that we really like that time of year. It works with a Feb UY, but it certainly isn't ideal. After our trip to HHI this year, DH was really excited about going back. We have plans for our points through 2019, but after that, I can see our points being used for a studio in the fall at WDW and the rest being used at HHI.

To summarize...no matter how much of a planner you think you are, once you buy into DVC, you will find that your needs, tastes and plans will change. The great thing is that DVC is very flexible and can change with you to suit your needs and wants. The only advice I can offer is to be flexible and be ready to go with the flow, changing it up when needed. Don't rule out particular resorts, don't rule out room types and don't rule out split stays. Sometimes, you might be pleasantly surprised.
 


We purchased resale at SSR in 2011. We settled on SSR because it was the cheapest option in both initial price and dues. We can rarely plan at 11 months so to us it wasn't worth the premium to buy at a higher priced resort. We actually really like SSR but we rarely stay there. We have had good luck booking at 7 months but we know we have to be flexible sometimes.

We also didn't consider any resort with a 2042 end date. We were in our early 30s when we purchased and the extra years on the contract mattered to us.

A year after our initial purchase we bought another small add on. I wish we had purchased even more point back in 2011 when resale prices were really low. We mainly stay in studios but we would like to stay in 1 bedrooms more.
 
It's 50 points if buying direct from Disney to qualify for their financing. If you're paying OOP you can get 25 point contracts. We don't have DVC, but we've been looking into it for a few months now.
 
Thanks. When I researched DVC previously, there was no advantage to purchasing directly from DVC (direct and resale purchasers got the same benefits) and there was a higher-than-we-wanted points requirement. Now DVC has limited some of the benefits available through a resale purchase and apparently is allowing smaller direct purchases. I'm still leaning toward a resale contract but not as definitely as before.
Something you can do is to purchase a contract via resale then add a small contract on direct from Disney. This way you'll get the cheaper rate buying resale, but the small contract would make you eligible for the perks from Disney.
 
It was an easy decision for us. We had been taking our boys to Disney every year since they were toddlers. We always stayed at POFQ, as that was our most favorite resort. Then they hit the preteen years and the regular room at POFQ became way too cozy. We purchased DVC to stay in 1 and 2 bedroom villas and have never looked back or regretted the decision.

We knew we would always visit Disney, so DVC was a perfect fit for us. You do need to keep in mind the extra expenses that come with DVC. You will have annual fees every year that always increase. If you buy enough points for 2 or more trips per year, you need $ for tickets or annual passes.

We purchased resale, so it was about 1/2 the price of buying direct. We purchased before the rules changed, so we get all the perks. That isn't the case anymore. We purchased when prices were low, so we could sell our contracts now and make money :)
 
My husband is a huge Disney fan. We have friends who are also and they purchased into DVC around 1997/1998. I remember them saying, "it's a no brainer." So, when we got married (at WDW) in 2001, we decided to take the tour and look into more. At the time, DVC was selling at the Wilderness Lodge (now know as Boulder Ridge and Cooper Creek are the cabins). My husband was already "in", he wanted to do it. And we did. We didn't ask for a specific use year month. IMO, I would only want to own on property at WDW, not the one in Hawaii or any place else. You'll want to be able to book at your home resort as soon as your booking window opens at 11 months, especially around the holidays. Now that we have a daughter, we too are limited as to when we can travel to when school is out and holidays and that is peek season. I do believe what the other poster said about it getting more and more competitive and harder to make a reservation. But....I've never had a problem at the 11 month mark. I did live in California for a while and we stayed at the GC a couple of times and that was at 7 month mark but it wasn't always so easy getting what you want. Not only, I believe, because it's the 7th month mark, but the fewer amount of DVC units at GC itself. We paid our DVC off very early on. We hate monthly payment stuff. I'm glad we did. Be aware that association fees go up every year just like everything else. We've gone to Hawaii 3 times, used RCI once and multiple trips to DL and WDW. With what I see the prices are to plan a WDW vacation without DVC, it's so expensive and I doubt we'd go as much. There are some perks for DVC members but many members have complained throughout the years it's not enough. I do think DVC has been trying to come out with more and better ones. Right now there is park ticket perk. But don't buy on basis of perks. I believe they announced another DVC in the works at Carribean Beach. I would also look more closely into purchasing resale versus buying direct. I don't know anything about buying resale from someone else but I think there are some benefits you loose. Maybe other posters can chime in about that.
 
For me length of contract and money were my real deciding factors. I don't care where I stay affordability was number one. We bought at old key west resale in 2009ish. My points sell for more than I paid for them right now and I have taken at least 5 or 6 vacations on them. We have 80 points, 2057, June use year. We use our points ever other year for a week in late may, beginning of july. We have managed to swap over to wilderness lodge, contemporary, animal kingdom, boardwalk when the window opens, but this is getting harder to do. I am ok with it though because the stuidos at old key west are much larger than at other locations I just hope they add the drop down bed like wilderness studios have now.
 
We also have DVC. Marionnette explained it very well. When we bought we wanted BCV but were told only SSR was avail, that was BS but we did not know it then. We were also told the points never changed, also BS. They change the catagories, pts per night,pts for locations, preferred seasons...just so the overall number for a resort for a yr does not change. In the last few yrs I find it difficult to get where we want many times. You need to buy where you most want to stay, and book at 11 months if it is a popular time. At 7 months it is much tougher. We are happy we bought in when we did and we have had many great trips but think hard about how and when you travel and try staying at a number of resorts first.
I agree, Marionnette did explain very well. Same thing happened to me as you when we bought in. We went 2 years in a row and wanted to buy in and having larger accommodation than staying in a regular resort room. Our guide said we could only buy SSR and AKV which was being built at the time. We wanted BCV - but I didn't know much about resale or feel comfortable buying that way at the time. So, we bought AKV 200 points in 2008 which for us we figured would get us a one bedroom for a week every year with points to spare. We weren't very concerned about UY and just bought what was available. We quickly realized that we much preferred BWV and BCV and added on at BWV a few years later. So far, we have been able to stay at other resorts most of the time but we don't travel at peak times. At this point I would definitely buy where you really love as you might not be able to book there easily without the home resort priority window.
 
Now that we've been with DVC for a few years, here are a few of my thoughts on it:
1. Can you plan 7-11 months in advance? If you want to travel during peak DVC times and Holidays, you will want to make sure you buy where you want to stay. For example, if you want to go to WDW in December or during F&W, and you want to stay at BWV, you need to own there and be able to book during that 7-11 month window if you want one of the Studios (even the other rooms go pretty quickly during these times). We own at BWV and this will be our first December trip. I booked our Studio right at the 11 month mark and was lucky to get it. Shortly after I booked it, the studios were gone. When we first bought, we were able to get rooms within 1-3 months of our travel dates, and get rooms where we wanted to stay, not just SSR or OKW. Those days are now gone and I don't envision them coming back unless we hit another big economic down-turn. :(

2. As others have mentioned, the Poly only has studios. But they are decent size and the two bathroom configuration help with showers in the morning when everyone is getting ready to do. We stayed here during our last trip and even though there were only two of us, it was really nice having two separate showers in the morning.

3. I wish we would've bought more points when we originally bought in. We make more trips in a year than we used to. Also, we bought with the intention of staying in studios most of the time. Then we stayed in a 1BR. I loved the extra room and having laundry in the room in the 1br. We don't usually use the kitchen much, but as I try to pack less for our trips, it's nice having laundry facilities in the room.

4. I don't regret buying into DVC at all. I love staying at the deluxe locations, and this is mostly from a "location, location, location" perspective. The less time I have to spend waiting for the WDW buses, the better. The values and moderates have nice rooms and grounds, but you pretty much have to wait for the buses to get you anywhere (except Port Orleans).

Good luck with your decision making process!
 
The one thing I can say is. The longer you wait to make the decision the more it will cost you so do it sooner than later. So glad we bought back in 2004 for $78 a point. We have had the two contracts for 13 yrs. and love it. If we don't want to go to WDW we rent out our points and use the money to vacation where ever we want. I have rented so many times we have earned the equivalent to what we paid for one of the contracts. We have gone to Disney 51 times since buying a DVC so it has more than paid for itself.
 
Thanks, everyone. A lot has changed in the past few years. It's really helpful to hear how other people evaluated the pros and cons.

At least you can blame your husband. I was actually the one who put the brakes on our purchase.

I have read that Disney claims that 100 points is the minimum number of points required to purchase directly, but that's a rule they are willing to bend. Did they give you a really hard time about purchasing 55 points?

No they don't. When I was there in May, I did a DVC tour and they offered to sell me 50 points directly. I didn't take them up on it. It's a once every five years trip and probably our next trip in 2022 will be our last trip.
 

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