Advice

[Guest]

Hello, would appreciate your thoughts.

My partner and I are considering buying into dvc (currently on our 5th visit in 4 years). We have been to the preview tour three times now, asked loads of questions and think we have gotten to grips with the overall system. However, there is some things we would like opinions on, if anyone on this forum can advise?

Firstly, we have little interest in copper creek so would ideally buy akl. This is because we love Ssr and don't mind staying there frequently at the 7 month window. We will only ever stay in studios. Current prices for direct sale appears to be around about £116 per point (obviously exchange rate fluctuations influence this). We are thinking of 175 points, largely because that gives us around 2 weeks in a studio each year (give or take a day) at many resorts.

According to our math we would stand to save about £9000 over 30 years by using an annual pass 11 months apart each year, this perk is not available with resale. Does this match people's real world experience? If it doesn't we should buy resale and save around 7k on the membership.

Second, dining plan: we use it. We like it. We know it doesn't make huge financial sense but its its item which alters the calculations quite substantially. If Disney ever stopped providing free dining to UK guests it makes dvc instantly better value. Are there any times in recent memory when free dining for UK bookings hasn't been available or will this promotion go on for ever? (If so it makes dvc less attractive)

Third we are in the fortunate position to be able to buy in more or less outright. We are considering though taking the Disney finance with a view to using it for 6 months or so, because we are hoping the Brexit situation may have been cancelled or somehow stabilized and the exchange rate might improve.

Any advice (or general opinion) would be greatly appreciated!

[skstorm]

Sorry I was a little confused by your question. You are saying you would like to buy akl because you don’t mind staying at ssr? why not buy ssr? Also at $116 per point that sounds more like a resale price than direct last I asked ssr was about $151 per point direct.

I’m sorry I’m not sure on the savings for annual pass as I am looking at resale but I am sure someone will advise in a minute.

I haven’t seen anything about Disney finance that would make me think it was worth taking it out, recently worked it out for a friend and the cost of borrowing was £9k on an $18,500 contract! If you want to finance it much better to do it in this country at a lower interest rate.

Good luck whatever you decide

[Guest]

I should have been clearer. We enjoy staying at Saratoga springs however would like the option to explore akl as we can't afford it with cash. We thought that as ssr has best availability we could use that as a backup more comfortably at 7 months?

The price I quoted was in GBP, apologies. It comes in at approx $168 per point buying direct.

Going from the UK do you feel you get good value from your membership?

[Dendycat]

Yes, the annual pass saving is only available when buying direct but I wouldn’t do my maths based upon it always being an option. DVC changes its perks and whilst it is currently a benefit for buying bdirect vs resale, there is no guarantee that this perk will always be offered.

[YorkshireT]

If you are buying Animal Kingdom on a 175 point contract the advice is simple, buy resale. You will save almost $60 a point or around $10,000 for exactly the same thing.
Take some time to independently research and find out what 'perks' are.
Most owners would agree non contractual 'perks' are certainly not worth $10k of anyone's money.
Spend at least a month researching:

On the 'other' board the DVC thread.
DVCinfo.com
Disney Tourist Blog has some interesting starter articles.
Mouse owners.

I'd suggest never buying without extensive independent research first. Remember, whilst DVC 'guides' are pretty low pressure, they are commissioned salespeople and DVD use some of the most sophisticated psychological sales techniques ever invented.

If you buy AKL you would have no problem staying there all the time booking on 11 months, but consider annual dues which are higher there and over the contract add up to much more than the contract cost.

Learn about resort availability at 7 months, both for time of year and room type if you want to buy to sleep around different resorts.

After a month of heavy research you should get a true idea, at which point there will also be more contracts on sale resale as more go up around Xmas time as dues are to be paid January.

Be aware of dues inflation and the compound risk that brings.

[Bella1]

Do not base any calculation on a DVC perk as they can change them at any time, I believe when DVC first came out people got free park entry for their stay, not long ago there was free Valet parking which has also disappeared. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the perks that we get but don't base decisions on them.

Look seriously at Resale, the savings are massive over Direct and surprisingly easy to do from the UK.

Both SSR and AK are pretty easy to get at 7months as they are huge resorts. I own at SSR and love it and will always be happy to stay there but also own at BLT where the 11 month advantage is important for some trips.

Look at the annual dues as well as they will dwarf your purchase price eventually.

I was brought up never to finance a holiday so we didn't but DVC until we could buy outright, I'm not sure how Disney finance works.

Keep doing your research, it's a big decision. We don't regret our purchase at all but it isn't for everybody.

[skstorm]

Originally Posted by WDWpiper

I should have been clearer. We enjoy staying at Saratoga springs however would like the option to explore akl as we can't afford it with cash. We thought that as ssr has best availability we could use that as a backup more comfortably at 7 months?

The price I quoted was in GBP, apologies. It comes in at approx $168 per point buying direct.

Going from the UK do you feel you get good value from your membership?

See more...

That makes sense now I see what you are meaning. AKL and SSR can still be found at reasonable prices resale especially at the moment. I am still waiting to hear on a contract so haven't had the pleasure of being a member yet. But I did a lot of research before I made an offer

[Guest]

Thank you all for getting back to me! If we were to our base 75 points direct (to get the perks) and then look out for a resale of the same use year do we get all our points at the same time? And can they all be used on one booking at the 11 month window? (E.g. I buy 75 direct followed by 100 resale, can j use all 175 points simultaneously at the 11 month window if they all have the same use year and the same home resort?)

So much to think about!

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by WDWpiper

Thank you all for getting back to me! If we were to our base 75 points direct (to get the perks) and then look out for a resale of the same use year do we get all our points at the same time? And can they all be used on one booking at the 11 month window? (E.g. I buy 75 direct followed by 100 resale, can j use all 175 points simultaneously at the 11 month window if they all have the same use year and the same home resort?)

So much to think about!

See more...

Yes is the short answer, some people like different resorts etc but I have kept all my contracts the same use year and resort and they just get numbered .0, .1, .2 etc and all the points are pooled at booking.

If I were you I’d buy the resale first as you can pick a use year when buying direct whereas once you get it you then have to try and find a contract resale with matching use year. This time I had few choices for modest point contracts with Feb use years, in 4 months only a handful have ever come up whereas if I hadn’t been bound by the use year I’d have got a better deal as lots more choice.