VWL Groupies & Lovers Thread (Special Collectors Edition 2.0) updated 21 June 2023

[twinklebug]

Another double birthday!

Happy Birthday Flossbolna!

Happy Birthday TCraig!​

 

[DiznyDi]

Wishing Flossbolna a very Happy Birthday!

And a very Happy Birthday to TCraig too!

 

[ArielSRL]

I'm in GA so we got very nice weather. Upper 70's, with a mid 80's real feel. Pulled back out the shorts and tank top. Its foggy here today but still warm for the next day or two. Dropping to high of 60's on Wednesday.

 

[horselover]

It's Birthday time!!!

Happy Birthday @Flossbolna!!!!

Happy Birthday @TCRAIG!!!!

Hope you both have wonderful days!!!
​

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

 

[Granny]

Happy Birthday Flossie !!!

Happy Birthday TCraig !!!

 

[sleepydog25]

Flossbolna and TCraig: Happy Birthday!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! And a happy birthday to my fellow November 6th birthday TCraig!

I am sorry for lurking more in the last months, no trip to VWL planned at the moment. But I have been reading along and always get a smile reading this thread, it is just such a lovely place on the DIS!

We are just back from 9 nights at WDW (BWV and Poly) and 5 nights at Vero. Everytime we are in Vero, I fall more and more in love with this place. So relaxing! We loved the Boardwalk, thanks for the tips from here for room locations, we had a great tennis courts view. I am afraid though that this will soon turn into a gondola view. The amount of construction at WDW right now is mind boggling!!

 

[sleepydog25]

The amount of construction at WDW right now is mind boggling!!

WDW aka Walt Disney Working (aka Wrecking)

 

[LVSWL]

Couldn't agree more!

Kathy, continuing to lift Clay and your family up. Stay strong and lean on Him to sustain you all.

LVSWL, prayers for your furry little one. We recently canceled our Oct 18 trip for family health reasons and though its sad and a bit of a shock, knowing VWL, WDW and the like will always be there waiting for us, it makes the bitter pill a bit easier to swallow.

Thank you so much. We were scheduled for his knee surgery this Thursday. Last Friday we had to rush him to a veterinary specialty hospital 2 1/2 hours away. He had developed an ulcer due to the NSAID that he has taken for his knees and we almost lost him. Surgery was Friday night with a 50/50 chance to survive. He is still with us, odds are now 75/25 and today he gave us a kiss when we visited the hospital. So, if he makes it through this, we will also be facing his knee surgery once he has recovered enough. Pretty sure I will be rescheduling my already rescheduled trip. Thinking about early December at the lodge

 

[bobbiwoz]

LVSWL

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

Hi all, I haven't been posting much lately and I hope everyone is as well as they can be, but I just wanted to draw to your attention the 6% increase in our dues for next year....going from $6.54 to $6.93. I did not have a chance to review the largest drivers at this point. This increase comes on the heals of a 5% increase last year, both well over our 3.2% run rate. CCCV.... !!!!

 

[sleepydog25]

The threat of the rapidly rising percentage increase in dues is one huge driving factor in why we'll likely never again purchase DVC, resale or otherwise. . .that and the ungodly sums they want for points anymore.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Hi all, I haven't been posting much lately and I hope everyone is as well as they can be, but I just wanted to draw to your attention the 6% increase in our dues for next year....going from $6.54 to $6.93. I did not have a chance to review the largest drivers at this point. This increase comes on the heals of a 5% increase last year, both well over our 3.2% run rate. CCCV.... !!!!

Looks like we're seeing increased costs to pay for the running of the improved space. And we never saw any decrease when much of it was closed up. I never was happy about all of this and this doesn't improve my thoughts on it all. Might have to actually go thru the line to meet Mr. Potrock at the Epcot event in December.

The most significant increases are Capital Reserves .1718/pt!, Ad Valorem estimate .1275/pt, Maintenance .0909/pt and then Member Activities .034/pt.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

And we also are now the second highest duest at WDW. The highest? CCV.

There is some point requirement considerations but we really ought to be closer to BWV and BCV like we used to be.

 

[Granny]

So...I'm wondering if VWL is picking up a higher percentage of the total shared costs since CCV is not yet fully declared. Clearly, WL went down in their percentage of shared costs but I think there were fewer units available to share those costs so VWL ended up with a higher percentage?


It all comes back to how Disney splits out the shared costs at a resort. And of course, we do not have access to that information. But I cannot think of any reason why VWL & CCV would have the highest dues at WDW. It makes no sense from an intuitive standpoint.

Looks like we're seeing increased costs to pay for the running of the improved space

I'm not sure what shared costs would have gone up? The pool make take a little more staffing and some more towels, but running the new salon, Geyser Point and Roaring Fork shouldn't be part of our dues.

Like I said, it makes no sense that VWL would rise at a quicker rate than other DVC resorts. Not sure why the capital reserve would go up so much?

 

[pmaurer74]

So...I'm wondering if VWL is picking up a higher percentage of the total shared costs since CCV is not yet fully declared. Clearly, WL went down in their percentage of shared costs but I think there were fewer units available to share those costs so VWL ended up with a higher percentage?


It all comes back to how Disney splits out the shared costs at a resort. And of course, we do not have access to that information. But I cannot think of any reason why VWL & CCV would have the highest dues at WDW. It makes no sense from an intuitive standpoint.



I'm not sure what shared costs would have gone up? The pool make take a little more staffing and some more towels, but running the new salon, Geyser Point and Roaring Fork shouldn't be part of our dues.

Like I said, it makes no sense that VWL would rise at a quicker rate than other DVC resorts. Not sure why the capital reserve would go up so much?

It is also one of the smallest DVCs so fewer owners or maybe eventually more owners with CCV?

 

[sleepydog25]

And we also are now the second highest duest at WDW. The highest? CCV.

There is some point requirement considerations but we really ought to be closer to BWV and BCV like we used to be.

Yet again why we'll likely never buy DVC again as much as we'd like to own points elsewhere. Their unwillingness to be forthcoming re: dues is annoying to say the least. I love my VWL, to be sure, and we'll keep coming in years ahead. However, the accelerated dues growth which I see continuing, and the clear decision to increase/add fees in other areas to satisfy large shareholders are reasons why our vacations are less park-oriented anymore. Helps the pocket book!

 

[Dizny Dad]

When the dues for our pts. plus the cost of meals per year equals the price of the package deals one can get (including free dining) when booking on line (when not a DVC member) the same number of WDW trips per year, I couldn't help but to consider selling the pts. How sad.

 

[jimmytammy]

Might have to actually go thru the line to meet Mr. Potrock at the Epcot event in December.

Go get him Kathy!!

I know we all pondered whether our dues would increase with hopes they wouldn't, but fears have come to fruition, whether affected by CCV or not, remains a mystery to me at least. I do think the pool change, which is a part of VWL and now CCV, may be playing a part in the increase, along with some of the other "improvements"

It will be interesting to hear DVC's take on the subject if allowed to be addressed. And I have a feeling if a Q&A session as allowed the subject will come up. I have only been to one Annual Meeting and felt more like it was intended for fun rather than a learning experience but it may have been nothing controversial was going on at the time.

Like Sleepy says, I would love to own more pts at another resort, BLT in particular, and no plans to sell any I have right now at VWL or BWV. But $176 per pt is ridiculous to say the least. Resale would be my only consideration moving forward, and honestly, don't see that happening anytime soon.

Not to turn this thing around, because we all should have concern for our dues increase, but I remind myself from time to time the reason(s) I bought into DVC. Granted, lots has changed over the years. It has become huge in relation to where we were in 2000/01 when VWL was first getting started. It has become less family like, more corporate like. But it remains for me and my family a creator of memories. My little selling pt to Tammy back in the day was one day, the All Star Sports where we stayed for 5 nights the 2nd trip, 10 nights the next would one day be out of reach for us as well financially. We were so naive, having 2 small ones in tow, thinking we were going to stay at the place where the monorail went through, not!!$$

That 10 day trip was a $50 per night stay, granted, it was shortly after 911 and WDW was clamoring for business. But I looked historically at how much Sports had increased per yr since its inception. Not significantly, but still, like anything, prices go up. I created my own sort of % increase and tried to be realistic based on increases per yr and kept it growing. I can't remember how much I got to by a 7-10 yr span, but it was a big increase, I remember that enough that Tammy's eyes opened to DVC. My point being, we are staying a couple nights at Sports in Mar. pre-DVC trip. A few days ago, AP rates came out at $174 pre tax and fees for a standard room. If we had booked for all our nights at Sports rather than BLT, our costs pre tax/fees $1,392.00. Crazy!!

With all its woes, still glad I own pts at original cost of $72 per pt, wish I would have bought more

The mouse has got us hooked

 

[sleepydog25]

Like Sleepy says, I would love to own more pts at another resort, BLT in particular, and no plans to sell any I have right now at VWL or BWV. But $176 per pt is ridiculous to say the least. Resale would be my only consideration moving forward, and honestly, don't see that happening anytime soon.

Not to turn this thing around, because we all should have concern for our dues increase, but I remind myself from time to time the reason(s) I bought into DVC. Granted, lots has changed over the years. It has become huge in relation to where we were in 2000/01 when VWL was first getting started. It has become less family like, more corporate like. But it remains for me and my family a creator of memories.

Yep. BLT would likely be where we bought, and we almost did back in May when we could have bought anywhere from 25-123 points the CM we spoke with offered during a tour of CCVC. We were angling toward 50 points, but even that would have been closing in on $10K when all was said and done. However, as you so aptly pointed out, JT, the entire process has become "more corporate like." I understand that in the end it's a business, yet Disney used to do a much better job of disguising that corporate mindset. Still, as you mention, DVC--VWL, in particular--still creates memories for us. It's almost as if it's part of our family.