Talk DVC with the Dis Dads

[Mrmrezg]

Scott I am a new member and there are a lot of details that I am learning about, so I can't answer all of your questions but I can answer some.

We get about $100 off of annual pass purchases. The dining plans, IMO, aren't discounted. I am paying $79 per adult per day for the deluxe DDP. That is 3 table service and 2 snacks per person/day. Not a bad price for what we are getting. But, we don't get "free" dining if that is what you are looking for.

We did the tour when we bought, walked out with 30 instant fast passes. It was our last day in the parks so I ended up giving them to people on our way out of the park. (they became very happy when I told them what they were). When we did the tour they were pushing BLT & AKV. We bought BLT because the maintenance fees were lower then AKV. DVC have change some policies concerning desalts and some privileges are not available to some resale deals. I am not sure of the details on this but you will want to look into it before you buy.

I hope this helps you.

On a side note I am spending about $3000 for three adults and two children in a deluxe with deluxe DDP and 7 day park hoppers. For the same vacation in a value (ASMu) with the same DDP Disney.com just quoted me $5,267. That is a substantial savings.

 

[scott2997]

And don't worry about the "hijacking"... this is exactly part of WHY Carl set this thread up in the first place. Helping you & others to get answers to your questions is a delight for all of us who have gone before you.

Thanks Chris....everyone's input is very helpful.

Right now I think I'm leaning toward a resale purchase knowing that I wouldn't see myself ever transferring out of the standard on-site Disney resorts and the price is cheaper as well.

I like the location of the Beach Club and the prices are less than BLT.

Even though, right now, I'd love to be closer to MK for my girls...I can see, down the road, preferring to be closer to EPCOT and DHS as those two resorts are the ones that interest me the most. Being in walking distance to EPCOT and a Boat away from DHS is very attractive.

So I'm trying to find a contract that already has banked points that can be used for a 2012 vacation. If we vacation in March/April (Spring Break week) each year....would I want a February use year as the most preferred?

Scott I am a new member and there are a lot of details that I am learning about, so I can't answer all of your questions but I can answer some.

We get about $100 off of annual pass purchases. The dining plans, IMO, aren't discounted. I am paying $79 per adult per day for the deluxe DDP. That is 3 table service and 2 snacks per person/day. Not a bad price for what we are getting. But, we don't get "free" dining if that is what you are looking for.

We did the tour when we bought, walked out with 30 instant fast passes. It was our last day in the parks so I ended up giving them to people on our way out of the park. (they became very happy when I told them what they were). When we did the tour they were pushing BLT & AKV. We bought BLT because the maintenance fees were lower then AKV. DVC have change some policies concerning desalts and some privileges are not available to some resale deals. I am not sure of the details on this but you will want to look into it before you buy.

I hope this helps you.

On a side note I am spending about $3000 for three adults and two children in a deluxe with deluxe DDP and 7 day park hoppers. For the same vacation in a value (ASMu) with the same DDP Disney.com just quoted me $5,267. That is a substantial savings.

Thanks! I'd love to get some perks from buying directly - but I think the biggest perk for me is going to be instant savings from buying resale.

Oh...does anyone know about the enforcement of capacity? For example, for a one bedroom at Beach Club, it says it allows for 4 people. Do they ask how many in each room? In other words...if down the road, my SIL would choose to vacation with my wife and 2 daughters, would this be allowed in a 1 bedroom or would we be forced into a 2 bedroom?

 

[stopher1]

Oh...does anyone know about the enforcement of capacity? For example, for a one bedroom at Beach Club, it says it allows for 4 people. Do they ask how many in each room? In other words...if down the road, my SIL would choose to vacation with my wife and 2 daughters, would this be allowed in a 1 bedroom or would we be forced into a 2 bedroom?

Over on the actual DVC threads I wouldn't answer a question like this since they are quick to direct everyone into a single "occupancy" thread... but I'll take my chances here for you, since we only have this DVC based thread here in this nice shiny new sub-forum (thanks again Kathy and other mods! )...

Each of the one bedrooms that are not "officially" for 5 (those that are are BLT, OKW, VGC, AKV, AUL)... only have bedding for 4. But that doesn't mean you can't have a 5th in the room, they just won't provide bedding for that person...or any kind of bed. That being said, enforcement comes with the reservation call to Member Services. Now I have a family of 5, and when I get us a 1 Br and the non-5 resorts... they remind of that no bedding fact, and we move on. We keep an air mattress & sheets in our Owner's Locker for just those resorts. SO.... if you know you're going to have 5, but won't have bedding for that 5th guest... I would recommend using the 7 month window and reserving elsewhere - or just plan on brining some sheets or a sleeping bag along.

P.S> the resorts that do have bedding for 5 have the sleeper chair in addition to the sleeper couch in the living room.

 

[Mrmrezg]

DVC allows members to rent up to 24 point, for a fair price. That could help you to get the two bed room when you need it or you can rent the points from another member.

 

[scott2997]

Over on the actual DVC threads I wouldn't answer a question like this since they are quick to direct everyone into a single "occupancy" thread... but I'll take my chances here for you, since we only have this DVC based thread here in this nice shiny new sub-forum (thanks again Kathy and other mods! )...

Each of the one bedrooms that are not "officially" for 5 (those that are are BLT, OKW, VGC, AKV, AUL)... only have bedding for 4. But that doesn't mean you can't have a 5th in the room, they just won't provide bedding for that person...or any kind of bed. That being said, enforcement comes with the reservation call to Member Services. Now I have a family of 5, and when I get us a 1 Br and the non-5 resorts... they remind of that no bedding fact, and we move on. We keep an air mattress & sheets in our Owner's Locker for just those resorts. SO.... if you know you're going to have 5, but won't have bedding for that 5th guest... I would recommend using the 7 month window and reserving elsewhere - or just plan on brining some sheets or a sleeping bag along.

P.S> the resorts that do have bedding for 5 have the sleeper chair in addition to the sleeper couch in the living room.

Thanks Chris! I had a feeling this would be the way it is. Maybe I should be looking at OKW. Only wish it had a walkway to EPCOT!

Any chance that these 4 occupancy 1 bedrooms would be upgraded in the future to accommodate 5?

Do you run into any issues with having 5 in a 4 occupancy room when it comes to tickets or DP?

 

[theduck619]

Non DVC owner here. Will be staying at a DVC villa in November and hope to get a better feel for it. Biggest question for us is the maintenance fee's

 

[stopher1]

Thanks Chris! I had a feeling this would be the way it is. Maybe I should be looking at OKW. Only wish it had a walkway to EPCOT!

I hear you... but the bus ride to Epcot from OKW is not long.

Any chance that these 4 occupancy 1 bedrooms would be upgraded in the future to accommodate 5?

That depends. It is possible. OKW were originally classified as occupancy 4... but the recent refurb of the resort switched out a chair for a sleeper chair and bingo - the occupancy was able to be 5. It might not be as simple with the other resorts, as OKW was/is the DVC resort with the largest square footage per room. Many of the other occupancy 4 rooms are not as spacious, and so just switching out a chair is not as possible. My gut says if they can do it they will, but if not, they won't touch those particular resorts. The nice thing is that all newer resorts are built to accomodate 5.

Do you run into any issues with having 5 in a 4 occupancy room when it comes to tickets or DP?

No. Since they let you put that 5th person in, even though they don't provide bedding, you'll still be able to have a room key and have them on the dining plan. Like other resorts, when you get the DDP with DVC, everyone in the room must be on the plan. One thing I forgot to mention earlier though - with DVC - a nice change that came about this year is that you don't HAVE to get the DDP for every night of your stay if you don't want to. If you want it for only part of your stay, you can segment it.

 

[stopher1]

Non DVC owner here. Will be staying at a DVC villa in November and hope to get a better feel for it. Biggest question for us is the maintenance fee's

I hope it goes well for you, and you can see if it is right for your family or not.

The dues were a big thing for us at first as well... but in the long run, my dues are less than what it would cost us to take the family for the type of stays we enjoy - and the typical "cost" of our stays works out to be quite a bit less than a value would be if I were paying cash for the resort. The dues go up each year sure - but so do the cash resort rates. And my dues have gone up at a lesser annual % increase than the cash resort rates have. Together those things far outweigh what I put out in dues each year, and we get lots of great vacation nights at awesome resorts with room to spread out and truly enjoy it. I'd be paying it either way since we continue to go back in to the Disney universe... so I'd either pay it through room rates or dues - and I'd personally rather pay it in dues for larger, more comfortable accomodations than not. That's just my take on the dues; others might have different opinions and that's cool.

 

[scott2997]

I hear you... but the bus ride to Epcot from OKW is not long.



That depends. It is possible. OKW were originally classified as occupancy 4... but the recent refurb of the resort switched out a chair for a sleeper chair and bingo - the occupancy was able to be 5. It might not be as simple with the other resorts, as OKW was/is the DVC resort with the largest square footage per room. Many of the other occupancy 4 rooms are not as spacious, and so just switching out a chair is not as possible. My gut says if they can do it they will, but if not, they won't touch those particular resorts. The nice thing is that all newer resorts are built to accomodate 5.



No. Since they let you put that 5th person in, even though they don't provide bedding, you'll still be able to have a room key and have them on the dining plan. Like other resorts, when you get the DDP with DVC, everyone in the room must be on the plan. One thing I forgot to mention earlier though - with DVC - a nice change that came about this year is that you don't HAVE to get the DDP for every night of your stay if you don't want to. If you want it for only part of your stay, you can segment it.

Interesting....on the DVC website it still states the 1 bedroom at OKW is a 4 person room.

I would imagine, if we were DVC owners, we would be better with food too and not need a full DDP. Usually, when we vacation now, we snack for breakfast and pack a lunch and only eat out for dinner. So we may be able to get away with now DDP if we wanted.

I know OKW has a shorter contract length, but it is less expensive because of that - which makes it really attractive...plus having a 5 person occupancy is a big plus as my wife and SIL are attached at the hip (not literally...but you know what I mean).

 

[theduck619]

I hope it goes well for you, and you can see if it is right for your family or not.

The dues were a big thing for us at first as well... but in the long run, my dues are less than what it would cost us to take the family for the type of stays we enjoy - and the typical "cost" of our stays works out to be quite a bit less than a value would be if I were paying cash for the resort. The dues go up each year sure - but so do the cash resort rates. And my dues have gone up at a lesser annual % increase than the cash resort rates have. Together those things far outweigh what I put out in dues each year, and we get lots of great vacation nights at awesome resorts with room to spread out and truly enjoy it. I'd be paying it either way since we continue to go back in to the Disney universe... so I'd either pay it through room rates or dues - and I'd personally rather pay it in dues for larger, more comfortable accomodations than not. That's just my take on the dues; others might have different opinions and that's cool.

That is the kind of info we are looking for

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Interesting....on the DVC website it still states the 1 bedroom at OKW is a 4 person room.

I would imagine, if we were DVC owners, we would be better with food too and not need a full DDP. Usually, when we vacation now, we snack for breakfast and pack a lunch and only eat out for dinner. So we may be able to get away with now DDP if we wanted.

I know OKW has a shorter contract length, but it is less expensive because of that - which makes it really attractive...plus having a 5 person occupancy is a big plus as my wife and SIL are attached at the hip (not literally...but you know what I mean).

One of my favorite things about the 1 bedroom villas - full kitchen! Everything that you need is there - pots, pans, utensils, plates, glasses, silverware, full size fridge, stove, oven, microwave & dishwasher. If you bring or rent a car there are several grocery stores 5 minutes away. DVC also offers grocery delivery (the prices are a bit high, but still cheaper than, say a character breakfast). There is also a 3rd party service called Garden Grocer that will deliver. I haven't used them, so I can't speak to their quality or price.

 

[unclescrooge_0707]

I have one!
We're a family of 6.
We have a DD, and she's 8 months. So, In POR, all 6 stayed and we were fine (ish).

When would DVC make us move up to a 2 BR?

 

[AirGoofy]

Not in the sense of having a reservation - but it is on the long-term calendar yes. We're looking at 2013. We only bought enough at this time to do the every 3 plan. Our first points will be this December which we'll bank, so with the borrowing, summer of 2013. But we're cool with that. The airfare every year would kill us, so every 3 is good until the kids are grown and gone.

Good idea. I know I want to stay in Aulani, but the distance from KY every 3 years is a bit much. We would be more likely to stay at Vero.

NON-DVC guy here....but have DVC envy....

My wife is all for it which is a huge plus.

My main debate is - do I purchase a smaller point contract (i.e. 200 points at SSR) and only go over other year to the world (since we always go during high peak season due to mine and the DW's jobs.).

Or do I save money until I can afford that 400 point contact?

I definitely like the cost of the maintenance fees for the 200 pt contract better!

SSR is attractive for the resale cost...since it is less expensive. But I think we would really prefer either BLT or an EPCOT DVC resort.

I would buy where you think you would be happy. SSR is nice, but if you want a MK resort, then you won't like SSR. It is cool to take a monorail into the parks.

 

[stopher1]

I have one!
We're a family of 6.
We have a DD, and she's 8 months. So, In POR, all 6 stayed and we were fine (ish).

When would DVC make us move up to a 2 BR?

Yes you were fine(ish) at POR... but for how long? Once that 8 moDD gets past three you'll be out of luck at POR anyway.

Yes, with a party of 6 in DVC you would need a 2 BR. It's a sad reality. That or just go with 2 regular cash rooms - or if they fit 6 (I'm not sure) one of the Family Suites at All Star Music, or the under construction Art of Animation resort next to POP.

 

[stopher1]

One of my favorite things about the 1 bedroom villas - full kitchen! Everything that you need is there - pots, pans, utensils, plates, glasses, silverware, full size fridge, stove, oven, microwave & dishwasher. If you bring or rent a car there are several grocery stores 5 minutes away. DVC also offers grocery delivery (the prices are a bit high, but still cheaper than, say a character breakfast). There is also a 3rd party service called Garden Grocer that will deliver. I haven't used them, so I can't speak to their quality or price.

Mine too Barry! We love making meals in the room. We've made all three types of meals - and don't just limit them to quick and easy. We love grilling - so we've done burgers & brats, but also chicken and steaks. In the kitchen we've also done stuff like spaghetti, pizza, tacos, all variety of breakfast foods - we've even baked our own cake.

In addition to the DVC grocery delivery, and Garden Grocer (we have used them), there's also a company called WeGoShop that will deliver as well. With WeGoShop, you contact them and set up a list - and they will shop where you tell them to shop - even use coupons for you, if you provide the coupons. The prices are what they pay in the stores, but the delivery charge is fairly hefty plus a tip. With Garden Grocer, you order from their website, with a fairly wide variety of things. The prices are what they post, but the delivery charge is more nominal - free if you hit a certain spend level.

 

[scott2997]

Any DVD Dads interested in renting some points to me?

I'm entertaining the option of renting points for a Studio in BLT for 3/31/12-4/7/12 I believe it would run around 176 points or so.

 

[Mrmrezg]

Any DVD Dads interested in renting some points to me?

I'm entertaining the option of renting points for a Studio in BLT for 3/31/12-4/7/12 I believe it would run around 176 points or so.

I may be able to help you out there. I have banked points (186) that I don't plan to use. But I have never rented points so I am not real sure about how to do it. I'd like to hook you up.

 

[scott2997]

I may be able to help you out there. I have banked points (186) that I don't plan to use. But I have never rented points so I am not real sure about how to do it. I'd like to hook you up.

Just sent you a PM. <---thumb

 

[RAlexander84]

I have been looking into renting some points for our trip in 2012 to stay at AKV. Been looking at the Savannah view studio, anybody know if this is actually part of the villas or just a special part of the lodge or what?

 

[dvczerfs]

dvc? whats that? stopher, you do a great job at explaining everything about dvc. i nominate you the disdads dvc spoke person!! (i have little red x for my smilies for some reason so heres a big thumbs up!!)