[WishUponAStar]

[I am looking at the packet I got from the DVC rep. in OCT '04]

OK, this is the bottom line. Please correct ANY info I may been misunderstanding.

-Let's Pretend me and the hubby go and buy 150 (maybe 160) points tomorrow. We WANT 10 nights per year in WDW, split up in two different trips. Is the following scenario a smart way to do it?

1) I can stay at Saratoga Springs in a studio for ONE WEEK (I am assuming they mean 6 nights) during the DREAM season for 112 points.
-now I have 38 points left (or 48 LEFT if we buy 160)

2) NOW we want to go for 4 nights, lets say maybe during the MAGIC season. I would have to NOW stay at the Boardwalk Villas in a standard view STUDIO for 4 nights, which would be a TOTAL of 44 points. (so for this scenrio I WOULD HAVE TO buy those 160 points?)

3)Tickets: I could buy two adult Annual Passes for $395 each, NOT including the $100 off each VC discount, right? (is this discount constant, this isn't a limited time offer, is it? Is there ALWAYS an annual pass deal for VC members?)

4) MEALS: now being an APH I am eligible to enroll in the DDE for $50/year (per person?) which will save me 20% on ALL TABLE SERVICE meals in WDW(do I have that right?)



OK, now here are the few questions I have...

1) Would it have been possible to have the above scenerio (6 nights ONE trip, 4 nights another) on 150 points? I couldn't seem to work it out that way?

2) If one year I wanted to whoop it up, haha, and stay at Saratoga Springs during the Dream season for the WHOLE ten nights, how do they figure those points? Do they take the weekly points, and add on the extra days? Or do they just figure it by the points per night system?

3) I plan on NOT financing and hopefully paying cash. What left do I have to worry about? -my maintnance fees (which is approx $50/month for 150 points) AND the closing costs? (these scare me, how much are they about on a 150/160 point)



Oh my gosh, I KNOW these are ALOT of questions!! I totally plan on consulting a DVC rep AGAIN but I want perspective from the people... hehe.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Everyone here is SO helpful!!!

[athenna]

I'm going to to try to help as best I can.
1)The easiest way I can help you think about that scenario is to give you an example:When I first bought into DVC I bought the minimum 150 points. Here's what I did-I stayed for 5 nights (in a studio) at SSR during Magic season, that used 65 points. Now, I am staying (in a studio) for 6 nights (overlaps btw choice & adventure season) which is using up 75 points, that gives me 10 points, that I using in '06.

2) I'm not too clear on the question you asked about the 10 nights, but every day has a point value, so you just add up the points.

3)Not financing is great, wish I could've done that. lol. Maitenance fees at SSR ar the lowest $3.83 a point. Disney pays the closing cost.

4)Tickets- AP's are offered to us for $100 off. But it could end at anytime. It was new in '05 and we haven't heard anything about if it willcontinue in '06 or not. (I think they'd be crazy not to offer it again, but that's my take)

5)The DDE is great. AP holders as eligible to get that card for $50. It isn't every single restaurant in WDW, but it's a heck of a lot of them. And it's the only plan that even discounts adult beverages.

I hoped this helped. Let me know if I can help w/anything else.

[llama]

Athenna covered things pretty well. You can drive yourself crazy thinking up scenarios. One thing more - you can bank and borrow points. If you buy the minimum of 150 points, and for some reason don't get to WDW that year (too sad to think about), you can bank those 150 points and have 300 in the coming year. Also, if you need more points in any one year, you can borrow from the upcoming year. Say, if you need 200 points, you can borrow 50 from the upcoming year.

[mickey]

A couple of things to remember about DVC:

1. Sunday through Thursday night are relatively cheap, so start planning your vacations around that. We usually arrive on a sunday, and stay for 12 nights, leaving on Friday of the next week. That way, we get 10 nights of cheap prices, and only 2 nights of expensive. As an example, we are staying in a 2 bedroom at Beach Club Villas here shortly. During Dream Season, a Sunday through Thursday night is 34 points, while a Friday or Saturday night is 72. So, I can stay the 5 nights from Sunday through Thursday for 170 points, while the 2 nights over the weekend are going to be 144 total, not much difference.

2. Banking and Borrowing. We receive our points on June 1 each year, all 270 of them. If we decide not to use them that year, we can bank them for use the next year. Then, the following June 1, we receive 540 points for use that year. The original 270 points have to be used that year, or they expire, but the new 270 can be banked for the following year. Say the year we receive 540 points we want to go on a big trip, and get a 3 bedroom for the entire time at Old Key West. We are going in January, which is the cheapest time, but we want to stay for two full weeks, which would run about 712 points. We use our 540 points, and borrow 172 points from the upcoming year. So we get our huge trip, but the upcoming June, we will only receive 98 points for that year. I hope that made sense.

3. Points. Each room type is assigned a point total for each night of the year. So, you can stay one night or as many as your points will allow. You just look at the point chart and add up the points that it will take for your night. The points do not change from year to year, the only thing that changes is the calendar. So, if you always want to go in January, the price will be the same today as it is in 30 years. If it costs you 80 points for a week in a studio at OKW, it will still be 80 points when you go for your retirement party.

You might want to consider looking at a reseller. We purchased ours through DVC Resales (http://www.dvc-resales.com/), but you can also look at DVC by resale (http://www.dvcbyresale.com). The price per point is going to be less, somewhere around $80 instead of the $98 Disney is charging now. Closing costs will be around $400 - $500 on top of the prices you see (by the way, you can make an offer if you find one that will fit you, think of it like buying a house or a car). One thing is that you can't get financing through them like you can through Disney.

[WishUponAStar]

Oh wow, ok I didn't know about the borrowing and banking parts. I honestly don't remember the DVC rep/ telling us about that. Do the amount of points ever change, like would a week at SS ever become like 140 instead of 123, or do they always stay the same, just the price per point changes?

Also, how often do they change the point prices? I really do not want to finace it so I was going to save up the money this school year, which means I wouldn't be buying until summer '06. Will it raise that much by then?

Thanks.

[llama]

Originally Posted by WishUponAStar

Oh wow, ok I didn't know about the borrowing and banking parts. I honestly don't remember the DVC rep/ telling us about that. Do the amount of points ever change, like would a week at SS ever become like 140 instead of 123, or do they always stay the same, just the price per point changes?

Also, how often do they change the point prices? I really do not want to finace it so I was going to save up the money this school year, which means I wouldn't be buying until summer '06. Will it raise that much by then?

Thanks.

Well, like everything else in the world, prices rise - but nothing like 123 to 140 points. Over the years, I suppose they have risen a point or two. I honestly can't say I've noticed that. Points are now priced at about $98.00 per point - I can't tell you when or if the price will change. You could also look into resales by places like the Timeshare Store. We're in the process of purchasing more points at Vero Beach (incidentally, it's really immaterial which resort you buy into - our home resort is Vero Beach and we've never stayed there and have never had a problem renting at any other DC resort) from The Timeshare Store at $68.00 a point. Now - there are a few drawbacks to this. Disney does have right of first refusal on these sales - which means we are now waiting one month to see if they forego this) (as long as the points are competitively priced, this isn't a problem - if someone were to be selling their points at say $20.00 a point, then they'd probably object). Also, you have to make sure you're dealing with a reputable company.

[mickey]

The total cost of one room for an entire year will never change. So, if you take one room, and add up all the points for the year, you get a total, say 10,000 points (just a guess). So, each and every year, the total cost of that room will stay at 10,000 points, it will never, ever change. However, the calendar might change a bit, and they may adjust the cost a bit here and there, but if they add to the cost of one period, they must take away equally from another. You can imagine the headache of doing this, so they don't. The prices have not changed one point since I have been a member (9 years now). My guess is that they won't ever change.

My guess is that there will be atleast one price increase, possibly two. When I purchased my points nearly 9 years ago, the cost was $60, I think, maybe $65. It is now $98, and most likely will jump to $105 here shortly.

[llama]

[quote=mickey]The total cost of one room for an entire year will never change. So, if you take one room, and add up all the points for the year, you get a total, say 10,000 points (just a guess). So, each and every year, the total cost of that room will stay at 10,000 points, it will never, ever change. However, the calendar might change a bit, and they may adjust the cost a bit here and there, but if they add to the cost of one period, they must take away equally from another. You can imagine the headache of doing this, so they don't. The prices have not changed one point since I have been a member (9 years now). My guess is that they won't ever change.

QUOTE]

I never knew that - or maybe I did and forgot - there are just WAAAAAAAY to many details about DVC. Guess that's why I've never noticed a change.

[athenna]

[quote=llama]

Originally Posted by mickey

The total cost of one room for an entire year will never change. So, if you take one room, and add up all the points for the year, you get a total, say 10,000 points (just a guess). So, each and every year, the total cost of that room will stay at 10,000 points, it will never, ever change. However, the calendar might change a bit, and they may adjust the cost a bit here and there, but if they add to the cost of one period, they must take away equally from another. You can imagine the headache of doing this, so they don't. The prices have not changed one point since I have been a member (9 years now). My guess is that they won't ever change.

QUOTE]

I never knew that - or maybe I did and forgot - there are just WAAAAAAAY to many details about DVC. Guess that's why I've never noticed a change.

Here's another easy way to think about that-Say today Sat 9/10 is 24 points, 9/10/06 might be 26 points, but another night would be lowered by 2 points.

[WishUponAStar]

Omg, it seems so confusing!

[athenna]

Originally Posted by WishUponAStar

Omg, it seems so confusing!

It is confusing at first, but it gets better, I promise!

[luvmy2prncss]

It seems really confusing. Last year was our first DVC trip. We stayed in a Studio for 2 weeks!! We could have never afforded this before. We did finance but the payments weren't that bad. We have since paid off.
Anyway if you go to Disney at least once per year I feel it's worth it!
I have also found the CM at the DVC number are pretty informative. I call many times to ask questions and change plans and have never had a problem.