#950664 by JamesH
30 May 2019, 21:00
Hello!

After talking to a DVC rep at Disney in California this month, it really sparked my interest. I havent properly crunched the numbers yet, but would love to get the opinion of any UK owners- positive/negatives etc of your exeperience so far.

Thanks in advance!
#950666 by David
31 May 2019, 10:46
DVC - The Good, the Bad and not very much ugly actually

We bought in 2001 at Wilderness Lodge then added on when Beach Club opened in, I think 2003/4 maybe.

The Good

You have points and not a fixed week so can basically go whenever there is availability.
It is a one off payment for 40 plus years of holidays to Walt Disney World *
You get a fixed amount of points every year
You can stay in any size of room dependant on how many points you have.
You can stay from 1 night to up to 3 months (I think) again dependant on how many points you have.
You can stay in any vacation club property in Orlando, Vero Beach, Hilton Head and California. **
If you buy direct you can use them for Disney Cruises and other Disney resorts.
The points enable you to stay in rooms that start around $500 per night and go to many many thousands of dollars per night depending on how many points you have.
Many perks are available including reduced ticket prices (cheaper than Florida residents sometimes) and discounts on food, goods etc **
You can bank and borrow points - ie bank year 1, borrow from year 3 which gives you 3 x your annual points in year 2
You can rent them out, book rooms for other people if you don't want to use them this year.
DVC seems to be the in thing for Disney ( sell the points and get the public to pay for your construction) so that means more and more locations and themes ( and you can stay at the new ones)

The Bad

* There are annual maintenance fees per point which are due end of January each year (very bad timing) They have to be paid as a one off cost unless you have a US bank account which can be debited monthly.
** There have recently been changes regarding who you purchase points from - If you buy from Disney, you pay more but are entitled to the full benefits and perks - if you buy on the resale market, there are no perks and reduced usage but the points are cheaper- better to google this one as we bought direct so it doesn't really effect us but it looks like Disney are nibbling away at the extra benefits bit by bit.

You NEVER have enough points !
The points used to be more at the weekends to discourage "locals" booking weekends and making full weeks unavailable - this has changed and the points are kinda evened out a bit, weeks have stayed the same amount but it means last minute bookings are slightly harder to get


Due to the cost of the points in 2001 and the pounds strength, after 18 years of many trips, staying in many stunning locations and rooms, my points are worth nearly double what I paid for them if I wanted to sell them (which I don't, yet) but you couldn't really class it as an investment in that sense.

Am sure others will chip in with more info, but ask away or DM me if you have any questions

David.
#950667 by DaveVal
31 May 2019, 11:32
Hi James.

David has given you the headlines. I would add you do need to plan ahead if you have very specific date/ location requirements. We are staying at the Grand Californian Villas and I needed to book at exactly 8am EST 7 months out to secure my reservation. Literally seconds later the rooms were fully booked. Admittedly this is probably because Galaxy’s Edge is opening, although from reading various reports, GCV are often hard to get. It is easier to secure rooms at Walt Disney World, although there are some dates which book quickly such as Thanksgiving, and whilst rooms are likely to be available, maybe not the size of room or location you may have preferred will be available.

There are dedicated DVC sections on http://www.wdwinfo.com which I would recommend as they include details I wish I had known before we bought such as home resort booking priority and cost of annual dues, as dues do vary by resort.

I would also add, whilst a key selling point is using the points outside of Disney, we never have as the ‘value’ is less good, although I appreciate this is a personal view. We have used them to cruise with Disney though. Many say you need to buy points where you want to stay and want to visit Disney a lot!

Happy deciding.

David
#950690 by JamesH
02 Jun 2019, 12:47
Thanks for the tips!

We're staying the the animal kingdom lodge next year and maybe the contemporary so it will be good to asses if we want to invest long term.

Have you found any complications been a UK owner?

Are there any difficulties using your points at resorts that are not your chosen 'home resort'.
#950692 by DaveVal
02 Jun 2019, 14:00
When we first bought in 2001 phoning and faxing the US required some thought because of the time difference. Now with online booking, being able to modify reservations online and in fact carry out most functions online, this is less of an issue. We recently added some points and it was the easiest we’ve done.

The main problem is never having enough points for where/how long you would like to stay :-D

Some of the smaller resorts like Beach Club are reportedly hard to book if you don’t own there for popular events like the food and wine festival. We’re currently tied to school holidays so tend to plan well ahead and have always been able to secure accommodation-once just needed to be flexible and changed resorts mid stay. Bell services are very helpful if you do this, and will transfer luggage between resorts (at WDW).
#951460 by JamesH
21 Jul 2019, 20:10
Sounds overall like it could be a great buy. I think we're going to rent some points for our trip next year to try out DVC. I'm also keen for the dollar to recover a tad before making the investment !
#951464 by Fuzzy14
22 Jul 2019, 13:23
We're DVC members at Animal Kingdom since 2014.

Main problem is UK visitors traditionally do 2 weeks away and American guests do shorter trips so its about getting the balance of points right. We made sure we have enough for 1 week away each year (230 points), if we go each year it means we have to pay for a week elsewhere (hotel or villa). If we skip a year it means we'll have enough for 2 weeks (or can rent them out, currently $16 a point). Looking into the future there will be a time the kids won't come on holiday with us, that's when we're looking forward to staying in GF outside the holidays.

Only time I've had trouble booking non-home resort was over Christmas-New Year which was understandably busy, but could stay in my home resort no problem.

As time goes by Disney are pricing it out of the market so it inevitably becomes poorer value for money, 5 years on I'm glad we bought when we did but then wish we'd bought 10 years before that.
#952909 by starquake
01 Nov 2019, 13:48
Late to party,
But we've been members since appx 2014 (I *think* maybe 2015) as well in Animal Kingdom Lodge. As we typically book studios, our 200 points gives us 2-3 weeks a year - we've managed to get the "Value" rooms twice now, which are exceptionally good value at some times of year - and in studio at least have a 60ish percent chance fo the more expensive Savanna view.

We also now wish we had purchased more at the time, it was a VERY good deal for us with the Dollar rate at time. That and the increase in resales prices, means we've now had many Disney trips for effectively 0 outlay, as with the current dollar and DVC resale rates, we could sell for more than what we paid including maint fees. Not that I would as wife has said if we ever divorced (in jest) that she want to make sure she gets half the points as we both love it that much. I too wish I'd purchased Old Key West or even Beach club on release, as we had visited during that period and written it off as "just like spain" - which it certainally is not as we know now. I say this as we purchased on resale, and are grandfathered into the deals you only get direct from disney now (stuff like the cheap Annual passes like David probably has!). This is an importnat, in my book benefit of the DVC pieces, as cheap passes = able to go twice in 12 months, take a gap for a year, then go twice again - without needing to buy 4 lots of park tickets as would be needed on standard UK tickets (and normal AP's are about same price). In context in this September- it was $100 each to change form a 14 day UK pass to an annual Gold pass - we only purchased the former as we wanted to go into the parks day one, and the added time to do an annual pass collection would have caused us to miss the fireworks - and this also gives free parking, so if you use a villa (as we did in part this summer) it saved more than the extra cost!

Ref: US bank account for maintenance, yes we have one, open one at Suntrust when over at Kissimee - any branch can do it - it's an hour out of holiday, but makes the fees come out monthly, making it easier to budget for us... and allows us to top-up the account whenever the dollar is good, so we get holidays regardless of dollar rates ;) It also gives you a nice US debit card, which means less worries about card acceptance/fees too.

My advice to a friend who was purchasing is today was to buy a minimum amount of points direct from Disney (think it's 50 now, mouseowners forum can confirm) - AFTER purchasing a larger block of point from resales. Reason being then you get the perks without the larger direct from disney expense. Are we going to add-on in future? Probably, but more likely more resales points, given we have the grandfathered points, so buying direct just allows us to use for Cruises, which we would pay cash for as chaeaper generally. One exception to that would BE the grand californian, as there isn't much difference in disney price there to resale, and California has a harder process to buy on resale from allegedly. I wouldn't pay Disney for example for more ANimal Kingdom points today for sure - I'd buy resale, as it is really easy as a UK resident - you make an offer, transfer a holding fee to one of the brokers once agreed, and transfer balance and sign documents as required. It's not complex, and I completed our resale process with 2-3 phone calls, many emails, and at the time a XE.com transfer to the escrow account of the larger broker we used- simple. Forum mentioned (mouseowners) is usefull to get an overview of current process and limitations if you do buy resale.

Should add all the places we've visited on the points - California (we could never have afforded this on cash) at Grand Californian, Beach Club, Boardwalk, Animal Kingdom (lots) obviously. Like others here we've never had issues trading to when we want, but be aware you need to book at EXACTLY 7 months for popular places - we had the flights for the California trip booked miles ahead, and actually moved rest of holiday around (driving tour so easy) to accommodate the availability given California is about the hardest to get. Like others if not going to Disney we tend to sell our points to others.
#952916 by Virgin AU Flyer
01 Nov 2019, 18:24
Hi Starquake.
Regarding the Sun Trust account. Do you need to have a US address to open an account?
Thanks for your reply.
#952917 by RyanJW
01 Nov 2019, 18:43
The DISUnplugged team have been doing a lot of DVC specific shows lately. Some really good stuff including the new minimums points purchased through Disney (I believe it's 75 with the intent of it going up to 100). As Starquake pointed out, the best value is buy the minimum points through Disney to get the Perks and the buy the bulk of your points on resale. Also beware of buying at Riviera resort as these points cannot be used at other DVC properties on the resale market.

In terms of getting a US bank account, I got one via Bank Of America and it just took an hour or so. If you choose a branch that closer to the tourist places, then they will be more familiar with setting up a UK citizen. Main reason for getting a BoA account is that they are national and you don't have to worry about finding a branch or ATM that has an agreement with SunTrust for example to avoid ATM fees or do some over the counter banking.
#952920 by RyanJW
01 Nov 2019, 20:31
Usually you would do because they need to send your debit card (they are usually able to give you a temp debit card when you open the account) and other stuff like checks (cheques) cause we still use those heavily here... :-P
#952931 by mikethe3rd
02 Nov 2019, 20:05
We dabble with the idea every so often. Next time you’re there, go to their sales pitch - it’s not your normal time share; there is literally no pressure - and you’ll at least get a $150 preloaded VISA.

I think we worked out we’d have to stay at the Boardwalk for a week, once a year, for at least 14 years just to break even. I only mention the Boardwalk as that’s the hotel we most frequent. This was based on room rates at the time of year we go. It would take even longer to break even if we rented DVC points rather than using Trivago.

That said, that’s taking into account the room rate at 2019 value and not in 2030.

If you have older kids, it might be worth putting it in their name rather than yours, so at least it stays in the family longer.

Doing this 20 years ago seemed a super smart thing to do. The points were lower, but more importantly, the dollar was on your side. Only time will tell if now is a good time to buy.

Please keep us updated as I’m intrigued in DVC, but have never been fully convinced to take the plunge.
#952944 by starquake
04 Nov 2019, 11:30
To confirm you do not need a US address with Suntrust at least - my Suntrust account has my UK address on it, and that is where debit cards etc delivered.
I would also note they were super handy and agreed to open account and get the first cards sent to the branch we applied in (arriving 2 days later) so we had a card during our opening trip a few years ago. All you needed was passport, proof of address - ie, a UK driving license - and $500 back then to initially fund the account.

Ref: BoA - agreed they are in more places, but if you mainly travel to the south there are often branches of Suntrust in most airports as well as ATM's. I've never found fees an issue with Suntrust even in Cali.
#952955 by starquake
05 Nov 2019, 14:39
Oh something I should mention in case they havn't changed it - it's a bit of a faff to setup the monthly DD with member services initially - once you have the US account. You need paper forms sent via US post - we actually signed up with the temporary cheques they provided at account opening (as they required a paper cheque to validate the bank account bizarrely back then). We also handed over the paperwork at the DVC member center at Saratoga Springs, which apparently happens a lot with UK visitors (or did in 2014-5 time) - as this allowed faster processing.
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