Disney Vacation Club
 

Is anyone familiar with Disney vacation club ownership- pros and cons either as an owner or from word of mouth. <BR>How easy is it to trade Disney points for Interval International locations? Is the price quote from Disney the bottom line- how negotiable is the price. Does Disney plan to expand- now they have 2 resorts, one in FLorida, one in HIlton Head. Thanks for any information you can share.

Go either to wdwig.com for more info, or to family.com and then Disney travel corner. The people on the Disney travel boards are exremely helpful and informative, and several are DVC owners as well. Good luck.

I too am interested in this topic, I have seen the Hilton Head resort but didnt find any model homes or sales office to get information.

Don't know if this is even going to be of any help, but I live only about 25 minutes from the disney resort in Vero Beach Florida. From what I hear it is rather nice. My mother has eaten at one of their restaurants and said she would recommend it. I have only seen the outside of it hile driving along A1A. The location is nice, here on the central Florida Atlantic coast, weather is usually quite reasonable. The beaches however are not as nice as they used to be. Erosion has taken its toll, and along with how populated the beaches are lately, pollution can sometimes be an issue. I don't think you would run into this problem staying at a resort like Disney's though, since they would own the private beach on their property.

We, too are thinking about Disney Vacation Club. Would appreciate anyone who has info on yearly due increases, and especially anyone who has exchanged their points for non-Disney vacations through Interval International to share their knowledge and experiences.

Another good place to get information on "vacation clubs" is the Timeshare Owners Group BBS @ www.tug2.net. There are vacation club owners and timeshare owners from all over the world that discuss the in's and out's of buying, buying resale, how to exchange, and what all the resorts are like. They are non-biased and very knowledgeable about this subject. Suggest you check it out first. There are Marriott, Hyatt, WDW, and other company owners there.

I have checked bulleting boards regarding trading DVC points for Interval International but not having much success in getting any answers. Any help anyone has would be great.

I have looked at the tug2net and the boards were restricted to paid members only.

Hilda, ANYONE can access the www.tug2.net BBS, just by registering. Your password is send immedietly, then you can go to 'preferences' and change it to something you can remember. Only 'paid' members can access the review databases and certain other parts of the group. There is a special password for those sections. Believe me, plenty of 'non' members post questions on the BBS. If you have further questions please email me direct...just take the xx's out.

I really don't get time share "ownership". The DVC costs upwards of $20K for a decent amount of points, the annual fees, etc exceed $600. If you finance the purchase, add finance charges. If you pay cash, even a 5 year CD can net more than 5% interest per year, which, combined with the annual fee is almost $2000. That works out to $286 per night. Where can you stay for $286 per night? Almost anywhere you want and you still get to keep your principal. I love going to timeshare presentations and getting my free gift. In Maui we got $100 off on our Luau one year, On Kauai, we got a $100 dinner at the Hanalei Bay Resort. Well worth the hour I spent listening. In my opinion, that is the only worth of time shares. <BR>

The real 'secret' of buying a timeshare is to buy resale...not from the developer. There are some great bargains out there for a fraction of the developers price. The first thing anyone must do is a lot of research and ask a lot of questions before buying. That's why the Timeshare Users Group and Timeshare Today BBS's are such a good place to start learning. We have been to some wonderful places with our t/s exchanges. Places we probably wouldn't have even considered, or been able to afford, before. Timesharing is not for everyone, but for some of us it is a great way to vacation..IMHO.

Sorry Time Share, but you don't know what you are talking about. <BR> <BR>My family has owned points in DVC for five years and we have had six - 7 + day vactions at Disney World. <BR> <BR>DVC has five resorts (Vero Beach, Hilton Head, and Disney's Boardwalk, Old Key West, Wilderness Lodge in Disney World). They are building vacation club resorts at the Yacht & Beach club and are planning a resort at the Pine Ridge golf coourse. Both in Disney World. All DVC resorts are four & five star resorts. All are very high quality. All come with at the minimum a kitchenette. <BR> <BR>Trading points to resorts other than Disney is easy but requires more points per night. <BR> <BR>The price is non-negotialbe. The first points that my father-inlaw purchased were $55/point. Today the price is $75/point for the Wilderness Lodge. This resort will sell-out before the end of the year. Yacht & Beach club will be the next resort up for sale (2nd Qtr 2002). DVC has the first right of refusal, which means DVC gets first dibs at buying the timeshare back. <BR> <BR>The key about buying at DVC is how much do you like Disney World. We are a family of four and we have had a blast every year. Great resorts, great restaurants, great pools, AMAZING service, fun theme parks (Universal & Seawolrd are 30 minutes away), great night clubs at pleasure island, five great PGA golf courses, and more.... <BR> <BR>If you like the whole Disney thing, it is great. If you want to go to a different part of the globe every vacation, DON'T go with DVC. <BR> <BR>By the way Time Share, $289/night will not get you the lowest level room in a DVC resort. <BR> <BR>Let's see. $289 a night, times 10 nights a year, times 45 years equals $130,000 plus. That means that I got $130,000 worth of vactions for less than $20,000...

GODVC, that doesn't change anything I said. You have lost interest, dividends and have paid an annual fee AND you no longer have your principal, so you didn't get $130K worth of vacationing for free. My point is, I can go anywhere in the world, take the interest on my initial investment,add the annual fee to that amount and pay for the hotel room or condo and still have the $$$ it would have cost me to buy the DVC. This summer we stayed in a gorgeous two bed room oceanfront condo on the Big Island of Hawaii. Our cost, $187 per night or just about $1300 per week or less than 5% interest plus the annual and the membership, fee for the RCI or Interval and maintainance fee on the DVC. Condos in Florida and Hilton Head are equally affordable. When my kids were younger I was happy to go to WDW annually, now we prefer to go other places and I would not care to be locked in to time share locations only.

Hi Sammie...There's a web site that has a lot of good information about the Disney Vacation Club (and several other resorts as well)Here's the URL if you want to check it out.... <BR> <BR>http://www.vacationownership.com <BR> <BR>I hope it helps....Nancy

to timeshareforget it. I have traded 3 bd 3ba to Scotland cost 162.in a real castle built in 1266. with all types of facilities, for the week. If I cannot use my unit I rent it for 1300 week on Maui the dues are 500 annual. I could not get 3bd. 3 ba 1800 sq ft. for that price. It has its advantages, and others I have paid only 1500 a block from the beach. Resales are a viable vacation alternative, especially for a family, who might otherwise have to get a suite . I like the feel of being welcomed as an owner at my second home, of which there are 2500 worldwide. We each have choices. j