Our DVC Experience
A day-by-day (sometimes hour-by-hour) account of our family's experience purchasing a Disney Vacation Club membership through a reseller.
Note to folks who may not be familiar with blogs -- the top post is the most recent. To start from the beginning, use the navigation at the right to choose the earliest date posted. Thanks!
Monday, July 14, 2008
We made our first reservation at the 11-month window for June 2009. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we are taking my dad and my brother and his family.
I was able to secure a 2-bedroom suite and a studio for six nights. We don't have enough points for seven nights, so we all agreed to stay one night at one of the value resorts.
My brother and sister-in-law had been trying to keep the trip a secret from my two nephews (9 & 11), but they overhead them talking a week or two ago, and they had to spill the beans. Personally, I'm thrilled that they know now so they can take part in the planning process and get excited about the trip!
We all had dinner together over the weekend, and I busted out two brand-new pairs of Year of a Million Dreams ears for them. We won them last year, and had been keeping them for just such an occasion! I also showed them the photos of Beach Club Villas from the Dreams book and told them about the sandy bottom in Stormalong Bay. I just can't wait for them to experience Walt Disney World for the first time! Posted by grits at
6:40 PM 0 comments 
Friday, July 11, 2008
Last night we ordered Annual Passes with our ---ta da --- Disney Vacation Club discount! We are going to WDW in August, and again next June, so it made sense to just get the Annual Pass.
Trouble was -- we had a HECK of a time trying to figure out how to get the blasted things!
See, because we closed so late on our DVC, and couldn't get a room at Beach Club, we are staying at Coronado Springs Resort at WDW in August. A couple of weeks ago I found out about a special rate for Annual Passholders, and for just $600 more than we were paying for just the room, we got the Dining Plan for all four of us.
Since we got an Annual Pass rate, we have to show our APs when we check in. We are driving about 11 hours to Disney, and want to have the tickets in-hand when we arrived so we wouldn't have to make a stop at a park or Downtown Disney to buy them. (Annual Passes are about the only tickets that can't be purchased AT the resorts).
Soo...I called DVC Member Services to order tickets, and the lady I spoke with informed me that we would have to pick them up at will-call at one of the parks or Downtown Disney. What?? That didn't sound right to me! I knew I'd read about people having AP vouchers mailed to them that they later had to trade in at the parks, but I'd never heard of people having to pick up their
vouchers at the parks!
Luckily, I was right. I went on to the
disboards and asked in one of the DVC forums about the tickets. One kind soul told me to look on the DVC member site. Sure enough, there was a link to purchase DVC discounted APs online, which automatically had our member number. We were able to purchase the tickets online with our DVC discount and the vouchers will be mailed to us. That will be good for getting checkd in, then we'll swap them for tickets when we are ready to go to the parks.
Ahh...one less thing to stress about. Posted by grits at
7:01 PM 0 comments
Monday, June 16, 2008
Oddly enough, our Vacation Planner book came in the mail today, so I figured we MUST be in the system, despit what the cast member I spoke to earlier said. I called back, and pointed out that our mailing label shows a space between the first and second part of our last name.
This cast member seemed more experienced and found us. We got our member number, I confirmed our points, and got a PIN number for the web site. Whew! Now I can bank our points! Hot diggity dog!
Friday, June 6, 2008
Jaki emailed last night to tell us that our DVC contract closed and that we can contact DVC Member Services in 7-10 days for our member number. We'll bank our points as soon as we get the number, just so we don't mess up and forget!
Jaki has been awesome to work with -- she has been 100% professional, and has made this purchase process as smooth as anyone could hope for. If anyone is interested in buying a Disney Vacation Club through the resale market, I highly recommend her. Her website is
ResalesDVC.com.
I just realized that I failed to mention my first trip to Disney World in my original "history" post. We were going though some of Mom's old pictures Monday night and found a few from that trip that I don't think I've ever seen. Come, let us step into the time machine...
Way back in 1989 when the earth was still cooling, my Grandma took my Mom, Dad, brother Mike and me on a Thanksgiving bus trip to Disney World. It was our family, a honeymoon couple, and about 50 retirees.
I was a month shy of turning 19, and my brother Mike was 16 and too cool for school. He was a mullet-wearing rebel, probably mortified to be on a bus trip with his Grandma. He kept going to the back of the bus to smoke Marlboros the whole way down. My Grandma was half-blind, and never took notice, but I'm certain my parents saw him.
We really
did play bingo on the bus and, since Cracker Barrel restaurants had not yet been built, the driver stopped at every Stuckey's along I-95. Mmmm...pecan logs!
Making so many stops meant that it took 14 hours to make what is normally an 11-hour trip by car, but it worked out well. As we sat in the Quality Inn parking lot on International Drive waiting for the tour guide to check us in, we saw the Space Shuttle Discovery climbing into the night sky (thanks to Wikipedia for the list of past Shuttle missions). That was an exciting way to start the trip!
When we finally got to the Magic Kingdom on our first "real" day, I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven. Everything was so clean and beautiful and perfect. This was when the maintenance crews still scraped down to bare surface each time they painted, so everything looked brand new. We visited Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM, and Sea World, and each park was a new and different kind of excitement, the likes of which we'd never seen.
Even though it was Thanksgiving week, one of the most crowded times to visit, I don't remember the crowds being an issue. The only super-long lines I remember were at Body Wars, which hadn't been open long, and everything at MGM was busy because it was a brand new park. I do remember a frighteningly large crush of people waiting for the monorails at park closing. We didn't get into that crowd since we had to go to the bus lot to ride back to the Quality Inn.
The Swan and Dolphin hotels were in the final stages of construction. The giant swan or dolphin statues (I don't remember which) had just been placed on the roof that week, but the resorts had not yet been painted in their signature tropical paint schemes. Catastrophe Canyon at MGM was bright and shiny, not yet smudged black by years of exposure to flames.
One interesting tidbit about this trip is that my parents had been legally separated for about six years, but were still on good enough terms to vacation together. It was so nice to have everyone together, laughing and having a great time.
Ah, good times. Good times. Posted by grits at
7:28 PM 0 comments
We decided over the weekend that it would be nice to take my dad, my brother and his family, and my great aunt & uncle to Disney World with us next year. We'll have enough points for a 2BR and studio since we're banking our remaining 2008 points, and we're going to borrow 53 points from 2010.
We mentioned the idea to everyone on Saturday and surprisingly, nobody balked. I was sure my dad would say "no way!" since he seemed to hate it so much last time, but I think the idea of seeing my brother's boys at their first visit to Disney World softened him up a bit. He just kind of laughed when I mentioned it.
Monday morning we looked at the school calendar for 2009 and crunched the numbers. We came up with a list of possible dates based on the school year & what we have enough points for. Basically, anything outside the school year, Easter and Christmas was fair game.
Monday night we gave the list of dates to my brother and great aunt, then we stopped by my Dad's to go through some of Mom's things at his request. I didn't say any more to him about the trip, but I quietly hung the list of dates on his refrigerator door.
I called him Tuesday night to see how he was, and I didn't mention the trip. Amazingly, he was the one who brought it up! He said he had looked at the dates and June would work best for him.
I called my brother that night to see if that would suit them, and he said it would. Wednesday morning I called my great aunt to ask her if that would work for them. They still aren't sure they will go, but she said they were thinking about it.
I think we all need a good escape. I'm especially excited about seeing my nephews' and sister-in-law's reactions -- they have never been. I just know they will have a blast.
Now we just have to pray that our points are in our account by July 13, which is when our 11 month window opens for our trip! Posted by grits at
7:05 PM 0 comments
I checked our tracking number with UPS and our closing docs were actually delivered on Tuesday, a day earlier than promised!
Unfortunately, that really has no bearing on our closing since I just noticed that the settlement date on our closing docs is June 11. I'm glad we decided to bank our points to next year -- there's no way on earth we'd be able to use our points for this year's trip! Posted by grits at
7:00 PM 0 comments
Sunday, May 25, 2008
I went to the UPS store yesterday morning and shipped our closing documents and payoff check to Florida. I sent it 2-Day (normally arrives in two business days), but with the Memorial Day holiday, it won't actually get there until Wednesday morning around 10:30 AM.
Our local UPS store didn't offer Saturday pickup, which would have meant it wouldn't have been picked up until Tuesday, and delivered on Thursday. For that reason, I drove 15 miles or so to Greensboro and dropped it at the UPS store there.
It cost $17 to ship it (more than $3.00 of that was a fuel surcharge), but that is still about $20 cheaper than the fees we'd have incurred if we'd used a wire transfer, and the money will still get there around there around the same day.
Now we just wait to hear that we've officially closed! Posted by grits at
11:55 AM 0 comments Saturday, April 26, 2008
The attorney came by to do the closing on our line of credit. It only took about 20 minutes.
He is also a notary public, and he kindly agreed to notarize our son's summer camp form while he was here. One less thing to do today!
The money we need for the DVC closing is supposed to hit our checking account on May 1, so we should be in good shape.
Posted by grits at
10:33 AM 0 comments
I just checked my email and Jaki sent us a message around 10:00 last night saying that Disney approved our purchase. In other words, they waived their right of first refusal.
Yay!!!!! That is a huge relief.
Jaki said we should get our closing documents in 2-3 weeks. I've been reading on the DIS boards that estopple has been a little slow lately, so I'm figuring it will be on the long end of that. From the looks of things, the estopple process at Disney has become a bit of a log jam.
This part we can live with, since we know ultimately the purchase will happen.
The attorney/closing agent for Chase will be here in less than an hour, so I need to go finish getting ready.
Posted by grits at
8:56 AM 0 comments Wednesday, April 23, 2008
I am a longtime member of the DIS boards (wdwinfo.com, wwwdisboards.com). I've been reading a thread called, "Waiting for ROFR Support Group" , and two people on there have had their contracts ROFR'd by Disney this week.
I hope Disney hasn't decided that since they've passed on a bunch of contracts lately, they're going to snap up a bunch to make up for it!
Posted by grits at
2:03 PM 0 comments
Jason from Chase called this morning to confirm that he got my message last night about our needing money at closing. Chase will transfer the money we need into our account around May 1, so there won't be any worry about being short of funds if/when the DVC closing happens.
We have enough in savings, but don't want to take it out in case there is some big ordeal about replacing those funds with funds from the equity line. Getting Chase to wire funds into our checking account will be a lot simpler.
Jason also said that the attorney has confirmed our closing appointment for 10:00 this Saturday.
Posted by grits at
1:51 PM 0 comments
Last night I had the most vivid dream that Jaki called us to say that our sellers had decided to postpone closing until December, and had gone ahead and banked the 2008 points into 2009. Ahhh!!!
In my dream, Freddie and I were even discussing whether or we should keep our existing reservation at Port Orleans French Quarter for August so we could stay with this contract or whether we should bail out and look for another contract so we could stay at a DVC resort this year.
Posted by grits at
1:47 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Wow -- One phone call today really set things in motion with Chase!
I'd been thinking about the amount of equity line of credit, and that we REALLY didn't need that much; we'd just gone with that amount because it had a slightly better interest rate. We're planning to have this thing paid off next year, so a little higher rate isn't really that big a deal. Applying for a smaller line would no longer require a drive-by appraisal, which I was thinking might speed things along.
Speed things along they did! I called Jason at lunch and told him we wanted to request a smaller credit line. He said that was no problem and that he'd go ahead and order the title & flood info.
Around 6:30 PM he called me at home to let me know they'd already gotten the title and they were ready to schedule a closing. They have a travelling attorney (how convenient is that?!) who will come here to do the closing. He asked if we could do it Friday, but unfortunately, we can't take off with such short notice. He then said they can do it Saturday morning. Wow.
He asked if we needed funds at the closing, and I said no, but then after hanging up, realized it might be cutting a little close on the DVC closing if we wait for the checks to be sent 2 weeks after the closing. I called him back and left a message that we would need funds at closing.
Posted by grits at
6:59 PM 0 comments
Jaki emailed this morning to let us know that the sellers have gotten their documents in and the contract has gone to Disney for their ROFR. We hopefully will know something in about two weeks.
Posted by grits at
12:38 PM 0 comments
Friday, April 18, 2008
Jason at Chase left another voice mail this evening. We didn't hear the phone because we were outside doing yard work. He acknowledged receipt of the documents I faxed/emailed Wednesday morning, and said that once they verified everything someone would contact us about a property valuation.
I am not sure how they can claim to "close in about 10 days"; but it's certainly not 10 days from the date you decide to work with them. It's already been 10 days since we started this loan process, and we have made no appreciable progress. We haven't even received any documents from them, so I can't imagine this thing is even going to be finished in another 10 days.
It's not a huge rush on our end; I just prefer to be given a realistic timeline up front.
Posted by grits at
8:00 PM 1 comments
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Today I received an email from Vacation Property Brokers (vacationpropertybrokers.com / timeshareadventures.com - I'm not sure which web site I contacted them through, and there were links to both in the email) This company is the fourth reseller that I contacted about DVC on April 4, and it took them 13 days to even acknowledge our inquiry. I politely let them know we already made an offer.
Posted by grits at
12:30 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
I faxed Chase another copy of my pay stub and just to be safe, I faxed BOTH of our 2007 W2 forms. I also scanned everything and e-mailed it to Jason, hoping maybe that would help expedite things.
Nothing else new to report.
Posted by grits at
12:01 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Got another call from Jason at Chase today.
Apparently they were looking over the docs I faxed them last Friday morning, and say that my employer's name was cut off, as was the YTD pay info.
Also, since Freddie doesn't make the same amount of $$ each week, we have to fax a copy of his W2 from last year.
I'll have to dig up our tax return (we do ours in Feb -- my dad's an accountant) so I can fax everything in the AM.
Posted by grits at
1:47 PM 0 comments
Monday, April 14, 2008
Nothing major today. I got a brief phone call from Jason at Chase acknowledging that they'd received my fax on Friday, and asking me about our homeowners insurance info. Apparently I had failed to copy Jason on the email that I sent to David at Chase last week, and David didn't bother to share it with him. I forwarded my original message to Jason while I had him on the phone.
I'm not feeling terribly confident in Chase at the moment. Jason went over all the same info David went over with me last week, including asking about the drive-by appraisal, which I thought David had already ordered. Jason sounded more like he was asking me if the info he had was correct, vs. confirming what we'd already agreed to.
I have a feeling this is going to take longer than 10 business days to close.
Posted by grits at
9:35 PM 0 comments
Friday, April 11, 2008
Today I faxed our contract to Jaki, faxed copies of our pay stubs to the bank, and put a deposit check in the mail. Sounds simple enough, right?
Not for me! I'm a web developer and deal mainly with email, so I don't send many faxes. I was familiar with our old fax machine, but we recently purchased a massive copy/fax/scanner/coffee maker/food processor/pasta maker the size of a Chrysler minivan. I wasn't entirely sure how to use it, but I managed to fax off all the paperwork, then emailed Jaki & our loan officer to let them know.
Jaki called me a short time later to ask if I'd sent her a fax. When I told her I had, she said she'd received a blank one. Uh oh!
I'm such a doofus -- despite the fact a label on top of the fax machine clearly instructed to place the pages face up, I put them all in face down. DOH! I re-sent both faxes, dropped the deposit check in the mailroom, and now all is right with the world.
The sellers now have to get their contract back and we wait for Disney to (hopefully) pass on their ROFR. We also have to do the paperwork for the loan, which will probably come next week.
Updates will probably be a little less frequent now, but I'll post when I have new info.
Posted by grits at
9:24 PM 0 comments Thursday, April 10, 2008
Our DVC purchase contract requires witnesses' signatures. There weren't really any witness of legal age around when Freddie got home last night, so in the interest of speed, he took the contract to work this morning to get a co-worker to witness his signature, and I've got a co-worker lined up to sign mine tomorrow.
After all the witnessing has occured, I'll fax our contract to Jaki. Tomorrow is also the day I fax our pay stubs to Chase (crossing my fingers that Freddie remembers to bring his home!)
Nothing else new to report.
Posted by grits at
6:06 PM 0 comments
Just a sidebar to say to any business professionals reading this -- speed counts. It especially counts when you are contacted by a potential customer online, because that probably means they are in a hurry to get something done.
Take our case. I initially inquired about DVC resales online. I inquired on at Friday at four different resellers' websites. One reseller (Jaki) contacted me the next day via telephone, had listings for us by Monday, we made an offer Monday night and had a contract in our hands by Wednesday.
A second reseller sent an auto-reply email, but never followed up. The third reseller replied with an automated email confirmation, then snail-mailed an information packet, which I received on Wednesday (no phone call). The fourth reseller has failed to acknowledge our inquiry.
So, Jaki, the winning reseller not only contacted us personally, but called us back with suitable listings and made an offer on our behalf -- all before any of her competitors had even bothered to contact us personally.
Next, take our loan process. I went to Lendingtree.com on Tuesday morning and applied for an Equity Line of Credit. We had three email offers within the hour. So far, so good.
Two hours later, I'd been contacted personally by a Chase representative who went over the terms of the offer with me. The second lender (PCB) sent us an email later on Tuesday, then followed up with a phone call Wednesday night. The third lender (Charter One) contacted us for the first time via e-mail this morning, and was the worst of the bunch.
Here is a quote from their loan representative's email:
"I have been trying to contact you about our recent Home Equity offer to be sure our offer is appropriate based on your request."
Unfortunately for this gentleman, we have already accepted an offer from a competitor who was quicker to respond (and had a better rate). Even if we had been considering Charter One's offer, this email is a deal breaker because the above quote from his email is a complete falsehood.
This gentleman has not attempted to contact us about this offer. There have been no previous emails, nor has he tried to contact us via telephone.
Business people: If you are going to fabricate a story about "trying to contact" a potential customer, you need to be aware that person might have the technology to verify it.
At home, I have Vonage, which logs all incoming calls. There is no record that this gentleman, or anyone at his bank has tried to contact us at home. I also have call logs at work, and again, no record of an attempted call from him. Not only is this lender slow on the draw, he's dishonest from the start. Not a good way to start off a business relationship!
So, today's lesson again is this: speed and honesty are key in today's business world.
Posted by grits at
5:36 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
We got a contract to sign and fax back to our resale agent today. Freddie couldn't find a recent pay stub, so we have to wait until Friday to fax those to the bank.
I also got a call from our guide at DVC, and told her we were able to get a resale contract at Beach Club. She was very nice and wished us luck on it.
Nothing much else to report!
Posted by grits at
8:06 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
I don't know why, but I feel the need to explain something. I suspect that for a lot of folks it might seem odd that I (the wife) am doing the legwork for our DVC purchase. Freddie and I are equal partners in our marriage, but I'm NOT doing this because I "wear the pants"; it's just a matter of convenience.
I work in an office with access to a phone, email and fax machine, and Freddie travels all day. It's pretty much a no-brainer that I would field the phone calls and handle the emails and faxes. Freddie can be very difficult to reach, and playing phone tag with the bank & realtor would drag this process out.
Ah, I feel better now.
Carry on!
Posted by grits at
6:47 PM 0 comments
Pea and I stopped at Target on the way home to get her a few new clothes for spring. When we got home, J-Man said that Jaki had called and said she had good news. I immediately called her back, and she said that the sellers had accepted our offer. Yahoo!
Now we have to sign contract papers and mail our deposit. Jaki said that once they have the deposit and contract, it will go for Disney's right of first refusal (ROFR). She said we shouldn't be concerned because the price we're offering is good, and that she's only had one out of 200 contracts fail to make it through ROFR.
I know our odds of passing are good, but it's still a little nerve-wracking knowing that Disney could squash this whole deal like a bug.
I called Freddie with the good news that our offer was accepted, and he sarcastically said, "Oh no!!"
Posted by grits at
6:40 PM 0 comments
Freddie and I conferred by phone about the offers we'd gotten, and we agreed that the Chase one was the way to go since the rate was good and our current mortgage is already with them. A gentleman named David from Chase called and went over the terms, and also gave me the run-down on a fixed-rate loan. Freddie & I already decided the equity line of credit (ELOC) was the way to go, so that's what we are going with.
David ordered an appraisal on our house, and I just had to email him the name and phone number of our insurance agent. Tomorrow I will fax pay stubs for Freddie and myself. David said we should be able to close on the ELOC in about 10 days (I'm assuming business days). Whew!
Posted by grits at
6:24 PM 0 comments
I hit Lendingtree.com and put in a request for some offers for a home equity line of credit for our DVC. We're planning to put part of the $ down, but since we've got some upcoming home improvements, we decided to just lump it all into one credit line.
Five minutes later I have three offers, and one of them stands out. It's from Chase, with a good interest rate. I called Freddie and told him about the offer, and we're probably going to take it.
Posted by grits at
8:36 AM 0 comments
Monday, April 7, 2008
Again, I can't believe how quickly this is happening! Freddie and I talked it over one last time and decided we were ready to do this. We called Jaki to tell her we wanted to make an offer on the listing with the Feb use year.
We offered $90/pt (the owners are asking $91), and we also requested pro-rated maintenance fees since the current owner has already used 96 of the points for this year.
Jaki is going to give us an update tomorrow to tell us if they accepted the offer or made a counter offer. She also said it's possible we won't get an answer tomorrow if they can't get in touch with the owners, but either way she will give us an update. She said we'd have a May closing if the offer is accepted. May! Wow -- that's less than four weeks from now!
I'm excited, but trying to keep my excitement in check, because they still have to accept the offer, and we still have to pass ROFR.
After we called Jaki, we looked through our Magic book some more and looked at BCV photos on the wdwinfo.com web site.
More tomorrow!
Posted by grits at
10:50 PM 0 comments
Holy cow - I can't believe how quickly this is happening! I was anticipating waiting weeks or months to find a BCV listing like we were looking for, but it's only been TWO DAYS!
Jaki called us to tell us about several listings in our range. The best one for us has a February use year. It still has 114 pts left for 2008, and 210 points coming in February. 210 points is exactly what we were looking for.
In the meantime, we're still playing around with our points spreadsheet, cooking up various combinations of studios and 1 bedrooms in the various seasons. We also discussed the very real possibility that since it's so late in the game, we probably won't be able to secure any kind of reservations for the trip we've already planned for August.
For now we've decided that if we get a contact with 2008 points (which is what we want), we will just roll those into 2009 and keep our reservation at POFQ. We got a AAA discount, so it's a pretty good rate. No sense in blowing perfectly good DVC points! The plan for now is to use our DVC in June 2009, again around Christmas, and return in June 2010.
Posted by grits at
8:26 PM 0 comments
Sunday, April 6, 2008
April 5, 2008 - First Contact with a Reseller
As luck would have it, the phone rang on Saturday, April 5 just before we made our decision to purchase. It was Jaki at ResalesDVC.com. She was very friendly and professional. I talked to her for 10 minutes or so to tell her what we were looking into -- 200 to 225 points at BCV. She said she didn't have anything that matched at the moment, but there was another broker that they worked with, and she would check with them on Monday. She told us just to relax over the weekend and she would be back in touch.
April 6, 2008 - More Number-Crunching And A Blog
Sunday, April 6 Freddie went fishing with his brother and I decided to go back over our numbers and see what kind of vacation we would be able to plan with our DVC membership. As I was doing that, it occured to me that others considering DVC might be intersted in how the whole process works from start to finish, so I started this blog.
Posted by grits at
1:21 PM 0 comments
The Big Family Vacation Fantasy
I have always had this dream of taking a vacation with our whole family - my family, my parents, younger brother and his family, my great aunt and uncle, etc.
In my imagination, The Big Family Vacation resembles a Caribbean resort commercial with children dressed in prinstine white cotton, playing and giggling in the cloudless sunshine. The adults are all smartly clad in neat khaki shorts and brightly colored golf shirts; smiling and laughing without a care.
If The Big Family Vacation was at the beach, we'd swim and sunbathe all day, and at night, the grill would sizzle with lobsters or steaks. After our angelic children were all tucked into bed, the adults would relax on a deck, which, naturually, would glow softly from strings of white lights overhead (or flickering tiki torches). We'd enjoy an adult beverage, soak in the hot tub and laugh late into the night.
If The Big Family Vacation was at WDW, we'd all share a gorgeous Grand Villa. We'd rise early each day, plan our day over a delicious hot breakfast, then go the parks and enjoy all the attractions together. If we got hot or tired, we'd return to our resort to enjoy the pool before returning to the parks. At night, we'd dine at a great WDW restaurant, see a dinner show, or and prepare a delicious dinner in our villa. Peace and harmony would abound. Ahhhhhh....
2005-2007 - Fantasy, Schmantasy!
As I mentioned, the December 2005 trip included my mom, aunt and uncle. There was so much tip-toeing and trying to avoid disagreements and hurt feelings that we really didn't enjoy the trip at all. In fact, it was such a disaster and a blur that we refer to it as the "Lost Disney Vacation".
In June 2006, we spent a week in a large Myrtle Beach condo with my parents, my brother and his family. We quickly discovered that four kids ranging in age from 3 to 12 spend a lot of time bickering and like to push their boundaries when there are other relatives around. We also discovered that six adults with strong opinions also can't agree on much. The constant tension made it hard to relax during what was supposed to be a time to unwind.
In August of 2007 my mom and stepdad accompanied us to WDW, and we rented another home in Windsor Palms. My stepdad abhors all things Disney, something we didn't know ahead of time. Since he also hates heat, he was miserable the whole trip. Misery loves company, so everyone else shared in his discomfort.
Those three trips made us realize no matter how wonderful the idea of The Big Family Vacation seems, it is difficult and stressful to travel with others; especially with differing age groups. The glamour and allure of The Big Family Vacation was gone.
Big Beautiful Beach Club
We have always been fans of the whole Boardwalk/Yacht & Beach Club area. We've stayed at the Dolphin several times, so got to spend quite a bit of time around the Boardwalk. We love the boat transporatation to and from Epcot and Disney Hollywood Studios. We also like being able to see Spaceship Earth, and just love the overall atmosphere.
On our August 2007 trip, we enjoyed our first meal at Beaches and Cream, got to experience the fabled Kitchen Sink, and took a close up look at Stormalong Bay. Wow! Pools are always a big factor for us when we plan a vacation, and Stormalong Bay is, without a doubt, the best pool on WDW property.
The grounds surrounding the Beach Club/Beach Club Villas area are beautiful, and the resort's pastel seaside theming is comforting and relaxing. We liked everything that we saw.
2008 - Here We Go Again
In early 2008, I was planning yet another WDW trip. This time, sad to say, it's just the four of us, because my mom is no longer well enough to travel. We initially made a reservation at another Windsor Palms vacation home, but cancelled it because of my mom's questionable health. The home has a six-week cancellation policy, and we didn't want something we couldn't cancel at the last minute if something were to happen. We also didn't want the house badly enough to pay for trip insurance.
After cancelling the house, we decided it would be fun to stay on-site again, and since there were just four of us, it opened up a lot of possibilites. We decided to book a room at Port Orleans French Quarter, where Freddie and I honeymooned in 1991. I did a lot of research online about the current condition of the resort, and was pleased with what I was reading.
A month or so later in mid-March 2008, I keep thinking back to how beautiful Stormalong Bay was, and got an urge to stay at the Beach Club resort. The room rates were much more than we were willing/able to spend, so I looked into renting points from a DVC owner. In the process, I learned more and more about the Beach Club and Beach Club Villas, like the Beach Club's nightly beachside campfires and movies. We enjoy camping, so we are always suckers for a good campfire.
Alas, however, it was too late in the game to get a Studio reservation at BCV. Since I was frequenting DVC message boards, my interest in DVC re-surfaced again, and I requested information from Disney's web site. I mentioned it to Freddie and he said he would think about it. He had liked the idea when we first talked about it, and our vacation needs had changed considerably since we decided that DVC wasn't right for us.
March/April 2008 - Third Time's The Charm
On March 31, we got a phone call from DVC. The first lady I spoke to made sure we had requested DVC info, and then transferred me to, of all people, Betty -- the very same DVC Guide we had spoken to back in 2005. Betty was very gracious and helpful, and spent 25 minutes telling me all about the new Animal Kingdom Villas, Saratoga Springs Resort and current incentives.
When I asked her about the possibility of buying a Beach Club Villas membership, she said she could help me with that, but they had a long waiting list (I'm almost certain she said a year). She also told me that it was $104 a point, as was Boardwalk and Wilderness Lodge Villas. Old Key West was $102 a point. Yikes!
I didn't express my surpise at the prices, but knew from visiting various DVC member web sites that points could be had for far less on the resale market, and it may only take a few weeks or months to find exactly what you were looking for.
That night, I looked around on a couple of resales web sites (Timeshare Store and DVC By Resale) to see what the current going rates were for DVC points at resale. I also did a little looking into what was passing Right of First Refusal (ROFR).
A brief primer for folks unfamiliar with ROFR -- Disney has established the right to approve all resales of DVC points, presumably to protect the value of their resorts. If someone makes an offer that Disney deems is too low, Disney will invoke their right of ROFR. If ROFR is invoked, there is no opportunity for the buyer to make a higher offer. The sale between the DVC member and the prospective buyer is effectively dead and Disney will purchase the points back from the seller and re-sell them as add-on points for current DVC members or non-members on the waiting list to purchase. My understanding (and I am not 100% sure on this) is that current DVC members take priority over non-members, so it's easy to see why it takes a long time for a non-member to purchase BCV though Disney.
I made a spreadsheet and we crunched some numbers to see what we might be able to afford. We tinkered with 125 - 200 points to see what things looked like. Our new Magic book and DVD arrived on Thursday, April 3. I looked through the book that night while Freddie watched hockey on TV (to each his own!).
On Friday, April 4, I again looked at the available BCV listings on the resales sites and sent out a couple of e-mails asking about how we might be able to get on a waiting list if we decided to proceed.
On Saturday April 5, Freddie and I watched the DVD. I had also put together another spreadsheet where we could plug in points and see which rooms would be in our reach during certain times of the year. After looking over everything, we decided to pursue a BCV purchase.
Posted by grits at
1:12 PM 0 comments
Now that you've learned a little about us, how did we come to learn about Disney Vacation Club (DVC), and decide it was right for us? That question has a very complex and long history.
2000 - First Knowledge Of Disney Vacation Club
Sad to say, I heard about DVC around 2000. A co-worker/friend and fellow WDW fan told me all about it. We talked briefly about going in together on a membership that we could take turns using. After a few fleeting discussions and number-crunching (the points minimum was considerably higher then), we decided it was too expensive, and we soon forgot about DVC entirely.
2005 - DVC Resurfaces
In early 2005, as I was the beginning stages of planning a December 2005 vacation at WDW, I saw an ad for DVC on one of Disney's web sites. Out of curiosity, I requested more information, and soon had a DVD and the beautiful hardbound Magic book in hand. Betty, one of the DVC guides, called and spoke to me at length about DVC. She was very friendly and professional, and there was no pressure whatsoever.
Freddie and I watched the DVD, read through the book, looked over points charts and decided we REALLY liked the Beach Club Villas, but it was more than we wanted to spend. We also liked the Boardwalk Villas because of its proximity to Epcot, the Boardwalk Area, and I was particularly excited about watching movies in the pool. We knew we would have to buy Boardwalk as a resale since Saratoga Springs was the only DVC resort being sold at that time.
I was also trying really hard to lose weight, so I asked Freddie if we could use the DVC purchase as an incentive for my weight loss. If I could lose 50 pounds, we would buy it. He agreed. To inspire myself, I printed out photos of the Boardwalk Villas and posted them in various places to remind me to be "good". :o) I lost some weight, but not the 50 pounds I wanted.
...DVC Recedes Again
As the months passed, DVC started to seem less than ideal. We are a family of four, but my mom had gone to WDW with us for at least the last four trips. We didn't want to prevent her from going with us, and we also couldn't afford enough points for a room that would accomondate five.
Besides my mom, the December 2005 trip has also included two additional family members. We rented a vacation home on that trip -- a beautiful four bedroom, 2100 square foot home in the Windsor Palms community. While the drive to and from the Disney property wasn't bad, we definitely missed being on-site.
Having the extra space and privacy for seven people, however, pushed DVC further from our thoughts. Surely buying a fixed number of points in a DVC membership would limit our flexibility and make it hard to go with a larger group in the future (aka The Big Family Vacation Fantasy).
Posted by grits at
11:31 AM 0 comments
Hi and welcome to Our DVC Experience!
We're in the process of purchasing a membership to Disney Vacation Club (DVC), Disney's version of a timeshare. We hope that others considering purchasing a DVC membership will be able to learn from our experience, whatever that turns out to be.
Before we start posting a day-to-day update of our newly begun purchase process, here is a little introduction and some history of how we got to this point.
Cast Of Characters
We are a family of four from central North Caroline. My husband, "Freddie", is 42. Our son, "J-Man", is 14, and our daughter, "Pea", is 5, and I, "Dodie", am 38.
A Little About Us (you don't have to be rich to buy DVC!)
We are a dual income family, and both of us make almost the same salary. We are certainly not wealthy, nor are we poor. We live in brick home in an upper middle class neighborhood and drive modest cars that get decent gas mileage. Both cars are currently both paid for -- one is 10 years old, and the going on 7. We realized several years ago that for us, paying on new(er) cars all the time is a huge waste of money that could be better spent elsewhere.
This fall, J-Man starts high school, and Pea starts kindergarten. Kindergarten will save us about $250 a month in child care expenses (we will still be paying for Pea's before- and after-school care, so the expense is not completely eliminated).
We have some retirement savings, a modest savings account, and a good chunk of equity in our home. We were fortunate to have purchased this house in June 2003, when interest rates were at an historic low. Ours is around 4.5%, making our mortgage payment pretty reasonable for the size home we purchased.
Past Visits To Walt Disney World
Freddie and I have been married for 16 years. We honeymooned at Walt Disney World (WDW), and stayed at the newly constructed Port Orleans, as it was called then. In the years that have followed, we've visited WDW an average of every other year, though we would like to go more often. Our last trip was in August 2007, and we have another trip planned this coming August.
Posted by grits at
9:38 AM 0 comments
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