DVC every other year. Is this possible? About This Page:

[soonerprices]

Can you buy a membership that allows you to travel every other year? What would a membership plus annual fees cost that would allow us a 1 week stay every other year?

[kellensmom]

Sure you can, especially if you buy a smaller resale contract. Most contracts through Disney are a minimum of 160 pts which will get you a one bedroom for 5-6 nights most of the year. You can buy smaller contracts through resale and bank one year's points to combine with another for an every other year vacation. The amount of pts you will need depends on the time of year you usually travel, and the type of accommodations you would need. You can google DVC pts charts to get an idea.

[nurse_mom]

Yes you can. We usually go every other year. And sometimes I get a get away with a friend. But we go with my parents usually. So a 2 bedroom adds up points quickly! Another things to think of is the time of year you go as well.

[kazanimo]

We go every other year, just cannot afford to go every year plus with school, sports and work schedules it's not possible. We purchased 150 BWV points in 1999 and this allows us the use of 300 points to play with. What points we don't use we usually post on the rent/ transfer boards on another site selling them helping to pay the annual due which at boardwalk are a little pricey...

[chezp]

You can, but it's worth being aware that was our original plan when we first joined the DVC. That went out of the window fairly soon afterwards and we've ended up going every year, as we can't stay away.

[soonerprices]

Is the membership $20,000 no matter how many points you get?

Where can you use you points besides cruises, WDW. DL, and Italy?

[kellensmom]

You pay per point. You don't buy weeks like with other timeshares. Prices are set to increase through Disney soon. Animal kingdom pts will be approx 130 per pt. Bay Lake will be approx 160 per pt if I remember correctly. So if you plan to spend 20,000, divide that by the pt price to see how many pts you can buy. You can use pts purchased through Disney for cruises, the concierge collection, other Disney hotels. Buying resale can save you big time but you can't use the pts for cruises, etc. you can only use them to visit other dvc properties.

[soonerprices]

That's a lot of French. Can someone post a link that describes the program in depth.

Do you have to be a member to purchase resale?

[kurtholley]

You might want to buy the passporters Disney Vacation Club Guide.


http://www.passporter.com/disney-vacation-club.asp


it answered our questions when we were looking into buying.

we got 160 points at BLT which should of been around 20,000 but they had a per point discount going when we bought so it was 16000 and then we got a last years points as well which we banked and now have enough for a 2 bedroom this year.

[Twain18]

Here's the easy breakdown:

You don't actually pay $20,000 for membership. You buy a contract with a certain number of points that might end up being about $20,000, but might end up being quite a bit less. For instance, if you bought from DVC right now, let's use Animal Kingdom Villas as your home resort. For another week, the pricing is at $125 per point, and the incentive is that you get 20 additional lifetime points for everyone 100 you buy, so if you opted to buy the minimal contract (DVC will often let people buy as few as 100 points, although they tend to advertise a 160 point minimum) of 100 points, you'd actually get 120, but you'd pay $12,500 for your membership.

This might be about the perfect size for an every other year type of contract, because your points are basically the currency with which you book rooms.

Let's say, sticking with AKV as your home resort, you decide to stay there on your first trip (this is not a requirement, but you do get a booking advantage there, since it's your home resort). Since I have a 2013 chart in front of me, let's say you were going to plan a vacation for Jan 2013, which is a slower time of year and rooms are cheaper then. With your 120 point contract, each year you could get a full week in a studio room with a savannah view. This would cost 102 of your points.

Since you say you would actually do every other year, this is where you actually could upgrade significantly (or get a smaller contract on the resale market). You can bank points you don't use and use them the following year. So if you banked all your 2012 points, you could use them in 2013. They do expire for 2014 though. You can also borrow points from the following year. So if you banked 2012's points and borrowed 2014's points, with your 120 point contract, you could have 360 points at your disposal, which could allow for you to stay longer or get better accommodations (for instance, if you were inviting other friends/family to stay with you and wanted a 2-bedroom villa).

This is why many people here say the "every other year" plan can work very well on DVC. You could basically have 240 points every other year to play with to make a longer trip or to get a bigger room. For instance, again using 2013 AKV charts, you could get 6 nights in a 2-bedroom villa and really spread out or you could get about 15-16 days (math quickly off my head) in a studio.

If you decided even $12,500 and 120 points is too much for you, look resale. There are people with DVC contracts out there that can't afford them or don't want them anymore. You lose some of the extra perks being a resale owner, but I'll leave that for later. Resale contracts are sometimes smaller (because current owners can add on for as few as 25 points at a time, whereas new buyers have to buy at least 100, and sometimes 160 points), and they're also cheaper, since you're not buying directly from Disney.

For instance, to give you roughly the same contract on resale I spoke of earlier, of buying in at 100 points (but getting 120 because of the incentive), through the resale market, you could get 120 points from AKV for probably about $9,000-10,000.

Hopefully this answers some of your questions. Feel free to ask more, the people here are very knowledgeable. Heck, I'm not even a DVC member yet and I was able to give you this much information. Some of the actual members can give you far more than I can.

[Twain18]

One other thing I'd point out:

As kurt said, the Passporter DVC book is a great source for info, as is the website DVCNews.com - The essential Vacation Club resource! - Home | DVCNews.com - The essential Vacation Club resource!

You can also get information directly from Disney, although I would warn you that if you contact Disney, ask for a referral from someone here first. Oftentimes a referral will either get you or your referrer a bonus of some type, but they only allow you to give a referral at the first point of contact. For instance, I contacted Disney when I first heard about the program and now I'm pretty much locked out of giving someone the referral bonus or getting any bonus they sometimes have for those who buy in due to a referral.

[Pax]

Originally Posted by soonerprices

Can you buy a membership that allows you to travel every other year? What would a membership plus annual fees cost that would allow us a 1 week stay every other year?

(a) you can "bank:, or save, points for up to one year.

(b) you can "borrow" points from the following year.

So, yes, it absolutely is possible to buy DVC, and have enough to travel only once every 2 or even 3 years.

In your case, you'd want to buy a contract good for half as many points as you might typically need. You'd save all of those points form one year, and spend two years' worth of points the next. Lather, rinse, repeat!

EXAMPLE:
Let's say your family needed 300 points to stay for a week. You would then buy a contract for 150 points (to be safe, you might want to buy one for 160 points - point costs are sometimes adjusted slightly).

So, if you bought this contract tomorrow? You'd bank your 2012 points, all 160 of them.

Then, in summer or fall of 2013, you could take a 320-point vacation.

In 2014, you'd bank all 160 pints again.

In 2015, another 320-point vacation.

Etc.

Etc.

[chezp]

As the co-author, I'm glad to see PassPorter's Disney Vacation Club Guide being recommended by so many people. It's good to know that it has helped people when they're deciding to buy into the DVC.

You might want to also have a look at the FAQs thread in this forum, as that's designed to be an easy first-step guide to the Disney Vacation Club, without getting into too much depth.

[rescuesk]

Also, if you have a trip planned anytime soon or if you live near one of the DVC centers, stop in and talk to a DVC guide. They can explain everything to you, and there is absolutely no pressure to buy!

[soonerprices]

This year our trip cost us $4800 (POR, 7 day park hopper tickets, and DP). It appears to me that DVC would cost me much more than that and I would only get the room for that price. I'd still have food and tickets to purchase. I know I'd get other perks being a DVC member but I don't think I'd save any money. Is this the case?