# New to forum [considering DVC]



## effdee (Mar 2, 2016)

Hello everyone,

We're new to the board and we are seriously considering buying into a timeshare just not sure which one.  DVC is pretty high on our list since we have a little one.   Is there a way I can see the purchase contracts of DVC or others prior to sitting down with them.  I'd like to know the contract so I'm not surprised with anything or fooled with something else.

Thanks in advance!


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## DeniseM (Mar 2, 2016)

Do you know that you don't have to buy from the developer - you can buy on the resale market?


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## DVC Mike (Mar 2, 2016)

The Product Understanding Checklist is here.

An introduction to DVC is available here.


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## chalee94 (Mar 2, 2016)

mike's information is solid.

DVC is a little complicated but very transparent.  if you take the time to do your homework, all of the information is available online and current owners can give you a clear picture of what to expect.  if you wind up being surprised by something, then frankly, it's on you.


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## SMHarman (Mar 2, 2016)

Buying into DVC also means buying into Disney park ticketing and catering and merch. 

You can rent Disney points at a number of locations including David's vacation point rental site. Knowing that exists to get you the rental you want at 12 month's out I'm not sure I would buy DVC. 

Neither of my kids are quite old enough for the kingdom yet (IMO) but enjoy the beaches and history of Q Roo and this year the nature of St John.


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## blondietink (Mar 2, 2016)

There are also 3 resorts that are not attached to any Disney Parks; Hilton Head, Vero Beach and Aulani.  So, you don't necessarily have to figure in the cost of park tickets. You can also trade in your points  yearly into RCI and go anyplace in the world if you want.


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## elaine (Mar 3, 2016)

DVC is a very straightforward, fair system. You will get the same "deal" as everyone else. The only downside for me (10 years DVc owner) is the high pirce tag and high annual fees relative to other comparable timeshares---but there is nothing comparable to staying at a DVC onsite! We had 3 others and stayed once at DVC and bought. You can save up to 50% resale, which has some limited restrictions. We bought resale and have no regrets. Plus, DVC holds its value very well, IMHO. We bought for $85 per point and sold for $93 per point in 1 day 6 years later (to buy a different DVC). Even if we had sold for $75, still a good exit strategy vs. some of my other timeshares that I had to give away. 
You should fully understand banking/borrowing and use year before buying DVC.


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## Bailey#1 (Mar 3, 2016)

Have you visited www.disboards.com that is the website for "everything you ever wanted to know about Disney but was afraid to ask" .

With Tug and disboards you will have all your timeshare questions answered!


With Disney just remember all DVC resorts have expiration dates, some 2042, some 2054, some 2060. Other tips is to fully understand the term "use Year" with Disney. 

What I would do is contact Disney and tell them you are interested in their DVC, they will send you a lot of information. Read it thoroughly, but don't buy from them, unless you fully understand how resale works! 

Read, ask questions, spend 6 months investigating, possibly rent a DVC members points to see what its like, ask more questions. Then you can make a solid decision on whether to buy or not, buy Direct or buy resale.

I am a happy DVC owner and it is one of my best decisions I made, I started by renting someone points, then I bought resale after  asking many questions.

DVCMike put out an excellent post on Introduction to DVC in his above post that will give you some great info!


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## pedro47 (Mar 3, 2016)

DVC Mike said:


> The Product Understanding Checklist is here.
> 
> An introduction to DVC is available here.



First Welcome to the TUG website and Yes! DVC Mike checklist is a must read before you purchase from Disney or you purchase a resale timeshare. If you purchase from the resale market you can save some "Big Dollars." Good Luck and take your "time."


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## effdee (Mar 3, 2016)

chalee94 said:


> mike's information is solid.
> 
> DVC is a little complicated but very transparent.  if you take the time to do your homework, all of the information is available online and current owners can give you a clear picture of what to expect.  if you wind up being surprised by something, then frankly, it's on you.



I'm starting the process of doing my homework and gathering as much information I can get.  So it frankly, not be on me


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## mamilovestotravel (Mar 3, 2016)

I have been a very happy owner for  12  years and only this month took the leap into hgvc because I will never regret my dvc purchase. I do use my points to cruise on deck DCL which is a perk you would not get if you bought resale. Anyone will tell you that is not a good use of your point but for me if it keeps money in my pocket when I am planning vacations for my family 6 then I am a happy camper. For that reason alone I would not buy resale but what works for me may not work for others. I am happy to answer any questions and so are the folks on the disboards.

 I bought sight unseen and with zero research when my first son was born and I have never had any regrets. Saratoga springs was the only resort you could buy from California because  the timeshare laws at the time. I did not care. 

As a matter of fact, I dvc for non vacations all the time. I just rent my points easy peasy. I have gotten way more outta my contracts then what I paid and then some just need to learn the system. I am hoping that hgvc will be a close match for my family as dvc. 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


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## bnoble (Mar 3, 2016)

DVC is not right for everyone.  IMO, it's appeal is narrow---and I'm one of the biggest Disney fans you will ever find. This is because the only cost-effective use of DVC points is to use them to book stays in DVC resorts.

The ideal candidate for DVC has these features:

1: They anticipate visiting WDW at least once every other year for the foreseeable future.
2: They would never consider staying offsite a viable option.
3: Their stays are a mix of Deluxe and Moderate resorts; they rarely if ever stay in a Value.

"Foreseeable future" doesn't mean "while the kids are young," but is a longer-term commitment. If your time horizon is shorter, renting from an owner is probably a better bet than owning. If you are mostly a Moderate visitor, DVC is an upgrade in lodging but won't save you much on your room. If you are a mostly Deluxe visitor, DVC can be a savings in lodging.


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## blondietink (Mar 3, 2016)

You can also save a good amount staying in DVC and using the kitchen facilities in your villa.  That is what we do and we save big money (family of 4 adults) over eating in the parks.  We might get one counter service at the park or a snack per day, but at least lunch or dinner is in our villa and breakfast every day.  You can also take sandwiches and chips, etc. into the parks in soft sided cooler and cans of drink or get cups of water from counter service for free.


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## Bandit1123 (Mar 14, 2016)

We bought dvc 5 years ago when our son was a year old. We stayed on property at a deluxe resort walking distance to a park ($400/night with a conference discount for a small hotel room!!) and crunched the numbers... We figured we were going to vacation at Disney regularly and almost always on property at a deluxe resort....

And buying dvc would save us money after 7-10 trips, assuming 
1) we went to Disney at least 7-10 times
2) we only wanted to stay in a deluxe category hotel within walking distance to a park
3) we stay at studios or 1bds

We bought on the resale market. Our number crunching would paint a much different savings rate (15-20 trips?) if not for resale. 

Now, 5 years later, we realize we spend much MORE than we otherwise would have if we did not have dvc.  
1) our vacation habits have changed-- we bought another dvc property and stay longer at Disney (more $$ for parks, food, maintenance fees)
2) we invite friends and family (charging them below market or not at all)
3) we fantasize about the larger rooms (2 bd or grand villas someday?)

So I'm not sure buying dvc will save you money in the long term but it will create really awesome memories.

If you're not committed to Disney on a frequent basis, someone mentioned renting.  Davids rentals is a good option.  I think we calculated that it would take 15 rentals to "break even" if we had decided to go that route. We also assumed that our Dvc would have no residual value, which is currently not the case. 

Apparently, dvc prices holds up in the resale market very well. We bought resale and can currently recoup all of our initial principal should be decide to sell today. Maybe that's why we have been so generous with friends and family... We only spend our maintenance fees on hotel in our minds, and assume the price we paid for our dvc was "free". It's a very dangerous mindset for our wallet!


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## vacationhopeful (Mar 14, 2016)

I own a small DVC points contract - brought on the resale market. I had stayed several times onsite via RCI exchanges before buying the resale AKV contract. I really like AKV as an unique resort in the world of travelling ... figuring 2 or 3 nights there with a guest or two.. is a special experience.


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## Southerngirl528 (Mar 14, 2016)

I've owned DVC well over 20 years and absolutely love it. I've added on multiple times over that time frame as well. Like Mamilovestotravel I have also used my DVC points many times to do DCL cruises. I'm not a bean counter but I do crunch numbers any time that I am looking at a big purchase, even if that's a vacation. For me and my big brood, the value is definitely there.

Because I have more than the "normal" 2 kids we have always had to either book 2 rooms or at a Deluxe resort at WDW. Staying in a 2bdrm villa is slice of heaven compared to being all together in one hotel room, no matter how fancy. We stayed at the GF before purchasing. Lovely, but it sure wasn't an entire villa.

Now that my brood is grown and getting married and a couple of kids starting families, I book a grand villa at least every couple of years and try to get as many of us together as possible. The last time I did this was for a 7 night stay at OKW. I got curious about what that villa would have rented for at that precise time of year and found out it would have been $1444/night BEFORE all the taxes which is another good chunk. Do that math on that. 7 x 1444! That's $10,108 plus the 12% or so extra taxes, etc. Without DVC I would never, ever be able to do this.

I did a trade several years back when DVC was affiliated with II and got the Westin Villas North on Maui. That is a gorgeous property and we loved their 2 bdrm villas!

I agree that DVC is not for everyone. If you don't or can't plan your trips at least 7 months in advance most of the time, then it's probably not a good bet for you.


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## blackjack (Mar 16, 2016)

Hi Everyone,

I am also looking to buy DVC and have started on the research.  I have been visiting resale sites as well and noticed they are around 80 bucks on the lower end and 150 for the higher end at Grand F and Grand C.  Aulani prices range quite a bit more from 100 to 140.  I am curious to know why these are more expensive than the other ones besides being newer?  Is it harder to book there when you don't own there?  Any benefits at owning at the higher price point ones besides booking at 11 month vs 7 month?

We live in Southern CA within a stones throw to Disneyland so I may not see the advantage of owning at Grand C but I could be wrong.  We do travel to Hawaii every year so we are considering Aulani.  I have seen some contracts for $100 per point for larger contracts.  Is that a good deal?  Or should I look for closer to $90 I saw on a different post for 50 point contracts.

Lastly, why are smaller contracts more desirable?  Would owning a 50 point in Aulani open me up to 11 month res even if I own 200 point at another resort?  Or only the 50 can be used at Aulani at 11 month out?  

Thanks in advance for your help!

Jack


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## blondietink (Mar 16, 2016)

You can only use the points from your home resort to book at the 11 month window.  You cannot combine points from various resorts you might own to book 11 months out at one of your specific resorts.  You can however, band and borrow your points at a resort to book 11 months out.  So, if you had a 50 point contract, you can bank the points in year one into year two, borrow your year 3 points to used in year 2, so effectively use all 150 points in year 2.  But, you would only be using your points every 3rd year while still paying dues every year.  

It also depends on what kind of unit you want to stay in at Aulani.  You would only be able to stay 2.7 nights in a deluxe studio for 50 points in the cheapest season in a standard view, which is parking garage view.  150 points would give you slightly over 8 nights in a deluxe studio in a standard view.  the points needed go up from there depending on type of villa, view category and season. Keep in mind that standard views get booked the quickets. 

We own 175 points at Saratoga Springs and bank our points for one year and use them the next year combined with that current year to stay in a one bedroom ocean view for a week.  We have not had any problems booking at Aulani at the 7 month window with our SSR points.  

When purchasing resale you need to look at whether or not the contracts are stripped of points for one, two or 3 years.  Often when the price seems cheap, the contracts are stripped, meaning you can't use any points for sometimes 3 years, but you are stuck paying the dues.


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## rhonda (Mar 16, 2016)

Jack - 

Small point contracts command a high price per point for various reasons.  First, understand that contract _size_ (# of points) cannot be changed once purchased from the developer.  The initial purchase defines its size, regardless of the number of times it changes hands, until it returns to Disney Vacation Development.

A few ideas influencing draw/demand:
For buyers with limited resources, a small contract may be the only affordable route into DVC w/out having to finance.  Related, buying small contracts allows existing members to grow their overall account in bite-size chunks.
Historical Scarcity. 
Tolerable Risk/Reward ratio.  Some will buy and hold a small contract hoping the small contract's annual costs (dues) won't outpace the benefits (discounted APs, etc.)
Flexibility.  Breaking your ownership into several small contracts rather than one large contract allows you to downsize if/when you are ready by selling a contract.  This strategy also allows parents to pass their points evenly across children ("one contract per child"), if they wish.

As for current prices ... consider:
Number of years remaining for each given property.
Number of points available in the account at time of transfer (any banked from prior use year?  balance of current use year?  balance of next use year?) to measure if the account is "stripped/current/stacked."  
Newer resorts had much higher purchase costs than older resorts.  Sellers may be hoping to recoup as much as possible? 
Smaller resorts may be more difficult to book at the 7month window than larger resorts.  This is certainly true if comparing booking at the Grand Cal vs Saratoga Springs!  Grand Floridian studios and "standard view" units are also quite competitive even at 11months.

FWIW, we've owned SSR since 2004 and have had little trouble booking our typical 1BR stays across many DVC locations and many different times of the year.  (1BR units are often easier to book than Studio units.)

EDITED to add:  Coming from San Diego, we are just beyond that stone's throw from Disneyland.  As such, we enjoy a night at the Grand Cal now and again.  You might, too?


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## famy27 (Mar 16, 2016)

I'm a new DVC owner, and I've been really pleased with the system. I have a three-year-old and a ten-year-old, and we've been doing Disney at least once a year since our older daughter arrived. We started with offsite stays and then moved to trading our Wyndham points for DVC. That worked like a charm, but when DVC tightened up their deposits, we decided to finally buy DVC resale.

We ended up with BLT for a few reasons. One is that we love being able to walk from MK to our room. It's fantastic not having to wait for busses, boats or monorails at the end of the night. We like staying at Beach Club and the other EPCOT resorts for the same reason. Second, there were still many years left on the BLT contracts, and we anticipate traveling to WDW until we are old. My parent still go to WDW on their own with no kids or grandkids, and they are nearing 70. We hope to do the same. Finally, BLT has low MF.  We paid a little more for our points than we would have for other resorts, but we are very happy with our choice.

We've already booked three stays on our points, and I can't believe how easy the process was. We added one night to a Wyndham exchange in a one bedroom at SSR, and we booked a five-night stay at Poly for this coming September. We also rented out some of our points to cover MF. After dealing with Wyndham's nickel-and-diming for years, it was so nice to make short reservations, borrow points, change our date,  add guests to a reservation and not pay one single cent in extra fees.

My only caution is that buying points resale is not a quick process. You have to wait for Disney to decide if they will execute ROFR, and then you have to wait for the deed to be recorded, registered by DVC and have your member number established. It took us over three months from start to finish, and ours was quick compared to others. 

Good luck with your decision!


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## littlestar (Mar 17, 2016)

I am a very satisfied DVC member of 14 years. Saying that, we own other timeshare products besides just DVC. We NEVER trade our DVC points. We use them exclusively for Disney stays. 

Lots of good advice here for you. Just remember, buying DVC resale will save you money. . I think Disney's Saratoga Springs offers good value resale.


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## chalee94 (Mar 17, 2016)

Booking at 11 months rather than 7 months can sometimes be a big advantage.  People pay a premium for access to certain home resorts. 

Your home resort choice also impacts your annual dues rate per point and when your contract expires. 

If you own a 50 point aulani contract and a 200 pt SSR contract,  you can only use points from the 50 pt aulani contract to book aulani at 11 months out.


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## elaine (Mar 17, 2016)

10 years owner. very satisfied--just bought more DVC points last year. Great product, easy to understand/book. Plus I LOVE that you can canx at 31 days out and just return points to your account--which gives a lot of flex. You have to be careful of use year, of course, and make sure you still have time to bank.
If you go every year to HAwaii and would want to stay at DVC, then I would consider Al, only if you can make firm plan more than 7 months out--if not, then get a cheaper resort. But, I would check availability @ less than 7 mths for dates you typically go to Hawaii--any DVC member can do this for you, if you post your dates of travel. I read that some Al have subsidized annual fees--you want to find out about this before any Al purchase. Newer resorts cost more resale. Newer resorts have more years left on contracts. But, newer resorts take more points to stay. I just bought more points at AKV b/c of the lower points for standard rooms and lower resale price compared to newer resorts. We book @ 11 mths out.
You might also consider Hilton (HGVC) which has timeshares in HNL and Big Island that are very nice, plus 3 nice resorts in Orlando.  Seth Nock @ sellingtimeshares.net might be someone to contact about HGVC resales. He took the time to explain HGVC to my friend (who decided not to buy HGVC) and seems to have a good reputation on TUG.


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## blackjack (Mar 17, 2016)

Wow, a wealth of information and thanks to all for your generosity of time and knowledge.  

I will obviously do more research and watch the market on pricing.  I'll take a shot by asking is there a place to look for a database where maybe someone keeps the lowest ROFR passing for each resort?  I have been doing the value game for many years and have gotten some awesome vacations for pennies on the dollar.  However those vacations are always during off season travel.  I now have a 3 year old daughter that loves disneyland and I think once she starts school I'll have to travel with the crowd thus my value game will not work.  

While it has been fun, I know I have to step it up financially to continue to travel to great resorts during peak times.  DVC seems very promising to me and I already got the OK from the better half to start looking.  Things can always change but the way DVC has been able to maintain a good resale market makes me less worried to buying.  

Any referrals for where to buy is reputable and also what should I expect to pay for a reasonable closing fee?  I have seen some brokers charging 800.  Is that right?  

Thanks again!


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## rhonda (Mar 17, 2016)

ROFR Jan-Mar 2016 thread over on another site ... I hope this site allows me to post the link:  http://www.disboards.com/threads/ro...lease-see-first-post-for-instructions.3472360


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## blackjack (Mar 17, 2016)

Thanks Rhonda.


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## ljmiii (Mar 19, 2016)

blackjack said:


> While it has been fun, I know I have to step it up financially to continue to travel to great resorts during peak times...
> 
> Any referrals for where to buy is reputable and also what should I expect to pay for a reasonable closing fee?  I have seen some brokers charging 800.  Is that right?



My most recent 2015 purchase of DVC came from www.dvcstore.com (aka www.dvc-resales.com). They have (or at least had) a good selection of inventory and everything went reasonably quickly. The closing fee was $659 + ROFR fee of $20 + Estoppel fee of $50. As to your larger questions...

We have very much enjoyed owning DVC. But as others have said, buying DVC only makes sense if you are willing to commit to visiting Disney at least every other year and prefer staying on property.  As to which resort you should buy it really comes down to how much you care when and where you will be staying. And since it sounds like you are planning for at least 12 years of only being able to go during school breaks it really comes down to where.  

We first bought into the Beach Club in 2008 and I just added more points at BLT. For us being able to walk to EPCOT and (what was) MGM was most important. But then they built Bay Lake Tower which allowed you to walk to the Magic Kingdom for the first time. And while we usually could book into BLT at the 7 month mark it didn't always work and the only thing that we ever saw available was lake view 1BRs.  Which was annoying since one of the major advantages of DVC to us has been the ability to choose different size rooms as the presence of grandparents and our supply of points fluctuate. And so I bought BLT last year and in fact just booked a MK view room for winter break 2017.

All of which is a really long way of saying that if you need to go during school breaks you should buy where you want to stay. Unless you really don't care about being at one of the MK, EPCOT, or AK resorts in which case you can buy the cheapest points available.

Lastly, one of the less well known benefits of DVC is how liquid the market is for buying and selling points. In the past I was able to buy some AKV points to make an 11 month reservation during Easter break. And the BLT contract I purchased came with some 2015 points I couldn't use and I was able to sell them easily. But mostly you'll just be enjoying using the points on vacations with your family...


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## elleny76 (Mar 23, 2016)

We love DVC! owners for couple of years already.  We just came back from SSR (our favorite Disney resort) and we had a great week!  Best timeshare ever  no hiding fees, no bad surprises.  We bought it from the tutas family which are very well known in the DVD resale community.  
https://www.resalesdvc.com/About-The-Tutas-Family/
:whoopie:


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## littlestar (Mar 23, 2016)

elleny76 said:


> We love DVC! owners for couple of years already.  We just came back from SSR (our favorite Disney resort) and we had a great week!  Best timeshare ever  no hiding fees, no bad surprises.  We bought it from the tutas family which are very well known in the DVD resale community.
> https://www.resalesdvc.com/About-The-Tutas-Family/
> :whoopie:



We love Saratoga, too. I like the decor/colors of the cabinets and granite. Also like that it sits on a golf course with plenty of walking paths and not a crowded feel.


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## elleny76 (Mar 24, 2016)

And... the awesome short minutes walk to Disney Spring! you can not beat that!...Its totally a "Home" feeling! SSR the best!


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## Deb & Bill (Mar 27, 2016)

Buy DVC to stay DVC.  Buy at WDW if that is where you want to go most of the time.  Buy Aulani if you mainly want to go to Hawaii.  If you plan on most of the time going to DL/CA, you really need to buy Grand Californian Villas.  That resort is very small (50 units - two grand villas, 48 two bedroom villas-either lockoff or dedicated).  It is difficult to book at seven months out.  Not impossible, but very difficult. 

If you want to stay at WDW, buy one of the WDW resorts so you always can book your home resort at 11 months out.  Then at seven months out you can see if something else is available. 

Buy HH Island if you want to stay there in the summer most of the time.  Buy Vero Beach if you mainly want to go there during the summer months or you want a three bedroom Beach Cottage. 

Do not buy direct unless you can't find what you want resale.  Just aboute everything is available resale now.  When they start selling the new Villas at Wilderness Lodge units, you might want to consider them, but you can still buy the existing VWL resale.


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## littlestar (Mar 27, 2016)

Deb & Bill said:


> Buy DVC to stay DVC.  Buy at WDW if that is where you want to go most of the time.  Buy Aulani if you mainly want to go to Hawaii.  If you plan on most of the time going to DL/CA, you really need to buy Grand Californian Villas.  That resort is very small (50 units - two grand villas, 48 two bedroom villas-either lockoff or dedicated).  It is difficult to book at seven months out.  Not impossible, but very difficult.
> 
> If you want to stay at WDW, buy one of the WDW resorts so you always can book your home resort at 11 months out.  Then at seven months out you can see if something else is available.
> 
> ...



Excellent advice.  I would love to stay in a Vero beach cottage one of these days.


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## Lisa P (Mar 27, 2016)

Deb & Bill said:


> Buy DVC to stay DVC.  Buy at WDW if that is where you want to go most of the time.  Buy Aulani if you mainly want to go to Hawaii.  If you plan on most of the time going to DL/CA, you really need to buy Grand Californian Villas.  That resort is very small (50 units - two grand villas, 48 two bedroom villas-either lockoff or dedicated).  It is difficult to book at seven months out.  Not impossible, but very difficult.
> 
> If you want to stay at WDW, buy one of the WDW resorts so you always can book your home resort at 11 months out.  Then at seven months out you can see if something else is available.
> 
> ...



Fantastic advice.  

Anyone know if all resale contracts at Villas at Wilderness Lodge are still on the old expiration date or not?  Did/Will DVC offer a buy-up option to extend the expiration date?  When will the new section expire?

For the OP, this may affect resale value/cost.


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## Bailey#1 (Mar 27, 2016)

elleny76 said:


> We love DVC! owners for couple of years already.  We just came back from SSR (our favorite Disney resort) and we had a great week!  Best timeshare ever  no hiding fees, no bad surprises.  We bought it from the tutas family which are very well known in the DVD resale community.
> https://www.resalesdvc.com/About-The-Tutas-Family/
> :whoopie:


I bought 2 resales from them, good company to deal with!


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## Bailey#1 (Mar 27, 2016)

Lisa P said:


> Fantastic advice.
> 
> Anyone know if all resale contracts at Villas at Wilderness Lodge are still on the old expiration date or not?  Did/Will DVC offer a buy-up option to extend the expiration date?  When will the new section expire?
> 
> For the OP, this may affect resale value/cost.



VWL has a 2042 expiration date, DVC probably will not extend the expiration date, at least not at this time. The new section will expire 50 years after the
opening date.


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## AnnaS (Mar 27, 2016)

Lot's of excellent advice.  Owners here since 2000.  We absolutely love it.  If you love and think you will go to WDW every year or every other year - great on-site timeshare with great flexibility and choices.  

Good luck in your search!!


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