SeattleJohn2
TUG Member
Hello Tuggers! My wife and I (and three boys, aged 2, 9 and 11) have been visiting Disneyland and Disney World at least once/year for the last 5 years or so. We love Disney and are exploring the idea of buying into the DVC program. We currently own two properties through Westin Vacation Club (Vistana) so are familiar with most of the ins and outs of TS ownership.
I've been doing a lot of research on the DVC program, much of it via the threads and stickies in the DVC forum. I think I have a decent handle on the basics of the system but want to run it by the experts here to make sure my understanding is correct.
Because we live on the west coast (Seattle) we visit DL a lot more often than DW, so we would probably be best off buying at Grand Californian and having the 11 month booking window. Apparently our only option is buying resale and paying the going rate of ~$200 / point. That means a 250 point block is going to set me back about $50k, plus yearly maintenance of ~$1500. Depending on the time of year, 250 points will get me about 4-5 days in a 1 BR villa. (We normally go to Disney the last week of August before the kids start school.)
I'm wondering if people have any luck booking Grand Californian 7 months out, specifically for the last week in August? Do people have other ways of getting into the Grand Californian other than paying the ~$1500/night rate for a 1 BR?
Are there any other benefits / advantages I should be considering for this kind of investment? As of now, I'm having sticker shock so would likely not pull the trigger on Grand Californian. Maybe I'd buy a smaller block for one of the other properties and use them every 3 years when we go to DW.
Anyway, any comments/feedback/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance
John
I've been doing a lot of research on the DVC program, much of it via the threads and stickies in the DVC forum. I think I have a decent handle on the basics of the system but want to run it by the experts here to make sure my understanding is correct.
Because we live on the west coast (Seattle) we visit DL a lot more often than DW, so we would probably be best off buying at Grand Californian and having the 11 month booking window. Apparently our only option is buying resale and paying the going rate of ~$200 / point. That means a 250 point block is going to set me back about $50k, plus yearly maintenance of ~$1500. Depending on the time of year, 250 points will get me about 4-5 days in a 1 BR villa. (We normally go to Disney the last week of August before the kids start school.)
I'm wondering if people have any luck booking Grand Californian 7 months out, specifically for the last week in August? Do people have other ways of getting into the Grand Californian other than paying the ~$1500/night rate for a 1 BR?
Are there any other benefits / advantages I should be considering for this kind of investment? As of now, I'm having sticker shock so would likely not pull the trigger on Grand Californian. Maybe I'd buy a smaller block for one of the other properties and use them every 3 years when we go to DW.
Anyway, any comments/feedback/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance
John