Just finished our first DVC trip and it’s true…it completely changed the way we Disney. Been going almost 20 years and for the first time we didn’t have this overwhelming anxiety to get it all in. Was able to actually enjoy the resort for a change. I’m sure DVC used to be better just like everything Disney used to be better from how I remember it but as a new owner I couldn’t have been happier with owning two resale contracts. Also you guys are great to listen to whatever you talk about. Release a daily half hour chat about anything and I’ll listen every day
Agreed. This is the TRUE benefit of direct. Knowing that at 7 months out you’ll at least have a chance of booking any new resort Disney comes out with.
I’m a current DVC owner and I tried out the old cabins at Fort Wilderness in March to get a feel of the resort. Loved it! Reached out to DVC to get more info and they sent me a link to the website. No personal touch whatsoever and did not even offer to stop by and talk about it. Needless to say I didn’t buy.
Our guide is Marcel Maritz. He is exceptional. He checks on us every time we arrive. We meet up with him if we can. We are direct/resale combo. That’s not acceptable they didn’t help you!
Happy birthday Paul! 🎉 I love your show and learn something new every time I watch. As a Canadian I would like to say that the DVC Annual Pass saved me $700 Canadian this past year compared to the non DVC AP option so that perk is very valuable to me and would be especially valuable to a large family. My other family members paid about $1000 Canadian for a 9 day park hopper; I paid about $1350 Canadian for my AP and used it for 27 days. Of course perks and exchange rates can and do change but it’s something to consider - especially if you’re Canadian paying a 40% exchange rate.
We bought direct 20 years ago and have loved it so much we are always tapped out of points. Now we are buying resale and just as happy. Can't go wrong with DVC.
You guys educate well. I watched and learned. Bought some SS "sleep around points" My first stay will be a lucky score of 4 days at Grand Cal. Thanks guys!
Excellent episode on the current DVC market. In 2001, we had absolutely no pressure to buy; very open, informative presentation without any push. Mary Mannix was our original DVC rep/guide back in the day. We are 23+ years and counting. Very fortunate to have had the opportunity back then to buy in without financing. It has made all the difference for our many vacations over the years. Again, great show. BTW, the horses were listening as I did my barn chores as always!🐴😉
All the research in the world doesn’t compare to the in person meeting with my OG guide, Nick Cotton. I learned so much on that initial experience. But over the following decade, I’ve kept learning and watching this show has me discovering new things each week ❤
What a great episode. You guys always do a wonderful job explaining things. For whatever reason, we thought too that we needed at least one direct contract, and now we have one resale contract. I really hope to add another one soon if I can convince my husband. Everytime we go to Disney, we are hoping to see someone from this show. We were lucky enough to meet Derek in September and have drinks with him, and that was awesome! We will be there again for a short trip in June and will be on the lookout for you all. I think tuning in to the shows and following you all makes us all feel a little connected for sure!
Great show! It’s not just millennials and younger looking for that shorter contract. Since our RIV will expire when I’m 100 years young, we (I’m Gen X, hubs is young Boomer) decided the 2042s were a great fit for phasing into our older years so we bought BRV and HHI from your very own Derek DeBoer. We’ll still have RIV and AKV when we need our DVC fix in our 70’s and 80’s….to infinity and beyond!
Hi there! It's Derek - so you can do either! You can always add on direct with Disney OR of course add on more points with us at the DVC Resale Market - it does help keep things a little easier if you can keep the same Use Year as your original contract and of course points from dif resorts can be combined at that 7 month mark!
The opening of this one cracked me up, great chemistry in this group :). Good content, I completely agree that the whole tenor of buying has changed. We are actually using some of the benefits of being direct for the first time next January, so I'm glad i have one direct contract (and one from Derek), but in all honesty, if I knew all of this before we started It would have been more points out of the gate on a resale contract for sure. Living in Texas, we don't get down there for super short stays (except the night before a cruise), but love using the points multiple places, so that dynamic has limited what and where we would buy. The only constant will be change - the downgrading of Disney service levels like was mentioned with cancelling some cruises and having to work harder than in the past is indicative of the lower acceptable service levels following restaffing post-pandemic and cost cutting measures coming from the Board Room. The hope is that they get the message sooner than later that the reason so many of us bought into this was exceptional service on top of a great product, but we still love having our contracts and I'm constantly surfing, trying to decide what's next on the list to bump up point totals, etc...Great show!!
We purchased off site from our home in Delaware. We were routed to a sales associate in Disneyland. I was disappointed at first because I thought like oh I’ll never run into him at WDW but that was silly; he was a delight and we are very happy with our direct experience. Also, the VGF incentives this past summer helped lol. Future contracts will be resale due to a multitude of factors but our direct purchase was A+. Also want to add that when we were figuring out how many points and he was sending us pricing he offered up the dream it forward promo without us asking AND when he found out we had a family member with an existing contract he offered to give us the same use year as them if we wanted. Some of them are still great :)
I still love and use my direct DVC points from 1996, but rarely go into the parks anymore. They'd get me into Epcot every trip if they'd incorporate the song "We Go On" back into the fireworks show. I still listen to that song almost daily when I'm in the car, and the memories are magical!
Yea, i do not get the enjoyment of parks like we use to. When we go with kids we will do parks, but last time just my wife and I went, just enjoyed resort and Downtown disney, next do the same though talking about going to Christmas after hours though.
Panda - as someone who is trying to decide right now whether to start as a direct or save with resale (due to the high price per point) - I would love to know more about why you would have gone resale first if you did it over again. I was going off the assumption of the perks/benefits would be the way to go and then do resale. Thoughts please?
We just purchased our 2nd resale within the last year. From 🇨🇦 so currency exchange rate plays into decision. It was 42 days from offer to contract closing! This was quicker than first purchase but a little more fragmented due to LLC name change being flagged by my financial institution which caused a couple of days in the process. Resale definitely more appealing.
And there were no info on the poly tower ? No models. Btw, I said the cabins were not a good idea. Thanks GF was a big hit those 500 studios sold like hot cakes and I believe the Poly tower will also.staying at "Deluxe" resorts while paying moderate prices is the draw.
I think the changes DVC made to the legal structure and benefits, like using resold points to book in all the DVC resorts, has had a much greater effect than forecasted. Converting the contract to a timeshare co-op from a timeshare condo has had a significant impact on the long term value of the DVC agreement. I was surprised that you did not mention any of these changes on this podcast. Prices over the last five years have gone up dramatically, up 48%, with no extension to the products useful life, rather useful life declined 6 - 7 years or 14%. The economy isn’t helping! Happy Birthday, Paul. Good luck to all.
Any huge Disney fan that frequents the parks NEEDS to be Dvc. I am a convert. We have 9 contracts now. 3 are resale. Just for kicks the wife looked up our summer trip rooms on the Disney website if we were paying. The room we have in July for a week would have cost us over $10,000. That’s more than the dues on all of our contracts. Just do a cost comparison yourself. You will see the benefits. 😊
In December we stopped at the DVC booths at beach club and AKL, just to pin trade. They started talking to me about DVC. I told them I am very familiar with it and it I were to buy, I would buy resale. They tried to not let me walk away. I was very frustrated
I'm a resale only owner. I don't see being a direct owner unless they build an addition at Bay Lake or convert the Star Cruiser to a dvc property. If they make the Star Cruiser to dvc I will be first in line.
Panda!! You bought Direct for a reason- to own at the Riviera with the flexibility to stay anywhere. If you bought resale you could not have stayed at Riviera. That’s why you were sold ❤
We were at OKW last summer and they had a table setup there. My daughter went over to look at the pins they had and somehow guilted us into going to see the poly bungalows with them. They were polite but he was working us hard. I told him flat out I’m not interested since we were still closing in an aulani resale. But we still asked questions. The one that really turned me off was if I was to buy into the new tower at poly would my drop dead date be in 50 years after it opens. And I was told which we all know now that no it will be the same exp date poly is. So I buy in at full price and already miss out on years. But we did walk away with a Disney gift card :)
I went to WL last weekend wanting to see one of the DVC rooms (didn't care which) and they said I'd have to go through the 30 minute presentation first. I ended up not doing it because, one, I didn't have a whole lot of time before I had to leave, and two, I've been researching this for months (while also trying to convince my husband); I've watched crazy amounts of RU-vid videos, I've made my own excel spreadsheets, I check the different sites daily for new listings; so a 30 minute presentation was a turn off for me because I'm already sold! I just want to now figure out where I want my home resort and want to see the rooms to help make that decision. I was pretty disappointed since I'd already seen a good number of the rooms at different resorts the last couple months without having to go through a presentation.
I think the only way I could become a hybrid owner is if the minimum of direct points goes back 50 to get the full benefits. But, as of right now I can only afford to buy DVC on the resale market which is how I became a DVC member. 😀.
Do not sweat it, the benefits we get for buying directly from Disney is not worth the price of paying like $100 more per point, currently, to get 10 to 20 % off merchandise, get the Disney visa card, free to have.
People have become financially squeezed for the last 3 years.interest rates are are almost triple what they were a few years ago all they are building are home wood suite type tower rooms gone are the large well themed resorts like we were promised would always be there, when we purchased in 2001
I tried to check availability on your site Derek but the live chat gets in the way. That just kills it for me to check all the time. It takes half the screen so can only see one at a time. Too much time and don’t need to chat unless I see something and I can’t see what’s available.
I was amazed at the price point of some of these contracts. There are deals to be found for sure. It allowed me to upgrade my home resort from VBR to OKW. Lower dues and the opportunity to use the 11 month window that tou don't have when your hone resort is not a WDW rresort.
We have direct and resale. We use our merchandise discount on every visit and the food discount. However all future purchases will be resale. Our first contract was direct at AK, then we bought SSR resale, then when RR opened we bought there direct and last contract was RR resale.
Oddly we have nevr heard from a guide. Lol. Bought resale back in 2004-2005. Did 2 presentations on 2 different trips. Luckily ran into a couple at the Teppanyaki table in Japan that introduced us to the resale concept. We investigated further and ended up purchasing resale at Saratoga @ $75 per point. Did not finance. Being canadian, even with exchange rates it was still a good investment in future vacations. We would go every year or every other year. There were always deals on park tickets and the inital fast pass system was manageable. Post pandemic, even with DVC its almost been impossoble to aafford it.
Going back to your story about the direct buying process now, Disney really seems to be pushing Riviera with their sales guides. I had a friend who was interested in buying the new Grand Floridian, but his guide only wanted to see him Riviera points.
Prediction for future DVC: disney expands DVC into all hotels, moderate and value included. So much so that someday if you want to stay “on property”, it will most often be via DVC. Disney is a publicly traded company, and DVC allows them to maintain, update, and expand the hotels at the expense of the guest.
I have to disagree. I love the idea of buying into a contract for 50 years. My child and grandchildren will enjoy something that I love. That makes me happy
Glad that others are seeing that Disney cruise line is way overpriced for the product that you get. People are blinded because they just assume it’s the best family cruise line, but when you take into account the price, Royal Caribbean is head and shoulders better in my opinion.
1. STOP building more DVC resorts/rooms of any kind at WDW and give us more resorts in other places around the U.S. or the World! 2. If you are not going to stop doing this, give us another park to go to so there will not be so many people in the parks!
Interest rates fluctuate greatly depending on a variety of factors and we aim for our videos to remain relevant as long as possible without outdated information. We do discuss financing and how it affects value on various other shows. :)
That's the kicker. If you have to finance a direct purchase or really even a resale, you really need to look at your numbers for the term. In many cases, not good.
Tried universal first time last month. Hated it. Was so happy to arrive at poly after that. Universal is a big six flags but more expensive and all facades. Everything coasters or makes you sick. Terrible place compared to Disney
Disagree. Stayed there at Hard Rock in 2022 and was miles above what Disney was offering at the time, both in terms of value and cuatomer service. The fast pass that comes with staying at an onsite hotel makes Genie + look like amatuer hour.
Disney is in trouble and we all know it. Being a DVC owner for 10 years my perspective has radically changed and just thinking of spending money on Disney stuff today or tomorrow isn’t going to happen.
@@mikew1986 no that’s pretty much just an opinion. Disney isn’t going anywhere. Sometimes people just regret purchases that they made. Especially large ones like a DVC.
