Can anyone tell me anything bad about the Disney Vacation Time share? I want to buy, hubby isn't so sure.

Answer 1

I'm a Disney fanatic, but I'd recommend AGAINST buying into the Disney Vacation Club.

The Vacation Club concept is a good one. You purchase a real-estate interest which is converted into "points" that you can use year after year for vacations. You buy the points (or finance them) up front, and then you pay an annual maintenance fee on them. Then you use your points at any of the participating resorts, or you can trade them for use at another timeshare.

Usually, once you buy this real estate interest, its yours forever. You can bequeath it to your heirs, sell it, or whatever you want to do with it. The thing that is unique about Disney's (and that would prevent me from doing it) is that with Disney, you don't own it forever. It's more like a lease. After a certain date (which changes based on when you bought into it), all ownership rights revert back to the Disney company.

If I'm going to pay that much money up front, I wanna own it. So I'm more likely to go with Fairfield, Trendwest, Bluegreen, or Hilton, which allow me to buy it and keep it forever.

Fairfield by Wyndham now has a resort right on Disney Property in the Bonnet Creek Resort area. I'd do that before I did the Disney Vacation Club.

Answer 2

Check out www.intercot.com. They have a whole section on the DVC program.

Seems to me that the deciding factors are:
1. Do you plan to take a Disney vacation at least every other year? If not, then DVC is not that good. Points don't transfer as well as other basic timeshares.
2. Do you want/need upscale accommodations? If not, then paying out of pocket every year or two at a Value or a Mod can be more cost effective.
3. Do you consider it any investment? If so, it's probably not the right move. All DVC timeshares have an end date. More like a real estate lease than a real estate purchase. No perpetual deed.