Categories
Disney Vacation Club
Disney Vacation Club
If you’ve been to any of the Disney parks you’ve probably seen many signs for Disney’s Vacation Club.
Disney’s Vacation Club (DVC) is a timeshare. I am a DVC owner and will try to give a brief overview, and some of our thoughts both for and against ownership. Unlike most other timeshares, you buy points which can be used at any time during the year, banked for the next year, or borrowed to use a year earlier. The lowest number of points on a contract is 25, I do not believe there is a maximum. Each year DVC send out a points chart, using this chart you can see how many points are needed at each resort each day of the year and you can use this information to plan your vacations. Since bookings are point based, the length of stay, location, and size of accommodations are decided by you (and availability) when you book your stay.
Here is an partial point chart for 2013 from: www.resalesdvc.com
| DVC Animal Kingdom Villas Walt Disney World Resort |
V – Value Accommodation S – Standard View SV – Savanna View C – Kilimanjaro Club Concierge |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
2013 |
STUDIO |
ONE-BEDROOM VILLA |
TWO-BEDROOM VILLA |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Adventure Season |
V |
S |
SV |
C |
V |
S |
SV |
C |
V |
S |
SV |
C |
|||||||||||
| Jan 1-31 Sep 1-30 Dec 1-14 |
Sun-Th |
9 |
11 |
14 |
17 |
Sun-Th |
19 |
22 |
29 |
35 |
Sun-Th |
25 |
30 |
37 |
47 |
||||||||
| Fri-Sat |
12 |
13 |
16 |
20 |
Fri-Sat |
22 |
26 |
32 |
39 |
Fri-Sat |
30 |
35 |
44 |
54 |
|||||||||
| Weekly |
69 |
81 |
102 |
125 |
Weekly |
139 |
162 |
209 |
253 |
Weekly |
185 |
220 |
273 |
343 |
|||||||||
So if I wanted to stay at Kidani, from Friday, January 11 to Sunday, January 13, 2013 (Fri. and Sat. night), in a Savanah View Studio, I would need 32 points. It would be 16 pts. each night of the stay.
DVC member have a “Home” resort, this is the resort you are a part owner of. Your yearly maintenance fees go towards the upkeep of your home resort and you are able to book stays 11 months in advance. You can book at other resorts 7 months in advance. We own at Kidani at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We chose this resort mainly because it was for sale when we were ready to buy but also because a one bedroom sleeps 5 and has 2 full bathrooms. In the older resorts, a one bedroom has only 1 bathroom. With three children moving into their teens year we thought we’d like the extra bathroom and now that we have three teens ages 14, 16 and 18; we NEED the extra bathroom.
View from Fire Pit to Kidani Lobby
Kidani Savanah view from room
Pros for my famiy:
We love staying at different resorts. With DVC, we’ve been able to stay at Kidani, Bay Lake Towers, Saratoga Springs and Grand California (Disneyland). So we’ve been lucky and reserving at the 7 month mark has worked for us!
Bay Lake Tower Courtyard
View of Grand Californian Hotel from Disney’s California Adventre
View from our room at Grand Californian Hotel
All the DVC rooms (except studios) have a washer and dryer in the unit. We pack lightly (carry-ons only) and do laundry. Each night we through a load of dirty clothes into the washer, move to the dryer in the morning and when we get back from the park, we have clean clothes.
With a full kitchen or kitchenette, we eat breakfast in the unit most mornings. Food can be delivered to the resort or brought at a local store. It’s nice to eat without waiting in a line for breakfast and we save some money. We personally have never eaten dinner in the unit but it would be easy with the full kitchen.
DVC perks are great. DVC members get discounts on annual passes, water parks admission, some dinning and shopping. DVC members can also pool hop (not to all pools or all dates though), can buy the Tables in Wonderland dinning discount card, and can add the dinning plan to their room without buying a package. The lounge at the top of Bay Lake Towers is open to DVC members; what a fun way to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks. However, perks are not guaranteed and can end at any time.
Bay Lake Tower Rooftop View
Staying at a deluxe resort in a one bedroom with a kitchen and laundry for the price of a value resort (Meaning the amount of yearly maintenance fees and the cost of ownership spread over the 50 years).
Having a living room to sit and relax or wait for the rest of the family to get ready instead of sitting on the bed or waiting in the hall.
Cons for my family:
No discounts on room rates.
No free dinning plans.
Must pay maintenance fees every year.
After 50 years your ownership is over and you own nothing.
So is DVC for everyone? No. Is it for us? Yes! We have vacationed at Disney World, Disney Land or Disney Cruise Line 13 times in the past 13 years. We’ve stayed at values, moderate and deluxe resorts. As our family got older and bigger we wanted more room. DVC was the answer for us. We joined about 5 years ago and are looking forward to the next 45 years. Some day we hope to take grandchildren to Disney World!
I ended the first part of my review of the Caribbean Beach Resort after checking into the room and spying the gorgeous beach. That was just the beginning of our wonderful journey. As we walked along the promenade, the pathway around the lake, we were happy to see that there were beaches scattered all around the rest of the resort. The views were breathtaking at every turn!
We followed the winding path and took the bridge across the lake through Castaway Cay, a tropical island in the center of the lake. There were several places to picnic, rest, or play on the lush little island that serves mainly as a scenic cut-through from one side of the lake to the other.
It didn’t take us long to figure out that this resort has an abundance of wildlife, too. We saw all sorts of bunnies, squirrels, ducks, and a lot of birds and lizards!
When we reached the other side of Castaway Cay, we found Old Port Royale, which is also called Centertown.
Old Port Royale is the main hub for many activities at the resort and includes the main pool, marina, rentals, a bus stop, parking, and the building that houses the food court (Market Street), a restaurant (Shutters), shopping (Calypso Trading Post & Straw Market), and an arcade (Goombay Games).
We received free dining with our package and it also came with free refillable mugs. We picked up our mugs at Market Street and decided to get counter service for lunch. There were several different stations to pick from with a variety of fare. We all enjoyed our food but the Caribbean burger and Cuban sandwich were probably the favorites.
After lunch, we headed back to the room before leaving for Magic Kingdom. Our vacation was off to a wonderful start, thanks to the beautiful surroundings and amenities of the Caribbean Beach Resort. It was such a great week and we didn’t have any negative experiences whatsoever during our stay. It is a very relaxing resort to come back to each evening after a busy day in the parks.
Even though I’m not much of a morning person, I have to admit that the sunrises at CBR were one of my favorite things all week. On the morning of my birthday, I decided to go for a run around the resort. The stillness of the resort being bathed in morning light was incredible and such an fantastic way to begin the day of my birthday. Those colorful images and the memories of those moments will be forever burned into my mind.
In case you are wondering, we did spend a little time on the beach just chilling out on the lounge chairs and in one of the hammocks. It was never crowded and always quiet and relaxing!
By the end of our stay, the Caribbean Beach was definitely our favorite moderate resort! I’m sure the beauty and amenities we experienced there will draw us back down those winding paths in the future.
Be sure and save a hammock for me, okay?
I began to get really excited last year when Disney announced free dining for this past March. When I looked at the dates on the offer and realized that not only was it during my kids’ Spring Break, but it was also the week of my birthday. I was so excited that yet another Spring Break trip would soon be ours! How could I be denied free dining on my birthday and Spring Break? Of course, I didn’t get much of a fight and my kids were as thrilled as if it were their first trip, not their 11th! However, I did cause them to gasp aloud when I told them to pick a moderate resort since we wanted the regular dining package and not just the quick service variety that comes with the value resort package. We could’ve paid the extra for free dining and stayed at a value resort (um, Pop Century!), but I just threw the moderate thing out there to them.
We looked at all the moderates, and to be honest everyone was really struggling with not going back to Pop Century, which has become like home to us since we first went there in 2004. The only moderate we’ve stayed in was Port Orleans Riverside and no one really wanted to go back there. After browsing pictures of moderate resorts, the kids informed me that we must go to Caribbean Beach since it combined our two favorites – Disney and the beach! I made the reservation and I must admit I second and third-guessed myself for months until I was forced to stop reading comments about the resort. There are a lot of negative things out there about CBR and it really concerned me a little.
Fast forward to the day we arrived at Caribbean Beach resort. It was a beautiful day as we pulled into the gates.
We pulled into the parking lot of the Custom House and found plenty of great parking. When we stepped inside, it wasn’t crowded and the atmosphere was so relaxed. I had completed the online check-in, so I picked that line and was face-to-face with a cast member in just a minute or two. Check-in was flawless and the cast member was very friendly and helpful. As he was wrapping up, he reached over and handed me a birthday button! I’ve been to Walt Disney World several times on my birthday and have never received one at check-in. I just knew this was going to be a great trip!
Being unfamiliar with CBR, it took us a few minutes to get oriented and figure out which way to go to our village of Aruba. The resort is pretty big and the Custom House, where you check-in, is slightly detached from the rest of the resort which centers on a 45-acre lake and beach. We were able to pull pretty close to unload our luggage and we were totally surprised at the amount of available parking! We always had to fight for parking at Pop Century, but there were parking spots galore at the CBR!
The six different sections or villages of the CBR are painted different tropical colors. They are all beautiful, but we fell in love with the pink and plum colors of our Aruba buildings. The buildings are surrounded with lush greenery and the curving walkways made it feel more like a park instead of a resort
. 
We were amazed at all the beauty as we walked along the pathway to our building. Every couple of buildings in the village had a really neat courtyard with seating areas. When we found our room in Section 55 and opened the door, we were so surprised at our beautiful corner room!
At this point, all of my fears about CBR began to dissipate. However, the fears were totally nonexistent when I walked around the corner of the building and saw the incredible beach and lake!
There were plenty of empty chairs and open hammocks on the beach begging you to come sit and enjoy the view! I’d have to fight that urge since we were starving by this time, but I made a promise to myself that I would be back to enjoy some time just sitting on that beach,enjoying that amazing view!
To be continued …