My DVC Points

In episode 021 we meet our neighbor Annelise. She has been an owner at Disney's Polynesian Villas and Bungalows since 2016. She bought into DVC after her third visit to Disney. She explains that raising a family and going to Disney took a lot of planning and saving and other life events came up.

We invited four listeners in for some DVC resort armchair Imagineering. We asked them to create a resort so desirable, that a DVC member would be happy staying at this resort for the remainder of their contract. We need you to vote on their proposals. The winner will advance to the final round that will have a celebrity judge. McNair Wilson, former Disney Imagineer will be judging the final round.

Who deserves your vote? Laura with a Japanese themed resort, John with a Historic Kansas City Main Street, Andrew with a Greek Isles Resort or Melissa with a New Orleans Big Easy resort next to the Magic Kingdom!

Polls have closed.

Resort Name, Theme, Location

Laura's Sakura Resort (Japanese for Cherry Blossom)

Theme: Deluxe DVC resort with an immersive Japanese experience.Location: Given the popularity of walking from the resort to the park, building Sakura near the entrance to Disney's Animal Kingdom will ensure that all four parks have a resort within distance. General Overview: Upon entering guests are welcomed by Kimono-adorned cast members with the traditional Japanese bow of respect. Décor will be Japanese theme including tatami mats, rice paper walls (decoration only), and anime artwork.

Andrew's Greek Isle Mediterranean Resort and Spa

Theme: The Greek IslesLocation: Two possible locations, one north of Coronado Springs and a second possible location would be on the east side of Bay Lake.General Overview: A Boutique resort featuring the white houses with the blue domed roofs of the Greek Isles. A Mediterranean style main pool, a mockup of the Med with the rooms situated to overlook the sea with their private infinity pools.

Melissa's The Villas at the Big Easy

Theme: New Orleans French Quarter and Bayou PlantationsLocation: Between the Grand Floridian and the Magic KingdomGeneral Overview: Given the popularity of Port Orleans resort, we're going expand on the New Orlean's theming with this resort. New Orlean's square was the first Disney park expansion.

John's Gateway to the Magic Kingdom Resort

Theme: Hometown, USA (Turn of the Century Kansas City)Location: The northwest edge of the Magic Kingdom between Floridian Way and the WDW Railroad tracks. Near Frontierland and Adventureland.General Overview: Inspired by the decor of Main Street USA and the theme park proximity of the Grand Californian, this resort replicates three turn-of-the-century Kansas City, MO buildings.

West tower inspired by the Muehlebach Hotel circa 1915.Arcade and pool bar inspired by the KC Convention hall circa 1906.Gateway Depot inspired by the Union Depot circa 1878.Center tower inspired by the Baltimore Hotel circa 1899.East tower inspired by the Coates House Hotel circa 1891.

Restaurants & Dining

Restaurants at Andrew's Greek Isle Mediterranean Resort

Quick Service: The Parthenon, Serving all sorts of handheld PITA bread sandwiches, burgers, and GYRO (the Americanized Greek food).Table Service: Two restaurants named for Greek Mythology Gods serving more authentic Greek food. Hercules and Athena. Hercules would serve heavy “Manly” fagitó (food). Athena would offer lighter fare, that is usually considered more healthy fagitó.Bar and Lounge: A wine bar called Dionysus (The Greek Goddess of Wine)Pool Bar: Hedone (Goddess of Pleasure)Signature Restaurant: Philia (Meaning; Friendship) Where you are our best friend with all the benefits of a guest in our home.

Restaurants at Melissa's The Villas at the Big Easy

Quick Service: Ponchatrain Cafe serving po'boys and beignet bar with chickory coffee and. Table Service: “Flambo de Carnivale” offers flavors of Cajun-Creole cooking with etouffee, fried catfish, jambalaya, gumbo, shrimp and grits, shrimp fra diablo, cajun stuffed veal chops, creole grilled ratatouille, and Cajun popcorn as your starter. On the roof of the old city tower, this will also have a character breakfast for DVC members.Bar and

We invited four listeners in for some DVC resort armchair Imagineering. We asked them to create a resort so desirable, that a DVC member would be happy staying at this resort for the remainder of their contract. We need you to vote on their proposals. The winner will advance to the final round that will have a celebrity judge. McNair Wilson, former Disney Imagineer will be judging the final round.

Andrew joined Disney Vacation Club in 2008 by purchasing at Animal Kingdom Villas. Shortly after buying in addonitis kicked in and the Darden family purchased a second contract from the resale market at Old Key West. Later on Disney cruises, he added on at Boulder Ridge and Copper Creek Cabins and Villas. We've included some of the Darden's family's favorite Disney photos below.

Multiple Use Year Problems!

It wasn't until the resale contract closed that Andrew discovered that he had inadvertently purchased multiple use years. The AKV contract was a September UY. However, the OKW contract was a June UY.

A DVC member number is limited to one use year. As a result of multiple use years, Andrew ended up with two member numbers. Andrew quickly discovered that combining points at the 7-month mark was extremely difficult. He had to call member services and get the points transferred. (This is the reason that when buying direct, they always suggest you keep the same use year. It makes booking a room at 7-months a lot easier. If you have to cancel, all the points return to their original contracts as well. You can see all of the points from the DVCMember.com website.)

Andrew's solution involves banking one use year and using the other. He calls this concept leapfrogging his points. In this scenario, Andrew banks the June points from this year to next year. Last year, he did the same thing on the September contracts. This approach ensures one of the use years has double points available every year. When everything is said and done, Andrew wishes he had known about the problems with multiple use years and bought all of his contracts in the same use year.

One of the benefits of having two member numbers is that each member number gets two waitlists. Andrew uses the waitlists; however, he continues to stalk the website and usually finds his desired rooms are available before the waitlist functionality assigns him the villa.

Copper Creek Cabins

Andrew tells us all about a recent trip to the Cabins at Copper Creek. He highly recommends the cabins and believes it's well worth the points if you take the time to enjoy the room. Andrew profoundly believes in spending time at the resort and enjoying all of the amenities the resort has to offer. The cabins are a terrible point value if your touring plan involves spending all of your time at the parks. Andrew points out his favorite plan on Disney property to enjoy a drink or dessert is the pools at Wilderness Lodge.

Andrew talks about being on the Disney Fantasy in 2013 and attending the DVC member program. He adds that he likes to participate in these meetings for free mimosas and free swag. While on the Fantasy, he signed up for Boulder Ridge. In 2017, Andrew once again was on the Disney Fantasy while purchasing into Copper Creek Villas and Cabins. He mentions he did this for two main reasons. He wanted the 11 month home advantage and wanted the eleven-month window to book cabins at Copper Creek. Andrew then shares his memories of his first time staying in a cabin in December 2018. “It was phenomenal!” He did also have some advice for anyone that is interested in staying in a cabin. “Do not waste your time on one night in those cabins because you will hate yourself when you have to leave.” He believes you should stay in a cabin for a minimum of 3 days. Andrew also talks about how you need to enjoy the resort and amenities if you are using those points for a Copper Creek cabin.

However, if you are someone that likes to spend most of your time in the parks, Andrew talks about using points on what he calls a flophouse. A flophouse is a basic room that you use to sleep, brush your teeth, and comb your hair,” Andrew describes. Andrew mentions that his regular trips are nine days, eight nights and he goes to a park one day and takes a down day the next day. This touring plan allows him time to enjoy the re

Andrew joined Disney Vacation Club in 2008 by purchasing at Animal Kingdom Villas. Shortly after buying in addonitis kicked in and the Darden family purchased a second contract from the resale market at Old Key West. Later on Disney cruises, he added on at Boulder Ridge and Copper Creek Cabins and Villas. Andrew discusses problems with multiple DVC Use Years and his "leap-frogging" solution and two vacations that are on most members bucket lists: Cascade Cabins at Copper Creek and 14 days at Aualani.

If you've ever googled anything about DVC, there's a high chance that you ended up reading a page, article or news post from DVCInfo.com. We've all read the articles and news stories. But how much do you know about the DVC members behind this site? Having spent many hours on the site and in their forums, I can tell you there's a dedicated team of people whose combined efforts make that site a pillar of the DVC community.

In episode 018 we get a chance to meet the team leader and prominent member of the DVC Community, Russ Clark. Russ not only owns Disney Vacation Club contracts at Saratoga Springs Resort, Polynesian Villas and Bungalows, and Aulani and is also a member of the Hilton Grand Vacation Club.

Russ began his timeshare journey with Hilton Grand Vacation Club. His Disney story starts with RCI exchanges into the Disney Vacation Club. He received numerous bonus points when joining HGVC. They deposited the extra points into RCI. At the time, you could book any of the DVC resorts using RCI exchanges. Currently, DVC restricts people to Saratoga Springs when exchanging into DVC from RCI. (This benefits DVC members, as reserves inventory for members at resorts DVC members deem most desirable.) Russ and his family tried out most DVC resorts before joining DVC with the RCI exchange program. After DVC made the transition to SSR only, Russ and his family decided to become DVC members to ensure they could continue coming to DVC resorts.

Russ explains that having done numerous resort exchanges in the HGVC program and within the RCI program, he decided the best resort to buy is the most economical resort to own, so they bought into DVC at SSR. In the DVC community, SSR is well known for being a network resort as a significant amount of owners prefer to stay elsewhere.

Russ has a clearly defined booking strategy at the 7-month mark:

Beach Club – 1 BedroomBay Lake Tower – 1 Bedroom Lake ViewBoulder Ridge Villas at Wilderness Lodge – 1 BedroomAnimal Kingdom – 1 Bedroom Savanah View

Generally speaking, they try to book at the Beach Club or a Magic Kingdom resort. If neither are available, they know they will enjoy a Savannah view room at Kidani.

A typical trip home for the Clark family lasts nine nights and goes from Friday to Sunday. They like coming in the spring and fall that align with their children's school schedule. Getting nine contiguous nights in the 7-month mark at Beach Club is somewhat tricky. They usually can stay at Bay Lake Tower, and if that's not available, they're always happy with Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village. The family avoids split-stays whenever possible.

Russ discusses the sticker shock of comparing DVC annual maintenance fees to the rest of the timeshare industry and the value of the Disney experience. DVC dues are sky high compared to any other timeshare program. However, when you compare the yearly dues to the cost of staying in a cash room, they look a lot more reasonable. For him, this was the hardest factor to get around when buying into DVC. However, he points out that his first Disney trip was off property at an HGVC resort. He values coming to Disney and staying inside “the Disney Bubble.” When you leave the Magic Kingdom and start driving past all the same stores and restaurants you have back home, it breaks the immersive theming experience of Disney. 60-day fast pass windows, Disney transportation to and from the resorts are crucial elements of staying on property. At Disney, all cast members are on stage. Every worker in a restaurant is wearing a costume at a themed restaurant. Russ points out that once you're committed to staying on property, DVC is a becomes a cost-effective approach to staying in the best resorts Disney has to offer.

Back when the Clark family started exchanging into DVC, they were able to get two weeks back-to-back in DVC resorts. The RCI exchange was not as well kn

Episode 018 - DVC Member Interview with Russ Clark, Owner at SSR, AUL and PVB. If you've ever used Google to search for information about DVC, you can almost bet that you have surfed over to DVCinfo.com. Google ranks the site highly for all things DVC. You've read the pages, but what do you know about the people behind the site? Join the conversation as Russ explains his DVC journey and share a lot of great tips on DVC RCI Exchanges!

The only interview I've done where the DVC members did NOT say, "I wish I had bought in sooner." Meet original owners at the first DVC resort who bought in during construction phases of the resort.

In Episode 016, we meet Ella Porter, DVC owner at BLT, VGF and AKV. We discuss BLT and fixed week contracts. This is one of our most highly rated interviews.

I had the pleasure of meeting Chris Salata from Behind the Ears Podcast at a fundraiser supporting Give Kids the World Village at the Disney Indy meetup in 2017. Behind the Ears is an award winning podcast. Chris and I have a common theme in our podcasts in that we focus on how everybody does […]