Okay, this is just a bit of information from a DVC owner who has since sold their timeshare. I wanted to bring this to light since I appear to be one of the few lucky individuals that has purchased a timeshare, used it, and then sold for about what I originally purchased it for - thank goodness. Some of my experience is as follows:

1. Disney is not for the weak of heart - or wallet. We purchased it at a time when disposable income was available and with a definite intent. If you are at the point in your lives where a vacation for a week is on a tight budget then DVC may not be your best option.

2. Variety will take some planning - although Disney allows exchanges in Interval International, the Disney properties are easier to access, reserve, use, etc. Bottom line - better REALLY like going to WDW or Disneyland. If once is enough for you, again, you may wish to consider another property.

3. Cruises are still a wonderful alternative so plan your point purchase accordingly. DVC points can be exchanged for a Disney cruise, and with banking and borrowing of points, are a wonderful idea if you can take smaller mini-vacations in the bank and borrowed years (since your timeshare won’t be available) and then have a fantastic, memorable experience in the year you cruise. The key on this is you need to discover how many points will cover at least the two adults in the room (mom & dad) when you wish to travel. Also, from experience, 3 or 4 day cruises are much less relaxed than the 7 days.

4. Location matters on resale - I only received about the same as my original purchase price because I was in a highly desirable property - Beach Club. A good choice now may be the newer property by WDW or Vero Beach. Also, please note, the resale amount did not recoup my annual dues which were about $1,000 in my final year of ownership based on my points.

5. Disney’s Boardwalk property - from personal experience the property was not as well maintained as other DVC properties. This is also one of the older DVC properties - you may be able to get a good deal on purchase but your resale may be harder. Old Key West is still wonderfully maintained but is one of the older properties, and therefore, the lease end date (see below) is closer than with some of the newer properties.

6. Apples to Apples - the lease end dates vary for the newer properties in comparison to my Beach Club Resale. Understand the length of your timeshare options BEFORE you make an offer on resale as points are points (usage can be applied to any Disney property) so you may wish to consider a newer property.

7. All things considered - consider it! We had three wonderful WDW Resort Vacations and two lovely cruises in the time we owned our DVC timeshare. If I consider my resale, then the vacations for simply the cost of the annual dues was certainly a bargain for accommodations (the villas are simply wonderful & cooking breakfast each morning while my husband read a paper on the balcony was so relaxing). We have some wonderful memories but knew that we would not be so enamoured if we traveled yet again to the Magic Kingdom. We look forward in the future to taking grandkids, but for now with young adults, we made the right decision.

8. It did make us take a vacation - the biggest thing, in a two career family, is that the commitment to the DVC purchase made us take vacations. Without an investment such as that I don’t know if our family would have vacationed as well as we did–or possibly had vacationed at all.

Hope this helps - take care & get away with the family as that is some of the best times.