II has no Disney

[Justjean Member Find all posts View Profile Close Justjean]

For those who are wanting to stay at a Disney resort. Inverval International does NOT have inventory even though it is still listed on their web catalog. I think this is fraudulent, but I have no idea to whom to report it. My son went to a Branson Woods Westlake presentation just a couple weeks ago and the sales rep was STILL bragging about how he had been able to have a wonderful exchange to a Disney Resort, trying to say how valuable the Branson week was.

When I then tried to book that sort of an exchange with II [we already have a Bransonwoods week] I was told II broke off their relationship with Disney almost a year ago. They had no good explanation for holding out that Disney inventory was available. The only way to find out online is to first deposit your week only to find nothing is apparently available...EVER. When you call, they tell you about no relationship thing and say there is no possibility, ever. If this was the only exchange you wanted, you MIGHT be able to get your week back if you call your timeshare customer service, although they stress your deposit is permanet.

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

Glad you've found this site.. You probably want to spend more time and effort communicating and learning on this forum- than chasing your tail about Disney's change from Interval to RCI.. You might also want to recommend you son visit as well. If he's taking tours at Westgate properties, and considering making his own purchase- a strong knowledge of timeshare ownership and exchange basics can make a huge difference in his ownership experience.

Good luck, and again- Welcome!

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

Going forward, you can also search Interval without first depositing your week. This is a very handy feature, and one that is not possible with many other exchange systems.

[littlestar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close littlestar]

I'm a Disney Vacation Club owner and Disney cut ties with Interval back at the first of the year. They are still honoring the exchanges/units that were made before the first of the year. A lot of DVC (Disney) members weren't real happy about losing II. Personally, I wish Disney would dual affiliate with both exchange companies. That would give the membership a lot more options. RCI's availability for Maui is slim compared to what II (Interval) had. I don't know how long the contract is with RCI, but who knows - maybe in a few years it will go back to II or maybe Disney will work a deal where they could have dual affiliation.

The only way you could get a Disney exchange through Interval now would be if someone cancelled a Disney week. I've seen a few of those, but not many.

By the way, Marriott Vacation Club trades in Interval and even though we are Disney owners, we also own with Marriott and Interval has plenty of beautiful Marriott properties available in Orlando. They are every bit as nice as anything Disney has.

[DaytonaBeachRep Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DaytonaBeachRep]

Not happy about this situation!! I talked with a rep from II and he wasn't happy either.... I sell the hell out of Disney through a different product. Not anymore.. They did put the Animal kingdom in the book this yr though.

[Justjean Member Find all posts View Profile Close Justjean]

Re bnobel's comments: You can see what II claims as general inventory, resorts they claim to work with, online. However, you cannot see what specific inventory [in terms of resorts and times now available] unless you can give a reservation number which amounts to a deposit of your week.

If there is some other way I would love to hear about it.

[Justjean Member Find all posts View Profile Close Justjean]

Re: Daytona Beach rep

RE Daytona Beach Rep: The animal kingdom resort is in the book, but I specifically asked about it and was told NO Disney resorts are available through II, period. If you hear otherwise, please let me know.

I did select a vacation at Parkway International which has very good reviews on the travel advisor. It is in the hottest time of the summer of course and way in advance, next year, but that is when we had available anyway.

[Ryne08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryne08]

You still have some outstanding resorts to exchange into in the Orlando area.

Maybe in the future Disney will become dual affiliate with both exchange companies.

[happymum Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close happymum]

you can give a reservation number which amounts to a deposit of your week.

If there is some other way I would love to hear about it.

If you use a dummy reservation number (such as 99999) and the dates of your deposit, you can see available units.

[happymum Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close happymum]

Re bnobel's comments: You can see what II claims as general inventory, resorts they claim to work with, online. However, you cannot see what specific inventory ...
If there is some other way I would love to hear about it.

For specific instructions, using your own units and reservation #'s see post 19 on http://www.timeshareforums.com/forum...tml#post331639

[littlestar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close littlestar]

I did select a vacation at Parkway International which has very good reviews on the travel advisor. It is in the hottest time of the summer of course and way in advance, next year, but that is when we had available anyway.

There would have probably been more Marriotts showing up for next summer around 11 to 8 months out. Most Marriott owners can deposit 12 months out and then there's a Marriott hold in II for Marriott to Marriott exchanges so I usually see some Marriott inventory in II showing up with my non Marriott at around 11 months and then more of it shows up as time goes by.

Another nice resort in Orlando is Sheraton Vistana Villages - they are putting in a new pirate ship pool with interactive water features for the kids. The Disney resorts used to be the only place in Orlando with fun themed pools and slides, but not anymore. Marriott has a resort in Orlando called Harbour Lake and the themed pools with slides are wonderful for kids.

Parkway International is supposed to be nice. It gets good reviews.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

There would have probably been more Marriotts showing up for next summer around 11 to 8 months out. Most Marriott owners can deposit 12 months out and then there's a Marriott hold in II for Marriott to Marriott exchanges so I usually see some Marriott inventory in II showing up with my non Marriott at around 11 months and then more of it shows up as time goes by.

Another nice resort in Orlando is Sheraton Vistana Villages - they are putting in a new pirate ship pool with interactive water features for the kids. The Disney resorts used to be the only place in Orlando with fun themed pools and slides, but not anymore. Marriott has a resort in Orlando called Harbour Lake and the themed pools with slides are wonderful for kids.

Parkway International is supposed to be nice. It gets good reviews.

Something that's become apparent is that the OP is exchanging Westgate Branson Woods. There are two issues that I can see right now and that's the fact it's a Westgate resort and it's Branson. Branson is a very well developed (over developed) vaction destination which also happens to be mainly a drive to vacation, limiting the demand as it's a two hour drive from major airports or an expensive flight for most into Springfield.

What is not known is what week Westgate assigned for deposit. If it's a spring, fall or winter week, then it will be a rather weak trader. Especially if the OP has the summer family vacation months listed for exchange dates. I also don't know the size of the unit. Is the OP attempting to trade up in size?

So we could have a few variable's that are working against us here. Is it a low demand week that's been deposited? Are we attempting to trade up in size? Are we attempting to trade into a higher demand time from a lower demand time? Even though Orlando is typically an easy exchange, all of these things working against the OP could limit what she can see available. One thing I am pretty certain of at this time is Disney during the summer months was likely an unrealistic expectation anyway. Those that own Disney don't typically own it to exchange. That's a high dollar, high value, high MF resort to use for exchanges. Since summer months are high season for families and, since Orlando thrives on the family trade my bet is there wouldn't be a lot of Disney weeks deposited for exchange anyway. A week must be deposited for it to be available for exchange. If Disney owners buy to use rather than exchange, availablity would most likely have been very limited and I have serious doubts that Westgate Branson Woods would have the power to pull a Disney week during peak family vacation season.

[littlestar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close littlestar]

Right, Doug. What she could see with her Branson resort would depend on a lot of factors that we don't know.

Last year, my mom and dad exchanged a Westgate Smoky Mountain May studio for a Disney SSR studio Christmas week. That was when Disney was still with II.

2 bedroom deposits for Disney were always tougher to get than studios or one bedrooms were and when you add holidays or summer vacations to the mix, that would have to make it tougher.

It will be interesting to see what effect Disney's new Hawaii resort will have on deposits in RCI. I've heard the number one request for DVC members when they trade out is Hawaii. Disney had a write-up about it in one of our DVC member publications when they were showcasing the new Hawaii resort at Ko Olina.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Right, Doug. What she could see with her Branson resort would depend on a lot of factors that we don't know.

Last year, my mom and dad exchanged a Westgate Smoky Mountain May studio for a Disney SSR studio Christmas week. That was when Disney was still with II.

2 bedroom deposits for Disney were always tougher to get than studios or one bedrooms were and when you add holidays or summer vacations to the mix, that would have to make it tougher.

It will be interesting to see what effect Disney's new Hawaii resort will have on deposits in RCI. I've heard the number one request for DVC members when they trade out is Hawaii. Disney had a write-up about it in one of our DVC member publications when they were showcasing the new Hawaii resort at Ko Olina.

If the #1 exchange for DVC members exchanging out was Hawaii, then I'd say those wanting to exchange out of DVC will drop significantly when those members have an internal exchange option.

If I owned Disney, I'd be very reluctant to give up my week to RCI for exchange. DVC is just to expensive to trade down in quality. We own both Marriott and HGVC timeshares and I feel similarly about them. I am extremely reluctant to exchange outside of those systems. With Marriott, you might be exchanging Marriott to Marriott but, their system still allows deposited Marriott weeks to enter the Interval exchange system regardless of whether you're requesting Marriott to Marriott exchanges our outside of the Marriott system. Supposedly, Marriott is taking steps to correct that situation but, they've been saying that for 2 or 3 years now.

Studio units are almost always the most likely exchange unit to see from high value timeshares with solid internal exchange systems. Owners are more likely to lock off their unit and use the studio to exchange for an additional weeks vacation, assuming they don't need it for family vacations. In the past, we've locked-off our 3 bedroom Ocean Pointe timeshare and used the studio unit for exchange purposes. Otherwise we've always used our 2 bedroom master suite for personal use.

[Lisa P Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lisa P]

For those who are wanting to stay at a Disney resort. Inverval International does NOT have inventory even though it is still listed on their web catalog. I think this is fraudulent...

It may seem that way and seeing as I'm not a huge II fan, I get what you're saying. However, technically, it's not fraudulent until the end of November 2009. DVC/Disney's contract with II went through the end of 2008. DVC's system permits them to make deposits (on behalf of their members) of weeks checking in up to 11 months later. We did notice a dramatic decline in new DVC deposits during the month of December 2008 but they did still make new deposits until the end of December 2008. So it's still possible to see an odd, canceled exchange, DVC week reappear in II with a check-in date as late as the end of November 2009. It would obviously match against a search so it wouldn't show up online as available though. And it's still extremely unlikely, but still remotely possible and so, not fraudulent. ...just sayin'...