RCI exchange with DVC

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

I doubt it's any hard-and-fast policy.

If the DVC board I check out once in a while is any guide, DVC isn't much for hard-and-fast policies. Or at least, there are about as many people grumbling about change as you see on your average Bluegreen board.

I do get the impression that BLT is hugely popular within DVC, which AKL was not, best I can tell. I hear the same kind of gripes about BLT units in terms of decor or lay out that you hear with AKL, but AKL gets a lot of out in the boonies gripes while BLT gets a lot of monorail praise. For a lot of people, Disney resorts are all about location.

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

A friend is letting us use 2 RCI weeks for a family vacation checking in June 24, 25, or 26, 2011. I've had an on-going search in for a couple of months with no luck. I'm searching for any DVC property, 2-bdrm units. I called RCI yesterday (I have a guest cert for these 2 weeks) and the agent said it was a long-shot to trade this resort for DVC. The resort is in Branson, so I'm guessing it probably does not have great trade power. He could see 2, 2-bdrm units at Sheraton Vistana that I could have booked right then.

Do I continue to hold out for DVC? I'm a DVC owner, but don't have enough points to cover the family vacation which is why I was hoping this RCI trade would work out. I would be disappointed to stay off-site. For most of my family this is a 1-time trip with their kids, so I want it to be really good. I don't know how accurate the RCI guy I talked to yestreday was...I've been told everything from "matching to BCV would be no problem" to "there's never DVC in inventory."

Does Bonnett Creek have the same trade power as DVC? If I had to stay off-site, this would be my first choice I think. (Off-site being non-DVC.)

So, give me your opinions. My thoughts right now are continue to wait until Feb or Mar, then pick up an off-site resort if nothing comes through.

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

DVC is a pain - why mess with it?

A friend is letting us use 2 RCI weeks for a family vacation checking in June 24, 25, or 26, 2011. I've had an on-going search in for a couple of months with no luck. I'm searching for any DVC property, 2-bdrm units. I called RCI yesterday (I have a guest cert for these 2 weeks) and the agent said it was a long-shot to trade this resort for DVC. The resort is in Branson, so I'm guessing it probably does not have great trade power. He could see 2, 2-bdrm units at Sheraton Vistana that I could have booked right then.

Do I continue to hold out for DVC? I'm a DVC owner, but don't have enough points to cover the family vacation which is why I was hoping this RCI trade would work out. I would be disappointed to stay off-site. For most of my family this is a 1-time trip with their kids, so I want it to be really good. I don't know how accurate the RCI guy I talked to yestreday was...I've been told everything from "matching to BCV would be no problem" to "there's never DVC in inventory."

Does Bonnett Creek have the same trade power as DVC? If I had to stay off-site, this would be my first choice I think. (Off-site being non-DVC.)

So, give me your opinions. My thoughts right now are continue to wait until Feb or Mar, then pick up an off-site resort if nothing comes through.

Fixation on staying at DVC is self defeating. If you actually tried off site at a quality resort you'd soon know the "magic" of better quality, larger space, more features and more offset the total immersion (and we find frankly irritating overall) in everything under the thumb of DVC - not to mention the extra costs.

By freeing yourself from squeezing into less equipped, smaller DVC units at lower cost - the desirability of a rental car & the associated parking fees are more than offset by the convenience and still is likely to save you money overall - will allow access to non-Disney areas that are likely to be as attractive or more so (most guests under 6 or over 11 actually prefer non-Disney park features overall). While everyone should stay on site at least once it is strictly to find out that you don't need to be on site to best enjoy Disney. In fact it is usually way too much in every way including costs.

Take a high rated, large off site resort and enjoy it far more.

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

Keep an eye on the sightings board. When a sighting is posted, call and see if you can see *any* of them. Right now, very few 2BRs make it past ongoing searches, so you might not get a chance to test against one of those. It will be easier if you can use your friend's online account to search yourself. If you can't even see the 1BRs, you know where you stand.

I think waiting until March is probably too late. I would not go more than a day or two into February without securing something else---the "last wave" of DVC seems to go in around six months prior, and the end of January is five months.

Bonnet Creek seems to be a (small) notch down from DVC, but not by much. The June BC deposits should go in sometime around the middle of next month. When they do, check to see if you can see them. If you can't, that's the time to give up on DVC once and for all.

Vistana isn't a bad choice. They will be done with the resort-wide refurbishment by then, and the units will be back up to Starwood quality---I was in a redone Fountains unit last February, and it was better appointed and more comfortable than either OKW or VWL. The location is excellent, convenient to property. You'll have to drive yourself, but I do that more than half the time when I'm onsite anyway.

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

timeos2: Herein lies the beauty of vacation choices. On our last vacation we stayed off-site for 3 nights at the HGVC Parc Soleil. It was a spacious 1-bdrm unit that we enjoyed very much. Then we moved on-site to Boardwalk Villas in a studio unit. I was so happy to be there. I loved sitting on my balcony and watching the hustle and bustle on the BW. I loved walking to parks and having people drive me to the others. On-site is where it's at for us.

Brian: As always you are a wealth of information. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us/me! My friend does not have an on-line account, so I'm phone-dependent. I will continue to watch the ExOps board, but haven't seen much so far for my dates. Maybe something will pop up!

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

Don't call to check visibility only for your dates. When the next "largish" (double-digit) banking goes in, check to see if you see anything. You are just trying to get a sense for your friend's trade power, not book anything.

In the meantime, call to see if you see any of the Bonnet Creek 2BRs that are currently in the spacebank. If you don't, it's time to take Vistana right now. If you do, it might not still tell you a whole lot---of the 15 or so 2BRs there, some early February and late April, but not much in what you'd consider "spring break season". I'm guessing late June (the nicer part of summer) would be above most of these.

[mkarizona Member Find all posts View Profile Close mkarizona]

When are we likely to see the next ""largish" (double-digit) banking"? Is there an over-arching pattern, or is it truly random? I got a very nice trade to AKV in April when there were 30+ trades showing, but I haven't seen a lot since then. I am trying to see a pattern but I haven't been watching long enough yet to recognize if there is one.

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

Two words: ongoing search. It's very easy to miss them, because the trade power required to get in has been reduced. They generally come in weekly, but not necessarily, and not at any particular day/time. You either have to be looking all the time, or have an ongoing search placed, else you risk missing it.

[mkarizona Member Find all posts View Profile Close mkarizona]

Thanks Brian. I have been wanting to ask you that for a while. I did notice about the time the inventory started to disappear that my deposits went from seeing mostly studios to seeing mostly one bedrooms with the occasional two bedroom. I do have an ongoing search in, but mostly I am window shopping right now. It is more fun to just see what pops up, but I may have to do more searches in the future.

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

Thanks for the info