Iterval Questions

[HallandNash]

Here's my story :

In the past, my manager at work has mentioned his Interval timeshare when the topic of vacations has come up. I think it has come up a couple of times in casual conversation and I got the impression that he was offering it to me if I ever wanted to take a nice vacation. I never really pursued it any further because I didn't think that they could offer any Disney resorts. Well lo and behold I'm passing the time trying to get a Disney fix by reading the different sections of the forum and it looks like Interval does indeed offer a way to get into WDW!!

Now I am totally clueless when it comes to timeshares, so bear with me here. Reading through some stuff here, it appears that there is a $95 fee that Disney charges, and a $39 fee that Interval charges. Those would obviously be a small price to pay if he was indeed offering me the use of his timeshare. Now here is where I get a little fuzzy. Does it cost him anything to get me in? ie. Does he have to pay any fees? Does he lose the ability to take a vacation for the year?

Also is it difficult to get a trade into a WDW resort? How far in advance can you or should you do something like this? I'm thinking it wouldn't be for a couple/few years in order to give our 1 year old baby girl a little more time to grow so she can really enjoy the trip and be able to do most of the rides and stuff.

Now my dream vacation would be to bring along my parents and possibly my sister. That would be a total of 5 adults and 1 child. Is it possible to get that many people in? Looking at the resorts they do appear to have some rooms/villas that can fit that many people. However, is it more difficult to get such rooms? Does it cost more? Would such rooms even be possible to get through an Interval trade? Are there any particular WDW resorts that would be easier to get? AKL or WL look the coolest to me (Wife would love AKL ).

I'd like to figure some of this stuff out before I get too excited and approach my manager.

If anyone can help out it would be much appreciated!

[pixie1958]

First off, if his resort is in Orlando, there is a block for other Orlando timeshares to trade into DVC through Interval. If it's not in Orlando, if his has a high enough quality rating, it maybe could trade into DVC. The sitings I have seen for DVC through Interval are mostly studios, some 1 bedrooms and very, very rarely a 2 bedroom (you usually need to trade a 2 bedroom to get a 2 bedroom). SSR and OKW would be more common in II (Interval International) than the other DVC resorts. And also, you are more likely to see DVC in September or January (off season weeks).

As far as cost for trading into DVC (if its possible with what he owns), your boss would, of course, have his yearly maintenence fees for his resort (probably $500 to $800 depending on where he owns), a $139.00 trade fee for the exchange, a $39.00 guest certificate fee for you to use his week, and a $95.00 resort services fee for a WDW DVC resort. He would be giving up his week for you to use it, yes.

One nice perk of being an Interval International member is having access to book "Getaway" weeks through Interval without giving up your week in exchange. We have let friends of ours book Getaways through our membership. DVC never comes up on Getaways, but the Marriott's do. Our daughter is staying at Marriott Horizons in a 1 bedroom in October for $325.00 for the whole week on a Getaway. Maybe your boss was talking about letting you purchase a Getaway week rather than an exchange?

[January-2007]

My parents got a trade into Old Key West through Interval International four years ago. The timeshare they own is a 5 star 2 bedroom, so we got a two bedroom in Walt Disney World too. I had an entire bedroom all to myself, how cool is that? We went in May. I don't really know anything about the money part of it, mainly because I didn't pay any attention to that kind of stuff at the time. My parents loved it so much that they became DVC members on that trip. So beware.. once you stay DVC you may not be able to stay any other way. Hope it all works out for you.

[r4kids]

We also traded into Disney through Interval, got a 2 bedroom at OKW and got it much faster than we expected. It was only a week after we submitted the request before we got the confirmation. I can't wait to see what the resort looks like when we get there. There are only certain times you put in a request. Make sure you get the info for what you like and try to keep yourself open. We said any DVC between Sept.1 and Dec. 31. We put in our request on March 1st. I wish you good luck!!!

[floridamom]

Pixie makes some very good points and provides a very thorough explanation of the process. Having said that, like r4kids, we also got our request for a 2BR OKW after about a week--and that was for July, so it is not impossible to go during busier times. Some clarification form your boss would help you decide how to proceed. Good luck!

[Deesdisney]

I am glad to see some people got to trade into WDW. My mom has been trying for 3 yrs. and has not had any luck. We put it in Jan. for Dec. and wait till June for res. We have not been able to do it. Maybe it would be better another month. Good Luck. This is why I am buying DVC. I know I will get in.

[HallandNash]

One nice perk of being an Interval International member is having access to book "Getaway" weeks through Interval without giving up your week in exchange. We have let friends of ours book Getaways through our membership. DVC never comes up on Getaways, but the Marriott's do. Our daughter is staying at Marriott Horizons in a 1 bedroom in October for $325.00 for the whole week on a Getaway. Maybe your boss was talking about letting you purchase a Getaway week rather than an exchange?

I spoke to my boss yesterday and it turns out he was offering a getaway and not an exchange. It's still an awesome deal and was very nice of him, but I'm not sure I want to stay off WDW property, it's just not as magical. Not to mention that the buses off property seem to take forever and just dump you off in the middle of the parking lot. So when you say DVC never comes up on Getaways, do you mean NEVER or hardly ever?

Oh well, maybe we can take a non-Disney trip somewhere.

[EvilQueen2006]

So when you say DVC never comes up on Getaways, do you mean NEVER or hardly ever?

I have been checking several times a week since January and have never found DVC as a getaway.

[CarolMN]

...(snip)..... So when you say DVC never comes up on Getaways, do you mean NEVER or hardly ever?.....

It would be NEVER. Sorry.

If it were me, I'd accept the getaway and use the savings to rent a minivan or any car that would hold 6. That way you would not be dependent on any off site bus transportation. You would have to pay for parking at the theme parks (unless someone in your party has an AP or PAP), but only once per day and to me the convenience would be more than worth it. Plus you could save by getting groceries to cook in the villa or by eating off site, and your airport to villa transportation would be taken care of.

There are many very nice timeshares in the Orlando area - some with beautiful grounds and pool areas.

[Jen C.]

I do not recommend buying into Interval with your main hopes of trading even half of the time into the Disney Vacation Club. We own 6 seperate weeks at the Hyatt Sunset harbor in Key West during the most coveted weeks. All of our weeks are for two bedroom units. We have tried for the past three years to trade into DVC, even willing to accept a studio or one bedroom, and we have not cared where. We have had no luck at all...any time of year.

However, we have been able to trade at many other Interval locations throughout the world with no problems. The only thing is, you do always seem to get the best service at your home resort, or hotels owned by your home resort.