II has no Disney

[littlestar]

Originally Posted by Justjean

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]

Originally Posted by littlestar

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]

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by 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...

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'...

[dougp26364]

Originally Posted by Lisa P

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'...

Since the resort directory is laid out and printed well in advance of the end of the year, there are bound to be some mistakes. Especially when a system decides to leave for another exchange company. I'll let it pass this year but, if Interval still lists DVC resorts in it's directory next year they would be hard pressed to explain why they are still there.

[Justjean]

Everybody knows you can change, especially delete stuff from, a website easily. Why would they consider it valid to list six Disney Resorts online when they are not affiliated with any of them?

They have to know that many folks see that and think THAT is why they they will join II. They have children or grandchildren and want to have that experience.

[Lisa P]

Because...

1. It looks good and encourages people to join II.

2. They can. Technically, they still have some members confirmed into DVC trades which will come to pass later this year or which those members may cancel, giving the chance to the next request still searching.

[dougp26364]

Originally Posted by Justjean

Everybody knows you can change, especially delete stuff from, a website easily. Why would they consider it valid to list six Disney Resorts online when they are not affiliated with any of them?

They have to know that many folks see that and think THAT is why they they will join II. They have children or grandchildren and want to have that experience.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, DVC members were allowed to deposit their 2009 usage into I.I. until the end of 2008. So it is possible that a few DVC units remain available for exchange within the I.I. system or, that someone who already has one of those 2009 units will cancel their reservation for whatever reason (illness, death in family, lost their job et.....) and that week will be returned to inventory. Therefore it is appropriate for them to continue to list DVC units.

[dougp26364]

Originally Posted by Lisa P

Because...

1. It looks good and encourages people to join II.

I hardly think so since it's the resrots that affiliate with either RCI or I.I. and not individuals. True there are some dual affiliated resorts but, you don't see Interval advertising that they have DVC in order to obtain new members. It's just listed as available for exchange and, if there's even one unit remaining or if one person cancels a reservation and a unit returns to their inventory, then it's available for exchange.

Now if they continue to list DVC online and in their resort directory for 2010 then I would agree that lthere's a problem.