Season 4 of the My DVC Points Podcast was made possible through financial support from the DVC Dream Team:
- DVC Resale Market – Industry Leader in DVC Resales
- DVC Rental Store – DVC Point Rental and Swap Partner
- Incredible Vacation Homes – Luxury Vacation Homes for Family Gatherings
- Be Our Guest Vacations – Travel Agent for DVC Point Swap Programs
- Monera Financial – Exclusively Financing DVC Contracts
- Patreon supporters in the My DVC Points VIP Producer Club.
We're Celebrating the launch of our New App! Join Chad, Ken, Samantha, and Rob as we discuss the new My DVC Points App, Point Stretch, and Splurge functionality in the app and in real life! Disney Springs Re-Opens this Week!
Available for Apple and Android!
This is a community-sourced app. Development and testing are all being done by a team dedicated to bringing something great to the DVC community. As a community built app, we want your feedback. This is only version 1. Future releases will include more integration and information that the community deems helpful!
We looked at numerous apps on the market today. We found a lot of really great apps but some were missing features we wanted as DVC members. To borrow a term from Walt, we wanted to plus-up the existing apps a little bit. Our ultimate goal is to make this app a hub for all your DVC life. We went beyond basic point calculators and included links to DVC communities, new sites, and podcasts. Here are some of the innovative features coming in this App!
Support for both iOS and Android
Visually Stunning Interface. DVC is a wonderful product and deserves the best visual representation we can build. User Experience and User Interface matters! Let's be honest. We're Disney fans. We got standards! We're hiring a UX/UI designer to join our team of mostly volunteers to ensure you get the most user-friendly product on the market.
Point Stretcher! We've all been there. A serious case of add-on-itis but we just can't buy more points. Solution – stretch those points by finding lower point accommodations! Our point stretcher feature that allows you to clearly see the point costs of everything else for your vacation dates and allow you to sort the rooms by most efficient. We're also taking this a step further to allow you search for rooms that are smaller or larger that still work for your family.
Countdown Screens! 11 Month, 7 Month, ADR, & Fastpasses. With any luck these will be contextualized to Walt Disney World with different times for Disneyland, Aulani, Hilton Head and Vero.
Occupancy Based Searches. Let's face it. DVC is complicated. The simple question of how many people can I bring to Disney is very complex with DVC. We're a family of 5. This was a complicated learning curve with DVC. If you have 5 people in your travel party, you can choose to hide the rooms that simply won't work for your family. We'll also help give you clarity as to what rooms have bedding for a 5th or 9th person and what rooms you can sleep that 5th or 9th person **IF** you bring your own bedding.
Rack Rate Estimates! Yes, this will be an industry first. We've accumulated as much information as we can find on DVC rack rate per night. Our geeky analytical minds really want to know what taxes, parking, and even extra person fees total. The DVC sales material includes this information, but it's just a bunch of fine print disclosures. We want to turn information into knowledge and entertaining estimates. Challenge accepted DVC! We envision you with your spouse going See! See! See what DVC could cost if we paid cash. While the estimates are just that estimates, they do set the stage for further conversations. Eventually we want to get to a break even calculator on DVC. (That's a whole lot more complex than it sounds.) ** Note this is just an estimate. DVC doesn't do the greatest job of updating this information. But what we can find, we're putting in the estimator! Note, a good travel agent can keep you up to date on promotions, deals and discounts. But we think it's fun to discuss this around the DVC watercooler and with our spouses. Please don't use it for anything beyond entertainment.
Rental Cost and Rental Income. Ever wonder what it would cost you to rent this room? Ever wonder if you should rent before buying into DVC? Or as a member, ever wonder the opportunity cost of renting your points vs using them? We've got you covered. Renters, when you see what rack rates are, you'll see just how great of deal renting a DVC villa can be!
Podcast Feeds! Stay up to date on My DVC Points Podcast, My DVC Points Live!, and some of our other friends such as Welcome Home Podcast.
Watercooler Fun! We gave our development team a serious challenge. Who hasn't wondered how many points does it take to live at DVC for a year? Inquiring members want to know! Spoiler Alert. Here's a fun photo from some very early alpha testing. Note to developer: we're gonna need some commas in that calculator! (And this doesn't include tax or parking).
Our project manager has an Agile SCRUM board filled with sticky notes of upcoming ideas! Lots more will be coming in future releases.
Today's episode was produced, edited, and engineered by Chad Pennycuff. Show notes by Samantha Kurtz-Seif. Facebook admins and moderators of the My DVC Points Community Group: Valerie Fairnington, Donna Bickert, Tamara Speidel, Caleb Allison, and Mary Anne Tracy.
If you enjoy the show, please consider buying Chad a dole whip and joining the VIP Producer's Club. Your support allows us to continue producing high-quality content every week. Patreon's join the program to help create content. We usually host an exclusive Facebook live once a month to talk about upcoming projects and general question and answer time.
