Is being a DVCmember worth it

[cfranklin]

Ok I was just at Disney World in oct 2012 and the wife and I decided to go learn more about being a DVC Member and to get gift cards and have a moment away from the kids. It sounds like a good deal specialy since we plan on going on a vacation every year and plan on going to Disney a lot and the wife wants to go to Hawaii and stay at alona. So my question is it worth it. I dought if I didn't joing I would never really be able to stay at that nice of a hotel.

 

[chalee94]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2740145

here's the basic scoop: DVC works best for people who:

1) go to disney at least every other year
2) prefer to stay onsite at deluxes (or at least moderates)
3) can plan their vacations 10 or 11 months in advance
4) can limit Fri-Sat stays since weekend point costs are a little higher
5) intend to use DVC primarily for staying at a DVC resort at disney (rather than trading out for other timeshares or cruises, etc.)
6) need or prefer larger accommodations than a basic hotel room

if you’ll be upset when other people can pay cash for a room and get a discount or get “free” dining thrown in, then DVC is not for you.

also be aware that if you think you might keep DVC for 6-8 years and then sell it down the road, it may have little to no value as DVC has begun cutting perks that transfer when you sell your contract. resale contracts no longer qualify to trade for cruises and wdw hotels like the GF...(but those trades tend to be a poor value anyway.)

so resales are "worth it" for certain types of people...but if you have to pay direct prices...if you have to finance the contract...if you are looking to trade for cruises or non-DVC resorts, then i don't think DVC would ever be a good value.

remember that it's not a "membership" so much as a long-term real estate lease commitment with continuing costs. while you can stay in studios that are similar to hotel rooms (only OKW has 2 queen beds, though, and all the rest have 1 queen + 1 pullout sofabed), DVC is a better value if you want to spread out and get a 1BR villa or larger...

 

[cfranklin]

Well my wife and I plan on going on a vacation every year we have 5 kids so every other year we will take the kids I plan on wanting to go to WDW alot at least to DL once with the kids to aluni just me and the wife. But you say it's not good to use the points to go on a cruise or exchange fora non disney hotel out of the country? Why is this not a good idea? I would have to finance my points cause I don't have $29,000 for 200 points is that a bad thing?

 

[Szlabonyi]

DVC is really nice. But for 200 points it will be a little cramped seeing that u will only be able to get a one bed room villa. At almost all resorts except animal kingdom lodge

 

[Lynne M]

It sounds like your main reason for looking at DVC is to make staying at the nicer places more affordable. If that's the case, then the finance charges are going to blow that cost savings away. Disney's finance charges are extremely high. Also, if you plan to buy direct from Disney, you'll potentially be paying twice as much as you would for a resale contract, which again will cut into any money you'd be saving on your stays, big time.


To answer your question about why it's a bad idea to buy with the intent to frequently use points on cruises or non-DVC resorts, I'll break it into two parts:

1) Using your points for DCL is not part of your DVC ownership. By that I mean that it's not like using your points at a DVC resort; it's a perk that's currently available, but can change at any time. DCL restricts the number of cabins and cruises that members can book on points, so you might find that the cruise you want to take isn't available unless you pay cash. And by the time you figure in the high initial cost of buying DVC from Disney, the finance charges, and the annual maintenance fees, you may well be paying more for that cruise with points that if you just paid cash for it. Also, 200 points might get one member of your family on a DCL cruise, but no way will it cover all 5. The point costs for the cruises are very high.

2) When you say you want to use points for resorts out of the country, that means exchanging your DVC points for another timeshare. You can buy a reputable, big name timeshare contract at resale for a few dollars that will let you exchange into those very same resorts that DVC offers. Why buy a $29,000 timeshare to exchange for international resorts when you can do the same thing for a few bucks?

The bottom line is, DVC isn't a one size fits all vacation solution. You can use it that way if you want to, but there are way less expensive and less restrictive and less complicated ways to accomplish the same thing.

DVC can be a great value if you use it to stay at the DVC resorts. Look at the resale market, and look at a smaller contract that will cover your stays at WDW and DL and Aulani. You might find that you can afford that without financing.

 

[Jasonkat]

I would have to finance my points cause I don't have $29,000 for 200 points is that a bad thing?

With 5 kids you'd probably want to get a 2 bedroom, and you'd probably need 300 points. I'm not sure 200 points goes very far for 2 bedroom villas.

As for financing being a bad thing, it depends on what the definition of "bad" is. Is it a wise move from a financial standpoint? Absolutely not. If you could never save that much money and financing is your only option could it still be an ok deal? Sure.

As for $29,000 for 200 points I will point you to resale. For 200 pts resale you could get BLT for $19,000 at the top and OKW/SSR at $10,000 at the bottom. So you're massively overpaying if you buy from Disney.

 

[cfranklin]

Resale seems to have a lot of restriction but are cheaper

 

[puffkin]

200 points would be more than enough if you are going every other year. You should be able to easily do a week in a 2 bedroom on that (current year plus one year either banked or borrowed) with a few points left over.

DVC is definitely not a "savings". We look at it as a way of getting nicer/larger accomodations for our money and we like the commitment to vacation otherwise life tends to get in the way.

 

[ELMC]

Ok I was just at Disney World in oct 2012 and the wife and I decided to go learn more about being a DVC Member and to get gift cards and have a moment away from the kids. It sounds like a good deal specialy since we plan on going on a vacation every year and plan on going to Disney a lot and the wife wants to go to Hawaii and stay at alona. So my question is it worth it. I dought if I didn't joing I would never really be able to stay at that nice of a hotel.

"Is it worth it?" is way too broad and subjective of a question. That being said, it's a good beginner question to someone just starting to explore DVC. What I would recommend is taking the time to learn about all aspects of DVC (point charts, maintenance fees, booking windows, resale vs. direct, owning vs. renting, DVC vs. cash stays, financing vs. paying cash for your contract, use year, etc.) and then based on your findings there, decide whether or not DVC is a good fit for you. I'm not trying to be difficult, but there's just no easy way to answer the question you asked in a meaningful manner.

However, if you are looking for an easy answer, I would say yes, it is worth it. That's why so many people own.

Resale seems to have a lot of restriction but are cheaper

It may seem this way, but the truth of the matter is that when it comes to staying at a DVC property, there is NO difference between resale and direct purchases. Don't be fooled.

 

[ELMC]

Well my wife and I plan on going on a vacation every year we have 5 kids so every other year we will take the kids I plan on wanting to go to WDW alot at least to DL once with the kids to aluni just me and the wife. But you say it's not good to use the points to go on a cruise or exchange fora non disney hotel out of the country? Why is this not a good idea?

It's the equivalent of buying a gallon of milk for $4.99 and trading it for a gallon of bottled water that you could otherwise buy for $1.99. You're better off just buying the water directly. It's easier, and a lot cheaper.

To continue the example, resale would be the equivalent of paying $2.50 for that same gallon of milk with the stipulation that you could only drink it in your house, not anywhere else.

I would have to finance my points cause I don't have $29,000 for 200 points is that a bad thing?

Ethically and morally speaking, no. Financially speaking, yes. Do a search on here for financing DVC and read the different positions on it. To use the analogy above, financing would be the equivalent of paying close to $8 for that gallon of milk. Why would you pay $8 for something that you can get for $2.50?

 

[DannysMom]

I would also caution against financing a direct purchase, because what if in two years your circumstances change and you can no longer keep your contract or afford the mortgage?

Your "asset" has taken a strep dive in value ( on the order of about 50% currently) and the market price for your contract is LESS than the mortgage you still have to pay off. What do you do now?

Just this past summer I purchased a 200 point BCV contract resale for 13k, no where near the 29,000 you are considering financing. Part of my rationale was that if I needed to sell, it would be at a minimal loss.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards App please excuse any typos.

 

[Lynne M]

Resale seems to have a lot of restriction but are cheaper

The only restrictions on resale are that you can't use the points for DCL, the non-DVC resorts at WDW and DL, and the Concierge Collection (assorted non-Disney hotels in various cities and vacation destinations). You could still use the World Passport collection (timeshare trading through RCI), if you were determined to do that.

You'd be losing nothing of any real value. You could probably book any of them for less money than your points would cost. They're really only offered as a convenience, not because you save money by booking through DVC.

 

[Szlabonyi]

When I bought I actually got a home equity loan with a interest rate of less that half of what Disney will try to stick u with. Look into it or a secure personal loan it will save u a lot of money

 

[bumbershoot]

Well my wife and I plan on going on a vacation every year we have 5 kids so every other year we will take the kids I plan on wanting to go to WDW alot at least to DL once with the kids to aluni just me and the wife. But you say it's not good to use the points to go on a cruise or exchange fora non disney hotel out of the country? Why is this not a good idea?

For your stated purposes, there's nothing wrong with DVC. You want to go to WDW, to DLR, and to Aulani. Those are great ways to use the DVC points, because there are villas at each one of them.

I think that people are just answering all of your asked AND unasked questions, being really thorough, when they talk about not using them for cruises or for hotels out of the country. Those aren't what you're talking about using it on.


Only you know you and your finances. I don't *recommend* financing, BUT we financed and could not have done it any other way. We were spending a certain amount on Disney trips anyway, knew it wasn't slowing down any time soon, have family in Florida who are Disney freaks, and knew that once we started going to WDW it wasn't going to stop. We decided to put that money (that we were already spending) towards something we would own for a certain number of decades. It worked out, and continues to work out, for us. We have run into roadblocks in paying it all off quickly, as we had planned to do. That's definitely costing us more money than we anticipated (though to be honest, THAT plan only came in to play later on, once the DVC financing and an unexpected impending layoff (about 12 days after we signed the papers) made us realize how close to the edge we were living). We have, so far, been very lucky. I don't like to *anticipate* being lucky. So I don't recommend doing what we did, even though we did it.

 

[chalee94]

We have run into roadblocks in paying it all off quickly, as we had planned to do. That's definitely costing us more money than we anticipated (though to be honest, THAT plan only came in to play later on, once the DVC financing and an unexpected impending layoff (about 12 days after we signed the papers) made us realize how close to the edge we were living).

thanks for sharing that.

i know a number of people have posted that they were not as lucky. that's why i tend to get agitated when some suggest putting your home up as collateral for a timeshare (i.e. home equity loans)...

 

[pbarager]

We looked into DVC in December and decided the costs were too much when financing. We ended up purchasing a resale Wyndham points that will allow us a 2 bedroom deluxe every year at Bonnet Creek or at other Wyndham resorts. The cost was under $200 and included closing and resort transfer fee. The best is that MF's are under $70 per month. Check out tug2.net for a lot of great info on timeshares, the people on that site are full of great advice.

 

[Dean]

Well my wife and I plan on going on a vacation every year we have 5 kids so every other year we will take the kids I plan on wanting to go to WDW alot at least to DL once with the kids to aluni just me and the wife. But you say it's not good to use the points to go on a cruise or exchange fora non disney hotel out of the country? Why is this not a good idea? I would have to finance my points cause I don't have $29,000 for 200 points is that a bad thing?

IMO, people should only look at such a luxury purchase if they can pay cash but then I also feel people shouldn't finance vacations in general. Moving on past that, there are no REAL restrictions on resale that affect use and value. ALL of the excluded options are more expensive than simply buying less points and paying cash. IMO,and assuming DVC makes sense for you otherwise, buying less points resale you can pay cash for is the way to go. You will have to have a 2 BR with 7 total, 200 points will only get you to WDW for a week about 2 of every 3 years. Maybe that's perfect for your plans. You'll need around $11-12K depending on the specifics of your contract for around 200 points if you go resale with SSR or similar.

 

[cfranklin]

I figured out that I need 250 points to be able to go some where on vacation every year this every other year with kids. Me and the wife need are own vacation to keep our sanity. After 5 years I would basically have a nice hotel every year for mantinace fees

 

[Dean]

I figured out that I need 250 points to be able to go some where on vacation every year this every other year with kids. Me and the wife need are own vacation to keep our sanity. After 5 years I would basically have a nice hotel every year for mantinace fees

I'm not aware of any model or situation where one recoups all their costs in 5 years. Generally about 9-10 years is the best you can do unless you would be staying in Disney suites anyway, usually it's more in the 12-20 year range for resale. I'd point out that using rack rates as the comparison is an unreasonable approach, even doing so using a discount is unreasonable, IMO.

 

[cfranklin]

It $7700 to stay at animal kingdom standard view 2 bedroom villa so if I bought from Disney with interest it would be 7 to 8 year so I was off alittle