Is DVC worth the cost?

[disneynutz]

I agree, but there are other considerations. DVC is sort of like buying a new car. If you buy a new car and heaven forbid something happens in the next few months, you're bound to lose money and worse, mess up your credit.

If you vacation at Disney you are "losing" money. Disney, food, and travel will cost you thousands per year. The question is can you really afford luxury vacations and is the cost worth it to you?

If you do your homework, the money that you lose when and if you sell in a few years will be less than the cost of a couple of vacations. No way to mess up your credit unless you default on a loan which not everyone has.

I see selling as the cost of choosing the Disney vacation lifestyle. It really doesn't make much sense to treat a DVC purchase as a lifelong relationship. Especially if you get tired of Disney vacations, the DVC, or you need the money for something else.

Bill

 

[Melissy]

But there's so many other options as well.... Just saying.

 

[sonofanarchy]

But there's so many other options as well.... Just saying.

Just saying what?

 

[a742246]

We all have different expectations, different vacation patterns, different requirements and levels of knowledge.

The one thing that most of us don't discuss is that buying DVC and owning are not a life long required relationship. If you do your homework, buy where you love to stay, use DVC for a few years, take some Disney vacations you will know if DVC is for you.

If it isn't, sell.

Bill

I agree with this statement.

In reality you never really know until you actually try it. I got started into DVC by renting, then bought with cash a resale. I love it! But one day I may sell or gift it to a sibling.

When I first bought, I always said to myself if it doesn't work out, I will sell. If I lose a little no sweat, at least with a DVC we can sell it, that is a plus with DVC.

However, if you are living hand to mouth, or won't be able to sleep if you lose
a bit, or counting this as an investment, . Then DVC is not for you!

 

[CheetoGuido]

We all have different expectations, different vacation patterns, different requirements and levels of knowledge. The one thing that most of us don't discuss is that buying DVC and owning are not a life long required relationship. If you do your homework, buy where you love to stay, use DVC for a few years, take some Disney vacations you will know if DVC is for you. If it isn't, sell. Bill

I completely agree. We are finally buying resale after years of "investigating" all the while we were renting points year after year. I feel by buying resale we are already saving $$ by buying used and if for some reason we decide we are finished with wdw then we will sell. We are not financing & know we will save some money versus renting or booking directly. It has been twelve years since we were afflicted with this Disney bug and I am afraid there is no cure.

 

[sonofanarchy]

It has been twelve years since we were afflicted with this Disney bug and I am afraid there is no cure.

It's been 24 years for me. I still love the place and have a great time, but I'm not so sure there is no cure. If Disney keeps infecting the parks (see Norway destruction for "Frozen"), they may just kill off their guests.

 

[disneynutz]

It's been 24 years for me. I still love the place and have a great time, but I'm not so sure there is no cure. If Disney keeps infecting the parks (see Norway destruction for "Frozen"), they may just kill off their guests.

For every guest that stops doing Disney, it seems that Disney marketing replaces them with 2 new guests.

One of the admitted benefits for Disney's 1.5 billion dollar investment in MB's and MDE is crowd control and maximizing guests per square foot in the parks.

Bill

 

[Msmithmd]

It's been 24 years for me. I still love the place and have a great time, but I'm not so sure there is no cure. If Disney keeps infecting the parks (see Norway destruction for "Frozen"), they may just kill off their guests.

SOA, I tend to agree with most of what you post on disboards, but this made me laugh out loud.

Lemme get this straight: the Disney corporation just put out the highest revenue animated film of all time. They decided to tie that in to the most appropriate area of their own theme parks, and there was huge guest demand resulting in long lines and heavy crowding. They then relocate the tie-ins to the movie franchise to two other parks, and massive demand continues, but is better spread out.

This is "killing off their guests" how?

 

[sonofanarchy]

SOA, I tend to agree with most of what you post on disboards, but this made me laugh out loud.

Lemme get this straight: the Disney corporation just put out the highest revenue animated film of all time. They decided to tie that in to the most appropriate area of their own theme parks, and there was huge guest demand resulting in long lines and heavy crowding. They then relocate the tie-ins to the movie franchise to two other parks, and massive demand continues, but is better spread out.

This is "killing off their guests" how?

Because movie tie-ins don't fit well at Epcot. Nemo. Three Caballeros. Not that kind of park. It's suited just fine for MK and DHS.

Secondly, Maelstrom has been a popular mainstay at Epcot for 25 years. Do you really believe Frozen will have that kind of longevity?

Popular as it might be right now, it's never wise to shove things down people's throats.

 

[Msmithmd]

I get your point, but the park hardly could seriously be referred to as the "experimental prototype community of tomorrow" these days, even without movie tie-ins.

I think the longevity of the Frozen movie appeal is largely irrelevant. Here's why:

In 1946, TWDC put out their first feature film mixing animation with live actors. It won an academy award for best song. Nonetheless, its' depiction of post-reconstructionist race relations in the Deep South was controversial enough that the film has never been released in entirety on home video in the USA. (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

And yet, Splash Mountain seems to be able to attract a guest or two to ride, year after year.

This is also why the Pandora area could be a great success if it is done right, irrelevant of whether you are a fan of James Cameron's movies.

 

[sonofanarchy]

I get your point, but the park hardly could seriously be referred to as the "experimental prototype community of tomorrow" these days, even without movie tie-ins.

I think the longevity of the Frozen movie appeal is largely irrelevant. Here's why:

In 1946, TWDC put out their first feature film mixing animation with live actors. It won an academy award for best song. Nonetheless, its' depiction of post-reconstructionist race relations in the Deep South was controversial enough that the film has never been released in entirety on home video in the USA. (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

And yet, Splash Mountain seems to be able to attract a guest or two to ride, year after year.

This is also why the Pandora area could be a great success if it is done right, irrelevant of whether you are a fan of James Cameron's movies.

The Splash Mountain reference is a good one, and I've read it quite a few times. The reason I don't think it's quite an equal comparison to either Avatar or Frozen is that the majority of people had no idea what Song Of The South was (some still don't). There was no point of reference. With the other 2, there is. And while 1 was popular a few years ago and 1 popular right now, I don't see either having longevity. Also, I don't see Disney ever pulling off another attraction like Splash Mountain. In my opinion, it's their biggest masterpiece.

 

[Dean]

If you vacation at Disney you are "losing" money. Disney, food, and travel will cost you thousands per year. The question is can you really afford luxury vacations and is the cost worth it to you?

If you do your homework, the money that you lose when and if you sell in a few years will be less than the cost of a couple of vacations. No way to mess up your credit unless you default on a loan which not everyone has.

I see selling as the cost of choosing the Disney vacation lifestyle. It really doesn't make much sense to treat a DVC purchase as a lifelong relationship. Especially if you get tired of Disney vacations, the DVC, or you need the money for something else.

Bill

IMO the key point is that you first do the homework and get past the emotions. That takes time, information and at least some experiences that translate. In reality none of us know what our preferences or situations are going to be in a few years, much less 20 to 50 yrs. I'd say it's possible to prevent a mistake or make a much better or worse choice now but no way to totally control the long term situation. As such it's far better to miss out on DVC when it would have been perfect than to make a poor choice one could avoid. So if you're advocating shooting from the hip and buying to try it out if it seems a good choice at first glance, I can't support that position. OTOH, if you're saying at some point you've got to fish or cut bait, I'd agree after one reaches a certain point but suggest that the option not buying is often the better one when that's the choice. One of the problems I see here is that even for those that should have enough info to make a good decision, they often don't because many simply can't get away from the emotional attachment.

 

[bakerworld]

have to say that I am glad we didn't do much research before going to our first - and only - DVC presentation. We didn't know about resale - which I think if we did we would not have bought from DVC BUT my DH would never have given up the cash outlay for a reasonable DVC product resale ... so ... I'm glad we were 'unprepared'.

The downside of being unprepared is that we bought AK. We did ask about other venues but were told AK was the best 'deal'. To be fair to the 'guide' AK was a great deal. And I can't say we're completely sorry to purchase AK - it has the LOWEST cost in the value (a 1BR value = a BC studio and is less than BL, GF and WL), plus it has room service . The only problem I have with AK is the location and buses

Luckily for us we had a nice guide (since has retired) who recommended we purchase the minimum - and we listened.

As we were already vacationing at WDW 2 or 3 times annually, it certainly was the best decision and we've never regretted our purchase $$$-wise.

 

[Judique]

If you vacation at Disney you are "losing" money. Disney, food, and travel will cost you thousands per year. The question is can you really afford luxury vacations and is the cost worth it to you?

If you do your homework, the money that you lose when and if you sell in a few years will be less than the cost of a couple of vacations. No way to mess up your credit unless you default on a loan which not everyone has.

I see selling as the cost of choosing the Disney vacation lifestyle. It really doesn't make much sense to treat a DVC purchase as a lifelong relationship. Especially if you get tired of Disney vacations, the DVC, or you need the money for something else.

Bill

I am going to replace a couple of words here. 'If you vacation at Disney you are 'spending' money.

The question is to me, is it worth it to you to spend your money at Disney?

I think my purchase was worth it. But I know that I would not have gone so many times if I didn't become a vacation club member, despite the fact that I can afford to go on several of these 'luxury' vacations a year.

The luxury part is debatable. What is not debatable is the product. If the product is what you want, than it may be worth it to you. The product was worth it to me.

The plus side is that the product has held it's value and is still saleable at the moment. For a timeshare that's pretty darn good.

 

[disBOBney]

After reading many of the posts, I must say if I read them before my first buy, I probably never would have. There really isn't an ideal person or family that should or should't buy into DVC. There just are people who have, haven't or don't know about it. I was the last category when I first bought. I am single, no children, and went to DW with some friends, we came upon one of the kiosks in the park and I asked some questions. A DVC guide arranged for us to be picked up right then and there, we were taken to presentation at which I bought my first property. Why did I buy? My friends basically suggested that since I typically never take vacations that, if I bought I might be more inclined to get away and relax sometimes. I must say they were right on that account. Since becoming an owner, I have had a vacation about every 9 - 10 mos. I have gone to WDW several times, to Vero Beach, and soon will be going to Hawaii and DisneyLand. As far as economical, think about it for a moment. On average dues are running about $5.80 a point, to get a studio at OKW is 10 pts a night in adventure or choice seasons, thats $58 night. Where on or off property are you going to get that kind of a rate? And these are considered deluxe accommodations. I know some are going to say, that I am not taking into account my purchase costs. I didn't consider them because, when you eventually sell you are likely to get much of that back, a number of people make a considerable profit. I originally bought, VGC at $110 it is now reselling at $135, a $25 a point profit. I did sell my VGC an bought two others, BCV (the second most expensive property, Vero Beach is most expensive, per available use point) and OKW 2057. Now if I add in my purchase price to the the room rate on average the per use point cost is about $8.35, which would mean that you could stay at OKW for $83.50 a night. Pretty economical if you ask me.

OP asked about Disney helping to make it more available, I have used Disney financing, which made the initial outlay more reasonable, and while financing is never economical for the buyer, it does allow for the getting started. There is no prepayment penalty, so pay more on it as you can.

My point is don't over think it. If you are seriously considering it, you will certainly find value in it.

 

[luckyman_apd]

I have seen this "kind" of post over and over and asked myself this question before buying... And really only the buyer themselves can answer this question for themselves. There are sooooo many variables to a dvc purchase and the owner who uses them. For us.... We love Disney... And we love the togetherness our family gets when we are there.... With that said.... We are certainly not newbies full of pixie dust in our eyes where everything is magical... But to this day I feel our purchase was absolutely worth it. We are a family of 4 and with what we paid up front plus our dues every year..... Each and every trip we have taken the point "cost" calculations I have done I have still paid less per trip for our DVC room than I would have for a moderate resort room. I've either been at a nicer resort or a better location... Or both than a moderate.

The real key is to figure out what you need... And that's the tough part. I know of 3 other owners that are friends or we have become friends with since owning. 2 bought way too many points. After 2 years they were "parked out" but had enough points for 2 trips a year! Us... We planned for 2 trips every 3 years. We have actually gone more than that recently but will be taking a break. Recently found airfare very cheap that we will be mixing in a 3 day weekend here and there in the winter months just to get a few days in the Florida sun when we have crappy winters. Just make sure you know what you're getting. We don't need 1 or 2 bedroom vacations. If we did we absolutely would be paying more..... But so far we haven't.... And today I could sell my contract for at least $10 a point more than I paid in the resale market. Many people make general statements about their ownership that really are not general at all.... They are specific to their ownership. So really if you research it... Crunch some numbers and be honest with yourself about how you will use it.... Only you can answer the is it worth it question.

 

[Minniesgal]

It is for us as it has opened up staying in places we would never have paid cash to stay. We will save a bit over time but we will also do things we always wanted to do but would have felt guilty spending the cash.

 

[melissalee]

As the DVC person Hubert we felt with explained it.. If u love to stay In The value resort or in your own camper then DVC is not for you. If you love to stay in the moderate/deluxe then DVC could be for you. DH and are are fairly young 26dh and 29 me. We plan on having a family and going to DW at least every other year and on the off Disney year traveling to other destinations around the world. Just after 5 - 1 week trips to Disney it will pay for itself. We purchased 130points for around 2100 at GF. It's an investment.