UK DVC - Questions around Finances of DVC

[SteeleyDisney]

Hi Everyone,

Looking for some help from current DVC Members to answer some questions if possible.

We're based in the UK and me and my family (2 Adults 2 Kids) go to Disney World on average every 2 years. We always used to stay in Villas offsite but the last few trips we've stayed in the Animal Kingdom Lodge and Port Orleans Riverside and love now staying on Disney property. We've been coming to Disney World since we were kids ourselves so we're confident our trip frequency or passion to travel to Disney will never leave us.

Since our last trip I've started to look at DVC with some serious interest and think I'm now fully up to speed in terms of understanding the do's/don't etc plus pros/cons of buying resale instead of direct (also understand the restrictions that go with that). I've spent the last 6 months going back and forth with going ahead or not.

So, here's the plan I've got in my head:

I've got two options, either 150 points resale at AKL or 200 points resale at AKL (we love the resort). The reason for the two options is that whilst the kids are young, we only need a deluxe studio for the foreseeable and 150 points allows us to do 2 weeks every two years quite comfortably with some points spare. All of this assumes we would travel either end of May (UK School Half Term) or during summer holidays end of July through to end of August. By purchasing 150 points, when the kids older and we want to maybe move to 1 bedroom villas, we could then go every third year staying in a one bedroom villa to allow for more space. Alternatively, we could purchase another 50 points to top us off to 200 if we're happy that DVC was the right decision.

If we were to purchase 200 points outright from the start, we could stay in a one bedroom villa every 2 years straight away.

My only concern really is dues. What is the average % increase across the resorts? Is 5% a sensible assumption per year?

Also, currently when we travel to Disney it costs us around £10,000 (Port Orleans Riverside) or £12,000 (Animal Kingdom Lodge) for the four of us to stay on Disney property flying with Virgin, park tickets, car rental as a package holiday. Once we pay off the initial resale contract price, which at the moment is around £13,500.00 for 150 points at AKL and £16,300.00 for 200 points, we then worked out a holiday using our points would be around:

£4,000 plane tickets (could probably get cheaper when booking separate and not part of a package)
£2,200 Disney Tickets for four of us
£900 car rental (two weeks)
So approx £7,000 (without spending money). As we travel every two years, I then add annual dues for the two years which equate to £2,200 for 150 points.
So overall it would cost around £9,200 even with DVC.

Have I missed something with the above? The savings are maybe £1,000.00 to £3,000.00 per trip.

I would definitely go down the resale route and feel a smaller contract 150 to start with would be the way to go. I also feel I could get the plane tickets cheaper too if I searched around more.

I love the thought and idea of DVC, we love Disney and plan to travel frequently, preferably more frequent than every two years. I just feel if I'm spending £10-12k on a trip anyway, DVC must be worth looking at. Also not 100% set on AKL, it's just a resort we've been to a few times and sort of feel if we're buying in, it's better to buy into what we know.

One last thing, we're going Disney World in a couple of months time, so I plan to check out the other resorts whilst we are there too.

Any thoughts on the above or any personal experience would be great to hear. Especially if you're from the UK too and can explain the financial sense to your decision.

Thanks everyone! Have a good weekend.

 

[Genie+]

Have I missed something with the above? The savings are maybe £1,000.00 to £3,000.00 per trip.

Correct and good way to look it at. It’s not going to bring your overall spending down that much, just one component.

I still bought DVC because we liked the idea of locking in a reasonable price. Using your example, you’d basically be getting deluxe rooms close to the cost of cash moderate. It’s getting a more bang for your buck. You commit to returning over and over and get an elevated experience for the money spent. That’s really how we look at it. Not so much ‘saving’ money, rather getting more for that money.

It does come with a compromise though. DVC is less flexible than cash bookings. And sometimes great deals come along that might even be slightly better than DVC cost (say 1BR with free dining). But with DVC you’re getting that consistency and knowing every trip your room will be a reasonable cost. Of course reasonable will depend on your individual math and room preferences. Look at where you’d likely stay, likelihood of availability for when you book, and how much you’re paying per point.

I like that we get studios at BW (own resale), AKV or SSR for under $250/nt, or VGF (own direct)/Poly for under $350/nt.

 

[Royal Consort]

I'm Australia rather than UK based and go to WDW and Disneyland annually. We stay two weeks at WDW and 5-7 nights at Disneyland.

My advice would be to purchase the 200 points upfront. The dues increase 3-6% annually but the differential between 150 points and 200 is not enormous. Currently it would be £367 extra per year. Personally, I think the one bedroom would be the better option for your future because of the following:

1. Adding on small contracts that match your existing Use Year can be frustrating. You're more likely to have increased availability because AKL is a large property but you may have to be patient to wait for a small contract that meets your needs.

2. The DVC resale market is currently in a downturn. Prices have reduced substantially with Disney not exercising ROFR. Now is a good time to purchase.

Just my personal opinion: AKL is beautiful but I wouldn't ever own there because I cannot stand the transport. The way we do our trips is we spend one week at the Magic Kingdom resort area at VGF, and the second week at Riviera to do Epcot area stuff. It feels like two trips. I don't know how you feel about split stays but you could buy at two resorts and mix up your trip through banking and borrowing?


I would also consider buying two resale contracts of 100 points each if you can find two sellers with the same Use Year. That way you can downsize or sell in the future if you wanted to as smaller contracts sell for a premium.