Why have you NOT bought DVC?

[MiaSRN62]

Maria,
Get back over to the groupies forum!

I guess I know where I'm wanted eliza
Leaving now.....

 

[joestein]

Well here is my perspective....

I stayed at Boardwalk Villas in a 1 bedroom from May 9 - 16. I got the room through an exchange on Interval. I own points with Wyndham. It was an easy trade to get and my total cost including maintenance was $545 for the week (plus I purchased resale for pennies on the dollar as compared to ).

First the resort.. VERY SMALL rooms. The living room/kitchen is tiny! and there is no real dining room table, otherwise the room itself was ok, but nothing special. The rooms at most other major timeshare brands (Wyndham, Marriott, Hilton, etc) are nicer (and sometimes much nicer). The service at the resort is lacking. Room service plates and trays sat in the hallways for days, even after I spoke to some employees I saw. The answer I received often was "thats not my job... speak to so and so". You would think that at a resort of this supposed caliber, they would have a manager walking the halls at least once a shift to make sure everything is in order. Pool was nice, but nothing extraordinary. Similar slide is at many timeshares without clown at end of slide.

Here are the benefits I enjoyed.... It was nice to be able to walk to and from Epcot. Really enjoyed walking to Jellyrolls, so that I could drink and not drive. I also enjoyed that everything was short drive. I really loved having access to extra magic hours. The dining plan was great, as it allowed me to not think about prices when we ate.

Overall, I enjoyed staying on property, but the resort was just OK, not bad, just nothing special. I would never stay in less than a 1 bedroom (I really prefer a 2 bedroom, so I can still use the living room after my kids go to bed).

To spend the money to buy the 300 points that my unit would be for the week plus the huge annual maintenance is insane, especially since there are other ways to vacation in a 1 or 2 bedroom in Disney or the surrounding areas for much less.

If I am unsuccessful in trading into a DVC in the future, I will stay at one of the great timeshares in the area, get a much larger unit with nicer amenties (especially pools), and maybe spend a few days at seaworld/universal instead of the entire time at Disney.

 

[monami7]

We go to WDW a lot (like 8 weekends a year), and we usually stay at Values. But even more important than that, we tend to be fairly spontaneous and would not like a contract for a time share that requires us to book months and months ahead to be assured of a room.

We LOVE our DVC mambership and we booked 3 different times with less than a month before our trip. You just have to be flexible with which DVC you are willing to stay at. I Know DVC is not for everyone. But I wanted to clear ip that it is possible to be even more spontanious with DVC.
Also with our points and dues we are paying about $6 PP total so for a 1 BR that comes to $70 to $240 a night depending on the resort and day or the week. There is no other room in a deluxe that you can stay that cheap. A studio is as low as $48 a night.

Heidi

 

[Lynn5700]

Ok we just bought last august but I have a few guesses.

1. Money-If you buy direct from disney there is a 160 point min. (hint look for a small resale contract you may be able to get one as low as 50 pts.)
2. Time- If you go less than once per year. (See hint above with banking and borrowing you can use it every other or year.)
3. Don't want kitchen not cooking on vac. (just because its there you don't have to use it. DVC members staying on points are can get DDP without ticket purchase)
4. No daily house keeping. Not cleaning on vac either. (I can make my own bed no problem)
5. I want a monorail. (Kingdom Towers nuff said)

With that said I am so glad we purchased. If we deciede to sell sometime in the distant future Disney holds it's value pretty well.

Denise in MI

We are most likely going to buy DVC...what is Kingdom Towers?????

 

[dvczerfs]

We are most likely going to buy DVC...what is Kingdom Towers?????

hi lynn, kingdom towers is the new dvc resort being built next to the contemp.

 

[dzneelvr]

For us it's twofold: flexibility and control over our Disney vacations and cost. We LOVE our disney experience just fine the way we have it! LOVE LOVE LOVE the Value Resorts (off season rates especially) and the ability to go whenever we want to during a year That said, it's truly an individual family decision--just make sure you are costing it out over the years...it is a long term financial investment. ASMo June 20th here we come!

 

[Kay7979]

Also with our points and dues we are paying about $6 PP total so for a 1 BR that comes to $70 to $240 a night depending on the resort and day or the week. There is no other room in a deluxe that you can stay that cheap. A studio is as low as $48 a night.

Heidi

But to be fair, you need to caluculate in the upfront cost of $15,000 or whatever you paid for your membership, in addition to the $70 to $240 a night points cost, so your total cost is actually much, much higher than that.

 

[monami7]

But to be fair, you need to caluculate in the upfront cost of $15,000 or whatever you paid for your membership, in addition to the $70 to $240 a night points cost, so your total cost is actually much, much higher than that.

We did not finance our upfront cost. Ours was $19,000 then we added what dues are now each year for the remainder of our contract to it and divided by the years and points we had each year. It came to $6 a point. So yes our savings are that much.

You don't pay each time you go. Just your $15,000 and then your yearly dues.
Heidi

 

[Kay7979]

I stayed at Boardwalk Villas in a 1 bedroom from May 9 - 16. I got the room through an exchange on Interval. I own points with Wyndham. It was an easy trade to get and my total cost including maintenance was $545 for the week (plus I purchased resale for pennies on the dollar as compared to ).

First the resort.. VERY SMALL rooms. The living room/kitchen is tiny! and there is no real dining room table, otherwise the room itself was ok, but nothing special. The rooms at most other major timeshare brands (Wyndham, Marriott, Hilton, etc) are nicer (and sometimes much nicer).

I can relate to much of this post, but I would not say Disney is an easy trade if you own a timeshare elsewhere. It is an easy trade only if you don't care which DVC you accept, and if you are flexible about which week you will vacation. With flexibility, you're right, you can trade into DVC for much cheaper than it costs to own DVC.

Trading in is getting easier every year because Disney keeps building more and more new resorts with hundreds of rooms. I can usually get a unit as a "bonus week" via my timeshare exchange company. This November we're staying at the Beach Club Villas for $199.00 for the week in a studio, plus a $95.00 resort services fee. I don't like being crammed in a studio, but I love the Beach Club resort, and we will be using our off-site resort condo simultaneously during the week when we want a full kitchen, living room, whirlpool bath and more space. You're right that one and two bedroom DVC units are very small compared to timeshare units most anywhere else. I have always found it odd, too, that so many members are content to stay in studios. With every other timeshare chain, no one wants to stay in studios, and even one bedroom units are considered a step down. Most everyone wants a two bedroom unit.

On the plus side, though, DVC resorts are in the middle of the action, have great theming and atmosphere, and they give you a different vacation experience than you get off-site, so that makes up for much of DVCs flaws. And as long as I can stay in a studio or one bedroom for $300 to $350 a week, I'll put up with small units!

 

[chalee94]

hi lynn, kingdom towers is the new dvc resort being built next to the contemp.

(maybe.)

 

[pilferk]

I haven't read the whole thread but here's my reasoning. I've based it all on the math, where I like to stay and how often I'd like to visit.

Initial investment in DVC would be at least $15,000. That would get me about enough for 2 weeks in a studio at OKW per year.

DVC fees would be over $700.00 per year.

Take the $15,000 and divide by 40 years makes that $375 per year.

Assume I'd get back about 5% a year if I invested that $15,000 in a safe place. That would be another $750 a year.

So a 2 week vacation in the oldest studio DVC during value season for $1875. For that same $1875 I could have stayed at CSR for 19 nights last year based on the price I paid for my last trip. Or I could have stayed at Pop Century for probably 25 nights.

Now some of you will say that you get so much more at OKW compared to CSR or PC. But I never used a kitchen when I was on vacation. I travel alone now a days so the extra space isn't needed. To me the location of OKW is the same as CSR or PC since all of them are a bus ride to a park.

The only way I'd consider DVC is to maybe buy Vero Beach and trade into some of the better places on-site at WDW.

But I still think about buying DVC just because of the warm-fuzzies I'd get from owning there.

Let me preface my coming comments with: If you're happy staying value and MAYBE Mod (it's always close when I run the numbers), you're right...you're likely better off forgoing DVC.

But I wanted to comment on the "math" thing: While the premise of your calculations are OK, there's a couple of things you're missing.

First up, you have to factor in the increase in both room price and dues on a yearly basis. Mousesavers.com has done some research, and historically the two are pretty much equal...about 3.5% if I remember correctly.

The thing is..the room rate STARTS higher than your yearly dues will, for equal number of nights.

What I found was that, if I plunked my initial cost into an investment yielding right around 8%, reinvested what my dues would be every year (including the increase) AND took out my room costs for vacations every year (including the increase)...I "break even" at around 8 or 9 years. After that, I'm paying out of pocket, because my investment is gone. Keep in mind, I was comparing for DELUXE resort rooms, not mods or values. When I ran the values, I know the values "won out". The mods depended on the room rate, but were usually close to a break even point outwards of 15 - 20+ years...in some cases longer than that.

So that sorta covers opportunity cost.

Second thing you have to take into account in a what many owners use to "figure out" their cost per trip. It's a different sort of math (but equally valid) that I've not seen mentioned in this thread.

Here goes:

For AKV, saying you bought 160 points (the minimum) at $96 per point. Your initial cost would be 15360. We bought LAST year, so will get 50 years of use out of those points....so that's the basis I'm going to go on.

Your dues for this year would be 4.71 per point.

So our cost per point THIS year would be about 6.63. (That's ((15360 /50)/160) + 4.71). The only number that will change in that equation for us is the dues per point.

Now, to figure out we're paying for our options (all at AKV..though you have other choices):

12 nights in a savannah view studio (156 points) in Adventure Season: $1034.28 or about 86.19 per night.

12 nights in a standard view studio (150 points) in Choice Season: $994.50 or about 82.87 per night.

6 nights in a 1BR savannah view (160 points) in Adventure Season: $1060.80 or about 176.80 per night.

Keep in mind, when using the above scenarios, I'm only including ONE full weekend (because point costs at the resorts are higher on the weekends).

I want to reiterate: DVC might not work for you. It REALLY works for our family of 5.....but we recognize it works because it fits our travel habits, not because we're going to try to have to force our travel habits to fit it.

 

[shyjade]

I don't want to be tied down. We love WDW but there's a huge world out there. Right now it suits us to visit often but as our daughter gets older we'll want to go to Europe, tour the US, and who knows what.

And for a family of 3 it's more affordable to just book a resort when we want to come.

DD & I are a family of 2, but DITTO!!

 

[pilferk]

I havent bought in yet. I am still trying to figure out whether it is worth it. Its just my wife and I. We travel alot but $16,000 plus about $1000 a year seems alot just to get a room for two weeks every year. For 20 years thats $36,000. So thats like you are paying about $900 for one weeks stay. I just dont see that you are really saving money. We would have to go like 16 times to come out ahead. I dont think we would ever go that many times.

Just want to point out one small thing: You're overestimating dues by roughly a third, at this point.

A better estimate would be $16000 up front (for a minimum contract) and $750 this year for dues.

Your 160 points, in a studio, will get you closer to 12 days (including 1 full weekned) for most times of year...the busiest times will eat up more points, but the hotel room prices go up too, so....

So you're talking something akin to $90 a night (because you really need to divide the 16k over the entire life of the timeshare, not just 20 years) for a studio. Not too shabby, IMHO...and you can drive the number even lower by doing things to "stretch" points (no weekend nights, staying at lower points studios, etc).

If you REALLY feel the need to amortize over 20 years, that's fine. Using that method, you'd be looking at around $130 a night. Still pretty good, considering, IMHO.

 

[disneymomof2boyz]

I would LOVE to buy into DVC, it's actually something that we are planning on doing in 5 years. But right now, we're not as financially ready to buy into it. I would want to pay up front at least half, if not everything, so that way we would only finance a minimum amount, if at all necessary. And I have my eye on Kingdom Towers. That is my dream DVC, and I would only buy there, so I hope that in 5 years there is some availabilty there.

 

[Jennasis]

The ONLY reason we haven't bought DVC is that we don't have $15K sitting around (nor enough to even put down a decent down payment)...ion fact, we can't afford the extra monthly payment to finance it eitrher. So for now...no DVC for us.

 

[kdepot]

Hi We thought about this for 2 years and I had my DW convinced but the price looked just out of our reach. We looked at OKW resales and were going to think more on that this year. We vacation about once or twice a year and have no interest in going anywhere but Disney. We are starting to enjoy the resorts as much as the parks and want to upgrade from value and mods to deluxe resorts. We have 2 sons at home 27 and 23 and they don't vacation with us much so yes we can go anytime. We also would like to vacation with other family and frends that have never been to WDW. (they think were nutz)(we are). We just now bought because my 23yr old is a seasonal cast member we got 25% off besides the other promotions and saved about 35% off SSR. I am now HOME.
Keep reading the boards there are other promos and specials happening. And watch the resales cause if it does not work for you RESELL!

 

[jodifla]

For us it's twofold: flexibility and control over our Disney vacations and cost. We LOVE our disney experience just fine the way we have it! LOVE LOVE LOVE the Value Resorts (off season rates especially) and the ability to go whenever we want to during a year That said, it's truly an individual family decision--just make sure you are costing it out over the years...it is a long term financial investment. ASMo June 20th here we come!

Definitely, if you love the value resorts, DVC isn't for you.

After about 10 years of staying only at DVCs, I stayed at Pop Century. And all I could think is: This is like a nice Motel 6!

Where's my fridge? Where's my balcony...microwave, plates, wine glasses, etc. etc.

 

[dvczerfs]

Definitely, if you love the value resorts, DVC isn't for you.

After about 10 years of staying only at DVCs, I stayed at Pop Century. And all I could think is: This is like a nice Motel 6!

Where's my fridge? Where's my balcony...microwave, plates, wine glasses, etc. etc.

awwww , dont forget about the king size bed!! our dd15 is a compet. dancer and we travel for her dance and stay at motels w/ double beds.we love each other but MOVE OVER!

 

[goofygal531]

We've been looking into the DVC for 9 years! We go to WDW once a year, we also go somewhere else during the year either on a cruise or to the caribbean.

The main reason we haven't bought DVC (and we LOVED the DVC Hilton Head Resort) is because it has an end date. No other timeshare ends. They get deeded to your children. I hate that you pay all this money and it all comes to an end one day. Okay, I know it's 39 or 49 years from now. But as for a real estate purchase, I like that other timeshares can be deeded to my children.

I always said I'd purchase a DVC when I had the money to do it in a lump sum. Well, last year I had the chance and I decided it wasn't worth it.

Also, we like staying in Deluxe resorts. I like dining out. I don't want to feel like I'm at home, I want to feel like I am a guest and being waited on. I also don't like that there's no housekeeping. I like my nightly turndown service.

After 9 years of considering it, it's just not for us.

 

[Tinkerspell]

There's quite a few reasons:

A - We're both in graduate school. There is zippo extra money.

B - We can't decide which DVC we would want to buy. I'm very fond of Saratoga, but DH has no interest in being a DTD DVC. He wants to get BWV for the proximity to Epcot. I think the resort looks hideous.

C - We can't decide how many points we really want. Right now we have kids at home, but in less than 10 years, both will be adults and hopefully not living with us. So we won't need as many points then as we would now to satisfy our accomodations level of comfort. We go back and forth, back and forth on how many we'd really need.

D - Being unemployed atm, and planning to change that in the very near future, I don't want to buy into DVC with a "plan" in mind, only to find I can't get the time off to go.

E - We want to sample all the Deluxe resorts. Sure we could spend the DVC points on them, but just booking a bounceback would be a far better bargain.

F - I'd really like to do a Disney cruise, as well as several Adventures by Disney. The DVC points needed for these just don't make financial sense. If we had DVC, I wouldn't have the finances for those vacations too.

This isn't to say that I don't want it. I fell in love with Saratoga when we toured DVC and pouted that we couldn't swing the money RIGHT THEN! I'd love to make it my Disney "home." But right now, it's just not feasable for us.