Why have you NOT bought DVC?

[Luv4Disney]

You're of course referring to just 5 nights as a week, correct? To stay in a studio at Wilderness Lodge would be 134 points for 1 week. That's 268 points per year. I realize that can be lower depending on when you go. Then again, it could be higher.

As for AP's, those are available to everyone. So the savings there can be said for the non-DVC owner as well.

I think she means that DVC members get a discount on the AP's. It's about $125 cheaper for the initial AP and about $100 savings for a renewal. That's quite a difference.

 

[linzbear]

You're of course referring to just 5 nights as a week, correct? To stay in a studio at Wilderness Lodge would be 134 points for 1 week. That's 268 points per year. I realize that can be lower depending on when you go. Then again, it could be higher.

As for AP's, those are available to everyone. So the savings there can be said for the non-DVC owner as well.

134 points is for one of the busiest times, so you'd have to use comparable hotel rates, too. Besides, if you stayed at OKW, that's 108 points. This is for an 8 day, 7 night stay. Most trips are shorter than that, too. Sunday-Saturday would knock off 20-30 points in that total.

DVC members get $100-$125 off of the price of an AP/PAP. It is a better discount than FL residents. If you have 4 members of your family coming, that is $400 savings on tickets.

We got 4 (8 day, 7 night) trips in 1 year on our PAPs, using 150 points. We did not go during busy times though - May,Oct & Dec.

 

[Abharmagic]

Because it seems awfully expensive and I like to vacation other places beside WDW *gasp* Really... I have no interest...

 

[wewantmore]

Because I'm so broke I can't pay attention!!

All seriousness aside.... I would in a heartbeat; love the concept, believe in the product, consider it a value, would use it gleefully..... just can't afford it

LAD

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Yikes! These dues are a lot...no matter how you look at it?! After paying your yearly dues, I don't see how that initial $20-30K pays for itself??

 

[micmacmissy]

Would you pay your electric company $16,000 upfront for electricity?

Would you pay Macy's $16,000 upfront for clothes for the next few years?

Of course you wouldn't...because it makes no sense financially.

It is simply not a good investment to pay money upfront for vacation.

If you have that money upfront, then invest it intelligently. (Time shares, vacation, and new cars are NOT investments...they decrease in value.) Use the money you make on your investments to take vacations. I promise you'll come out ahead.

If you don't have that money upfront and pay in installments...well, what could that same amount of money do in a CD where it could grow? In a college fund? Saving interest charges by paying down other debt?

Wouldn't you want that money you're putting away each month to earn interest? I know there are plenty of people who pay for their vacations with credit cards and in installments...so they can probably justify DVC in their own minds...but those are emotional decisions, not financial ones.

I'm sure there are tons of emotional reasons to do DVC...otherwise it wouldn't sell. But financial reasons? Nope.

 

[wmdaddy]

Yikes! These dues are a lot...no matter how you look at it?! After paying your yearly dues, I don't see how that initial $20-30K pays for itself??

I don't either. And believe me, I have run the numbers every which way imaginable.

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Would you pay your electric company $16,000 upfront for "free" electricity?

Would you pay Macy's $16,000 upfront for clothes for the next few years?

Of course you wouldn't...because it makes no sense financially.

It is simply not a good investment to pay money upfront for vacation.

If you have that money upfront, then invest it intelligently. (Vacations and new cars are NOT investments.) Use the money you make on your investments to take vacations. I promise you'll come out ahead.

If you don't have that money upfront...well, that's a different story. There are plenty of people who pay for their vacations with credit cards and in installments...so they can probably justify DVC in their own minds...but yikes...from a financial perspective, there is NO WAY it makes sense.

I'm starting to agree with this more and more....especially if people are taking our loans on that intial purchase....just something we would never do.

 

[wmdaddy]

Would you pay your electric company $16,000 upfront for "free" electricity?

Would you pay Macy's $16,000 upfront for clothes for the next few years?

Of course you wouldn't...because it makes no sense financially.

It is simply not a good investment to pay money upfront for vacation.

If you have that money upfront, then invest it intelligently. (Vacations and new cars are NOT investments.) Use the money you make on your investments to take vacations. I promise you'll come out ahead.

If you don't have that money upfront...well, that's a different story. There are plenty of people who pay for their vacations with credit cards and in installments...so they can probably justify DVC in their own minds...but yikes...from a financial perspective, there is NO WAY it makes sense.

I hate to say it, but I agree with this. I don't want to sound rude to those people that are members. I'd love to be able to afford it. Technically, I could do it. But with 3 kids, and not being independantly wealthy, it would be a very poor and irresponsible decision for me. We go to Disney right now, about twice per year. We do well now. Things can change in a heartbeat unfortunately. And if that ever happens, last thing I want to worry about is having to try and sell a timeshare membership.

 

[wmdaddy]

I'm starting to agree with this more and more....especially if people are taking our loans on that intial purchase....just something we would never do.

That's just it. The buy-in price may only be $16,000, but after you factor in financing, which most people do, those numbers change DRASTICALLY.

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

Even if my husband were not a castmember, we would probably not be DVC owners.

* Castmember discount is an obvious advantage that DVC cannot touch

* We occassionally travel with friends and feel the sofabed situation is tremendously unfair and do not like the forced upgrade to a 2 bedroom villa. (We prefer to stay close to EPCOT so OKW is just not going to be our first choice).

* There are simply too many other fabulous travel choices beyond Disney to explore. With the wimpy US Dollar, we are staying in the US....but in the last 18 months we have visited Alaska TWICE, western Canada, Maine, Shenandoah Valley, Grand Canyon, Southern California in addition to our Disney trips.

* Our next Disney trip is 10 days in a Boardwalk 1 BR villa --- and I'm sure Jim will love the jacuzzi.....but we WILL have hotel services there. I'm on vacation, like being pampered ---- and we always get towel animals which fill the room. Nothing wrong with being a bit of a princess.

* We prefer to not be locked into a contract for our personal travel. We have watched the slow downturn of WDW through severe budget cuts (DH knows all about these personally)....just are not comfortable making a long-term commitment when Anaheim's only long-term commitment is to $$$$$ and not their parks, resorts or guests.

* Finally - and this is a very personal reason - we just don't want to buy DVC. I am reluctant to post here - do not wish to upset any current DVC members so I'll just leave it alone.

 

[micmacmissy]

From the mousesavers website:

When considering a DVC membership, it's a good idea to run some calculations. I did this, and also looked at spreadsheets done by others. It's incredibly complex, because there are a zillion variables. Among the factors to consider are your vacation habits, whether you can afford the initial buy-in cost and its associated opportunity cost and whether you can handle the annual dues (be sure to account for annual dues increases).

This may not make me popular in this day and age of "instant gratification," but realistically, it is hard to argue that DVC membership is a financially responsible decision if you don't have the upfront cost in the bank. If I had to borrow the money, I definitely would not join. Naturally Disney will suggest otherwise, because it makes a lot of money on the financing. (Of course, I also think it's unwise to finance a vacation on credit cards. Call me old-fashioned, call me a tightwad -- but I bet most financial advisors will agree with me.)

 

[Time Traveler]

DVC seems to be pretty pricey compared to other timeshares due to all the payments/fees it has. My family actually purchased an BlueGreen timeshare (which was a lot cheaper) so we have more destinations to choose from as they work with RCI. Through RCI we can make an exchange with Interval International to stay at a Disney Villa (its harder to get rooms at short notice as expected and we just couldn't afford DVC).

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I have not bought because of the maintenence fees, the maintenence fees cost just as much or more than a stay.

I also don't like the no housekeeping.

This basically sums it up for us. DVC 'value' is also based on rack rates. By being on top of things, I'm often able to find some sort of discount.

I also think houskeeping is one of the big expenses that resorts pay. When I go on vacation I don't want to have to spend time doing housekeeping. I've stayed in rental houses beofre and I just don't find it much fun having to clean up on vacation. I really enjoy coming back to my resort to find the trash empty, fresh towels, and the beds made...

I'm also really into many of the DVC resorts. AKL is almost cool enough to tempt me to consider it, but Saratoga Springs is not.

You've gotta figure that DVC works out to be a better deal for Disney or they wouldn't be promoting it so heavily.

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

This basically sums it up for us. DVC 'value' is also based on rack rates. By being on top of things, I'm often able to find some sort of discount.

I also think houskeeping is one of the big expenses that resorts pay. When I go on vacation I don't want to have to spend time doing housekeeping. I've stayed in rental houses beofre and I just don't find it much fun having to clean up on vacation. I really enjoy coming back to my resort to find the trash empty, fresh towels, and the beds made...

I'm also really into many of the DVC resorts. AKL is almost cool enough to tempt me to consider it, but Saratoga Springs is not.

You've gotta figure that DVC works out to be a better deal for Disney or they wouldn't be promoting it so heavily.

It's Disney's Cash Cow - you are soooooooo right!

 

[Luv4Disney]

This basically sums it up for us. DVC 'value' is also based on rack rates. By being on top of things, I'm often able to find some sort of discount.

I also think houskeeping is one of the big expenses that resorts pay. When I go on vacation I don't want to have to spend time doing housekeeping. I've stayed in rental houses beofre and I just don't find it much fun having to clean up on vacation. I really enjoy coming back to my resort to find the trash empty, fresh towels, and the beds made...

I'm also really into many of the DVC resorts. AKL is almost cool enough to tempt me to consider it, but Saratoga Springs is not.

You've gotta figure that DVC works out to be a better deal for Disney or they wouldn't be promoting it so heavily.

We own at Saratoga because their fees are the cheapest and we got a nice incentive, but haven't stayed their yet.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

If the increase in room prices and the increase in maintaince fees remain the same it would take 12.5 years to recoup my initial $15,300 investment.

That is buying resale at $85 per point for 180 points at AKL and using the points to stay in a one bedroom Savanah View Room during Regular Season.

 

[Tinkertini]

My fiance's dad bought 3 times shares at Orange Lake, near Disney, many many years ago. He got one week for each of his kids, and has paid them off for the next 50 years. So basically we have a free vacation.

It's just that I love Disney property, and I want to be a DVC member so badly. I want my kids to grow up staying at the different resorts like I did. I want to resort hop mid-vacation, and be on the monorail, and use the EMH's. Disney is just more magical all around when you're on property.

For our honeymoon, we'll be on property for a few nights, and his parents are mad at us for not staying at the timeshare. So I know it's not an issue I can really do anything about. I love Orange Lake, don't get me wrong. I just don't like that my vacation has been planned for me & my future kids for the rest of my life.

I sound ungrateful

 

[chris7]

Because we can stay in a gorgious 3 bedroom townhome with it's own pool just minutes from AKL for SO much less.

I don't knock timeshares in general. They make sense for some people. I think if your financially secure and this is something you want to do then it's great. But I think financing one is a bad idea.

 

[ChickieToo]

Again, not trying to sway a decision here, but just trying to provide some mitigating factors

The piece of the puzzle that makes it so attractive, is that the increase in hotel rooms prices over time are much greater than the dues increases have been. So, although prices continue to rise, when you add the dues to the purchase price and ammortize it over many years, the overall cost of your DVC Villa becomes much more cost-effective than the yearly price increase in regular hotel rooms.

This isn't an investment vehicle at all, but rather a hedge to stabilize the cost of your hotel stays over time. Let's face it, Disney wouldn't do this if they didn't make money on it. But it has to be a win-win, or else it wouldn't fly.