Advice/Tips for newcomer

[Matty B13]

I'm not Bill -- but I'll attempt to answer for him, since I am an extreme example of what he is talking about.

My original plan was to go to Disney once every 3 or 4 years -- anything more than that (I reasoned), was wasteful and the kids wouldn't appreciate it. We went on a cash reservation in February 2016 and had a blast (DD2, DD<1). I got hooked and decided to look into DVC.

I convinced DW that instead of every 3 or 4 years, with DVC, we could go at half price and therefore go every 2-3 years. (more often means more travel and food costs)

I figured 150 points would get us a studio for a week every year -- so that's what I focused on.

We then got a contract accepted, and it came with a lot of extra points. Then I was like, "hey -- we can afford these 2 BR units if we bank/borrow, let's bring each set of GPs on a trip so we can all enjoy it together!" (more money)

Then I figured that if we were going to do the GP trips, we should do both trips in a 12 month span so that we could get APs and save on tickets (more money)

But then I had to buy more points...so a month after going into ROFR on contract #1, I had a second resale contract being sent to ROFR. (More money)

Then we bought a direct add-on of 25 points to get member benefits and discounted APs (more money)

Then I figured we should get the TIW card since we're going to have two large groups going (more money -- direct price of $150 -- but you might end up spending more to "save" more)

Then we had some orphaned points that were going to expire, so we booked an impromptu F&W trip, so that was two flights, food-money and earlier start date to AP passes (more money). It also used up some of the other points I hadn't planned on using since I could only get 1 BR units with such short notice for F&W, which meant I had to buy some transferred points to make up the difference for our second grandparent trip (more money).

After buying the APs, I figured we might as well sneak in a couple more trips, since the entry is free. I'm doing a solo trip and then I'll be taking my oldest DD by ourselves to celebrate her 5th birthday (more flight/food/points costs)

So it can be a slippery slope.

In my case, our initial contract was around $22000 -- which is what my wife thought we would be spending. Fast forward 18 months, and we have spent about $45000 for 305 points. We've spent $1650 on 3 APs -- I have no idea how much our food/alcohol purchases have been -- but in the three trips we've already taken, I would assume it is at least $2000-$3000. Those princess character meals are pricey. I've transferred in around $3000 worth of additional points to cover some other trips we have planned. Flights have averaged out to about $300 a person (4 of us -- so $1200 a trip). I also have stocked up on 7 day park hopper passes from parksavers.com when they had a really good deal, so I think I have about $6000 worth of park tickets just chilling in my MDE. All in all, I have probably spent about $60-$65,000 on Disney related stuff -- and it all started out with the idea of saving about $2500 per trip on our hotel.

In short -- lodging is just one of the expenses of a Disney vacation. With DVC, you'll end up going more often, which leads to more points and travel related expenses.

I think we were on the same timeframe as you............ and costs......

But I do think that trips with the Grand Parents are priceless!

 

[mustinjourney]

A couple of years ago I took our 200 point BCV contract, cost of dues, travel, admission, food, extras, projecting on total cost until contract termination. $300,000 is what we will probably spend. Now add our BWV, AKV, BLT, VGF, and BRV contracts and we will need to sell the cow, house, car, maybe me, just so DW can keep doing Disney in the way that she has become accustomed.

Bill

I've had to open more credit cards in order to get airline bonus miles to accommodate the new lifestyle. So, in addition to figuring out how to maximize our Disney touring plans with the various family/friends we're bringing along, I've had to learn more credit card games, airline mile games, and read up on this and other Disney related boards. It's really eating into my college football forums.

 

[mustinjourney]

I think we were on the same timeframe as you............ and costs......

But I do think that trips with the Grand Parents are priceless!

Definitely! The memories (and pictures) are so awesome.

I joke about it, but spending the money probably saved me $10000 in stock losses. The money we used to purchase all this stuff was mostly in a day trading account -- and it turns out that I am not very good at it. I was right 90% of the time about the direction of the stocks I was buying options on, but I was dead wrong on my timing for the vast majority. I can't tell you how many times my options would expire worthless, only to have the stock spike in the direction I wanted a week later. Very frustrating. Of course, I cashed out right when the market was at 15,500 and now it's over 22000 -- so I might have actually made it back. With that said, knowing myself, I probably would have been shorting everything the last 18 months and lost a bunch more -- at least that's what I tell myself.

 

[mustinjourney]

A couple of years ago I took our 200 point BCV contract, cost of dues, travel, admission, food, extras, projecting on total cost until contract termination. $300,000 is what we will probably spend. Now add our BWV, AKV, BLT, VGF, and BRV contracts and we will need to sell the cow, house, car, maybe me, just so DW can keep doing Disney in the way that she has become accustomed.

Bill

So since DVC saves you 50% on vacations, you've saved >$300,000.

Right???

 

[sndral]

I like going every year & since we are west coast based we spend 9 or 10 nights per visit. Since I no longer have to pay as much as I used to pay for lodging (I was renting 2 deluxe rooms per visit) I've started to use that 'extra' money to add on new experiences - like dinner at V&A & the Wanyama safari, etc..
For our Dec. visit we'll probably pay extra for several things that I would have passed on before we had DVC.

 

[disneynutz]

So since DVC saves you 50% on vacations, you've saved >$300,000.

Right???

DVC only saves you on your room based on paying cash for the same room type. DVC has made us vacation more on expensive Disney vacations. While vacations are nice, we sometimes question if DVC is the best option.

Bill

 

[kboo]

The other posts here have pretty much covered it. Disney is great at removing money from your mind which causes you to spend more. You can buy an admission ticket and count the days that you have available or buy an AP even though you may not need an annual pass. It doesn't cost you more to increase your vacation by a couple of days or you decide to take a 2nd Disney vacation because you have an AP and want to get your moneys worth. You aren't spending cash for the DVC stay, it's only points so you stay longer. Not enough points for that 2nd stay, buy another contract, you will be spending points, not cash.

Bill

One of the things that started me on DVC - DH and I had work conferences in Orlando (NOT WDW) in a 10 month span. May 2015, I was pregnant with DD2, DH took DD1 to WDW while I did my conference, and then I joined them for a few extra days. 10 months later, it was DH's conference, he ubered from WDW to his conference days, my sister and her family and my parents came. By then, DD2 was 3 months old. Then I wanted to take one more vacation before going back to work from maternity leave so... 7 weeks later we decided to go BACK to WDW because we already had APs, we already had TiW, and we got a good deal on flights and room. 3 trips in 12 months. Now it's been 16 months since that trip, and I am feeling major withdrawal. That may be the longest span between WDW trips since we had kids.

I'm not Bill -- but I'll attempt to answer for him, since I am an extreme example of what he is talking about.

My original plan was to go to Disney once every 3 or 4 years -- anything more than that (I reasoned), was wasteful and the kids wouldn't appreciate it. We went on a cash reservation in February 2016 and had a blast (DD2, DD<1). I got hooked and decided to look into DVC.

I convinced DW that instead of every 3 or 4 years, with DVC, we could go at half price and therefore go every 2-3 years. (more often means more travel and food costs)

I figured 150 points would get us a studio for a week every year -- so that's what I focused on.

We then got a contract accepted, and it came with a lot of extra points. Then I was like, "hey -- we can afford these 2 BR units if we bank/borrow, let's bring each set of GPs on a trip so we can all enjoy it together!" (more money)

Then I figured that if we were going to do the GP trips, we should do both trips in a 12 month span so that we could get APs and save on tickets (more money)

But then I had to buy more points...so a month after going into ROFR on contract #1, I had a second resale contract being sent to ROFR. (More money)

Then we bought a direct add-on of 25 points to get member benefits and discounted APs (more money)

Then I figured we should get the TIW card since we're going to have two large groups going (more money -- direct price of $150 -- but you might end up spending more to "save" more)

Then we had some orphaned points that were going to expire, so we booked an impromptu F&W trip, so that was two flights, food-money and earlier start date to AP passes (more money). It also used up some of the other points I hadn't planned on using since I could only get 1 BR units with such short notice for F&W, which meant I had to buy some transferred points to make up the difference for our second grandparent trip (more money).

After buying the APs, I figured we might as well sneak in a couple more trips, since the entry is free. I'm doing a solo trip and then I'll be taking my oldest DD by ourselves to celebrate her 5th birthday (more flight/food/points costs)

So it can be a slippery slope.

In my case, our initial contract was around $22000 -- which is what my wife thought we would be spending. Fast forward 18 months, and we have spent about $45000 for 305 points. We've spent $1650 on 3 APs -- I have no idea how much our food/alcohol purchases have been -- but in the three trips we've already taken, I would assume it is at least $2000-$3000. Those princess character meals are pricey. I've transferred in around $3000 worth of additional points to cover some other trips we have planned. Flights have averaged out to about $300 a person (4 of us -- so $1200 a trip). I also have stocked up on 7 day park hopper passes from parksavers.com when they had a really good deal, so I think I have about $6000 worth of park tickets just chilling in my MDE. All in all, I have probably spent about $60-$65,000 on Disney related stuff -- and it all started out with the idea of saving about $2500 per trip on our hotel.

In short -- lodging is just one of the expenses of a Disney vacation. With DVC, you'll end up going more often, which leads to more points and travel related expenses.

I need to show this to DH to show him that I am, in comparison, quite measured... We have probably spent more than you on food/alcohol though.

All joking aside, however, I *do* feel like these trips have forced DH and me to take a step back and recognize that real family vacations (as opposed to conference-related trips, visiting ill elderly parents, etc) have a real value and we shouldn't miss out on dedicated family time before our kids get too old. Our jobs are high pressure and time intensive, and it's easy to push off until "next time" ... but DVC forces us to plan ahead, and we know that we will have dedicated family vacation every year. Yes, it's prepaying the lodging, but it ensures that we don't procrastinate either.

 

[crisi]

DVC only saves you on your room based on paying cash for the same room type. DVC has made us vacation more on expensive Disney vacations. While vacations are nice, we sometimes question if DVC is the best option.

Bill

A big one is "the same vacation" - if you were staying in a Deluxe resort before, in a single room, and you leave all the other variables the same - the length and frequency of stays, your eating habits - you can save money. The problem becomes the changes people make. They go from staying at a moderate to DVC - its a value add, but it probably won't save money. They go from a studio to a room with a kitchen and washer/dryer. It won't save money, but its a value add. You go from "we will always stay at our 'low point value home resort' to 'we really want to try BLT, even though its more points, I've always wanted to stay on the monorail.'

 

[kboo]

A big one is "the same vacation" - if you were staying in a Deluxe resort before, in a single room, and you leave all the other variables the same - the length and frequency of stays, your eating habits - you can save money. The problem becomes the changes people make. They go from staying at a moderate to DVC - its a value add, but it probably won't save money. They go from a studio to a room with a kitchen and washer/dryer. It won't save money, but its a value add. You go from "we will always stay at our 'low point value home resort' to 'we really want to try BLT, even though its more points, I've always wanted to stay on the monorail.'

So... we always stayed deluxe before, so we are saving money!!! Yeah!! (oh wait, I'm lobbying to buy more points so we can stay in 1BR all the time, which wasn't the original plan... )

 

[disneynutz]

A big one is "the same vacation" - if you were staying in a Deluxe resort before, in a single room, and you leave all the other variables the same - the length and frequency of stays, your eating habits - you can save money. The problem becomes the changes people make. They go from staying at a moderate to DVC - its a value add, but it probably won't save money. They go from a studio to a room with a kitchen and washer/dryer. It won't save money, but its a value add. You go from "we will always stay at our 'low point value home resort' to 'we really want to try BLT, even though its more points, I've always wanted to stay on the monorail.'

Exactly, we went from deluxe 5 day WDW vacations every 5 years to buying DVC and staying up to 40 days per year, three or four trips, all of the resorts.

Bill

 

[Toreby]

I'm not Bill -- but I'll attempt to answer for him, since I am an extreme example of what he is talking about.

My original plan was to go to Disney once every 3 or 4 years -- anything more than that (I reasoned), was wasteful and the kids wouldn't appreciate it. We went on a cash reservation in February 2016 and had a blast (DD2, DD<1). I got hooked and decided to look into DVC.

I convinced DW that instead of every 3 or 4 years, with DVC, we could go at half price and therefore go every 2-3 years. (more often means more travel and food costs)

I figured 150 points would get us a studio for a week every year -- so that's what I focused on.

We then got a contract accepted, and it came with a lot of extra points. Then I was like, "hey -- we can afford these 2 BR units if we bank/borrow, let's bring each set of GPs on a trip so we can all enjoy it together!" (more money)

Then I figured that if we were going to do the GP trips, we should do both trips in a 12 month span so that we could get APs and save on tickets (more money)

But then I had to buy more points...so a month after going into ROFR on contract #1, I had a second resale contract being sent to ROFR. (More money)

Then we bought a direct add-on of 25 points to get member benefits and discounted APs (more money)

Then I figured we should get the TIW card since we're going to have two large groups going (more money -- direct price of $150 -- but you might end up spending more to "save" more)

Then we had some orphaned points that were going to expire, so we booked an impromptu F&W trip, so that was two flights, food-money and earlier start date to AP passes (more money). It also used up some of the other points I hadn't planned on using since I could only get 1 BR units with such short notice for F&W, which meant I had to buy some transferred points to make up the difference for our second grandparent trip (more money).

After buying the APs, I figured we might as well sneak in a couple more trips, since the entry is free. I'm doing a solo trip and then I'll be taking my oldest DD by ourselves to celebrate her 5th birthday (more flight/food/points costs)

So it can be a slippery slope.

In my case, our initial contract was around $22000 -- which is what my wife thought we would be spending. Fast forward 18 months, and we have spent about $45000 for 305 points. We've spent $1650 on 3 APs -- I have no idea how much our food/alcohol purchases have been -- but in the three trips we've already taken, I would assume it is at least $2000-$3000. Those princess character meals are pricey. I've transferred in around $3000 worth of additional points to cover some other trips we have planned. Flights have averaged out to about $300 a person (4 of us -- so $1200 a trip). I also have stocked up on 7 day park hopper passes from parksavers.com when they had a really good deal, so I think I have about $6000 worth of park tickets just chilling in my MDE. All in all, I have probably spent about $60-$65,000 on Disney related stuff -- and it all started out with the idea of saving about $2500 per trip on our hotel.

In short -- lodging is just one of the expenses of a Disney vacation. With DVC, you'll end up going more often, which leads to more points and travel related expenses.

Well, you sure made me feel better about our latest add on

 

[mustinjourney]

DVC only saves you on your room based on paying cash for the same room type. DVC has made us vacation more on expensive Disney vacations. While vacations are nice, we sometimes question if DVC is the best option.

Bill

that was supposed to be written in sarcasm font.

 

[mustinjourney]

Well, you sure made me feel better about our latest add on

Glad I can help.

Now I just need to start a gofundme account. haha

 

[disneynutz]

that was supposed to be written in sarcasm font.

My computer doesn't have that font so I would have missed it anyway.

Bill