Am I missing something -Need help

[JonHM]

Hello!

Several Points: regarding the kitchen, we love to eat out at WDW restaurants as well, and that is one wonderful advantage that the kitchen affords: leftovers!!! In previous years, if we ate a *wonderful* meal at a restaurant and just couldn't finish it, we were forced to let them take it away because we had no way that we could preserve it to enjoy it later - now if that occurs we can take it back, throw it in the fridge, and just toss it in the microwave for a quick snack sometime! Eating breakfast in the room even one or two days on a trip can save quite a lot of money. And even the DVC studios have 'mini-kitchen' facilities... (Ooooh, don't forget something else that the one and two bedroom villas have - the huge jacuzzi!!!)

Regarding studios vs. 1/2 bedroom, we too are a family of 3... BUT our favorite thing about DVC so far is our ability to SHARE it!!! Our first trip home we took our parents and got a 2BR, next trip in October we're taking a good friend and getting a 1BR, next May we're taking DW's sister and her family and getting a 2BR, and next October taking a friend and her kids and getting a 2BR! So even though we are only a family of 3, the ability to be able to share WDW with a family who either would not or could not be able to go is truly something that we treasure, and one of the main reasons that we enjoy our DVC so much!!!

You have to make the decision that is right for you - I am just trying to fill you in on some of the specifics of why *we* love our DVC so much!

Take Care!!!

 

[DiznyMagic]

I was also questioning if I had made the right choice until this year. Last year we had a new baby bless our life and I felt she was too small to travel so we saved our points. At the end of last year DH was laid off and I thought there goes our vacation this year BUT we were able to combine last year's points, with this years points and borrow slightly from next year and plan a wonderful vacation for the kids. We will be going on our first cruise this July and all we had to do was pay a small one time fee! If it wasn't for DVC we would probably have to forego a vacation this year.

Sorry this is so long but sometimes its not all about dollars, cents and % - IMHO.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

part of the attraction of DVC for us has been the ability to take family with us. Our family of four will be vacationing with my mom and sister to a 2BR at VWL in June, and we have a HH-GV for the whole family for Thanksgiving week. DVC makes these types of vacations possible, and much easier to plan. These joint vacations have worked well so far, and our family is always willing to give us some cash toward the accomodations. We use the cash to offset park passes, dues etc. We have added on numerous times since joining last year just for that reason. My kids look forward to vacationing with their Grandma and other relatives. I know my mom is thrilled to come with us as she spent many of her vacations on rainy fishing trips. WDW is a "new" type of vacation that she hasn't had the opportunity to enjoy in past years.

Also, I know we are in the minority, but we use the kitchen extensivley while on vacation. That frozen pizza you make in your room is just as good as pizza you buy in the parks. The kitchen was a major selling point for us. We plan several nice meals out, but breakfast and lunches and half of our dinner meals are made in the room.

 

[DisneyKidds]

frankiemom - you are 100% correct. If most or all your WDW vacations will be in a room at the GF then DVC is not for you. Using DVC points at non DVC resort is not an economical use of points (not that it isn't worth doing once in a while).

DVC works for us because we like the flexibilty it offers, like to be able to take people with us, and will give us lots of options as our family grows and we outgrow being able to comfortably stay in a deluxe hotel room.

Even with discounts, in the long run using DVC points to stay at a DVC resort will be cheaper than paying cash for a deluxe hotel room.

DVC is not for everyone, but it works for us.

 

[CaptainMidnight]

aint gotta hit me in the head with no tire tool....

Wait a minute...... perhaps.....

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I agree with most here.
We are planning to bring family/friends with us as well. I agree this is a great benefit, and my wife and I really enjoy bringing people (we have done it in the past at the Poly & WL).
I also agree about the kitchen. I feel it will be great for a light breakfast, possibly lunch, but dinner is always at a sit down restaraunt. Same with the washer/dryer. I do not have to pack a ton of stuff for all possible weather conditions.
I will still stay at the Poly (it's in my blood), and possibly the AKL...just not as often!
Cost? Who knows. I just like the lifestyle!

 

[crisi]

Here's our situation on family and changes.

Our kids right now are very little - and we are better off in a Studio (they like to sleep with Mom and Dad anyway) - they are 2 and 3. But taking two toddlers to the parks involves extra adults (at least for us - make our trip so much more relaxing)...so pre DVC we stayed in the WL and my parents came down and shelled out a lot of money for a room. We'd have been way better off to be able to get a two bedroom with points (I'm glad I didn't join years sooner, but I do wish I'd joined before our last trip).

In a couple years our children will be old enough where we don't want them in our room (and they don't want to be there) - but we no longer need to bring more adults than children. Then the one bedroom becomes a nice option - or even a two bedroom and invite friends or family (or use the living room as a living room).

Then we will hit the teen years. The kids won't want to share a bed - and we may be lucky to get them to share a bedroom. So we will need a two bedroom. And I'm sure we will have a trip or two where they bring friends.

Eventually, they will go off to college - leave home, and we will be back to a one bedroom. Or drag the golf clubs down with more frequency and stay in a studio.

Of course, the trips will be shorter when we have a two bedroom - or there will be fewer of them.

The point being, when evaluating DVC, you need to look at what you need now, but you also need to look at what you think your needs are going to be in the future. While three people do fine in a studio when one is still a young child (we do fine with four of us) - you may feel differently when your child is twelve.

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Crisi,
Great points about the flexibility and changing needs. I was thinking the same thing. Different types of accomodations for different stages of parenting, guests and lifestyle.

 

[DebbieB]

I stayed at the Grand Floridian in Apr and loved it-to me there is nothing much more deluxe then that.

I stayed at GF twice before DVC and agreed with you. Loved the GF. I have a friend who joined DVC and thought she was nuts to spend all that money. Until I spent a weekend with her and 2 other friends in an OKW 2 bedroom. I was hooked! It was great to sit around that large living room in the evening, to be able to use the full kitchen, washer/dryer in the room. We stayed in the second bedroom, so I didn't even experience the luxury of the master suite. Six months later I was signing the papers. It's just a whole different kind of vacation, it really feels like a home rather than a hotel room (we always get a 1 bedroom). 5 trips now (3 OKW, 2 BWV) and I don't regret anything about my decision (except maybe I should have bought 50 more points when they were $65!).

 

[drtpaper]

You can analyze it all you want and not truly understand the difference between resort accommodations and the DVC. Comparing a studio at the Floridian to a DVC studio is not truly fair since you are looking to use the DVC as a cheaper way to stay at the Floridian. When your family gets bigger or you have more people to take, you will have to pay top dollar for a larger accommodation. The breakeven analysis are also very flawed since they assume you will keep the DVC for 40 years. Run the numbers considering a resale at 10 years. The price for even the lowest number of points has increased over the last 5 years, not lost value as assumed in the analysis. This reduces the costs of vacations in the initial years since there is no consumption of value.

I put the benefits I have found:
1. You lock in your vacation costs for 40 years
2. You get great accommodations.
3. You have the ability to eat in your room.
4. You can increase the size of the room as your family grows or you decide to take friends.
5. It is not about saving money, it about planning on taking great vacations with your family and loved ones at a reduced cost. Forces you to use your vacation points on a regular basis.
6. There is an active market to rent points at $10 a point. You can basically get about an 8% yield from your initial investment if you simply just buy the contract and rent the points to someone else so you are not risking much.

 

[ncligs]

Excellent post Dave , those are most of the reasons we joined for. Can you imagine what it will cost 20-30 years from now to stay on-site WDW property ..........but we don't have to worry about that since our accomadations are already paid for, in a 1st class resort!!!!

 

[frankiemom]

Many people here keep talking about how the Disney Vacation Club is not about saving money but that it is a lifestyle. Then why did the information packet that was sent to me say that I will be saving up to 70%. Again I will say that the kitchen is useless for us and that there will be only 3 of us staying there---(we come from very small families--there are no extended family members) . I viewed some of the places and they look nice and "homey" but I can get that at home! I appreciate all your responses but we have decided not to join. We will still be enjoying Disney but just not with the Vacation club. Thank for you help.

 

[PKS44]

frankiemom-
DVC'ers (and I am one, too) tend to get defensive,trying to justify the investment, etc..the problem is people talking past each other ..you talk about staying at the GF- DVC cannot save moneyif you are intent on staying only there, even full price at the GF would be better, probably ...The calculations and yours are not comparing things...DVC saves $$ if you were staying in the same DVC hotel room or if INSTEAD of staying in the GF - you stay in a DVC room...using your example since you don't mind staying all in the same room for a week-compare a DVC studio to a GF room...at VWL a week in summer=134 points...OKW cheaper- 109. At a very conservative cost of points at $6/point-either $93/night or $114/night ..that's a saving over the GF...you could add on maid service for $20 a night and still be ahead of staying at GF...you just won't be at the GF... but not far from it if you stay at VWL...you can assume inflation on dues and the GF will be the same (has not happened yet- but for worst case scenarios it is reasonable) so that has no effect and since dues have gone up less than inflation this might underestimate the savings...Finally- no one has mentioned it BUT you save even more if you do not buy from Disney but buy resale as we did to decrease the cost of points below that $6/point value.

Paul

 

[DebbieB]

Many people here keep talking about how the Disney Vacation Club is not about saving money but that it is a lifestyle. Then why did the information packet that was sent to me say that I will be saving up to 70%.

I agree that my choice to buy DVC was about the lifestyle, not the money. But I think it's hard for DVC to sell the "lifestyle" angle to a new member. You have to experience it to understand it. It doesn't look as good on paper. As I said previously, I didn't understand it when my friend bought it. Then I stayed at OKW with her and I was sold. Sometime you may want to rent points from a member and stay in a 1 bedroom. If you stay during the week, you could do it for $200-$250 a night most of the year (@$10 per point).

I have a friend who got a postcard from DVC to stay at HH in the winter for $99 per night with a free 4th night, had to attend the presentation. Her husband and her stayed in a 2 bedroom by themselves (that's what the offer was for)! She went in saying she was just doing it for the cheap room, she had no intention of buying. Guess what - they did! DVC should probably do more of that at WDW, but probably don't because the occupancy at WDW resorts is so high.

 

[PamOKW]

Frankiemom, I respect your decision that DVC is not for you. In fact, it doesn't make sense to purchase DVC if you do not plan to use it. It's not a discount program for the GF or other WDW resorts that don't have a DVC component. However, since others are probably reading this thread to help in their decision I'll offer something else to consider.

It's hard to make comparisons to unknown discounts that may or may not be available every year. However, with the exception of last year, there have historically been no discounts during Christmas Week. Let's take a look at that. 7 nights at the BWV or BCV during Christmas Week will run $434 per night for a studio. With tax, the cost is $3,372. To stay in a studio on points requires 181 points. The "cost" to an individual for these points varies based on purchase price and any interest you may have paid on the money but, worst case scenario, let's say each point is worth $10. That's still staying at the BCV for $1,810 versus $3,372.

Let's also look at how the price of that room at BWV has gone up over the last few years. In 2001, the same room was $415. In 2000, it was $360. That's a 21% increase in 2 years. Project that out until 2042 and you'll be seeing quite a bit of savings with DVC.

I would encourage anyone who regularly goes to WDW and stays in a moderate or deluxe to take a close look at DVC. At least take the tour and, if possible, stay in one of the resorts. You are probably spending more money already for hotel rooms than what it would cost to offer you the options of different DVC accomodations.

Of course, everyone who goes to WDW and stays at All-Star or offsite would do well to look at DVC, too.

 

[WDWguru]

For us it was absolutely a money saver - if only as a pre-paid vacation plan. Even though it's just DH and I and we don't plan to have kids, DVC made complete sense for us. We go at least twice a year and ALWAYS stay in a deluxe. With inflation alone we save money - don't even go into all the other stuff DH accounted for in the MANY calculations he did before we decided to buy!

Bottom line - we get the same or better accomodations and we're locked in to the price for 40 years. Doing even more calculations, we figure we'll be breaking even in 6-8 years - and that's on THREE contracts with a total of 550 points for TWO people! Not bad, huh?

My point is, just because you may not fit the exact profile DVC is selling to doesn't mean it doesn't make sense for you. We had actually looked into DVC in the past (just in passing - never did the presentation) and dismissed it as too restrictive. We were used to planning last-minute and staying at the all new deluxes as they opened. We were afraid of missing that. We also never cook on vacation and don't necessarily need to do laundry.

What we didn't understand until we looking further was that we get the best of both worlds with DVC. We CAN try out the new deluxes and we CAN still go last-minute (we always go off-season), but we also get locked in to a price at the DVC resorts. And even though we may not always use the kitchen or washer/dryer, it's sure nice to know it's there if we want to. We bought enough points so that we can stay in one bedrooms (gotta have that tub) and have the flexibility to spend what we need to do what we want.

All this said, DVC still is not for everyone. If all those poor, blind folks spending thousands each year to stay in Concierge at the deluxes finally saw the light, we'd never be able to get a room! LOL! Seriously though - different things are important to different people and that's just fine by me.

 

[Doctor P]

DVC is not for everybody. DVC should not be looked at as an investment, but as a prepaid vacation plan. Having spouted the "company line," I still come back to my calculation that I can stay at OKW at the holidays for the same or less cost than the All Star resorts or a moderate (even at last year's holiday rates because they did not discount). If nothing else, DVC allows me to avoid increased room taxes, fees for extra adults, fees for a refrigeratior, and gives me more spacious accomodations than a budget or moderate resort. At OKW, I give up the food court that is available at those other resorts, but I pick up more recreational opportunities (in general), better parking arrangements, and a nice sit down restaurant. Seems like a decent deal for us.