I have mixed feelings. I've loved (and still love) DVC, and the time it allows me to spend at Disney with various loved ones. It's been worth every penny I've spent.
But I wish I had known about the fact that the whole DVC experience is so very subject to changes. I might have bought anyway. I honestly don't know. But although I knew only home resort priority booking and staying at home resort were the only guarantees, the "extra's" (many of which have changed a lot) did matter to my decisions to buy/add on. And the ability to sell, should my "obsession" w/Disney (or my finances) change, was a very big part of my decision to go ahead.
I had no idea Disney would make so very many changes, so very frequently.
I bought 150 points in June of 2006. There were no closing costs charged by Disney then. I've since added on several times. No closing costs on add-on's until now. Now, I really dislike the whole idea of having to pay closing costs -- it's probably no more than a bump-up in per-point cost, financially speaking--but "psychologically" it bothers me a lot.
There have been so MANY changes in less than five years! Some were good, some hurt, some didn't affect me at all.
I wasn't affected by the valet parking change, and I benefited from the change that gives us free internet access.
The wait list changes affected me in a very negative way. I can no longer take spring break trips to Disney--I have a DS who's a student and can't plan ahead (or won't)...back when we could W/L day-by-day, chances were good (and it always worked, the three times I tried it) I could get a spring break trip with/for him and his friends. Now, being restricted to just 2 wait lists, and with wait lists of more than a day or two just not likely to come through, I can't justify buying airplane tickets that we may or may not be able to use. That was a "real loss" for our family.
The new DVC properties--first Animal Kingdom, then Treetop Villas, and then BLT--and now maybe GF, give us more choices, to the extent there is availability. That's a positive--but w/out waitlist potential, it's less of an advantage than it might otherwise be. I can and do preplan for T-giving, but the other "extra" trips (3-4 each year) are much more spontaneous...as so many have noted, "spontaneous" trips are much harder for DVC...especially with the far more restrictive wait list rules.
The new differentiation between direct buy owners and resale owners also gives me great pause. Not so much is it an issue of what resale owners actually lose, as it is another indication of yet more changes, some of which really do hurt my ability to use (or to sell) my DVC membership. And "the psychology" of "classes" among owners is hard for me to accept.
I've always been adverse to the idea of timeshare ownership. Disney's DVC seemed different enough to me, when I was buying, to get past that. Now, many people post that these changes are "just like timeshares." That makes me regret having gotten past my disinclination to do a timeshare. I wish I hadn't bought, from that perspective. I don't want to own a timeshare. DVC seemed different. It's a negative (for me) that it turns out it really isn't all that different.
The dining plan was available thru DVC when we bought in, altho I understand that it wasn't at first, so that was a positive change . And this new "segmenting" process seems to have as much potential for problems as it does for good flexibility. I know my linked T-giving vacation last year (I added a day, for reasons that had nothing to do w/dining plan, and got "caught" by the issues that now go w/segmenting...having to check out and in, and difficulties with dining plan allocations actually working...)--it seems to me that being able to segment, and thus use
DDP only for certain days of a vacation, has to be causing more administrative issues than day-by-day wait listing--but maybe my "angst" over segmenting is because I really benefited from the availability of a day-by-day unlimited W/L rule and I don't care so much about DDP.
And speaking of DDP--that's really not DVC, but it's hard to go from a great plan (appetizers and tips included) to a much "skinnier" plan (no appetizers, no tips included)...not as big an issue for users who didn't experience the old, really great plan. A distinct negative for those of us who did.
I know that DVC never "promised" anything other than a home resort priority booking window (and ability to stay at the home resort). But I just didn't expect so many changes, so fast (we've only been members for just under 5 years). I don't know that I would have bought based on "guarantees." Actual practices (are they really all "perks?") really did make a difference in my decisions to buy, and to add on.
But, the bottom line remains that my almost 5 years' worth of DVC membership has been worth every penny. I'm not sorry I had these five years (or that I will have whatever time remains to me of enjoying my DVC membership). I just think I may not have purchased if I'd considered only the "guarantees" in making my decision. I'm pretty sure I won't add on again. (Although never say never.)
Good luck with whatever you decide!
. The memories with our kids are priceless, and the annual dues are not bad considering that we get to stay in such nice accommodations. We are very pleased with our BCV home resort. Booking in advance is easy and painless if you can plan ahead.
......When I was downsized I thought I would regret .........REGRETS none. My only regret is that I did not finance sooner. The kids only stay young once and they now take for granted what I thought was impossible to do when I was their age.
. We spend what the yearly fees would be on each trip but that includes tickets and occasional free dining. 
Here, you're going to find a lot more cheerleading than regrets.
)(and I don't hold it against them...they are an American company that has responsibility to their shareholders). Until that settles down and gets clarified, we are in a period of uncertainty and risk which I do not like. 
we would have never paid cash to stay at the places we stay. Too rich for our blood the non-DVC way! LOL!
