Are we ever guilty of Over-Analyzing?

[Dean]

It's more than a discounted room, it's a club. Lol, now I don't mean that in the naive sense that naming it a club intends to instill, but still.

Saying it's just discounted rooms ignores some of the better advantages of DVC.

DVC combined with AP combined with generally cheap flights from SWA Austin to MCO (or an equivalent cost to drive if better airline tix aren't avail), plus being a routine traveler not so much interested in trinkets and knowing how to eat on the economy, all of these things work to make a trip to WDW for $2000 compared to $6-8 grand without all of the above.

And. DVC is the linchpin.

So. Because I can go to WDW for about $2K, we go much more often then if the trip were 3-4X that amount. In fact, that's exactly how much more often we go: 3-4X as much.

DVC changed the way we do Disney. In that way, it really is a club. More to the point of this thread, there's value for me and my family that goes beyond the straight up cost.

Or. As somebody said on a different forum about economics: at the end of the day, you only have one item to trade, your time, and one item to gain, your satisfaction. All economics is some evaluation of that equation.

Is the time you spent to gain your membership worth the satisfaction you get out of it?

In our case, absolutely.

At the end of the day it's just a timeshare, no more and no less. The situation where the perks is enough to tip the scale if extremelfy limited. As for time here, it's a labor of love.

 

[DougEMG]

To a degree but at the end of the day it's simply a discounted room (hopefully discounted).

I agree with Dean here. I've always considered the only reason to ever purchase DVC is to get a room at a BIG discount to paying cash, otherwise why bother making such a long term commitment.

Anything else is just marketing hype.

 

[ziravan]

I agree with Dean here. I've always considered the only reason to ever purchase DVC is to get a room at a BIG discount to paying cash, otherwise why bother making such a long term commitment.

Anything else is just marketing hype.

In the process, though, DVC grants most of us the ability to change the way we do Disney. For some (like me), that means more trips. For others, that means focusing more on amenities and less on parks. For others, it means a more or less forced regimen for vacations; DVC means that a vacation schedule is fixed.

However you want to look at it, DVC enables more for most of us than a room discount.

Otherwise, why be on a message board about it? This isn't the "40% off a deluxe forum". We're here, or at least I am, because I wanted to maximize my Disney experience, learn from the experts, and give back some of that knowledge; I'm vested in everything that that room discount creates.

In that way, DVC is more than a room discount.

 

[TimR]

For us it wasn't so much the current discount level as the reduction in inflation risk of DVC. Now if Disney decides to raise room rates by 10%/year for a few years it doesn't affect our ability to go, since they can't increase the total points/year at any resort in DVC. In addition, as Canadians, it provides a bit of a buffer against currency fluctuations since the room is the largest cost for those of us who like staying deluxe.

 

[Dean]

In the process, though, DVC grants most of us the ability to change the way we do Disney. For some (like me), that means more trips. For others, that means focusing more on amenities and less on parks. For others, it means a more or less forced regimen for vacations; DVC means that a vacation schedule is fixed.

However you want to look at it, DVC enables more for most of us than a room discount.

Otherwise, why be on a message board about it? This isn't the "40% off a deluxe forum". We're here, or at least I am, because I wanted to maximize my Disney experience, learn from the experts, and give back some of that knowledge; I'm vested in everything that that room discount creates.

In that way, DVC is more than a room discount.

It can change habits and that may be a good thing or a bad thing, it really depends on specifics but it's often a negative for many. The perks are fleeting and specialized, for most it doesn't offer anything more than a discounted room and/or a room with enhanced value, there are some very specific and rare exceptions. The other changes can be positive or negative, often they are both and frequently encourage people to spend more than they would otherwise and often than they should for the total for various trips. This is why I say it's rare for DVC to actually save anyone money. Hopefully though it offers additional value. While I've seen people that clearly bought just to be in the club with no clear savings or enhanced value, I consider this a poor choice as a reason to purchase.

 

[crisi]

I agree with Dean here. I've always considered the only reason to ever purchase DVC is to get a room at a BIG discount to paying cash, otherwise why bother making such a long term commitment.

Anything else is just marketing hype.

I'm the opposite - I think the best reason to buy is to spend more money - but to get more value for that money. If I were going to stay in Studios, I wouldn't buy DVC. Its the two bedrooms we use. But we would never stay in a unit like that for cash, so you can't call it savings. We spend more, but get more.

And I believe that is true for most DVCers. They spend more (more trips, bigger rooms, take guests) than they would had they never bought DVC and stayed on cash. But they get value for that spend. Which is why I think a basic ROI analysis is flawed. Because DVC usually changes your behavior.

 

[bwbuddy5]

I'm the opposite - I think the best reason to buy is to spend more money - but to get more value for that money. If I were going to stay in Studios, I wouldn't buy DVC. Its the two bedrooms we use. But we would never stay in a unit like that for cash, so you can't call it savings. We spend more, but get more.

And I believe that is true for most DVCers. They spend more (more trips, bigger rooms, take guests) than they would had they never bought DVC and stayed on cash. But they get value for that spend. Which is why I think a basic ROI analysis is flawed. Because DVC usually changes your behavior.

Excellent, may be the best "analysis" post I've read.

 

[jodifla]

When we bought almost 20 years ago, we asked ourselves first if Disney was a place we'd keep going -- and we knew it was. We were already spending a fair amount there. And because DH is less of a WDW fan than a nice resort fan, he was happy to upgrade his accommodations. So we just took the money we were already spending at WDW and used it to pay off the time share.

Yes, we FINANCED! And are very happy we did so. We feel we came out way ahead buying back when the points were in the 60ish range. We wouldn't pay today's prices.