Considering becoming a memeber--is it worth it, asking for info/opinions!

[Rora]

I just got back from a Disney trip, I was speaking to the DVC employee about joining. My fiance and I are thinking about becoming a memeber once we get married. It sounds like a good thing but I would still like opinions from my trusted DISers and present memebers. Tell me everything and anything!! I appreciate it so much. Thanks a lot!

 

[browniemtb]

I wouldn't be sure where to begin to tell you about DVC. Basically its a pre-paid vacation plan that gives you vacations for years at todays prices. Is it worth it?? We think its worth every penny.......

Just continue to read the DVC portion of Dis and ask specific questions if you can. Everyone here is very helpful and will chime in.....Good Luck...

Brownie

 

[dizplanner]

DVC is a good program, but it is not for everyone. I'm happy enough with it but am not a big user like some of the people on this board. You need to ask yourself some questions to decide if it is for you.

1. Can you afford it? DVC is a luxury (as are vacations to WDW). Make sure you can pay for point the points, the annual dues and the costs of the vacations without straining your budget. I personally would not finance the purchase, but I am both in the position where I don't have to and many others are comfortable financing. It does increase your cost though.

2. Will you be going to WDW at least every other year? You need to use up your points as they expire (you can bank your points one year). If you are planning on returning regularly, DVC might be for you.

3. Do you normally stay on site in deluxe or moderate resorts or do you want to upgrade your accomendations? If you are perfectly happy off-site or in value resorts, you can probably go cheaper than DVC.

4. Will you be using your points at DVC resorts all or most of the time? This is where you will get the most value. The trade outs are nice for once in a while, but I wouldn't buy DVC if you are planning on trading out alot. While the number of points to stay in a particular type of DVC room in a particular season won't change, the number of points for a cuise or to trade out to other hotels will likely go up over time.

5. Can you plan your vacations in advance? You can book your home resort 11 to 7 months in advance. At 7 months you can book any other DVC resort. To get certain types of rooms you may have to book close to 11 months out. And to get other resorts at certain times of year, you need to book right at 7 months. Other times of year have less demand, but even so it is typical for it to be full several months out. While you can get rooms with short lead times sometimes, DVC would not be a good match if you often want to take last minute trips.

6. Are you weekend light or neutral? Friday and Saturday nights take more points that weekdays, about double. Long weekends can get expensive.

This just gives you some things to think about - DVC could still be right for you even if you don't meet all the above criteria - just make sure you understand what you are buying and its costs and its value to you. Some people are OK paying more to be "forced" to take a vacation every year.

 

[AKV707]

dizplanner explains it really well. So if you feel after reading that that DVC is for you, I highly recommend it. My wife and I wish we had done it years ago.

 

[mello]

If you want info, you're in the right place - the folks here can answer just about anything! They've been helpful to us more times than I can count. Anything you want to know, just ask away!

To try to answer your question, "Is it worth it?" I think in general most people here will say it is, after all most have bought in, so you're more likely to hear the pros than the cons here, although you'll still get a good balance of opinions and folks will be honest about the negatives too. Dizplanner did a good job of giving you some things to think about to decide if it's worth it for you.

For us, I'd say yes it's definitely worth it. We knew we wanted to return to WDW every other year or so, we had stayed in moderate/deluxe, we have a family of 5 that doesn't easily fit in standard accommodations, we are advance planners, though our schedule is variable so we needed the flexibility that many timeshares don't have (ie; we couldn't be locked into the same week in the same location every year), and we liked the idea that it would "make" us go on vacations too.

Have we saved money? No. At least not yet lol. In fact, we've actually added on twice, which pushes our projected break-even point a little farther out.(I think originally we had figured that we would "spend" the equivalent of our purchase price after 6 trips or so, depending upon how long the stays are). Have we received good value? You betcha. We were able to plan a spontaneous anniversary getaway that we wouldn't otherwise have done, and we're taking the entire extended family of 17 down for 18 days, which I don't think we could have pulled off without DVC. For us, the value isn't about the money, it's about the experiences. That said, it does make enough financial sense to us to make it worthwhile. We like the fact that DVC exercises ROFR, which keeps the value up better than some timeshares, and we feel comfortable that our points will buy the same accommodation 10 years from now as they will today (in DVC resorts anyway), since the total point value at each resort stays the same. Yes dues will continue to increase, but so will the price of regular rooms, so as long as we're intending to keep visiting WDW we won't mind paying less in dues than we would for a week in a mod or deluxe. We also like the fact that if we want to go somewhere besides WDW once in awhile we can use our points to do that too. People will rightly point out that you shouldn't make a regular practice of it, since it's not the best value for your buck, but I can see doing it a time or two over the years just to change things up.

So anyway, those are some of the things we consider to be "worth it", fwiw! But you have to evaluate its worth for you. Happy decision making!

 

[brianm27]

We didn't want to finance the purchase, so we bought what we had cash for, which was a 50 point resale. Once we were owners we could purchase additional points (with a 25 point minimum) direct from DVC.

After a few years, we purchase an additional 70 points. So now we have 120points. This seems to be the right number for us.

I wish we had purchased earlier, but we spent a lot of time trying to justify the initial outlay and did not want to finance. We didn't realize that a resale market existed until I found this board. (thank you DIS ).

Good luck in your decision. This is the place to ask questions.

 

[Dean]

To add to or reinforce the above, I'd only buy in to use points at DVC resorts, not do long weekends and if I planned to go to WDW around every other year or better. Also, I don't think it's reasonable to finance this type of purchase. There are cheaper options, esp for those content with off property stays.

 

[Quiksilvr]

We bought recently and financed (this was before we knew anything about DIS or the resale market). After reviewing a lot of the commentary on this board, I would agree with the not financing recommendations. My plan now is to have it paid off in a year, which for us won't be too big of a stretch. We bought in because we liked the idea of prepaid vacations at today's dollars and because I knew I'd need something to force me to take vacations (I'm in a profession that has never heard of the term "9 to 5"). Now, having spent the money on DVC, we will definitely put the points to use. We are also young enough that we could use our full 50 years at AKV and still be going back to the World. Plus, we love Disney. At the end of the day, that's the thing that makes it all worthwhile. It's a lot easier for us to rationalize the purchase of 50 years of vacations because we love the product. If we're going to be there anyway, we might as well go efficiently.

 

[AKV707]

We financed as well. t was the best option for us. We are also prepaying our principal down. We won't be done in a year, but we certainly won't take 10. I know that ideally, a cash purchase is better, but financing worked for us. And it is very easy to pay additional principal through the member site.