Considering DVC - need help

[imagine]

my husband and I are considering purchasing, but not sure how to best make that decision, I thought maybe you all could give some advice....

We've looked at resales and purchasing from disney and the best option for us is through disney with their incentives. They are honoring the rate quoted to us at the end of march so pricing for 150 pts would be the 14,700; 1200 rebate; 05 pts included w/ no dues

What we know we want to do... probably Disney/Vero Beach/HH in some combo every 3rd/4th ish year (i.e. Disney, other place, other place, Disney....) Does that make it less economical? it doesn't seem to, if you look at that as amounting to 850 cost per year for 48 yrs (not accounting for dues increases that I know will occur....) Seems like hotel costs offset that making it possible to breakeven??

What are non disney locations like? Some places we were considering going:

Galena IL
Washington DC
Colorado
Branson
Grand Hotel
San Francisco
Tennessee

Are they all condo type or are they nice hotels? How far out can you book them?

I also saw a note about smoking vs non smoking - are you not guaranteed non smoking if you ask for it? What if you stay at a disney resort instead of your home location then are you guaranteed it? We have allergic to smoke so getting a smoking room would not be good for our family - we'd all end up miserable instead of enjoying our vacation....

what other things do we need to consider?

Please provide thoughts to help us make our decision....

 

[rinkwide]

DVC makes financial sense if:

• You'll be going to WDW at least every other year
• You'd normally stay in deluxe, on-property accomodations
• You can stay almost entirely on weekday nights
• You can plan your trips 11-7 months in advance
• You won't waste points on exchanges or cruises
• You don't have to finance your purchase

Of course, there are other situations where it makes emotional sense but I'll leave those up to you.

 

[Plutofan]

Going outside of WDW is not always the best use of points. Based upon my experience points are valued around $7.5 per point outside of WDW versus $12 plus inside WDW. You get decent value at HH and Vero as long as you avoid Friday and Saturday nights. When I priced out HH for Friday and Saturday nights our points were being valued at less than $6 per point when compared to the rack rate less the 25% DVC discount.

 

[imagine]

Help me with your comparison of $6 per point... if you're comparing that to the rate less the 25% dvc discount isn't that defeating the purpose? i.e. wouldn't a better comparison be to look at the price per point compared to the price if I wasn't a dvc member? i.e if Fri night studio is 17 pts at HH and using a cost of $6 per point that room is "costing" $102, that would still be cheaper than if I wasn't a DVC member and went there, right?

Just trying to make sure I'm doing the right comparisons...

So do people not venture off of disney/hh/vero? i.e. a comparison we were doing at home was to the Grand hotel... They have a package over the 4th of July that is around $1800 before taxes for a family and includes meals, that same time period according to the book I got would cost 220 pts or the equivalent of 1.5 years of points... if the "cost" is equivalent to around 850 per year (again noting that annual dues will increase causing that to increase....) then 850 x 1.5 = 1275 with no addl taxes or still a better deal than paying 1800 plus taxes to the hotel directly... What am I missing/not considering?

Anyone have insight on the other properties and cost benefit payback? What about my smoking / non smoking room question?

 

[spiceycat]

the prices for out side of the DVC program is based on $10 per point - they are going with the RACK rate plus taxes....

most of the time you can get a better rate than the rack (full price) rate.

the only exception is II - (Interval International) disney calls it world passport....

here is its website
http://disney.intervalworld.com/web/cs?a=5

you can see for yourself what is on it....

some a little better than hotel rooms, studios, 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms.

the one that is better if you can get a 1-bedroom for a 1 or 2 bedroom in a place where you really want to go....

the studios are not good deal...

studio
low 106
mid 123
hi 134

1-bedroom
low 124
mid 144
hi 160

2-bedroom
low 207
mid 252
hi 270

comparing to OKW for a week
studio
low 82
med 98
hi 109

1-bedroom
low 172
med 196
hi 218

2-bedroom
low 232
med 263
hi 296

remember though - because Disney is so popular you can generally exchange 5 or 6 days (instead of a week) for a week at some other place...if you do the direct exchange

 

[Plutofan]

Help me with your comparison of $6 per point... if you're comparing that to the rate less the 25% dvc discount isn't that defeating the purpose? i.e. wouldn't a better comparison be to look at the price per point compared to the price if I wasn't a dvc member? i.e if Fri night studio is 17 pts at HH and using a cost of $6 per point that room is "costing" $102, that would still be cheaper than if I wasn't a DVC member and went there, right?

Just trying to make sure I'm doing the right comparisons...

So do people not venture off of disney/hh/vero? i.e. a comparison we were doing at home was to the Grand hotel... They have a package over the 4th of July that is around $1800 before taxes for a family and includes meals, that same time period according to the book I got would cost 220 pts or the equivalent of 1.5 years of points... if the "cost" is equivalent to around 850 per year (again noting that annual dues will increase causing that to increase....) then 850 x 1.5 = 1275 with no addl taxes or still a better deal than paying 1800 plus taxes to the hotel directly... What am I missing/not considering?

Anyone have insight on the other properties and cost benefit payback? What about my smoking / non smoking room question?

I am just stating that if you want to get the best value out of your DVC membership then you need to analyze the cost of staying on a Friday or Saturday night with the DVC discount price, if available or move to a non DVC resort. If you plan on using points on Friday and Saturady outside of WDW or at any place outside of a DVC resort you need to really factor that in to your calculations becuase it makes a big difference to see if it is a becoming a member is a good value. Most people do not realize that there true cost of their points when you facor in your mortgage interest or a return on your initial investment if you have no mortgage is over $10 per point. If you have to get a high interest rate mortgage you maybe better just renting points until you can afford to put down a large deposit.