Considering joining DVC

[cruise-o-matic]

Also, don't buy a 316 point contract. Get one that's 150 and another thats 166 (or 100 & 66). They will be easier to resale.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Why not just buy a 150 pt. contract which would be enough to visit during Magic season every other year and stay @ OKW? That would also be enough to travel every year if you were flexible about how many days you could stay and which season you could travel in. Also, another option might be to reserve two studios instead of a 2 bdrm. At this point, you really just need to decide whether or not you think you will be traveling to WDW every other year (or more) for the next decade or so, if the answer is "yes"...everything else can be pretty flexible.

BTW, we live in WA state and alternate yearly between a cash stay @ DL, and a DVC stay @ WDW. The main reason is due to the airfare issues which you touched on in your original post. Also, it's much cheaper for us to get our annual "Disney fix" by doing 4 days or so at DL, than 7-10 days @ WDW.

Good Luck w/your decision!

 

[rpinsky]

I would like to go every year....but when it costs $7000 ot $8000 each time, its really too much to spend. Its really too much to spend every other year as well.Going for a shorter time period is not an answer either. This is probably a once every 5 or 10 year kind of vacation.

I guess wanting to go and being able to afford to go are two different things. How do you guys afford to every year or every other year? The DVC will help reduce the cost, but it doesn't reduce it enough to make it affordable.

Sadly, Robert

 

[Deb & Bill]

Robert, we go twice a year, sometimes more. But we only live about 900 miles away and drive to FL every time. It takes us about 14 hours. We flew once, but it was such a disaster that we decided never again. We can drive it all in one day or leave right after work/school and then arrive the next afternoon after stopping the night. We get Annual Passes and try to arrange our vacations so we get three out of one AP. We join all the hotel frequent user clubs and try to use those points to stay at least one night on the road.

We plan to go to DL in June this year, but it'll be a once or twice only trip because of the distance.

 

[tjkraz]

How do you guys afford to every year or every other year?

We have enough points to take 3 trips every 2 years. Room is paid via DVC. Tickets will most likely be Annual Passes. Our most recent trips were:

May '04
December '04
May '05

All three trips under the same APs.

We're about 1000 miles away, but are still open to driving. Of the three trips above we drove once and flew twice. We'll almost certainly drive next time. Flying costs about $700-800 for our family of four, and then we either have to pay more to rent a car or do without. If we drive, it costs us about $200 for gas, and we have the van accessible for the week.

We don't eat extravagant meals. Breakfast, lunch and most snacks are almost always in our room. So, in that regard, we don't spend any more on groceries for the week at WDW than we do at home. Dinner we usually eat out--about half sit-down meals and half counter service. And we usually one character meal.

We have a Disney Visa that gets us 1% cash back. If I have enough in Visa rewards to pay for our dinners over the week, I'm happy.

Assuming that our room and tickets are already paid for, we spend well under $1000 during a typical trip.

 

[CarolA]

I live fairly close (or at least close enough to get cheap airfare) I am single with no children and have a good job... All of those things make my vacation much different from someone else's. Basically it probably takes less of my income to meet the day to day expenses then someone who is supporting a family and lives in a high cost area like California!

 

[LisaS]

How do you guys afford to every year or every other year?

It certainly helps when you live on the east coast. I can get round trip tickets for both my DH and I for about what you pay for one person or even quite a bit less if I can get a good sale price. And we don't have kids so we're only buying airline and park tickets for two people and meals for two.

We like to stay in deluxes so we bought into DVC to reduce the cost of our lodging. DVC also helps with ticket costs since, this year at least, we'll get $100 off the cost of an annual pass. And being an annual pass holder allows us to purchase a DDE card (Disney Dining Experience) which saves us 20% on meals and alcohol at table service restaurants which helps reduce our dining bill.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

We use our Disney Visa as well. The rewards add up each year to just about pay our maintenance fees. Also, we use frequent flyer miles for reward travel whenever possible. The main thing is to be flexible. If there is a great deal on airfare, we take advantage of it (even if it's during a time we normally wouldn't travel).

We eat breakfast in the room, bring snacks into the parks, have a large counter-service meal in early to mid-afternoon, and buy a snack in the early evening. I'm embarrassed to say we have never held reservations or eaten at any sit-down restaurant inside WDW during our many visits there (except Beaches 'n' Cream, and we used a meal voucher). That alone saves hundreds of dollar each visit. We are a family of four and have never even come close to the totals you come up with. We don't skimp by any means, but we aren't extravagant either.

Bottomline -- if you think the cost of your normal vacations would only allow you to visit once every five years, DVC is not for you. You can however reap many of the same rewards by renting points for your next stay.

I know it's tough to try and make all these things work out for the best. Just give yourself some time to look at the big picture and do what's right for your family.

 

[Tenorsinging]

I know this is a Disney Board so don't anyone flame me, but....If you are trying to find somewhere to vacation every year that is less expensive, you might check into Westin Vacation Ownership. We own in Maui and Florida, and you can either use your Villa points to go to your home villa, or go to any of the 14 (with more to come) other villa's that they have. I have found it to be a little bit better than the Marriott program, and definately cheaper than buying points thru DVC.

You can also choose to trade your points (if you are not using your villa that year) into hotel points, and can stay at any Westin Hotel or chain (Sheraton, W, Four Points, etc.) with no blackouts, and by the way, the Swan and Dolphin are included in that list too, because we traded in some points and we are going to stay 2 nights at the Swan on points in October before going on our Magic Cruise. When you become owners, you are automatically enrolled in the Starwood Points at the Gold level. If you own at more than one villa you are bumped to the Elite status, with additional perks. Of course you still have maintenance fees, but depending on where you own they can be as low as $400 and change all the way up to $1200 a year.

So far this year we didn't use Maui or Florida, traded it in for Villa points and I have spent one week in Bahamas, one week in California, 2 weeks in Myrtle Beach, SC, and I still have 11,850 points left. Points you lose if you don't use them, but if you switched them to Starwood hotel points, those are good for 7 years.

You can PM me if you want anymore info.

Lynne