considering purchase in DVC

[dfamily]

We've considered the DVC for about a year and we still haven't committed . . . We love vacationing at Disney, although I know we aren't limited to Disney with the DVC. I'm trying to rationalize spending $11,000 on vacation time along with $550 in dues each year when we stayed in the All Star Music for 4 nights in September '02 and had a wonderful stay inside the WDWR. I know that the value of points never changes, but I'm having trouble justifying spending $11,000 on vacation time. Any practical insight on the pros and cons of owning timeshare property? I've read much of what's posted on the initial page of the DVC board. Hope you veterans will help us make a decision. We hope to vacation in September of this year and it just might be at SSR!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Welcome to the Dis-Boards.
If you travel to WDW once a year and you are happy staying at the All Stars, then DVC will not save you money. If you are looking at it from that perspective and trying to see the cost savings you won't see any.
DVC is a lifestyle as much as it is a pre-paid deluxe vacation plan. I always stayed at the deluxe resorts and had to have two connecting rooms because we have four children. For us it was a cost savings right away. But when I think of how much those rooms will cost in 20 years and that my DVC will still be the same number of points per night, makes me feel pretty good. I also don't know of many timeshares where the vast majority of the owners could actually sell today for more than what they originally paid for it? That's DVC.

HBC

 

[rocketriter]

Happy Birthday Cat nailed it. DVC is an economical alternative to frequent stays in deluxe accomodations. But it's not economical for occasional or short stays in less expensive quarters.

My family was also sliding into the suite-or-adjoining-rooms habit, which is very expensive. Now we'll make back our initial DVC outlay in three or four visits to WDW, after which our annual points cost will be a small fraction of what continuing luxury rooms would have cost. But if we were a smaller family or were more comfortable in smaller quarters, the savings wouldn't be there.

 

[Merilyn]

We always take the whole family which now includes husbands and girl friends. For all of us to go it now is usually 8-10 of us. We always rented a house or condo for all our vacations whether it was WDW or any place else. We now stay in a GV which is about 1000 a night. For a week with taxes you can see it would well be over 7000 dollars. With the points we have now we can stay for 10 days and our yearly dues pays for just 2 of those nights. With the cost of the investment and all included we really stay about 5 nights a year FREE. It has been well worth it for us. We have also traded to other locations usually with Marriott and have been very happy with those also. Most will say trades are not a good use of points but we like the option to trade and to very nice resorts. You need to weigh you options and at least visit one of the DVC resorts on your next trip. You will find All Star is not going to compare.

 

[Granny]

Originally posted by Happy Birthday Cat
DVC is a lifestyle as much as it is a pre-paid deluxe vacation plan.

Very well put, HBC!

And dfamily...welcome to the DISBoards!

If your family is of a size that you can stay at a studio, then DVC does have some opportunity to offset some of its costs. Mainly in that you have a small refrigerator and microwave in the studio, so you can save on some meals, especially breakfast. I don't know about you, but it seems that we can't eat anywhere at WDW for less than $40-$50 for our family of four...and that's just for "fast food" type eating. Just eating breakfast in our villa every day saves us quite a bit of money.

Also, by eating breakfast in, we don't have to get up early to eat breakfast somewhere before going to the parks...or waste park touring time by stopping to eat.

DVC isn't for everyone...and I think that it's not necessarily a money saver, especially over the All Star resorts. If you stay at moderate or above, then I think it starts becoming more financially attractive.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[dfamily]

Thanks for the advice. I neglected to say that we had to have 2 adjoining rooms because we're a family of four (soon to be 5) and we brought grandparents with us. The All Star was our first stay inside the park and that by itself made our trip extra special! Future trips, including the one in September will be with at least 5 of us and probably more. So I guess we will require more than a standard hotel room.

If I can, any suggestion on buying resale vs. through Disney's Vacation Club? We're looking at 170 points initially and DVC offered a "credit" per point at SSR. I've seen points at OKW for as little as $68 but the timeshare runs out before the one at SSR. I think the points at SSR through Disney would end up being about $84 per point, plus no closing costs.

I feel like we're getting closer to the purchase! Thanks for your help.

 

[dianeschlicht]

One 2 bedroom unit would be perfect for you! You will have a full kitchen plus two full bathrooms and a living room. Depending on which resort, you will have either 2 queen or one queen and 1 pullout sofa in the second bedroom.

 

[rocketriter]

You will have a full kitchen plus two full bathrooms and a living room.

You'll also have a hot tub in the master bath, which is the perfect antidote for walking 15 miles each day!

 

[donald@home]

You will also have a washer and dryer in the room, which is VERY convenient. Less to pack and you go home with clean clothes (if you stay in the 2 bedroom like the above posts suggest).

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

If I can, any suggestion on buying resale vs. through Disney's Vacation Club?

My suggestion is the one you will hear on these boards the most and it is to buy in the place you want to stay the most. Over the next 38 or 50 years the price difference really doesn't work out to be that much. The extra 12 years could be worth it to you though.

HBC

 

[jodifla]

It's a big lump sum, but $11,000 over 50 years isn't really that much money year by year.

And once it's paid off (we paid off ours in five years, and considered it like a car payment), you can stay 10-12 nights a year in deluxe accommodations for $550 a year. That's hard to beat.

I feel like the smartest person in the world (well, along with all the other DVCers ) every time I walk into my one-bedroom OKW room. And I feel like a hero every time I walk into a two bedroom with friends and family, and see the looks on their faces!

 

[bcvillastwo]

...............break the cost of their DVC purchase to a cost per point basis. For instance, for planning anc comparison purposes I've estimated our DVC cost at $4.00 per point for out points and $2.00 per point for annual dues. Armed with this information I can readily compare my cost of using DVC to the cost of going non-DVC.

I could go into a long winded explanation, provide examples, etc. but for now I just wanted to lay out one way that some of us use to compare DVC to other possibilities.