Crunching some numbers- DVC rocks!!

[Tink&PirateMama]

First, let me say I'm not the best at math, so I hope my calculations are correct!! I'm thinking it's atleast a good ballpark figure!

When we were planning our vow renewal for this year, I realized how much I'd be spending on our accommodations (I was looking at a 1 bedroom AKV for a week, and then a hotel type room the rest of the trip, ideally another week), and began the hunt for DVC resales. We absolutely loved SSR and were pretty sure we would buy there, because we loved it, and it seemed the best value. We bought 170 points, a loaded contract with extra points, at 67$ a point. With all the fees this came in around 12k (which we paid for in full).

So this morning I went to the disney website and plugged in their numbers based on value season (which is when we are going- much of the month of January)...

So... here's what our trip would cost.

5 nights AKV 1br (pool view) Jambo- 625 a night= 3125
9 nights OKW studio- 295 a night= 2655
3 nights at Vero- ok, I'm not sure how much that is, but I went with 300, so 900 total. We signed up for garden view, but ocean was open and I think we might change that today when we call about our last 3 nights....
3 nights at (this is unsure, we keep changing our mind!) SSR is 295 a night, VWL is 325, BC is 335, and BLT is 375 (standard view) to 400 lake to 440 for the MK view (not that we could actually get that this late in the game, but I was curious- could have gotten it with better planning possibly!).

If I add all that up, based on staying at SSR the least expensive for the last 3 nights, we're at 7580. Plus, I have some points left to bank for next year!

7500 dollars???!!!

Here's the part I'm less sure of- if I have to pay tax on that- am I right, you normally pay tax but not if you are DVC member?? Well, anyway, if that's right, the tax at 18 percent is another 1394, which puts us at 8944- nearly 9 thousand dollars!! I have no idea what the tax is, I just picked that number... anyone know? I'll run the numbers! I'm wondering if it's more like 10 percent??

EDIT- I just calculated tax at 12.5% which is what universal says it is on their website- which is 947.50, added to the 7580 total, is 8527.50.

Going on 9 thousand dollars!!??? HOLY CRICKET!! That's a big number for a hotel bill!!

So, we surely go past our break even point on just our second trip, next year!!!

How awesome is that!! I feel like we made the best decision ever!!

And I can't BELIEVE that we are having this amazing winter trip, and don't have a hotel bill So exciting!!!

I really needed the reassurance, we had a lot of hospital bills come in this summer, my kids got really sick (they are thankfully both healthy again now!) and I began to question if we had done the right thing with our money this spring, but looking at this, I'm sure we did And we are all SOOOO excited about going back to disney And we are so happy to get to do this without a big fat bill! I know that if we didn't buy DVC we wouldn't be making a big trip like this this year, and it's just fantastic it's already paid for

I had to share all the numbers here, I knew you all would not just understand my excitement, but share in it!!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I'm so glad for you! Congratulations on your up coming vow-renewal trip!

It's great that your children are now healthy, in so many ways, that's the most important thing.

Bobbi

 

[Tink&PirateMama]

I'm so glad for you! Congratulations on your up coming vow-renewal trip!

It's great that your children are now healthy, in so many ways, that's the most important thing.

Bobbi

Thank you!!

You are right on that, their health and wellbeing, and our family together is what matters most!

 

[lark]

Sounds like a pretty great deal.

To get the true value, though, you probably should do a few things. First, you're assuming you'd end up paying rack rate for the accomodations, which you probably wouldn't. Even with just an AAA discount, you're probably going to end up dropping the hotel cost at least $1,000 (plus the tax on $1,000). Depending on when you're going you could probably do much better. Free dining, for example, would be worth about $1400. If you start to take into account 30 percent codes and the like, you're talking more like $2500 or $2700.

You also need to factor in the maintenance fees you're paying on the points you're using to make these reservations. That's real cash out of your pocket. It sounds like many of the points were part of the contract you bought, so that's great. But you're still probably looking at a substantial number of points for which you are on the hook for MFs.

And if you wanted to be really type A about it, you'd want to know what you were going to do with that $12k you put toward DVC. If it was otherwise going into the stock market or a savings account, there's some lost opportunity cost there too.

My guess is that with some diligence about finding discounts and taking the cost of MFs out of the equation, the math gets a bit different. But even so, if you've saved something close to half your outlay for the DVC, that's pretty darned good.

 

[Anthony1971]

Purchasing DVC will at some point allow you to be ahead of the initial purchase price and the cost of the dues each year with certain assumptions.
There are many ways to go to Disney for less and most likely be able to do better than a DVC purchase... of course lesser accommodations and many other benefits.
Do not worry about the numbers much as if Disney is something you and your family enjoy now and will enjoy for years to come.... Memories last a life time, this is the true value.

 

[amandelba]

If it was otherwise going into the stock market or a savings account, there's some lost opportunity cost there too.

Depending on timing, this could be a net gain if you would have invested in the stock market. And with interest rates being what they are, you'd be lucky to get over 1% in a savings account or close to 2% in a CD, after tax this is nearly negligible.

 

[Tink&PirateMama]

Sounds like a pretty great deal.

To get the true value, though, you probably should do a few things. First, you're assuming you'd end up paying rack rate for the accomodations, which you probably wouldn't. Even with just an AAA discount, you're probably going to end up dropping the hotel cost at least $1,000 (plus the tax on $1,000). Depending on when you're going you could probably do much better. Free dining, for example, would be worth about $1400. If you start to take into account 30 percent codes and the like, you're talking more like $2500 or $2700.

You also need to factor in the maintenance fees you're paying on the points you're using to make these reservations. That's real cash out of your pocket. It sounds like many of the points were part of the contract you bought, so that's great. But you're still probably looking at a substantial number of points for which you are on the hook for MFs.

And if you wanted to be really type A about it, you'd want to know what you were going to do with that $12k you put toward DVC. If it was otherwise going into the stock market or a savings account, there's some lost opportunity cost there too.

My guess is that with some diligence about finding discounts and taking the cost of MFs out of the equation, the math gets a bit different. But even so, if you've saved something close to half your outlay for the DVC, that's pretty darned good.

Hmm.... let me think...

Although we paid rack rate for our first trip (we ended up getting MK view as a bonus though!), we did the 4/3 deal on our second trip. We're not free dining people at all, and don't go at that time, so that doesn't matter in our planning. We don't have AAA and when I called about our vow renewal earlier this year, before buying DVC, we couldn't get any discount. Including our MF's (we didn't have to pay on the extra points on our contract), I still say we are coming out ahead, certainly even, by the end of trip two. I did not include the benefit of internet, which we paid for on our last trips, and comes out to 200 bucks this coming trip. I also didn't include any discounts we may get through DVC (or things like pool hopping, or the excitement of 'owning' part of disney)... I think many of those things woudl balance something like free dining, or another discount. But you are right, I might have gotten some good discounts through disney I don't know about yet! And, I might have chosen cheaper accommodations than this. I know I would not have taken a 3 week trip, it would have been 10-14 days. But I do know I'd have gotten a one or two bedroom the first half atleast for the VR, and I would have stayed on property, and I likely would have paid a substantial amount for those nights. So, still, I think we're in a great place

In response to the money, and what we'd have spent it on- We were going to put that money into a more expensive vow renewal. My husband was planning a fancy special thing for us as we had eloped for our wedding, he had money set aside... and after I did a lot of research, I told him I would prefer to find a middle ground with the VR and buy DVC. So we'd have had a vow renewal and paid about 5 thousand in hotel bills (we wouldn't have done as long a trip as this one)... but instead we have a vow renewal that is less expensive (but still really cool and we love it!) and bought DVC. If I had planned to put that money in a savings/investment, it would be different. But it was money we planned to spend, for better or worse!

So when you take all that into account, I do think it's still a really good savings And we still will break even by trip two!

 

[Tink&PirateMama]

\
Do not worry about the numbers much as if Disney is something you and your family enjoy now and will enjoy for years to come.... Memories last a life time, this is the true value.

Great point!! That is the best part for sure!!

 

[DeeCee735]

Savings never factored into it for us. Seriously. Work-a-holic husband, no vacations for about a 5 year period (before we bought in) and before that, maybe a couple of long weekends (meaning 3 nights) a year.
Finally talked him into going to WDW with our then 6 year old kids. Both of us fell in love, and we could drive down from NY (he HATES to fly).
Took 3 1/2 years and two more trips before he'd finally agree to buy in - that was back in 2000. Never looked back, never figured out buying in price (did NOT finance) compared to not buying at all/investing/purchasing something else, etc. To us, it was FORCED vacations for a guy who can't pull himself away from the job, and someone who is not a plan ahead type person (that would sooo be me ), and it is an "investment" in our childrens vacation futures. They are now 20 and started using the points for themselves and their own friends just this year. It is AWESOME!

We used to think that maybe the decision to buy was alittle selfish, what if the kids didn't want it when they were older???
Boy, we couldn't have been more off the mark! My daughter already told me to "save" some points for her use this coming year! And, they both look forward to going in the future as single people, married people and PARENTS (that would make us grandma and grandpa wouldn't it YIKES, not ready for that yet - but what a GREAT thought) Best darn purchase we ever made!

Enjoy your many vacations to come....WELCOME HOME!

 

[ADP]

Congratulations on the vow renewal. That's great!

 

[Kdisney]

Sounds like you ran the numbers and it makes sense. I had the same experience, I booked a trip to AKL during Dec, no free meals when I'm going, very expensive rates, even with discount codes, etc. Now I'm spending 60 points and taking another vacation in the spring. I think you will love it!!

Now, how did you convice your DH to do a vow renewal?

 

[lark]

We don't have AAA and when I called about our vow renewal earlier this year, before buying DVC, we couldn't get any discount.

That makes sense if you called more than a couple of weeks ago. Rates for 2010 were only just released a few weeks ago. Until rates are released, CRO will let you make a reservation, but only at the prior year's rack rates. Discounts don't get loaded into the system until the following year's rates are announced. If you had booked a 2010 reservation, you could have called around August 7 to get a discount on those reservations -- at a minimum you could have gotten an AAA discount (which would have made spending $50 for a base AAA membership for the year easily worth it). Moreover, if you're going in January, there ultimately will be very very deep discounts announced. There were last year, although they typically don't get announced until the end of October or early November.

Bottom line is that the only question that matters is whether DVC is worth it to YOU. It sounds as though it easily was. But for purposes of other potential buyers doing a real numbers cruncher on the value of a DVC purchase, or any timeshare for that matter, I do think it's important not to use rack rates and also to take MFs into account.

 

[thelionqueen]

There are many, many CPA'a and financial analysts roaming the DIS who will give your more exacting information, but I totally agree with you, DVC ROCKS!!

Only you know your traveling style and expenses (which it sounds like to me you pointed out exceptionally) and what you would have spent your money on.

Based on your figures, I'd say you got a screaming deal and it will more than make up for the purchase price by trip 2. We are financing ours, so it will likely be 7 trips for us, but hey, it's money we would've spent on Disney accommodations anyway, so it doesn't bother me at all.

We also love SSR and it is a great value. We stayed there on DP's with our BLT purchase and loved it. If I had some extra cash I would consider our 3rd home there. Alas, BLT & GCV will have to suffice for at least the next 5 years

Congrats! Coming from a "non-finance" professional, your scenario ROCKS!

 

[Coach81]

I'm really bad in math as well.. but I figured that after like 8 trips or so.. we start to really get the value out of our DVC. We're coming up on trip 5 now.. so within the next few years we'll start really seeing the savings!

Either way.. you can't put a price on all the Magical Memories we've created so far.. and have yet to create with our children.. that goes beyond money..

 

[JasonDVC]

And if you wanted to be really type A about it, you'd want to know what you were going to do with that $12k you put toward DVC. If it was otherwise going into the stock market or a savings account, there's some lost opportunity cost there too.

Hopefully Disney will use that money, earn the interest, and use it to improve the parks and or build new DVC's

 

[DVC Grammy]

Having owned DVC for almost 12 years, going to WDW is the cheapest vacation I could take, even adding in dues,airfare and APs! Over those years, I averaged 3-4 weeks in WDW, most of them with my late DH, and now with either friends or family. I tend to go in the off-season and during festivals (F & W, F & G, Januarys), generally staying in studios.
When we first contemplated buying DVC, the choice for us was either joining, or putting that money into the stock market. Although at the time, we never thought of DVC as an "investment", compared to our stock portfoli, it was the smartest financial decision we made!
One day, either the kids will inherit DVC or I'll sell it. Either way, I've gotten more than my money's worth.

 

[Chellymouse]

Thank the good mouse for DVC. I went back to school 2 years ago and we would NEVER have afforded to take a vacation while I was in school and we managed to get to WDW 3 times! We've only been in going on 2 years, but it's the best $$ we've ever spent. I shudder to think of how much we could have saved had we done it sooner but we are saving now!
To the OP: hope your children are doing as well as they can be!

 

[culli]

Congrats on renewing your Vows!

I agree you can say the math however you want. Bottom line is if you are going to Disney and want more than a hotel room on Disney grounds DVC will pay off for you. We have 3 young kids and we own multiple timeshares (we got all the non DVC for next to nothing resale). We enjoy our TS portfollio, while DVC is bar none the most expensive it is also bar none our favorite and would not go without (except for hardship reasons). Our family has so much fun and we now actually go and relax, we use APs and the full kitchen. We have no desire for the free dinning as eating out for us is actually a pain and prefer eating in. The larger accomidations and being onsite is an awesome fit for our family.

Now people say you end up spending more at Disney as you end up going more etc. Well we choose to do that and DVC allows us to afford to do that..............for the memories we have already enjoyed it is hard to put a price on it.

With all that being said I sat down and started figuring out how much it would cost for the family to go to Disney every year. This was before I knew DVC even existed. It was pretty shocking and the cost, now I didn't know about all the codes and free dinning etc but when I looked into them they were times I really didn't want to go. It also seemed to be such a pain to always search for the next best deal. I started looking at the "deluxe villas" and about passed out at the cost, but they were the rooms we wanted. I stumbled onto DVC by researching cost effecitve ways to go to Disney for our family. Did the research crunched my own numbers for my particular situation, and I have to say for the way we planned to vacation DVC came out far ahead of the alternatives. Of course this is taking into account vactioning the way we wanted to vacation, I didn't want to make lots of sacrifice. So we get to vacation the way we want to with minimal if any sacrifices and can do it in a cost effective way for our family.

 

[wildernessDad]

Here's the part I'm less sure of- if I have to pay tax on that- am I right, you normally pay tax but not if you are DVC member?? Well, anyway, if that's right, the tax at 18 percent is another 1394, which puts us at 8944- nearly 9 thousand dollars!! I have no idea what the tax is, I just picked that number... anyone know? I'll run the numbers! I'm wondering if it's more like 10 percent??

EDIT- I just calculated tax at 12.5% which is what universal says it is on their website- which is 947.50, added to the 7580 total, is 8527.50.

Yeah, the hotel tax is 12.5%.... ouch!

 

[Tink&PirateMama]

There are many, many CPA'a and financial analysts roaming the DIS who will give your more exacting information, but I totally agree with you, DVC ROCKS!!
....
Congrats! Coming from a "non-finance" professional, your scenario ROCKS!

Thanks!! I think so too

Either way.. you can't put a price on all the Magical Memories we've created so far.. and have yet to create with our children.. that goes beyond money..

Totally!! But what a happy day when you see you have that- and a financial savings on top of it!!

Hopefully Disney will use that money, earn the interest, and use it to improve the parks and or build new DVC's

Sounds good to me!

Congratulations on the vow renewal. That's great!

Thank you

Sounds like you ran the numbers and it makes sense. I had the same experience, I booked a trip to AKL during Dec, no free meals when I'm going, very expensive rates, even with discount codes, etc. Now I'm spending 60 points and taking another vacation in the spring. I think you will love it!!

Now, how did you convice your DH to do a vow renewal?

Yay on your extra vacation!!
There was no convincing he was all for it! Probably not having a 'wedding' did it! He doesn't know what he's in for!

That makes sense if you called more than a couple of weeks ago. Rates for 2010 were only just released a few weeks ago. Until rates are released, CRO will let you make a reservation, but only at the prior year's rack rates. Discounts don't get loaded into the system until the following year's rates are announced. If you had booked a 2010 reservation, you could have called around August 7 to get a discount on those reservations -- at a minimum you could have gotten an AAA discount (which would have made spending $50 for a base AAA membership for the year easily worth it). Moreover, if you're going in January, there ultimately will be very very deep discounts announced. There were last year, although they typically don't get announced until the end of October or early November.

Bottom line is that the only question that matters is whether DVC is worth it to YOU. It sounds as though it easily was. But for purposes of other potential buyers doing a real numbers cruncher on the value of a DVC purchase, or any timeshare for that matter, I do think it's important not to use rack rates and also to take MFs into account.

Goodness- I guess I'm not so great at finding vacation deals!! I didn't know about all that! Still, though, even if I did all the deals, I think it'd pay for itself in another trip, maybe two if I was some super vacation saver pro- which has me making money by or after trip four, which is still a good savings for me

Having owned DVC for almost 12 years, going to WDW is the cheapest vacation I could take, even adding in dues,airfare and APs! Over those years, I averaged 3-4 weeks in WDW, most of them with my late DH, and now with either friends or family. I tend to go in the off-season and during festivals (F & W, F & G, Januarys), generally staying in studios.
When we first contemplated buying DVC, the choice for us was either joining, or putting that money into the stock market. Although at the time, we never thought of DVC as an "investment", compared to our stock portfoli, it was the smartest financial decision we made!
One day, either the kids will inherit DVC or I'll sell it. Either way, I've gotten more than my money's worth.

First, I'm sorry to hear of your loss. We too, are the type of people that want to enjoy our life and enjoy eachother, and disney is the most magical place for us all to be, we just love it!

Thank the good mouse for DVC. I went back to school 2 years ago and we would NEVER have afforded to take a vacation while I was in school and we managed to get to WDW 3 times! We've only been in going on 2 years, but it's the best $$ we've ever spent. I shudder to think of how much we could have saved had we done it sooner but we are saving now!
To the OP: hope your children are doing as well as they can be!

Thank you- they are doing very well now! Just at a check up today! And I'm glad to hear how well DVC is working for you!

Congrats on renewing your Vows!
..............for the memories we have already enjoyed it is hard to put a price on it.

With all that being said I sat down and started figuring out how much it would cost for the family to go to Disney every year. This was before I knew DVC even existed. It was pretty shocking and the cost, now I didn't know about all the codes and free dinning etc but when I looked into them they were times I really didn't want to go. It also seemed to be such a pain to always search for the next best deal. I started looking at the "deluxe villas" and about passed out at the cost, but they were the rooms we wanted. I stumbled onto DVC by researching cost effecitve ways to go to Disney for our family. Did the research crunched my own numbers for my particular situation, and I have to say for the way we planned to vacation DVC came out far ahead of the alternatives. Of course this is taking into account vactioning the way we wanted to vacation, I didn't want to make lots of sacrifice. So we get to vacation the way we want to with minimal if any sacrifices and can do it in a cost effective way for our family.

Thank you! Sounds like you too have had such a great experience with DVC . And I agree, the memories and time together are just something you can't put a price on!