Disney is brilliant or I am just not

[nd43]

When you first buy into DVC you get "flush" with points. They load up the current year which you can quickly bank and / or you still have access to all those future points that are easy to borrow.

So, with access to all these early points, I splurge and decide to stay at my new home (VGF) over Christmas.

We love it. In fact, we love it so much we want to keep doing it. Of course, to do it again, even using 2 or 3 days in January and a standard view 2 bedroom will require almost 440 pts every year.

However, our "regular" trip was around Spring Break. That trip also costs almost 440 pts per year. So to continue to enjoy both trips would take almost 900 pts per year! Yikes!

So, be careful with all of those early points. You just might try a trip you want to repeat. Then it will really cost you. Now we are struggling to decide if we really want to do Disney at Christmas or Spring Break. All the time realizing "with more points" you can do both. Of course, one stay needs to be somewhere other then VGF. The thought of 900 pts buying two weeks is rough.

So, Disney is brilliant. Or, perhaps, I am just not so brilliant for discovering another prime time Disney vacation option with all of those early points

 

[Msmithmd]

Price of 900 points at VGF to cover your described two weeks: $139,500 plus closing costs.

Median home purchase price in Orlando, 2013, to own for "all the weeks": $149,625 plus closing costs.

Mickey always gets his cheese...

 

[crisi]

And then after five or ten years of every vacation at Disney, your teenage son wants to go to Mexico. Your daughter has a choir trip to Washington DC and you'd really like to go see her perform at the Kennedy Center. You want to spend two weeks in Europe as a family. And you have a whole bunch of DVC points you really don't need that you bought for a lot of money - and are now worth somewhat less on the resale market.

Don't OD on the trips. There is a huge world out there. Several months ago there was a thread about what percentage of your vacation time is DVC. For most long term owners - it was less than 50%.

If you do, buy multiple small contracts that you can sell off individually if Disney loses its luster.

 

[staceymay00]

And then after five or ten years of every vacation at Disney, your teenage son wants to go to Mexico. Your daughter has a choir trip to Washington DC and you'd really like to go see her perform at the Kennedy Center. You want to spend two weeks in Europe as a family. And you have a whole bunch of DVC points you really don't need that you bought for a lot of money - and are now worth somewhat less on the resale market.

Don't OD on the trips. There is a huge world out there. Several months ago there was a thread about what percentage of your vacation time is DVC. For most long term owners - it was less than 50%.

If you do, buy multiple small contracts that you can sell off individually if Disney loses its luster.

^^^ This is really good advice. I seriously considered adding on several times over the past few years when we went to Disney 1-2 times per year. Now we are all a bit "Disneyed out", kids are older and busier and it is more difficult to get away, there are other things we want to do besides Disney, so the plan just changed to Disney trips every other year. The number of points we own suddenly seems perfect.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[nd43]

And then after five or ten years of every vacation at Disney, your teenage son wants to go to Mexico. Your daughter has a choir trip to Washington DC and you'd really like to go see her perform at the Kennedy Center. You want to spend two weeks in Europe as a family. And you have a whole bunch of DVC points you really don't need that you bought for a lot of money - and are now worth somewhat less on the resale market.

Don't OD on the trips. There is a huge world out there. Several months ago there was a thread about what percentage of your vacation time is DVC. For most long term owners - it was less than 50%.

If you do, buy multiple small contracts that you can sell off individually if Disney loses its luster.

This is good advice (especially for young families).

Unfortunately, our experience has been the opposite. Our kids are older (two in college and one in high school). We have been going to Disney for 16+ years. Over the past 3-4 years are trips have increased. We used to go every other year and lately we have been going twice a year. We typically travel twice per year. My work used to provide one of those trips.

We have done lots of other trips (all over the world). For our family, Disney is just so easy and nice and fits our needs for a relaxing vacation. It is a quick 2 hour flight from our home.

After you have been to just about every beach in Florida, California, and the Caribbean, you start to realize a "beach vacation" is pretty much the same no matter where you go and you get tired of it (for me, it becomes boring - this is the trip work provided). We are not "city people" that love the lively city vacations (too much stress getting around for us on vacation). Our historic trips were interesting (Getty's, DC, etc.) but not something you feel compelled to go over and over. We do not ski. Europe was a very long flight and I am not a great flyer. It was interesting but the flight penalty is very high for just "interesting". Again, it cuts down how much you really want to do it. Hawaii was great, but again, a very long flight for us and it basically becomes a "beach vacation" once you get there which we have done numerous times in other deluxe resorts (Mexico - multiple locations, St Kitts, St Thomas, Puerto Rico, Nevis, Bahamas, all over Florida, etc.). Ok, we like our vacations!

So, Disney is winning against a lot of other experiences we had. I guess it just fits our requirements for what a vacation is for us the best. I want it to be very simple logistically, easy flight, nice accommodations with room to spread out, and lots of entertainment and eating options we can choose to do (or not do) once we get there that are very easy to access. I want safety to be a non-issue (like traveling off resort in some of our Caribbean / Mexico vacations - not something I want to do again!).

I think our next "lull" will be when all the kids graduate college and before grandkids. Of course once grand kids start showing up I think we are off to the races once again.

All in all, we are going to stick to one trip a year with points and see what happens.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We bought into DVC as empty nesters. We have done lots of traveling and still find that WDW is a happy place for us.

 

[SuperRob]

When you first buy into DVC you get "flush" with points. They load up the current year which you can quickly bank and / or you still have access to all those future points that are easy to borrow.

...

So, Disney is brilliant. Or, perhaps, I am just not so brilliant for discovering another prime time Disney vacation option with all of those early points

There are a few different psychological effects taking place (Anchoring, Ordering, Framing, and Loss Aversion). Mainly, though, your frame of reference has been set to an abnormally high level with your first trip, and people almost always refuse to adjust back down, so they spend more to avoid the cognitive dissonance.

Even though I know all this (I'm in marketing) doesn't make me less susceptible, which should show how powerful that effect is. My wife and I have only ever stayed at Deluxe resorts, verandah staterooms on the cruise ships, etc. We simply won't accept less when it's our money we're spending. It's making for some expensive trips, but we feel it's worth it. Is it? Probably not, but we FEEL it is.

Most people run into this problem with cars. Once you have a nicer car than you're used to, you simply can't tolerate the idea of driving anything lesser. For some people, this means each subsequent car is better than the one before it. And there is literally nothing worse than getting used to driving a nice, spacious SUV, and having to downsize to a Geo Metro.

(Yes, I'm speaking from experience here. )

In our case, we used our first year, plus the sign-up year's points to go on my first trip to Hawaii to stay at Aulani. Boy, was that first trip something we still talk about. Only five nights (and two year's worth of points!), but it's definitely framed how we think about our DVC trips. Since becoming members, we've only ever stayed at Aulani, the Grand Californian, and next the Grand Floridian, so you can clearly see what it did to our decision making.

But the end result is that we're happy. And as long as we're happy, who cares?

Speaking of how you're not brilliant (LOL!), check this website out. It's all about how screwed up our brains are when it comes to this kind of stuff. http://youarenotsosmart.com/

 

[nalajms]

However, our "regular" trip was around Spring Break. That trip also costs almost 440 pts per year. So to continue to enjoy both trips would take almost 900 pts per year! Yikes!

Your experience is probably common for some new buyers. But then you have others who dislike it and sell their VGF within a year of buying! We are a family of young kids, and I really don't see an issue going overboard with points now and start selling them off later when they lose interest. Will I lose money? Maybe, but my total cost would be no worse off than paying OOP for the same rooms.

If you prefer a Disney vacation over something else, why spend your money elsewhere? That's just my opinion. And I guess I do not fit into the marketing stereotype ... I had not problems going from a high end German car down to a Japanese one

 

[staceymay00]

Many people do add on and never regret it. I think the important thing to remember when buying points is to set yourself up with the ability to sell some of them (break large point purchases into smaller contracts) even if you think you never will never want or need to sell. Our Disney trips are becoming more spaced out right now, and although we still love Disney I am now glad we did not add on points a few years ago. I can see us adding on once our kids have left the nest, though, using our current points for a big family trip every 2-3 years and adding a contract at an Epcot resort for F&W trips every year or two. It's always possible to rent out extra points, but I think the ability to sell off some of your points is valuable for people owning a large quantity of points.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[DisneyRegulars]

There are a few different psychological effects taking place (Anchoring, Ordering, Framing, and Loss Aversion). Mainly, though, your frame of reference has been set to an abnormally high level with your first trip, and people almost always refuse to adjust back down, so they spend more to avoid the cognitive dissonance.

Even though I know all this (I'm in marketing) doesn't make me less susceptible, which should show how powerful that effect is. My wife and I have only every stayed at Deluxe resorts, verandah staterooms on the cruise ships, etc. We simply won't accept less when it's our money we're spending. It's making for some expensive trips, but we feel it's worth it. Is it? Probably not, but we FEEL it is.

Most people run into this problem with cars. Once you have a nicer car than you're used to, you simply can't tolerate the idea of driving anything lesser. For some people, this means each subsequent car is better than the one before it. And there is literally nothing worse than getting used to driving a nice, spacious SUV, and having to downsize to a Geo Metro.

Oh geez! This completely explains why we just bought a bigger newer house when we were looking to downsize to an older house!

 

[JasonDVC]

But the end result is that we're happy. And as long as we're happy, who cares?
/[/url]

BINGO!

 

[jade1]

BINGO!

Yep, I prefer Disney is brilliant at showing you what your missing.

 

[DizBub]

.
So, be careful with all of those early points. You just might try a trip you want to repeat. Then it will really cost you. Now we are struggling to decide if we really want to do Disney at Christmas or Spring Break. All the time realizing "with more points" you can do both. Of course, one stay needs to be somewhere other then VGF. The thought of 900 pts buying two weeks is rough.

They are evil geniuses. They get you hooked and laugh all the way to the bank.

I know you like VGF but there are some really nice alternatives that cost less points for at least one of your trips.

I'm sure you already know this but you can have points transferred into your account to make that 2nd trip too.

 

[SuperRob]

They are evil geniuses. They get you hooked and laugh all the way to the bank.

I know you like VGF but there are some really nice alternatives that cost less points for at least one of your trips.

I'm sure you already know this but you can have points transferred into your account to make that 2nd trip too.

Next April, we're going to do Animal Kingdom for a few nights, because it's the cheapest resort that time of year. Hopefully things like the bus commute to the parks and whatnot doesn't sour my wife on it. It'll be our first non-Monorail resort together. Our anchor is set ludicrously high.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

We bought DVC in good times (what Southerners call tall cotton). We had the money to buy 100 points in cash without missing it. Soon afterwards, our fortunes changed a little bit. Our small contract was a Godsend. We could still afford to pay our maintenance fees and to DRIVE to WDW. We would have loved to have bought more points. Now , we have owned for 7 years and are very happy that we didn't add on. We still love going to Disney OFTEN but probably won't go this year.

Don't forget you can get points transferred from someone else's account.

 

[DizBub]

Next April, we're going to do Animal Kingdom for a few nights, because it's the cheapest resort that time of year. Hopefully things like the bus commute to the parks and whatnot doesn't sour my wife on it. It'll be our first non-Monorail resort together. Our anchor is set ludicrously high.

It's a beautiful resort, I hope you both like it. Last May we got a 2 bedroom standard view at Kidani for 3 nights over a weekend. Surprisingly it was the absolute cheapest resort pointwise at that time. We even had a small savanna view. It was really nice.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We have 1400 points at a variety of resorts. Have owned since 1998 and added on over the years. We love the resorts and rarely go to parks. Use most of our points every year or carry over a few. We can go 2 or 3 times a year to various resorts and still do other stuff so I know we are lucky. But can't imagine giving them up! Give them away to kids and sometimes friends, I imagine if we ever get tired of the resorts we will use for Disney adventures or maybe cruises although we go on Disney cruises very year and never use points. Disney is still magical to our family

 

[Murron]

And then after five or ten years of every vacation at Disney, your teenage son wants to go to Mexico. Your daughter has a choir trip to Washington DC and you'd really like to go see her perform at the Kennedy Center. You want to spend two weeks in Europe as a family. And you have a whole bunch of DVC points you really don't need that you bought for a lot of money - and are now worth somewhat less on the resale market.

Don't OD on the trips. There is a huge world out there. Several months ago there was a thread about what percentage of your vacation time is DVC. For most long term owners - it was less than 50%.

If you do, buy multiple small contracts that you can sell off individually if Disney loses its luster.

Well said!!!! Especially the comment re small contracts. But also consider this....

Yes, the children grow up and want to do other vacations or the obligatory choir, sports, event vacations (ooh I've been there too!). In those high school years, I rented my points to family! Then off to college. Adios!!! And off hubby and I go to Disney again. LOL. Actually after all years we love the resorts more than the parks and also spend a lot of time at Vero and Hilton Head. All our contracts have been paid for by this time and it's and easy jump on a plane to a beach. So great for the children while they are young and nice for the adults when the children are gone.

 

[jade1]

Well said!!!! Especially the comment re small contracts. But also consider this....

Yes, the children grow up and want to do other vacations or the obligatory choir, sports, event vacations (ooh I've been there too!). In those high school years, I rented my points to family! Then off to college. Adios!!! And off hubby and I go to Disney again. LOL. Actually after all years we love the resorts more than the parks and also spend a lot of time at Vero and Hilton Head. All our contracts have been paid for by this time and it's and easy jump on a plane to a beach. So great for the children while they are young and nice for the adults when the children are gone.

Good points, although we never stopped going. Then there's our clan now in their early 20's and still get enough of WDW/DVC/Deluxe. Sounds like they may be buying soon so even better trips to come.

They are all over the EPCOT wind down.

 

[twinsouvenirs]

This thread is great

I have addonitis already--we took a four day trip in Sept BW/SSR, we took a 6 day trip in Feb GFV, and we are spending the last of our 'bonus=i.e. loaded resale contract' points for Memorial day at BW (would have picked a resort we haven't tried but we are going for Star Wars Weekend and want to be able to walk)... so next year all we have planned is a January trip so far!

I am trying to remind myself that we need to pace ourselves so we don't burn out--but then our 19 mo olds point to a set of mouse ears and say delightedly "MACKAY!" and my heart melts

We took that poll about usage very seriously and we're trying to do one DVC and one non DVC trip a year as soon as we are able, but since we have the toddlers and are expecting another in July, the ease of the DVC vacations frequently wins out.

Our other upgrade issue-- I am now convinced we'll want to get two bedrooms when we have 3 kids. DH is still positive we can make 1 BRs work but I am not so sure.

Just 50 more points, honey.... or 80 to be safe...

But yeah, the weeklong stay at GFV was so heavenly it's going to be hard to top.