Disney Vacation Club

[labr]

Disney Doll - what an excellent post. Like your DH (I am an accountant) I looked closely at the financial issues. I consider it an excellent use of funds. I won't say investment since I don't plan to sell it for a profit. However, for people who love to vacation it is great. We love WDW and love to vacation there annually. We also recently went on the 4-day cruise and plan to use our points for the 7 night cruise in the near future.

You are correct in that it is not the "best" use of points from a "bang for your buck" standpoint; however, we will be able to take a cruise that would otherwise be just a dream. So you see - Disney can make dreams come true

 

[crisi]

You can save $$s with DVC because you have a full kitchen, so if nothing else, you can eat breakfasts in the room. This can save you $5-15 per person per day.

Hate to break this to you guys, but the budget minded (as well as those looking to save time or who don't eat big breakfasts regardless) do this in the regular hotel rooms without a kitchen. There are people who either eat sandwiches or microwave food at the All Stars food court for every meal. There are people who cook in crock pots in their room. DVC will only save you money if it changes your habits - towards money savings (instead of towards money spending like it has mine - or the other people on this board who have discovered they can now spend 20 days a year at Disney instead of seven and have two or three sets of airfare to purchase where they used to buy one).

Which isn't to say it isn't possible or that the quality of a dinner cooked in a kitchen may surpass that of microwaved TV dinners - just that pop tarts in the room (or even cereal - or dare I say, scrambled eggs - done that in a hotpot in a college dorm myself) are not a privlege reserved to DVC members.

Connection vouchers - bop over to the budget board. There is usually one (or ten) threads going about vouchers on the first page or two.

 

[jimmytammy]

Since your picking on me I guess I gotta answer.
I do agree with you that meals can be eaten at All Stars in rooms. I know cause we have done it at All Stars twice. Point Im gettin to is DVC allows you a kitchen that most all other resorts within WDW dont. I made that comment not taking in consideration that you CAN have any meal in your room at any of the resorts. BUT after our last experience with small ones eating in the same room at All Stars, my DW said this is it, it aint worth the $$s saved to worry about the kids spilling their milk, or dumping their cereal on the bed cause there wasnt room enough for all of us at the table. It was just easier to go on to the food court and be done with it. In fact I enjoyed the food courts at All Stars. Inexpensive by Disney standards.
DVC has helped to change our habits. Granted we dont eat every meal in room but we at least save $$s for breakfast. That amount I based on what DW and myself cost high end, 2 kids on low end.
I definitely believe that over time, DVC will save the regular WDW visitor money, at the least, from the accomodations perspective. If anyone has a WDW guide dated back to when DVC got started, please give us a comparison of what Polynesian cost then vs. now. I suggest Poly cause I know it was thar
back in them thar days.
Sure, when times are tough for WDW, they are offering all kinds of cut rates, but just as the case is now, those great rates are gone. OCT 1 will reveal all new more expensive rates at their resorts. My DVC will not go up. The annual fees may fluctuate some, but we dont expect a huge move in those.
I didnt bring up this point because so many others covered it. I only mentioned the food deal, because many here will cook full fledged meals at DVC resorts and save lots of money. For us, that will never be the case, we go not to work but to play. To each his own.
Crisi, thanks for bringing up that point about other resorts, it helps me remember another reason why we bought into DVC.

 

[OneMoreTry]

Anybody who loves Disney and visits WDW frequently should check out DVC.

Do the tour and then check out resale possibilities before you make a final decision.

The best thing about DVC is knowing you will be coming back!


At least until 2042.

 

[wdwstar]

labr

connection vouchers- you purchase quick and casual vouchers from connections or (lillian vernon membership much cheaper ) for $11.99
you get a drink, your meal, side dish in
f not included in your meal and a dessert. our family of 4 only uses 2 vouchers at a time, so much food you get.
their is a list of places you can use them, basically most of disneys fast food courts in the resorts, fast food places in the parks, example we went to beaches and cream, 1 prime rib sub 10.99, fries 1.79,drink 2.50, dessert ice cream mud slide 7.99. yummy( all b & c ice cream is hugh and great. you can not get the kitchen sink anymore )tax and tip is also included in these vouchers. otherwise your total 23.27 plus 11 %tax and 15 %tip.

another example a better deal pepper market
steak dinner 17.99, salad 3.99 as your side dish, smoothy as your drink 3.99, dessert 4.50. total 30.47 plus tax and tip.
again we only use two vouchers for our family of 4, and roll away from this place.

check out the budget board for more info.

 

[crisi]

I wasn't really picking on you. Its just a pet peeve of mine - not about DVC in general, but about how people view "savings."

I do really agree that if you are going to eat in your room - having a kitchen (even a mini kitchen like in the DVC studios) is a big improvement and makes it much easier.

I have come to the conclusion after a year of these discussions that DVC can save you money, but DVC works BEST when you have other motivations other than just saving money. Being able to eat in your room comfortably might be one of these motivations.

 

[wdwstar]

i agree with crisi , we just stayed at the bcv and then over the weekend moved to a standard room at the bc and boy we were spoiled at the bcv with the mini kitchen, standard room no coffee pot, no micro to heat our breakfast , no fridge for the milk, orange juice, our other cold stuff, we had to make sure that our cooler was filled with ice all the time. i just think once your spoiled staying in the villas, its hard to go back to not having the mini kitchen or full kitchen, and can forget the washer and dryer, i thought i would hate to do the laundry on vacation, but i would just throw a load in when it was convient and i hate coming home, but love not having two days of laundry to do when im home. and we dont go on vacation to save money, we like to spoil ourselves too, so, to each is own!

 

[OneMoreTry]

I also agree that saving money should not be the only or even primary motivation for DVC.

In my opinion it's only for people that want/need condos and plan to visit WDW frequently. It's NOT as cheap as 2 rooms at a value resort and probably not much cheaper (if at all) as 2 rooms at a moderate resort with a good discount code.

We have to have a condo. A regular room is not an option for us with 5 kids -- one of them chronically ill.

As I said before, the best part is knowing you have a place when you return, and that's probably the best perk of all.

 

[jimmytammy]

I know you werent picking on me. We're cool, no problem. In fact I think you brought a valid point to the forefront which is what the original poster wanted to hear.

Im just happy to be a DVCer!!