Don't want to be Debbie Downer, but I need a pep talk!

kstinw19

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
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594
I am having trouble justifying our DVC purchase and would love someone to change my mind.

First a little background...my family consists of 6 of us...2 adults, 4 kids. We are Disney addicts and go to Disneyworld about once a year. We have been looking at DVC for years now, and always said that if they opened a DVC on the monorail, we would buy. Which we did. Last May.

In hindsight, we did it all wrong...too many points (BLT 320), wrong UY (June when we go in April or May, although that may change) and financed some of it. But it is what it is, and we have never canceled our trip, so I think we are okay on UY.

Here is where I have trouble...when we bought I didn't realize that you could not use free dining and some of the other perks that you would get paying for regular rooms. We would typically get two deluxe rooms, DDP and park hoppers. This cost would come to about $8k-$10k total. With free dining we would spend around $6-$8k.

We are taking our first DVC trip in May. We are doing BLT, lake view, probably DDP although I haven't purchased it yet, and park hopper tix. Both trips are 9 days, 8 nights.

Now if I add up the monthly payment, plus DDP and park hoppers for the family, we come out to almost $13K!!

I realize that when DVC is paid off our cost will decrease significantly, but it is tough to swallow that kind of cost, especially during this economic time. I don't even want to tell my husband that I haven't bought the park tix and dining plan yet. He will freak!

So I guess my question is, is it worth it? Do you have to "suck it up" for the first few vacations in order to reap the benefits? I guess with all of the promotions going on, it is hard to swallow and I feel very restricted. It seems as if it's not a benefit at this time.

Any reassurances would be appreciated.
 
We bought at BLT last summer. Before becoming DVC we always stayed at WDW by using the promo codes. I kind of like booking when I want now and not worrying about if there is a discount or not. I just look at the cost of the deluxe rooms :eek: and am so glad I have DVC. No bill at checkout!
It looks like the most recent discount code came out this past week. And to me it looks like they are not as good as they were last year. Maybe Disney is trying to do what they said a year ago and start to lessen the discounts. Makes me all the more happy with DVC :lovestruc
 
My honest opinion is the DDP is not worth the money you spend on it especially with the quality of food! I know a lot of people balk at the idea of eating in the villa but we found this SO much nicer, more convenient and cost effective over the past 15 years. We usually stay for 10 nights and spend about 200 - 250.00 on food, snacks, juice, adult beverages ect... that averages to 25.00 per day for a family of 5! Staying at BLT we found it so convenient to eat breakfast in the room, and either come back for lunch or eat dinner in the room. We still eat out several days/nights but not enough to justify the cost of the dining plans.

My family prefers to eat in, they get what they want when they want and I always make it simple meals.
Just a suggestion until you pay off the contract.
 
That is true...sometimes I forget the convenience of the kitchen. We could do OOP and probably save lots of money. My kids don't each much anyway so the DDP has always seemed kind of a waste for us.

Feeling a little better...anything else? :)
 

So, sorry you are feeling this. Been there, done that as well, and it's hard to rectify at times, so let's see if we can help you out:

Cost of vacations - First of all, you seem to be adding up the actual cost of this vacation, by adding in the additional 49 years of ownership you will get at BLT, and this is not how you do it. You need to take your dues this year and your buy in cost, and figure those out just for the amount of points you've used for your vacation. Remember, you have prepaid a lifetime of vacations, so you don't add that to the actual cost of this year's vacation, as you will get a crazy high figure. But, maybe you have done the math correct, and that amount seems high, but you do have 6 people to pay for. Math is not my best subject - LOL!

Financing - When you finance, it does add to the cost of DVC, but you really can't figure out the entire cost until you have paid it off.

Disney Promos - Free dining and room discounts are used to secure bookings - they are marketing promos, and not rewards. I'm still confused when people don't understand this, but you were probably so excited by the whole process, that you didn't really think this part through. Disney doesn't give anything for free, so, as a guest, you have to figure out what the best option is for your family. The past years, Disney has done a lot of promos, as the economy is struggling, but when we bought 7 years ago, there really weren't many deals at all, and already, Disney is starting to wean guests off of the deals. You prepaid for a lifetime of vacations, so that is where your savings are, in regards to your accommodations. You have to compare to non-discount periods - when the discounts dry up, would you still be planning to rent 2 Deluxe rooms with the DP? These are the numbers you need to compare to.

Savings - With 1 bedrooms or higher, you can cook in your villa, which will save a huge amount of money. You may not even need to purchase DP any longer! Something to consider. Also, why park hoppers - if you can plan a vacation within the next 51 weeks, you will save more money by buying Annual Passes.

I wish you well in rectifying this confusion. Once you figure your numbers correctly, I think you will see that amount isn't quite as high as you think it will be. If it's still too high, then you may decide to sell your contract, and perhaps at a later point, you can revisit DVC?

I wish you well in planning out the rest of your vacation, Tiger
 
Also if the economy rebounds, the free DDP and other discounts may dry up.
 
I just bought at BLT and kind of struggled with a few of the same issues you did.

a few ways to save money. Get the Tables in Wonderland card instead of the DDP. The $75 cost saves you 20% at most sit down restaurants. wdw today podcast says that it pays for itself when you buy $350 worth of food (which for a party of 6 is 1 character buffet, and one "cheap" sit down meal!)

Also, the advantage to BLT is that it commands the highest point rental! If you bought too many points, take the extra points and rent them for $12 a point to someone on Disboards. Take that money and apply it to your loan principle.

If you go every year, see if you can time your visits to be 2 in a 12 month period, thus allowing you to buy annual passes with the $100 DVC discount per pass. I am doing this in 2012 by traveling in both January (MKL weekend) and a week over Thanksgiving in November for my family of 4. It will still feel like a once per year trip, but will allow us to pay $1500 ($425 per AP X 4)once instead of $1200 twice ($300 per 7 day park hopper per trip X 8) saving us $900.

I hope some of this helps!
 
I paid cash for my 10000 contract. I have used it 3 times last year and going again this May- That means every trip I take after this May trip is a bonus.

When I look at my annual dues- almost seven hundred- I could stay a few nights at a moderate. Maybe get the free dining, but my kids are older and last trip I am so happy I didn't pay to do the dining plan with them. They backed out of a lot of meals with us.

I got 150 points based on using a studio.
I am flexible with my dates- I booked this last time and was able to score $67 airfare , nonstop down there- and under $89 for the way home- nonstop

I also think the more you go the less the need to do everything every time. We don't have to eat at everyone of our favorite restaurants- we can try lighter choices- like at Food and Wine- we didn't "need" the dining paln for sit down meals- we grazed. This trip me and my 2 boys are going-21 and 18. We'll do a day at MK, one at HS, a water park- pool, DTD,

It truly is a luxury item and it is a prepaid room for the amount of years on your contract-period. It would be sweet to get what seems like awesome perks-but I think as the economy changes those "freebies" will lessen and go away.

I like being on top of Epcot! boat to Epcot in 5 minutes is the best! The free dining probably won't last forever.
 
I just bought at BLT and kind of struggled with a few of the same issues you did.

a few ways to save money. Get the Tables in Wonderland card instead of the DDP. The $75 cost saves you 20% at most sit down restaurants. wdw today podcast says that it pays for itself when you buy $350 worth of food (which for a party of 6 is 1 character buffet, and one "cheap" sit down meal!)

Also, the advantage to BLT is that it commands the highest point rental! If you bought too many points, take the extra points and rent them for $12 a point to someone on Disboards. Take that money and apply it to your loan principle.

If you go every year, see if you can time your visits to be 2 in a 12 month period, thus allowing you to buy annual passes with the $100 DVC discount per pass. I am doing this in 2012 by traveling in both January (MKL weekend) and a week over Thanksgiving in November for my family of 4. It will still feel like a once per year trip, but will allow us to pay $1500 ($425 per AP X 4)once instead of $1200 twice ($300 per 7 day park hopper per trip X 8) saving us $900.

I hope some of this helps!

+1

I was going to say almost the same thing about TIW and DVC APs.
 
I...(snip)....If you go every year, see if you can time your visits to be 2 in a 12 month period, thus allowing you to buy annual passes with the $100 DVC discount per pass. I am doing this in 2012 by traveling in both January (MKL weekend) and a week over Thanksgiving in November for my family of 4. It will still feel like a once per year trip, but will allow us to pay $1500 ($425 per AP X 4)once instead of $1200 twice ($300 per 7 day park hopper per trip X 8) saving us $900.

I hope some of this helps!

kstnw19 - This can be a HUGE savings, especially if your trips tend to be 8 or 9 nights each time. If you tend to go every year in April or May, try scheduling yur first trip for May and the next trip for April. Or even a week or so sooner. For example, if yo go May 6 - May 15 this year, go April 28 - May 6 next year.

One 9 day adult PH (with expiration) currently cost $331.22 (with tax). Two are $662.44 (assuming the price doesn't go up between your trips).

A DVC AP is now $424.94 (with tax)

If you can get two trips out of the AP, you will save $237.50 for each adult.

Similar savings for the kids. PLUS you can get a TiW card and save 20% on most table service meals. Once you spend $375 on TS meals, you break even and start saving.

Don't under estimate the savings of eating more meals in the room and bringing some of your own snacks into the parks. The DP is convenient, but many tend to overeat when they are on it. Not good for anyone. I think you will spend less on food if you just pay as you go. Perhaps buy some gift cards ahead of time and use those for the restaurants if you want/need to prepay for some of the cost.

Do you have a plan to save monthly for your trip? It's a lot less stressful to part with a few hundred a month than it is to shell out big bucks for everything all at once (this is one of the secrets of how DVC gets so many to buy, lol). Suggest you do that at least for the APs if you go that route. Or you can buy the AP vouchers one at a time to spread out the cost.

Good luck! And it will seem like a much better deal as room rates increase and you pay off the initial purchase price.
 
We don't do the dining plan either. It isn't a good value. We have done the TiW card - it isn't always a good deal with four of us (and we do a lot of sit down signature dining), but when we have guests, it is a great deal. Do some math. You have a kitchen, make use of it! We do breakfast in the room every day except the one day we do a character meal. We don't eat anything BUT breakfast in the room, but there is no reason that you can't eat dinners and lunches (at least some of them) there while you pay down your DVC investment.

Since you bought "too many" points, think about a few years worth of renting some of them to pay down your loan (that will help the yearly outgo - plus the costs of transportation, tickets (if you don't do APs), and food). If you go every year, do the "51 week plan" to get two trips out of one AP and skip the hoppers.
 
I am having trouble justifying our DVC purchase and would love someone to change my mind.

First a little background...my family consists of 6 of us...2 adults, 4 kids. We are Disney addicts and go to Disneyworld about once a year. We have been looking at DVC for years now, and always said that if they opened a DVC on the monorail, we would buy. Which we did. Last May.

In hindsight, we did it all wrong...too many points (BLT 320), wrong UY (June when we go in April or May, although that may change) and financed some of it. But it is what it is, and we have never canceled our trip, so I think we are okay on UY.

Here is where I have trouble...when we bought I didn't realize that you could not use free dining and some of the other perks that you would get paying for regular rooms. We would typically get two deluxe rooms, DDP and park hoppers. This cost would come to about $8k-$10k total. With free dining we would spend around $6-$8k.

We are taking our first DVC trip in May. We are doing BLT, lake view, probably DDP although I haven't purchased it yet, and park hopper tix. Both trips are 9 days, 8 nights.

Now if I add up the monthly payment, plus DDP and park hoppers for the family, we come out to almost $13K!!

I realize that when DVC is paid off our cost will decrease significantly, but it is tough to swallow that kind of cost, especially during this economic time. I don't even want to tell my husband that I haven't bought the park tix and dining plan yet. He will freak!

So I guess my question is, is it worth it? Do you have to "suck it up" for the first few vacations in order to reap the benefits? I guess with all of the promotions going on, it is hard to swallow and I feel very restricted. It seems as if it's not a benefit at this time.

Any reassurances would be appreciated.

Yes, it is worth it. Even now. Surprisingly! Even without other budgeting, it's worth it.

Two trips of 8 nights? Are they within 1 year? Have you considered annual pass with the $100 DVC discount? (We still get that - right?) Could give you some savings and increase your flexibility.

And, if you do Dining Plan, have you considered segmenting it? You could do 3 nights and 3 nights and save 2 nights cost and still have some dining plan on each day of your trip except maybe check out day.

Whatever room you are in, you'll have a refrigerator and could do simple breakfasts like cereal fruit juice milk coffee toast bagels cheeses pastries boiled eggs breakfast bars frozen breakfasts or anything else that goes in a microwave or toaster or coffee pot - then your dining plan goes farther and you may end up eating healthier as well as all that restaurant food is nice for a treat but after awhile it gets to be too much!

Anyway - there was a point where I thought it wasn't worth it, but I find I can make it work very easily.

I just priced a standard studio at BWV for May at full price: with tax $444. With points - 14. Rent points for $12 - $168 and on down lower if you can get them cheaper. A 40 % disney discount would be about $267 for this room! That's assuming you get the discount. Now - point cost for someone who owns is a bit less than $12. Maybe as low as $7. Then the room is only costing about $98 a night - lots of money left for dinners out! So the price long term gets cheaper. The first few years cost the most if you've financed. That's a whole other subject - financing is not that great of a deal usually.

The more I go, the less dining plan I want and the more 'room' I want.

Your other option since you have BLT is to rent them out - your points are a hot commodity right now. That can net back some of your expenses and offset your costs. This requires work however and I am experiencing a little of it right now <g>.

Good luck with it all and have a nice vacation!
 
It sounds like you are including the total loan payments for the year into this year's "cost". Really, you need to take the total of your payments and then divide this over the years in the contract. Then add on the year's annual dues to assess the cost of the accommodations for this trip.

Next, do you do the theme parks every day? I know the 10 day never expire ticket with park hopper and water parks is expensive...............but we have spread these tickets out over several years.

Now that our kids are a bit older, they enjoy the water parks and the resorts more than the parks. On a 7 day trip, we might visit the major parks on 2 or 3 days, the water parks and Quest on 2 days, and a couple of relaxing resort days. Back when we only stayed at value resorts, we minimized the time at the resorts because they were very basic. Clean and convenient....but not a lot of space, the pools were crazy busy and it just wasn't relaxing.

We have been going to Disney roughly 2x per year for 15 years.......and our last trip ...the first as DVC members, was the most relaxing EVER! My kids can't wait to go back.........and neither can I!!!!!!!

We still haven't decided whether to buy the annual pass and get two trips in or just buy the super duper 10 day pass and use for at least 3 trips....

The other thing to consider is that if you buy the DDP as a DVC member, that you don't have to buy for the entire trip. You may want to consider the DXP for a day and then get 3 sit down meals over two days out of it.

Anyway, I do think that you should recalculate how you are assessing the "cost" of this trip! Yes, the cash out is huge this year and will be for the next few years until the loan is repaid, but you are prepaying for many years!

Have a wonderful trip!
 
With the points you have, you always have the luxury of a 2B which is nice as the kids get older.
 
This has nothing to do with finances but I think that you will love staying in a 2 bedroom villa as opposed to two rooms. We love having a living room to relax in. We feel that the vacation is so much more enjoyable with the additonal space. Also with 4 kids, you will like having a washer and dryer in your villa.
 
It sounds like you are including the total loan payments for the year into this year's "cost". Really, you need to take the total of your payments and then divide this over the years in the contract. Then add on the year's annual dues to assess the cost of the accommodations for this trip.

Next, do you do the theme parks every day? I know the 10 day never expire ticket with park hopper and water parks is expensive...............but we have spread these tickets out over several years.

Now that our kids are a bit older, they enjoy the water parks and the resorts more than the parks. On a 7 day trip, we might visit the major parks on 2 or 3 days, the water parks and Quest on 2 days, and a couple of relaxing resort days. Back when we only stayed at value resorts, we minimized the time at the resorts because they were very basic. Clean and convenient....but not a lot of space, the pools were crazy busy and it just wasn't relaxing.

We have been going to Disney roughly 2x per year for 15 years.......and our last trip ...the first as DVC members, was the most relaxing EVER! My kids can't wait to go back.........and neither can I!!!!!!!

We still haven't decided whether to buy the annual pass and get two trips in or just buy the super duper 10 day pass and use for at least 3 trips....

The other thing to consider is that if you buy the DDP as a DVC member, that you don't have to buy for the entire trip. You may want to consider the DXP for a day and then get 3 sit down meals over two days out of it.

Anyway, I do think that you should recalculate how you are assessing the "cost" of this trip! Yes, the cash out is huge this year and will be for the next few years until the loan is repaid, but you are prepaying for many years!

Have a wonderful trip!

This is what I mentioned at the beginning of the thread, as this is what I suspect too, but OP hasn`t come back to explain her math.

Tiger
 
I am having trouble justifying our DVC purchase and would love someone to change my mind.

First a little background...my family consists of 6 of us...2 adults, 4 kids. We are Disney addicts and go to Disneyworld about once a year. We have been looking at DVC for years now, and always said that if they opened a DVC on the monorail, we would buy. Which we did. Last May.

In hindsight, we did it all wrong...too many points (BLT 320), wrong UY (June when we go in April or May, although that may change) and financed some of it. But it is what it is, and we have never canceled our trip, so I think we are okay on UY.

Here is where I have trouble...when we bought I didn't realize that you could not use free dining and some of the other perks that you would get paying for regular rooms. We would typically get two deluxe rooms, DDP and park hoppers. This cost would come to about $8k-$10k total. With free dining we would spend around $6-$8k.

We are taking our first DVC trip in May. We are doing BLT, lake view, probably DDP although I haven't purchased it yet, and park hopper tix. Both trips are 9 days, 8 nights.

Now if I add up the monthly payment, plus DDP and park hoppers for the family, we come out to almost $13K!!

I realize that when DVC is paid off our cost will decrease significantly, but it is tough to swallow that kind of cost, especially during this economic time. I don't even want to tell my husband that I haven't bought the park tix and dining plan yet. He will freak!

So I guess my question is, is it worth it? Do you have to "suck it up" for the first few vacations in order to reap the benefits? I guess with all of the promotions going on, it is hard to swallow and I feel very restricted. It seems as if it's not a benefit at this time.

Any reassurances would be appreciated.
I'm finding it hard to understand where one would buy and assume they could get free dining using DVC points as much as it's come up here and other similar BBS. But even just understanding the basics of the free dining itself (generally have to get tickets and pay full price for a room), without knowing anything about DVC, one should realize that this would be unlikely using DVC.

I don't think you provided enough info to be sure whether it's reasonable for you. However, BLT likely only makes sense if you'll use it at BLT most trips. For 320 points and 6 people, a 2 BR for a week roughly once a year will almost certainly save you money over the long term compared to a deluxe. Esp if you compare a studio to a hotel room and a 2 BR to 2 hotel rooms. It will likely never save you money compared to a moderate or below. Free dining is likely to be temp so I don't think you can include that long term.

The DDP is a separate discussion in large part, whether it makes financial sense varies with the situation. For 4 kids, it depends on their ages and eating styles. Often the DDP is a really good choice for those that plan well, and for those with kids in the 3-9 y/o range as well as teens who eat everything in site. One option that seems to work particularly well is when the teens are old enough to go on their own and the adults can use more of the TS meals and the teens can use more of the CS meals for the basic plan.

I'd echo the sentiment that you need to spread the costs out over a longer period but I'd not do any more than 20 years. Far too many risks and variables to use the entire length of the contract. If you ignore the time value of money and interest (I wouldn't personally), you're looking at roughly $3K a year in cost, add maybe (very roughly) another $1K over that 20 years to your actual costs.

Another mistake many make in buying DVC and justifying the COSTS by using DVC rack rates. This is a fools comparison unless one would have paid those prices at DVC or for Disney suites. Even using discounted DVC rates isn't reasonable for most. OTOH, the value of having space, a kitchen and the timeshare setup can add value to a trip.
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I knew you would all make me feel better :thumbsup2

Thank you for your keen insight. While I did realize that I was not doing the math properly and have to factor it out over the life of the contract, I was just strictly going by the actual monies paid out this year. I realize that the cost would be lower if I did the math particulars.

And thanks for the dining options. I was looking for others who think that the DDP is not a great choice as well. I think I will definintely look into TiW...I wasn't aware of all of the benefits!

And thanks for the park tix options as well. I am trying to see if we can find a way to make the AP's work for us. So if we go in May this year and April of next year, that would work, correct? That would be a nice savings for next year. And if I can figure out a way to make Thanksgiving work, I would definitely get use out of it.

And as far as the points go, I don't think I have too many points, but I have been told that it makes more sense to get small contracts at several resorts and add on later. That is why I thought we made a mistake, although with the size of our family we will always need 2 rooms, and we are not big split stay people.

Thanks again...I am definitely not planning on selling it. We just love it there and I don't see that changing in the future.

:thumbsup2
 
And as far as the points go, I don't think I have too many points, but I have been told that it makes more sense to get small contracts at several resorts and add on later. That is why I thought we made a mistake, although with the size of our family we will always need 2 rooms, and we are not big split stay people.

Thanks again...I am definitely not planning on selling it. We just love it there and I don't see that changing in the future.

:thumbsup2
Given your family setup you clearly don't have too many points for a week yearly. Some may think you don't have enough but I suspect it'll work out just about right over time because some years you may need a 2 BR and others a 1 BR. There is something to be said for the emotional feeling you get as long as you don't let it override common sense decisions. There are few places on earth where I feel as at home, comfortable or at peace as at Disney.
 
Howdy neighbor, you may also Rent/transfer some of your "extra" points to supplement your own vacations. Just a thought. :wizard:
 















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