DVC “Confessions”

[gmi3804]

I don't understand the math. Surely if you are staying deluxe every year DVC beats rack rates?

I hope you reconsider, so you can continue the rebellion against the reservation walking and commercial renting Empire

They're staying every year NOW. That might not, and likely won't, continue indefinitely. Dues, lost saving/investment opportunities, etc., contribute to the high cost of DVC ownership.

 

[tx911]

They're staying every year NOW. That might not, and likely won't, continue indefinitely. Dues, lost saving/investment opportunities, etc., contribute to the high cost of DVC ownership.

Of course, no one can predict the future, either with travel habits or with financial investments.

But, if you find you are not going as often, you can always sell your contracts. Or rent for some years. Or some combination thereof.

 

[2010dvcfan]

Confession-- I have absolutely no patience with waitlisting, I just keep adding on so I have home resort priority.

 

[CastAStone]

Surely if you are staying deluxe every year DVC beats rack rates?

DVC comes with a lot of reduced flexibility. It’s not right for everyone, even if the math is positive.

 

[lowlight]

I don't understand the math. Surely if you are staying deluxe every year DVC beats rack rates?

I hope you reconsider, so you can continue the rebellion against the reservation walking and commercial renting Empire

Factors that ruin any potential math for me:

1) AP's went up. A LOT. To be fair, so did ticket prices, but the break even on the Sorceror Pass is something like 9 days now, and it blacks out some days we'd want to go.
2) Booking in demand week rooms (week 48 for me) at certain resorts is too difficult, with 4 week+ walking becoming necessary.
3) There are some really good rental deals if you are flexible, as low as 10/pp.
4) I don't trust Disney with their future vision of DVC (trusts, CFW?, etc).
5) With the cost of everything in the world going up, and Disney tripling that and then some, my plan to leave these contracts to my children seemed more like a burden than a gift.

The person who equated it in some ways to the DDP was spot on. It's supposed to make things easier, but it isn't flexible and you could do it more cheaply on your own. If I don't want to go to Disney, and I don't own DVC, I don't have to do a thing except not go. If I want to go, I put a listing on a rental site for the dates I want at any resort I want (home resort at every resort when you rent), and let the owner do the work.

 

[2010dvcfan]

Math aside the biggest devalue I see is in the room conditions being allowed to be used way past the "deluxe" condition, we just got back from AKL not only are those rooms well past their prime, they are not being cleaned very well either. BRV was allowed to go too long for refurb and VGC and BLT also IMO

 

[Genie+]

I have Riviera at a cost basis per point of $21.21 in 2024 (that’s based on dues plus a 5% discount rate to the buy in over 47 years). You seem to have a lower cost basis. That’s fine. But that’s also why we disagree. A week this summer with the 30% discount that Disney offered on basically everything was $5,051. It was 276 points. With a cost basis of $21.21 it was $5,853 with points.

WDW has been changing many of the cash offers to not include weekends.

If someone is savvy and flexible enough to get the better cash discounts they’d also likely fare well within DVC.

I think active resorts are generally the best value direct. Our timing lucked out with 25% off direct but 20% is not uncommon.

 

[princesscinderella]

The split bathrooms at the Poly longhouses are actively unappealing to me and seem like an enormous waste of space.

For me with teens they are the best as they take so long in the shower and to do their hair and make up we give them the separate shower one to spread out all their "products" and we claim the one with the toilet.

 

[gmi3804]

With the cost of everything in the world going up, and Disney tripling that and then some, my plan to leave these contracts to my children seemed more like a burden than a gift.

I would never burden anyone with an estate gift of a DVC contract, even someone who loves Disney. The gift, however much one loves it, comes financial burden, and presuming another party would want, and be able to, take that on is a tall order.

 

[princesscinderella]

Confession-- I have absolutely no patience with waitlisting, I just keep adding on so I have home resort priority.

This is me too! We can book out at 11 months because we own our own business and control our schedule. The only resorts we don't own at WDW are BCV, VBR and the new Cabins. We have no interest in owning HHI, VB and AUL with the high dues being so close to the ocean. VGF was one of my smartest purchases yet and wish we had more there but added on at VDH too so each of our three kids will have an 80 pt contract at DL. My confession is we have over 2000 points and I was going to rent half to help subsidize dues but we only rent out about 400 instead because we keep booking bigger rooms (WL Cabin ).

 

[Genie+]

For me with teens they are the best as they take so long in the shower and to do their hair and make up we give them the separate shower one to spread out all their "products" and we claim the one with the toilet.

This is a big deal for us too. We all really love having the bonus upgraded shower - it’s more rejuvenating after running the parks plus a huge improvement on bathroom logistics. Since we all prefer that shower the toilet bathroom remains open and when that doesn’t matter 2 showers can be used at one time.

I’m impressed with how Poly Tower studios is trying new configurations. They took away the extra shower but added dishwasher and a small dining area. You can tell the pain it was for feeding children in the longhouses by the sofa stains lol. Being able to make easy meals and reheat leftovers a bit more comfortably than typical studios kind of make Poly Tower studios 1BR lite for certain families. This is another strength of DVC - the large variety of options.

 

[tom1944]

When you have not been on a vacation for a long period of time you never do a calculation that DVC saves money. In fact my calculation on purchasing came to the conclusion that it was going to cost me $20k a year that I had not been spending.


Best thing I could have done.

 

[Chili327]

When you have not been on a vacation for a long period of time you never do a calculation that DVC saves money. In fact my calculation on purchasing came to the conclusion that it was going to cost me $20k a year that I had not been spending.


Best thing I could have done.

That's where I'm at right now too. working 7 days a week is taxing on the mind & soul.

 

[Genie+]

That's where I'm at right now too. working 7 days a week is taxing on the mind & soul.

And tomorrow is never promised. It’s nice to spend as much time with family now.

Personally we don’t know if in 10 or 20 years we’ll be getting around the way we can today. We splurged on DVC and a trip to Italy more recently because while investing that money would’ve grown, there’s a not small chance we wouldn’t be able to vacation the same together at that point. We’re trying to balance both sides of it.
Sometimes you gotta say “What the Duck!”

 

[LoveToDisney]

I would never burden anyone with an estate gift of a DVC contract, even someone who loves Disney. The gift, however much one loves it, comes financial burden, and presuming another party would want, and be able to, take that on is a tall order.

Well, we set aside my life insurance policy with enough dollars to basically cover the rest of the life of the lease so it wouldn’t burden our son. He gets points and dollars for the ongoing dues. We felt that was the only way to do it.

 

[Chili327]

Well, we set aside my life insurance policy with enough dollars to basically cover the rest of the life of the lease so it wouldn’t burden our son. He gets points and dollars for the ongoing dues. We felt that was the only way to do it.

What is the best way to leave a contract to someone? (probably should start it's own thread. lol)

 

[Disney got all my$$$]

It’s because direct DVC is frequently upside down mathematically! Especially if you stay in 1 bedrooms basically ever, or if you finance, or stay at low value times of year (e.g. summer), or let points expire, or rent points out, or would have been just as happy at a moderate or in a family suite, or are buying at CFW.

It’s turning into the Disney Dining Plan where you have to do it just right to actually save money after accounting for all the things an accountant would tell you to account for. It was a much better deal prior to ~2013.

I have mentioned this before but I calculated the breakeven for SSR, worst case scenario, at ~$88 per point. IOW that’s the price where no matter how stupidly I use it and no matter how deep Disney’s discounts get, I’ll still save at least a little bit of money, assuming I use all the points. I got my contract for slightly less than that. Disney wants $205. They want $225 for Riviera and Aulani. Yes you can absolutely find value at that price but man I don’t want to do that legwork, and if you just compare the point charts to the cash rates and look at the breakage rates, it’s clear that many, many people aren’t getting any value at all.

This. I’m afraid I jumped on the DVC bandwagon too late to reap the true benefits. Although I love DVC and my family won’t stay in anything smaller than 2 bedroom so I think it’s worth it.

 

[2010dvcfan]

I would never burden anyone with an estate gift of a DVC contract, even someone who loves Disney. The gift, however much one loves it, comes financial burden, and presuming another party would want, and be able to, take that on is a tall order.

Anyone can refuse an inheritance if they do not want the item gifted to them, usually as simple as filing a disclaimer of interest in most states, any estate attorney could assist with that. Presumably it would be best to discuss beforehand if they would be interested but they are not obligated to take the timeshare.

I will leave mine to my child along with beneficiary to my pension check paid monthly until the date of her death, which I hope is years after these memberships all expire. She should be able to vacation very nicely with both of those items, just as we do now.

 

[sarahk0204]

I have always believed in "buy where you want to stay". However, we just added on at RIV. I have never even set foot in that resort, let alone stayed there. Also, I have not yet ridden the Skyliner, despite 4 trips since it opened.

 

[808blessing]

Boardwalk seems soooooo much farther to walk to Epcot than Beach Club because of the placement of DVC rooms.