DVC Direct Price Increase Coming 2/11/25

[Brian Noble]

Sometimes people buy toys because it looks like other people are having fun with the toy. That's how Tom Sawyer got that fence painted, after all.

 

[Mle8308]

But raising the price on the cabins? I mean, do they actually not want to sell any CFW points?

I don't think they really care right now. Just another sign that Lakeshore (or Lakeside?) Lodge will be the same association.

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

Well, there it is. Time to sit down and crunch those numbers.

My recipie: I have the money to pay for the 150 Poly I want stashed in retirement account I can't access until January 2026. So I will have to determine if the carrying costs of the loan, plus the inevitable slide of what I can get for my resale okw contract, is close enough to even.

A great weekend project ahead for me!

 

[Tatebeck]

Well, there it is. Time to sit down and crunch those numbers.

My recipie: I have the money to pay for the 150 Poly I want stashed in retirement account I can't access until January 2026. So I will have to determine if the carrying costs of the loan, plus the inevitable slide of what I can get for my resale okw contract, is close enough to even.

A great weekend project ahead for me!

Put it on a Disney Visa card for 6 months interest free, then that gives you time to sell the OKW contract and see where that gets you after around 6 months of payments?

 

[Genie+]

Our DVC purchases were driven by savings. We also valued limiting our need to compromise. These repeated WDW trips cost alot of money. I don’t want to be forced settling on room reservations that don’t excite us or improve our experience after spending all the other money for tickets, food, etc.

So we also considered the ease and odds for some of our personal best value picks. This way we could lock into something perfectly acceptable and not stress over needing to find something better. If something cool comes along, great. If not, great.

I’d feel frustrated if we’re splurging on WDW visits but ending up in rooms we don’t really want or having to splitstay, stalk, waitlist and nailbite.

It wasn’t the best price we were after. It was at what price could we get the rooms that would satisfy the most.

Years ago best price absolutely would’ve been the goal, when our budget was between value and moderate. I would’ve taken any deluxe option at similar pricing. Today is different though. Our kids are young adults and no longer fully dependent - it’s time for us to live a little! Celebrate we’ve made it this far and still have money in our pocket How many more trips will this blue dot be taking us around the sun? If we don’t start living it up a little will we lose the chance.

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

Put it on a Disney Visa card for 6 months interest free, then that gives you time to sell the OKW contract and see where that gets you after around 6 months of payments?

The down payment will go on my disney visa but not the full $31k+.

 

[disneylandtour]

But raising the price on the cabins? I mean, do they actually not want to sell any CFW points?

Oh, raise the price and offer a bigger discount. That makes it look like a big sale. Pretty sure that’s all that’s going on here.

 

[marmentrout85]

So yeah, prices will increase by $10 but then watch, we'll get another Welcome Home offer for $1,500 off a 150pt contract and that wipes out the $10 increase and for some might make it "look" like a better deal when in reality the final price per point didn't change.

Also I'm curious on how others would define a "fire sale" these days. The VGF deal from, what, only ~15-16 months-ish ago with a base price of $207 somehow seems so distant from where we're at today looking at $235 in the near future. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think we'll get anywhere close to that 2023 incentive from an overall final price per point for any of the "actively selling" resorts. Either way, sort of frustrating, and my wife and I are trying not to let the FOMO get the best of us. If my patience isn't rewarded via a Direct deal, I'm sure it will be rewarded with a gem of another resale contract

 

[CastAStone]

**: Interestingly enough, it is not cost-optimal to buy any DVC contract. The cost-optimal way to stay in DVC resorts is to buy a very cheap trader at some other resort, and exchange in through whatever external exchange system DVC is affiliated with at the time.

While true, this adds substantial risk and rules vs just buying an SSR resale contract. You have to stay exactly a week starting on a certain day of the week, never more or less, and you’re SOL if DVC switches back to RCI.

I would consider it when retired but it’s totally unrealistic to squeezing in trips around my kids school schedule.

 

[Cfabar1]

While true, this adds substantial risk and rules vs just buying an SSR resale contract. You have to stay exactly a week starting on a certain day of the week, never more or less, and you’re SOL if DVC switches back to RCI.

I would consider it when retired but it’s totally unrealistic to squeezing in trips around my kids school schedule.

this would be a nonnegotiable for us... We tend to not do 7 night stays with work/other commitments... 6 nights or, if we are going to do the 7th night, make it more like a 10 night stay...

 

[Brian Noble]

While true, this adds substantial risk and rules vs just buying an SSR resale contract. You have to stay exactly a week starting on a certain day of the week, never more or less, and you’re SOL if DVC switches back to RCI.

I've ridden this train for more than 15 years---my first exchange was early 2008---and would need to have owned north of 300 DVC points to account for the exchanges I've had in that time.

You do not need to stay exactly a week--no one is chaining you to the room. True, you end up throwing away a night or two, but it is still cheaper than owning at the resort, even "wasting" the extra night(s). I've done it a few times. I've also stayed longer, by booking two weeks back-to-back. I only did that once, but at the time we had a backlog of timeshare assets from the panemic and needed to burn them. But it is true that the time you are entitled to starts on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, and goes for exactly one week.

If you have broad portfolio and/or a dual-enrolled trader, (I have both) then it doesn't matter if they are with II or with RCI. I have lived through the change from II to RCI back in the day, and the change back to II a few years ago. The degree of success has ebbed and flowed, but I've pretty much always been able to get something at DVC for my spring break week.

Now, I would NEVER suggest this to anyone if their sole goal was DVC. Exchange requires nerves of steel and a healthy dose of keeping up with the nuances of the system. This is a nice bonus that has worked well for me, past performance does not guarantee future results, yadda yadda. But we are not Disney-only vacationers. We did one of the Marriotts for a Universal stay a few years ago, and a Hilton likewise many years before that. Lots of Hawaii. Some National Park-adjacent stays for hiking. Coastal Florida or Southern California. New Orleans. San Francisco.

But my larger point is: There is a range that trades off cost for flexibility. At one end is exchange, exclusively. At the other end is an all-developer account. Many people have a mix of different things in a portfolio to mix and match as needed. There is no one answer that is right for everyone.

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We almost bought DVC back in '07, but decided against it. If we had, that would have just about tapped out our vacation budget---we are decidednly not "cram the four of us in a studio" people, so it was a big commitment. At the time, my kids were about seven and nine, and I was afraid they'd "age out" of Disney before the DVC payoff window.

Instead, our original plan was Wyndham points for (the VERY lovely) Bonnet Creek, using them at other Wyndham locations as well, augmented with a fixed-week trader as a "bird dog" to help with exchanges. But it became clear that we might be able to use the trader to have our cake and eat it too, which we did. In hindsight, my son did age out of Disney, but my daughter never did, so buying DVC would have been fine. But, we would have missed out on a LOT of other vacations that we took over the years, because much more of our vacation budget would have been tied up with Mickey.

 

[Cfabar1]

I've ridden this train for more than 15 years---my first exchange was early 2008---and would need to have owned north of 300 DVC points to account for the exchanges I've had in that time.

You do not need to stay exactly a week--no one is chaining you to the room. True, you end up throwing away a night or two, but it is still cheaper than owning at the resort, even "wasting" the extra night(s). I've done it a few times. I've also stayed longer, by booking two weeks back-to-back. I only did that once, but at the time we had a backlog of timeshare assets from the panemic and needed to burn them. But it is true that the time you are entitled to starts on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, and goes for exactly one week.

If you have broad portfolio and/or a dual-enrolled trader, (I have both) then it doesn't matter if they are with II or with RCI. I have lived through the change from II to RCI back in the day, and the change back to II a few years ago. The degree of success has ebbed and flowed, but I've pretty much always been able to get something at DVC for my spring break week.

Now, I would NEVER suggest this to anyone if their sole goal was DVC. Exchange requires nerves of steel and a healthy dose of keeping up with the nuances of the system. This is a nice bonus that has worked well for me, past performance does not guarantee future results, yadda yadda. But we are not Disney-only vacationers. We did one of the Marriotts for a Universal stay a few years ago, and a Hilton likewise many years before that. Lots of Hawaii. Some National Park-adjacent stays for hiking. Coastal Florida or Southern California. New Orleans. San Francisco.

But my larger point is: There is a range that trades off cost for flexibility. At one end is exchange, exclusively. At the other end is an all-developer account. Many people have a mix of different things in a portfolio to mix and match as needed. There is no one answer that is right for everyone.

-----------
We almost bought DVC back in '07, but decided against it. If we had, that would have just about tapped out our vacation budget---we are decidednly not "cram the four of us in a studio" people, so it was a big commitment. At the time, my kids were about seven and nine, and I was afraid they'd "age out" of Disney before the DVC payoff window.

Instead, our original plan was Wyndham points for (the VERY lovely) Bonnet Creek, using them at other Wyndham locations as well, augmented with a fixed-week trader as a "bird dog" to help with exchanges. But it became clear that we might be able to use the trader to have our cake and eat it too, which we did. In hindsight, my son did age out of Disney, but my daughter never did, so buying DVC would have been fine. But, we would have missed out on a LOT of other vacations that we took over the years, because much more of our vacation budget would have been tied up with Mickey.

For many of us I think we all are thinking "teach us your ways"... how do we learn about "traders"?

I could see our family having a hybrid approach - 1 week DVC points, and doing the balance through traders so we can stay at Hyatt, MVC, and other places... especially as the kids get older...

 

[Jaugie]

We may be looking at DVC doing a fire sale at that point if sales are not up to par. Cabins would be a logical choice from their standpoint since sales are terrible per our guide. Maybe a 2042 resort as well? He expected an increase but better discounts this go 'round so basically no wild change in the bottom line.

Holding out on purchases until you are within the 10 day recission period so you can switch to the next promotion might be a good strategy. Note that DVC will only hold that promotion for 7 days past your "tour". It makes it a strategic purchase to take a tour and then buy and stay within the 10 day recission period. Using the downpayment strategy of 3 payments at least up to now, has also been a way to jump to the next promotion.

Fine print is getting trickier!

We did a tour of the 3 bedroom at Aulani and the guide said the promotion was only good for 7 days after our tour. This seemed so odd to me knowing that the "promotion" given was the fall one published. I could not understand how the promotion would go away when it was promoted through December previously.

We ended up grabbing our first resale that would have been over 50% less cost.

 

[supercarrie]

We did a tour of the 3 bedroom at Aulani and the guide said the promotion was only good for 7 days after our tour. This seemed so odd to me knowing that the "promotion" given was the fall one published. I could not understand how the promotion would go away when it was promoted through December previously.

We ended up grabbing our first resale that would have been over 50% less cost.

That's legalese (and a sales tactic, let's be real) as technically they can pull the offer at any point, but anyone who has toured in the prior seven days is entitled to the pricing. In practice, they don't do this often (although they did for OKW at certain point levels back in the spring, where they rolled out one promotion, but then capped the discount early when there was a run on OKW points). I'm sure it works on some people who believe they only have X number of days to make a decision.

 

[atthebeachclub]

Maybe I am just not rich enough, but I honestly don’t understand how direct pricing is affordable for the large number of people who purchase DVC. I gather pricing has been better at other times, but current pricing is pretty rough and has quelled my desire for any white card benefits.

 

[Sandisw]

Maybe I am just not rich enough, but I honestly don’t understand how direct pricing is affordable for the large number of people who purchase DVC. I gather pricing has been better at other times, but current pricing is pretty rough and has quelled my desire for any white card benefits.

Because they finance it which makes it “affordable”.

 

[davidhr]

Maybe I am just not rich enough, but I honestly don’t understand how direct pricing is affordable for the large number of people who purchase DVC. I gather pricing has been better at other times, but current pricing is pretty rough and has quelled my desire for any white card benefits.

It's not affordable for a good portion of the buyers to be honest. In reality a lot of buyers shouldn't be purchasing it. But it's so easy to finance it that they do it anyways.

 

[Cfabar1]

It's not affordable for a good portion of the buyers to be honest. In reality a lot of buyers shouldn't be purchasing it. But it's so easy to finance it that they do it anyways.

One could say a lot of this about a Disney vacation at all...

Median Household US income in 2024 was $80,020.
Average Disney vacation cost is allegedly $7,093

Roughly 8% of your income going to Mickey at that point....

We don't know what is affordable or not for a good portion of the buyers unless someone has data that DVD has shared regarding the demographics of a typical DVC buyer...

I wouldn't recommend financing via Monera or DVD due to the interest rates, but fully understand for many buyers financing can still make sense. There are also cheaper ways to stretch out your payment terms than Monera or Disney financing....

 

[BeachClub2014]

Maybe I am just not rich enough, but I honestly don’t understand how direct pricing is affordable for the large number of people who purchase DVC. I gather pricing has been better at other times, but current pricing is pretty rough and has quelled my desire for any white card benefits.

I'm no economist nor a math major, but just playing around a bit.

We first bought BWV direct in 2000 at $65 per point. Using an online inflation calculator that is equivalent to about $120 in today's dollars. In 2000, the median household income was about $42,000 which equates to roughly $77,000 in today's dollar. The actual household median income in 2023 was just under $81,000.

All that to say, direct today at $235 per point has far outpaced inflation (since at least 2000) and seemingly has become significantly less affordable for those in the median households, and yet DVD still sells a ton of points every month.

Go figure, eh?

 

[atthebeachclub]

I'm no economist nor a math major, but just playing around a bit.

We first bought BWV direct in 2000 at $65 per point. Using an online inflation calculator that is equivalent to about $120 in today's dollars. In 2000, the median household income was about $42,000 which equates to roughly $77,000 in today's dollar. The actual household median income in 2023 was just under $81,000.

All that to say, direct today at $235 per point has far outpaced inflation (since at least 2000) and seemingly has become significantly less affordable for those in the median households, and yet DVD still sells a ton of points every month.

Go figure, eh?

This is great info. Thank you for sharing! Makes my resale point costs appear to be in line with old direct pricing.