DVC for a single person or couple?

[Boo Bear]

Is it worth the investment for just one or two people? I know the villas are rather spacious and when I'm at WDW or DL I don't spend much time in the hotel room. It seems like it's more of a family thing. Is that true?

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Just my wife and me..
Four home resorts, and 1400 points.

MG

 

[jade1]

Heck yea, studio at BCV/BWV and walk to EPCOT-perfect.

 

[sissy_42]

Is it worth the investment for just one or two people? I know the villas are rather spacious and when I'm at WDW or DL I don't spend much time in the hotel room. It seems like it's more of a family thing. Is that true?

It depends on the type of vacation you want to take. DF and I don't plan on having kids, but I love all things Disney. Knowing we will be back every year or at most every other year, yeah I think it is worth the investment for me. I want to be able to go back to my resort and relax in my room, sit on the balcony and drink a cup of coffee and read a book. Not feel obligated to visit the park everyday of our trip. If we planed on going three or four days every couple of years, no I would not have purchased DVC, we would stay in value resorts and we would only be in the room long enough to sleep and shower. But that is not the kind of vacations we want.

 

[robertdangelo]

You can purchase as little as 25 points/year through resale and be a DVC member. Depending on how often you plan on visiting, how long and time of year... you could purchase a 50 or 100 point contract. If you plan on visiting every other year, through banking/borrowing points... 50 points may be a good start. You can always add on.

Good luck!

 

[Crystal_27]

We are a family of three and will stay in studios for several more years. Like you, we don't spend a lot of time in the hotel room either. We joined DVC purely for cost-savings. Since we typically vacationed in Deluxe resorts and since we know that Disney will be a vacation destination for us for many years to come, DVC was a natural decision (or it was once they offered a monorail resort).

If you foresee that you will want to vacation at Disney every year or so, your best bet would be to run the numbers of what you are spending for accommodations out of pocket (remember to factor in any discounts that will be offered) versus what a DVC contract would cost you. DVC says that most people will break even and recoup their initial investment in about 7 trips. Once you run the numbers, DVC will either make financial sense or it won't. Good luck!

 

[cseca]

I bought 150pts when I was single, then added on again when I was still single.
Now that I'm married we've added on twice...

It worked for me regardless whether I was single or couple because I go to WDW at least once a year. Now that we are a family of 3 we needed more points...

ps: Just make sure you are financially secure before getting into timeshare stuff regardless of whether you are single, couple or with a herd of kids. Someone mentioned this in another post, DVC could be an emotional purchase than anything else. It was definitely one for me when I purchased it initially. I was fortunate that it works out so well.

 

[bgraham34]

I wish I bought into it when i was single. I had thought about it but was saving for other things at the time.

 

[sweetdana]

Reasons for doing it
You go once a year, at least once every other year
You would pay for at least moderate when you go
You can afford it

Reasons not to
You cannot commit to once every other year
You are totally okay with value resorts, if you are why pay more?
You are not certain you can afford to pay for it

If it seems like it makes sense you can always buy it, use once or twice decide it is not for you and "resell" it. It should be worth as much, or possibly more when you sell it, as long as you buy resale. You will lose a drop more in value if you buy direct. It is not a 1 time decide and never look back thing. You can buy more points if you love it, and you can sell the whole membership if you do not. GOOD LUCK !

 

[DenLo]

We go to WDW as a couple and wish we had bought into the DVC back in 1996 when they were starting to sell BWV. Everything seems to be better maintained than at cheaper hotel rooms. Even doing laundry at resort's laundry room was a pleasure since the washer and dryers are clean like mine at home. The really nice part is knowing that in 7 to 10 trips we've recouped our investment and all of our stays will just cost us the amount of the MF's. We do plan to bring family members every few years. And since we know without us giving them the free room they would never make it WDW due to the expense, that makes our investment into the DVC a great deal.

If I came to WDW by myself I wouldn't feel out of place as it's so easy to be part of the crowd. Just people watching is fun. We went to some character meals this week and really enjoyed ourselves. Just watching the smiling faces was worth the admission. And some of them had pretty good food too.

I would definitely recommend the DVC to singles, couples and families.

 

[casper]

I'm single and have yet to stay by myself. Right now I invite family to attend with me. But I have a whole bunch of friends lurking around waiting for me to invite them. So far, it has been one of the best "self-centered" decisions I have ever made. It is a lot of money. But it has been worth it. Every bit.

I think you should ask yourself how you want to spend your vacation dollars. If Disney is "that" place you want to go, then by all means get DVC. I first thought I would go once a year and stay in a one bedroom. I now stay in studio's and go twice for a total of 16 nights.

Enjoy trying to work out the "is it for me" question. We all went through it.

 

[RumpleMom]

First let me say, I love my kids. It was great taking them to WDW.

However, I think Disney's best kept secret is that it is even better without kids.

The kids are grown and employed(yippee) and join us when they can, but DH and I are having a lot of fun going with just the two of us.

 

[Brandis]

It works for us, I think I would even have bought if I were alone. It gives me much more flexibility.

For example, a couple of weeks ago, I decided at the whim of the moment that I could go to WDW for a couple of days on my own since I have enough points left this year. So I booked a studio at AKV. Then I thought it would be fun to bring a friend along who has never been to WDW and probably also couldn't afford it under normal circumstances. Since I payed for the room before anyway, I invited her for the stay, so she only has to pay for flight, park tickets and food.

Then in October, we are booked in a 2 BR at VWL together with friends on their honeymoon. the villa is our wedding gift for them. Couldn't do that if I had to pay for the rooms OOP.

 

[sdlong329]

We purchased DVC in 1994. Started with 210 points (Old Key West) ... added 50 points through a DVC add-on promotion (Old Key West) ... then picked up another 140 points last year (Animal Kingdom Lodge) while on a Disney Cruise (booked with points). We are sailing on the April 2010 TransAtlantic Cruise on DVC points ... will also be doing the April 2011 LA - Vancouver REPO cruise on points, followed by Inaugural Alaska cruise (booked on cash).

Our son and his nephew joined us on two Disney Cruises (1999 and 2001). Son and his girlfriend joined us on a Panama Canal Cruise (they were 22 years old). My sister-in-law join us on caribbean cruise in 2009, and will be joining us in Alaska - 2011.

KIDS? Who needs kids when you can have all this fun for yourself?

As for the resorts, we typically book a 1BR unit - so much more convenient - regardless of whether we have 2 or 4 people.

 

[Mouse511]

A couple of DINK's here and love every one of our DVC points.

Actually wish we bought into DVC earlier !!!

 

[aan1701]

My DW and I finaly joined in Oct. 08. Belive it or not we have almost already made the money back and here is how, oh we bought at AKV not because we want to stay there (people say buy were you want to stay but we are the exception to that rule), but because of how many points per night it takes to stay when we normaly go. So far we have had 4 stays on our developer points at SSR in a studio, 2 stays in a value studio at "Home" and one stay in a 1 bedroom on the Club level at "Home" and one stay in a Studio on the Club Level at "Home". I do have an advantage here, I work for an airline so I, DW, DW and I, or even DW, my mom and dad ( they get my flight benifeits) and I can go whenever we want. DW and I have no kid plans and as of mow that plan is not going to change, we just love it out there. So I say go for it if you can pull it off.

 

[mjy]

Purchased in 1998 when I was single. Am still single. Will be single -- being a priest, my bishop would kill me if he heard I got married!

Single ownership has always been easy. Plenty to do down there solo and in a studio. And always flexible enough of an ownership to take down friends or family and stay in larger accommodations. That's one of the things that I love about DVC!

 

[christa112]

I don't think we would have purchased if our family was not a family of 5. We could have fit just fine in a Value or Mod with 4 people. But having 5 of us it seemed like a no brainer. Paying OOP for a Villa would have killed our budget. So we now have the best of both worlds. We are able to have vacations for the next 49 years and our rooms a paid for.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Like everyone else who weighed in, we think DVC is perfect for 1 or 2 people. Our kids are grown and no grandchildren yet. When DH and I go, we feel like we're relaxing in our own home in WDW as we enjoy our 1 BR. When I go solo, I love my little studio, where I can sit on the couch and read, have a cup of tea or coffee on the balcony, etc. We're so glad we bought.

 

[DVCGeek]

DW & I don't have kids (except for our cat & dog...) but we LOVE our DVC! DW was tired of values [I like Commando park days most of the trip; she likes to sleep in, hang out at the room and pool, and/or go back early while I close down the park...), we both want to stay on property, and for about what we'd pay for a moderate we can stay in a studio using DVC (price calculated and spread out over the life of the contract); it's kinda' like a free upgrade, and theoretically in the future the savings should compound for us.