DVC Membership questions

[michamato]

Hi

We just returned from a week at Disney yesterday. We stayed at Pop Century. We took a tour of SSR and really liked it. We were thinking about buying in at 91 per point, but now I see it can be as low as 86 per point if you are referred by a member.
I have too many questions to list, but what really concerns me is the yearly fee that needs to be paid. If I do the math, it is almost 50K, to Disney over 47 years, am I correct in that? How did everyone decide to do this?

We have 3 small children, and can swing it if we wanted to, but I am not sure the price was worth it. Matter of fact, I was sure it wasn't, until I was reading what a great deal everyone got and how happy everyone is. I would love to hear some stories.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Michele

 

[cobbler]

First let me tell you that the 86 per point is done. That promotion ended on 1/20.

Second yes you do have yearly dues and this pays for maintainence of the resort, housekeeping, staffing, etc. The dues will be your biggest expense in ownership.

We decided to do this because we do travel to Disney every year and we were stayed in all the moderates and were moving up to the deluxes. The space and the better accomodations for less price is a huge draw for us.

 

[michamato]

so does everyone think that 91 dollars per point is a great deal? I am also confused about the month date thing. He told us we would get 150 points Dec 06, and then another 150 pts Dec 07. If I have this right, the 150 points for Dec 06 would need to be used by Nov 30th of 2008?

We do travel to Disney about once a year for the past 3 years and have been on the cruise also. We are all set with the value resorts now, we had a very noisy last night at Pop and can't do that again, we will be moving up to a deluxe for our next trip.

The other problem I see is that we have 5. Two adults, 3 small children. The one bedroom only sleeps 4, and the two bedroom is way more points. It seems that the new animal kingdom villas will sleep 5 in a one bedroom, maybe that is the way to go

 

[abeyst]

so does everyone think that 91 dollars per point is a great deal? I am also confused about the month date thing. He told us we would get 150 points Dec 06, and then another 150 pts Dec 07. If I have this right, the 150 points for Dec 06 would need to be used by Nov 30th of 2008?

We do travel to Disney about once a year for the past 3 years and have been on the cruise also. We are all set with the value resorts now, we had a very noisy last night at Pop and can't do that again, we will be moving up to a deluxe for our next trip.

The other problem I see is that we have 5. Two adults, 3 small children. The one bedroom only sleeps 4, and the two bedroom is way more points. It seems that the new animal kingdom villas will sleep 5 in a one bedroom, maybe that is the way to go

91 is the greatest deal you're going to get these days. With AKL opening up, prices are only going to continue to climb.

Yes, you have til Dec 08 on the Dec 06 points, but you MUST bank them by May of this year in order to use them thru Nov 08.

You can buy now and stay at AKL if you choose (they're opening this fall). With 5 (if one is small enough for a pack n play) you can still stay in a studio. The pack n play child doesn't count toward the 4 maximum. If your kids are older, you can book 2 studios for cheaper than a 2BR.

I purchased DVC in 2000 with my then husband. Lost that due to divorce in 2004 and tried staying on property in values and moderates. It only took 1 trip staying at a value resort to realize I need my DVC!! I just bought my own contract last week, and it's such a great feeling to have it back. Granted the difference in point price from 2000 to 2007 was a big downer (you really don't want to know how cheap it was back then, it will just depress you), but having lived without it for 3 years makes me appreciate it that much more now.

Everyone says it's a waste of money and not an investment, but I know I'm going to Disney every year for most of the rest of my life, so paying for vacations now to me is an investment. When I think of how much I've paid on vacations the last 3 years, it could have paid for a lot more points for me to use many years to come.

I say go for it, especially if you think you'll only vacation every 2 years at Disney. Think of how much money you'll be saving on future vacations. I would recommend it to anyone who can afford it and likes Disney enough to vacation there at least every 2 years.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Mtnman44]

What did the week at the POP cost you, including taxes? Now multiply that by about 30 years and see how that compares to the total cost of the DVC at the 30 year mark. If you want to get fancy, increase both the POP rate and the DVC dues by about 3% each year.

Many people have reported that compared to value resort rates, DVC financial savings can be nothing or negligible. However, if you compare to Deluxe resorts, which is much more of an apples to apples comparison with DVC, the savings are substantial. This of course assumes that you would be traveling to WDW and staying on property at least every two years, even if you did not own at DVC.

For us, there is no way we could afford to stay at a one or two bedroom Villa like at DVC every year by paying cash, even at a non Disney property like Hilton or Marriot Vacation Clubs. What it really is, is an affordable way to pre pay for many years' worth of deluxe accomodations. It is NOT the least expensive way to vacation at WDW or even close to it. Just my 2 cents...

 

[michamato]

I agree with all your posts. I see people staying at the Poly even and I say, How are they affording that? I guess DVC is how.
Has anyone stayed anywhere else except Disney? I was wondering how other properties compared.
And you are also 100% correct on the value resorts, we go because we can afford them, but they are just OK. That is why they call them value!!!

Everyone has been very helpful, and now I am totally confused on what to do!!!!!

oh and by the way, each trip to Pop the last two years including Park hopper tickets was around 2700 x 2, that also included the meal plan, but my young son doesn't pay yet!!! so that is really only 4 of us!

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

as previous post stated $86/pnt is over. However you can probably do better on the resale market. DVC makes financial sense if:

1.plan to travel every year
2. you enjoy the deluxe accomadations and aren't satisfied with the value resorts.
3.can afford the buy in without financing (IMHO)

given these criteria if you run the numbers you should be in a breakeven situation where u are staying in deluxe resort for the cost of dues in about 7-yrs. (well thats about how it figured out when I got in)

 

[CptnJack]

I think the 1BR sleeps 5 if one is an infant. Look at the month date thing (use year) like a fiscal year budget. You either use the budget or you have a period of time where you can opt to "bank" the current year's points into the next year. The 2007 points would either have to be used by November 30th or banked by April 30th (100%) if you had a December use year. Keep in mind though that to bank 100% of the points you need to do so by 6 month prior to your use year ending, in this case April 30th. After that you can only bank a percentage. I hope this has been sufficiently confusing.

Nobody can really tell you if it's right for you or not but I can say it was for us. We stayed at POR a while back and were intrigued by the "lighthouse resort." Then one visit we stayed at the lighthouse resort (OKW) because we wanted to try it. After the first night in a studio we upgraded the rest of the week to a 1 Bedroom, that was the deal maker for us. Our son was 2 at that time and after riding out a hurricane in a studio, the one bedroom was like a mansion!

When we finally got to the parks, my wife looked at our son's face and with a tear in her eye said "we are going here every year until he refuses to come with us." That's when I knew what I was getting her for Christmas. Surprised the heck out of her with a DVC membership (which by the way scored more tears).

That First try at OKW ran us about $3500 (for the whole trip) if I remember. For me, the approximate $1000 in dues for our 250 points was a no brainer. If I could go once or twice a year for $1000 then the points would be a good investment. This year we are going for 6 nights in May and 7 nights in October and I'll still have 75 points to bank from our original 250 that we banked the first year.

 

[Delaware Mike]

Michelle,

A PM is coming your way...

Mike