DVC membership vs staying at Disney Resorts

[gkrykewy]

Hi everyone,

We were in WDW this weekend and went to an open house. We are really interested, but are still deciding. What are some of the factors that persuaded you to join DVC?

My wife and I bought after returning from an open house last week. After coming home, I went through a nice cost/benefit analysis on mousesavers.com, and realized that we met a number of the criteria it listed for people for whom it would be a good financial decision to buy-in. Specifically, we like to go to WDW at least every other year, we always stay on property, we prefer deluxe resorts as often as possible, and we have the cash upfront to avoid the nasty financing costs. This made it an easy decision.

On a non-$ basis, AKL is one of our favorite places in the world, so the emotional appeal was also huge!

 

[hardingk]

My wife and I bought after returning from an open house last week. After coming home, I went through a nice cost/benefit analysis on mousesavers.com, and realized that we met a number of the criteria it listed for people for whom it would be a good financial decision to buy-in. Specifically, we like to go to WDW at least every other year, we always stay on property, we prefer deluxe resorts as often as possible, and we have the cash upfront to avoid the nasty financing costs. This made it an easy decision.

On a non-$ basis, AKL is one of our favorite places in the world, so the emotional appeal was also huge!

Could you send me the link for the cost/benefit analysis on mousesavers.com?

 

[hardingk]

A separate question - how easy is it to use your points at other DVC's? Or do you have to stay at your "home" property the most?

 

[gkrykewy]

Could you send me the link for the cost/benefit analysis on mousesavers.com?

http://www.mousesavers.com/dvc.html

On your other question, my impressions from reading these boards over the last week is that it's generally not a problem except for particularly high-demand times and particularly high-demand room types.

 

[TenThousandVolts]

How can you not factor in money lost by not investing it????

The money I used for DVC was our mad money- money for fun, entertainment, vacations, etc... It wasn't from our investment budget.

 

[coloradodad]

[QUOTE

We all agree its not an investment. It's a pre-paid vacation plan. And the rate of savings varies depending on your unique situation.[/QUOTE]

This is the exact case, there are way too many subjective factors to consider, one of which - does owning a little piece of the mouse for a set number of years appeal to you? I could have better spent my money than this "investment" but it fit in my financial picture in that I could front the fees, "escrow" my next 5 years of dues from bonuses that I received, and not tap into retirement funding, college savings etc.

Outside of being in this position, I would not have jumped into the game.

mg

 

[1-407-WDWJUNKIE]

Hey, saw the tagline above and made me wonder if Disney has any clubs in CA and if so are they also part of the DVC? If they don't have any DVC's in CA, any reason why not?

Thanks,
Steve

There are no DVC's in California.

Yet.

It has long been rumored there will be soon. But that is just a rumor. Currently though the point exchange for the California hotels are pretty reasonable - more so than most other non DVC resorts.

 

[pogopossum]

two of the variables that swayed us to dvc, no set resort for the rest of our lives and no set travel dates for the rest of our lives, and good luck finding someone who wanted to trade with you for that resort for that week for a resort that you wanted to go to. flexible timeshares was a new thing ten years ago.

we only stayed with disney three times prior to buying, once in the trailers at fw, once at disney institute townhomes, and lastly at hilton head resort, always a two bedroom, to share with dw's dd and dsm, so we were perfect candidates for dvc. don't think i could stay in less than a one br now, we love the kitchen, as well as a separate room for kids.

according to my math last year our cost per point had gone down to less than $10 in our eighth year of ownership and i projected out to see that it will bottom out somewhere around $5 - $6 per pt cost for all of our vacations. i even included transfer fees for cruises and using our points for concierge collection stays at branson and chicago. i understand the invest your money argument, but we not have invested this money, we would have used it for vacations and other frivolous purchases. wish we were more disciplined, but we're not. but i wouldn't trade our life.

and i don't know if all room rates have risen like hh, but we stayed for cash in aug 98: $200 + tax per night for two br, looked at adding a night last july in a two br for cash: $480 total. looks like 100+% increase to me. cost in points per night increase 0%.

 

[eliza61]

Hi everyone,

We were in WDW this weekend and went to an open house. We are really interested, but are still deciding. What are some of the factors that persuaded you to join DVC?

Our biggest factor (outside of whether or not we could afford it) was we were returning to disney year after year. I think the most we waited was 2 years and that almost killed us. We always stay deluxe and usually we stay 7-10 days. Since we didn't forsee this changing much we figured it was worth it. I believe our break even point was 7-8 vacations.
We have also used our points at other places (yes, I know it is not the best value for our points but hey, they are our points.) mainly in the concierge collection.

 

[caracarn]

I did a spreadsheet on just this example, a deluxe, savanna-view room versus 160 DVC points in Animal Kingdom Villas.

DVC starts to show savings after 7 vacations. If you can be committed to it for that long, then you will save money according to this comparision.

The comparision assumed a 4 % growth in annual DVC dues and also a 4 % growth in room cost. It also factored in the 12.5 % room tax that is charged when you book the deluxe room. By contrast, taxes for DVC vacations are part of the annual dues.

I just talked with my DVC guide and received this info. Over the 15 year life of DVC dues have increased 3.8% per year. OVer that same period hotel rooms have escalated 6-8%. Seems like a pretty solid case for DVC!

 

[Wilsonfamily4]

wrong place

 

[boomhauer]

SteveGriswold,

Here is a simple chart I drew up. It starts off with the assumtion of an annual 7 night stay on Disney Property. For Disney hotels it assumes a $350 per night cost which increase each year by 3%. For DVC it uses 160 points purchased at $91. Maint fees start at $659 for the DVC and also increase each year by 3%.

In this example, the initial DVC cost will be made up in savings sometime during the 8th vacation. After that the savings really start to add up. Of course, this chart could go out to 40+ years or the contract could be sold at year 20 and would probably sell at more than the purchase price (can't really compare dollar amounts 20 years apart of course). All of this assumes of course that the person would have been spending the 7 nights at a Disney Hotel anyway...

This is very interesting. I understand you're comparing apples to apples, but it would be interesting to see if you compared oranges to apples for those that are fine, or better yet, PREFER to stay at the Values. Better yet, those who stay at Values that have an AP and get a discount. I've stayed for 7 nights recently at a Value for $420.

But let's just say, you take the regular 2007 season rate of $99 per night and do the same chart with a 4% increase:

$784
$815
$848
$882
$917
$954
$992
$1031
$1073
$1116
$1161
$1207
$1255
$1305
$1358
$1412
$1468
$1527
$1588
$1652

Over 20 years, you've spent $23,345. To break even with 160 points, it would take you 24 years, and this is all assuming, you have received no annual pass discounts in that time. Also, this is assuming you pay for DVC upfront and don't finance it. If you finance it, you're probably looking at just breaking even.

Is it worth it? Not for everybody.

To take it a step further, if you were to use this comparison on a 1 bedroom villa at Wilderness Lodge for example, you would need 270 points for the same amount of time, which brings you to a starting cost of $24,570.

Again, it's not exactly apples to apples, but if a hotel room for you is just a place to shower and sleep, then DVC isn't for everybody.

 

[mikesmom]

If you prefer the Values, particularly if you don't mind searching for discounts, the DVC is probably not for you.

 

[Mtnman44]

You are absolutely right, it is not for everybody. DVC makes little financial sense if you normally stay or prefer to stay in values, or off site, or only visit WDW once every few years.

 

[boomhauer]

You are absolutely right, it is not for everybody. DVC makes little financial sense if you normally stay or prefer to stay in values, or off site, or only visit WDW once every few years.

The DVC agents think we're crazy, but what can I say? I really like the Values.

 

[TenThousandVolts]

The DVC agents think we're crazy, but what can I say? I really like the Values.

Boomhauer- I really like the values too! I don't think you are crazy at all- of course my family needs 2 rooms at POP or ASMO- and only need a 1 bdrm at the DVC.
Even though I am a value lover- and I will do some weekends at the values to save points- I also love my DVC. But, it has little to do with the financial part of it.

 

[Mtnman44]

I don't blame you. No reason to waste tons of money on a hotel room. I'd rather have the cash to have fun with. On our WDW vacations, about the only times we are in the room is when we are sleeping.

On the other hand, DVC gives me the opportunity to "slow down" a little and enjoy a nicer room with the kids in a SEPARATE area which is much better. I could never really afford or justify 10+ day vacations with the family at $400 per night rates. With DVC, I can get much better than a typical deluxe hotel room at a real cost of not much more than a value hotel...

Here's some more over-simplified math:

Let's say I pay 16,000 for the DVC and I pay maint fees of 540 for 40 years. In today's dollars, that amounts to 37,600 in total costs. Assuming I get 7 nights per year, that is 280 nights or about $78 a night TOTAL including tax (in today's dollars).

The DVC agents think we're crazy, but what can I say? I really like the Values.

 

[hardingk]

How do you buy a resale?

 

[kend58]

How do you buy a resale?

click on the link at top of page and check out what they have in inventory easy and efficient

http://www.dvc-resales.com/dvclisting.cfm

 

[byoung]

I look at being in the plus side on the 4th year.