DVC membership?????

[DizBub]

Of course I would love to go every year and stay on the monorail line with park views but that's not gonna happen. I want to splurge next year so my kids can experience what I didn't get to as a child. Be able to watch wishes from our balcony and not have to worry about renting a car or taking buses. We usually stay at the Caribbean beach for a week and it's normally in march due to my wife being a teacher and having 2 weeks off then. I understand the long term payoff but I don't know how so many family's can swing a $23k kick to the crotch. So are there different choices for where you buy? And does that change the up front cost, dues and points? Our normal cost per trip is appox $5,000 - $6,000 and we try and go every year.

Lots of people buy resale. People who own at other resorts are able to stay at BLT and watch Wishes from their balcony, they just have to wait and book their vacations at 7 months.

We could not afford to buy into DVC when it first started. We actually put it out of our minds until our kids started looking into it. We finally had disposable income and no debt and it's become our retirement obsession. It's never too late, I guess. We now treat our kids and grandkids.

Funny, we have gone nearly every year, sometimes twice yearly since 1975 and finally figured out we could not afford to NOT buy DVC. We were going anyway, why not buy? It has only enhanced our experiences. We go multiple times a year now, because we can. On our last trip we didn't go into a park (we are between Annual Passes), we just relaxed and hung out at the resort and went out for dinner every night. That trip cost us $750 out of pocket for the whole trip, gas, food and motel on the drive down. DVC has changed the way we do Disney.

If you are still interested keep reading and learning. Lots of flexibility in the program. I agree that you should look into renting points to try it out. We would NEVER pay Disney what they want to stay in one of their Deluxe resorts. Ouch!

 

[VisitingSince1982]

I can't thank everyone enough for all the information you have given me. I think right now is not a good time to buy into DVC for my family but who knows what the future holds. The last thing I think about is being about 4 or 5 years old and walking into the contemporary and looking up at the gigantic tower with the painting and the monorail rushing thru. A lot of my Disney memories come from the resorts themselves and it seems that when you are a DVC member you stay in a parallel universe on the same property of these resorts. I want to share these memories with my young ones (3 & 5). Maybe when they are older the studio or multi bedroom apartments will work out better. I would still love to "own" a piece of Disney which brought me joy for almost 30+ years. I look forward for the 30+ more years spending them with my family!!

 

[DVCcurious]

I recommend renting DVC before buying in.

If you're DVC curious like I am then renting is a great way to get a feel of what the rooms are really like and what the experience is like (no housekeeping, not being in the hotel but in the DVC section of the hotel, etc).

DVC is a big commitment so if you're only DVC curious and not DVC passionate then renting is the way to go.