We went through similar thoughts this summer as I looked to book at Disney trip for my family for November. After really thinking about it, we decided to buy 180 points at VWL, and we'll be using those for our first trip. We considered the following:
- It was going to cost us about $3400 for 2 rooms (5 nights) at the Poly. We paid about 13,000 for our points and used them to book a 2 bedroom at OKW. Yes you could probably do Disney cheaper if you stayed in a mod or value, or combed for last minute specials, but we work hard to take nice vacations and would rather stay at a deluxe resort. (And you can't always count on last minute discounts) As someone else mentioned, we figured it would pay for itself in about 7 years, compared to typical deluxe rates. (This is factoring maitenance costs which are about $750 a year for us).
-Both one and two bedrooms have a full kitchen and laundry. With small kids (3 and 1), I like the idea of being able to eat some meals in our room, and not having to pack "excess" clothes. It also has a living room so I'm not forced to sit quietly while the kids nap, or go to sleep early. Instead we can sit, watch a movie, have a glass of wine and relax (or better still take the parents to babysit....)
- Would we get sick of Disney? As you learn more about the points mechanics you'll get a better feel for this answer-- you can go when you want and use your points flexibly to achieve a great vacation. We're going this November, and then figure we'll go again in May 2006. While our kids are young we figure that would be a good space. Some years we may choose not to go to Orlando. We can rent our points out to cover the cost of a different vacation, try and trade out, use HH or VB, or bank our points to take a really big vacation the next year (maybe stay for longer, or get extra accomodations and bring family or friends). In any event, there is so much to do at Disney outside of the parks, we didn't think we'd be sick of it any time soon. (If you read many of these posts--some people barely make it to the parks at all).
- What are the negatives? As I mentioned I haven't been to even stay yet, so I'm probably not the best judge. The one negative i see so far is the amount of time you need to plan in advance. You can book at your home resort 11 months in advance, and others at 7; people will tell you to "buy where ou want to stay". However if you are not one of those people who is up to booking that far in advance, you may have a tougher time getting the DVC you want. I booked 4 and 1/2 months in advance, and was initially on a waitlist for everything. Eventually I got a 2 bedroom at OKW, but given that they are working on the slide and kiddie pool is closed, that was my last choice for this trip. I'm hopeful it will all work out, but will TRY and plan further in advance next time. The only other negative I can see is that the points per night go up a lot from weekdays to weekends. If you are the type of person who'd rather do "long weekends", DVC seems to be a more expensive proposition.
These boards will highlight a lot more of the pluses and minuses about DVC. Good luck with your decision.
