DVC Question

[your friend]

I think we are sold but I am curious and I am not sure if this question can even be answered but I will ask it anyway since everyone is so helpful here. Taking out the MFs and initial cost of buying in how much do you actually spend on your trips at a dvc resort? I am thinking about park tickets and dining plans but is there anything else I am missing besides the regular travel expenses?

 

[Deb & Bill]

I think we are sold but I am curious and I am not sure if this question can even be answered but I will ask it anyway since everyone is so helpful here. Taking out the MFs and initial cost of buying in how much do you actually spend on your trips at a dvc resort? I am thinking about park tickets and dining plans but is there anything else I am missing besides the regular travel expenses?

You wind up spending the same you spend going to any WDW resort - park admission, food, transportation to and from WDW, souveniers, etc. Just more frequently.

If you work your DVC trips just right, you can schedule them about 11.5 months apart and get one AP and make it work for both trips. And members currently get a discount on APs and PAPs.

 

[vicki_c]

It is still expensive, definitely. We have been considering a quick fall trip and just tonight decided it was too expensive for what we were getting.

Lodging - say free due to DVC
Airfare for 4 (really good deal today too) - $770
Tickets - we already spent $1200 on 6 day PHs that we are going to upgrade to APs, so only factoring in the $400 upgrade price for this trip
$300 to kennel our dog
estimated $1000 for food & other stuff

That is still almost $2500 and didn't even count the $1200 sunk cost that we already paid for tickets (of course once we turn them into APs they would be good for additional days).

We just decided that for a quick 4 night trip, it wash't worth it to us or our budget. And that's probably the cheapest we would be able to do given the airfare and tickets. But we just decided to wait and take a longer trip next year that will be more cost effective on a per day basis.

 

[DizBub]

Our last trip was in May. We drive from Central Illinois but this time we drove to Dayton Ohio and came back the same way so our gas costs aren't normal for this trip. We only stayed 1 night in a motel.

There is just the 2 of us, we have APs so no ticket costs for this trip. Don't usually buy souveniers but this time we did spring for a couple of lanyards.

Have TIW card (bought with $75 gift card that was a Christmas present). We ate at Mama Melrose, Kona Cafe, Turf Club, House of Blues 2 times, California Grill, Jiko, Captain's Grill, Yak & Yeti for table service meals.

QS places we ate at were Artist's Palette at SSR, Earl of Sandwich, Flame Tree BBQ, Wolfgang Puck Express 3 times, Casey's and had various other things like Dole whips and Ghirardelli. So you can see we ate well and did not skimp on food. Total for this whole trip was roughly $1150.

We bought our APs last Nov 27 with Visa reward $ and have had 3 week-long trips with them so far. Will be returning in Oct for another week, hoping to extend that trip longer. Definately going more these days.

With DVC you will have the ability to use your kitchen and prepare meals to help defray your food costs. Breakfast especially.

Hope this helps a little.

 

[supersuperwendy]

With a family of five you won't find it super cheap to use your membership. We had three kids when we joined and now number 4 is 2 1/2 and about to require her own park ticket. We try to find the best flights available but it's still a big expense. Once your kids are all over age 10 the cost of park passes and any dining plan goes up so keep that in consideration. Before DVC we booked package deals that were discounted and we even stayed off site. I would safely say we are spending more now than ever to visit WDW. The cost of flights are up and my older three are all over age 10! But...we LOVE being DVC and gladly put out the $$$$ to enjoy our membership!!!

 

[disneynutz]

I think we are sold but I am curious and I am not sure if this question can even be answered but I will ask it anyway since everyone is so helpful here. Taking out the MFs and initial cost of buying in how much do you actually spend on your trips at a dvc resort? I am thinking about park tickets and dining plans but is there anything else I am missing besides the regular travel expenses?

Everyone is a little different, some do the DDP, others TIW or OOP, some cook in their villa. Some do the parks every day others not so much.

One thing to think about is that prices go up each year and as a owner you are committing to purchase costs, dues cost and as you are thinking about, all of the extras. Disney is truly a luxury vacation, some only vacation there once in a lifetime. As a DVC owner, you are going to be there every couple of years or more.

Bill

 

[Meggysmum]

Our trips cost quite a bit really since direct flights from the UK are anything from $900-$1125 per person and there are 4 of us.

We usually only travel once a year at the most so use the UK Ultimate ticket at $355 for 14 days completely unlimited entry to all parks and WPs. Worked out better than an AP for us since we can't manage 2 trips inside of 12 months.

However we tend to eat cheap and are not great shoppers, a few pins are good enough for us each trip and my teens are not bothered about eating onsite so we can get by on $120 a day when we are there.

However UK visitors do get good offers occasionally so sometimes I save my points and do a package trip instead as it makes more sense finacially. This year there are only 3 adults travelling but we are flying on a peak weekend, have 8 nights at SSR, 3x park tickets, DDP, car and insurance and a $300 gift card for less than $5000. We will hardly take any spending money so it would have been madness to use our DVC.

However that does mean that I have managed to save enough points to send my daughter and her friend on a seperate trip and also a crafty New Year visit for us as well.

Our DVC costs us money but gives us the excuse for extra holidays all the time!

 

[kristenrice]

For a 5 night trip (which is our typical vacation), I budget $1000 for food and another $1500 for tickets. So, not including our travel costs (usually another $1000), we are spending about $2500 per trip.

But, to save a little money, I plan a trip in June and then the following April for spring break. This way, we can buy AP's (currently $1700) in June and use them again in April. By doing this, we cut our ticket cost to $850 for each trip. The next year, we go to HHI.