DVC saving me money? Please prove me wrong/right!!

[Dean]

Hi Everyone,

My wife and I joined DVC last year and although she loves it, she is still not convinced that it is saving us a lot of money (now and in the long run).

We just booked a preferred-view studio room at BWV for 2/24/12 to 3/3/2012 (8 nights). I thought I would do a price comparison for what we would have paid out of pocket if we weren't members and here is what I came up with.

Member cost (not including original point purchase cost): approx $1,000 annual fee for 200 points and we are using a total of 153 points. Although there are points left over, let's just assume that our stay at BWV for this trip is $1,000.

Non-member cost (straight from bookwdw.com): $3,769 for a standard-view room.

I wanted to do an accurate comparison, so I searched for any special offers like free dining (we will purchase the dining plan for this trip) or room discounts and could not find any during our dates.

So, my conclusion is that we are saving over $2,700 by being DVC members (with 40+ unused points for the year and a room with a better view)!

My questions is...am I right or wrong in my conclusion?

Am I missing any special promotions that are going on during those specific dates or anything else? Do you think any new promotions will be announced for those dates in the coming months (I don't know the "trends" or history of when promotions get announced, but I figure since Disney has already announced the free dinging promotion thru March, I am guessing there will be no new ones).

I am approaching this comparison as being just for this trip for those specified dates and resort, not the whole "package". I realize all of the other things that need to be taken into account for the lifetime of being a DVC member, but I am looking at just this one point in time and resort (right or wrong).

I am not taking into account anything else such as how much it cost to purchase the points, are we going because we have to go, will we be going 10 years from now, would we be staying at a Value resort instead of BWV, etc.

Thanks for any feedback,

Evan

I think DVC RARELY saves money but it often provides additional value. If one includes extra trips and the extra dollars one tends to spend elsewhere, it likely doesn't save anyone money. My definition of savings is compared to what you would have spent had you not owned DVC. IMO, comparing to rack rates is a fools comparison unless one would have paid those prices for that room type anyway. One should come our fairly even if you compare a studio to a moderate (or 2 BR to 2 hotel rooms) and a little behind if you compare to values but that includes getting some savings with the kitchen. There are likely no other situations where one can show an actual savings. However, for a controlled price, one can often get a much better experience for a controlled amount than would have been gotten for a roughly comparable price. To me that is potential value but not savings.

 

[otterpop]

Holy Smokes! What a discussion my post has created. Thanks again to all for the great comments. I'm guessing this has already been done, but if not, maybe I'll put together a summary of everyones comments and use it has a "points to consider" post for potential new DVC buyers.

As Mtnman44 posted and many of you have eluded to, Disney is not in this to save us money. I totally agree. And the sad thing about this (which I'm guessing/hoping most of us would agree with), I'm not complaining and loving every dollar DVC "takes" from me!

Thanks again everyone,

Evan

 

[dmccarty]

Oh but you forgot the third thing which is the FOOD! Most don't factor in the food when making the case for DVC due to how they vacation.
...

Food can be expensive but it can also be contained. If you want to stay at nice place onsite or off it is going to cost. Food costs can be minimized to some extent. I have seen people eating sandwiches in the parks to save money.

I did not mention food because for us, vacation is about eating good food regardless of the location. Good food does not have to be expensive but if you are in a tourist area the food is going to lean towards expensive. So for us, we are going to spend money eating out regardless of the vacation spot.

Having said that, we do eat breakfast in the room to save time and money. It is odd, but lunch seems to be about the same price at WDW if we eat burger type food compared to McDs or BK on the trip down to Disney.

You are right that you can use the larger DVC lodging to prepare food. But since I am the one that cooks, I ain't cooking on vacation.

Later,
Dan

 

[crisi]

Food can be expensive but it can also be contained. If you want to stay at nice place onsite or off it is going to cost. Food costs can be minimized to some extent. I have seen people eating sandwiches in the parks to save money.

I did not mention food because for us, vacation is about eating good food regardless of the location. Good food does not have to be expensive but if you are in a tourist area the food is going to lean towards expensive. So for us, we are going to spend money eating out regardless of the vacation spot.

Having said that, we do eat breakfast in the room to save time and money. It is odd, but lunch seems to be about the same price at WDW if we eat burger type food compared to McDs or BK on the trip down to Disney.

You are right that you can use the larger DVC lodging to prepare food. But since I am the one that cooks, I ain't cooking on vacation.

Later,
Dan

Eating out is a big part of our vacations, too. But I look at food at Disney differently. The thing is, we might not go on vacation AT ALL without DVC for these trips. Or we might do something where food wasn't such an issue - spend a week at a cabin where you do cook, go to an all inclusive in Mexico where food is built in (and pretty cheap). It is really hard to say what we'd do without DVC because we aren't doing it.

(And the DVC kitchens suck in terms of preparing real meals. They are nice to have for breakfast, but the last thing I want is to cook real meals on vacation in that tiny kitchen).