DVC vs Moderate (AKV vs Caribbean)

[we"reofftoneverland]

We bought for the free parking. Lol. Okay, not completely, but once Disney started charging for parking, we got serious. For years we walked by their sales tables and kiosks... Boulder Ridge... Bay Lake (almost stopped for that one)... Grand Floridian. But Disney gets their parking money back from us. We definitely spend more with Disney as dvc members. Pre dvc we went for maybe 1-2 weeks per year. Now as dvc members, we go more like 3 weeks (last year 4) per year. We save on the AP, but we really are not saving on the room. We used to get deals on individual Disney hotel rooms, so the rack rate comparison doesn’t work for us. I would buy dvc if you LOVE Disney. We do. I’ve been going since I was a young child in the 70s and 80s and it has always been a part of my life. Luckily my spouse likes it even more than I do. I wouldn’t do it if you are trying to save money, because dvc pulls you further into Disney’s commercial orbit and even though you may save on APs for example, you do end up spending more overall. I also miss Port Orleans! It was one of our favorites. On the flip side, there are lots of dvc resorts to try. If you do it, I personally would do resale, better deal. We did resale and then bought the minimum at a legacy resort to get the AP discount. But if you are only going once a year or less, I wouldn’t bother with Direct or the AP at all. A few days ago we were considering buying some riviera points because the price right now is pretty good, but we started crunching the numbers and remembered the weird resale restrictions and thought better of it.

 

[MICKIMINI]

⬆ This. We bought in to save money. Eight years later and after a couple add ons, we now use our 650 points to stay in big rooms wherever we want.

So did we truly "save money" in the long run? Not really- because we never would have paid the cash rates that would be required for the rooms we now stay in. What we did is bought better vacation lodging at a reasonable price. And that was well worth the investment.

Spot on! You can't take it with you and you might as well enjoy the "spoils" of your labor... Life is short and I don't like regret.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We bought for one bedroom villas. The only studio we'll stay in is OKW because it has two real beds. We like the king sized bed. Years ago when we lived outside of Florida and took longer trips, we often did our laundry in our villa several times during our stay and especially on the last night so we went home with clean clothes. Of course our initial buy in cost was a lot less than it is now. When we bought we got points direct for $50 a point. Now the price of a single point direct would have gotten me three or four points.

 

[DVCanonymouse]

DH and I are in the same exact boat as you, OP. We have been visiting WDW every year or every other year for around 20 years with our 2 offspring who are now grown and just about out of the house.

We first considered purchasing DVC back in 2007 when we were at the WL on a family vacation. We crunched the numbers. The biggest factor that made us decide against it at the time was that we would feel too limited in where we could stay (our favorite resort is the Poly, and at the time, if we had bought in, we would have been REALLY stretched to pay for it and wouldn't have had an option to also do cash stays, and certainly couldn't have purchased enough points to stay there on points!). The other factor was the dues we would have had to pay for the number of points we would have purchased...it seemed like it didn't make sense, since we could stay at a value for a week and a moderate for almost a week, depending on the discounts...

Looked at the numbers again when PVB was announced and offered. Had 2 kids in college at the time, so again, we just couldn't justify the cost...the initial buy in at the time for the number of points we needed and those MFs with college tuition just couldn't add up. But DVC definitely looked more attractive, when we considered all the cash we have spent over the years on our resort stays (mostly deluxe, Poly when we could, never paid rack rate, but still, it added up and we don't regret spending any single penny).

We just in the past year or so have learned about the resale market and have been watching Webmaster Pete and friends on The DVC Show religiously (repeating episodes that interest us most multiple times), following prices on the resale market. We feel like NOW is the time that we are finally ready, even though we are...shall we say...approaching the end of our own prime years. We know that we will continue to adore Disney and want to travel there year after year and our "kids" may even want to join us occasionally (we can bank and borrow for those special trips)! So we have just submitted our first contract for ROFR and couldn't be more excited about it!

I hope your journey is a great one whatever you decide. Every family seems to find their way to DVC a little differently but we all have so much in common, too! Good luck!

 

[raider97]

DH and I are in the same exact boat as you, OP. We have been visiting WDW every year or every other year for around 20 years with our 2 offspring who are now grown and just about out of the house.

We first considered purchasing DVC back in 2007 when we were at the WL on a family vacation. We crunched the numbers. The biggest factor that made us decide against it at the time was that we would feel too limited in where we could stay (our favorite resort is the Poly, and at the time, if we had bought in, we would have been REALLY stretched to pay for it and wouldn't have had an option to also do cash stays, and certainly couldn't have purchased enough points to stay there on points!). The other factor was the dues we would have had to pay for the number of points we would have purchased...it seemed like it didn't make sense, since we could stay at a value for a week and a moderate for almost a week, depending on the discounts...

Looked at the numbers again when PVB was announced and offered. Had 2 kids in college at the time, so again, we just couldn't justify the cost...the initial buy in at the time for the number of points we needed and those MFs with college tuition just couldn't add up. But DVC definitely looked more attractive, when we considered all the cash we have spent over the years on our resort stays (mostly deluxe, Poly when we could, never paid rack rate, but still, it added up and we don't regret spending any single penny).

We just in the past year or so have learned about the resale market and have been watching Webmaster Pete and friends on The DVC Show religiously (repeating episodes that interest us most multiple times), following prices on the resale market. We feel like NOW is the time that we are finally ready, even though we are...shall we say...approaching the end of our own prime years. We know that we will continue to adore Disney and want to travel there year after year and our "kids" may even want to join us occasionally (we can bank and borrow for those special trips)! So we have just submitted our first contract for ROFR and couldn't be more excited about it!

I hope your journey is a great one whatever you decide. Every family seems to find their way to DVC a little differently but we all have so much in common, too! Good luck!

Congratulations!! This is our story just a few years behind. Thanks for the tip on the show. We are hoping to buy when our baby clears college... or gets a full ride.

 

[Jonnnyap]

@DVCanonymouse Thanks for sharing your story/journey. Like @raider97 we may be a few years behind you also. I agree that the “sunk cost” of all our previous years makes it seem like we should have bought years ago, but we didn’t have the money at the time. Shortly from now, we’re guessing that we’ll have the money though the kids will be out of the house. Oh the irony.

The gamble becomes whether DW and I will want to continue our Disney tradition in this new phase of life.

 

[DVCanonymouse]

@DVCanonymouse Thanks for sharing your story/journey. Like @raider97 we may be a few years behind you also. I agree that the “sunk cost” of all our previous years makes it seem like we should have bought years ago, but we didn’t have the money at the time. Shortly from now, we’re guessing that we’ll have the money though the kids will be out of the house. Oh the irony.

The gamble becomes whether DW and I will want to continue our Disney tradition in this new phase of life.

DH and I know we will still love WDW. There is so much to do there for adults. We love the resorts as much as the parks, love the dining and shopping options. We can't wait to spend more time at the festivals and the holiday celebrations. We will also enjoy visiting Vero, HH and Aulani!