DVC was a much better deal 10 years ago

[crisi]

I agree. It's just that incomes have not gone up by the same proportion as costs.

One of the reasons why it would be a bad deal today when it wasn't when we bought. We have "less" money now. We've both gotten ok raises, but they haven't kept pace to inflation - or the needs of a family saving for college (and my husband's spendthriftery). I wouldn't choose to put $15k into DVC now when it wasn't a difficult decision to choose to put $10k in six years ago when we bought.

And our kids have gotten older - which means more expensive trips - the oldest is just about to become a "Disney Adult" and the baby follows right on his heels. So our non-DVC Disney spend is going to take a pretty large leap as we move to feeding and buying park passes for teenagers.

 

[girt25]

I think both Mike and OP make a good point. I agree with Mike - a more direct route to the same conclusion!

I'm a new owner who is very happy with the deal I got. I invested my $65/point from 10 years ago so I could afford my $96/point today

Actually.. a large part of what I'm trying to say was regardless of inflation, while $30 pp appears to be a large expense, it ends being really a drop in the bucket compared to the actual value of the DVC over the length of the contract.

 

[DebbieB]

I was one who bought at $65 about 8 years ago and I look at the original OKW members who bought in around $50, got 50 years and got free park passes for years (1992-1999).

Five or ten years from now, new owners will probably look at the original owners of SSR and AKV and say they got a great deal. It's all relative.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

I think that "old timers" have had the USE of DVC accommodations over the last 5-15 years and seen their annual trips become multiple trips per year.

Some of these "old timers" are close to the end of their WDW trips years (kids grown, etc.) or at least have decided to scale back on their frequency of trips. So, if they were asked whether they would pay more money to buy into DVC now, they probably wouldn't be interested. Their current points are sufficient or too many. Also, the "new car smell" enthusiasm may have worn off.

We purchased in 1991 when my kids were infants and we could go anytime the airfare was cheap and DH could get off work. Now that they are both in grade school, we don't want to take them out of school for Disney, if we don't have to. Because, who are we kidding, it won't be a once in a lifetime trip, more like a semi-annual pilgrimage!

So, our trips are getting less frequent and during the more crowded, hotter, and higher points seasons! Not my favorite times of the year and not what I fell in love with WDW and DVC for. However, a day at Disney is better than a day at work and home.

We have more than enough points for our current usage right now even though we now have to travel at times requiring higher points. The first few years, we were burning up those points like crazy!! We purchased 3 contracts, 2 came with fully loaded banked points, and 1 came with 100 extra developer points.

So, SINCE we did go through the "honeymoon" phase of DVC already, if we had to buy now, the higher prices would bother me a bit and maybe cause me to purchase less points and be more careful of how we used them.

If my points disappeared and all the money spent went back into our bank account, I would still buy in DVC (still love it) but would buy much LESS points, because it wouldn't be as good a deal "to us anymore."

It's kind of like coming out of a restaurant, just finished eating a 5 course meal, and having someone ask us if we want to have the same meal but with even more variety but at a higher price. Since we are still full, some of us will pass. Whereas, a hungry patron walking down the street might jump at the chance!

 

[nunzia]

...and just for fun I figured out that smae 1993 Beach Club trip at 2008 prices. It would cost $5,647 for the same experience. I wish I'd bought in then but I'm glad I bought in now..and my kids are all grown..of course now there's the grandkids to consider...

 

[BrentR]

DW and I are new owners (as of Nov '07) and considered all the financials when we decided to buy. We are elated with our purchase and it makes great financial sense for the accomodations we prefer and the trips we want to use it for. So much so we already (or at least "I") have add-on-itis and we haven't even been "home" for the first time as DVC owners.

I am sure however, that in 10-15 years when we become the "old-timers" we will be having the same conversations of "remember when".

I agree with OP that the value is there no matter how you want to parse the numbers. The value is good today and in 10-15 years those of us who are new owners now, will be saying it was a great value "back-when" and not as good a deal today.

 

[Sabor]

I purchased an OKW resale contract with 75% of the year befores points banked for $53 a point in 1998 - It included park passes for stays through 12/31/99. We were able to borrow all of 2000 points into 1999 , and get 6 trips to WDW in those 2 years one of which was a family get together with 3 villas.

Basically I would of spent more than my original outlay on those 6 trips - in accomadations and park passes.

For me there is no comparison - it was a way better deal then.

 

[eva]

We must not be the average old timer. We bought close to 11 years ago. But we are still adding on. In 2007 we did our 5th add-on at AKV. We do have a tendency to reminisce about $60 points. But we feel that DVC is still a good buy for us. We have 2 DD's that were 11 and 14 when we bought. And what's even weirder is that we use more points now than we ever did. We don't worry about weekends any more, we use the points for trades (DCL & ABD), and we take large groups with us to WDW every couple of years. Now our grandkids are nearly old enough to start going to WDW. Hmmm, I think I might need a few more points. These old timers are still having a blast with their points and now have more time and money to have fun with!

 

[FLYNZ4]

I think that DVC is a better deal now than it was in the early years. When we first looked at DVC... I think it was about $51/point. At the time, I could not make the numbers work in our situation.

Back then... the discount structure for Disney rooms was totally differerent than it is today. This was the pre-internet era... and the only information available to most people was the marketing information that Disney provided. Essentially nobody had heard of the internet... and www was not part of the vocabulary.

Today, everyone on the planet uses the web, everyone shares information, there are popular web sites dedicated to disemination of the discount codes... and as a result, Disney has changed the discount structure to the model that nearly everyone gets a small discount (ie: 20% or so). By contrast... in the "old days"... the information about discounted room codes was largely unknown, so most people paid rack rate... or close to it. The very few who were connected online could find incredible deals.. often 70% - 80% discounts. We would consistently stay in the absolute nicest rooms at WDW... concierge level, lagoon view, etc... and we never pay more than $99 per night, and often less. The rack rate was in the $250-$300 range if I remember right. As far as I can tell, those types of discounts are essentially gone now... and hence I think that DVC makes more sense than ever.

/Jim

 

[Luxo]

Using Consumer Price Index calculations, $65 in 1997 is about $83.50 in today's dollars. Conversely, $100 today would be the equivalent of about $78 in '97.

 

[rinkwide]

...$65 in 1997 is about $83.50 in today's dollars...

That number also happens to be DVD's ROFR threshold. What a coincidence.

 

[rinkwide]

That number also happens to be DVD's ROFR threshold. What a coincidence.

Rinkwide, do you ever post sober?

 

[Muushka]

Rinkwide, do you ever post sober?

I was wondering the same thing!

 

[sgtdisney]

I don't know if it was a better deal 10 years ago or not. The numbers and time/value of money may or not make it a better deal. I will say, in my opinion, as members since early 1992, it was a better deal then. I say this, simply because we had the free park admission for 8 years when we joined. In our calculations, based on our points and the number of people, family and friends, we took down there in those early years, those free park tickets almost (not quite, but almost) paid for the cost of the initial investment. Just over 50.00 a point and 8 years of free park tickets. You couldn't beat that.