DVC worth it over Value Resorts?

[Disney Dad ADL]

We'll have to disagree, there's more than just square footage including both the amenitis of the room (low for a DVC studio) and the sleeping capacity, genrally around the same as the 1 BR (4 vs 4 or 5). When I compare to other timeshares there generally is a much smaller differential. Obviously one has to take into account the underlying size and amenities of each component. I'd suggest you do compare to rack rates such as http://www.mousesavers.com/2016-disney-world-room-rates-season-dates . I think you'll find the difference consistently less than 50% for most items, generally more around 40%. I'd say that and the Marriott up the road that has a similar room layout are perfect comparisons and the difference there is in the 33% range.

I see what you are saying when looking at cash rates for DVC. Interesting. We tend to stay in a lot of 1 bedroom suites at hotels when traveling because we need a separate room for the Kiddos, and generally they are quite expensive and tiny. You tend to pay a pretty high premium for only a small amount of extra space. Even if you look at something like GCH, for the week of 9/5, a normal room is $414 per night and a 1 bedroom is $920. The 1 bedrooms there are basically 2 connected normal rooms, yet you pay more than double. I guess timeshare pricing works differently.

 

[Dean]

I see what you are saying when looking at cash rates for DVC. Interesting. We tend to stay in a lot of 1 bedroom suites at hotels when traveling because we need a separate room for the Kiddos, and generally they are quite expensive and tiny. You tend to pay a pretty high premium for only a small amount of extra space. Even if you look at something like GCH, for the week of 9/5, a normal room is $414 per night and a 1 bedroom is $920. The 1 bedrooms there are basically 2 connected normal rooms, yet you pay more than double. I guess timeshare pricing works differently.

As I tried to acknowledge in my response to you, there are other factors besides square footage. In large part it's supply and demand. While I don't do a lot of hotel 1 BR, other than occasionally the residence type usually Marriott Brand, I suspect they don't have a lot of these and they are a premium so they charge more proportionally. I know Disney does this for their suites and I don't think they normally apply discounts either. I was looking at the Kessler property for St. Augustine (Marriott Autograph collection) and they have 5 suites in the entire hotel and the prices were double to triple a hotel room. I think a good example of how they can vary would be to compare DVC studio/1BR situation to La Cabana in Aruba where the price (both cash and Bluegreen points) is barely 10% different. But when you look deeper you see they both have the same kitchen and almost the same square footage. IMO DVC has left a lot on the table when it comes to equipping the studios in general and that goes double for the Poly. My comparison is always going to be as similar as possible but with as much broad based info as possible and that's going to be other timeshares and the cash price of the items. It's like those trying to argue in the past that WL and AKV were just as deluxe as GF/YC/BC, Disney's pricing model says differently as do other components.

 

[NoodlesMom]

We are a value resort family and I can give you my simple answer. Yes, it's worth it. We've only either stayed value or rented points. I've never stayed at a moderate. It's not always about cost. For me, it's about what my family likes to do. In a the long run, I'm sure I'll spend more but AoA Little mermaid room was almost $200 a night the week before Christmas last year and that price will only increase over the next few years. We can't travel during off season so I can't compare those prices. The ease of making my reservation 11 months out and trying resorts that I would otherwise not be able to afford is awesome. We love Disney and have vacationed there almost every year since 2007 and I don't that will change much over the years. I'm sure at some point, I would've gotten tired of POP and I don't like the All Stars. We love to take our kids but DH and I also do adult only trips. My only question now is why did I wait so long to join.

 

[Tardisblue]

We are a value resort family and I can give you my simple answer. Yes, it's worth it. We've only either stayed value or rented points. I've never stayed at a moderate. It's not always about cost. For me, it's about what my family likes to do. In a the long run, I'm sure I'll spend more but AoA Little mermaid room was almost $200 a night the week before Christmas last year and that price will only increase over the next few years. We can't travel during off season so I can't compare those prices. The ease of making my reservation 11 months out and trying resorts that I would otherwise not be able to afford is awesome. We love Disney and have vacationed there almost every year since 2007 and I don't that will change much over the years. I'm sure at some point, I would've gotten tired of POP and I don't like the All Stars. We love to take our kids but DH and I also do adult only trips. My only question now is why did I wait so long to join.

We've gone every year since 2009 with one exception and are just now buying at BWV. We would have broken even by now if we would have purchased 7 years ago but couldn't swing it then.

 

[DVCcurious]

Quality of vacation time has value.

DVC (even a cheap resale) won't save you actual cash vs staying at POP or All Star Movies. But we stayed at All Star Movies a few times before we rented DVC points. My god, the difference is just...huge. For example, the pool at a Deluxe resort is way better than the pools at values. My kids LIVE on the waterslide. The ability to walk to a park (Beach Club/Boardwalk), take a short boat ride to a park (all except Animal Kingdom, Old Key West, and Saratoga), etc is huge.

I'd say it's like comparing your local 6 flags to Magic Kingdom. Six Flags has rides, Magic Kingdom has rides. Pop Century has a bed, Bay Lake Tower has a bed. But the comparison completely misses the point.

As we've traveled to WDW more and more we changed our touring style. Right now when we go we only are at the park about 5 hours per day, either open-5 hours later, or 5 hours before close-close. We do this because we don't see the point in waiting in 90 minute lines to ride rides we've ridden many times before and will ride many times in the future. Our last trip in Spring Break we got up about 10AM and didn't leave for the parks until about 5PM. So that's 7 hours at the resort. You can easily do this at a Deluxe resort, but I don't think I could spend 7 hours each day at POP.