DVC: Worth the initial cost?

[littlestar]

We're taking our daughters and son-in-laws, niece, hubby and me the first week of October in 4 studios. 20 nights of studios. Some are staying longer than others. Deluxe resort regular rooms would have run us roughly around $300 a night with tax. That's around $6,000 in accomodations just for our October trip. It took 212 points worth. You can't beat DVC when you like to stay deluxe and can go light on the weekend points. Although, two of those nights are being used for weekend nights for October.

We pay roughly $1,500 a year in dues on 310 points, but we get about 27 to 28 nights a year out of that when we use studios. If you take 28 times $300, that's about $8,240 a year in reservations compared to cash. I think it's a great deal for what we get.

Now, if you're satisifed with just a basic cheap offsite hotel, then no, it's probably not worth it. Just figure out what's important to you and go with your gut. We bought a Marriott timeshare resale to supplement our DVC trips, as our family also enjoys Marriott properties, too. So everybody has different things that are important to them for a vacation. We bought the vacation timeshares that we own for our whole family's enjoyment. Marriott and DVC both, along with our Interval International individual membership, are proving to be great investments for our whole family's vacation enjoyment.

I know of one person that posts on this board that used to own DVC and sold it and now owns Fairfield points for their vacations as it suits their travel habits better now in their life. So just figure out what's best for your family.

Good luck.

 

[Dean]

Hello all. Me and the misses were at one time seriously considering buying into DVC (we were basically a phone call away) until we learned of the yearly dues. Basically, IMHO, it seems that you are paying x number of dollars a year (in addition to the initial cost) just to reserve 11 months out. I mean, we never have booked through Disney more than maybe five or six months out at the latest. If it wasn't for the yearly dues, then it wouldn't even be a thought. To all that own, are you glad you did? Do you have any regrets?

One is smart to consider all the risks and costs. And it may be the yearly dues are enough to make it not be a good deal for many. Heck, I don't think DVC is a good deal for many that own and are happy with their purchase but it is their right to make bad choices. However, for one that goes most every year and stays on property at moderates or above and doesn't do long weekends, you can easily get long term value from owning at a reasonable and manageable risk. Some have been afraid to pull the trigger and have lost out on a significant benefit over the years.

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

If you are concerned about the MF -there is a chart showing the history of MFs.

Some years it went down.

I own 180 points, MF are $837. Beach rentals in my area are $1500 and up and that's not even for beach front!!!

I

 

[keishashadow]

Our regrets:

1) didn't buy sooner

2) didn't buy a larger contract

3) didn't discover resale earlier

Glad that:

1) forces us to take the time to vacation...have to use the points up

2) during the week-days we can stay in a deluxe studio for less than a Value

It's a rather unpopular sentiment here but, you can always start out w/a small re-sale contract (bank & borrow points if need be, even limited transfers of points into account are still permissable) to test the waters. You can then easily addon @ any resort (if you're willing to wait for the inventory).

Good luck.

 

[Disney Doll]

Yes we are glad we did it and no we have no regrets.

The yearly dues are pretty nominal in comparison to what a hotel room costs, especially if you go fairly frequently, as we do.

We pay about $1200/year in dues. Our initial purchase price is paid off, which means the $1200 is all it costs. That $1200 gets us anywhere from 10-21 days(depending on the size of the units we book, time of year, length of stay) in a 1BR or larger unit. Even if we only get 10 days per year because we have booked the bigger units, that's $120/night for a deluxe level accomodation with 3BRs,a full kitchen, full laundry, and room for 10 of our closest friends and relatives.

Not bad....

 

[JimC]

We waited too long to buy-in. It is a great program if you vacation at Dianey every year, stay at moderates or better and can plan your holidays in advance. If you will not use of the home resort booking advantage (you said you book 5-6 months out) then buy where you get the most value and that is probably SSR or OKW. SSR because of extra years and dues. OKW because of dues. Remember that over time dues will be the most significant portion of what you paid.

 

[G8RFAN]

We do spend at least one week a year at WDW but we also do a bunch of long weekend trips during the year. So only a portion of our vacation habits fit the DVC profile (or so I thought). We bought enough points for a 1 week 1 bdrm stay during the most popular time of the year. What we found was that we could combine DVC with cash stays and really stretch out the points by using them during Sun-Thurs. Using this method, we have the points to use for a studio on a weekend or to use for a 2nd week trip. We have truly enjoyed our DVC purchase (SSR) and were fortunate enough to investigate it back when they were offering preconstruction specials on SSR. We also do not spend every vacation at WDW but enough time to justify the timeshare. Also key is your monthly budget. If you need to finance the purchase up front, the impact can make you question the value of DVC if your budget is tight. There are lots of factors and as everyone suggested, pick the ones that have the biggest impact to you. I think what sold me was the strong secondary market for DVC in case we decide that WDW is no longer a vacation draw for us down the road.