DVC? Yay or nay?

[Tiger926]

Sorry about that. I dislike mixing numbers and words for that reason! My assumptions are that I will sell in 15 years and that my initial buy in will still have value when I sell. So all I was trying to illustrate was that my initial buy-in is never lost unless the product becomes worthless or I use it until the term expires. Since I can recoup some of that initial investment, and I plan to, then my costs are reduced further.

I forgot to mention that the fact the rooms we book all come with a full kitchen means we save a lot of money on food too. We both got real tired of Disney food while on the dining plan the first two times so having a room to at least cook a nice dinner and have an inexpensive breakfast saved us a lot of money.

Thanks for the further explanation. But do you count your buy-in with your dues to figure out a per night cost?

We also love the full kitchen! We are saving thousands of dollars on each trip (we go for 2 weeks each summer), and we are taking that money and using it for our DCL cruise next summer!

Tiger

 

[stefanospops]

Thanks for the further explanation. But do you count your buy-in with your dues to figure out a per night cost?


Tiger

I am only counting 50% of my buy-in towards my cost. I suspect I could recoup at least half the buy-in back in 15 years. And if I don't I also suspect that the US Dollar will increase in value by about 20% against what I paid for my purchase. But all this is based on the assumption you will eventually sell your points.

In my original post I think my other point was that if I recoup nothing, then I start saving money after 9 years. Of course, in the end, the real value will not really be known since Disney raises prices on their rooms annually, and annual dues increase. So my payback is likely a sooner than 8 years since even if both room rates and annual dues increased at 10% per year, room rates are more than annual dues.

 

[Tiger926]

I am only counting 50% of my buy-in towards my cost. I suspect I could recoup at least half the buy-in back in 15 years. And if I don't I also suspect that the US Dollar will increase in value by about 20% against what I paid for my purchase. But all this is based on the assumption you will eventually sell your points.

In my original post I think my other point was that if I recoup nothing, then I start saving money after 9 years. Of course, in the end, the real value will not really be known since Disney raises prices on their rooms annually, and annual dues increase. So my payback is likely a sooner than 8 years since even if both room rates and annual dues increased at 10% per year, room rates are more than annual dues.

Got it! Seems like creative mathematics to me.

I think this may confuse new and potential DVC members, as really you have to include your buy-in and dues in order to do a fair per night cost comparison.

Hope you keep enjoying your DVC! Tiger

 

[dsneygirl]

We've had DVC since 2005 and have 2 contracts now. Both were bought resale (significantly cheaper).

You can try to compare the costs of DVC vs a moderate but it's really tricky. Once you get to a 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom it's a whole other ball game. We've gone with family and stayed in a 2 bedroom which could be up to $1000/night (even more at peak season).

Also for many the "Free Dining" is irrelevant. Many DVC members don't do the dining plan as eat more in the room or go so often that eating at all the TS restaurants isn't as big a deal anymore.

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

The other thing you should think of is how many times can you go to Disneyworld before you are tired of it?? That's where we're at right now.... whole family is tired of Disneyworld and the parks so we've been looking outside the DVC box so to speak! We do love Disney but there are only so many times you can go before you get burnt out from seeing/doing the same things in the parks that never or very rarely seem to change.

We bought our contract in 2004 and have been to DW maybe a dozen times since then plus HH once and we will be at Vero this Fall. We've used 2 yrs worth of points for March so we can use DL GCV as our base to see S.California with just a 3 day pass for DL. Our trips now tend to consist of using the resort as our base and doing other things in and around the area that aren't Disney which is just fine. My boys are older now (17 and 11.5) and have both decided that they are tired of the parks and would like to do other vacations.

I wouldn't change the fact that we bought into DVC though as it's given us the opportunity and almost pushed us to make sure we take family vacations on a regular basis. Those vacations can be as cheap or as expensive as we choose to make them!

 

[TLPL]

The other thing you should think of is how many times can you go to Disneyworld before you are tired of it??

I kind of disagree with that BitsnBearMom, true people can get tired of DisneyWorld, but DVC is a timeshare for vacation accommadation, you don't have to have a Disney Theme Park vacation every time you go to the DVC resort. Like youself, you are going to Vero Beach, and have used DVC resort as a home base to see other attractions in So Cal. People shouldn't think DVC are for only for go to Disney Theme Parks only. There are so much to see beside Disney and it is nice to have a great place to stay every night after a day of exploration. I am looking forward to visit Hilton Head and Ko Olina in the future, and I'm happy to know that when I go, the hotel portion of the trip has been paid for already.

 

[SmilingGrump]

I kind of disagree with that BitsnBearMom, true people can get tired of DisneyWorld, but DVC is a timeshare for vacation accommadation, you don't have to have a Disney Theme Park vacation every time you go to the DVC resort. Like youself, you are going to Vero Beach, and have used DVC resort as a home base to see other attractions in So Cal. People shouldn't think DVC are for only for go to Disney Theme Parks only. There are so much to see beside Disney and it is nice to have a great place to stay every night after a day of exploration. I am looking forward to visit Hilton Head and Ko Olina in the future, and I'm happy to know that when I go, the hotel portion of the trip has been paid for already.

It's funny, but I'd never considered staying at a DVC resort without going to the Parks until a couple of days ago when I was reading a trip report from someone at AKV that was doing exactly that. Even though we plan on doing the Parks for the next several trips, it was like a whole new world opened up at this thought!

 

[stefanospops]

It's funny, but I'd never considered staying at a DVC resort without going to the Parks until a couple of days ago when I was reading a trip report from someone at AKV that was doing exactly that. Even though we plan on doing the Parks for the next several trips, it was like a whole new world opened up at this thought!

And the above few posts have been the reasoning I have had for my "creative accounting" in determining how much DVC will actually cost me. I figure my family will outgrow Disney for an annual trip within the next 7-10 years and with only Hawaii, HH and VB as alternate options at 7 months, I am more likely to sell the contracts and recover some of my original costs. So unlike most, I view my purchase as "leasing" points rather than buying them even though I am buying them then reselling them. So if you suspect you will fall into that category then this is just another way to view your DVC membership.

 

[amberg@eastlink.ca]

fyi, were from ns and bought in last year. we were told by our rep in our province with the real estate laws and some such nonsense that we were not able to buy once we were home- we'd have to complete the transaction while there. now weather that is true or a bunch of bs i don't know.

 

[b-1]

fyi, were from ns and bought in last year. we were told by our rep in our province with the real estate laws and some such nonsense that we were not able to buy once we were home- we'd have to complete the transaction while there.



This is true for purchasing direct through Disney but is NOT true if you want to purchase resale. You CAN purchase resale from home.

 

[amberg@eastlink.ca]

fyi, were from ns and bought in last year. we were told by our rep in our province with the real estate laws and some such nonsense that we were not able to buy once we were home- we'd have to complete the transaction while there.



This is true for purchasing direct through Disney but is NOT true if you want to purchase resale. You CAN purchase resale from home.

yes sorry i should of clarified, i presumed the op was thinking of buying from disney itself. silly me, never even thoguht about resale.

 

[Nahanni]

We just returned from first 10 night stay as DVC owners. We have always made breakfast in room (PBJ sandwiches or coffeee pot oatmeal) but it was great to have a full kitchen (cold cereal, ham, eggs, etc).

We did a segmented reservation for dining plan at start and end of trip, reheated a couple of QS meals and made a nice bland meal (after 5 days of rich, salty food its a nice treat!).

In room laundry was great because we ended going through 2 sets of clothes on many days (summer sweating or getting caught in a storm).

Like PP we also spent a couple of resort days hanging around the pool (activities all day), community hall and DTD marketplace. If we went for a resort only vacation, it would probably be less than a week in Muskoka.

In future, we will probably get 10 day Water Park fun & More-non expiry tickets to use for 2-3 park days and spend more time using pools.

In planning the budget, make sure to factor in tickets, meals and travel costs.

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

I kind of disagree with that BitsnBearMom, true people can get tired of DisneyWorld, but DVC is a timeshare for vacation accommadation, you don't have to have a Disney Theme Park vacation every time you go to the DVC resort. Like youself, you are going to Vero Beach, and have used DVC resort as a home base to see other attractions in So Cal. People shouldn't think DVC are for only for go to Disney Theme Parks only. There are so much to see beside Disney and it is nice to have a great place to stay every night after a day of exploration. I am looking forward to visit Hilton Head and Ko Olina in the future, and I'm happy to know that when I go, the hotel portion of the trip has been paid for already.

You are right you CAN use the resorts as a base to go see/do other things and cut down on the costs of your trips. The point I guess I was trying to make and didn't get across is for MY family (and many others I'm sure we aren't alone) my kids are 17yo and almost 12yo and they find they are tired of florida attractions and theme parks (not just Disney) and there are only so many times you can go to the same places before you get tired of them. We've had our contract for 8 yrs now and other then Cali (March 2012) and Vero (Oct 2011) and Hawaii in the near future we've bTDT and are ready to see/do things other then Disney resort vacations. Yes you can trade out your points but we've found that to not be the best use of points.

Would I change having bought the contracts? No definatly not. It's pushed us to make sure we have regular vacations as a family and when our family was younger we needed that push. However had I thought ahead to when my kids were the ages they are now and thought about how many times we could go to DW florida resorts, HH, VB, DL as vacations no we probably wouldn't have bought.