Family of 6, should we buy?

[Midwest Mama]

From an emotional perspective, I want to buy DVC. From a financial one, I'm not sure it makes sense. We're two adults and four young kids. Right now, our youngest is still under 3, so we fit into rooms for 5 + a baby, but that won't last forever. In a couple of years, we'll only fit in the cabins or 2-bedrooms, from what I can see. We've stayed moderate and deluxe, and prefer deluxe. We won't be getting two value or moderate rooms, since we prefer to stay together.

We take long trips, 10 or 11 nights, about once a year, sometimes twice. So far, every time we've gone, we've used the free dining promotion, which works out great for our family (we love the dining plan and would buy it anyway). Looking forward to the future, should we buy DVC or keep trying our luck with promotions? It seems like using promotions may be better cost-wise, but will that change once we officially become 6? Any insights are greatly appreciated! FWIW, I'm considering AKV mostly resale with a smaller direct add on for the annual pass discounts.

 

[skippytx]

How much will it cost you to stay on a normal cash reservation in the future?

AKV has a great point chart for their 2 bedroom rooms, especially if you can snag a standard view room, but 10 or 11 nights is still going to need somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 points. (forget that value rooms even exist).

That's a lot of cash to tie up in a timeshare, and a significant annual dues payment. It could make sense for you though depending on how much a normal stay costs you, and you have the finances to spend on a purchase like this. You're talking around 50K to buy the points, and another 3K a year just in dues to snag 400 points.

 

[aoconnor]

It sounds like two bedrooms would be a very comfortable fit for you- certainly nicer than two adjoining hotel rooms.

For 10 nights in magic season (moderate point cost) it's 380 points for a standard two-bedroom. Let's say you can buy resale points for $110- there's 38 years remaining, so that's $2.90 per point. Then add on the maintenance fees of $7.44 per point and your annual cost is $10.33 per point.

That means your annual trip would effectivley "cost" you $3,927 or $393 per night. That's probably less than one regular hotel room at AKL.

One caveat is this ignores the opportunity cost of the $42k you paid upfront for the contract. Many on these boards choose to ignore the opportunity cost saying they would have spent the money on vacations anyway, but I personally don't think that's valid when you're talking about a chunk of change this big.

 

[Midwest Mama]

I was thinking we could get by with 300-350 points, but maybe that's not realistic. We'd probably buy smaller contracts over a couple of years. Are the value 2-bedrooms at AKV hard to get, even at 11 months?

 

[aoconnor]

I was thinking we could get by with 300-350 points, but maybe that's not realistic. We'd probably buy smaller contracts over a couple of years. Are the value 2-bedrooms at AKV hard to get, even at 11 months?

Yes, even at 8am at 11 months it's tough. Definitely buy enough to get a standard view and be happy if you get lucky with a value.

Another option could be to buy 200 points and use the contract every other year with banking and borrowing. Then in the off years you could stay cash or do something else. Down the line if you find you enjoy it and have the financial capability to do so you could add on, maybe even at a different resort after you've had a chance to try a few.

 

[TheGecko]

We were in a similar scenario (only 5 of us) and just sold our DVC. Things to consider....

1. Tickets and passes have been going up much faster than inflation and will be until the next recession.

2. Member dues have been going up faster than inflation and will for the next few years the new minimum wage is phased in for workers.

3. DVC allows you to purchase the meal plan at regular price. There is no free dining or discounts for resale. As your kids turn 10 and become adults to Disney it will get pricier.

4. You may want to vacation at places other than Disney and will have a big chunk of money tied up.

5. Your kids might get Disneyed out and want to try something new. I saw this after about the 4th year ina row.

We got a lot of use out of our DVC for about 5 years and sold for a profit due to the rising prices. We will be back to Disney, but I think for us using the seasonal discounts and free dining will be a better deal going forward, and also allow us to go elsewhere if we are not in a Disney mood that year.

 

[Midwest Mama]

We were in a similar scenario (only 5 of us) and just sold our DVC. Things to consider....

1. Tickets and passes have been going up much faster than inflation and will be until the next recession.

2. Member dues have been going up faster than inflation and will for the next few years the new minimum wage is phased in for workers.

3. DVC allows you to purchase the meal plan at regular price. There is no free dining or discounts for resale. As your kids turn 10 and become adults to Disney it will get pricier.

4. You may want to vacation at places other than Disney and will have a big chunk of money tied up.

5. Your kids might get Disneyed out and want to try something new. I saw this after about the 4th year ina row.

We got a lot of use out of our DVC for about 5 years and sold for a profit due to the rising prices. We will be back to Disney, but I think for us using the seasonal discounts and free dining will be a better deal going forward, and also allow us to go elsewhere if we are not in a Disney mood that year.

Thanks for sharing this perspective. All of your points are great.

 

[zavandor]

If you compare how you currently travel to a 2BR DVC it's never going to be more convenient. The problem is you won't be able to fit everyone in a single hotel room anymore starting next year. Rack rates for 2BR are crazy and even with discounts (when available, often they're excluded from free dining) they're still crazy.

The question is: do you really want to continue to stay onsite? For a large family you can rent a villa offsite, getting a larger accommodation for a fraction of DVC cost.
But if you want to stay onsite then DVC is hard to beat once you need a space for 6.

Also, since you go at least once per year and sometimes twice, you could time your travel dates to cover three visits within one AP. At $450 savings per AP for 6 people, your direct addon would repay itself quickly.

 

[Midwest Mama]

If you compare how you currently travel to a 2BR DVC it's never going to be more convenient. The problem is you won't be able to fit everyone in a single hotel room anymore starting next year. Rack rates for 2BR are crazy and even with discounts (when available, often they're excluded from free dining) they're still crazy.

The question is: do you really want to continue to stay onsite? For a large family you can rent a villa offsite, getting a larger accommodation for a fraction of DVC cost.
But if you want to stay onsite then DVC is hard to beat once you need a space for 6.

Also, since you go at least once per year and sometimes twice, you could time your travel dates to cover three visits within one AP. At $450 savings per AP for 6 people, your direct addon would repay itself quickly.

There are just so many variables! We've never stayed offsite, so perhaps we'd like having more space at a lower cost ... but then again, the reason we go is to stay in the Disney bubble, not sure we'd like staying somewhere else. The AP discount is also enticing.

 

[Marionnette]

There are just so many variables! We've never stayed offsite, so perhaps we'd like having more space at a lower cost ... but then again, the reason we go is to stay in the Disney bubble, not sure we'd like staying somewhere else. The AP discount is also enticing.

Perhaps renting from a DVC member is a good place to start. It will be less expensive than getting 2 deluxe rooms thru Disney for cash. But you won’t need to fork out a large amount of money to buy a contract and you won’t have the ongoing cost of annual maintenance fees.

 

[rg35]

If you can afford DVC without financing, it could be a good fit for your situation, assuming you can book vacations around 7-11 months in advance.

If you have to finance, rates are pretty outrageous and would start to eat into any "savings" you might realize by buying DVC over paying cash rates for rooms over the duration of your ownership.

 

[Matty B13]

Since your are a family of 6 people, you will always be booking 2 bedroom units. At some resorts this isn't a big problem, but for other it is (ie. VGF & BWV), so you should really buy where you want to stay. The 2042 resorts have some of the lowest point charts for 2 bedroom units, 350 in Magic Season, which can save you over the more recent resorts, but gives you a shorter lease. Also, Poly doesn't guarantee connecting 2 studios so that would probably make it a no go for your family.

 

[McCrae]

If paying annual dues could be a problem for you I wouldn’t buy DVC.

Other things to consider are what options are open to you if you buy DVC and don’t like it or want a change. Unlike most time shares their is a good aftersales market in DVC, you can always sell. Alternatively renting out points is easy and it will more than cover the annual dues.

Things of course could change and you should always assume that buying DVC is an expensive long term commitment and your initial purchase of points will expire worthless.

We visit Disney circa every 2-3 years and typically spend 21 days in a 2 BR. That would costs us circa $30,000 if we paid cash. My cost as a result of owning DVC is circa $12,000. For us DVC is great value.

 

[disneymagicRN]

We are a young family of 6 as well and recently purchased 75 direct points. We tried resale but were super frustrated with the process for our first contract. We had 150 points to use immediately. We will have 150 points next year if we borrow. And we are planning on adding on a resale contract within a year or two since we will need more points for 2 bedrooms. We are huge Disney fans. We purchased direct, because the AP discount made sense for us. If there is a year we don't want to do Disney, we can rent our points out. I feel like there is so much to do at Disney that we can grow with our vacations there as our kids age. And then when they don't travel with us, we can still go but stay in higher point rooms during higher point seasons. We like the deluxe rooms, and paying cash for that would be so much more expensive. Especially in the future, how much will it cost to book a room? It's kind of locking in a price for the future. We rented points before we bought, and we had also stayed at cash rooms as well. We had such a better time staying DVC than we did in a hotel room. DVC isn't just about a monetary investment, it's an "emotional" investment as well. I see a lot of people try to calculate out the value of a DVC membership, and I don't feel like it can be done. Plus, the benefits are always changing. When I think back on our family memories, some of our very favorite times were spent at Disney on our trips. I can't put a price tag on those intangible moments, and I will always have them.

 

[Karlrob]

Bought 310 points when daughters were in high school. Now there are 7 of us, includes one son-in-law and two grandchildren. Split the cost of the points with my brother to save on yearly dues, so now we have 310 points every other year. This works for us as we can get a 2 bedroom and everyone is happy with the arrangements. Best part is having a living room, separate bedrooms, full kitchen and washer/dryer in the units. We, as grandparents, can bring back the grandkids when parents stay longer. It does work and I am sure in the long run we are breaking even, not saving money. However, as we drive, we don't have to pay the stupid parking fees at the hotels, we get free parking at the parks or can use the internal transportation. We have taken advantage of buying Tables of Wonderland discount dining card and also discounted annual passes. We tried two regular rooms, not in DVC, and as we sat in the dark, waiting for children to go to sleep, we really wanted a separate living area.

 

[plygph]

Its your choice I can't remember which board its located on ( Y'all help a fellow DVC'er out here) but there is a good article that has a calculator feature to look at whether DVC is right for you. It's not for everybody. We took the route that some have suggested as we have enough purchased enough points and have even added on because we fell in love with Aulani. I might add that without DVC I don't think we would be on our third trip and counting.

For us we love Disney, we love staying on the grounds, we love staying at moderate to high hotels (Port Orleans, Coronado, Poly, Contemporary) this all made DVC an easy choice as the resorts for the most part are on this level Some even more high end. We have stayed in all of the accommodations that DVC offers except 3br. Our family of 9 and growing (not everyone goes on every trip) hotel room type accommodations would be tight but not impossible. We normally when the family goes get a 1 or 2 br unit that way we have room to "spread out" and some really nice gathering area with the kitchen area and living rooms. Not to mention a washer and dryer yuck yes i know who wants to do laundry on vacation. Well the advantage to that is you can pack less rising cost of bags on flights, and the you have more room to bring back more Disney stuff. Now the kitchen we like to cook breakfast in the rooms, refrigerator using all of the shopping available saves money on drinks and snacks.

Like I said its not for everyone, it took a long time to convince my wife that it was right for us and a nudge from our first grandchild didn't hurt my cause either all of our points are resale and would not hesitate to purchase there again. I don't think we would ever purchase direct no matter how much they restrict resale contracts.

We are a Happy DVC family. I hope all of you are having a Magical Day, I am because I got to talked about one of my favorite topics DVC..

PS still unsure then rent some points and stay at a DVC property to try it before you buy it.

 

[clutter]

It was just my dd and me, but we did the annual 10 day trip, and the APs were well worth it. We could squeeze in both trips withing 365 days, then skip a year of buying APs. However, that lasted until she was maybe 14-15. At that point, I sold my BCV contract, but kept my 35 AKV direct points.

You're buying 38 years. So think ahead to those years as well. If you will absolutely be going every year, and you still have the ability to vacation elsewhere for something different, then you would want some direct points for the APs (but don't kid yourself - having the prepaid tickets can get expensive, one year we did 28 days on our APs!). But if you think that you will start alternating vacations soon going forward, then you could just buy either 1/2 or 1/3 of the points needed for your 10 days. Resale. Beg and borrow as needed. But you may have grands by the time your youngest is old enough to say "really? again?" No matter what, I'd break the contracts up to make it easier to adjust if your plans change.

The end of the story is that last year, between my use or lose points, banking and borrowing, and a conference, I did a couple short trips with minimal park time as well as a week long trip with my now 22 yo. I actually liked the short trips better, so I purchased another small contract so I can do two long weekends a year. You just never know how you're going to use your points!