Feeling overwhelmed looking at DVC options

[AstroBlasters]

What do you mean by the diminishing returns? I know there are discounts the more points you buy, but is there something else involved?

I calculated the price per point for the purchase.

There are tiers in incentives Disney offers based on how many points you buy.

When I was purchasing there was almost no incentives below 150 points and then substantial jump in incentives at 150 and 200 points. After 200 points, there wasn’t a material increase in incentives regarding the price per point.

 

[RoseGold]

I do love international travel, and at first glance, the II partnership seemed like such a win...but without being able to see the quality of resorts we'd get ahead of time (their website is driving me nuts!!!) It's hard to think that's a good plan. Plus combined with the not great point usage...hmmm

This is not the product for international travel. If you want to stay in timeshares abroad (iffy in many places anyway), go rent it on Redweek, don't lock into expensive Disney points and get terrible value for them.

Best stay I saw someone get on II was Vegas, and that's not exactly hard to come by in cash.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Yes! Our understanding is that we were locked into the rates that expired Sept 12. We will talk to our DVC guide later and I'm sure she'll start putting the pressure on to male a decision.

There's a lot to think about here, but it's all great advice!!! I'm always wary that the spiel I get from DVC is leaving out all the big important caveats.

I do love international travel, and at first glance, the II partnership seemed like such a win...but without being able to see the quality of resorts we'd get ahead of time (their website is driving me nuts!!!) It's hard to think that's a good plan. Plus combined with the not great point usage...hmmm

Also interesting to see the amount of people who re-upped and got more points! Sounds like when you're in, you're IN

It’s pretty flexible based on family goals.

There is a robust market where owners can sell or rent out their DVC points if they find it doesn’t fit their needs or just want a “break from the mouse” to travel to non-Disney locations.

I would say that most buyers eventually become afflicted with a medical condition called “add-on-itis” where they add on points to upgrade the size of accommodations (studio to 1bd Villa) or have more days to stay on property.

There is also a mental health benefit of not feeling the need to “maximize every second” to justify the cost of lodging if you know you will be coming back again. Add on the ability to get discounted annual passes and discounted food and merchandise and it really does fundamentally change the “feel” of the trip.

However, you need to be OK planning a vacation out between 7-11 months in advance in most cases. DVC is not a “last minute let’s go to Disney” product in the vast majority of cases.

 

[laurend]

We bought in this summer after a very short but thorough research period. We now own at VGF direct and have a resale contract at BCV in the works. Lots of great advice and thoughts already, just throwing out some factors in our rapid decision making process!

- We had just come home from a WDW trip where we spent some time with a family from my daughter's soccer sphere who just happened to be DVC owners and that planted the seed. In the weeks after we got home were trying to combat the "post-Disney blues" by getting a jump on planning next year's non-Disney vacation.. and nothing sounded as appealing as just going back to WDW. Yes, even to our teenager! If we were content to leave the mouse behind and not come back for another 3-5 years that would have been a sign that DVC was not for us.

- We prefer staying on property and value being able to walk to at least one park. With a toddler, it's huge to be able to get back to the resort easily for the middle of the day, and as an adult I still think pool and nap time are great before round 2 of parks or exploring.

- We rarely took vacations prior to the last couple years and I have found that it's way more valuable than I gave it credit for. Having DVC forcing us to actually take time away from home to relax and reset is a great thing.

- ALL of my family lives near us, and some of my husband's does as well. We aren't giving up seeing family to go to Disney World. Might have changed the equation a bit if we were already traveling significant distances and thus eating into airfare budget/vacation time to see them on a regular basis but they're just a short drive away.

- With kids, dogs, sports schedules, school... 100% planned-ahead vacations. I don't need flexibility for last minute trips, I need everything lined up well ahead of time or I get stressed out. 7-11 months is great from a planning perspective. If you don't want to plan ahead it's not going to be a good fit.

 

[🍀TwinsMom]

The only thing I would caution against is buying points in the hope that extended family will come. There’s a lot of WDW haters out there and one and done folks. WDW is expensive, even with free lodging, and not everyone is reliable when push comes to shove.

I thought my parents would be coming but they’re afraid of traveling now and their health degraded quickly in the Covid years. (We bought in August, 2019.)

My sister, BIL, and niece have come once and had a ball and are coming one more time next Thanksgiving, but after that they’ve “done” Disney and are all set.

We took my niece this past July and she loved it. We’re happy to take her every trip if she wants to go, but my sister has to still buy airfare and tickets. We do food and lodging and excursions.

We brought my cousin twice, and she’d come any time — but now is engaged to a Disney hater and saving for a house and wedding.

Our friends have huge extended families, but for various reasons they’re not interested/available.

Count on you guys enjoying it and get enough points for a studio every year. That’s enough to bank for bigger trips or do some spontaneous weekends if airfare is cheap. I think DVC is AMAZING for a young couple who knows they like WDW. If you’re planning to have kids, even better. It’s going to be paid off by the time kids come and you’re too broke to do anything else.

DVC really can save you money, or at least is comparable to renting a cottage on the ocean on the East Coast for a week — where we still have to provide linens and cook food. Disney is now my brainless travel plan. There’s still new stuff to us to try, but with DVC we’re not in a rush to do it all in one trip. We really have started to relax. I really does feel like our second home now, in a nice way.

 

[RichVIII]

All great advice so far but while I agree it can save you money - we have spent far more money now than we would have. I am not complaining but “we didn’t pay to stay” (sunk costs) let’s do this extra thing. ”We didn’t pay to stay” so let’s buy this or do this extra meal. You stay differently, and it is wonderful - but aren’t saying money. Ha ha ha

 

[Ohmymonty]

All great advice so far but while I agree it can save you money - we have spent far more money now than we would have. I am not complaining but “we didn’t pay to stay” (sunk costs) let’s do this extra thing. ”We didn’t pay to stay” so let’s buy this or do this extra meal. You stay differently, and it is wonderful - but aren’t saying money. Ha ha ha

I was already thinking "if I'm not paying for lodging I'll probably be more interested in those holiday parties" definitely not saving money mentality

 

[crisi]

I would say that most buyers eventually become afflicted with a medical condition called “add-on-itis” where they add on points to upgrade the size of accommodations (studio to 1bd Villa) or have more days to stay on property.

I think most Disboarders get addonitis. Hanging here is a great advertisement for "oh, I need to get in on the Grand Floridian deal!" and "If I want to stay at BWV over Food and Wine, I'd better get myself 50 points." I don't know if most DVC members every buy anything but their home resort. All of the people I know who own DVC outside of THIS board only bought points once, and only own them at a single resort.

 

[intamin]

All great advice so far but while I agree it can save you money - we have spent far more money now than we would have. I am not complaining but “we didn’t pay to stay” (sunk costs) let’s do this extra thing. ”We didn’t pay to stay” so let’s buy this or do this extra meal. You stay differently, and it is wonderful - but aren’t saying money. Ha ha ha

Instead of saving money we've definitely spent less of that money going toward the hotel and significantly more toward flights and food.. you could argue the quality and frequency of the vacations has increased significantly though . We were previously park commandos where only on a single trip out of 4 did we have a break day and just resort hopped. This past trip we spent multiple days at the pool and didn't even go into the park on 9/13 aside from Moonlight Magic.

 

[intamin]

I think most Disboarders get addonitis. Hanging here is a great advertisement for "oh, I need to get in on the Grand Floridian deal!" and "If I want to stay at BWV over Food and Wine, I'd better get myself 50 points." I don't know if most DVC members every buy anything but their home resort. All of the people I know who own DVC outside of THIS board only bought points once, and only own them at a single resort.

We're definitely in the minority on here lol. I feel like most of the people who commonly post have at least 2 home resorts and if they don't it's weird. What else are you supposed to fill the signature with if you only have 1 home resort?

 

[crisi]

I think this is important to remember that when you do this, you are cutting yourself off from the flexibility to go to other places. Sure you can rent your points but if you don't plan to use your points on your own at least a majority of the time it can be a hassle to try and rent your points out just to get your money back. If you're going a LOT already then it makes sense but do not underestimate not only the financial commitment but also the time commitment. If you're still working which I imagine you are since it seems like you haven't settled down a fair amount of your PTO will be dedicated to be used on these trips.

Personally for me that's the bigger commitment. I can deal with the 5 figure commitment, that's whatever. 5 figures doesn't mean a lot to everyone in the long term. But the feeling like you need to use the points every year with the PTO you get. It limits the trips back home to see family, road trips or going on more international trips. I mean fortunately we love Disney. Our next trip in November will be trip #7 within a year and we're not tired of it. We just came back on Saturday and are already having post-Disney depression but even so it does take away some of that flexibility from other trips.

That's one reason why we've only gone every other year and have a small number of points. With vacation time and our travel desires, we regular take two "travel" vacations a year (and sometimes smaller nearby trips), and have for years. So one of every four trips was WDW.

To address the international concern, we've been all over the world - every continent except Antarctica. The only place we use DVC points is at WDW, HHI and Aulani. Disney's II membership is very limited in terms of what is available and not all II resorts are available to book via points.

 

[crisi]

We're definitely in the minority on here lol. I feel like most of the people who commonly post have at least 2 home resorts and if they don't it's weird. What else are you supposed to fill the signature with if you only have 1 home resort?

I'm weird for this board. I bought 150 BWV points 20 years ago. Today I have.... 150 BWV points. I also haven't bothered with a signature.

 

[gmi3804]

I'll posit a contrarian view: "Addonitis" is a Peter Werner (and Pete Werner-type) FOMO way of thinking, i.e., those who just want to keep buying more and not consider the financial consequences. For those who don't understand, it's a long, sad story, and you should really treat this as a major long-term investment which only gets more expensive (in the form of increased dues, the largest component of DVC expense) as the years go by.

I'll shout again to the OP's question, because this thread has gone off track into the financial realities of DVC exploration and purchasing, that you should NEVER purchase real estate/cars/loans/etc., with someone other than your legal spouse. Courts have no way of protecting you if/when that relationship dissolves.

 

[intamin]

That's one reason why we've only gone every other year and have a small number of points. With vacation time and our travel desires, we regular take two "travel" vacations a year (and sometimes smaller nearby trips), and have for years. So one of every four trips was WDW.

Down the line I may consider downsizing on the resale contracts I own and eventually convert all to direct so there aren't any restrictions on any of my points and am paying less on dues in total even though I'd have less total points. I think our total will not be too far off from where I want it to be though. We want enough for a 2BR and a 1BR for a week each and will probably offset WDW with Aulani trips but the lowest we'll probably have in the long run is probably 700 which is still an obscene amount I know lol. Worse comes to worst it's bungalow time

 

[RichVIII]

I was already thinking "if I'm not paying for lodging I'll probably be more interested in those holiday parties" definitely not saving money mentality

Ha ha Ha. This will probably be our 8 or 9th Very Mickey Christmas this year. And then annual passes. Annual passes means, we can just go in to MK for a Dole Whip and a ride on our last day. Oh wait…let’s go around Halloween and h it up Not so Scary. Oh wait…let’s do Flower and Garden or maybe Art Festival. Wait…we need more points. Oh man….nothing but a 1 Bedroom available. Wow…it’s nice having a full kitchen - we can save some money cooking (orders mostly junk food and beer). We love 1 BRs and want to stay more often them. Wait…need more points. That Cirque show looks awesome. Let’s try some offsites. I sure hope we hate Aulani. Crap, we love it. How about we go back at Christmas during the most expensive points time. Need more points. Yup…saving money.

 

[Ohmymonty]

I have some more questions to add on to my original queries.... a few of you have mentioned the DVC day in Magic Kingdom. I'm aware there was just a DVC only cruise.

How do you DVCers feel about these events? Are they enticing? Do they feel more special as a DVCer than they did pre-DVC? Were the experiences comparable?

Are these sold at an extra premium? Or do you need to redeem points to gain access?

 

[🍀TwinsMom]

I have some more questions to add on to my original queries.... a few of you have mentioned the DVC day in Magic Kingdom. I'm aware there was just a DVC only cruise.

How do you DVCers feel about these events? Are they enticing? Do they feel more special as a DVCer than they did pre-DVC? Were the experiences comparable?

Are these sold at an extra premium? Or do you need to redeem points to gain access?

I’m thinking you’re referring to the extra magic hours, or whatever they call it now. Monday is usually Epcot, Wednesday is MK, and a few times Thursday was HS. DVC/deluxe/SOG/S&D get two extra hours after closing, and it IS glorious. We get everything done at MK those nights and only shop at MK daytime hours. It’s a great perk.

 

[gmi3804]

How do you DVCers feel about these events? Are they enticing?

I feel they’re created for people who need to feel Important.

 

[crisi]

I have some more questions to add on to my original queries.... a few of you have mentioned the DVC day in Magic Kingdom. I'm aware there was just a DVC only cruise.

How do you DVCers feel about these events? Are they enticing? Do they feel more special as a DVCer than they did pre-DVC? Were the experiences comparable?

Are these sold at an extra premium? Or do you need to redeem points to gain access?

One of our biggest wastes of time at Disney was a DVC Moonlight Magic event at AK. It was all around disappointing - although it was cool to be in AK after dark since its rare you get to do that. But few rides were open, those that were had really long lines. Those have only been available to DVC members, so there isn't anything comparable - but I wouldn't bother with another one (and they are hard to plan around - they are only held a few times a year and haven't usually been announced far enough in advance to really book around - we happened to have reservations when one was offered). All other special events you are treated the same if you are cash or DVC. Direct buyers (and people who have OLD resale points like me) get access to the member lounge in Epcot and the Top of the World Lounge at the Contemporary. Neither is worth owning DVC for, but are nice if you have access. Both could also go away at any time. In fact, ALL perks could go away at any time. Don't buy for perks.

Honestly, I feel less special as a DVC member than when I travel on cash. Worn- sometimes even dirty- rooms with broken drawers and torn curtains, late check ins, early checkouts, lack of mousekeeping, availability problems, and what feels like an attitude from Disney as a corporation of "we have your money and know you'll be back, there isn't any reason to treat you well." Even on the cash side, Disney is not great at the whole hotel thing, but its all worse on the DVC side IMHO. But my park experience is the same and its been a good value - though we did buy a very long time ago, and got a very good deal on a resale contract.

 

[intamin]

I'll posit a contrarian view: "Addonitis" is a Peter Werner (and Pete Werner-type) FOMO way of thinking, i.e., those who just want to keep buying more and not consider the financial consequences. For those who don't understand, it's a long, sad story, and you should really treat this as a major long-term investment which only gets more expensive (in the form of increased dues, the largest component of DVC expense) as the years go by.

I'm not going to pretend I know his expenses but it seemed like at times he was financing multiple contracts at the same time or would go from financing one to another which is a terrible idea. Addonitis is fine as long as it's disposable income and doesn't break the bank.