For Deluxe Fans ... Why Do You Opt NOT to Buy DVC?

[Luigi's Girl]

Time shares in general are simply a bad investment. To tie up all that money upfront does not make sense when it can be invested for a better return on your money. Then you can spend it as you would like, and the remainder continues to work for you. The annual dues are also a ripoff, again, your money is much better off invested independently and then spent on vacations as you wish.

I'm sure many on the boards will argue with me, but if you ask any halfway decent certified financial planner, they will agree, and will show you the numbers to prove it. We attended a informational session about it and walked away laughing...and felt kind of sorry for those who were suckered in!

Not everyone's idea of a good investment has to do with just making money. Since purchsing DVC we have taken family vacations each year instead of being wrapped up in work and house renovations and so forth, and not taking enough time to stop and smell the roses. I'm afraid we are a family who was "suckered in" to making sure we spend vacation time together and in deluxe accomodations I might add (and I never use the kitchen but it is nice to look at). Not a bad investment if you ask me.

 

[skiwee1]

I don’t get it ???? Do you guys have kids? I have a hard time having the whole family sleep in one room. I really dislike staying in a hotel room and turning off the lights so the kids can sleep while I’m wide-awake. The extra space is great and it allows my kids to occasionally take a friend and show them WDW.

When we travel with our kids we get two rooms. We've always done that whether it is at WDW or any other resort.

 

[Mcmouse]

But haven't joined yet for several reasons. (some of which were already mentioned by others also).

1) The up-front cost. Sure you can buy 150 point package, but what does that get you besides a studio? I have spent less money on higher rated timeshares that charge less MFs and alway get my 2 bedroom unit (unless I wish to lock off). So I guess I have issues with spending so much for a studio unit. (and I know you can bank, borrow and rent points to get larger accommodations).
2) The bedding situation. You don't get two beds until you get a 2 bedroom unit (except at OKW studio, but then even the 1 bedroom gets a sofa bed)
3) We usually only visit once every 2-3 years.
4) We don't mind staying in a Value or Moderate. Sure Deluxes are nice but at over $300/night?
5) When we are in WDW, we are in the room only to sleep anyway. We are there primarily for the parks.

Now as I said we continue to look at DVC. Why?

Well buying DVC is a commitment not to taking vacations, but to taking Disney Vacations. If we want to go to WDW more often and stay in more of a Deluxe room then it may be what we want to do. BUT on the other hand we have timeshares in Cancun and in Lake Tahoe and have relatives in Las Vegas so we have plenty of other vacations to take as well so does buying DVC make sense?

Mike

 

[Skroops]

Will we be wanting to vacation at WDW for years to come? What if the magic fades and the crowds become too much for us to take? Will it be as fun if we "have" to go?

 

[rinkwide]

Will we be wanting to vacation at WDW for years to come? What if the magic fades and the crowds become too much for us to take? Will it be as fun if we "have" to go?

We were the same way until I investigated the DVC resale market. I have come to realize that, due to high demand and Disney's aggressive right-of-first-refusal, the financial risk of buying is quite low. Even if, in the worst case, you were to buy direct from Disney and had to sell immediately, the potential loss would be rather small. Some may argue there's no guarantee that the resale market will stay strong, and that's true, but if it starts to weaken then Disney will have a tough time selling Saratoga Springs and all the other DVC resorts they've got lined up. And since DVC is possibly the most profitable division of the Walt Disney Co. the chance that they'll allow that to happen is just about zero.

Fortunately, I realized the above just in time. We bought our points on the resale market before Disney bumped their pricing and have watched the value of our points climb about 20% in a little over a year. (Of course, DVC should not to be considered an investment but it sure has kicked the tar out of my Krispy Kreme stock.)

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

LOL, MORE COWBELL!!

It all depends on the family. Those that haven't purchased all have very good reasons not to. Why we bought:

1). Love the extra room of the 2-br units. Was renting the rooms anyway so it was an obvious decision for our family. My wife loves the big tub in the master bath of OKW. I love the 1400 sq ft and the large deck with table and chairs, fan, and gorgeous golf course views at OKW.

2). Save Money. Since we were renting the rooms anyway each year it was smart for us finacially. Pays for itself in 7 years.

3). Hotel rooms suck! I spend 200 nights per year in hotel rooms on business. It's not vacation for me to sleep another night in a 400 sq ft hotel room with 2 queens, the "standard" bathroom, and a 19" TV.

4). My kids are 6 and 3 and go to bed at 8:30 p.m. After we put the kids to sleep, my wife and I share a bottle of wine, watch a movie, or relax on the patio. How do I do that in a 400 sq ft hotel room?

5). When we started telling cast members we were DVC members, attitudes changed. We receive a lot better service now and it was very good before!

Everyone is different. As you can see, it really made sense for us. Our only problem is that we weren't smart enough to do it sooner. I could have saved a fortune had we joined back in 1997! Been there every year since then and sometimes more than once.

 

[rjthkids]

Wow, I've really enjoyed this thread! Especially as brand new DVC owners who bought in on our first ever trip to Disney world! We are still very much Disney novices, so reading the pros and cons on this board has been really informative!

For us, there are two huge reasons we bought and the reasons I am still happy we bought

4). My kids are 6 and 3 and go to bed at 8:30 p.m. After we put the kids to sleep, my wife and I share a bottle of wine, watch a movie, or relax on the patio. How do I do that in a 400 sq ft hotel room?

This is huge for us as well. My children are 17 months old and four years old. I am 26 and we certainly expect to have many more young ones on the way. There is nothing I hate more than having to share a bedroom with my 17 month old. He will not go to sleep if I am in the room, period. We have to keep the lights off, no talking, no t.v. time, nothing. He's in bed by seven o'clock every night, my four year old by seven thirty. I like being able to talk to my husband and cuddle up and read a book with the light and knowing that I am not interfering with my children sleeping. It is not relaxing to share a room...even when we vacation elsewhere I always try to stay someplace with a seperate bedroom and living room and then we end up pulling out the living room couch and putting the kids in the bedroom.

Reason number two: Kitchen. My son has allergies and more food sensitivities than I can count. We do not eat processed foods as a rule, and I need to be very careful that my son's food was not prepared with or near any milk products or wheat products, and has no food dyes. Eating out requires careful preplanning, scouting out of a restaurant, scouring the menu, and then I have to ultimately trust a bunch of strangers to be telling me the truth when they say milk products have not touched the surface where my son's food was prepared, when they are ultimately not vested in the outcome if he ends up having a massive allergic reaction. Eating out with my son is not fun, or enjoyable, it is stressful and I constantly worry. I dislike having to wait on someone else to bring me a drink or my food to come when I am hungry right NOW. I love to cook, and I love knowing that I can make any meal for my family at a fraction of the cost of eating out, can have it taste better, be more nutritious, and I have the peace of mind knowing exactly what is in our food....dye free, preservative free, hormone free, pesticide free. Eating out holds absolutely no appeal to me whatsoever, especially when I see the prices restaurants charge!!!

Reason three: space. I *like* the home away from home feel. I love spending a few hours to set up my pots and pans, settle all our stuff in, and enjoy the luxury of hanging around. I would much, much rather have a living room and seperate bedrooms...the feeling of space is very relaxing to me.

I might be very weird, LOL. But I prefer to do laundry and clean my own space. Laundry takes five seconds to throw in the washer and fifteen minutes to fold. Sure, these are things I do at home every day, but I don't feel the need to escape them. What makes me so excited about vacation is not the idea that I don't have to do laundry or make my bed or cook...it's the fact that I get to spend 7-10 days straight waking up to my husband and knowing I don't have to send him off to work. It's knowing that he can entertain the children so I can cook dinner without a baby in my arms. It's knowing that we get to do things all day together as a family. That my husband gets to share in the joy of watching our children discover something new and wondrous and splash in the pool or see Mickey Mouse.

I can certainly see why it wouldn't hold an appeal for people, but for us, hands down the best investment in vacations we could make.

 

[ducklite]

I think that for those of us who bought into DVC many years ago (we bought BWV in 1997) we got a pretty tremendous deal. Even if you factor in the cost of annual dues and adding daily housekeeping, and amortize the initial cost over only twenty years, we're still saving money the way WE vacation.

What it boils down to is getting the equivelent of a 1BR suite for ten nights a year for what it would cost paying rack rate for three or less. So even if there was a "code" for the room, we're still saving money.

Because we are Florida residents, we have AP's and DDE, and I did some figuring, and we still make out with less cost over gettign a deluxe room, buying park admission and getting free dining.

Of course this is based on us, the way we vacation. For others, it's not going to make sense. And I also think that DVC is pricing themselves out of the market. It's just gotten too expensive to make sense, unless you have the cash to buy a resale.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

Fortunately, I realized the above just in time. We bought our points on the resale market before Disney bumped their pricing and have watched the value of our points climb about 20% in a little over a year. (Of course, DVC should not to be considered an investment but it sure has kicked the tar out of my Krispy Kreme stock.)

I hear you! We made a hefty profit on our BCV points when we sold them. I don't have the actual figures in front of me, but I want to think we made about $7000 on 250 points (we were able to buy in at a substantial discount due to a family member who worked for Disney at the time). I look at the loss in what we would have made in interest income had we not spent the money, as well as the dues we paid as a wash, as we used the points and sold with about 80 points for the next use year already "borrowed" and used.

That was a tidy profit for an investment we had only made two years earlier.

Anne

 

[Suzanne74]

We have thought about it but the annual dues, personally, are a little outragesous for a timeshare. Then again - I know Disney inflates everything. I love OKW - we stayed there a year ago. We rented points and paid less then $600 for 7 nights 8 days Sun-Sun for a 1bdrm villa. If I can "rent" for less then a stay at a moderate then right now, I don't feel the need to buy. It is also not truly an investment since the rental prices really aren't competative to afford to rent and get something in return. I know in say, 10 years it may be worth it but it just isn't pulling me in. I love the monorail resorts and deals like this free dining make it much more affordable. Also Saratoga Springs doesn't do anything for me. If I did buy, it would be thru another person at either Beach or Boardwalk.

 

[Chicago526]

For us, I crunched the numbers and it works out better to rent points rather than buy in. Between the taxes and the maintenance fees, we could rent the points every year. I know that others come out ahead, but we don't. With it just being DFi and I, we don't even bother renting yet, as we don't need a villa. But once we have kids, it will be an option for us.

 

[maryliz]

We're renting points at OKW and SSR (waitlisted for BCV ) for our upcoming trip, and we rented at VWL in January. While I did love the room, it is not something that would "work" for us. Our kids are still little, so they can sleep together on the pull-out in a studio. However, in the not too distant future, they will have to split up to sleep with the same-sex parent. And there's no way either DH or I are ever going to spend our vacation sleeping on a pull-out! And we'd be looking at a 2BR to be able to accommodate DH and I being able to NOT sleep with the kids For the cost of points to get a 2BR, I'm just as happy to stay elsewhere. We've stayed at all levels of Disney hotels, and we love them. I can have just as good a time hanging out at ASMu as I can at VWL. And I don't want to bank points and go less often to get the 2BR because I get really sad when I'm not going to Disney as often as I like to!

DSis bought last year, and even though they have the same family dynamics, DVC works for them because they love having the kitchen, laundry etc. And they love the deluxe resorts, so for the price, it's makes sense for them.

I did look at the fact that the kids grow up way too fast, and it won't be long until it's just DH and I ... and studios would be great for us. I've decided to take the tour in October just to see what they have to say. And knowing that in the future, I can "give" my kids their accommodations at Disney if I want to ... how cool would that be !

MaryLiz

 

[DisFlan]

Fortunately, I realized the above just in time. We bought our points on the resale market before Disney bumped their pricing and have watched the value of our points climb about 20% in a little over a year. (Of course, DVC should not to be considered an investment but it sure has kicked the tar out of my Krispy Kreme stock.)

We were always Deluxe stayers. We spent BOO-KOO bucks on deluxes over the years, but like you, we joined before the point hike. We grabbed a BWV resale for a great price.

We love the space, ambience and locations of DVC, not to mention the W/D, Jacuzzi, separate rooms, kitchen, balconies - the list goes on and on. And now we have pre-paid stays through 2042 - while the deluxe rooms will increase in price every year (they're already becoming overly expensive, IMO). No way could we do deluxe trips for even close to what DVC cost us, and we aren't willing to downgrade. The resort is an important part of our vacation.

True, DVC isn't for everyone, but we'd do it again in a heartbeat.

DisFlan

 

[CharlesTD]

The one and only reason that we have not purchased into the DVC is because my family of 5 can stay in a deluxe room with two real beds and a daybed comfortably. Whereas in the DVC we would have to buy enough points to stay in a two bedroom. Even if the DVC allowed us to stay in a studio or one bedroom we would not have two real beds and a daybed at any of the resorts (Please correct me if I'm wrong on that). Only OKW has two beds, but no daybed. That kills me! I just don't get why it's so hard for a family of 5 to stay at WDW. I guess they have to draw the line somewhere. I also don't like all of the sofabeds instead of two real beds in most of the villas. I know the day is coming that we would be more comfy in two rooms, but by then we probably will not be going to WDW as often. Oh well, there could be worse things in life - couldn't there?

You can stay in a 1 bedroom our family of 5 does the girls use the pullout and my son loves the airbed we bring for him. So the reason if a 2 bedroom being needed really isn't a reason. We are using our points in 08 during the marathon to stay at the FW cabins and then the next week we are at SSR we love the flexability of DVC and if we want maidservice daily we will pay the 25 bucks for it but we prefer not to have it. I can drop off a bag of garbage on my way out the door to the bus stop it really isn't a big deal. Plus our trips are always 2 weeks in length but with the free washer and dryer in the room we only need to pack enough clothes for 5 days then we just toss them in teh wash when we get back from the park then in the dryer before bed.

 

[DisFlan]

For us, I crunched the numbers and it works out better to rent points rather than buy in. Between the taxes and the maintenance fees, we could rent the points every year. I know that others come out ahead, but we don't. With it just being DFi and I, we don't even bother renting yet, as we don't need a villa. But once we have kids, it will be an option for us.

We rented before we joined DVC without a problem, but renting depends on a number of factors. First off, you're counting on a rental market being available, being able to get points at an affordable price and finding availability where and when you want it - none of which is guaranteed. When renting, you don't control the reservation, the owner of the points is in control. All of the above rests on trust between parties - that the owner follows through and that you pay upfront as promised and don't cancel out. It's a contract between you and a private party, not between you and Disney.

In all honesty, problems are rare, but you always run the risk. Renting is very different from simply reserving a room through CRO. Renting can become complicated if you aren't careful and/or don't do your homework first.

DisFlan

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Yep that small daily fee is $25.

The reason why I didn't buy into the DVC back in the 80's when a villa at OKW was first offered at a mere $8,000 to $12,000 is :
1. We go on several vacations a year.
2. We don't go to Disney every year.
3. We want the flexabity to go when we want to go and where we to go.
4. Condos and timeshares are not what I want on a vaction
I love mouse keeping,having clean towels,going out to eat...etc.
That's a big part of a vacation to me.
5. I don't want maintance fees that keep going up.
6. I don't want to bother with renting out points if I'm not going to use my timeshare in a given year.
Some people enjoy being a DVC member and I think that it is wonderful that Disney offers that option.
Just not for me. Thank you very much.
Linda

I completely agree with you. We don't go often enough to Disney and I actuall like the feeling of staying in the resort. My parents have a Fairfield membership which is nice when we use that but it feels almost like we're at home and I don't want to make sandwiches (or have my cheap fiance suggest to eat all of our meals in our room ) or do anything I normally have to do at home. If we stayed at a resort than we have no kitchen and no food cooking can be suggested! hahahaha It's all my evil plan to stay away from DVC.

 

[Suzanne74]

We rented before we joined DVC without a problem, but renting depends on a number of factors. First off, you're counting on a rental market being available, being able to get points at an affordable price and finding availability where and when you want it - none of which is guaranteed. When renting, you don't control the reservation, the owner of the points is in control. All of the above rests on trust between parties - that the owner follows through and that you pay upfront as promised and don't cancel out. It's a contract between you and a private party, not between you and Disney.

Yes the problems would be small but in defense of renters as opposed to buyers - you don't have to deal with the hassles of timeshares, taxes, fees and I have never went to the rent/buy board and had no one respond to a need of points. There is ALWAYS a market and always will be. We also like to look late down the line - hate to plan in advance and the points get cheaper to rent, esp on Ebay when it is within a month or so and again, have always had the availability. We don't go on Easter or Christmas - anything were it is packed anyway. My friend wanted to meet us down there for a couple of days and was able to secure a 5 day studio rental for $300 - no taxes, not even the $98 dollars. So where you may feel you have more the flexibility, sometimes people who do not own feel that as well. Also as an owner if you do decide to rent, there can always be non-payers after you go thru the hassle of securing days etc.. and room problems once they arrive (under your name.) I can understand why people do buy into DIS, I can see how it does work for people - what I don't understand is why they don't see who it doesn't work well for others

 

[princessesrule4]

We own DVC and are selling it because we prefer a Deluxe hotel room at WDW. ( We go 3 - 4 times a year.) We can't stand the pull out sofa - we definitely prefer two Queens! Also the 1 bedroom still has the pullout bed so that doesn't help and the 2 bedroom is so many points and we don't need all that room! We also do not enjoy cooking on our vacations so the kitchen is of no value to us. We also enjoy daily housekeeping and turndown at the deluxes. We tried it and DVC is not for us! ( We have been considering purchasing a small contract at HHI or VB but since you can pay cash we are still not sure about it.)

 

[MScott1851]

Grimley1968 and LewisSC hit the nail on the head as far as we're concerned.

When we went to the presentation last week, we were so excited, but decided to take a couple of days and think it over. We always go during value season anyway, and Disney usually has some really good promotions, and we tend to take long weekends. It's cheaper for me to book a deluxe like WL or AKL through CRO at a discount than to pay what my maintenance fees would be on the number of points we would need.

 

[dixipixi]

I agree with some of the other posts concerning going during value season, and getting passholder rates on rooms.

We also do not go to Disney on every vacation.

I would want to buy into DVC before DH would. He thinks we should buy a second home in the mountains instead of DVC.

After dealing with the weather over the last month here, I think I agree with him. It would be nice to have somewhere to go when we needed to evacuate.

So, there are lots of reasons that it doesn't make sense for us right now, while renting a hotel room still does.