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

[grimley1968]

There are several reasons we chose never to buy DVC.

1) The money. It is not a money saver, by any stretch of the imagination. It is more like pre-paying your Disney vacations in advance. That's a major expense for us to consider, and I need another loan like I need another hole in my head. Also, those yearly maintenance fees are considerable, especially in light of the loan I'd have to pay off for the initial investment.

2) The long-term commitment to Disney. When you buy DVC, you "own" your little piece for as much as 50 years, depending on how new the property is, I suppose. That means you're responsible for those maintenance fees for that period too. I'm 36 now, and I really have doubts as to whether I'll have the same park-hopping Disney mania when I'm in my 70's and 80's as I have now. I don't even know if I'll enjoy Disney whatsoever then, not only because of my age, but who knows what will become of Disney in that time? For all I know, it could be the next Enron waiting to happen. That's just too much risk for me to put such a long-term commitment down toward any company that I own no major stake in, even Disney.

3) Lack of flexibility. I realize there are DVC properties nationwide, but I prefer to be more flexible with where I spend my vacation dollar, especially for those vacations where we do not frequent Disney. I'm pretty sure that will be more often, rather than less, as my girls become adults. I don't want to be tied to DVC resorts to make sure I'm not losing my shirt. I'd rather just pay as a one-time guest wherever we go, and look for deals where I can, and stay exactly where we want to stay, even if we choose to rent points from a DVC owner to stay in a DVC villa for a week.

4) Service. I realize it would be very nice to have a laundry and kitchenette in a villa, and I do envy that. What I do not envy, though, is lack of daily housekeeping in the villas. If I'm spending a lot of money on a vacation (even if it's pre-paid with DVC), I want more service than once or twice a week cleanings of the room. And let's not kid ourselves, we are talking about a LOT of money for Disney rooms, whether you pre-pay with DVC or pay as you go like we do.

 

[*Fantasia*]

The reason for NOT wanting to buy into DVC is MONEY! I don't have that kind of money to put up. I just go where my money takes me. If I have just enough money to do value resort for whatever how long I can stay, then I just do that. If my budget says deluxe, then I will do that. If my budget says, not this time, then I will wait for next time. Besides, there's just me and my children. We don't really need a big room for just the three of us!

 

[Brina]

We have only been to disney once and it will actually be close to 3 years when we return. We are doing a split stay between akl conceirge and gf. I do not see us going more often than this, so dvc is not really an option. I just enjoy traveling to other places too much to by a time share at any one vacation spot - even disney.

 

[daannzzz]

My reasons are many.
I don't want a place that feels like home. For me, part of the vacation is a hotel or motel. I don't want to cook on vacation so don't want a kitchen. I have had many people try to talk me into renting a pool home in Kissimee. I have a pool home at home. I want to go into a different environment on vacation. The DVC places are fine but not as exciting as a deluxe.
Most of the DVC villas at WDW are less interesting in theme to me. While they are nice enough and would be great in any community I just find the Deluxe hotels more interesting and fully themed. It is as if the DVC resorts have taken one step back in the themeing department (except for the Beach Club Villas).
I personally find the Boardwalk Villas to be one of the most bland architechtural ideas at WDW (with Saratoga Springs right behind).
Have you noticed that each new rendition of a DVC resort the square footage has gotten smaller per unit?

 

[DizWacko]

I own DVC but still visit regular deluxe resorts. I agree with the previous poster that the DVC villas are rather bland compared to the best deluxes such as Poly, AKL, and the others when it comes to ambience. People will pay deluxe rates for the wow factor and views/feel, and DVC villas are usually tucked behind the deluxe resort as an afterthought, and the ones that arent have a very blahhh/condo theme IMO.

The main reason to buy DVC is clear-cut, its a money saver if you visit Disney often. I do, am glad I bought, and am glad that I still have money to have a few days at the deluxes

 

[palmtreegirl]

Reasons we sold our DVC-

-Annual Dues

- We didn't use the full or mini kitchen, we never cook on vacation. The only part we used was the fridge and now the deluxes and moderates offer free fridges in their rooms.

- We were very disapointed with our home resort BCV(variety of issues), had zero interest in SSR and didn't really care for OKW. The only DVC resorts we loved were the BWV & VWL and they both offer resort rooms plus we didn't see ourselves only staying at 2 resorts for the next 30+ years. We love staying at a variety of resorts on all different levels, latest favorite is the POFQ.


-The fact that we had to reserve at least a 1 bedroom to get 2 beds and the one bedroom burned our points quickly.

- After staying at OKW in a 1 bedroom followed by the Polynesian, we realized that we liked the Polynesian more. Same thing happened during a stay at AKL, the kids loved the bunkbeds and we just can't get that with DVC.

- In the end we didn't feel it was a great value for our family even though we do go on multiple trips to WDW each year.

**disclaimer, not looking for a debate these are just our thoughts and opinions.

 

[honeymo78]

#1 reason for us is not being able to get the Premium package with DVC points. Oh yeah and there's that big $ up front.

 

[Tonyspad]

I would buy a DVC in a second in there was one on the monorail. I am a self described monorail junkie.

 

[Jen D]

I flirt with the idea occasionally, usually right before a big price increase. I'm a constant lurker on the DVC boards. I rented points once and enjoyed the experience. Here is what I do like about DVC:

-Flexibility-- especially to use a lot of points at once... I have to say my main romantic idea about DVC is getting a big grand villa for extended family... we've looked at renting points but with that many points, you have to wonder, why not buy?

-Locked into Disney. This is my selfish self... I'm the Disney nut in the family... if we get DVC we have to go to Disney regularly, right? I no longer have to "sell" every trip.

But you know... I'm not sure the reasons go beyond that. Unfortunately, the reason the flirtation never goes further:

-Money, money, money. We don't have 20 grand lying around, or whatever (yes I know the buy-in is 150 but that doesn't go very far.) So we'd have to finance... not really a good financial deal and who wants a new bill every month? The dues are bad enough.

-Flexibility. You only have the DVC resorts to choose from-- using points for anything else isn't smart. So you're locked into the DVC resorts... then there is all that booking window hoo-hah, you need to worry about booking 11 months early to secure your home resort, and at 7 months everyone is fighting to get to the more desirable DVCs (and face it, some are hugely more desirable than others) and there is just such stress associated with booking. And I don't even feel that excited about the theming of any of the DVCs... except maybe VWL and even then it seems the main lodge is where the action is. The resorts I am still excited about staying at that lay ahead of me are AKL, WL, GF, Contemporary.. if I joing DVC I'd be using cash rather than points to stay at these resorts... so what is the point?

The argument from the DVCers is that the accomodations are greater at the DVC resorts. Matter of taste. Studio isn't markedly better than a standard room. Sure you get a little kitchenette but (except for in OKW) you also get a sofa bed. And the kitchenette is only good for doing a little breakfast.

Then there is the one-bedroom. Double the points (approximately) and the kids are still stuck on a pull-out. You get a kitchen so you can cook on vacation. To each their own, I guess. Now the laundry... I can't deny it. That's pretty sweet.

Or you can go to the two bedroom, and everyone gets a bed. But now you're spending a lot of points.

We're not people who bellyache about being "cramped" in a hotel room. Doesn't bother us. We live in NYC and live in small accomodations every day.Dh's and my first NYC apartment was smaller than most hotel rooms except *maybe* the All Stars. Not exaggerating. Our current apartment is smaller than a Grand Villa, and we're fine with it. We like hotel rooms, and the housekeeping, and going out to eat every day, except for pastries and coffee in the room. If we had access to to a full kitchen we might use it occasionally but that alone isn't worth much to us. Our next trip we're staying in a luxurious off-site vacation home with extended family who really wanted a house for all the space. We're happily going along with the plan to vacation with them, but the logic escapes us... how is living in a house a vacation? Vacation are hotels! Maids! Room service! (We hardly ever indulge but it's there if you need it. ) I feel space is overrated.

-Locked into Disney. Sure I'm a Disney freak now. But will I be in ten years? In twenty? In thirty? In ten years my daughter starts college. Do I wanted to be locked into dues and Disney vacations during that period? Right now Disney is a great vacation for us for a million reasons and we're doing it a lot, every 18 months and we may start going every year. But once my youngest son gets older we'll probably mix it up more, go places that are a little too challenging for us now.

If we do lose our heads and buy in one day, feel free to search and find this post and point out my hypocrisy. But for now I'm happy to be only spending my money on my current Disney vacation, and to be planning my next few trips at the resorts I really want to stay at and not the ones DVC limits me to.

 

[Lewisc]

My trips tend to be long weekends, 3-5 nights. Not a great use of DVC points. I tend to look for deluxe discounts and if I can't get any I'll either look to S/D, one of the Universal resorts or even Priceline for a property like Gaylord Palms.

The people who bought OKW early on were either lucky or brillant but in general timeshare properties do poorly on the resale. Normally you'd expect to take a big hit if you want to get out. So far this isn't true with DVC but it's not clear if that'll remain.

 

[princessesrule4]

We own at BCV and had major issues the last time we were there and have not been back! (Our first stay was just fine.) What we have decided is that we like the Deluxes and their ammenities too much to stay DVC at WDW. The pull out bed is just not that great when you can have 2 Queen beds at a Deluxe. We also like Mousekeeping everyday and enjoy turndown service at the GF. We also feel like a 1 or 2 bedroom would be a waste for us because I have no desire to cook on vacation and we don't need that much space. With that being said, we do love HHI and we are trying Vero over Spring Break and I think we will enjoy that,too. We are thinking of selling our BCV points and buying at HHI and/or Vero. We have only stayed at a studio at HHI but can put up with the pull out bed and lack of mousekeeping because we usually only stay for 4 days. We also will eat breakfast and snacks in the room some days because there are not as many dining options as WDW.

We also are considering selling and just paying cash at HHI and Vero, however we need to go through the numbers and availability issues Vs. perks such as AP discounts.

 

[Brier Rose]

if you take many trips a year that it would be cost-prohibitive (although again, to me, I would think it would still be cheaper to pay maintenance fees after the initial cost than to keep paying for deluxe resort trips every time -- you "break even" at a certain point, unless of course you get awesome discounts for each trip).
QUOTE]

Actually, if you take me for instance, where our inital investment would be around $40,000, then add maintenance fees and houskeeping for around 48 years that's about $138,400.

If we continue to vacation as we do now, with 14 days at a deluxe, and 8 days at a moderate, that's estimated at $180,000 for around 48 years.

That's a difference of $41,600, divided by 48 years.....so I figure were spending an extra $867.00 per year that we could save if we bought DVC.
BUT that's also assuming that we would want to continue to vacation at WDW that many days for the next 48 years.

I know I also didn't take into account the rising cost of resort rooms, but with the maintinence costs rising as well I figure it would even out..maybe??

I told you I've put a lot of thought into this! I'm still trying to convince myself to do it. I think as the kids get older it would be nice to have all that extra room!

 

[WDWOKW92]

I bought into DVC back in 1992 at OKW. At the time it was the only DVC resort. The minimum point purchase was 230 at $53 per point. The annual maintenance fees were somewhere in the $600-700 range. As an incentive, Disney offered free LOS passes for the first 4 or 5 years. If I stayed in a studio or 1 BR, I got 2 passes. If I stayed in a 2BR, I got 4 passes. A Grand Villa, 6 passes. Believe me, I got my monies worth!

After 8 years of ownership, I sold my interest because the kids became less interested in going to Disney every year and they wanted to flex their freedom by working summer jobs down at the beach. I figure I broke even overall.
For the first time I will be going down with my wife next month sans kids. We're taking advantage of the free dining option and staying at POFQ for 7 days, 6 nights. It will be our first trip to the Mouse House in 3 years. I'm excited but not "overboard" as in the past. I figure we'll be going every 4-5 years from now on but who knows,... when grandkids come along, that will give me a "valid" excuse to go sooner!
DVC is not for everyone but in my case I'm glad I bought into it at the time. Would I do it right now? No,... I hear the points are over $100 each and I'm having way too much fun taking cruises and seeing what the rest of the world looks like for a lot less $$$.

God bless Walt!

 

[betterlatethannever]

I lurked on the DVC board for a year or so trying to figure out whether to buy or not.

Reasons we didn't buy.

1. We do a lot of long weekends and it is cheaper to get ressies from CRO then to rent points for weekends (especially if you add the housekeeping fee). I read how the DVCers move out to a regular resort for the two days (weekend) to avoid the points.

Crunching the numbers for my situation, the break even point was 8+ years.

2. Keeping track of the points. What use year you have, when you will lose 50% of the points if you have to cancel.

3. Making reservations. Now, if we want to book a year ahead of time, we can. With DVC you have that dreaded 11/7 month window. Think calling for CRT in the morning for 7 days straight(and being successful) in order to book a week's vacation at the BCV during the wine and food festival.

Ed

 

[krbq]

It isn’t for everyone, and DH and I didn’t think it was for us. We’re sentimental about the monorail resorts and didn’t want to be tied to a DVC resort for every vacation. Yet we found that we would spend the first few nights of each trip at a monorail resort, then several nights at a home-away-from-home resort (we loved the extra space and having the washer and dryer so we didn’t have to pack as many clothes.) When the BCV opened we loved the theme and location so we crunched the numbers and figured that at the then-nightly rate plus the sales and resort taxes, the DVC membership would more than pay for itself in five trips, assuming the room rate didn’t go up (but it has every year). So we bought. Our annual dues amount to $864 this year. I figure that after our fifth trip, the cost of our stay in a DVC resort will be the annual dues, and to us $864 for a 1BR villa is a pretty good deal. And we find ourselves going to WDW more often, paying for a monorail resort for the first few nights, then enjoying our DVC membership for the next 7 nights. Like Tonyspad, if the DVC ever opens a section at the CR or anywhere else on the monorail, we’ll buy there in a heartbeat.

 

[Sammie]

We also will eat breakfast and snacks in the room some days because there are not as many dining options as WDW.QUOTE]

Surely you mean there are not as many dining options at the resort at Hilton Head, as there are hundreds of wonderful places to eat on the island.

 

[micmacmissy]

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!

 

[DiznEeyore]

If we do lose our heads and buy in one day, feel free to search and find this post and point out my hypocrisy. But for now I'm happy to be only spending my money on my current Disney vacation, and to be planning my next few trips at the resorts I really want to stay at and not the ones DVC limits me to.

LOL, Jen, what a great post!!! Thanks for sharing your perspective and making me smile!

 

[DiznEeyore]

If we continue to vacation as we do now, with 14 days at a deluxe, and 8 days at a moderate, that's estimated at $180,000 for around 48 years.

That's a difference of $41,600, divided by 48 years.....so I figure were spending an extra $867.00 per year that we could save if we bought DVC.
BUT that's also assuming that we would want to continue to vacation at WDW that many days for the next 48 years.

I know I also didn't take into account the rising cost of resort rooms, but with the maintinence costs rising as well I figure it would even out..maybe??

I told you I've put a lot of thought into this! I'm still trying to convince myself to do it. I think as the kids get older it would be nice to have all that extra room!

I know exactly what you mean! I about drove myself crazy trying to figure out the financial ramifications of buying in when we did 4 years ago. I admit that sometimes I wonder if DVC is the best thing for us when I reflect on the fact that on at least half of our trips, we *haven't* stayed in DVC accommodations.

 

[DVCJEN]

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!

I AM a financial counselor and we DID buy into DVC with husband's bonus money last year. For us and the way we vacation it makes perfectly sound financial sense--- and believe me I did run the numbers every which way. We have the disposable income. We go to WDW at least 2 weeks a year, we prefer deluxe accomodations, love the extra space, don't like housekeeping in our rooms and love the feeling of having a "home away from home".
Could the money be invested? Sure, but if you have the money to spend and you value your WDW time --I would not say a person was "suckered in " in any way. Everyone values things differently. Our vacations are extremely important to us. DVC is part of that.