Wayne said "
I have never been a fan of DVC but while deals like this are on its not a good option just now IMO.
While I would agree that with the free dining ( and it's an awesome deal)
IF that person ONLY ever wants to travel in the limited dates when free dining is being offered and
IF free dining is offered for ever and
IF the room rate continues to be heavily discounted and
IF we never come out of the current economic issues and
IF the US $ never recovers and/or the pound doesn't drop to the almost 1:1 level it was a few years ago then perhaps DVC is not a good short to mid term option, however there are an awful lot of big ifs in those provisions, so IMHO looking into DVC if you like that style of accommodation and level of luxury isn't a bad idea to see if it's a good fit for your family.
For someone that joined DVC 10+ years ago and has already hit their break even point on their membership, annual membership fees on that 434 points is less than $2,000 or about £ 1,300. So someone would need to feed their family for less than £ 1,600 ( $2,500) total or £ 800 ($1250) a week to be better off. At $178 a day that is certainly achievable, particularly if one makes use of the full kitchen facilities in the DVC units. I'll accept the argument that a family of 6 could
easily spend $200 on one meal at Disney, however not everyone wants to.
Don't forget that tips are not included in the dining plan (free or otherwise) and the 15-20% that's expected ( I think 18% is automatically added to groups of 6 or more?) of the "headline" price of the meal ($ 40-50 in tips) , when you add on the pretty high price Disney charges for a beer , wine or a cocktail , one can easily end up with a "cash bill" of over $100 each full service meal for that "free dining". "Free Dining" makes a nice advertising sound bite, but strictly it should be "reduced cost dining" because unless you only use it at counter service restaurants and don't order any full cost extras, there will be a cost to it
I'm not disagreeing with Wayne that if one only looks at the short term , for one or two holidays , then DVC may not be a good option, actually DVC will never be a good option for someone that's only looking for 1-2 years.
However for anyone that wants to take a long term view of their holiday needs and wants to commit to taking Disney quality vacations (not just to Disney but that quality in over 400 locations around the world)
for the next 10,20 or 30 years then it's worth looking into. With the poor exchange rate with the Euro one could almost make the argument that buying any US based timeshare with a 1.50 plus exchange rate just to use it in europe is not a bad idea. You're paying in US$ for European holidays.
It's a short term vs long term argument ,some people will never see timeshares offer some families a better long term option just as some people will never see the value of buying a house vs renting one , or the sense in paying into a pension for your retirement or of getting a good education or taking classes as an adult to improve your employment prospects.
As a side note I think that with the Art of Animation being brand spanking new it is likely to be very popular , you'll probably get almost as good a deal for OKW or DSSR and far superior rooms and resort facilities.
