Here's what I worked out last night - re DVC

[Kurby]

ok - well here's what i worked out last night

Boardwalk for 10 nights in September - room only

DVC points 128 or $1280 if we rented someones

Paying cash $3189.42

Room and 10 day base park

128 Points or $1280 if renting + $432 OR discount on annual pass (don't know how much ap is or what the discount is)

Cash $3651


160 points buying new AKL = $160000 over 50 years (AKL expires in 2057) = 320 per year plus $4 per point maint. fees = $960 per year

of course you could buy resale and get 150 points at Hilton Head for $12000 but they expire in 2042 so that works out to $1038 each year for 35 years

with 160 points we could do our trips and stay pretty much anywhere but where we say would dictate how long since staying at polly would suck up 160 points faster so it would be something like 5 days instead of 10

maybe someone who has DVC can tell me if my math is correct.

 

[dsneygirl]

I woudl head over the the DVC boards. There are many different people who have done all kinds of different calculations. There are people there with 10+ years experience on the program and will really tell you black and white. Also lots of FAQs.

There are so many variables. Will maintenance fees go up? Do you have to finance and do you factor in interest charges?

Go to the experts.
http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=28

 

[disney ambassador]

but I can tellyou that my dh (a math whiz) figured out that it would be cheaper for us in the long run to buy into DVC than to stay at All Stars for all our trips. And of course we have far nicer accomodations with a TON more room.

 

[toesmom]

Sat on bed at POP after DVC tour of SSR 3 years ago... ran through the numbers about 8 times. DVC was better bargain than staying at POP or any other value resort. And much better accommodations.

And my dh is extremely conservative and after all the computations, he felt it was a good use of our monies.

We considered renting points, but to have to rely on others' words for our holidays (not to mention paying in full before we go and cancellation policy nowhere near as good as CRO), we felt buying in was a great idea.

Absolutely no regrets so far. We bought 150 points and have gone on 2 holidays each year since we bought.

 

[yxe dad]

Your numbers are close enough!

The way I figured it out with my guide was.
$96 per point / 50 years = $1.92 per point
Current AKV fees $4.62
$4.62+$1.92=$6.54 per point

Sooooo
If you rent from a member at $10 per point you are paying an extra $3.46 per point. With fees probably increasing 2%-5% a year, your membership costs will increase over time but I think renting points will increase as well. I've been lurking on the DVC rent/trade points forum for a couple of years and the price trend for renting points is going up. I was even trying to rent points for my March/07 trip and was willing to pay $15/point but couldn't find the right resorts for my dates(trying to book less than a month out).

As for staying and paying cash.......
I have stayed at All Star Movies, Coronado Springs, Port Orleans FQ, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Wilderness Lodge all in the last 18 months and have fell in love with the deluxe resorts. The mods have some advantages but it's hard to go back. A few years ago we stayed at the all stars and got a rate of $49 plus tax. I can't remember what the lowest rate was this year but even at $59??? that's a 20% increase in a couple of years at resort pricing. If that trend continues, which it should due to high occupancy it would be really hard for me to stay anywhere but the values in the future.

Here's some math that sold me....
At current prices and fees it works out to $6.54 a point
$6.54 x 8points(lowest amount of points needed for a studio at AKV)
=$52.32 per night to stay at the AKV
During premier season/Xmas/Easter
$6.54 x 14points = $91.56 per night

During the end of November/start December we paid around $180/night at the AKL on an AP discount. The DVC lets me stay at the AKV for 30% of the price of staying at the AKL.

If you have to finance your price per point will increase but over time I don't think it will hurt the numbers too much.

I was in the same boat as you, trying to decide if it was for me or not. I'm telling you my only regret is I should have done it on my first trip to WDW and it would be paid off by now.
Shayne

 

[snarfieca]

We bought 150 points in 2001 and have not regretted it. We had planned on going every other year but only skipped one year - that was a tough year. We use the kitchen and save lots of money on food. We get easy to prepare foods and do not spend a lot of time cooking. When we do go out to eat - some breakfasts and lunches and a special dinner - we enjoy it more.

We enjoy the space in both the 1br and studio. We enjoy having a balcony to sit with a coffee or glass of wine and relax.

We enjoy our Disney vacations more because we are more relaxed. We don't get over tired. If don't do something this trip; we'll do it another time.

Besides Disneyworld we've stayed at Vero Beach and Hilton Head. We've stayed 3 nights at the Grand Californian using points saves from not staying in a 1br over the weekend. We would not have spent the money required to stay there.

Brenda

 

[maryliz]

But remember, it's not JUST the cost factor. For us, family of 4, DH,myself, DD9 and DS6 - DVC won't work for us in the next few years to come. We have rented points and stayed at OKW, VWL and BCV -- they were awesome. But not including OKW, the studios and 1BR only have 1 bed and 1 sleeper sofa. My kids are getting to the age where they cannot sleep together anymore, so that puts either DH or myself on the pull-out -- that's just NOT my idea of a vacation. Or we need to cart around an airbed with us, again a pain. Cost and "Disney addiction" factor -- absolutely, great deal with DVC.

FWIW, anyone I know personally or from these boards that has DVC, they have no regrets whatsoever and many say they wish they had done it years earlier. Good Luck!

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

50 yrs family memories and guaranteed vacations - priceless!!

We looked at cost too and broke it down but more important to us was the fact that we had 50 yrs of family vacations to look forward too with accomodations covered! That was the biggest deciding factor in buying for us!

 

[FayeW]

But remember, it's not JUST the cost factor. For us, family of 4, DH,myself, DD9 and DS6 - DVC won't work for us in the next few years to come. We have rented points and stayed at OKW, VWL and BCV -- they were awesome. But not including OKW, the studios and 1BR only have 1 bed and 1 sleeper sofa. My kids are getting to the age where they cannot sleep together anymore, so that puts either DH or myself on the pull-out -- that's just NOT my idea of a vacation. Or we need to cart around an airbed with us, again a pain. Cost and "Disney addiction" factor -- absolutely, great deal with DVC.

MaryLiz, that is exactly what did it for us, as well. I just simply could not justify spending that kind of money to have lesser accomodations (albeit in a better location) than we enjoy offsite for less than the cost of the yearly DVC maintenance fees! We have always rented 2bdrm condos; not willing to stay in less room than that. As a matter of fact, next trip will probably be in a 3bdrm condo/townhouse in Windsor Hills.

 

[sean-1966]

For us it wasn't a case of figuring out the math of ownership. For us it was the idea of owning a piece of the magic, sharing WDW with members of our family and friends and knowing that we'd always be taking another trip to WDW.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

While the math worked out for me there are a couple of things that didn't:

1. I am not restricted to the same vacation time every year (so my vacations can happen anytime). And it's never approved 7-11 months ahead of time. I worry that I would be constantly booking and cancelling or I would always end up at OKW (which I didn't really like) or SSR.

2. I never thought this of myself, but the one time I rented DVC points, I really missed housekeeping. It just didn't feel like a vacation to come back and not have fresh towels or a perfectly made bed.

3. Having one queen sized bed and a pull out couch isn't my ideal situation since I tend to travel with all adults. I can't imagine my last trip (brought my mom, dad and 20 year old cousin) that my cousin and I would have been very comfortable spending the week on a pull out.

I really like the idea of DVC and wanted to buy in, it's just not practical in my situation.

 

[Mortlives]

I couldn't find it today, but there used to be a calculator that would tell you how many points it would cost to stay at any WDW resort, not just the DVC ones (Does anyone have a link to this thing?). When I priced out a couple of our sample vacations through points, they were more expensive, because we stay over weekends, like daily mousekeeping, and don't even want to look at a kitchen while on vacation. I remember specifically being unable to make POR cheaper through points than paying cash.

I think what I'm trying to say is that DVC works out much better for people who don't enjoy that "hotel room" feeling.

 

[Kurby]

oh see then that works out for us - i don't care if my bed is made - i can throw the blanket on the bed myself. towels? we always bring at least 1 large beach towel down with us for the pool so that isn't a big deal either and we usually do washing while we are there since our vacations are always more then 2 weeks so throwing in our towels with the clothes doesn't phase us but it is good that the laundry is free at DVC cause it can be pretty expensive inthe other resorts to wash once and dry twice every load.

i think we are gonna do this - just a few financial questions for DVC and i think we'll buy.

AKL - ohhhh can't wait.

 

[cslittle999]

The DVC point calculator is over on wdwinfo at http://www.wdwinfo.com/resort/dvcpoint.cfm.

 

[yxe dad]

I don't like having to make the bed and will miss not having fresh/dry towels but I can add on mousekeeping for $20/day if it means that much to me.
I try and get back for nap in the afternoon so my bed is usually not made anyway and the pool area always has fresh/dry towels that make it up to my room somehow.
I am lucky right now that my boys don't mind sleeping together, but when we plan on travelling with adults or they get older I'll try for 2 studios or a 2bdrm.
It all depends on what works for you!
I have never stayed off-site and don't really care to right now. If someone could have forced me to a DVC presentation years ago, I might have bought or maybe not, BUT for me it just kinda works for what I want now and the flexability with allow me to change it to what I want later.
Kurby here is one piece of advice I wish I would've had before I bought. Really take the time now to review the point charts and really figure out what you may need. I thought I'd just get my feet wet with 160, but I'm already thinking of adding on. If you need any other info please ask! it's a big decision so don't be shy.
Shayne

 

[Mortlives]

The DVC point calculator is over on wdwinfo at http://www.wdwinfo.com/resort/dvcpoint.cfm.

When I look at that one, I can only choose the DVC resorts. Is there some sort of switch I'm missing? There used to be one that would tell you how many points for POFQ or the Poly, etc..

 

[cslittle999]

When I look at that one, I can only choose the DVC resorts. Is there some sort of switch I'm missing? There used to be one that would tell you how many points for POFQ or the Poly, etc..

I don't know where a calculator is that covers those resorts. The points charts are available on other sites. Send me a PM if you need a link.

 

[Jaime]

Your numbers are close enough!

The way I figured it out with my guide was.
$96 per point / 50 years = $1.92 per point
Current AKV fees $4.62
$4.62+$1.92=$6.54 per point

Here's some math that sold me....
At current prices and fees it works out to $6.54 a point
$6.54 x 8points(lowest amount of points needed for a studio at AKV)
=$52.32 per night to stay at the AKV
During premier season/Xmas/Easter
$6.54 x 14points = $91.56 per night

Is AKV really only going to be 8 points in low season? Saratoga Springs is 11points in low season and I would much prefer stay at AKV! Sounds like a really good deal to me! So how much does 150 AKV points cost with taxes?? Can Canadians get finanacing if they wanted? Can we pay by credit card?

I was interested in getting more information about the vacation club but Disney said they are not allowed to tell me anything until I get to DW because they are not registered where I live. We are only going to be in DW 2days and I really only wanted to do time share presentation if we thought we would buy. Right now I don't have enough info to know if it right for us. We don't always want to be limited to DW for our vacations and wanted more info on how we could use our points for other vacations if we even could. Thanks for the info...

 

[Mortlives]

I don't know where a calculator is that covers those resorts. The points charts are available on other sites. Send me a PM if you need a link.

I found a place, but the most recent charts I could find was for 2000. Even then, a moderate resort in value season was 16 points on a week night, and 28 on a weekend. The 10 day stay we had at POFQ: 4 weekend nights @ 28 = 112
+ 5 weeknights @ 16 = 80
192 points ($1920 by renting, 1255.68 purchase). This September, that would be:
1174.50 in cash, with only AAA discount, less if there's a code. So I guess it really does depend upon the way you travel.

DVC is great if you want to stay at the DVC resorts, and if you don't do a lot over weekends. Don't get me wrong, if I had mad cash to spend, I'd probably buy in, too, just to own Disney.

 

[cslittle999]

Some people worry about weekends and others don't. Once I check-in I don't want to be switching resorts so I bought enough points to afford the weeks I want to vacation. I agree that the most effective use of DVC is staying at DVC resorts. A preferred view studio at BWV for the same time period would only 148 points. The cost to a DVC owner would only be the maintenance fees plus 1 year's fraction of the purchase price based on the number of years you can own for.