How Dis-appointing

[DisFlan]

One question, if your a dvc'r can you bring your dog to the Villa's or do you have to put them in the kennel. Friends of ours rent the house thing every year cus they can't stand leaving their two little guys home?

Nope, no pets in the villas. We have the same problem. We hate to leave our two little dogs for extended periods. After we retire in a few years, we'll probably do the "house thing", too, for trips of a couple of weeks or longer. Then we'll work in a few days here and there at a DVC resort with family to be closer to the action.

DisFlan

 

[Dean]

Unless you are getting a suite at WL for that price, the studio is still far better. The $199 price is usually the price for a standard room at the WL. The standard rooms at WL are definitely no deluxe in terms of size. Don't confuse yourself by adding in the tickets and other issues unless you can get them cheaper as a package deal than they would be separately. And as hinted at earlier, doing more weekends erodes the value dramatically and in your case you're looking at 8 nights with 3 weekend costs. You may want to consider staying the Friday & Sat nights in a cash room and renting the 6 nights with one weekend charge for a DVC stay. That will save you a couple hundred more.

 

[Tarabra]

Well to be blunt, if you die before your lease expires, then you can will what's left to your heirs, provided they continue with the annual dues... And love Disney as much as you. AND can afford it... i.e. plane fare, food, tickets, etc. But when the lease is up it doesn't matter if it's you or your heirs, it goes back to Disney. They r the landlord and you r the tenant.

O.k., that makes sense. I thought I was missing something.

 

[fishermouse]

"I tell people to consider all options, even (gasp) offsite. Maybe something else would work better for you."


BITE YOUR TONGUE, why not just sleep in the car!!!

 

[Dean]

"I tell people to consider all options, even (gasp) offsite. Maybe something else would work better for you."


BITE YOUR TONGUE, why not just sleep in the car!!!

Some people actually prefer to stay off site. DVC or on site WDW is not for everyone.

 

[icydog]

Sometimes it is fun to stay off site. We stayed at the Vistana Villages in September and had a blast. We rented a one bdrm from RCI Last Call Vacations for $149 for seven nights. Even though we have PAPs we only went to one park (MGM) one time. It was more fun to hang out at VV's georgeous pool when it was so hot rather than to trek around the parks in the heat.The pool there was much nicer than any pool at WDW and it had shade and cabanas, both of which are impossible to find at Disney Pools. We did go to Pleasure Island at night and we ate in a few Disney restaurants, but that's all the Disney stuff we did that trip. Last week we stayed at OKW in a two bdrm with Friends and did the parks to the fullest. It is more fun for us with others since we seem to have seen all there is to see at the Theme Parks. Next month we'll be at OKW with family friends and plan to spend at least one day at Universal. That will be a first for us so we'll see if it is something we want to do again.

 

[yitbos96bb]

I own 400 points at Saratoga Springs. Here is the reason it makes sense for my family. Disney is just a way of life for us so we might as well just bite the bullet and own a teeney little piece of the magic! You do pay a large amount at first. But if you spread out what you pay over many years of vacations you will see that in the long run you are staying at a deluxe level resort for less than what a value can cost. And I am locked into the price I paid. Meaning points at SSR are higher now than when I bought a year ago but I am still paying my original price. And don't forget, values, moderates and deluxes will all go up many times throughout the next 50 years. I financed 80% of my points thru Disney and in 10 years I am paid off. I own my interest in SSR for 50 years, then yes, they go back to Disney. I'll be 90 so at that point so I'm okay with that! After my points are paid off, I will have monthly HOA dues (around $160 a month right now for us with our amount of points) but thats it. I know we will never not use our points. They go quicker than you think. You can bank points if you think you won't use them and you can borrow points from the next year. You get many discounts at WDW. Also at some point (I know its not gonna happen but for the sake of discussion) if we get sick of Disney we can use them someplace else, Hawaii, Europe, many places. You pay $10 to rent, but the value of my points for me is around $5.50 a point. So if I want to stay at studio at SSR in October, its around 11 points per night. That is around $60 a night, a very good deal. When we had our first stay at "home" in October I knew my family had made the right choice, I wish we had done it years ago and saved a bundle! For you it just might not be the right thing however. It is confusing and if you have a lot of questions, I would go over to the DVC board and ask the experts.

The really cool thing about having that number is that if you only plan one vacation, you could also stay in the regular rooms with the points. I for one have always wanted to stay at AKL.

 

[icydog]

The really cool thing about having that number is that if you only plan one vacation, you could also stay in the regular rooms with the points. I for one have always wanted to stay at AKL.

Before using your points check for passholder rates and AAA rates. They are usually less than the price of the room in points. For example a room at the AKL Savannah view this year is $116 points for Friday and Sat stay. If you rented out your points for the lowest figure of, say, $10 per point that room is actually costing you $1160 for the weekend. You can get it for less with discounts or even paying the full amount to Disney.

 

[yitbos96bb]

Before using your points check for passholder rates and AAA rates. They are usually less than the price of the room in points. For example a room at the AKL Savannah view this year is $116 points for Friday and Sat stay. If you rented out your points for the lowest figure of, say, $10 per point that room is actually costing you $1160 for the weekend. You can get it for less with discounts or even paying the full amount to Disney.

Um, yeah, but the whole reason I bought into DVC is so I DON'T have to pay any out of pocket expenses for the room. Yes, I realize that using points for the room is not value oriented, but I have DVC so that I pre-pay my rooms. Now when I go to Disney, I only have to come up with the ticket and food money... my room has been pre-paid. I don't care if using my points on AKL is "more expensive" technically than getting it from Disney. I still have to come up with 1200 to 1500 extra to pay for that week at AKL. Meanwhile, I have already paid for my points, so I use them. Sure I could rent them, but that is a bit of a hassle and I always worry who I sell them too will do something stupid and get me in trouble with Disney.

 

[icydog]

Um, yeah, but the whole reason I bought into DVC is so I DON'T have to pay any out of pocket expenses for the room. Yes, I realize that using points for the room is not value oriented, but I have DVC so that I pre-pay my rooms. Now when I go to Disney, I only have to come up with the ticket and food money... my room has been pre-paid. I don't care if using my points on AKL is "more expensive" technically than getting it from Disney. I still have to come up with 1200 to 1500 extra to pay for that week at AKL. Meanwhile, I have already paid for my points, so I use them. Sure I could rent them, but that is a bit of a hassle and I always worry who I sell them too will do something stupid and get me in trouble with Disney.

You know I used to think the same way as you.... I used my points whenever and wherever I please and I always had marvelous vacations. Now I do things differently so I can more mileage from my points. ---So to each his own, and enjoy yourself no matter how you vacation!!

 

[yitbos96bb]

You know I used to think the same way as you.... I used my points whenever and wherever I please and I always had marvelous vacations. Now I do things differently so I can more mileage from my points. ---So to each his own, and enjoy yourself no matter how you vacation!!

That is a fair point... I guess I look at it this way because I am still young so I haven't reached that REALLY High salary mode yet, and am paying off some debt. Once vacation time comes around, I don't have the extra money... This is one reason DVC appealed to me, so I can pay a set amount for set time and then (other than maintenance) I am good to go. In the future, I may change my mind... although at WDW, I will most likely stay in one of the DVC resorts because they give best value for money. When I was on my first college program I was DAK opening crew, so I have always wanted to stay at AKL based on that reason. My use of points for that would be a special treat... one or two time... Unless they build AKL villas, in which case I would strongly consider buying into those.
As far as offsite, I don't really liek to stay off site of Disney property, but that is just me. I could see a night at a Universal hotel simply to get any special park perks (I think they used to have a pass to let you skip lines that cost extra if you stayed at the hotels), but ultimately I just love the hassle freeness (new word ) of staying on property. But I know many people who feel different.

 

[jade1]

We often spend the DVC points during the week and stay at AK or WL for the weekend under AP rates that DVC points cant touch. That way you save points for more trips and get to experience other resorts fairly inexpensively. Sometimes it Clearwater Beach or US as mentioned, but to use points at non DVC makes no sense to us. I think WL was $129 last time we did this and AK was about the same. A DVC studio on the weekend is around 30 points so as you suggest you could obtain $300 a night to stay at AK or bank for another trip. Many folks hate to move and buy enough points to avoid moving but we like moving and trying other resorts so its perfect for our habits.

 

[d-r]

Over the last several years I've only noticed a couple of times where it wouldn't be worth it to rent points (unless you were staying in a value or off-property). First thing I have to say, though, is you have to compare it to "rates" for disney rooms, not "rack rate." Because if someone is savvy enough to find these boards and figure out renting, they are smart enough to figure out how to get a discount through CRO. It isn't really appropriate to compare it to rack rates. First, if you were going JUST for the weekend, it might not be worth it (or it might be) to rent. You'd have to compare. Second, holidays. We went one year over Easter, and it was cheaper for us to book a two-bedroom at OKW for the week for AP discount than it would have been to use the points (I'm not going to use our ponts if the cash value is less than the yearly fee). Same thing this Christmas. It made more sense to rent a room at OKW for AP rates than to book with our points. The holiday points - especially weekends - are high, and if you are going over a week those average out.

Otherwise, I can't think of situations were renting points wouldn't be a savings over deluxe rooms.

This is just my opionion.

My question: How does one determine the price of a point. Also how do you figure out the value per point for one resort versus another DVC resort?. A member who bought into SSR just recently, and who rents his points out at $10 a piece, is not doing his math correctly. It costs him almost that much just for buy-in and maintenance fees. He's not making any money at $10 pp, so he should either use them himself, or rent them for a fire sale only at that price.

The thing is, it doesn't really matter what somebody paid. It doesn't work that way. A couple of months ago I paid $3 for a gallon of milk. What will you give me for it today? Or, say yesterday I paid $3 for a gallon of milk, haven't opened it yet, and today it was announced that there was a milk shortage and there would be no more milk delivered to our state for the next two weeks. Now how much is my milk worth? Some thing with a used car. It is only worth what someone will pay for it. On the flip side, it is worth as much as you can get someone to pay for it.

Points are "worth" what you pay for them or what your dues are. They are "worth" what someone will pay for them, and that has more to do with what disney charges for rooms and what discounts they give than it does with how much you paid for the points.

I agree with the point that if someone isn't able to rent them for a price that doesn't loose them money they should just use them or give them to family or even give them to charity and take the tax deduction.

 

[cobbler]

Um, yeah, but the whole reason I bought into DVC is so I DON'T have to pay any out of pocket expenses for the room. Yes, I realize that using points for the room is not value oriented, but I have DVC so that I pre-pay my rooms. Now when I go to Disney, I only have to come up with the ticket and food money... my room has been pre-paid. I don't care if using my points on AKL is "more expensive" technically than getting it from Disney. I still have to come up with 1200 to 1500 extra to pay for that week at AKL. Meanwhile, I have already paid for my points, so I use them. Sure I could rent them, but that is a bit of a hassle and I always worry who I sell them too will do something stupid and get me in trouble with Disney.

Yep that is how I think too. Of course I could still be young in thought like you

I will use my points at non-DVC resorts 4 times. I will stay Sun-Thurs only because weekends are killer on those places. I really want to try AKL, Cont, GF and Poly

After that it will be 2010 I will still have 44 years to go

 

[Dean]

The way I look at it is this. If one doesn't care about savings, why even own DVC. Simply pay cash and you have the most options available. Simply paying to belong to a club doesn't make much sense. Of course everyone must decide where to draw the line and I'd agree it's not worth if for nickels and dimes but that's not what we're talking about here. And the best time to make this judgement is prior to buying in or possibly before adding on. My cut off is $8 per point. If I can't get that value compared to my best cash options AND I think the other negatives would be worth it, I will rent out and pay cash. I've yet to use points other than one 2 day stretch at WL when I didn't really know better early on. And the ONLY time I've seen where a cash trade options (DC, DCL, CC, etc) returned that value was when one was looking at the cruise AFTER missing out on all the discounts. Then for either cash or points it's not a smart move.