How do you know?

[Caseye]

I'm a planner- maybe too much but that's besides the point.

How do you truly know if DVC is right for you?

Husband and I would be 25 when we would have the money to buy a resale contract with cash.
We went to Disney for our honeymoon (2015) and 1 year anniversary (2016) and plan to go again in 2019.
Obviously our family will be growing soon-ish and we would be adding kids in the future.
If we did want to go to universal we still would prefer to stay on Disney property as we don't like Universals options for food or shopping.
The plan for years that we don't go will be to either bank or rent out and use the rent money to pay the dues for that year.
I feel like I have covered everything but it's still a big decision and would like other people's opinions.

Thanks!

 

[disneynutz]

Based on you and your vacation habits, favorite resort, room size, available cash, only you will know if DVC can save you money. At worse, you buy, use and sell if things don't work out.

Bill

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Every 3 years is stretching the ideal use case quite a bit.

 

[kniquy]

go to universal we still would prefer to stay on Disney property

Don't be so certain about this --- we are planning a WDW and universal trip next year. I (like you) am a planner. I was trying to figure out how to handle getting back and forth from WDW to UO. With the benefit of the express pass at certain UO hotels it only made sense for us to stay there for a couple days at the end of our WDW trip.

As for knowing if DVC is right for you, you need to first look at your travel habits. If you plan on going every year or at least every other year then it can make sense. If you go beyond that -- say every 3-4 years, then it doesn't make sense because what you are paying to buy in and yearly MF -- you can rent for less and not be tied to that yearly maintenance fee. The point of DVC is to save you a little money on your room when traveling there often. You can buy a contract for 1/2 the points needed for your certain room type and season and go every other year.

Take a long hard look at your WDW plans for the future. Really decide how often you plan on going. It isn't a cheap vacation even with the room paid for w/ DVC - with meals and tickets it jumps up there. In my situation we wanted to go but only every other year, bought a 120 point contract to go every other year. It suits us now and will in the future when the children no longer come with us (if that ever happens). You can start small and add on down the road, if you want to increase your travel to WDW. Take a good look at resale if you haven't already. The nice thing about a DVC timeshare is that it does hold some good value (when buying resale)-- if you buy in and in 5 years you feel it is not a good fit then you can sell it and make back a good portion of your buy in.

 

[com_op_2000]

People have asked me and I have told them to answer these questions:
1. Are you willing to go and stay at a Disney deluxe resort at least every other year? If not then no need to look any further cause the costs are not worth it.
2. Are you satisfied with staying offsite and going to the different locations around the Disney area and want to continue to do so?
3. Are you satisfied with staying at value or moderate resorts at Disney locations, looking for deals, and other ways to save monies?
4. Can you pay cash for your purchase?
5. What are your travel plans for the next 10 years?
Then after getting the answers, you need to start your research:
Read these threads on the DIS and understand the following terms:
UY
MF
HR
11 month and 7 month booking windows
Concierge Collection
RCI
CM
MS
Direct vs resale
Rule of 4
Once you have a full understanding of these terms.
Then read some more.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

For us, we are frequent travelers to the world and knew we would continue those habits now that we have a child. We also grew tired of staying in value and moderates but didn't like the price tag of the deluxe resorts. I also knew I wasn't particularly fond of traveling with a small child to a value or moderate. Plus while we currently like to travel in low crowd times, once our son is older and in school, we won't have that flexibility and the costs would be higher since we would need to travel on breaks. Then we had to decide if our usage would continue for the next 25 or more years. A Disney vacay every year didn't fit our budget but every 2 or 3 years did and was also our habit so I made sure I thoroughly understood banking and borrowing. That took some time to comprehend. Then it was time for math. Researched direct buy costs, resale costs, rack rate history for rooms, maintenance fee history - put all of this in a spread sheet to study. Emotionally it made sense, mathematically it made sense and once the budget was available, we decided it was time to buy. It's a big decision - good luck.

 

[Disneypapa]

Many good suggestions already offered here by other posters. My story is that I am an engineer (detailed planning was my job). I purchased a resale contract for 200 points at OKW about 14 years ago with the intention of going with children/grandchildren every other year. We used primarily 2BR units. This has worked well for us. When I had points that were going to expire, I have rented them to cover the cost of dues. This has gone well also.

My grandchildren are getting older, 15-21; but they still enjoy going. That is a big positive. I am now retired and doing other travel, including international and not using all of my points. Son and family and continued to go frequently. The point is, over time, your travel/vacation plans are going to change and DVC will not be at the top of the list. So the recommendation would be to recognize this, and not buy an outlandish number of points that you will have to deal with either through use or renting out. Of course selling your DVC interest is also an option as you and our family mature.

 

[glencoe]

We have never looked back after purchasing and are adding more points as the family grows (not just age but size....they want to bring friends and then that will be spouses, then grandchildren) Anyway....the most important thing is...it isn't permanent. If it works now do it, if your family needs change, sell it. My kids are now 21,17 and 14 and still love going to disney. We are now expanding and using Hawaii, Hilton Head or Vero next year to change things up.

We love the options and it forces my husband to go on vacation....which is not an easy thing to do!!!

 

[jerseyduke]

For me it came down to

1. I go often (currently multiple times a year)
2. Where I say matters to me; at least when I go for longer trips. I do some weekend trips, which are totally park centric, so the value resorts are ok, but when I go for a period of time, I would prefer at least moderate, if not deluxe accommodations.
3. The knowledge that if it was a mistake, I could get out of it with a someone minimal financial loss.

I would only buy if you planned on going at least every other year.

I do not like the idea of buying with the idea of renting points out (that is not a very good return on your investment). I like knowing I can rent points should things change one year.

Also, if you are going to be starting a family, to me that tells me you should wait, but that is a decision for you.