How many trips to Disney per year to make it pay off?

[Wantogo]

The new DVC being built now, I think it is the Beach Club Villas(?) from the artist rendering looks fantastic.

I have been looking at the prices for some of the DVC resorts. My question is how many trips to Disney per year to make it pay off? Rather then just paying for a resort whenever you go?

 

[HookdonWDW]

I don't really think that there is an answer to "how many trips per year"... IMHO, if you tend to spend a week at WDW every 1-2 years, and you like to stay at Moderate - Deluxe hotels, then DVC is worth looking into...

 

[kem330]

The pay off is different for everyone. First you have to figure how much you spend for rooms at Disney- If you like the deluxe resorts, its a no brainer- DVC will beat them hands down. For example: 5 nights over Christmas or Easter at the Boardwalk Inn. standard view will cost $400/night plus 11% tax , So about $2200. 5 nights in a one bedroom unit at Boardwalk or Beach Club Villas costs 200 points, Sun - Thurs or 235 points Sat - Wed(points are higher on the weekends). Points will cost you about $5.85/point with a new BC purchase or closer to $5.50 with a BW resale purchase. So your cost ends up between $1100 and $1300 (1/2 the cost for twice the space). And that's for a two room unit with full kitchen, W/D, luxury bathroom, etc. This is only one example- and if you were to compare apples to apples, A studio which is comparative in size to a hotel room would cost 95 for 5 weekdays and 119 points with one weekend day so $522.50- 696.00 (almost 1/4 less over hotel stay). We figure the initial purchase price has about a 6 year or less payback, depending on how often you go.

 

[Wantogo]

Thanks for the information. Now i am even more serious about buying.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Kem33 is right, the payoff is different for everyone. We figured out we were spending about $5000 per trip for 5-6 days pre-DVC purchase, and that ended 5 years ago when we bought. We figure it is now down to just the maintanence fees now.

 

[chris1gill]

Just wanted to say that Kem's numbers are correct for new purchases.... a net cost of 5.85 per point.... so multiply 5.85 times the number of points per night & you get your net cost (there's a point calculator here on the DIS).... I know some people like to say that they'd earn interest on the money they invested in DVC, but if you were to NOT buy DVC & pay cash for your stays, you'd exhaust that initial investment in less than five years.... so I don't even look at the interest aspect of it... We bought a few years ago for a little less, so our net cost is about 5.35/point... the price seems to just go up every year.....

The only other thing, if you like staying in the value resorts DVC will not save you anything, but IMHO the DVC villa's are the best accomodations on property & they shouldn't be compared with either value or moderate resorts... but just my opinion....

 

[crisi]

Remember that it only counts as "saved" money if you were going to spend it anyway.

For us it is "saving" us nothing, and in fact I believe it will cost us. Without it, we'd go every three to four years instead of every one to two years. We wouldn't be paying for airfare, park tickets, t-shirts, greens fees, or meals out nearly as often (we don't live nearly close enough to drive, and we aren't the type to save money by cooking our meals back in the room, and we always come home with stuff). We'd be perfectly happy for a number of years in a single hotel room - and eventually we'd need two, but only for one or two trips when the kids are teenagers.

But, we can afford a DVC membership (or an annual or biannual Disney trip) and would like to take one. We are now more likely to go more often. We are more likely to stay in a room where we adults are not tripping over the kids. I can pull my workaholic hubby away from his office because "we have to use the points."

I suspect, knowing myself and my husband, that even though I know we go more often the psychology of the trip will be that each trip is cheaper, and I'll be more likely to spend more money on more frequent trips (I also suspect that's Disney's secret hidden agenda behind the DVC).

I also think this is my family's situation, and that some people do "save" money with a DVC membership. At least one person here cooks almost all meals in the room. People who live within driving distance aren't adding huge transportation costs. Anyone who already goes yearly, staying in a Deluxe (and is going to keep doing so) will save money.

 

[chris1gill]

Crisi raises a good point, in their case, it doesn't sound financially beneficial. But, everyone needs to examine their vacation habits & base their decision on that... For us, we have always gone yearly & have always stayed in either a deluxe or a villa on property. If you travel at least every other year & stay in a deluxe or yearly in a deluxe or moderate, DVC will save you money that you would have spent anyways... That's at least how we made our decision, based on the actual savings that we would see....