How much did you spend on your dvc membership

[ShaneDJ]

...DVC isn't a great deal for booking DCL, but if you're doing 3rd party, it might be a lot better.

And if it is, let me know who you did that with.

This board's sponsor: https://dvcrentalstore.com/members/cruise/

 

[MartyParty]

Not sure if the second sentence contains a typo or a funny play on words, but I like it.

Ah you noticed!

I guess I should join the fun amongst DVC friends. We don’t have expensive cars or hobbies. DVC fills that void for us. All direct as we like the promise of new resorts.

190 pt POLY - First purchase and spent many a calc figuring out exactly 190.
40 pt BLT - Stayed during our wedding anniversary and feel in love with the theme park views
175 pt VDH - Love everything about the original Disneyland. Love VDH ToT be dam#ed.
200 pt OKW - Fire sale price of $135 direct. Gets us to 605 total and frequent 2 or 3 BR stays

All in about $100k or $165/pt. Wasn’t the plan. Thought we’d stop at 190. In a perfect world using a time machine, I’d go back to the 2000s and get 300 VCG and 300 BLT for $60k all in. Split all the points into 150 size contacts. But over joyed and blessed to be where we’re at today.

And…we got power back today post hurricane Beryl!!! AC is an awesome thing!

 

[MartyParty]

I hope it was intentional

It was. I had a similar thought flipping our POLY direct points for a profit buying OKW direct or something else resale like BLT or AKL. But didn’t. Glad to see someone executed.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

It was. I had a similar thought flipping our POLY direct points for a profit buying OKW direct or something else resale like BLT or AKL. But didn’t. Glad to see someone executed.

I believe we bought OKW direct the same day or next day after signing the contract to sell our PVB points. That way we were still eligible for the add-on sales incentive. It was a really affordable way to get DVC-Y and add more points. I know having just AKV, BRV, and OKW have shaved off a good nine years compared to PVB, but now we get to do 1BRs and 2BRs and can kind of slink away from the busy-ness of PVB. Plus when I'm older and our contracts have expired, I can always buy more points from my yacht (those will just be given to you, since it will be Waterworld in 2057). DVC points will be purchased just by thinking, "Hey, do I need more points?" and the chip in your head will send DVC all of the funds immediately. Then you sail over to your room at Disney's newest floating DVC resort. Or if you're like me, you will go with the older, OG one that looks like it was made from the Electrical Water Pageant floats.

On an unrelated note, I'm still not sure why the crowds flock to the really cool, well-themed resorts that are original to WDW? Stopped by RR last month and it was relatively dead. All those rooms and no one is around?

 

[EPCOT Terran]

What you need is some good luck and some major oversight by a CM so you can buy the Sorcerer's Pass when you're only eligible for the Incredi-Pass.

That happened to us for our 2023 and 2024 vacations. Now, we have DVC-Y but won't be renewing. At the time, my mom called me from WDW to tell me to call MS to buy the Sorcerer's Pass and use the 7-day tickets we had bought as a credit. She made it out to be that Disney was making the Sorcerer's Pass available to all DVC owners. So I called and was able to buy it, but I didn't realize I was getting something I shouldn't have had.

But the silver-lining for Disney is they won on that deal, since it caused us to book an extra long weekend trip in early February because we had the APs and the DVC points. Basically, "Let's squeeze some value from the APs, so here's even more of my money, Disney."

Well, I wasn't DVC at all before last month so the Sorcerer's Pass was off-limits to me as an out-of stater. And now I'm DVC-Y so it's on the menu.

 

[EPCOT Terran]

.

Bingo

With just the 302 points I bought, I'm not terribly worried about staying any more than I would have anyway. What I'll have to be careful about is buying enough points so that my wife and I can do all of the normal trips and have enough for a larger family trip or friends trip and then needing to bank points one year because schedules don't line up, then use the points next year because the schedules again didn't line up, etc. That's why I'm strenuously resisting the urge to buy resale points now to add on. I want to get a better feel for the availability of the rooms I want, the level of room (DS, 1BR, standard/savannah/theme park view/etc.), whether a few OTUP or quick rental will make up some of the difference, etc. If I do end up with extra points, I'm pretty sure that's what Aulani is for!

 

[vdangelo239]

March 2020 got my first contact 150 points resale at Poly for $19,050. Have spent way more since lol.

 

[StarCruzer]

The hidden cost is how much you spend on the trips every year, even with DVC, in terms of park tickets/AP, flights, food etc.

Disney trips are still expensive even with the room already paid for!

We're a military family so the trip cost isn't too bad. We had hoped to get military discounts on rooms but the inventory on those is VERY low. Even booking Shades of Green is pretty difficult--they're almost fully booked up through January. DVC resale was actually the most economical solution for us, since we had the cash up front. With 85 points we could go every year with careful planning, but instead go about every other year because it's easier and we can do a longer stay.

Military pay is a strong antidote to addonitis I saved the cash for the purchase (so no financing) and DH agreed to being responsible for MF until he broke even.

Maybe one day we'll make enough to add more direct points but for now...we live vicariously through folks on this board

 

[TheSnowWhite_]

You’re on the higher end. Most people today are buying 150-250 points.

Mixture of grand Cali and aulani. I got direct Grand cali but it was $310 a point and then aulani

 

[Jack Kerouac]

Something that popped into my head with this thread is two-fold: total purchase cost divided by your annual income, and maintenance fees divided by your annual income. For us, we have three young boys and saved close to 25% between retirement and college. Now we are a bit below 20% but I'm okay with it since I want to create memories as a family. Our current DVC buy-in is about 22% of our annual income and our dues are just under 2% of our annual income.

Mixture of grand Cali and aulani. I got direct Grand cali but it was $310 a point and then aulani

If you bought VGC, then your cost isn’t really comparable to those buying WDW reports. It’s like asking if paying for a home in Malibu is on the high end nationally and then wanting feedback from Ted in Nebraska… Know this: You’re fine and enjoy your vacations.

 

[Dobermanns]

Started with 60 PVB direct at $145 per point (after CM discount) as first purchase in May of 2016. Added another 60 PVB direct 3 weeks later (gave up on BWV/BCV waitlists),
Now we have 1176 points for a grand total of $169K (includes closing costs). I figure dues would be $10 pp come this Dec But dues and all expenses related to all the trips were part of our retirement planning.

We use all of our points, this includes gifting my brother a weeklong trip to AUL every other year (I can never figure out what to buy him for his bday anyways ). Oh right after covid, I did gift stays to my closet Disney friend just to use up all the banked points we couldn’t use because I got pneumonia one time and death in the family another time. Hubs says he doesn’t care, but I have come to enjoy the 1-bedrooms over studios (even if my myself ). So I am sure points (even if we add on more) will be fully used as well

 

[Jack Kerouac]

Started with 60 PVB direct at $145 per point (after CM discount) as first purchase in May of 2016. Added another 60 PVB direct 3 weeks later (gave up on BWV/BCV waitlists),
Now we have 1176 points for a grand total of $169K (includes closing costs). I figure dues would be $10 pp come this Dec But dues and all expenses related to all the trips were part of our retirement planning.

We use all of our points, this includes gifting my brother a weeklong trip to AUL every other year (I can never figure out what to buy him for his bday anyways ). Oh right after covid, I did gift stays to my closet Disney friend just to use up all the banked points we couldn’t use because I got pneumonia one time and death in the family another time. Hubs says he doesn’t care, but I have come to enjoy the 1-bedrooms over studios (even if my myself ). So I am sure points (even if we add on more) will be fully used as well

Hi. Can I be your brother? Also, I am very difficult to buy for. Glad to see you're able to share the magic.

We have tried to share our points with my wife's brother, but they can't be bothered with free accommodations at WDW.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

I believe we bought OKW direct the same day or next day after signing the contract to sell our PVB points. That way we were still eligible for the add-on sales incentive. It was a really affordable way to get DVC-Y and add more points. I know having just AKV, BRV, and OKW have shaved off a good nine years compared to PVB, but now we get to do 1BRs and 2BRs and can kind of slink away from the busy-ness of PVB. Plus when I'm older and our contracts have expired, I can always buy more points from my yacht (those will just be given to you, since it will be Waterworld in 2057). DVC points will be purchased just by thinking, "Hey, do I need more points?" and the chip in your head will send DVC all of the funds immediately. Then you sail over to your room at Disney's newest floating DVC resort. Or if you're like me, you will go with the older, OG one that looks like it was made from the Electrical Water Pageant floats.

On an unrelated note, I'm still not sure why the crowds flock to the really cool, well-themed resorts that are original to WDW? Stopped by RR last month and it was relatively dead. All those rooms and no one is around?

Shhhh…don’t tell anyone!!

All kidding aside, that’s one of the best parts of RR - it never feels crowded even when it is.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Shhhh…don’t tell anyone!!

All kidding aside, that’s one of the best parts of RR - it never feels crowded even when it is.

With only 300 rooms, I love that it stays quiet and there just aren't really long lines for anything lol

 

[Dobermanns]

Hi. Can I be your brother? Also, I am very difficult to buy for. Glad to see you're able to share the magic.

We have tried to share our points with my wife's brother, but they can't be bothered with free accommodations at WDW.

Yes you can be my brother

 

[UrsulaWantsYourSoul]

Started with 60 PVB direct at $145 per point (after CM discount) as first purchase in May of 2016. Added another 60 PVB direct 3 weeks later (gave up on BWV/BCV waitlists),
Now we have 1176 points for a grand total of $169K (includes closing costs). I figure dues would be $10 pp come this Dec But dues and all expenses related to all the trips were part of our retirement planning.

We use all of our points, this includes gifting my brother a weeklong trip to AUL every other year (I can never figure out what to buy him for his bday anyways ). Oh right after covid, I did gift stays to my closet Disney friend just to use up all the banked points we couldn’t use because I got pneumonia one time and death in the family another time. Hubs says he doesn’t care, but I have come to enjoy the 1-bedrooms over studios (even if my myself ). So I am sure points (even if we add on more) will be fully used as well

Same - though we are still settling into our current amount of points, with as often as we go (and preferring 1 bedroom for ourselves) and some trips with friends… we are always carefully planning out point use. Grand villas do eat up a ton of points even if for just a few nights so feel fortunate if we can stay in one for like 3-4 nights a year sometimes. For the charging question it just depends. For immediate family, no charge. For friends we usually have them pay $200/night per bedroom they use when joining us in a 1-3 bedroom villa. So they get a great deal and if helps us offset maintenance fees. For fellow DVC friends of course we usually each pay for some nights of points. I love DVC friends!

 

[CraigInPA]

Around $18k. Of course, since then we've spent more than double that fighting addonitis.

 

[supercarrie]

100 point BLT contract (resale) - $12,590 after closing costs (not including 2024 dues)
153 Riviera contract (direct) - $26,972 after closing costs, incentives and MBs

253 points for $39,562 or ~$156 per point blended

 

[CourtneyAshley]

So My husband and I are still relatively young (30 and 32) with 2 young children (3 and 4) and we are not "wealthy" by anyone who lives above the poverty line's standards. We financed a resale contract for 180 points at AKL and with closing costs and all included it was around 17,500. We could not afford the cost of a direct contract with our current cost of living. We do make sacrifices in our way of living to prioritize vacations and time together though (always have) things like living in a smaller home than most with our income, keeping phones until they die, keeping cars until they die so we do not have car notes for a bit so the contract made sense it will allow us to do vacations we otherwise could not afford like going to Aulani and staying deluxe on Disney property since we were typically staying value before. For now, as much as I would love more points, budgeting wise we are at our max.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

So My husband and I are still relatively young (30 and 32) with 2 young children (3 and 4) and we are not "wealthy" by anyone who lives above the poverty line's standards. We financed a resale contract for 180 points at AKL and with closing costs and all included it was around 17,500. We could not afford the cost of a direct contract with our current cost of living. We do make sacrifices in our way of living to prioritize vacations and time together though (always have) things like living in a smaller home than most with our income, keeping phones until they die, keeping cars until they die so we do not have car notes for a bit so the contract made sense it will allow us to do vacations we otherwise could not afford like going to Aulani and staying deluxe on Disney property since we were typically staying value before. For now, as much as I would love more points, budgeting wise we are at our max.

How would you compare the cost of a visit to Aulani to WDW, if you have been to both? I am interested in going to Aulani, but my biggest hurdles are the flights (about 10h from where we live), the time change for our boys, and then the cost of food once we get there. I do understand we wouldn't have the cost of park tickets though.

And keep the cars as long as you can. Mine is currently 11 years old and will be our 9 year old's first car once he gets old enough to drive.