How much did your current age play into your DVC purchase decision making?

[Lunchbox66]

We recently purchased our first contract from DVC after considering it for a while, and we are very happy so far. We purchased direct at Riviera (and I'll explain my reasoning), but I see so many people purchasing resale and at some of the 2042 and other resorts and just had an intellectual curiosity about what affected others' decision to purchase where and how and why.

I will preface this with I tend to be the exception to rule on a lot of things when it comes to what popular opinion is.

DW and I are both 33 (hoping for kids in the next couple years) and look at this as wanting to get the most use out of our vacations. I'm hoping I'm still alive, don't have alzheimer's and can get around at 83. We were originally going to go with Boardwalk, I had written off Riviera after looking it up online because (after seeing it in person) I think the Disney site does a horrible job at showcasing that resort online. Once it was clarified that the expiration isn't 50 years from your purchase date but 50 years from the original offering date that took Boardwalk totally out of my equation, and we immediately hopped on the skyliner to tour Riviera. We took a small trip down because we live 2 hours away and I wanted to talk to someone in person. We visited and actually toured Riviera and loved it and the location so with having 48 years left on the contract that heavily weighed into our decision making. I know there are some other resorts close to that, as well.

As for buying direct, it was all about my best guess that Disney will continue to impose resale restrictions at anywhere new built over the next 48 years, because I've never seen a company get less restrictive or cheaper. We want to experience anywhere new so that made direct our only option without having to keep buying new contracts anytime a resort opens.

All of that to say being 33 (without kids yet) played HUGE factor into where and bought and why. Whereas if I was in my late 50's boardwalk resale might have been what I went with.

More of just a discussion on an intellectual level.

P.S. Not trying to start a giant fight speculating over what Disney will do with future resorts, lol.

 

[Sandisw]

We bought in 2009 and honestly, didn’t even think about age! We had stayed at the Contemporary from the time my kids were little and bought because of BLT.

Over the years, we bought and sold several as we fine tuned our plans. We also have direct abs resale RIV, because now that our kids are adults, I love that place the best.

Our kids love Disney like we do..our DD even ended up working for Disney in NYC until the pandemic shut down Broadway.

So, when deciding on RIV, we did think about contract length and sold BWV to get the longer years so our kids and their families would have Disney trips for yesrs to come!

Going to add on …hopefully..at VGF….to add to what we have to keep the trips going after we are gone!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Initially we bought simply because my DMom wanted to spend her 85th birthday at WDW, and I wanted her to have that. We then kept adding on, even though we were past a optimum age to buy a timeshare. We have enjoyed our DVC points, most of which are in the 2042 bunch.

 

[KVacc]

Im a little older than you and I wish we would’ve bought years ago. But we didn’t have our son then and figured we wouldn’t go to Disney as much but now we want to go a lot since we have a kid and my siblings now have kids. We figured we can pass this down to our son so we went with a longer contract, and he can sell if he doesn’t want it.
We went with resale, actually still waiting on ROFR, due to costs but the major thing was the points, we only wanted 100. If Disney hadn’t raised the minimum we probably would’ve gone Direct.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I like the highly themed resorts... Aulani, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Poly, Grand Cal, and Wilderness Lodge. Since Animal Kingdom Lodge is pretty readily available at 7 months, we went with Saratoga resale as the most cost effective way to stay at our favorite resort. We ended up adding on at AKL so we'd have home resort access to the Value rooms.

The only way that age played a factor is that I immediately ruled out 2042 resorts. Beyond that, I didn't consider it. My wife and I are both 32, with kids 7, 4, and 1.

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

To me the 2042 resorts are appealing in part because they expire around the time when my kids will become adults but YMMV. I certainly wouldn’t purchase a 2042 resort from Disney at Disney prices, but I think for most of them the resale pricing reflects the coming expiration reasonably well.

I also am not particularly confident that visiting Florida will still be pleasant weather wise in 2060.

So I’m not too concerned about the expiration. I’ll certainly be dead when Riviera expires.

 

[bakerworld]

We checked out DVC from a distance thru the 90's and decided we just couldn't afford it - or I should say, we couldn't afford airfare and spending for dinning annually for a family of 5. I loved WDW from the time it opened. We honeymooned there. As empty nesters we found ourselves at WDW 3 times annually for 2 years running. We attended an open house and walked out with DVC membership. Our focus was staying at the 'walkable' venues for moderate pricing. We love our DVC.

It wasn't our age as much as it was being able to vacation as a party of 2 versus a party of 5.

 

[JLong06]

I’d own at Boardwalk if it wasn’t for the expiration date (I’m 35). I’d be retiring at the same time the contract expired and that doesn’t sound like a great start to post-career life, lol.

I bought at Poly instead

 

[mom2rb]

We were offered Beach Club or SSR. SSR hadn’t opened yet, Beach Club was new but it had the same expiration date as OKW and BWV. My boys were 5 and I figured that 50 years would get my future grandkids many trips during their childhoods. Plus DVC was giving an extra year of points for buying SSR. I couldn’t wrap my brain around paying more for less. I have stayed at BCV a few times and love it, but I still feel that I made the right decision for my family. We also bought AKL and BLT before they opened. We split all the contracts evenly so it will be easier to give to the kids.

 

[mom2rb]

I’d own at Boardwalk if it wasn’t for the expiration date (I’m 35). I’d be retiring at the same time the contract expired and that doesn’t sound like a great start to post-career life, lol.

I bought at Poly instead

If they would have offered an extension at Boardwalk DH would have bought there. It is his favorite.

 

[TCRAIG]

I’m currently in my mid sixties and my husband is 10 yrs older - we’ve been owners for 12 years so the 2042 expiration did not impact our buying decisions - we have plenty of points in ‘newer’ resorts (BLT and GF) to leave our one daughter our Grands so all is good!

 

[BennyBoyWrench]

It wasn't our age, but the age of our roof that influenced our decision. In the last years of our 30s, married for 3 years, home owners for less than 2, we knew we wanted to join DVC, but we knew there was a leak in the 20 years old roof. "It'll last another 5 years, by then we'll have paid off our DVC loan and we'll buy a new roof." Of course, we bought DVC, then had to replace the roof 6 weeks later. Funny how things work out. I do think we occupy a niche DVC market where we don't have children, so this purchase is just for us.

 

[JLong06]

If they would have offered an extension at Boardwalk DH would have bought there. It is his favorite.

I read these boards for a LONG time to see what most people thought about a potential extension (I learned a ton about DVC in general while doing this). Overall the only real conclusion is that no one knows and I didn’t want to risk it.

 

[AliceIn]

We are in our late 50s. We have contracts at Poly and CCV that we bought direct. We bought a small resale contract at OKW. We wanted that one for my husband and I because of the size of the units and the overall feel of the resort. The 2042 end date doesn't really faze us.

 

[npatellye]

We are in our early 40s and we own at RIV and OKW (2057). We will be in our mid 70s when OKW expires and that works out fine for us. We will be in our late 80s and, in my husband’s case, early 90s when RIV expires. We hope to pass RIV to our kids but, if not, we will sell those contracts and, god willing, we will have had decades of memories with those points before we sell.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

I purchased resale almost 15 years ago - back then did not consider expiration date. Almost added on direct 2042 resort in 2013 but Did not because of expiration for kids not me. Only purchased later resorts since 2013.

 

[davidl81]

I’m 41, and we bought into DVC 14 years ago. When we first bought we did direct at AKV and it expires in 2057 so that still puts us at 75+. We did add on at SSR, but even at 2054 it’s fine.
Now I will say our age has eliminated any 2042 resorts for purchase as we will be 62 and have full intentions of being around and kicking. If everything was equal we would just own BWV points because that’s our favorite resort, but we just can’t do the 2042 date.

 

[aam808]

We bought jan 2019 and we will be 100/102yo when our CCV contract expires. we bought on our 1st trip to WDW (just us two with 9yo oldest grandson) bc DH fell in love with this kind of vacay (no driving, lol). we bought with the 5 grandkids we have in mind. also plan to pass this down to the kids so they don't skip out on vacays like we did. We separated the points so each kid will have their own contract. we didn't research on resale or other options. We were offered Aulani or CCV. We live near Aulani so CCV at WDW was more appealing. I want to take DH to DL way before the new DL tower goes on sale...hoping.

 

[Akck]

Well, we we’re in our 60’s when we bought Riviera in 2019. We’ll be dead before it expires. Three things helped us decide to buy into DVC at our age. First was could we see us utilizing the points over the next 5 years and that answer was yes with WDW, Aulani and potentially at Disneyland. Second, we have a granddaughter who loves Disney and we will be planning several trips for her. We plan to add her father to our contracts, which will extend our usage. Third, after about 7 years, we’ll break even on stays. We’ll come out ahead if we ever decide to sell. Riviera resale is currently higher than the price point I used in my analysis.

So our age played very little in our decision to buy DVC. Except, we wanted to make many more trips before we get too old to travel and DVC is making that possible.

 

[Ruttangel]

You would assume Families that own in monorail resorts are younger than those at Epcot resorts. I think there is a natural progression, especially for families like mine with 2 boys, moving away from liking MK and towards EP in particular but still interested in AK/HS.
However, just based on length of contract you would assume something like this.
CCV/RIV average new owner age 35
PVB/BLT/VGF 40
SSR/AKV 45
BCV/BWV/OKW/BRV 50