How much does it "Really" cost?

[Richard Bruvofetc]

Firstly, my apologies if this has been asked before, but this is my first time in this forum.

In 2001,whilst on holiday at the Disney Movie hotel we came across the DVC. We went to the presentation and were very impressed. However, caution stepped in and I never took it any further. My concern being the "real" cost and the unknown increase in yearly charge.

Having done my sums, and taking into account that booking airfares privately can be far more expensive than going on a "Virgin" holiday etc., I thought that the DVC would be more expensive than taking a "normal" holiday to Florida. We went back to Florida last year and intend going again next year.

I wonder if any of you can enlighten me as to the true cost of the DVC (including flights, car hire, park tickets etc.) is. I am still very interested, but that caution is still there.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mark&sue]

I think it would depend on where you usually stay when you go to WDW. We have stayed three times at the moderate Disney hotels Port Orleans etc and what made our decision was when we stayed at the Grand Floridian. The cost for two weeks was £7,000 for the three of us (my dd was only £300!). After seeing the size of the villas at DVC we knew it would be good value for money. If you only stay at the value resorts then the flight may well be the same as your "virgin holiday" but if you are used to paying for the more expensive hotels then it will work out much cheaper for the next 49 years!

I hope you make the right decision for you and your family.



Susan

 

[paulh]

we bought 200 points in 1999 the cost was about £7000.00 the dues for this amout of points is about £500.00 per year we worked out that if we stayed a a moderate hotel(not inc flights) each year for 5 years 2 weeks the would be about £9,500 so after 5 two week holidays the DVC would have paid for itself we now only pay £500 (our dues) for 5 star accomadation we only have to get our flights as you seem to fly virgin which we have found to be the dearest option and the hotels are dear with virgin we always get them cheaper direct ( to do with weekend points we stay first night on cash at someware like pop or allstars)Without DVC we wouldent have done the cruise or gone at xmas to me its the best thing we have done
Paulh

 

[Hilary]

Having done my sums, and taking into account that booking airfares privately can be far more expensive than going on a "Virgin" holiday etc., I thought that the DVC would be more expensive than taking a "normal" holiday to Florida.

I don't think that's necessarily the case, Richard. In some instances it may well be cheaper to buy a straightforward package but, depending on circumstances, there are times when we've saved £££s by building our own 'package' (pre owning DVC).

For us, the original outlay for our VWL points was a big decision but we're very happy with our ownership so far. The annual fees (around £400 for 175 points) have increased a little each year, but with the varying exchange rate the difference to our pocket has been minimal and we still feel we're getting excellent value for money for the accommodation we've used so far. DVC cannot raise the annual fees more than 5% in any year, and there have been years when they have actually gone down for some resorts!

One of the big attractions for us is the flexibility of DVC's points system so that we can use our points to best suit each trip and, therefore, be 'worth' more to us than a fixed timeshare would have been.

Only you can decide whether it's an investment that will suit your family - have fun deciding!

 

[paulh]

welcome to the boards seen that this is your first post think dvc might have hooked you when we first bought we did a try and stay we dident do the promo we beged then to go straight to the sale
Paulh

 

[psharrock]

Hilary

I thought the maximum increase in dues in any one year was around 15%, and over the past 2 -3 years they have averaged at about 5%.

Richard,

Owning DVC is the best thing we have done, we think it will pay for itself in about 6-7 trips. Also we have found we can usually save about 20% or more off the cost of a Virgin package by booking it all separately.


Paul

 

[Hilary]

Hilary

I thought the maximum increase in dues in any one year was around 15%, and over the past 2 -3 years they have averaged at about 5%.

Sorry for being misleading! 5% was the figure that popped into my head, but I'm sure you're right, Paul.

Oh, and welcome to the DIS UK boards, Richard!

 

[Richard Bruvofetc]

Many thanks for the replies.

My first trip to Orlando was in 2001 at the Disney Movies Resort. I again went in 2003 and stayed at the Holiday Inn Int'l Drive. In 2006 we intend to either stay in the Crowne Plaza Int'l Drive or the Disney Caribbean Resort. The reason I started to look at the DVC again is that next year will be the last time I (Er!) take my daughter out of school for a holiday. As we all know, holidays + school breaks =£££s!, so I was therefore looking at better alternatives to travel in those periods.

If I were to plan to visit Orlando once every two years, in UK school holiday times, for a period of two weeks, how many points should I purchase?

Also, should I buy directly from Disney or go through another broker?

P.S. What does "dd" mean?

 

[Bexx]

You can download Caskbill's excellent DVC Planner to find out exactly how many points you would need at the accomodation of your choice.

Disney are only selling Saratoga Springs now. Going resale would give you more choice and should be cheaper.

 

[Halo]

dd means Dear Daughter or Disney Daughter - DS = Son, DW = Wife, DH = Husband etc.

How many points depends on when, where, number of bedrooms, etc.
I believe you also have to buy a min of 150pts as a first buy - subsequent buys can be smaller to add to your existing.

Last year we bought points (230) in the secondary market in OKW.

OKW traditionally has had the lowest annual maintenance of the on-site Disney properties.

We bought 230 on the basis that it would enable us to go one year in three:-
Year 1 Bank;
Year 2 use and borrow Year 3;
Year 3 - no points - already borrowed!;
Year 4 , start again as Year 1 and Bank...
cycle..... based on the comfort of a 2-bed villa.

Lots of people spread their points out by staying elsewhere for Friday and Saturday Nights too - on-site at Universal? - so there is a lot of flexibility.

 

[Miffy2003]

Hi Richard and welcome to the Dis!

If you are looking for an economical way to travel to Florida then DVC may not be the best option for you.

First I must qualify that by saying that I love my DVC and have not had a second of regret since buying it. But in all honestly the cost of a flydrive this August was hardly any cheaper than a package deal staying in a 3 / 4 star hotel near to WDW.

If you are happy with resorts like All Star Movies and Crowne Plaza then I do wonder if you might be better off with package deals? That is not to say I think these resorts are not lovely - I've stayed at ASMo and loved it.

However the DVC accommodation are luxurious and for me worth the money. But if you are looking at it as a way to save money, I'm not sure DVC is necessarily the best deal for you. It will save me money certainly compared to staying at other deluxe WDW resorts - but not necessarily save much money (if any) over the values or offsite hotels.

Good luck with your decision!

Cheers

Karen

 

[jjpenguin]

The way I look at it is I get 4**** accomodation at value prices. After the firt 3/4 trips you are basically only paying your maintenance fee, and that is a lot less than you would pay for the accomodation. Also you don't pay tax on DVC stays (unlike normal hotels) and the amount of points you use now is pretty much fixed as they can only increase point stays somewhere by decreasing them at other times.

Also you are flexible should you want to bring a friend for DD along, or even later, let her go by herself. Or bring other family members (grandparents etc.). We love having a 1 bedroom even though there are only 2 of us, we have a Jacuzzi, a DVD player a balcony and really feel like we are in our own Home at WDW.

I don't know about your style of holidaying, but the last time we didn't even have a car the whole time we were in Orlando, we rented it for a day to go shopping and took a transfer from the airport. So all we paid for were flights.

Good luck!

 

[gilld]

You can download Caskbill's excellent DVC Planner to find out exactly how many points you would need at the accomodation of your choice.

I have got this and find it useful for easily calculating points, but is there one that keeps track of banking and borrowing, something we seem to do endlessly! Or have I missed something on this one???

Thanks...

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi,
I use this one.

Points Manager

Mick.

 

[UK Crowbirds]

We finally bought our DVC points after our 6th trip to Orlando, and really do regret not doing it earlier. Although the cost of a flight/car/proportion of DVC costs may not be too much different from a package to All Star/Pop Century/Off Site resorts, you just can't compare the quality of the accomodation. Also take into account that with your DVC studio/villa, you do get self catering accomodation, and although no one is going to spend their holiday over a hot cooker, just eating breakfast or preparing sandwiches once a day does make a reasonable saving. Then there's a fridge to keep those chilled bottles of Vodka/Bacardi/Archers/or whatever's your poison that you bought Duty Free and you just HAVE to finish before you go back, the restaurant discounts when you're not being a comlete martyr and self catering, the swimming pools(especially at the Beach Club Villas), oh, and the jacuzzi baths in the en suite....... erm, I think I've made my point!!