Is Anybody Disappointed?

[crisi]

I paid about $40000 for my 400 pts. My MF's are about $1800 per year. If I rent my points at the average asking price of $10/pt thats $4000 per year. Less the MF's puts $2200 in my pocket each year, considering that I also get a tax credit for my points, that is a pretty good return on my investment. IMHO

You are, of course, taking that tax credit but remembering to pay your room taxes to the state of Florida off your rental, right?

 

[crisi]

I am also looking to buy into the DVC, I am curious what are the annual fees. Also is it only a problem booking at the WDW resorts? Or are there also problems with disneyland and the other resorts? Thanks

You don't want to buy at DVC to stay anywhere other than the DVC resorts. The other resorts are available, but the points used to do it (plus, I believe, a $95 fee and more difficult cancellation policies) make it a poor value. People do it when they have points to spare, but I wouldn't buy with that in mind.

 

[ToddyLu]

I am also looking to buy into the DVC, I am curious what are the annual fees. Also is it only a problem booking at the WDW resorts? Or are there also problems with disneyland and the other resorts? Thanks

You can get a lot of info from DVCNews.com

 

[Sandisw]

I think all the people who say "I could have that money in my bank earning 3%" (and several other scenarios I have read on here), don't understand that we aren't buying DVC for investment purposes. It's a personal choice whether you buy, and I just spent $6000 on my Disney vacation in a value season, so why not pay $20,000 and get my accomodations for the next 50some years? We save $ but we also love going on vacation it is one of our #1 family priorities because my husband and I work so much, so it more than an emotional investment than a financial one, I think people understand you aren't going to get a return. Like others have said it's a luxury and a personal choice.

This is exactly the way we felt about not only our DVC purchase, but anything my DH and I have chosen to spend our money on that is not a necessity.

Life is a balance and we recognize that vacationing at WDW on a regular and yearly basis is not a financially sound move, especially when we, for the most part, stayed at deluxe resorts over values.

We would much rather have $20,000 less (and thus less interest income) so that we can continue our vacations. We could not be happier about our decision.

 

[dmoore22]

This is exactly the way we felt about not only our DVC purchase, but anything my DH and I have chosen to spend our money on that is not a necessity.

Life is a balance and we recognize that vacationing at WDW on a regular and yearly basis is not a financially sound move, especially when we, for the most part, stayed at deluxe resorts over values.

We would much rather have $20,000 less (and thus less interest income) so that we can continue our vacations. We could not be happier about our decision.

If we analyzed all our expenditures the way some folks analyze buying into DVC they would be devastated by the depreciated value of their expenditures.When you buy a car it depreciates as soon as you drive off the lot. When you buy groceries what is the return on the investment? When you pay your utility bill what is the return on the investment? There are certain things in life that you can't think of as investments with the intent of a monetary return. DVC is one of those. The return is in intangibles such as the joy that you children or grandchildren are having at WDW. This is priceless. It will not show up on a monthly statement but is valuable just the same. If I would choose to consider my initial DVC purchase as an investment I could actually claim an appreciation in value just by looking at the current resale values. If I consider what I bought my car for and what the current bluebook value is I can honestly say that it was not a wise investment. I am totally satisfied with the "return" on my investment into DVC.

 

[maryloubsw]

If we analyzed all our expenditures the way some folks analyze buying into DVC they would be devastated by the depreciated value of their expenditures.When you buy a car it depreciates as soon as you drive off the lot. When you buy groceries what is the return on the investment? When you pay your utility bill what is the return on the investment? There are certain things in life that you can't think of as investments with the intent of a monetary return. DVC is one of those. The return is in intangibles such as the joy that you children or grandchildren are having at WDW. This is priceless. It will not show up on a monthly statement but is valuable just the same. If I would choose to consider my initial DVC purchase as an investment I could actually claim an appreciation in value just by looking at the current resale values. If I consider what I bought my car for and what the current bluebook value is I can honestly say that it was not a wise investment. I am totally satisfied with the "return" on my investment into DVC.

Excellent point on the intangibles!

 

[Deb & Bill]

...Why shouldn't they? Simple. Because, instead, they could rent points from an owner much cheaper. If you can plan your vacation fairly far in advance, and/or you're flexible, you can most likely rent for just $9/point. ....

If you can find a good owner to rent from, renting is an excellent way to avoid all the costs of DVC, yet take advantage of the program. Renting is allowed as long as it doesn't become a commercial operation per DVC Public Offering Statement. Plus the cost of renting hasn't really changed much in the 12 years we have owned DVC points.

When you rent a reservation from a member, you get the opportunity to stay in a great place at much less the cost than going through Disney and DRC. And, as much as I'm not a fan of this, the renter will often get DVC perks, unless DVC cracks down on that.

With the price of DVC points these days and the attitude of DVC management, I'm hesitant to recommend buying into DVC anymore.

 

[ORD2KOA]

I have to say that we are sometimes disappointed.

As a DVC owner you will save on your room so it's still a good deal for us.

Our disappointment is in the way that members are treated after they buy, the restrictive rules, the mistakes made by MS, the poor Mousekeeping, and the poor conditions that the rooms and resorts are allowed to be in before they are rehabbed.

The real disappointment is knowing that Disney has the ability to really make the DVC experience and quality something special and they deliberately choose not to. The days of Walt are gone.

Bill

Bill, you and I think the same way.

Right now I'm steaming over the stupid rule of 4, because our use year is June and my d/h can't request vacation until January, and the personnel office doesn't advise of approvals until February, so this idiotic rule means that for the rest of my life, we can't take a vacation outside of a DVC resort in February, March, April or May. The 60 day restriction when we bought was annoying enough, but them changing it to 4 months is really making me nuts. That would have been a deal-breaker for me when we purchased.

That being said, we have gotten value for our money.

 

[joksten2000]

We bought while on a Family cruise, the grandkids(10 & 5) had a great time as well as the adults. We bought 500 points and added on 250 & 250 so we could cruise more often. When we book I also do the math on what the cash price was. Including our B2B in 2011 we have enjoyed $142,000 in cruises and 3 stays at WDW. To 2011 our pay out will be $80,000.00 purchase 43,900 in maintenance for $123,900. Still have over thirty years of vacations ahead. I know people say cruising is not the best use of points, but when you have enough points it pays off.

Our B2B in 2011 would have been over $21K. The hassle of renting looks like a nightmare and people that buy to do this are not the brightest.

If we find a room not up to snuff we clean it. How much time can that take an hour? No big deal. We stay in Florida for the winter and do our own cleaning.

DVC isn't perfect, don't expect them to be, and yes sometimes I get unhappy about things -- We just upgraded our 2011 cruise and member services screwed it up and it's been three weeks and still not right but they are working on it and have taken all charges off my credit card while they are doing it. Over 2,300 points and somehow have lost some points, but they'll get it right.

 

[oct2014]

We are disappointed sometimes, but in the end we bought DVC to make us take vacations. Even if we can't always get the unit or dates we want, we aren't going to let the points expire so we find a way to make them work. In other words, our purpose is served. We have just come to realize that we need to be making reservations close to the 11-month window, but be ready to be flexible when we make that call! Don't be surprised if you call and something is not available through DVC, but Disney has multiple units available for regular bookings.

So long as the quality of the units doesn't get to the point that we say we would not want to vacation there, our membership should continue to serve its purpose. If the quality isn't maintained it will not only make us think twice about our decision, but also hurt Disney (given that, again, a portion of villas are available for regular bookings) and future DVC sales to people that stay in villas through Disney, through renting points, or through members' guests.

Caroline

(Sorry I don't know the lingo, maybe I'm supposed to say central reservations or something instead of Disney?)

 

[jarestel]

There no doubt are people who have been disappointed with their DVC experience, have sold their points, and moved on. Most of us on this forum are currently happy campers, so that's the predominant message to be found here. But we're not exactly an unbiased group of advice givers.

The one issue that creates the most angst and torment for members is the fact that the DVC of tomorrow will not be the DVC of today. Rules, perks, and procedures have changed, and will continue to change, over time. This invariably produces multi-page threads here, the main theme consisting mostly of laments and complaints regarding the fact that the DVC of today isn't the same as the DVC of yesterday.

None of the changes (DVC term is "enhancements") have been too horrible when viewed from the perspective of the membership as a whole. But whenever there's a change, some members are more directly affected than others and may tend to take it personally. This can be a source of disappointment, but as long as one is aware that changes will no doubt come, disappointment is likely to be brief.

Good luck!

 

[jagson]

Originally Posted by maryloubsw
I think all the people who say "I could have that money in my bank earning 3%" (and several other scenarios I have read on here), don't understand that we aren't buying DVC for investment purposes. It's a personal choice whether you buy, and I just spent $6000 on my Disney vacation in a value season, so why not pay $20,000 and get my accomodations for the next 50some years? We save $ but we also love going on vacation it is one of our #1 family priorities because my husband and I work so much, so it more than an emotional investment than a financial one, I think people understand you aren't going to get a return. Like others have said it's a luxury and a personal choice.
Consider the OOP cost of that same $6000 value season Disney vacation in the year 2020, or 2030, for that matter, and you can imagine what a good deal DVC is; even with the certain increase in MFs! You mathematicians/accountants crunch the numbers, and let us laypeople know the winner, ie $6000/year (with annual increases in room costs of say 2-3% per year) vs $20,000/50 years (with 50 years of MFs). If its already been addressed in this thread, I apologize.

 

[dmoore22]

Originally Posted by maryloubsw
I think all the people who say "I could have that money in my bank earning 3%" (and several other scenarios I have read on here), don't understand that we aren't buying DVC for investment purposes. It's a personal choice whether you buy, and I just spent $6000 on my Disney vacation in a value season, so why not pay $20,000 and get my accomodations for the next 50some years? We save $ but we also love going on vacation it is one of our #1 family priorities because my husband and I work so much, so it more than an emotional investment than a financial one, I think people understand you aren't going to get a return. Like others have said it's a luxury and a personal choice.
Consider the OOP cost of that same $6000 value season Disney vacation in the year 2020, or 2030, for that matter, and you can imagine what a good deal DVC is; even with the certain increase in MFs! You mathematicians/accountants crunch the numbers, and let us laypeople know the winner, ie $6000/year (with annual increases in room costs of say 2-3% per year) vs $20,000/50 years (with 50 years of MFs). If its already been addressed in this thread, I apologize.

An analysis by John Duffy reported at Mouseplanet.com states:

"The logic is, if you buy into DVC you are paying cash up front for accommodations in the future instead of investing the money today and just paying for your vacations as you go. This is certainly the case in the early years after buying into DVC, but every year you pay DVC dues instead of cash for a vacation (in which case the dues are much less then the cash cost of WDW accommodations), this "investment" decreases. An example will clarify this point...

Using some sample numbers, the up-front cash cost of joining DVC is $13,150. If invested instead of spent on DVC, this amount would have grown to $14,005 after one year (at 6.5 percent, $13,150 X 1.065=$14,005). The investment would grow by another 6.5 percent after year two, to $14,915 ($14,005 X 1.065), and so on...

But here is the problem... after one year the DVC member pays dues of $702 whereas the non-DVC member must pay for a hotel. Using a more reasonable comparison (I think we would all agree that the All-Star Resorts are no comparison to a DVC studio) of 10 days in a moderate on sale (still being too generous but it allows the point to be made) at $150 per night. The non-DVC member must pay $1,500 in hotel rent, which is more than twice the DVC members dues, at a difference of $798 (which incidentally will increase every year that hotel price increases outpace dues increases).

Now, back to the investment analysis. After one year we got to $14,005. But now we must decrease this number by the difference between the year one DVC dues and year one hotel costs, $798, before calculating the investment balance for the start of year two. So after two years, instead of having an investment worth $14,915, you really only have $14,065 [($14,005 - $798) X 1.065 = $14,065] Now, before calculating the return for year three we must reduce this amount again by the difference between year two DVC dues and year two hotel costs (at this point the investment begins to go down instead of up). This goes on until the investment balance runs down to zero and eventually it is the DVC member with extra funds to invest at an increasing rate every year so long as DVC dues are lower than equivalent hotel costs. I have played around with the numbers and it is difficult to get the original $13,150 to last more than 8-10 years."

The complete article is available at: http://www.mouseplanet.com/7289/BuyingDVC

 

[Coach81]

Yes, it is.. we are not sorry we bought in.. we are actually looking to add-on in the next few years.. we love our DVC.. good luck!

 

[jodifla]

I've owned 14 years. I've been disappointed with some of the changes they've made, and about how they communicated those changes. For example I don't smoke but was infuriated by the all of a sudden no smoking policy, which did affect us trying to bring my dad.

I don't like the bedding changes at OKW or decor changes...but of course, it's getting a revamp now.

But other changes have been great....the Wi-Fi, the discounts on APs.

I don't think I'd buy in at today's prices, other than resale. But we've had a blast with our points the past 14 years, and look forward to many more years.

 

[yitbos96bb]

I've owned 14 years. I've been disappointed with some of the changes they've made, and about how they communicated those changes. For example I don't smoke but was infuriated by the all of a sudden no smoking policy, which did affect us trying to bring my dad.

I don't like the bedding changes at OKW or decor changes...but of course, it's getting a revamp now.

But other changes have been great....the Wi-Fi, the discounts on APs.

I don't think I'd buy in at today's prices, other than resale. But we've had a blast with our points the past 14 years, and look forward to many more years.

Agree on the smoking thing... it affects us too with family members. they should at least have allowed it on the balcony.

 

[dmoore22]

Agree on the smoking thing... it affects us too with family members. they should at least have allowed it on the balcony.

Since I had to witness my mom die the slow, long, horrible death from lung cancer (a life long smoker) it didn't bother me at all. I applaud a decision that was long overdue. I know how my mother reacted when we tried to intervene after her first surgery and the doctor, using his best bedside manner, encouraged her to quit or die. The addiction was so strong she chose not to quit. Apparently death was initially preferable. When she decided to stop it was too late. Now her grandchildren do not have a grandma that should be here, now, to share wonderful memories. There are enough designated smoking areas at WDW that enables them to continue the addiction minimizing the exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.