Is DVC a good fit for us?

[osfd36]

We've been thinking about DVC for a while now, and I think we are almost set to pull the trigger. We have a 3 year old and a 6 year old and while i don't think we will outgrow Disney, my concern is we might outgrow a studio hotel room. I've never stayed at bonnet creek or similar hotel, but the idea of having a 1 or 2 bedroom in the future is appealing. We couldn't afford staying at a 1 bedroom at Disney. i realize we have to make the decision, but does anyone have any advice on this, or byers remorse in this regard.

thanks,
andrew

 

[starry_solo]

How often do you go? How long do you stay?

Do you usually stay value or moderate? Can you afford a $30,000-ish one time expenditure, followed by years of maintenance fees?

One bedroom will be about 200-300 points/week, depending on location. Figure a minimum of $6-8/point for maintenance fees.

 

[Ehazelto05]

My girls are the same age as yours and I just bought my 1st DVC Contract. We went with a smaller contract for now because we will be using studios every year for the next 5-7 years when going to Disney. Then I expect to skip disney/aulani/vero/HHI every other year when they are teens, and plan on banking for 1 bedrooms.

I am thinking this will be great for us, because I know we will eventually want to travel to other places when they are older. So an every other year thing SEEMS perfect for us. I could be completely wrong, but I'm hoping I'm right! If anything I can get add-on-itis in a few years and add more points.

If you plan on going to Disney every year for years to come, then you will need enough points for a 1 bedroom.

It also comes down to numbers. I didnt want to take a loan, and I didnt want to eat up savings. So the small contract for now was perfect for us.

 

[osfd36]

How often do you go? How long do you stay?

Do you usually stay value or moderate? Can you afford a $30,000-ish one time expenditure, followed by years of maintenance fees?

One bedroom will be about 200-300 points/week, depending on location. Figure a minimum of $6-8/point for maintenance fees.

My plan was to buy 50 points (which we can afford) and going every 2-3 years, and stay for a week. We couldn't afford 200-300 points for a 1 bedroom. My wife and i run a bit so we would love to go to Disney and run the rundisney events without the kids as we get older, so i'm not worried about using it, i'm just concerned about when we go with the kids.

thanks

 

[RoseGold]

Doing all of this for a trip every three years just doesn't seem worth it to me. Just get a Nemo Suite every three years. There's nothing wrong with just getting a hotel room. The math doesn't work at all if you were going to stay value, and there's nothing wrong with good old Art of Animation.

 

[skippytx]

Do not buy into DVC if you only plan on going every 2 to 3 years. Yeah you can make the numbers work on paper, but if anything doesn't go to plan, it'll be tough.

 

[Jack_Sparrow_NJ]

I would get a minimum of 100 points. Even as your kids get older you could probably make studios work. Trying to bank and borrow to go every 3 years never really made sense to me. If there is a glitch and you can’t go you could lose banked points or have to rent them. It just gets messy.

 

[osfd36]

what is the difference between buying 50 points and going every other year, or buying 100 points and going every year.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

what is the difference between buying 50 points and going every other year, or buying 100 points and going every year.

Look at the current rule that is in place until further notice. You can only borrow up to 50% from the future year. So if you have 50 points and plan on going once every 3 years, you would only have at a maximum 125 points to play with and would lose 25 points.

 

[UberClaire]

When I was considering DVC, I made a spreadsheet calculating the costs to go every two years vs every three years. Going every three years never made any financial sense for my situation. You also haven't mentioned if you planned on financing or buying outright, but financing DVC makes it an even poorer "value." Before making a commitment this big, I would encourage you to make your own spreadsheet to see what works for you, considering the buy-in price and yearly maintenance fees on the points. For many people, staying cash at a Disney hotel or renting DVC points (assuming that is still an option post-pandemic) makes a lot more sense than buying into DVC.

 

[taaren]

One thing to keep in mind with kids that age that I didn't think about when we bought and DS was 2, is that the time of year you can go will change (and therefore the number of points you'd need to enjoy your stay).

We bought thinking we'd be doing a lot of 1 bedroom weekday stays in the fall when points were low since that was when we'd been Disneying for the years prior to DVC. That lasted until he was around 3rd grade and we realized he just wasn't the kind of kid we could take out of school without it affecting his ability to keep up with the rest of class.

It's a 50 year contract, most people change jobs during that time frame. There will be activities and things the kids can't miss, and you'll find yourself scheduling trips around that. Build some flexibility into the amount of points you want.

 

[Jack_Sparrow_NJ]

what is the difference between buying 50 points and going every other year, or buying 100 points and going every year.

The new borrowing rules would limit you to 125 points the first 3 years and 100 the second 3 years.

With 100 points you could go every year. Or you could bank and have 200 points every other year.

You could skip a year and rent the 100 points and still be able to go the following year with 100 points.

 

[mamaofsix]

Doing all of this for a trip every three years just doesn't seem worth it to me. Just get a Nemo Suite every three years. There's nothing wrong with just getting a hotel room. The math doesn't work at all if you were going to stay value, and there's nothing wrong with good old Art of Animation.

I could be missing something, but the OP didn't say anything about only going every 3 years??

 

[dulyon]

We've been thinking about DVC for a while now, and I think we are almost set to pull the trigger. We have a 3 year old and a 6 year old and while i don't think we will outgrow Disney, my concern is we might outgrow a studio hotel room. I've never stayed at bonnet creek or similar hotel, but the idea of having a 1 or 2 bedroom in the future is appealing. We couldn't afford staying at a 1 bedroom at Disney. i realize we have to make the decision, but does anyone have any advice on this, or byers remorse in this regard.

thanks,
andrew

There is always addon-itis a few years down the road

 

[Jack_Sparrow_NJ]

I could be missing something, but the OP didn't say anything about only going every 3 years??

See post #4

 

[mlayman7]

If you are unsure about outgrowing a studio, my advice would be to not stay in a 1 bedroom or higher until you are absolutely ready to do so. Even if you have extra points and want to stay in one for a few nights, do not... Once you do, you will never want to stay in a studio again, especially with kids. Having a separate bedroom is amazing. We started out thinking the same way, had two kids, 3 and 4, banked and borrowed points to stay in a 2 bedroom (grandparents and cousins came too) and having all the extra space (kitchen to save money, laundry if needed) was the best. We now have 3 kids so of course we had to buy more points and after staying in a 2 bedroom, that is our favorite accommodation when we go every year.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Planning on banking and borrowing is risky. It is not guaranteed, as people are finding out right now.

 

[crisi]

DVC is best for people with a plenty of spare cash. Over the long haul, its UNLIKELY to actually save you money. There are a number of reasons for this...offsite or a value is often cheaper. DVC members usually find ways to go more often or spend more money, they decide one bedrooms are WAY nicer than studios (I would never buy to stay in DVC studios), without a hotel bill, they go to dinner a little more often, they might splurge and bring friends (not necessarily on the points you are discussing, but you might find yourself adding on in order to bring Grandma and Grandpa) - its the psychological part about DVC ownership. You may end up losing points over time - having to cancel last minute, or maybe a pandemic hits.

With young kids, there are always more expenses on the horizon - you get done with daycare and its dance. Traveling basketball. Saving for college. Car insurance for teens (!!!). Private school tuition. $2000 for the class trip. (I have two in college right now....well, when they get back to school after whatever is going to happen, so I'm a little weighted towards those final years). Add in saving for your own retirement, being able to replace the washer and dryer and furnace, having savings set aside if you spend three or six months out of work....I'm saying this because you used the word afford and made it sound like things were relatively tight in your budget, but these are things to think about in the overall decision. By putting money into DVC, what are you going to be saying no to? What instances of bad luck might hit that made you regret not having that cash in the bank instead of tied up in a timeshare?

Now, its also possible that you are looking at a future where your income will be increasing or expenses decreasing - maybe your own student loans are about to be paid off. Maybe your career is one that is very stable with a fairly predictable career trajectory that includes salary increases. You are pretty sure you will be made partner in a year.....that sort of thing. Its also possible that you are using afford to mean "make different choices," and so your use of afford does not mean "if we go for one bedrooms, we will not be able to replace the transmission on the car when it goes" and instead means "if we go for one bedrooms, I might have to get rid of some of my large stock portfolio to make the purchase." I don't know and can't tell, so don't read this as a value judgment, just as advice to look at your entire financial life and goals, not just Disney vacations, when making this decision.

 

[MICKIMINI]

DVC is best for people with a plenty of spare cash. Over the long haul, its UNLIKELY to actually save you money. There are a number of reasons for this...offsite or a value is often cheaper. DVC members usually find ways to go more often or spend more money, they decide one bedrooms are WAY nicer than studios (I would never buy to stay in DVC studios), without a hotel bill, they go to dinner a little more often, they might splurge and bring friends (not necessarily on the points you are discussing, but you might find yourself adding on in order to bring Grandma and Grandpa) - its the psychological part about DVC ownership. You may end up losing points over time - having to cancel last minute, or maybe a pandemic hits.

With young kids, there are always more expenses on the horizon - you get done with daycare and its dance. Traveling basketball. Saving for college. Car insurance for teens (!!!). Private school tuition. $2000 for the class trip. (I have two in college right now....well, when they get back to school after whatever is going to happen, so I'm a little weighted towards those final years). Add in saving for your own retirement, being able to replace the washer and dryer and furnace, having savings set aside if you spend three or six months out of work....I'm saying this because you used the word afford and made it sound like things were relatively tight in your budget, but these are things to think about in the overall decision. By putting money into DVC, what are you going to be saying no to? What instances of bad luck might hit that made you regret not having that cash in the bank instead of tied up in a timeshare?

Now, its also possible that you are looking at a future where your income will be increasing or expenses decreasing - maybe your own student loans are about to be paid off. Maybe your career is one that is very stable with a fairly predictable career trajectory that includes salary increases. You are pretty sure you will be made partner in a year.....that sort of thing. Its also possible that you are using afford to mean "make different choices," and so your use of afford does not mean "if we go for one bedrooms, we will not be able to replace the transmission on the car when it goes" and instead means "if we go for one bedrooms, I might have to get rid of some of my large stock portfolio to make the purchase." I don't know and can't tell, so don't read this as a value judgment, just as advice to look at your entire financial life and goals, not just Disney vacations, when making this decision.

GREAT advice crisi! You are spot on and when I think of all the "stuff" that has happened in the last 25 years including soccer and lacrosse camps, summers in WY, prep school, college and grad school not to mention large home and car repairs it is a wonder we survived at all! We are now in the debt free part of life and it wasn't without sacrifice.

Just a few more thoughts...you can buy a small contract and add on - well, plan on it. You can sell if you need to down the road and buy again with a different resort or UY or number of points. It is not now or never and owning multiple contracts is IMHO the smartest way to go. Do the math... Good luck!

 

[cbyrne1174]

I would build yourself up to DVC. I started with the best value vacation club (Wyndham). There are over 200 Wyndhams, 6 in Orlando alone. With a Wyndham resale contract you can do a few nights at Bonnet Creek in a 1 bedroom for Disney. Bonnet Creek is almost always has a 35% discount during the summer when the kids are out of school. You can stay Sun-Fri for $71/night using a Grand Desert deed off Ebay (usually only costs a few hundred bucks to buy). Later on you can add a small number of DVC points to stay at one of their resorts when Bonnet Creek isnt mega cheap. Wyndham is super cheap to stay weekdays and you can also add a small DVC contract to stay during the weekend when Bonnet Creek is more expensive.

Also, it isnt hard to exchange into Saratoga or Old Key West using RCI. A week in a 1 bedroom costs me $1,050 which is much less than what a DVC owner pays. Also, when I want nicer accommodations, I can just book one of the Presidential Reserve units on the 16th to 19th floor of tower 6 at Bonnet Creek and can usually see the disney fireworks from my balcony. Those rooms are much nicer than Beach Club in my opinion.

My 5 year old daughter honestly cant tell the difference between DVC and Bonnet Creek. If anything, she prefers the Lazy river at Bonnet Creek. She actually likes Reunion the most out of them all, but Wyndham Reunion only has 3 bedrooms. There are so many amazing non DVc resorts in the Wyndham and Marriott systems and you arent tied to staying at Disney every year. Look up "Wyndham Clearwater Beach 2 bedroom Presidential", "Marriott Lakeshore Reserve", "Marriott Crystal Shores", "Wyndham Panama City Beach 2 bedroom presidential". Those rooms are much nicer than anything DVC has to offer.

My advice is to start with the best value vacation club first and work your way up to the ones with the worst value Wydham>Hilton>Marriott>DVC. DVC has the highest buy in costs+ maintenance fees of all those systems, which is why I say it's the worst value. My buy order is as follows: Wyndham (500,000 points), Marriott (1,500 points), DVC SSR (100 points). I haven't bought Marriott yet because I havent felt like I needed it yet, but I will buy it before adding DVC because I know I will get more value out of it.