Is DVC a good idea for me?

[Disneydreamer5]

Ok so here is the situation. We are a famliy of seven. Mom, Dad and 5 children ages 17,15,14,12, & 9. We love Disney to tears. If we could go every year we would but so far that has not been possiable. With that said, our vacations to the world has always cost us an average of $4,600.00. Without transportation. That price is just hotel, tickets, and food as we get the DDP. We do park hoppers with water parks for the lenght of our stay as well. As we go more often and the kids grow I am sure the ticket options will change but it is already written in stone that Disney is the only vacation for us. Even when the kids are out of the house and on their own the DH and I planned to still go to Disney as there is a lot for adults that we can not experience now but are looking forward too in our furture.
Ok tell me in the simpliest form, how exactly DVC works. I pay a fee up front? Like a down payment on a house or car? I need a 3 bedroom so anyone who has one and has some idea of how much we are talking about would be great. Ok so now I have paid the down payment, now what? I choose a week? Lets say the 3rd week in August every year? Is that how it works? Do we get free dinning if its offered or we are not eleibale
How much does a 3 bedroom villa cost? What would my monthly payments be like and for how many years? Now when I pay off the cost of the timeshare do I own for life or once its paid I no longer have membership?

I need the basic and please explain in the most simpliest terms.
I know there is a point system and I know I can use the points however I want but I am still alittle confused. Like how many points would a cruise for my famiy cost me and what kind of accomidations would we get?
If anyone could answer these questions for me I would be so grearful.
We are going out there this September and I need as much information and knowledge, before we go, as I can get.

Thank you in advance for any and all help. I will be waiting inpatiently for your answers.

 

[Mtnman44]

I will attempt to briefly address some of your questions, however you should read up on some more detailed FAQs here in the boards as well as on the DIS information site re: DVC. Also check other disney info sites such as Allears.

You buy a real estate interest in one of the DVC resorts. It is a deeded leasehold which expires in the year 2042, 2054, or 2057 depending on the resort. Your ownership is symbolized by a certain amount of points. The larger ownership you purchase, the more points you get. These points are used for reserving time at DVC properties and can also be exchanged for trades outside of the DVC system and even outside of Disney. You do not own a specific week. This is the real strength of the DVC system, it's flexibility. The most important part of the system are remembering certain dates. All points, banking, and reservations involve something called Use Year. All points are attached to a specific use year month. For example, if your contract is a Sept Use year, this means that you receive your contract's points every September. All stays fall within a specific USE YEAR. For example, with a Sept USE YEAR, a vacation in January 2008 is in the 2007 Use year (a 2007 Sept Use Year goes from Sept 1, 2007 thru Aug 31, 2008). Use Year is also important when it comes to banking points. You can bank a particular use year's points to the next use year. 100% of your points can be banked during the first 6 months of the use year. smaller amounts thereafter. Use Year does NOT affect when you can make reservations, but only determines which year's points a particular reservation draws points from. Reservation making times are ONLY determined by the following: You can begin making reservations at your home resort (where you own the points at) begining 11 months before the reservation. You can make reservations at any DVC resort beginning at 7 months prior.

You buy a contract for a certain price, a one-time purchase. Contracts range from about $80 per point on the resale market up to Disney's rack rate of $104 per point. All this varies based on the contract size, the resort, if the contract has banked points or has points already used (borrowed), etc. In addition, there is an annual cost to maintain the resort and pay the property tax. Currently this ranges between about $4 to $5 per point, depending on the resort.

DVC villas come in the following flavors:
-studio - similar to a hotel room, sleeps 4
-1 BR villa - king bedroom with sleeper sofa in separate living room, sleeps 4
-2br villa - king bedroom with sleeper in living room and second BR with two queen beds (or one queen and a sleeper sofa), sleeps 8
-Grand villas - same as two bedroom but even bigger with a thrid bedroom, sleeps 12

A seven member family will need at least a 2BR, and that will include several members using the sleeper sofas. The grand villas are even more roomier but when you see how many points they require, you will probably want to go with 2BR most of the time. Plus, Grand Villas are very competitive to get reserved as there are not many of these types at the resorts. Check out the "DVC points Charts" link at the top to see the seasons and points costs. Ballpark figures however, depending on resort and the time of the year, a 2BR needs anywhere from 220 to 450 points or so for a full one week stay. Grand villas are over double that for most resorts.

So, you probably would want at least 250 points if you intended on traveling to a 2BR every year. you're looking at a purchase price of around $23k plus annual fees around $1000 to $1,100.

Make sure you are sitting down when you look at the points cost for cruises. Long story short, you wouldn't want to treat the family to a disney cruise using points. A 250 point contract wouldn't be close to enough, even with banking and borrowing to get three years worth of points. I think most members pay cash for cuises.

Hope this helps.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Just to add a bit of information to the above....
If you want cheaper points for a 3 bedroom grand villa, you might want to have your ownership resort be OKW so you can reserve the GV at the 11 month mark. Points for a week in a GV at OKW range from 356 points a week to 654 points a week.

Now that I have shocked your socks off, let me suggest a different scenario. The new Animal Kingdom Villas will also have GVs, but their 2 bedroom versions will feature more beds than the other DVC resorts. The 2 bedroom villas at AKV will have a king bed in the master, 2 queens in the second bedroom (dedicated), and a queen sleep sofa and twin pull out chair in the living room. That means only two of your kids would have to share a bed there in a 2 bedroom villa. None of the other DVC resorts have the pullout chair, and some of them (like BWV) do not have 2 beds in the second bedroom. Others ALWAYS have 2 beds in the second bedroom (like OKW), and some have them both ways. Read all the point charts at the top of these boards and get a feel for how many points you would likely need annually. Points are paid for in a one time purchase, and then you pay annual maintenance fees on them.

We too found we were spending around $5000 a trip staying in deluxe resorts, and that is what prompted us to buy DVC 10 years ago. Basically, what you do is pre-pay the room portion of your vacation up to 50 years into the future (no price hikes), and get to go for the maintenance fees only once your initial purchase is paid off. Of course, you will still have ticket media and airfare to buy, but with the $100 discount on APs for members, you can shift your annual trip by a week either way to get two trips on one set of APs. It ends up being much cheaper than hopper passes that don't expire. We often get 20-30 days on one AP, and we live close to 2000 miles away. You will also find a savings if you choose to utilize the kitchen and make simple and fast prep meals. We have found we do save money by using the Disney Dining Experience card (purchased with our APs) for a larger group, but we have also used the Disney Dining Plan (purchased for around $39/day/person), and have felt that is a good value too, as long as you still make breakfasts in the villa.

 

[flyerron]

This discussion has been full of good information. Sometimes all this information in text format can be very confusing. If you are serious,& it sure makes sense. You would do best call Dvc Direct & talk to a guide. Better yet go for a visit & spend as much time with them as you need. It all sounds confusing but when you see in graph form & ahve a live person to talk you through it, it becomes very clear. It sounds like this is a good thing for you--go fo it!

 

[chalee94]

Do we get free dinning if its offered or we are not eleibale

to clarify, DVC members who stay on points can buy the dining plan as diane says, but will most likely never be offered free dining.

also wanted to spell out that if you only go every other year, you can buy half the number of points and bank/borrow as mtnman44 explains.

IMO, DVC is probably your best bet if you want to stay on site, but an offsite rental home will probably be a cheaper option overall...

 

[who's ur daddy?]

The info posted above is a great start. My head was swimming the first time I looked into DVC, but of all of the timeshares we looked at, I now realize how simple and flexible DVC really is.

 

[SamSam]

IMHO you are an excellent candidate for buying DVC, since you go every year and plan on continuing to go even after your kids are grown. DH and I made the mistake of waiting till after our kids were grown to buy, not thinking we would continue going without kids. We are now very happy DVCers and go even more often than before.

Once you learn the point system, the ease and flexibililty of using your points is great.
Good luck in your decision making process.

 

[Deb & Bill]

You'll still have to pay for food, tickets and transportation. Deduct them from your annual payment and see what it leaves you. No free dining with DVC. They are allowing the DDP, but who knows about that for 2008 yet? No one. You can get discounts on APs, but if you go every other year, APs won't work for you.

 

[flyerron]

Keep in mind there are more reasons to own at DVC than being finacially responsable, although that is a good reason. You have to remember that DVC is not a hotel room. Even the studios have a kitchenette & lots of room let alone the larger units.

 

[Dean]

I think it really depends on how frequently you will visit and length and timing of your stay. I assume you would be comparing two moderate rooms or two value rooms to a two bedroom at the Disney vacation Club. If you are going at least around at every two years and staying a full week or at least not doing long weekends, it probably does makes sense. Off property time shares will still be the cheapest option by far so it really depends on what value you put in staying on property.

 

[vandy]

We have 4 older children and just spent 10 nights at WDW. To give an example on why DVC made sense to us, consider our cost. Since you did not include transportation, neither will I. The total cost for our 10 night stay was just shy of $4800. Our "lodging" cost around $2100 for 10 nights in a 2BR villa at SSR & OKW. This cost is our purchase price divided by number of years, x 2 years of points plus maintenance fees for those two years. The other $2700 was spent on 8-day park hopper tickets, dining, food for the villa (full kitchens so we ate breakfast & a late lunch at "home"), internet connections and a ton of souveniers. For that price, we could have only stayed in two rooms at the All-Stars. DVC made so much sense to us, plus we tend to be more relaxed and enjoy the upgraded living.

 

[flyerron]

That's a great way to look at. Anyone who is nay saying Doesn't underdstand the program, doesn't have the money, or has some prejudice against DVC. No one in their right mind could successfully agrue against your comments.

 

[crisi]

Are you doing this to save money? How dependable is your income? How habitual going forward will be your Disney trips.

We own 150 BWV points that we pay $4.80 a point for dues on. We stay at the BW Villas in a two bedroom for seven nights for 282 points ever other year. We bought years ago and paid $63 a point with 38 years left. Cost per point using the "basic math" (which ignores present value of money etc.) is $1821. To that we need to add airfare, park tickets, food, etc. Its a rare trip where we aren't (for a family of four) $5000+ into our trip before we start feeding ourselves. Take out airfare and we are still $4000 into our trip just in DVC and park tickets, before we start feeding ourselves - it seems to me you guys are doing great to get seven of you through for $4600 + transportation.

We need to pay those dues - $720 a year, whether we can afford Disney this year or not. If we can't, past history has been that we could rent them and actually turn a small profit, but if the economy tanks, or gas goes to $6 a gallon - who knows if those points will still be rentable.

Now we could stay at the All Stars cheaper, and not have the committment. The trip wouldn't be as nice - which is what we are paying for. We could stay offsite and save a ton - there are lots of nice timeshares in Orlando (and lots of crappy ones, too), and we wouldn't have to make the timeshare committment - Priceline has tons of offsite house/timeshare rentals for only a few hundred dollars a week.

As for trading, we've cruised twice and both times it was more "cost effective" to not use points and just pay cash.

In the end, we own DVC because its a good value for us and we can afford to tie up our money in this fashion - and the risk hasn't been significant for us. And because in the end we are onsite snobs. But we aren't "saving" a dime. Without DVC we'd go less often, stay cheaper when we did go. So if your motivation is saving money, I'm not sure DVC is good. If you can't afford the risk, I don't think DVC is good. But you need to evaluate your own financial situation, risk tolerance, and motivations - no one here can do it for you.

 

[crisi]

BTW, the cheapest cruise would be three nights under the "fall special" 61 points for the first and second adult in a room, 42 points for the 3rd forth adult (adults are 13 and up on DCL), 36 points for a child 6-12, 34 points 3-6 and 16 points for 2 and under. That's a category 11 stateroom - inside, as cheap as you can get.

I get five "adults" and 2 kids - so you have 200 points for one stateroom and 194 for the second for 394 points for a three day cruise. Cruise points do change from year to year - almost always up.

If you want a seven night cruise in peak season in a category six because you like the veranda, the first two adults are 325, the other "adults" are 219 and your kids are 188 - over 2000 points to cruise in 2007, with rates probably going to go up in 2008.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Just to add a bit of information to the above....
If you want cheaper points for a 3 bedroom grand villa, you might want to have your ownership resort be OKW so you can reserve the GV at the 11 month mark. Points for a week in a GV at OKW range from 356 points a week to 654 points a week.

Now that I have shocked your socks off, let me suggest a different scenario. The new Animal Kingdom Villas will also have GVs, but their 2 bedroom versions will feature more beds than the other DVC resorts. The 2 bedroom villas at AKV will have a king bed in the master, 2 queens in the second bedroom (dedicated), and a queen sleep sofa and twin pull out chair in the living room. That means only two of your kids would have to share a bed there in a 2 bedroom villa. None of the other DVC resorts have the pullout chair, and some of them (like BWV) do not have 2 beds in the second bedroom. Others ALWAYS have 2 beds in the second bedroom (like OKW), and some have them both ways. Read all the point charts at the top of these boards and get a feel for how many points you would likely need annually. Points are paid for in a one time purchase, and then you pay annual maintenance fees on them.

We too found we were spending around $5000 a trip staying in deluxe resorts, and that is what prompted us to buy DVC 10 years ago. Basically, what you do is pre-pay the room portion of your vacation up to 50 years into the future (no price hikes), and get to go for the maintenance fees only once your initial purchase is paid off. Of course, you will still have ticket media and airfare to buy, but with the $100 discount on APs for members, you can shift your annual trip by a week either way to get two trips on one set of APs. It ends up being much cheaper than hopper passes that don't expire. We often get 20-30 days on one AP, and we live close to 2000 miles away. You will also find a savings if you choose to utilize the kitchen and make simple and fast prep meals. We have found we do save money by using the Disney Dining Experience card (purchased with our APs) for a larger group, but we have also used the Disney Dining Plan (purchased for around $39/day/person), and have felt that is a good value too, as long as you still make breakfasts in the villa.

Diane is almost never wrong, but this time she is completely right... ... re-read her post and absorbe all of it.

 

[Disneynut4ever]

You'll still have to pay for food, tickets and transportation. Deduct them from your annual payment and see what it leaves you. No free dining with DVC. They are allowing the DDP, but who knows about that for 2008 yet? No one. You can get discounts on APs, but if you go every other year, APs won't work for you.

Why would Disney ever not let DVC members use the DDP?

 

[Dean]

That's a great way to look at. Anyone who is nay saying Doesn't underdstand the program, doesn't have the money, or has some prejudice against DVC. No one in their right mind could successfully agrue against your comments.

I'm not sure the exact intent of these comments so pardon me if I am misunderstanding your intent. If you're saying they anyone that thinks Disney Vacation Club is not a good deal for every one doesn't understand the program, doesn't have the money or is prejudiced; is simply incorrect. Disney Vacation Club Is a specialty item plain and simple. It only makes sense for those that value staying on property, avoid heavy weekend usage, stay mostly at DVC resorts and can TRULY afford it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Why would Disney ever not let DVC members use the DDP?

DVC negotiates the DDP for members. If the DDP is discontinued, DVC would not negotiate this for the members. Or if the negotiation failed for some reason, DVC members wouldn't get the DDP. They couldn't for the first year or so of the plan.

 

[flyerron]

No Dean, I'm speaking to the folks out there who are knocking the program. DVC is not for everyone by a long shot. I'm just trying to keep everything in perspective & pointing out to the guys who are not members & don't have nice things to say, that there is no reason to be aggressively negative.

 

[Dean]

No Dean, I'm speaking to the folks out there who are knocking the program. DVC is not for everyone by a long shot. I'm just trying to keep everything in perspective & pointing out to the guys who are not members & don't have nice things to say, that there is no reason to be aggressively negative.

Thanks for clarifying, that makes sense and I do agree. However, I'd suggest that the reverse is true on this board. That the prevailing sentiment is far too positive overall when it comes to prospective buyers and the "keep in perspective" speech might be better directed at the pros than the cons here. On TUG, the reverse is definitely true because there is an anti DVC slant there.