Is DVC really worth the money? Has anyone ever thought "I wish I never bought into it

[chrissyk]

I've never had the feeling that I wished that we hadn't bought DVC, but lately I've had the feeling that I wished we'd thought through our "home" resorts more thoroughly. With all the SSR people now coming into the system, the waitlist just doesn't seem as reliable as it used to. I do wish that we had different home resorts. We've talked about selling one contract and buying with a different home resort, but I'm not sure that we can justify the closing costs, broker fees, etc. just to have a different home resort.

 

[bongo59]

i think i have posted this over ten times but it makes a great point..........We had my corporate CPA crunch the numbers from pre 91 to post 91 to present.........we have saved close to 155,000 dollars with DVC...........we go 4-7 times a yr and we always went to WDW first class.............we still do but we have ammassed 2250 points in 15 yrs.............it is a bargain if you know youre going alot...........if not you really need to think over how you will use it...........i think renting before buying is great advice...............many find that after staying in a one bed room they do not want a studio under any circumstances and get more points to do it............the one universal thing is people say they should have bought earlier and more points..........DVC usage seems to speed up after joining instead of slowing down............that says alot about the product................

 

[SoCalKDG]

I believe what Dean meant was that someone shouldn't buy DVC with the thought of mostly taking a lot of long weekend trips. In your case, where you stay both weeknights and weekends, I believe that is what Dean would term "neutral".

Those who stay primarily Sunday - Friday would be the "light" weekend users.

We also purchased enough points to avoid moving on weekends. It is part of a relaxing vacation experience for us to avoid moving.

Additionally some people might stay 9 days from Friday to the following Sunday, thus getting hit with 4 weekend days and only 5 weekdays. I'll usually check in on a Sunday, stay one weekend, then leave the following Tuesday/Wednesday, netting 7/8 weekdays and only 2 weekend days. The difference can be about 40-50 points for a one bedroom for that vacation.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We have been members since 1997, and there are NO regrets here other than kicking ourselves for not buying back in 1992 when we first heard of DVC. I am of the school that thinks it makes the most sense to pay cash for your points and only buying what YOU can or would use. We have two contracts, both at OKW totaling 380 points. It isn't a lot, but it is plenty for two near retirement age folks. We never rent out points, but we do take lots of friends down with us to share the fun. We have exchanged our points only once, and that was for a Hawaii exchange. We look at the points as a week total rather than a night total, but we often will go from a Sunday through the following weekend up to the middle of the next week. This gives us 11-12 nights with only one weekend in there to save points. We never stay in studios, and have stayed in GVs occationally. I mention these things to prove that you don't have to own a huge amount of points to get good benefits from DVC.

 

[beccasmom]

We purchased in 1992 when OKW was known as Disney’s Vacation Club, not OKW. The minimum purchase at that time was 230 points and we have never added on to that total because it is perfect for us.

We are there every year, sometimes twice a year. We fly to Orlando; we may try driving when we have more vacation hours! We make the most of our points, never using a bigger place than we need, but usually staying in a one or two-bedroom villa. We’ve taken extended family and friends down several times, using the Grand Villas.

We can honestly say that DVC has been a God-send for us. We truly enjoy every moment of our trips even more than we thought possible. We are very happy with OKW and love sharing it with our family and friends.

Our only regret is that we can’t live at OKW permanently!

 

[T.E. Yeary]

We did and that's why we sold ours.

This statement is one of the biggest pros about DVC, and that is the fact that you CAN sell it, unlike the "majority" of timeshares that sit on the market "forever" draining the owner of maintenance fees year after year until that one special person comes along and offers pennies on the dollar to take it off your hands.

Tom

 

[bcvillastwo]

We fit the profile so often seen on the DVC Forum. We found outselves going to WDW one to two times a year and we stayed in moderate or better resorts. But, it took us 3 years and an inheritance before we decided to bit the bullet and buy at BCV. We may have financed our points because we became convinced that we were going to continue to go to WDW at least once a year (and probably twice) and it just made sense financially and emotionally to us.

I have no regrets, we are using the heck out of our points, we go twice a year and once we went three times.

I also know that if for some reason WDW no longer is appealing to us, we can sell our points very easily (for now).

The key in my mind is to take your time and really think about whether DVC is right for you and your family. It's easy to get carried away and then you make an uninformed, emotional, but less thought out decision that sometimes you come to regret because you really couldn't afford the purchase. So, go slow, think, weigh the pro's and con's, sift the evidence, run the numbers and hopefully you too will make the best decision for you and your family.

 

[NMW]

In our family situation it made a lot of sense to buy DVC. Your family may be different. We like to go to Disney once a year for 9 days in early Dec, Oct or Nov. We can really only do one time during the school year because we have school age children. Plus, I hate Flordia in the summer-too hot and humid for me.

We love the Epcot resorts (and the POLY) and were paying cash for Dreammaker gold or silver (which included meals) at Deluxe resorts. We just had planned to do this every year at a cost of $8,000-$9,000 (without airfare ) because that's what we wanted to do. We found out about DVC, but by the time we REALLY looked into it, Disney was only selling SSR and DH would not give up staying at the BC or BWI. Then I found these boards and learned all about resales and we bought A BWV resale.

I think for our family it is definately worth it and we will save a lot of money in the long run. We do not plan to change our vacation habits (at least not at this time). We go on a Thursday to a Friday -9 days. I don't care about using weekend points like some do. I would never move with my kids during a stay-too much stuff!

My hesitation in buying DVC, and I have come to terms with it somewhat is that you do not get daily maid service or can not buy meal plans with DVC. Although, you can pay extra for the maid service and DVC "claims" they are working on making the meal plan they have right now (MYW dining) available to DVC members. We bought PAP's with the DVC discount and plan to use them for 2 trips. We bought the DDE card which seems pretty cool. I am just trying to accept the housekeeping thing, although I may get there and pay for it! Our first trip is in Dec!

Good luck!!!!

 

[JimC]

This statement is one of the biggest pros about DVC, and that is the fact that you CAN sell it, unlike the "majority" of timeshares that sit on the market "forever" draining the owner of maintenance fees year after year until that one special person comes along and offers pennies on the dollar to take it off your hands.

Tom

Tom, In that situation why wouldn't that owner just quit claim the timeshare back to the developer or property manager they pay the fees to. They may not get any money for the property, but under your scenario they do not either. At least they are out of the annual fee obligation.

 

[Luigi's Girl]

Simple answer from me is it's worth the money if you think it is. Is a $60,000 car worth the money when a $20,000 car will get you to the same place? It's your money to spend how you want. I see a lot of posts like this where people will crunch numbers and figure out that if you only use your points on DVC resorts it's worth it, or if you limit your stays to Sun-Thurs its more worth it. My attitude is if you pay for something and you are happy with it, it doesn't matter how you use it, it's worth it.

I agree with this post 100%!!! As for the OP's question - For me the answer is YES and NEVER!!!

 

[dianeschlicht]

(snip)My hesitation in buying DVC, and I have come to terms with it somewhat is that you do not get daily maid service or can not buy meal plans with DVC. Although, you can pay extra for the maid service and DVC "claims" they are working on making the meal plan they have right now (MYW dining) available to DVC members. We bought PAP's with the DVC discount and plan to use them for 2 trips. We bought the DDE card which seems pretty cool. I am just trying to accept the housekeeping thing, although I may get there and pay for it! Our first trip is in Dec!

Good luck!!!!

Since you have not yet taken your first trip, you may find you like the idea of not having housekeeping in each day. When we stay in a 2 bedroom villa, it seems like "home", and I like to have it feel like home. I hate it when I have to plan around housekeeping on a trip. With DVC, I only have to plan around housekeeping on day 4 and day 8. We do use the kitchen for breakfast and an occational light supper, but you don't need to cook, and the DDE card gives some great discounts. I suspect if you are staying in a 2 bedroom villa, you will find you too don't miss daily housekeeping a bit either.

 

[susieh]

As one of the (now many) UK owners I too can say we have never regretted buying DVC. We bought in 1995 and calculated that it paid for itself during our 2001 vacation. We go to Florida every 2 to 3 years for 2 - 3 weeks each time. We've taken friends every time so far (have been between 5 and 9 of us each time) but next year we're going on our own, just the 2 of us without the kids, for the first time.

Our sons have also been there with friends but without us (in 2002 when they were 18 and 20) and they are hoping to be given more opportunities to do this in the future. Without DVC none of this would have been possible so we have gained other than financially.

(All this has been done on 220 points - we bought an extr 25 last September cos we enjoy our time there so much)

 

[wintergreen]

Other posters would probably urge us to sell (or wonder why we ever bought in the first place): we do mostly long weekends and we trade often. Still think it is a good value. For us, the flexibility and options are well worth the loss in "value" of using points for weekend days and non-DVC trades.

 

[sgtpet]

If I were in the situation to make my initial purchase today, I would not buy. I feel the cost per point today is too expensive when evaluating the overall value of DVC.

I am glad I got in when I did.

 

[Dean]

Tom, In that situation why wouldn't that owner just quit claim the timeshare back to the developer or property manager they pay the fees to. They may not get any money for the property, but under your scenario they do not either. At least they are out of the annual fee obligation.

Jim, I'm not Tom, but you must get the resort to agree to accept it back and not go after anything else to do this. It's not as simply as just signing something and sending it back to them, they don't have to accept it and many times don't. Still, if one paid $15-25K for something, you might prefer not to just give it back.

 

[JohnNJ]

As one of the (now many) UK owners...

A little trivia:

Of the approximately 92,000 DVC members around the world, the UK totals around 3.3%. England has the largest number outside of the USA with 2,566.

 

[T.E. Yeary]

Jim- To answer your question about deeding it back to the developer. I have encountered one case in particular, where the developer was already out of the resort, that left the homeowners association which REFUSED to accept the Quit Claim.

Obviously there are many scenarios for many situations.

It is such a joy to myself and my organization to specialize in the Disney Vacation Club properties, where both buyer and seller can walk away from the closing and consider themselves WINNERS!!!

Sincerely,
Tom

 

[Emily921]

The only regret I have is that I didn't buy sooner. We bought in 2000 after spending a week at the All Star Movies resort with two small girls, two strollers and the pack and play and there was just no room to move around!

It seems like I am addicted to this and continually check the resales! I have bought 3 resales, added on once from Disney and am waiting to close on my 4th resale! Do I need help?

 

[JPC]

Do I need help?

Talk to me.

 

[trainfun]

For those of retirement age, DVC can evolve from family vacations to a warm weather escape in the winter months. We look forward to using our points to stay at Vero or Hilton Head during the winter when our kids (now 18 and 21) are out of the nest. It is far less expensive than purchasing a second home or condo, worrying about hurricanes and paying taxes, maintenance, etc. DVC takes care of all the maintenance and you are not going to find a reasonably priced condo with the beauty of Hilton Head or Vero or OKW.

For just two of us, a studio will be fine and our 420 points will go a long way. The flexibility of the point system as opposed to a fixed week (as well as the quality of accommodations) was what sold us on DVC. So, if the kids want to join us, we go to a 1 br or 2 br.

Like many previous posters, we bought 230 OKW points in 1996 after going to WDW for the three previous years. The points cost less than the three vacations had cost. We added on twice at Vero, taking advantage of special offers. Though the maintenance costs have risen, we still get far more value than the annual maintenance cost in our vacations. Florida real estate is leaping up in price and that cost will be passed on in higher prices for accommodations in other new and renovated resorts.

So, we see our DVC purchase as both a vacation option now and a retirement benefit in a few years. We're very happy with our purchase, and would still be very happy even if there was no resale value. Our guide, when we purchased initially, told us straight out not to view DVC as an investment, so the resale value is an added plus we didn't expect.