Is DVC worth it?

[Sur]

I've seen the club car (aka DVC van) numerous times around the resorts- have never been able to hitch a ride, though.
As a DVC member, I'm in a "club" of sorts, just like Florida residents are for WDW and California residents are for DL: I heed some benefits over those who didn't fork over many thousands of dollars, go through estoppel, and have a piece of paper saying I have legal rights to something. Those benefits are minimal and changing, but I have rights to book the DVC resort, of which I own points, at 11 months (currently) or another resort at 7 months (for now). I like the mountains, I enjoy winter, and I don't like California traffic, so I'm not going to be of the Florida, nor California owners group, that obtain benefits due to meeting criteria.

 

[disneynutz]

I've seen the club car (aka DVC van) numerous times around the resorts- have never been able to hitch a ride, though.
As a DVC member, I'm in a "club" of sorts, just like Florida residents are for WDW and California residents are for DL: I heed some benefits over those who didn't fork over many thousands of dollars, go through estoppel, and have a piece of paper saying I have legal rights to something. Those benefits are minimal and changing, but I have rights to book the DVC resort, of which I own points, at 11 months (currently) or another resort at 7 months (for now). I like the mountains, I enjoy winter, and I don't like California traffic, so I'm not going to be of the Florida, nor California owners group, that obtain benefits due to meeting criteria.

I can't tell from your post if you realize that the DVC vans are used to pick up sales prospects, to get them to and from the sales meeting.

Bill

 

[Dean]

Thinking of it this way (i.e. just a discounted hotel room) is such a bummer...although I know it's technically correct. I think much of the value comes from a feeling of inclusiveness, as with any club. Merely imaginary or no, it's definitely an influence. We have stickers and magnets and membership cards, and upon leaving each time we'll be already booking our next trip. We also have strong excuses to bring people along on trips with us for the purpose of relationship fortification, whereas without the membership it would be weird...("want to book a room at Disney World during the same time that we're there?" - doesn't play as well).

Some of the importance of spending time investigating is getting past much of the emotions. Obviously one needs a positive feel or they wouldn't be buying at all or likely vacationing there, but to put any value in the emotions of belonging to a club is unreasonable IMO. If it's gravy, that's great, but I think the problem is that there are those that buy on emotions where DVC simply doesn't make sense including relating to this subject.

 

[calypso726]

What I'm realizing is that buying into dvc is like getting a tattoo. It's best to think about it (and research it) for at least several months before making a decision. There are so many variables.

This made me LOL I have been toying with the idea of getting a tattoo since I turned 40. I am now 47 and still am mulling it over. Meanwhile, we started with 180 points at SSR and now have 1300 across 4 properties that decision was easier than should I get a tattoo or not

To the OP: As many have said before me, it is worth it for some and not for others. I would recommend renting where you think you want to stay first and trying it out before buying. We thought for certain we'd be buying to VWL because we liked the hotel side so much. We stayed on the DVC side one year and found we did not like the DVC side as much as we thought we would. Glad we never bought there.

 

[Supplanter]

If you're going to go on at least 6 or 7 disney vacations over the next 10 years and care about staying on site vs off site and in nice hotels vs stuff like holiday inn, then yeah it'll save you some cash. Each resort has a different break even point and that number is different if you consider lifetime costs etc... Instead of to date costs, so research them some and see what it looks like for you.

 

[Dean]

If you're going to go on at least 6 or 7 disney vacations over the next 10 years and care about staying on site vs off site and in nice hotels vs stuff like holiday inn, then yeah it'll save you some cash. Each resort has a different break even point and that number is different if you consider lifetime costs etc... Instead of to date costs, so research them some and see what it looks like for you.

I'd suggest there are other choices. Off site can mean better hotels, larger rooms, more resort amenities and a LOT cheaper.

 

[lovin'fl]

Buying DVC, IMO, is a good plan if you intend to go to WDW at least once a year and you want condo style accommodations instead of regular hotel room. When we bought, in 2006, our 3 kids were 7,7 and 9 and we lived 9 hours away from WDW and hoped to go to WDW 3 times in a 2 year period. In 2005 we stayed at POR and we knew it would be nice to have a condo with a master bedroom and W/D for our family of 5. I would never buy at todays prices to get studios for my family of 5. That seems to be the new trend since direct points are A- so expensive and B- resorts recently sold (BLT, then VGF and now Poly) are high in point cost per night so points don't go far.

Having said that, we don't regret buying in. We have even added on multiple times. Check out resale as you can get twice as many points that way. There are a few things that resale owners are restricted from but the ONLY thing that's of importance, IMO, is being able to get the DVC AP. And I'd only ever be interested in an AP if I planned to go twice in a 12 month period. We used to and we had AP/PAP for last several years but they are priced to high for us now (even the DVC pricing is too much) so we are back to just going on one short trip a year. Since our last APs expired, I just bought 3 day non-hoppers for our Oct trip from UT.

 

[Supplanter]

I'd suggest there are other choices. Off site can mean better hotels, larger rooms, more resort amenities and a LOT cheaper.

Yeah, maybe it didnt come out clear... thats the on site vs off site part of it. If you dont mind staying outside the park area you can get the normal range of room options at less than half disney prices.
The other half of the equation is that if you're renting $80 rooms dvc will never make financial sense. Each point is equivalent to something like $15-18 per year as a cash if you booked directly with a 25-30% off promo that they do fairly often.
Everyone's cost per point varies but if you buy direct looks something like $10 per year Per point. ($170/ 45 years on the contract + annual dues of about $6.50 per point)
Buying resale varies per resort but its well known the best value is Saratoga springs. For example $80 per point/ 42 years on the contract + annual dues of about $5.50 per point make the annual cost per point closer to $7.50.

So using my last trip to aulani as an illustration, I paid cash to book a 2 bedroom garden view villa in mid march. We stayed 5 nights and got free meals at the ulu along with 30 percent off. We paid just over $5000 for the whole trip.
Using dvc points, Id need 62 points per night for a total of 310 points. If I used direct points, I could have paid the cash equivalent of about $3000 (but no free food for dvc ). If I used resale ssr points, I couldve paid the cash equivalent of about $2300 (again with no free food).

So you can get a good value IF you can guarantee that you'll spend that cash anyway.
On that same trip we also rented a 3br house directly on the beach in haleiwa for $225 per night for 5 nights. With cleaning, tax, etc..., we paid close to $1500 for that. Even comparing it to ssr points, the house was much cheaper, and a much different experience than a disney resort; no one else around, private-ish beach, back yard, etc...But no pools, no lazy river, etc... but renting these awesome houses can be tough and with 4 kids regular hotel rooms are not going to happen ever again hahaha. We are already forced into the suites wherever we go.

Really in the end it comes down to will you be spending the money anyway. For us we really wanted to go back to aulani (my wife would like to go every year), we live in so cal so we might use the grand cal every now and then to get into the parks early and we are planning disneyworld in the spring. If we use it even half the time we come out ahead.
Plus at the price I bought for I can rent points out for more than my annual costs if I dont want to use them. I pay an average of 7.50 per point per year and plenty of places will rent them for 10-12 per point. It's not the best investment plan but my points shouldn't ever be a financial drain. I can also sell them when they are no longer useful to me and get back some of those costs as well.

Overall, for me, the plan made sense. You just need to consider how you'll use it and see if it fits. If so then consider whether you have some must have type demands. There are one or two resorts that are hard to book and a few key weeks of travel where many resorts are booked regularly before the 7 month window. Most of the time it's no trouble, but spring break and christmastime are usually pretty full from what I can tell.