Is it really worth it to joing DVC?

[AKV707]

They really get you with those maintenance fees.
Why is it better to own rather than just rent other people's points?

One reason would be that you have complete control of all of your reservations. The maintenance fees are not likely to increase at the rate of rack rates over time. And if you prefer a DVC resort, you end up with the accommodations you prefer at a point cost that will not change.

Remember that without owners, there could be no renters.

 

[Lildalejrfan]

We just bought a DVC today My BIL has been a DVC member for over 16-17 yrs. He was one of the 1st people to buy. Back then they gave you park passes for like the 1st 5 yrs. We've been to OKW with them on several occasions. We had previously taken the tour about 3 yrs ago. We were on the fence about buying. Last week we sat down & figured out just how much we were spending on vacations. Boy was that an eye opener. Just on this last trip we spent almost $5000. This was just for DH & myself. This price included the Hotel (Lake Buena Palace Spa & Resort), car rental, food & entertainment.
My BIL was staying at Saratoga & called us to say if we sp/w a sales rep we'd get a free gift. So we went over, & this time we didn't have to do the tour since we did it already. We just basically said How much of a deposit do you need? & were do we sign? Simple as that. We decided to purchase 750 points since DH travels alot for buisness. We're only sorry we didn't join sooner. O btw, the free gift was $100 in Disney Money
We were already planning on back in May for my nephews college graduation. He's in Film School just outside Disney & my BIL had booked the GV. Now we'll be able to stay in our own GV & are inviting a bunch of friends down with us.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

We just bought a DVC today

You won't regret it!!! Congrats on your purchase and WELCOME HOME!!!

 

[Pennyguy23]

We just bought a DVC today My BIL has been a DVC member for over 16-17 yrs. He was one of the 1st people to buy. Back then they gave you park passes for like the 1st 5 yrs. We've been to OKW with them on several occasions. We had previously taken the tour about 3 yrs ago. We were on the fence about buying. Last week we sat down & figured out just how much we were spending on vacations. Boy was that an eye opener. Just on this last trip we spent almost $5000. This was just for DH & myself. This price included the Hotel (Lake Buena Palace Spa & Resort), car rental, food & entertainment.
My BIL was staying at Saratoga & called us to say if we sp/w a sales rep we'd get a free gift. So we went over, & this time we didn't have to do the tour since we did it already. We just basically said How much of a deposit do you need? & were do we sign? Simple as that. We decided to purchase 750 points since DH travels alot for buisness. We're only sorry we didn't join sooner. O btw, the free gift was $100 in Disney Money
We were already planning on back in May for my nephews college graduation. He's in Film School just outside Disney & my BIL had booked the GV. Now we'll be able to stay in our own GV & are inviting a bunch of friends down with us.

WOW 750 points right off the bat. Good Job, but I hope you split that into a few contracts and not just one lump some. If you didn't do that I would call back ASAP and have it split up into a few smaller ones. Maybe 7 - 100's and 1-50. That way if you need to sell at one point then you won't have any trouble doing it and also you could just sell a couple of them. A 750 point contract is near impossible to sell. I know that you might not think you would ever sell. Heck why would you buy if you did. But later on in life you might not need that many or something of that nature and you will be stuck with a biggin. The only down fall is all the extra signatures on the little mickey on each contract of the initial buy in. JMO

 

[sajetto]

We just bought a DVC today .

Congrats!!! Which resort did you buy into?

 

[Lildalejrfan]

Thanks guys for the warm "Welcome". The reason we bought so many pts is due to DH travels alot on buisness. There's been times he was unable to get reservations @ a hotel & ended up @ a sleezy motel. Plus, when he's entertaining clients they will be in a more relaxing enviroment. He travels alot to the Mid-West & West Coast atleast 1-2 times a month. Plus, we usually go to Europe once a yr.
Plus, we did break it into two contracts. This way if anything should happen to us both of our kids will get a share. We already told them they'll just have to pay the monthly maintence.
I just can't wait to take my 17 month old grandson on his first trip in May...woohoo.

 

[Lildalejrfan]

We bought into OKW. Due in part that this was my late SIL's favorite resort. Everytime we go there we all feel as if she's with us. We were going to buy into AKV but at the last minute we changed our minds.

 

[sajetto]

Good choice! OKW is our favorite resort and I'm sure you'll have many more happy memories there.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

Sorry.I didnt read before I posted,LOL so I deleted.

 

[crisi]

They really get you with those maintenance fees.
Why is it better to own rather than just rent other people's points?

The big one is control. While there have been very few scams, there is currently a multi page thread where one renter had to cancel her reservation and has been going through months of stress trying to get the owner to respond to refund or reschedule. Some owners have "no refund" policies in their rental agreements - at least her rental agreement had the opportunity for her to get a refund. Having to find someone to rent you points seems to be not a simple matter - we've been seeing more "why hasn't anyone responded" posts. Own your own points and you can cancel according to Disney's cancellation policies, you want to make a reservation, you call member services and check availability. Want to try for a different resort at seven months - just call, no need to bother a middleman.

Is it cheaper? I think renting points when you can still find them for $10 is a great deal - but it seems like the price has finally started to increase, and those $10 points seem rarer. At $12 - which seems to be the newer benchmark, its still a good deal, but if you go to Disney every year, I think long term owning will make more financial sense. Eventually that $12 will creep up too, and I actually expect that to happen faster than breaking $10 (in the world of financial marketing, we know that its much harder to get people to go from $10 to $11 than from $11 to $13.) However, if you aren't going to go very often, owning points that you don't use is hugely burdensome financially.

 

[minniekissedme]

For the last four years Santa Claus has taken our family to Disney World in Jan/Feb. In those four years we've enjoyed every aspect of DW and have created some of the most incredible memories for our entire family that money can't buy. The anticipation leading into Christmas is priceless...doesn't always keep them from being naughty but...
Each year Santa has come thru, the children, now 10/8/6, are so excited that nothing else matters. They don't even complain about the socks and underwear he always seems to bring...they are going to Disney!
This year Santa sent a gift marked "open first" and it was a letter that told the kids that Santa wasn't able to come up with a trip in January. He wrote about the great things the kids do and some of the less than good things for them to think about. You could see them deflate.
Santa also sent a box marked "open last" and in another letter explained that he knew they were bummed...and on the second page sprung the news that instead of January they were going in February...another priceless moment.
To me, that's what matters and whether we do the DVC as we are investigating or not, the "magical world of Disney" is priceless. We know we want to spend the time we have with our kids here as long as we can...and after.
To the OP, we are at the point where our children are getting older and bigger and it's not easy getting space for five in the resorts. We've stayed at the Cabins twice and PO Riverside twice. The cabins provide enough room with a murphy bed in the LR and PO offers a trundle bed which the youngest still fits. We're soon to need two rooms or a return to the cabins and that means more $$$$. The DVC gives us the flexibility of space we will need and will allow us to continue creating those memories that we've had for the last four years.

 

[minniekissedme]

sorry, I forgot I wanted to add this PO.

We are looking at resale for the simple fact that it can be less expensive and we're in no real hurry to have the points. If we can save a buck and get the same results, we will. Other than the difference in length of time it takes to make it all work you become an owner the same as everyone else. So why not save a buck???

 

[southtexasmom]

I've looked into it a few times, but I haven't been convinced. It also seems very difficult to understand all the ins and outs of it to make sure you're getting what you want and getting your plans in place. But we do really enjoy Disney vacations. Opinions?

It was an easy decision for us, we just became DVC members last August, we have 200 pts at SSR. We spent a week at SSR on rented points and loved having the space of a 2 bedroom, it was like being in heaven with the kitchen, 2 bathrooms and washer/dryer.

When we sat down and did the math, our DVC purchase will pay for itself in 4 trips.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We just bought a DVC today My BIL has been a DVC member for over 16-17 yrs. He was one of the 1st people to buy. Back then they gave you park passes for like the 1st 5 yrs. We've been to OKW with them on several occasions. We had previously taken the tour about 3 yrs ago. We were on the fence about buying. Last week we sat down & figured out just how much we were spending on vacations. Boy was that an eye opener. Just on this last trip we spent almost $5000. This was just for DH & myself. This price included the Hotel (Lake Buena Palace Spa & Resort), car rental, food & entertainment.
My BIL was staying at Saratoga & called us to say if we sp/w a sales rep we'd get a free gift. So we went over, & this time we didn't have to do the tour since we did it already. We just basically said How much of a deposit do you need? & were do we sign? Simple as that. We decided to purchase 750 points since DH travels alot for buisness. We're only sorry we didn't join sooner. O btw, the free gift was $100 in Disney Money
We were already planning on back in May for my nephews college graduation. He's in Film School just outside Disney & my BIL had booked the GV. Now we'll be able to stay in our own GV & are inviting a bunch of friends down with us.

CONGRATULATIONS & WELCOME HOME!

I hope you didn't purchase all 750 points on one contract!!! Those large contracts are difficult to sell, should you decide down the line to do that.