Is new DVC membership good choice for cruise and ABD trips?

[couture1]

Hi I am a single mom of three (8, 7, and 5). We have rented points in the past (much thanks to your forum) and enjoyed the villas a few times.
Now we are planning a cruise (Feb 2012) and future Adventures by Disney trips (Italy and China) for 2012 and 2013.
Would becoming a member help make these trips more reasonable (cost)?
Would membership limit trip availability or make booking more difficult?
Is it crazy to think about this program, or crazy not to?
I have had conversations with the DVC sales people through disney, but frankly I'm not sure I'm getting the whole story.
Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Hi I am a single mom of three (8, 7, and 5). We have rented points in the past (much thanks to your forum) and enjoyed the villas a few times.
Now we are planning a cruise (Feb 2012) and future Adventures by Disney trips (Italy and China) for 2012 and 2013.
Would becoming a member help make these trips more reasonable (cost)?
Would membership limit trip availability or make booking more difficult?
Is it crazy to think about this program, or crazy not to?
I have had conversations with the DVC sales people through disney, but frankly I'm not sure I'm getting the whole story.
Any advice is much appreciated.

Most members think using points for cruises and ABD are a waste of points because they require so many points. Plus you don't know how many points it will require until later in the year because these costs are negotiated yearly. The available slots for DVC points are limited because DVC has to turn over the reservation equivalent to Disney Reservation Center to recover the cost of the trip to pay for the trip. And, in most cases, they are not all that successful in getting the full price for the points.

Some members will make reservations for non-members with their points and use the cash proceeds to pay for their cruises and ABD trips. It takes a whole lot of points for these non-DVC trips.

Use DVC points for DVC stays.

 

[disneynutz]

The value in DVC points is using them for DVC stays. Disney deliberately devalues the points for other uses and they increase the number of required points each year. Sure they advertise that you can use your points at over 500 destinations (subject to availability in very small print), but that doesn't mean that it's the prudent thing to do.

Bill

 

[DebbieB]

You need to look at the points charts first.

For ABD Italy it's 661 points per adult and 630 per child. For China, 917 points per adult and 873 per child. That's for 2012. Can't imagine that they reserve too many of these.

 

[webcs]

By definition I would say that the value of DVC membership is at DVC resorts. If you go outside that you really loose a lot of value.

Using points for other things is really more of a convenience than a value.

 

[DVCconvert]

From what I've seen, for DCL it "can be" a good deal if you're ok on a stateroom in the engine room....but otherwise you'll spend more on the points than if you'd booked early and paid cash.

 

[Brian Noble]

Would becoming a member help make these trips more reasonable (cost)?

Probably not. For the most part, the "cost" to use points to book DCL and ABD is more than they would be worth to rent ($10-$11/pt). In other words, if you rented out the same number of points, and then used the cash to book the cruise/tour you desired, you'd have money left over.

 

[Lynne M]

There are a lot of reasons why buying DVC to mostly use it for non-DVC options is a really bad deal. But I think just telling you about the point requirements for the ABD trips will be enough to discourage you.

For your family of 1 adult and 3 kids, you'd be paying AT LEAST 2500 points for the cheapest Italy trip, and at least 3500 for the China trip. In order to use points for ABD and DCL, you would have to purchase your contract directly from Disney. I don't remember the exact purchase price, but I know it's over $100 a point. So, you would be spending roughly $350,000 on your DVC contract to cover that China trip. Maintenance fees on a contract that size would be many thousands of dollars a year, for about the next 40 years.

As you can see, DVC isn't something you'd buy just to use for a few trips. It's essentially prepaying for resort stays for ~40 years.

If you see your family staying at DVC resorts at least every 3 years for the next several decades, it can be a really great deal. If you think you'd be using it mostly for DCL and ABD trips, or other trips outside of the DVC system, it's not going to be a good deal for your family. Much, much better to pay cash.

 

[Mert]

Last year we went on a cruise and yet found it much cheaper in the long run to wait and find a deal then to use the points. Like stated go outside the resorts and the points arent worth much. Good luck

 

[abdmom]

If you want to go on an ABD or DCL trip, it's more economical to rent out the points for $10/point than it is to use them to make the reservation. If you do use them to make the reservation directly, they're worth approximately $7.50/point (for ABD). There is still value in booking directly, it's just not as much as renting the points and then using the cash to make the booking.

For example, ABD China costs $24700 in cash. Using DVC points, it's 3580 points. The maintenance fees on those points could be about $4/point. That's $14320 in maintenance fees. So, yes, once you own the points, there is value in using them for ABD - you'll reap more in the trip than you pay in maintenance fees. However, if you rent out an equivalent number of points, you would earn $35800 which is about 50% more than the cost of the ABD.

Calculating another way, say you want to rent out enough points to pay cash for that ABD. You will need 2470 points. If you bank and borrow, using 3 years worth of points, you will need a contract of 824 points. To purchase that contract from DVC will cost you over $82400. The maintenance fees and lost opportunity cost (using 5%/year) on purchasing that contract will be about $22248. So, there MAY be a benefit from owning points to go on ABD or DCL, but it will be minimal. If you boost the lost opportunity cost of your money to 10%, the cost of owning those points for 3 years goes to $35000 - definitely not a good deal.

I DID purchase my contracts with a view to using them for ABD or possibly DCL in the future. I do plan to use them for stays at DVC as well. I view it as pre-paying for my vacations, not as a method to make the vacations more affordable.

 

[couture1]

Thank you all for the kindness and thought you put into your responses. I learned more from you in one day that I have in multiple hours trying to read the 'fine print'.
I am grateful for your knowledge and willingness to share it

 

[Dean]

Hi I am a single mom of three (8, 7, and 5). We have rented points in the past (much thanks to your forum) and enjoyed the villas a few times.
Now we are planning a cruise (Feb 2012) and future Adventures by Disney trips (Italy and China) for 2012 and 2013.
Would becoming a member help make these trips more reasonable (cost)?
Would membership limit trip availability or make booking more difficult?
Is it crazy to think about this program, or crazy not to?
I have had conversations with the DVC sales people through disney, but frankly I'm not sure I'm getting the whole story.
Any advice is much appreciated.

Buying DVC for cash type options makes no sense. It will not save you money, the BEST you can hope to do is break even compared to cash. All this for a program that likely will keep getting more expensive or that could be stopped tomorrow if they wanted. Too much risk and little or no benefit making it an easy decision in my book for this purpose. As others have found out this year, availability can be an issue as well. OTOH, DVC is a great choice for many for Disney trips if you value staying on property.

 

[JimMIA]

is new dvc membership good choice for cruise and abd trips?

No.