Is now the right time for ME to join DVC?

[mixmastertoy]

Get an excel spreadsheet and draw it out ... that is the best way to see if direct is worth it!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

What everyone told me is the same as I'll tell you - I only wish I could have bought in sooner. .

But were you buying to often use on cruises?

It really doesn't make sense to buy to have that be the primary use of points.

We bought in 2009 and I don’t remember it being offered since we became members. So it’s been a long time...

It has been quite awhile since AP's were offered as incentives. We got them and I believe it was for our BLT purchase. We didn't buy immediately, it was after they started the incentive offerings - probably sometime in 2009. I believe they did the cruise offerings more frequently than the AP.

 

[Henwen88]

But were you buying to often use on cruises?

It really doesn't make sense to buy to have that be the primary use of points.

Nope, but I bought in thinking I was going to take one vacation a year. Trip #5 upcoming this NYE. The DVC bug (and AP) changes you lol!

Also, since David started renting your points and booking the cruise for you, it has become a slightly better option if you wanted to go that route.

 

[DVCJoy724]

My family bought 100 points at AKL for a little over 8K two years ago (it was a loaded contract with banked points). I am so thankful we bought when we did. Now the contracts I see are selling for over $100 a point for AKL. Financially DVC has been great for us because we got such a great price with resale and a less "in demand" resort. We have used our points to stay at the Poly twice, BW twice, SSR once and Kidani once.

To get your money's worth I highly recommend resale! I saw Poly contacts for $150 a point I believe.

 

[kniquy]

I would see if the numbers make sense for you and your family - by this looking at the cost for you to get a room for Disney and what investment you would need to purchase to make your yearly or bi-yearly trips more affordable. Also don't only buy to only accommodate studios - often those are the rooms which book up the quickest which then leaves 1 or 2 BR units left.

Using points for cruises is a very poor value, so much better off paying OOP for those. Even use of points for ABD is a poor value. I looked it up one time for an ABD trip. I can't recall the exact numbers but to pay OOP would have been say somewhere around $5-6 K. The number of points that the trip required was equivalent to 9K on the rental market. So needless to say more cost effect to pay out of pocket or rent the necessary number of points.

My advice is to buy for the resort that you want to stay at. Start small -maybe buy with the intention of going every other year and if you really love it and your wife has to have the "perks" then add on another small direct 75 point contract to have the perks.

Also if you wife has not been on this board to educate herself on the ins/outs of DVC/Perks/Cruises/ABD then i strongly advise that she come here to help make the most educated financial decision. Those "perks" cost a lot and it would take many year of utilizing those perks to add up to save anything compared to what you over paid with buying direct.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Also, since David started renting your points and booking the cruise for you, it has become a slightly better option if you wanted to go that route.

This can be done with resale points. So that is a key differentiator versus straight point payment for a cruise.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Nope, but I bought in thinking I was going to take one vacation a year. Trip #5 upcoming this NYE. The DVC bug (and AP) changes you lol!

Also, since David started renting your points and booking the cruise for you, it has become a slightly better option if you wanted to go that route.

It may be a little easier but it doesn't change the numbers. Its just not going to pay off to buy DVC to mainly cruise as I thought it sounded like was a big part of OPs plans.

And yes. "Savings" can easily disappear when followed because of multiple yearly trips!

 

[Gothemi]

It may be a little easier but it doesn't change the numbers. Its just not going to pay off to buy DVC to mainly cruise as I thought it sounded like was a big part of OPs plans.

And yes. "Savings" can easily disappear when followed because of multiple yearly trips!

I was thinking of just cashing in/renting out points this year to help pay for the cruise. We are thinking about doing another WDW trip in 2021 for sure (with everybody else I'm sure), and maybe one more trip before then. Otherwise, it's just DL, a cruise and we are thinking about Aulani for 2020.

So my short term is this:

2018: just finished WDW
2019: Summer trip to DL and Fall Disney Cruise to Mexico
2020: Aulani and some sort of DL trip
2021: WDW again.

Had my wife read this post and she now agrees we don't need to buy direct. She is for buying resale now, but we don't know how exactly we want to do things. Since we were thinking about Aulani next year, we considered buying resale there, but the maint. fees are what we are hung up on now. You really have to account for that as a big part of the purchase price too and I wasn't at first. It's not as simple as X/120 months (if financing). Thinking of maybe buying a smaller contract now for cash as mentioned in the comments before. Still not certain though. We might love the cruise and just start doing more cruises with the occasional WDW trip. I feel that DVC is more opportune for folks on the east coast, or who go there often. Being closer to DL we will of course visit there more often.

This is just a roller coaster of emotions, "what ifs" and decisions mixed in with math lol.

So I'm still researching and trying to plan things out to see what might work best for us. Love all the responses and enjoy the information.

 

[Dean]

It may be a little easier but it doesn't change the numbers. Its just not going to pay off to buy DVC to mainly cruise as I thought it sounded like was a big part of OPs plans.

And yes. "Savings" can easily disappear when followed because of multiple yearly trips!

I mainly answer the question for someone looking at buying in or adding on for the purpose. There has been no point in DVC's history where it made sense to buy to cruise. While it's less bad to rent out at times and use the cash, it's still FAR better to just buy what you need for DCV and use cash for other options. Now if one owns already and has extra points that can be an option that could be reasonable. It also might be reasonable to get oneself in this situation by buying a full sized contract (say 150) when the current needs are less. What one decides to do with their points is their choice and their business but that doesn't make them good choices.

 

[mustinjourney]

I'd also think that to be likely. DVC sells to those who are there and take the tours. Often spur of the moment. All their material is prepped to show a low monthly cost you'll pay to keep the Magic flowing.

This is definitely true. I went on a tour just last week so my dad could get indoctrinated, and the guides really do push that monthly payment plan. It makes the purchase price seem more palatable saying it's $500 a month instead of paying $40,000 up front. And they definitely don't highlight the total amount of interest paid in their tables.

 

[mustinjourney]

I mean, if you really think about it, the only reason our economy even seems to function/grow anymore is because of easy credit and people buying things they can't afford. Numbers vary depending on the source, but something like half of American families have no retirement savings at all. DVC prices are climbing like gangbusters, but it's not like income has been going up...so how else could most people "afford" to buy DVC if not for financing?

There's a "debt busters" thread on the Budget Board, and reading it kind of bums me out. And I guess it might come off as judgmental but there are certain people in certain situations and I have no idea why they are even thinking about taking Disney trips given their situations. FWIW, growing up we didn't have a ton of leftover money so we didn't go on vacations - my mom was a coupon cutter, only paid for things in cash, etc. We actually didn't take a family trip on an airplane together until I was in high school in the mid 90's, and only then it was b/c my grandparents had bought DVC and were letting us use their points. I'm glad I at least have that context to keep things in perspective. I tell my kids (who are young) all the time that they need to appreciate how fortunate they are to be able to take these trips to WDW every year.

Anyway, I've kind of gone off on a tangent but whenever I think about the state of most people's personal finances in this country it bums me out.

I was in the same boat. We took two family vacations growing up. First was a road trip in Texas to Austin and San Antonio when I was about 5 and second was Disney when I was 8. We did Disney in an RV with another family -- so we had 11 people crammed in a standard C-Class RV -- no idea how 4 adults and 7 kids crammed into that thing -- and in July no less. My kids have now stayed in 2BRs and also club level at GF. The worst accommodations they've seen were the Princess Rooms at POR -- so needless to say, they have zero appreciation for what is the norm.