Jawdropping Value...

[Song of the South]

Okay. I just did the math on next year's reservations. We are using all the banked points from 2011 and 75% of 2012's points. Compared with a cash reservation for the same dates and villa sizes (two views are off) we are at 42% of what we paid for our points. In *1* year! I am just floored!

I realize it is not an authentic comparison because I would never spend the amount of money for a villa that Disney charges cash guests but I sure like being able to feel great about my purchase of points!

Anyone else charting this? Care to share your percentage thus far?

SotS

 

[pyrxtc]

Okay. I just did the math on next year's reservations. We are using all the banked points from 2011 and 75% of 2012's points. Compared with a cash reservation for the same dates and villa sizes (two views are off) we are at 42% of what we paid for our points. In *1* year! I am just floored!

I realize it is not an authentic comparison because I would never spend the amount of money for a villa that Disney charges cash guests but I sure like being able to feel great about my purchase of points!

Anyone else charting this? Care to share your percentage thus far?

SotS

Don't forget to add in your due's for the amount of points you are using too. You will be paying those dues for the next 50 years.

 

[Song of the South]

Yes, I went in to add that as an edit and forgot why I had opened the edit window!

Yes, in January I will add in dues for 2012 which will reduce my percentage some. I expect dues to be around the $600-800 range so it won't drastically effect my percentage. (I don't think anyway but I'm no mathematician!) Okay, I did the math with an $800 dues bill we decline to 41% of value. Still. Wow.

Now, where's that baby and why is the dog barking?

SotS

 

[disneynutz]

You need to consider the cost over the life of ownership and the fact that you will be forced to vacation and spend thousands of dollars for travel, food, tickets, and other expenses and these costs increase every year. Don't forget the cost of selling your ownership when you get ready to do so and the fact that the resale value may be thousands less than what you paid.

One last thought is that most people book with a AP, Free Dining, Chase, AAA, or other discount so the savings is harder to track.

DVC can save you money on the room but you have to be a family that has been going on vacation every year to WDW or DL.

Bill

 

[ccgirl]

You need to consider the cost over the life of ownership and the fact that you will be forced to vacation and spend thousands of dollars for travel, food, tickets, and other expenses and these costs increase every year. Don't forget the cost of selling your ownership when you get ready to do so and the fact that the resale value may be thousands less than what you paid.

One last thought is that most people book with a AP, Free Dining, Chase, AAA, or other discount so the savings is harder to track.

DVC can save you money on the room but you have to be a family that has been going on vacation every year to WDW or DL.

Bill

Bolded is what is what I was thinking. When I stay in a 2BR DVC it is trading a timeshare which I paid 8K for and has $525 a year dues and it is deeded. Else, I rent points or use a 40% off discount. If you wouldn't stay in a timeshare, how much would your vacation cost? Compared to paying full price for a villa the DVC ownership will eventually work out.

 

[com_op_2000]

I reached 100% of paid price within three years of ownership. I consider that I am taking free vacations (except MFs) for the rest of my DVC stays.

 

[lovin'fl]

We are staying at OKW in Dec in a 2BR for 6 nights and to pay cash for that would be a little less than 1/3 of what we paid for our points back in 2006. We have 200 points. We used 260 points, I think...so 60 from 2011 and all 200 from 2012.

I guess I should put in the resort we would actually pay cash for...probably a moderate that sleeps 5 in a room. Just checked that out and POR would be 1/4 the cost of a 2BR at OKW...1/4!!!!! So, we'd have to stay at POR 12 times to equal the cost of our DVC points. And that's not even considering annual dues...which is not much less than the cost to stay at POR. My annual dues would get us, maybe, 5 nights at POR. I'm not really feeling the value.

 

[adminjedi]

We are staying at OKW in Dec in a 2BR for 6 nights and to pay cash for that would be a little less than 1/3 of what we paid for our points back in 2006. We have 200 points. We used 260 points, I think...so 60 from 2011 and all 200 from 2012.

I guess I should put in the resort we would actually pay cash for...probably a moderate that sleeps 5 in a room.

People on this board will use many variable calculations in quantifying the real cost/value of a dvc villa. However, you should not compare a dvc villa to a moderate resort, just as you should not compare an apple to an orange. For instance, you can say an apple is less expensive than an orange, but you didn't get to eat the orange!

 

[Muhlenberg]

Our break-even is next August...4 years after buying. It's really hard to say how we WOULD have vacationed. We can only go by where we HAD been staying, which is CR in a MK view room. Our initial purchase price plus dues, has us breaking even next year with the rack rate of the rooms where we've stayed. It's also an approximate break even assuming we would have stayed at CR...and for a couple trips, it would have been two rooms. I don't know that that would have necessarily happened, but that "value" is there because all our adult children vacationed with us.

Having a big family trip every two years is the real value I place on it. So many memories! And monetarily, I ONLY count room cost. Everything else is an added benefit.

 

[lovin'fl]

People on this board will use many variable calculations in quantifying the real cost/value of a dvc villa. However, you should not compare a dvc villa to a moderate resort, just as you should not compare an apple to an orange. For instance, you can say an apple is less expensive than an orange, but you didn't get to eat the orange!

Yes...I give you that. It's just that we would never pay the rate I just saw for a 2BR at OKW from 12/20-26. If we didn't have DVC, we would have booked POR or some such and crammed all 5 of us into 1 room. My MIL and FIL are also staying in our 2 BR, so I guess we'd have to get 2 rooms which would be 1/2 the cost, still, of the 2BR at OKW. I do like having the villa with the laundry, kitchen and jetted tub and we can't really stay in a regular hotel room anymore, since my 3 kids are teenagers now and it just doesn't work anymore. But we would never pay the rates WDW charges for the villas. So, we'd forgo or cram into 1 room for a short stay or maybe get 2 rooms at a value resort or maybe even do the wilderness cabins.

You can rent 4 rooms at POR for thes same cash cost of a 2BR at OKW...yes, there are benefits to staying in the villa...but not worth the cost.

 

[Song of the South]

I was just interested to see if other people are geeky like me and are keeping track of when they are at the break even point...

Bill- Yeah, since I don't know what the particular discounts are and I'm not really interested in this beyond an exercise of using excel I just went with the rack rate. I figured it was the best comparison with the least amount of time involved.

com_op_2000- Awesome!

muhlenberg- That was one reason we bought. We wanted our daughter (and future children) to be able to go to Disney with her grandparents, cousins, and such. We didn't want our desire for this to be a burden for anyone else. We can't wait to have these experiences!

adminjedi- good points about the comparison...

lovin'fl- Sorry you aren't feeling the value.

SotS

 

[bobbiwoz]

Somehow, this was a duplicate of the first part of the next post. So, I'm deleting it!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Keep enjoying those WDW vacations!

It's hard for me to believe that we've been in DVC for 8 years now, and we have 3 grandchildren (with another one on the way!). We share our DVC villas the same way we share our Cape May House. For me, both are great investments in quality family time but also they are there for the kids to use without us at times.

We rented a cabin for the family in the Smokies for Thanksgiving last year, and that cost was about $3000 for the 4 night weekend. You can't take it with you and I want to enjoy these times with family while I can. I never dreamed that being a grandparent would be so wonderful. We don't live near our relatives, so having places to gather and enjoy is important.

I don't do spreadsheets or figure the dollar cost of each WDW vacation. The Smokies is a favorite place for me and DH, and the house in Cape May costs us not too much more than our MFs for DVC on a yearly basis because we own only 1/2 of it, we bought it with DSis. DVC doesn't have "honey do" jobs for DH, that's a huge plus for him!

Sadly, the DVC will disappear while the Cape May house will be there for our kids to inherit, so DVC does cost more, but I can't duplicate the THV vacation I just had with the family! I've already written off the DVC cost, and if the kids want to sell when we're gone, it's their decision.

If/when the DGC are teens and the family gatherings at Disney are no longer the fun times they are now, DH and I will adjust. We want to spend a month or more of winter in a villa because we want to retire to Tennessee and snow and ice are the parts of winter we want to avoid. I'm spending most of January using DVC points. I'll be with friends and other relations, DH has to work, I'm taking a break from Ohio's winters. I'll mostly be in studios, so it's not the sort of experience DH and I will have in retirement.

Bobbi

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

We vacation at DVC primarily right now...probably every 18 months to 2 years. Our DD is 11 so the experience changes enough between trips for it to be "new" each time. As she ages it will probably plateau.

However, DH and I bought DVC for us...for the quality of the room (space, kitchen, balcony, W/D) because we both travel for work and didn't want that "at work" feeling of a hotel room. We love the "welcome homes;" we are snobs enough to enjoy that bit of exclusion that the "best kept secret" gives us (okay so we're really small snobs ). But we don't count the cost except when we stay somewhere else....

When we stayed in the east end of Toronto this summer in a mid-priced hotel we didn't have any of the things we've come to value...in particular the space.

So measure your value based on <what> you value. Your mileage may vary...objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.

 

[adminjedi]

You can rent 4 rooms at POR for thes same cash cost of a 2BR at OKW...yes, there are benefits to staying in the villa...but not worth the cost.

....that is your opinion, which is fine!
For us, it is worth the cost!

 

[disneynutz]

I still wonder if members would vacation at Disney as often if they were not DVC members. Some people have posted that they love the DVC because it forces them to vacation with their family. I would guess that there could be a down side to that also.

Every vacation costs us a couple of thousand dollars in addition to our dues and purchase cost. for a 30 year contract going to WDW once a year, that's over $100,000. Twice a year, $200,000. That's a big expense that most don't consider when they purchase.

Bill

 

[bobbiwoz]

I still wonder if members would vacation at Disney as often if they were not DVC members. Some people have posted that they love the DVC because it forces them to vacation with their family. I would guess that there could be a down side to that also.

Every vacation costs us a couple of thousand dollars in addition to our dues and purchase cost. for a 30 year contract going to WDW once a year, that's over $100,000. Twice a year, $200,000. That's a big expense that most don't consider when they purchase.

Bill

Airline tickets are a given for us, for nearly every family trip. Before DVC we vacationed at WDW 2-3 long weekends a year. Now there are more of us, and we go more often. We don't spend thousands above airline cost.

DSis has the right idea, she used her Disney Rewards cards often at the kiosks on this trip, bought Christmas presents with it, and treated the whole family to breakfast with Lilo and Stitch and she has rewards left over. I think I'm going to cash in my Disney Rewards for my January DVC stay!

 

[mjc2003]

Yes...I give you that. It's just that we would never pay the rate I just saw for a 2BR at OKW from 12/20-26. If we didn't have DVC, we would have booked POR or some such and crammed all 5 of us into 1 room. My MIL and FIL are also staying in our 2 BR, so I guess we'd have to get 2 rooms which would be 1/2 the cost, still, of the 2BR at OKW. I do like having the villa with the laundry, kitchen and jetted tub and we can't really stay in a regular hotel room anymore, since my 3 kids are teenagers now and it just doesn't work anymore. But we would never pay the rates WDW charges for the villas. So, we'd forgo or cram into 1 room for a short stay or maybe get 2 rooms at a value resort or maybe even do the wilderness cabins.

You can rent 4 rooms at POR for thes same cash cost of a 2BR at OKW...yes, there are benefits to staying in the villa...but not worth the cost.

If you are happy and willing to "cram" 5 people (including 3 teenagers?) into a regular room, deferring to cost, then DVC was probably never right for you. In general, if cost is the unmitigated, bottom line consideration, then DVC isn't right.

We like to vacation when we go on vacation. With 5 people in a room, I don't know how anybody sleeps? Aren't people getting up during the night to use the bathroom? People wake up at different times of the morning? Climbing over bags, stuff.....yikes.
We work way too hard to come home from vacation having not been able to rest.

I am one of ten children. I remember our first trip to WDW, all 12 of us. My dad had us in 3 rooms at the Royal Plaza. After the first night, he went to the front desk and got a 4th room for he and my mom. I was 6 years old, and always remember asking him why he was moving to a different room? He said, "So I can sleep".

You can analyze the costs six ways to Sunday, but the reality is that if cost is the primary issue then it's probably hard to argue that DVC works. For us it's simple: We like bringing our kids to WDW, and we like having all that room. Therefore, it's worth it for us.

I also come from the other side of the issue here b/c we DID pay "those" rates for 2 years. We spent nearly $10,000 on a 2 Bedroom at BCV over two vacations.

I understand that value is in the eye of the beholder. What works for one might not work for others. This is a luxury expenditure, so there are obviously different opinions as to the relative nature of the "value" of DVC. It works if you go to WDW a lot, and if you really only want to stay in deluxe accommodations. Otherwise it's value is probably negligible.

But I do contend that cramming 5 "full sized" people into one room is not a very relaxing vacation!

 

[Winksst]

You can analyze the costs six ways to Sunday, but the reality is that if cost is the primary issue then it's probably hard to argue that DVC works. For us it's simple: We like bringing our kids to WDW, and we like having all that room. Therefore, it's worth it for us.
...

I understand that value is in the eye of the beholder. What works for one might not work for others. This is a luxury expenditure, so there are obviously different opinions as to the relative nature of the "value" of DVC. It works if you go to WDW a lot, and if you really only want to stay in deluxe accommodations. Otherwise it's value is probably negligible.

This topic is interesting to me. We are a family of 3, who usually stay at Value Resorts. We used to do CR, then realized we were paying a lot of money for a room we really only slept in.

So why DVC for us?? Well, I've always wanted to do it. I loved the idea of guaranteed Disney vacations, but then when I did the math including maintenance fees, etc. it was still cheaper than a value resort.

When I first did my spreadsheet, it didn't work out price wise, and I cringed at telling my DH. But I forgot one major aspect...the hotel costs only included the one week we usually took at WDW and nothing extra. With our points we could spend something like 4 weeks in a Value Studio at AKV!!! That's a huge difference! And we have lots of friends who want to go but have tighter budgets and if we sold a week to them for $500 or so that would help pay maintenance fees. So really, DVC is still cheaper than a value resort in the long haul...by about 200%.

Anyway...we've been value resort people, but I'm super excited to go back to the kind of rooms I'm used to elsewhere. I love that we're being "forced" to go to WDW more and share it with others, most importantly many more years there with our DD and hopefully our grandkids some day.

 

[ValpoCory]

And we have lots of friends who want to go but have tighter budgets and if we sold a week to them for $500 or so that would help pay maintenance fees.

...

Anyway...we've been value resort people, but I'm super excited to go back to the kind of rooms I'm used to elsewhere. I love that we're being "forced" to go to WDW more and share it with others, most importantly many more years there with our DD and hopefully our grandkids some day.

So in other words, if you have the money to pay for or subsidize other people's vacations, DVC is for you!

Just messing with you. I'm glad you are happy with the purchase.