Kinda Bummed

[Tinkerbella001]

For us about $10k for a week.

Whoa!! 10K? So what is the good deal about being a DVC owner? Someone help me understand??

When I went on the disneyworld website and booked out my same dates, for a 1-bedroom, with tickets and free dining at the SSR was only about $3500. A 2-bedroom for 8 people with tickets and dining was around $5500.

 

[Tinkerbella001]

sorry...double post

 

[Chuck S]

So if you are a DVC owner, and as someone stated earlier cost around $1400 for a week, do you get an awesome deal on park tickets? Is that $1400 including the initial cost of the points, yearly maintenance fees, housekeeping fees, etc? (What all do you pay?) I am curious to see what a week ACTUALLY costs a DVC owner including tickets and meals. Then I could decide if it was a good value. And it will be helpful to know before I get there. TIA!!

Our last trip to OKW, in a studio, was 8 nights, for 108 points. I purchased in 1992 for $51.50 per point/49 years so that is $1.05 per point per year. Current OKW dues are $4.73, so $5.78 per point, or $624.24 for accomodations. We each got AP's, and will use them for another stay in January, so figure $350 for park tickets for this trip. We spent $494.81 on food (did not have the DDP) totals include tax and gratuity, for a total of about $1469.05 total for 8 nights/9 days. 2 Adults. A one bedroom would have been double the points for a total of $2,093.29.

 

[mnra]

Thank you everyone for the responses. I was just unsure of some things when they give rooms away. I have always been happy overall with dvc and my purchase

 

[eliza61]

Whoa!! 10K? So what is the good deal about being a DVC owner? Someone help me understand??

When I went on the disneyworld website and booked out my same dates, for a 1-bedroom, with tickets and free dining at the SSR was only about $3500. A 2-bedroom for 8 people with tickets and dining was around $5500.

Like most time shares, dvc are good deals over the long haul. I've owned for almost 10 years now. So I'm pretty much enjoying very low cost room accomodations. The last 2 years the economy has been very bad so Disney is offering discounts out the wazoo. Advantage cash payers but over the last 7 years the discounts have been slim and not that deep, advantage DVC.
I'm predicting (this is just my dusty crystal ball) next year may be the last year from that. When the economy turns around Disney will be back to it's fun loving rack rate ways.

The 2nd advantage is the room sizes and resorts. Most 1 bedrooms are much larger than your regular rooms which is what appeals to me, since I have a family full of 6 ft+, 200 lbs linebackers (and that's my 15 year old. )

free dining is not an advantage to dvc'ers as many loathe, hate and despise the dining plan.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Our last trip to OKW, in a studio, was 8 nights, for 108 points. I purchased in 1992 for $51.50 per point/49 years so that is $1.05 per point per year. Current OKW dues are $4.73, so $5.78 per point, or $624.24 for accomodations. We each got AP's, and will use them for another stay in January, so figure $350 for park tickets for this trip. We spent $494.81 on food (did not have the DDP) totals include tax and gratuity, for a total of about $1469.05 total for 8 nights/9 days. 2 Adults. A one bedroom would have been double the points for a total of $2,093.29.

That's about what we do, only halve it. We typically stay for four nights in a 1 bedoom, our last trip was $700 out of pocket for food, gas, dog boarding, and disney stuff.

We have ap's and the dvc; the more we use them, the less they cost us per use so it's hard to figure out how much the daily tickets cost because we're not done using them yet (they expire in dec). Our purchase on VWL was, uh, I think around 75/pt, our yearly fees are 1600, but we rent out a 1 bedroom every december to friends that we use to cover that cost for us. I can extrapolate out the forty years to try and figure it out, but why?

We know it's cheaper, we've been tracking every penny we spend since 1997 in Microsoft Money, and our cost per trip to Disney has definitely gone down.

Isn't there a spreadsheet somewhere on the dvc board where a guy did every possible permutation on ownership costs? It was COOL!

I forgot to add the Newbie factor, btw, to being worried about december. Typically the first two weeks of dec have few newcomers and a high percentage of dvc'ers. What this translates to for us is not having to deal with a lot of people making newbie mistakes at the parks and resorts. Everybody knows how it goes, there are a lot less squabbles and everything seems to be more genial and easygoing.

I'm not picking on newbies, we were all Disney noobs once; I just don't particularly enjoy vacas with the froshes now that I'm a big girl on campus, if ya know what I mean...

 

[vicki_c]

so if i understand right they take members points that might be used for members for last minute trips and give to others then when members call for last minute trip we can be told that they are full at the resorts.

This is correct, but (1) those rooms (ones released at 60 days out) can be pulled back into DVC inventory for points bookings if still available and (2) the payments for those rooms subsidize DVC members maintenance fees, resulting in lower fees for all. This is better than not getting any $$ for them, definitely, even if it does mean some last minute DVC bookers may get shut out of a room.

And I think this answered your 2nd question too, but I'll go read it again.

Oops - I see others already answered your question, I shouldn't have jumped ahead - hopefully I didn't contradict anything they said!

 

[Tara]

So if you are a DVC owner, and as someone stated earlier cost around $1400 for a week, do you get an awesome deal on park tickets? Is that $1400 including the initial cost of the points, yearly maintenance fees, housekeeping fees, etc? (What all do you pay?) I am curious to see what a week ACTUALLY costs a DVC owner including tickets and meals. Then I could decide if it was a good value. And it will be helpful to know before I get there. TIA!!

I wouldn't include admission in a comparison because if you are going to WDW, you are buying admission. (Or, on the flip side, because they have pre-paid accommodations, some DVC members go to WDW and do non-park activities. I suppose non-members might do this, but I'd think it's very rare.) but when we do buy admission, we buy APs, which we save $100 per person on (for the theme park AP) thanks to our membership.

Also, thanks to the APs we get at a reduced rate, we can buy a Tables in Wonderland card, which we calculate saves us more money (and gives us more flexibility) than the dining plan would.

We always rent a car and we always use valet parking at resorts that offer it, so my membership saves me...what is it? $12 per day?

I also won't include transportation because regardless of DVC membership, we still have to get to Orlando.

For us, we typically travel to WDW 2x per year and always stay at deluxe resorts. We use some sort of deal when we can (AAA discount, AP discount), but those aren't always available. But what I get for my expenditure is a guarantee of roomy accommodations with a kitchen (I doubt we'll use studios often) paid for at (more or less) today's rates.

How does that compare to free dining? Well, free dining is likely not a forever deal - who knows how many years they'll offer it. But for a moment let's assume they offer it the next 50 years. Since it ISN'T free, it will continue to go up in price because resort rates will continue to rise. (Never mind that the dining plan doesn't appeal much to me because after 11 years of going at least 1x per year and usually more, we don't have the urge to eat a Disney meal every night and we rarely eat counter service.)

Everyone is different and has different wants and needs, so you have to look at your own current vacation habits and think about what the future may hold to decide if it's a good deal for you. For us, it's a no-brainer.

Also, I think YourEverydayAdam posted a giant cost comparison of DVC with a lot of different factors considered - you should do a search for it if you're interested in seeing hard numbers.

 

[crisi]

Whoa!! 10K? So what is the good deal about being a DVC owner? Someone help me understand??

When I went on the disneyworld website and booked out my same dates, for a 1-bedroom, with tickets and free dining at the SSR was only about $3500. A 2-bedroom for 8 people with tickets and dining was around $5500.

The last trip involved 12 people, airfare for all twelve. Two two bedrooms at BWVs. A number of signature dinners, alcohol, three behind the scenes tours, three Pirate Cruises for kids.....you get the idea. i.e. A DVC Disney trip is like a regular Disney trip - you can spend an awful lot on it if you are so inclined - or very little.

What is included in DVC is your accommodations. Limited housekeeping (they switch towels for you and take out the trash on the forth day of your stay - and clean if you stay more than eight days on the eighth day). You are entitled to the same privledges as a resort guest (Magical Express, Early Entry). You can purchase the dining plan (for full price). Currently, there is a discount on annual passes but no other admission media - in the past it was on length of stay hoppers, but no other admission media. In the future it might be better or worse.

DVC is not necessarily a good deal - it certainly doesn't save us any money. It does save some people money - it depends on how you use it. For us, its a good value.

And here is what this thread is about - right now there are incredible CASH deals on DVC resorts. If you are a deal shopper, DVC is generally not a good deal. But when the economy is good the deals dry up and a Boardwalk two bedroom is $700 a night for cash - without any tickets or dining. And I'll be paying my $5.50 a point in dues x 282 points for my week and have that room for $1550 (we got our 'return' on our investment a few years ago).

 

[honeymo78]

I remember that DVC was the right choice when I think about that grand villa we'll be getting the year we have a baby so the whole family can come along - 7 nights in MK GV is approx $13,000. A few stays like that - we could do 5 GVs in 10 years and still have points for vacations on the non GV years - would more than pay for our initial investment. And when the grandparents come along without having to pay for a hotel room, they tend to pay for the food, tickets, etc so we're coming out even farther ahead. Now to figure out when to have that baby.

 

[lumpydj]

So if you are a DVC owner, and as someone stated earlier cost around $1400 for a week, do you get an awesome deal on park tickets? Is that $1400 including the initial cost of the points, yearly maintenance fees, housekeeping fees, etc? (What all do you pay?) I am curious to see what a week ACTUALLY costs a DVC owner including tickets and meals. Then I could decide if it was a good value. And it will be helpful to know before I get there. TIA!!

The $1,400 was calculated by taking the amount I paid for the membership, dividing by the number of years left in my membership, plus what I'm paying for in annual dues each year. A very crude calculation, but is somewhat accurate at today's prices. However, other factors could change this amount - what type of room (studio, 1 BR, etc), which time of year, and which resort. This calculation was assuming I would use all my yearly points for a one week stay(more than likely, a 1 BR at AKV - my home resort). If I stayed in a studio with a kitchenette, it would cost half that amount since I would be able to get 2 weeks of vaca.

 

[Vickis3js]

So if everyone is saying the DVC sales are down and obviously so is cash room ressies or we wouldn't be seeing so many deals how is this going to help DVC sales? Cash customers are getting such great deals why would they buy DVC? You see on here all the time of mainly newer DVC owners saying that where is our free dining and our deals. Wouldn't it be smart to make it a little more enticing for non owners by giving some deals to DVC owners. Now I know we are not entitled to anything and that DVC is our deal but in this economy obviously its not working. I would never expect to get free dining but maybe a dining plan discount. I know I would consider the DDP then instead of cooking in my 1 bedroom villa. That would be more money in the Mouses' pocket. We all know that any incentive could be yanked at any moment so even if it was for a little while.

When we went to WDW last year and stayed at Pop I knew that wasn't us, we had been tossing around DVC and when we took the tour we thought hey why not. Now if I had been upgraded to SSR or OKW you better believe I never would have take that tour and never would have bought. Because of the old saying why buy the cow when the milk is for free. Yeah I would have known it was just a freak thing that may never happen again but it did so why bother. As you see you have some that are getting upgrades that are questioning the value of DVC and with the awesome deal they got they have every right to. Heck I even told DH about the great deals they got and how I second guessed our purchase. Then we talked and I realized that due to when we travel there would never be a possibility of getting a deal like that for us. So we made the right choice for us.

For us we can only travel at Christmas so DVC is a deal. It forces us to take a break from our busy lives and enjoy a vacation so its worth every penny I paid. Even if I can not take advantage of any of the DVC discounts mainly the AP discount.