Looking into DVC from the UK

[LJCrozzo]

Hello Disboards!
We have just returned from a WDW trip in which we looked into DVC. We have done research on the boards which has been extremely helpful, but thought I would do a post to hopefully get some advice from the experts!

Bit of background:
We traditionally go to Florida every 2 years for a 3 week trip in August (wife is a teacher so we work around the school holidays) with 1 week at Universal & 2 weeks at Disney. We then also do a 1 week trip to Disney in Oct or May half term in the other year between the big trips.

When at Disney we traditionally stay at a Moderate resort with Port Orleans Riverside being our favourite.
Although on the trip we just returned from, we stayed at the Swan & Dolphin (booked before the USA borders opened and got a crazy cheap deal) and we loved the boardwalk area! It was this that got us looking into DVC.

DVC
When looking into DVC, we took the tour of Riviera and priced up a 200 point contract. This would allow us 2 weeks in a Deluxe Studio in August and 1 week in Oct every two years. Currently just the two of us, so a Studio is fine for the foreseeable future.

Buying Riviera Resort direct is currently priced at $201 a point giving a total of $40,200 for 200 points. Then with Disney’s current incentives it’s brings the total down to $190.50 a point for a total of $38,100 (excluding closing costs).

The DVC agent we met said the cost per point is going up to $206 in mid-February before incentives.

Thanks to family we can take a ‘loan’ for the lump sum and then just pay them back the amount. So we would not be financing or have to pay interest on the lump sum up front.

Advice
Naturally we are now doing the sums to see if it would be a worthwhile investment vs regular holiday package bookings.

Using some excellent excel sheets I found on the disboards I have:

• worked out inflation on dues for the duration of the DVC contract to give me a ‘overall’ cost of the contract. Used 2% inflation rate as that seems to be the average when looking at due rises over the past.
• Got the rates for paying cash for 2 weeks in August and 1 week in Oct direct from Disney UK in 2022 at Port Orleans. Then using the same inflation excel, got an overall total paying cash for all the holidays we would take for the duration of the DVC contract to 2070. Used 4% inflation rate as that seems to be the average increase for rooms at Port Orleans thanks to PortOrleans.org tracking.

I have used a rate of £1 - $1.35 as that is current rate when comparing dues in $ to hotel prices in £ from Disney UK.

The numbers appear to show that DVC would save us just over £60,000 over the 48 years of the contract to 2070 compared with paying cash for the same number of holidays. Not taking into account discounts on merch and food etc we may get as DVC members.

What I can’t do at the moment is compare to the past deals we got in the UK such as free dining as it is currently not available. However I see a lot of people use deals such as this as a reason why DVC may not be worth it? And as we all know, dining at Disney is not going to be getting any cheaper when paying out of pocket.

Also I know we can’t predict the future, but if the £ to $ goes up from say $1.35 back to around $1.50 then that could also mean DVC would offer even greater savings as the dues would be cheaper that what I have compared to.

If there is advice from you experts that have bought DVC or looked into it similar as above, it would be much appreciated to help inform our decision. Also if my sums above seem about right or if I have made any glaring mistakes?

Thanks all

 

[Wedgeout]

I think you are doing well looking into this decision. One factor is RIV is nothing like Port Orleans Riverside. That resort was where I enjoyed staying too. Then this pandemic came along and I looked into what DVC really is. The transportation options are not at the top of my list with resorts. I’m drawn into the imagineering, design, and theming. I ended up becoming a member with BCV resale. Then added with OKW direct. Unfortunately RIV, being a tower, didn’t interest me in the same way as other resorts do. I get a cruise ship parked on land vibe. Keep in mind as you decide on DVC, RIV is not your only option when buying direct. The other DVC resorts are available even though they are ‘sold out’ of original points. They use the Right Of First Refusal on resale contracts to regain points. Best of luck and have fun making your decision.

 

[Minniesgal]

Personally I have always believed that the value in DVC starts at the 1 bedrooms and bigger are your DVC membership is getting you into rooms you couldnt book at a moderate

if you are happy staying at a moderate in a hotel room the I don’t see the value in DVC versus carrying on at a moderate.

it took us 10 years to reach breakeven after Purchasing staying in 2 bedroom units.

I also think that a 2% inflation on dues seems very low compared to what I remember paying

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

I think you will get a lot of good advice here, but you should also post your question here.

[Sorry Disboards will not let me post a link to their own site, but if you go back to the main forum page, scroll down below the DVC forums and you should see “Global Neighbors”. The third forum down in this section if the UK DVC forum. ]
That will get you plugged into advice from current owners from the UK.

The main thing I would suggest is to take a look at the resale market. This would open up any of the existing DVC Resorts, and would potentially save you some money.

 

[Microbuns]

Some notes:

I think 2% dues raises is too optimistic. Riviera is early and it's dues increases probably aren't representative. Most increases for older resorts are ~4%, which makes sense, maintenance fees should roughly track prices (as Disney is seeing the costs rise on their end by the same amount).

It's also not clear if you're doing it as a proper net present value calculation or if you're just summing the numbers. Net present value calculations (easy to use in any spreadsheet software) account for the time-value of money. Eg. $100 right now is worth a lot more to me than $100 in 20 years from now, since if I could put the $100 away and get 5% on it, I would have $265. I'm not familiar with which sheet you're using so this may or may not be the case.

 

[cvjw]

Looking at the riveria point chart for August, standard view studios are 18/20 points per night. 2 weeks would be more than 200 points per year, with none left over for a October trip.

The points are less for a tower studio, but I don’t think there are very many of those, so booking them every year for 2 weeks and then again in October isn’t a guarantee. Very few tower studios combined with many riveria owners wanting to book them will leave some owners disappointed.

Other dvc studios are fewer points per night. Maybe look into one of those to make your plan work.

 

[RoseGold]

The numbers appear to show that DVC would save us just over £60,000 over the 48 years of the contract to 2070 compared with paying cash for the same number of holidays.

This isn't the relevant comparison. The relevant comparison is renting DVC points, and I have a much tougher time making this argument against renting points and staying a couple nights at Swolphin at the start. Heck, you can rent a week at the Wynham Bonnet Creek on Redweek for even less. The currency rates are even more interesting when you consider rental.

You are buying a property interest in another country. I wouldn't do this without legal advice and a plan, which would include a plan to probate in Florida. I would never buy any timeshare abroad, because I would view this as a burden to my heirs. The last thing I want my kids worrying about is how to probate in Florida when I pass. This is a lot for a Disney hotel room.

Also I know we can’t predict the future, but if the £ to $ goes up from say $1.35 back to around $1.50 then that could also mean DVC would offer even greater savings as the dues would be cheaper that what I have compared to.

If this happened, you'd get much more bang renting points of paying cash. Way more than what the dues delta would be. If you think the dollar is in decline, the obvious answer is to not buy, because you'll have more and more purchasing power. Buying a dollar-based speculative hotel room is betting on the dollar doing well.

EDIT TO ADD: It's worth noting your whole plan seems to rely on the UK ticket pricing, which has historically been much cheaper than the US pricing and included tickets we didn't have (21 day?). With the way Disney has been playing with ticket pricing, I don't see this as a fair assumption anymore. If you plan to buy in, I think your overall plan needs to account for the possibility of skyrocketing ticket prices and having to pay full freight for tickets in the future. Those ticket prices might make a few hundred bucks on the hotel rooms or the price of a hot dog not matter so much.

 

[macman123]

I am from the UK also.

18 months ago I didn't have any points. I now have 3,300 of which 650 are direct.

Never regretted the decision at all. As for dues increase, budget for around 5%

 

[AliceIn]

Looking at the riveria point chart for August, standard view studios are 18/20 points per night. 2 weeks would be more than 200 points per year, with none left over for a October trip.

The points are less for a tower studio, but I don’t think there are very many of those, so booking them every year for 2 weeks and then again in October isn’t a guarantee. Very few tower studios combined with many riveria owners wanting to book them will leave some owners disappointed.

Other dvc studios are fewer points per night. Maybe look into one of those to make your plan work.

They said the two week trip was every other year in August, with a one week trip in May on the off year. August is 250 for two weeks in a Standard view. The first half of May is 116 for one week, second half is 123. Their plan is fairly sound point wise, but it seems to me they are maybe 20 points off. Where things get difficult is the use year. Standard view rooms go quickly at most resorts, especially studios. It might be difficult to get a low cost studio at 7 months.

 

[cvjw]

They said the two week trip was every other year in August, with a one week trip in May on the off year. August is 250 for two weeks in a Standard view. The first half of May is 116 for one week, second half is 123. Their plan is fairly sound point wise, but it seems to me they are maybe 20 points off. Where things get difficult is the use year. Standard view rooms go quickly at most resorts, especially studios. It might be difficult to get a low cost studio at 7 months.

I took the original post to read they wanted to go for 2 weeks every august and 1 week in October every 2nd year. If they only wanted to go every other year, their plan would work. If they want to travel every august and every other October, their plan will not work.

 

[armsk]

We are from the UK and bought last year. Due to my wife working in school we usually go every other year in August.

We looked at what incentives buying direct got us and decided that there were few that we could take advantage of whereas the £ savings buying resale were substantial. Eg 200 SSR or AK points on resale are going around $25k.

We know well in advance when we are going so are ready to book 11/7 month windows so have been successful in renting around with stays in Grand Floridian, Boardwalk, Beach Club and Boulder Ridge (although we are happy to stay in SSR if nothing is available). I understand the people who say buy where you want to stay, but we find the flexibility of DVC is being able to stay in other resorts. And I may not be able to book Riviera but looking at the points chart the Riviera standard studio costs more points than the standard Poly, Grand Floridian studios which doesn't seem a great deal to me.

 

[McCrae]

Hello Disboards!
We have just returned from a WDW trip in which we looked into DVC. We have done research on the boards which has been extremely helpful, but thought I would do a post to hopefully get some advice from the experts!

Bit of background:
We traditionally go to Florida every 2 years for a 3 week trip in August (wife is a teacher so we work around the school holidays) with 1 week at Universal & 2 weeks at Disney. We then also do a 1 week trip to Disney in Oct or May half term in the other year between the big trips.

When at Disney we traditionally stay at a Moderate resort with Port Orleans Riverside being our favourite.
Although on the trip we just returned from, we stayed at the Swan & Dolphin (booked before the USA borders opened and got a crazy cheap deal) and we loved the boardwalk area! It was this that got us looking into DVC.

DVC
When looking into DVC, we took the tour of Riviera and priced up a 200 point contract. This would allow us 2 weeks in a Deluxe Studio in August and 1 week in Oct every two years. Currently just the two of us, so a Studio is fine for the foreseeable future.

Buying Riviera Resort direct is currently priced at $201 a point giving a total of $40,200 for 200 points. Then with Disney’s current incentives it’s brings the total down to $190.50 a point for a total of $38,100 (excluding closing costs).

The DVC agent we met said the cost per point is going up to $206 in mid-February before incentives.

Thanks to family we can take a ‘loan’ for the lump sum and then just pay them back the amount. So we would not be financing or have to pay interest on the lump sum up front.

Advice
Naturally we are now doing the sums to see if it would be a worthwhile investment vs regular holiday package bookings.

Using some excellent excel sheets I found on the disboards I have:

• worked out inflation on dues for the duration of the DVC contract to give me a ‘overall’ cost of the contract. Used 2% inflation rate as that seems to be the average when looking at due rises over the past.
• Got the rates for paying cash for 2 weeks in August and 1 week in Oct direct from Disney UK in 2022 at Port Orleans. Then using the same inflation excel, got an overall total paying cash for all the holidays we would take for the duration of the DVC contract to 2070. Used 4% inflation rate as that seems to be the average increase for rooms at Port Orleans thanks to PortOrleans.org tracking.

I have used a rate of £1 - $1.35 as that is current rate when comparing dues in $ to hotel prices in £ from Disney UK.

The numbers appear to show that DVC would save us just over £60,000 over the 48 years of the contract to 2070 compared with paying cash for the same number of holidays. Not taking into account discounts on merch and food etc we may get as DVC members.

What I can’t do at the moment is compare to the past deals we got in the UK such as free dining as it is currently not available. However I see a lot of people use deals such as this as a reason why DVC may not be worth it? And as we all know, dining at Disney is not going to be getting any cheaper when paying out of pocket.

Also I know we can’t predict the future, but if the £ to $ goes up from say $1.35 back to around $1.50 then that could also mean DVC would offer even greater savings as the dues would be cheaper that what I have compared to.

If there is advice from you experts that have bought DVC or looked into it similar as above, it would be much appreciated to help inform our decision. Also if my sums above seem about right or if I have made any glaring mistakes?

Thanks all

We are based in the UK, bought BLT direct in 2009. We have had a fantastic experience and would do it again in a heart beat.

An option to consider is the potential ability to rent excess points. We have done this a couple of times…worked out very well and covered our annual dues for a couple of years.

In a few years if you find you no longer want to keep your membership based on history the demand for your points should be strong and you may get a very good price.