Maintenance fees

[supersnoop]

I understand the mods are not the same as DVC rooms but since we are never in the room it's not a big factor to us

If this is what matters to you, then, no, you aren't missing anything. But how many times have you returned from Disney World and said you need another vacation to recover? Staying at a deluxe villa is more than just a place to shut your eyes between park closing and rope drop the next morning. If you are satisfied with a moderate, then the savings take a long time to come. But you would still save money over the long term, even compared to a moderate, as long as you purchased from the secondary market.

 

[dmband]

Thanks guys
I'll look at secondary market more, I did in the past and noticed it was a nice savings
As for needing a vacation when I get back, that's my type of vacation
If I am not on the move and excited to be there then it is a place I don't need to be/go back to
That's part of why I like disney, I never get everything done I want to. I can rest when I get home

 

[Dean]

My husband and I are having a hard time justifying the purchase of DVC when we calculate that we will spend upwards of $20,000 in maintenance fees alone. Am I not getting something here? Thanks!!

You haven't responded but I'll post in case you're following. DVC can only save money vs what you would spend otherwise. Financially DVC really only makes sense if you compare a studio to a hotel room or 2 BR to two hotel rooms; have a track record to trips to Disney, value staying on property in a moderate or higher enough to pay the usurious costs that Disney charges, can pay cash, and can plan at least 7 months out. However, once you meet these criteria, DVC can be a great alternative for many. There are other cheaper ways to get to Disney, mostly staying off property, and these can be much better for some, not for others.

The fees are what has stopped me many times from buying in
(Edit to match exact days and true cost)

I don't see how DVc makes since unless I am missing something here
For example...
ak is $25,600 with 1,030 in fees right now today and expires in 43yrs
I just booked, with discount, at Coronado for 7 nights it would be $1200ish
I understand the mods are not the same as DVC rooms but since we are never in the room it's not a big factor to us
So yes it costs me $200 more but I didn't tie up 25k or $595.35 yr which in turn means I saved $400

Unless disney stops giving discounts out there is no real plus that I can see
Am I missing something here??

To add, I do think you're missing portions or at least many who use this comparison are. The points needed to stay in the best comparable room (studio) is only say 100 on average for a standard and even less for a value room. Resale you're under half the buy in you're thinking with yearly fees of under $600. Of course you could chose to upgrade with additional up front and yearly costs. I think most tend to slow down and do less Kamikaze type trips/days as they have been a few times.

 

[RobDoc]

...
I understand the mods are not the same as DVC rooms but since we are never in the room it's not a big factor to us
...

If your real interest is in staying at moderate resorts, then DVC is not really going to work for you. One reason is that with a resale purchase, you cannot stay at a moderate even with the $95 reservation fee because the Disney Collection resorts are not available to resale buyers.

The moderates are used as an example where you would be able to stay at Deluxe resorts at pricing similar to Moderate resorts and that is accurate, but actually staying there using DVC points is only available to those purchasing direct since 2011. The sentiment is still accurate however.

 

[HokieGCC]

I am not an owner (yet) but I can show you the reason why we are hoping to purchase a DVC contract. While over the course of the life of ownership the maintenance fees seem high here is the way it breaks down for us:

We just spent 7 nights at Beach Club (Standard room) with a 30+% off pin code. The cost of those 7 nights was $2340 (room only).

For the same time period it would have cost us 120 DVC points (studio). The maintenance fees at BCV for 120 points would have been $695 (I realize this does NOT take into consideration the initial buy in price.).

It can really be an incredible savings over time.

Let's use your example and take it a little further. I will oversimplify at first to get things in the ballpark. Assuming you took the exact same vacation each year your DVC break even point is at the 8 year mark. On your 8th year your total cash expenditure would be $18720 verses $17560 expenditure for DVC. At the end of 30 years DVC ends up costing you half of what you would spend otherwise.

Here were my simplifying assumptions: (1) Neither the MF's nor the cash room rates increased year to year. (2) I ignored the season pass discount. (3) I assumed $100/point for the initial purchase, or $12,000. (4) I did not include any income you could have generated from the $12,000 if you were to have invested it. (5) I ignored any other fees associated with buying resale. (6) I assumed no loans were taken out for either method.

I have calculated and recalculated this type of analysis multiple times and have convinced myself that Disney has this very fine tuned. My conclusion is that if you buy resale it is possible to start saving money in about year 8 (depending on how precise you are with your decisions). With direct purchase from Disney your break even point is more like year 10+. Again, if you are precise with your decisions. It is very possible to make DVC work against you as well. So, it is wise to really do your homework and tiptoe into this unless you have a large surplus of money.

So,while our family was young and we were saving for college etc we decided against joining and locking away that much money hoping to save on Disney trips 8 years in the future. However, we recently bought in now that we have almost cleared the College expense.

In short - is DVC worth it? My answer is "yes but...".

 

[bakerworld]

Frankly, post-DVC, in a 'park-less' year we total 10 nights and in a 'park' year we total 18/24 nights. There is just no way we could stay in a park walkable location without DVC for that amount of time.

We have gone on multiple vacations every year and nothing has compared to DVC. Caveat: I tend to book with a eye on the price tag so outside of DVC we're dedicated parking lot view