Man was I wrong. Found my spreadsheet from 1998 weighing cost of DVC vs rack rates and break even point

[DSLRuser]

We did our first DVC tour in 1996 and again in 1998. In both cases, we as a family just were not ready for that commitment. As a spreadsheet nerd, I forecast out 50 years of DVC vacations.

Back then DVC was $65 a point. And Hotel rates with discounts at Animal Kingdom or Wilderness were $150-175 a night. With dues and inflation, I thought just paying cash was the way to go and that further justified NOT buying DVC.

In my spreadsheet, I had deluxe rooms holding at $600 a night by 2020. Not the $800+ some people are paying. I didn't even factor 1 or 2 bed room units we mostly stay at now.

Point of all this....I should have bought YEARS before we did. And holy cow is Disney expensive if you don't know what you are doing.

 

[CarolMN]

And holy cow is Disney expensive if you don't know what you are doing.

Agree! And it's expensive even when you do, LOL. Without DVC, I would not have spent $$ on a lot of the experiences we have enjoyed at WDW.

 

[CarolynFH]

We didn’t do spreadsheets or cost analysis or projections before we bought. We bought because we wanted to continue to visit almost every year but didn’t want to squash all 4 of us (including kids who couldn’t share a bed) into a single hotel room. And as for breaking even, a year or two after we bought the tax rate on rooms went from 4% to 6.5%, meaning we hit the break-even point even sooner when looking at total cost for accommodations!

 

[FamilyGuy]

I've never significantly tried to analyze DVC value / cost effectiveness. Actually, after the presentation back in 2004, I did say to our guide, "why would I invest in DVC, our contemporary garden rooms were $179/night and seem to be great value and just right for our family of 5?!"

Two more kids arrived after that, and now 2 more grandkids (and a third on the way, woohoo!)

Biggest thing I communicate to anyone who wants to know if it DVC saves money, and or was it worth it - If you think DVC will save you money (overall), you are more than likely wrong - you will vacation more often (and better accommodations / longer stays) - you will likely spend a lot more with Disney than if you did not become a DVC member...

Of course there is a savings vs cash rates or even renting points, the value is definitely there w/ DVC , and the family vacations and memories are irreplaceable!

I actually thought about the prospect of becoming a DVC sales guide at one point, LOL... looking back now, I'm glad I didn't pursue that!

 

[ScottOKW2K]

I used to keep a spreadsheet tallying our stays, room type and points used versus the listed cash price for those rooms. I haven't followed up on it for some time. During that time I had a contract at OKW which was later sold for more than it was purchased for an a AKL contract that I still have which would also sell for more than the purchase cost.

I remember at the time I stopped counting the value of the total stays exceeded $100K. You could easily add another $20K or more to bring it up to an estimated current count.

 

[Tenkawa]

I can quantify that the usage we are getting out of the family points in 2023 takes a large chunk out of the total paid.

7 nights in a 2-bdrm villa, plus 2 connected inside staterooms on the 4-night wish [note: covering one cabin fully, the other 1/2]. My rough estimation of that is about $8,000 USD total (and using 3 years of points in one go, but worth it).

 

[Nursemanit]

The only thing that puts a pin in the calculation is the Swan and Dolphin did not go up nearly as fast ( until very recently) In fact it tracked pretty close to inflation. S/D was always my DVC or not DVC yardstick as a studio person. Obviously the math for 1br / 2 br is very different.

 

[jimmytammy]

My little pea brain way of thinking it through went like this:

In 2000 we went with my parents and stayed at All Star Sports. I went to the lobby to do something at the guest services desk and while there, I stopped by the DVC desk. Got some info and took back to my wife to ponder over. We got home, decided to call, hoping we could get some BWV points but they were sold out. DW wasn't so into it as I was, so we mulled it over for a year before making 1st purchase, which was VWL at the time.

At this point in time, our kids were small, so were weren't thinking in terms of needing more room, studios would fit us just fine. So I looked back at costs of All Stars as a comparison over a 3 yr period, how much it had gone up each year, compared it to cost of DVC plus dues and it made dollars and sense over a 7 yr period, that we would break even.

So, my thinking, in 10 years, All Star Sports cost would surpass DVC, and it did. The problem was, as time went on, our kids got bigger, and boy and girl needing separate space, 1 bedrooms did the trick in early teen years, then we figured we better start getting 2 bedrooms. So we added more points over time.

Now kids are grown, and we are taking our grandkids and getting 2 2 bedrooms.

No matter, we are glad we bought into DVC, we have been able to create memories, priceless, we have been able to share with family, priceless, and we look forward to 23 more years, again, priceless.

 

[Chuck S]

Mom and I bought in 1992. We were staying at the Contemporary in a tower room, it was about $2000 for the week. Well, we overheard a young couple talking about the beautiful condos at DVC on the monorail on the way to EPCOT (it was not called Old Key West back then, it was the Disney Vacation Club Resort) We had gotten a flyer about it before leaving home, but decided a timeshare just wasn't for us. But, we went ahead and scheduled a tour at EPCOT for the next day. They had a Big DVC kiosk at the exit area to Spaceship Earth. They picked up at te Contemporary, we took the tour at the Commodore House, (the sales center at the time) and I thought we'd think about. Well, Mom said, "I'm not waiting,, I'm buying in now," after seeing the initial buy in of 230 points would pay for itself after roughtly 5 years of staying in a deluxe room. So we signed the paperwork, with a 3 year financing note through Disney. We did 3 add ons to bring the total to 345 points between then and 1996. We paid an average of $53.50 per point. And as always, Mom's "impulse buy" which is something she rarely did, turned out awesome. Mom was 68 years old at the time, and enjoyed going to Disney for the next 19 years, until her heart gave out. We even had a trip planned at the time. She went on most of the rides, except the coasters with inversions. But she liked the coaster that was in Dinoland, Test Track, and Mission Space. I still have the 345 points, which is a lot just for me, but I go usually 2x a year. I stay mostly in one bedrooms, and sometimes I take friends, who pay their own park tickets and meals, I've done 2 big trips over the years, one with 16 people. getting two-2 bedroom units and a one bedroom, and one with 10 people in a two bedroom and a Grand Villa.

 

[DVC4]

No matter, we are glad we bought into DVC, we have been able to create memories, priceless, we have been able to share with family, priceless, and we look forward to 23 more years, again, priceless.

Love that. Well said.

 

[disfanforlife]

I haven’t tried to analyze the price. Priceless to me in many ways.
We we’re down for 11 days in November. Our daughter was supposed to fly down and meet us for 5 days. Being a teacher she only had a limited time to come. Her flights were cancelled twice due to the storms. She was devastated as she hadn’t been in a few years. We decided to book A trip for her and her fiancé for this summer to make up for her not being able to go with us. They are thrilled! If not for DVC I wouldn’t have just booked a trip for them. I love how the points make it easy for us to share with friends and family..

 

[GoingSince1990]

My only DVC regret is also not buying in earlier.

 

[kittylady1972]

I came across a notebook this weekend where I was tracking prices for a trip...and a 5 day Park Hopper ticket was like $250 and an Annual Pass was around $450. Man what I wouldn't give for THOSE prices again...or even for the ability to buy an Annual Pass again.

 

[mickeys girl 52]

I don't know how true it is for anyone else that has had iDVC from the beginning. But I've heard when you 1st had old Key West years ago that they even came with admission tickets to the parks? Does anyone else know if that is true?

 

[CarolynFH]

I don't know how true it is for anyone else that has had iDVC from the beginning. But I've heard when you 1st had old Key West years ago that they even came with admission tickets to the parks? Does anyone else know if that is true?

Yes, it was a purchase incentive. You got tickets for half the capacity of the villa. So for studios and 1BR (both had max capacity of 4 guests) you got 2 tickets, and for 2BR 4 tickets, and for GV 6 tickets. I'm not sure whether the owners got tickets for every trip or only once a year, but they got them every year through 1999.

Unfortunately, that incentive was no longer offered by the time we bought in 1997. I'm sure someone who enjoyed that incentive will come along and clarify.

 

[Chuck S]

ME...I enjoyed that incentive! Yes, it was for every stay, no matter how many stays you had per year. They stopped offering them in 1995 or 96, as our 1996 add-on did not include the tickets. However, for those that purchased earlier, you got the tickets through Decmber 31. 1999. And remember. points were very reasonably priced back then, too

 

[Quiltsndisney]

I am one year in on a resale and calculated 10 years for my break even based on our standard at staying at AOA suites. Now on my fourth trip and taking the value of the rooms we got even at sale price we have already broken even. And with the increased AOA costs down to under five years to break even on our standard cash spend. So wish I bought in 2018 versus 2021.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Biggest thing I communicate to anyone who wants to know if it DVC saves money, and or was it worth it - If you think DVC will save you money (overall), you are more than likely wrong - you will vacation more often (and better accommodations / longer stays) - you will likely spend a lot more with Disney than if you did not become a DVC member...

I always tell my friends who ask me about DVC that it's not for everyone. I make very clear that it's NOT the least expensive way to see Disney and people often make that mistake. However, IF you want to go at least every other year, AND you want to stay in a mid level or deluxe resort on those trips, it will save you money. I.E. if those are things you were going to do anyway, or you are willing to commit to, then it's a good choice. But if you are looking to shoe-string Disney, it's not for you.

For me, DVC was more an emotional purchase than a strictly financial one. When I was younger, we had a family vacation at Vero Beach, and my dad made us all attend a DVC seminar so he could get the gift card. At that time, I was in no way able to purchase in. However, I was interested. It was many vacations later when I was old enough to afford it on my dime (most of them at POP) when I decided to splurge and stay at Contemporary. They actually put us in BLT which was relatively new and still selling. During that trip, I went and talked to a DVC rep and ended up buying my first contract. My selling point was NOT finances as I knew it cost more than my POP vacations. It was more the draw of always have a Disney vacation in my future.

These days, I get moody if I can log into the DVC website and I do not have at least one upcoming trip logged. Which is unfortunately the case today (but I need to rectify that) - first time in a decade, discounting the time Disney was closed due to Covid. We have a big project at work and a few deaths in the family and a financial squeeze hit us all at once which has made planning our next trip.... difficult.

(and yes.... I am moody about it. It's a sore subject so don't bring it up).

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Yes we are so glad we bought 19 yrs ago when a contract was $12K direct from Disney. I kept track and we ROI in 5 yrs.

 

[DduzDis]

How does it factor in if you run out of points and stay at YC instead for a trip or two?... asking for a friend. Come to think of it...I (I mean they!!) may need more points.