Over 50 DVC owners

[H.Richburg]

I was curious if there are any DVC owners who purchased after their 50th birthday. We don't have children but we have traveled South for the last 4 out of 6 years to WDW. I guess I'm trying to justify the purcashe given my age and wonder if anyone lese went thorugh this decision making process.

Thanks in advance.
HR

 

[ksoehrlein]

My in-laws did. They bought at SSR. However, their situation is different in that they have 3 grandchildren and it's possible that more are on the way.

You may want to ask yourself what my SIL so bluntly (but jokingly) asked them: "Who gets it when you die?"

Aside from that, depending on the number of points you purchase and how you use them, it's entirely possible to recoup your investment (versus paying rack rate for the same accomodations) in just a few short years. I think my family and I have already recouped our investment and we only purchased in 2002.

I'd vote to go for it!

 

[Poohs Pal]

Is 49 close enough. I didn't give age a second thought. Susan

 

[H.Richburg]

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm happy to hear you recouped your investment already. Did you purchase resale or from DVC? How many points did you or for taht matter your IL's purchase.

Thanks for your reply.
--HR

 

[H.Richburg]

Susan:

By all means. I guess I'm getting too wrapped up wondering if I will ever recoup my investment or whetehr its best to hunt fo rhte best deal each year. Also consider vacation one of those descreationary things that could be cancelled or postponed if something came up.

Thanks for the reply. How long have you been a member and where? How's your membership experinnce been thus far? How points did you purchase? SOrry for being so noisey?

Thanks again.
HR

 

[mikesmom]

Well, we're close. We bought in 6 years ago. I was 48 and DH was 50. Our opinion (for what it's worth) is that only MK is chiefly aimed at children. We love Epcot, AK, and MGM comes in third. We go down for the Food & Wine Fest (a reason to own all by itself in our opinion!), sometimes the Flower fest, now and then we go down just to chill out at the resort and never even go in the parks. The resorts are lovely and comfortable, we know what to expect, lots of restaurants to choose from, quiet areas to have a glass of wine and relax, new things to see and do if we feel energetic, in other words - something for every mood. My DH's idea of the perfect hotel is one that has a hot tub, a king size bed, a place he can stash a bottle of wine and a little cheese (doesn't much like public bars), a full size coffee pot, a balcony where he can people watch when he is ready to relax, and a separate room for DS if he comes along (so we can have some privacy). Sounds like a DVC 1 bedroom to me! DH says it's the one place he's been that he forgets completely about work and clients and is immersed so completely that he gets relaxed.
We have also gone down to both Vero and HHI and have loved them both.

Now we do have children. Two are grown and married, one still in college. So we do have youngest son along frequently. The others probably will go more so as grandkids come along. But frankly, we like it for ourselves and only regretted we didn't do it sooner!

 

[Muushka]

I was 47 when we (with no children/heirs) bought into DVC. We thought that it was a chunk of change to plunk down, but for us, the alternative was something that we just were not interested in.

We had both come to realize that we liked staying at the deluxe resorts, we liked the amenities that DVC had to offer (always a king size bed, always a jacuzzi tub.....). I hated playing the "code game"-waiting for codes to come out and then the rush to get them.

Don't get me wrong- we are extremely frugal, but because we are-we can afford to take nice vacations and we are guaranteed the quality that DVC has to offer.

As far as recouping investments, that is a difficult thing to estimate. There are many facotrs involved. But if you wonder about the actual years that it takes to recoup the investment, I would probably ask it on another thread or do a search.

We own 225 points at VWL

 

[DisneyHumbug]

I bought DVC as a 50th birthday present to me!

 

[WithDisneySpirit]

My DM is 68 and my DF is 69 and they just passed ROFR on 230 pts at OKW! They are so excited about this purchase. They will probably buy more because they want to vacation at OKW and HHI every year They are both very healthy and plan to enjoy their points for a long time to come! Isn't that just great I get to take credit because we took them on our first trip home this past October to OKW and they just loved it!

 

[LauraLea]

My DH and I just bought 2 resales, and are trying to buy another. We are in our 50s. We have 1 son and DH has another son from a previous marriage. No grandkids yet and our DS is still in college. We hope to share our DVC membership with our sons and hopefully someday grandchildren. Our DS has vacationed many times at WDW with us and I hope we can continue to do so when he has a family of his own. We are taking my step-son and his wife for there first trip next year. We hope for many more family vacations to come.

Laura



Laura

 

[MJTinNH]

I purchased my resale at BWV a couple of years ago when I was 48. I consider it a pre-retirement gift to me!! Something to enjoy now and after the official retirement date. Also a great hedge against increasing room rates at WDW.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I bought DVC as a 50th birthday present to me!

It was my 50th birthday present too! DH was 51.

 

[ParrotAtOKW]

I was curious if there are any DVC owners who purchased after their 50th birthday. We don't have children but we have traveled South for the last 4 out of 6 years to WDW. I guess I'm trying to justify the purcashe given my age and wonder if anyone lese went thorugh this decision making process.

Thanks in advance.
HR

Well, we're 49 and bought just over a year ago - but I think I understand your issue about being too old to "get your money's worth" out of DVC ownership. My partner is chronically ill and almost certainly won't last as long as our ownership would. It is something we considered. We finally decided that we could probably count on maybe 10 more good years.

We feel like we'll get enough "increased good" out of even just a few years in DVC compared to if we kept on making other arrangements every year. We no longer have to spend a lot of time looking around for the best deals on lodging, planning for the unproductive time spent traipsing back and forth to the laundry room, managing costs incurred from eating out all the time, etc..

When we can't use it any more, we'll sell what's left of out membership for whatever we can get. Even after only using DVC for a year or so, we'll again never count the cost in dollars. We feel like we've already gotten our money's worth out of the deal. Peace of mind, greater sense of ownership and belonging, meeting more really meet people from all over - these are the things we'll measure our membership by in the years to come.

Best wishes to you in your decision making process. I hope we'll get to meet you "at home" somewhere down the road.....

 

[Cruelladeville]

We bought in when I was 47 and DH was 49. The 170 pts were supposed to be a gift to ourselves for when we retire, but once we bought in, things "morphed" into something entirely different, so we had to keep buying points. Now our DDs are closing in on 30, and there are no grandkids in sight. We have 700 pts, and are looking at another 300-350, so that we can vacation with the entire family 3-4 times a year even after we retire. It has been well worth the investment.

 

[bobbiwoz]

That would be us, I was 56 and DH was 58. I consider us slow learners, because we should have bought when we first looked at DVC in '96. What I did then was figure out all of the money that DVC would cost us until 2042, and I said wow, that's silly, we would never spend that on vacations, well, we took another look in '03 and we bought. We gave mom the most wonderful 85th birthday party you can imagine at WDW this past December, it was where she wanted to celebrate her birthday.

It is about memories of times with family and friends. We have one son with a very young family, 3 children under 2 1/2. When they get old enough to travel, our joy will be so great, but it's also about DH and me, we get away and enjoy ourselves. BWV, VB and VWL are our very special homes!

Bobbi

 

[bluedoggy]

Yes DH is 53 and I turned 50 last Oct (spent my BD at WDW). We just sent in our paperwork TODAY for our 1st DVC purchase. This was a goal I set for this year. I always dreamed of spending my SR years at WDW - and now I can...

 

[Poohs Pal]

H.Richburg
I purchased last year,so i am now 50 . I purchased 250 pts at SSR. I stayed at VWL 3 weeks after it opened and wanted to buy at that time but put it off for awhile. SSR was that last little push I needed. DD bought in about 6 months after I did, she's my disney buddy. Now we just need DS to become as addicted as the rest of us. I consider it a great purchase as I plan on being around until my 50 year contact is over. I really enjoy going during december for all the christmas stuff and during the flower and garden festival.
Susan

 

[Deb & Bill]

I was 47 when we bought at OKW the first time, 48 the next, 50 at VWL and 51 at BCV. I'll be going on 92 when DVC takes back the properties. Not a problem for me.

 

[jekjones1558]

I don't even remember exactly when we bought DVC. I think I was about 52 and DH about 64. We started with 220 points. Do we think it is worth the money? So much so that we have purchased another 780 points! We absolutely love bringing family and friends, as well as enjoying trips alone. Sometimes I go with girlfriends. You know that favorite DVC phrase "Welcome Home"? Well, after you stay at a DVC property many times, it really does feel like home.
Some would say we should just buy or rent a place in the area. Not what we want. We love just rolling in to the magic and rolling out again with none of the headaches involved with buying a condo somewhere. And there's no condo that can capture the Disney spirit like a DVC property.
We are living to enjoy today. Too old to worry about what tomorrow brings, unless it's planning our next trip! (Just bought plane tickets last night for Oct. and Dec. DVC trips!)

 

[kathyseb]

We bought 313 points at SSR whenDH was 53 and I was 45. We thought about it for a fleeting moment. We have no children and have yet to decide who we will leave it to.
Last year we added on at BW.
As my husband says,
Growing old is mandatory.
Growing up is optional.

We are both kids when we are at WDW. We go three times a year.
One week in late April for the Flower Festival.
Two weeks in early September.
Week after Thanksgiving.

We are like two kids, you ask how many days it is to any of the three trips and we could tell you in a heartbeat.

I say go for it.