PLEASE Convince Me DVC is Worthwhile!

[Cruelladeville]

Your "investment" in points does appreciate in value. I bought 10 years ago at $56 pp, and had all the same thoughts you have. The value of a studio runs us about $60 per night, and you can't get a studio on-property for that, even at All Stars. So your room at any hotel increases in price over time, whereas buying into DVC gives you a pretty much fixed cost. And our initial investment of 175 pts gave us more than one vacation in a studio per year, so we had pts left over, until we started up-grading to a one bedroom... If we sold our DVC we would have broken even on room costs, even after paying dues every year, so it was really a good deal for us.

 

[DougandBeth]

Is the OP (Original poster) going to ever respond to any of this? Did they make a decision? Do they have more questions?

 

[Paradise East]

I noticed that Starwood (above) had mentioned using Disney Visa Reward's
to pay for dues. What would be the procedure to do so if one so wished?

Dave

 

[alldiz]

I agree that if you are happy at a value DVC is probably not right for your family.
It is a big expense and unless you know you will be spending money on deluxe or moderate accomodation for many years to come....DVC is certainly not a good investment.

Curious though in 10yrs....how much a value room will cost.
Kerri

 

[Brian Noble]

Curious though in 10yrs....how much a value room will cost.

More than it does now. But, WRT a DVC purchase, it won't matter. That's beacuse (a) your opportunity costs on the purchase will outstrip rents in the near term, and (b) annual fees on the DVC points will also increase.

 

[kty]

We also looked into dvc while on one of our disney cruises. Our problem with it was then you are always going to disney - that can be a good thing , but we as a family like to travel to new/different places, and like to stay when and where we want at the drop of a dime. I dont want to take the time to determine what is available when, how many points I have, etc. we as a family just want to go If we want to go to turks and caicos or the bahamas, we can go and not feel guilty about not using our points or selling, saving, etc. To each his own, just thought i would share my thoughts

 

[spaceace510]

We also looked into dvc while on one of our disney cruises. Our problem with it was then you are always going to disney - that can be a good thing , but we as a family like to travel to new/different places, and like to stay when and where we want at the drop of a dime. I dont want to take the time to determine what is available when, how many points I have, etc. we as a family just want to go If we want to go to turks and caicos or the bahamas, we can go and not feel guilty about not using our points or selling, saving, etc. To each his own, just thought i would share my thoughts

Not true. With DVC you are not always going to Disney--you can however. You can go to places around the world (i don't mean disney world). From Europe to Asia to places throughout the US or wherever. You can also do adventures by disney, but disney does not always have to be your destination with DVC

 

[Mamiamjo]

Not true. With DVC you are not always going to Disney--you can however. You can go to places around the world (i don't mean disney world). From Europe to Asia to places throughout the US or wherever. You can also do adventures by disney, but disney does not always have to be your destination with DVC

There are much cheaper ways to travel to other locations. A good Premier II resort can get you some good exchanges. Many of these resorts are cheaper than DVC and have cheaper MFs as well. I personally would not use my DVC points for exchanges etc.

But you could always bank and borrow points so you have a WDW trip every 2-3 years and go other places the other years.

 

[CarolynFH]

Found the 1994 room rates if this helps to show what the savings from "pre paid" lodgeing: All Stars (opening summer 1994) $69 for standard; Disney Vacation Club Resort 2 bedroom $345 Value; Wilderness Lodge $149 standard view Value season;Polynesian $195 standard view Value season.

Do not know or carre what the current rates are, but I know they are a lot more plus the roon taxes. The room rate chart only list standard and value season.

 

[Chellymouse]

DVC is not worthwhile if you prefer to stay at the value resorts or if you are looking at it from that viewpoint. DVC DOES work out to be less expensive over the course of several years and depending on how you vacation. It doesn't sound like you're able to see the true value of DVC and that's why it's probably not a good option for you. We travel to WDW quite a bit and bought in for that reason, as well as we gave up on the values several years ago. We prefer nicer accomodations, values were fine when we were first married and going from poor college students to poor married people, but as we've gotten a bit older, established and much wiser, we want to enjoy our vacations and not scrimp on something just so we can go. Over the course of 10 years, we will have saved around $50K on our vacations. Each person must make decisions based on their individual lifestyles and habits.