Please explain why to buy DVC to me

[supermanfan]

You pay minimum $14,700 to start which only gives you roughly 120 to 150 points which is basically 1 week at a resort so you just paid roughly $2100 a night.

Do you pay that amount each use year when you want points?
Is there a maintenance fee each year as well since it is a timeshare?

I am trying to understand the logic of paying so much and getting so little back.

 

[cobbler]

Well it sure isn't 14.700 per year. That is one time buy in price with dues on top of that every year.

For simple math. At 98 per point over 49 years your points are costing you 2.00 per point over the 49 years. Add to that the 3.83 for this years dues. Your points are costing you 5.83 per point.

If your pick a one bdrm villa for a sunday - Thursday during a lower point time at SSR costing you 100 points, it is costing you $583 (100 x 5.83). Rack for that room is 350 a night so that would cost you 1750 + tax.

I hope that made some sense.

 

[Anewman]

The purchase price is only ONCE, you do not REpurchase each year.
Yes there are maintenance fees each year, currently they are about $3.82 per point.
So on the 150 points you would pay $573.

Look at it this way. After the initial purchase price you are getting 1 week stay(could be much more or even less) for just the price of your Maintenance fees. You could not even stay one week at a Value for $573 this year. And even the studios are nicer than most of the Deluxe rooms, IMO.

In my case we financed the purchase price(200 points) and our total of payments next year will be pretty close to what one week in a 1bedroom during value season would cost if paid cash, INCLUDING maintanance fees. And we were going to go anyways, so instead of paying rent we got some ownership for the same money and more nights to boot. And the real savings come in when purchase price is paid off.

Worse case If it does not work out for us, based on past resale numbers I am confident that we could sell in 5-10 years and get most if not more than todays purchase price.

 

[disworldnum1]

Well first off you have to love Disney.I for one knew we would be going to WDW every year and wanted to stay at BWV.I believe the cost of a room per nite is an average of about 450 a nite.If you stay 7 nites thats 3100(one bedroom)for your stay.I bought enough points for 7 days in a one bedroom and have stayed there every year since purchase(1999)now I roughly paid 11,000. at the time and if I would have had to pay for the room it would have cost me about 18,000.Now factor in my maintenenece fees..about 3900 and I still saved about 4 grand.This is the price to pay for staying on the property.I also rent a 4 bedroom house off property for 600 a week but its not the same as staying on property.

 

[Disney Doll]

You only pay the buy-in amount once. You then pay maintenance fees yearly after that, which are no where close to the same anoung...they run $3-$4 per point, depending on what your home resort is.

Basically, the DVC allows you to stay in superior accomodations for a very good price, which gets even better once you pay off the initial investment.

 

[akalucky1]

The 2BR we stayed in at Christmas for 10 days would have cost us $1500 a night if we didn't have DVC. For less than the cost of 2 nights we were able to spend ten nights.

We do not have kids and mostly use our points for Concierge Collection hotels, DCL and Disney Collection hotels (WDW,DL,Paris). We have used the DVC resorts less than a handful of times.

We think it is worth it for our lifestyle. It is probably one of the best things we have brought for ourselves.

 

[Beca]

Well it sure isn't 14.700 per year. That is one time buy in price with dues on top of that every year.

For simple math. At 98 per point over 49 years your points are costing you 2.00 per point over the 49 years. Add to that the 3.83 for this years dues. Your points are costing you 5.83 per point.

If your pick a one bdrm villa for a sunday - Thursday during a lower point time at SSR costing you 100 points, it is costing you $583 (100 x 5.83). Rack for that room is 350 a night so that would cost you 1750 + tax.

I hope that made some sense.

Or, even better.....if you use the current incentive price of $83.30 per point instead of $98 per point, you get $1.70 per point or a total of $553 for the same week. That comes to $110.60 for a deluxe room that has a rack rate of over $300 per night. Less than 1/3 of the rate of a deluxe standard room.



Beca

 

[AFMom]

Because you've been brainwashed since birth to absolutely love everything that Disney puts in front of you to the point of making family and friends think you've lost your mind!
No- Really - what everyone else said! We'd never be able to afford to stay in these accomodations on a yearly basis without DVC. Next Dec we are taking MIL and FIL to a 2bdr and can't wait to treat them to WDW in such a wonderful way! If you go every year, every other year - or more - and stay at delux's or moderates (or if you've really been wanting to!) it may be worth it to you to buy in! But beyond the math - this really should not be looked at as an investment - you should probably have some sort of emotional need for Disney! There are other timeshares (and from what I've heard - nice ones) that are less expensive - but DVC is certainly for those who really want to stay on property every time and are willing to pay the extra for it.
Back to the investment thing (or lack of it - ) The price has consistently gone up - and from everyone here who found out about this a lot sooner than we did - they seem to all say they wish they had bought in sooner! You also need to know that SSR contracts expire in 2054, and the rest expire in 2042 - meaning all you've paid in is gone after those dates and no one yet knows what will happen then.
Hope this helps!

 

[spiceycat]

I brought back in 1993.

it was a good deal then. Now it is almost out of my budget range....

it works for me! BIG TIME!!!

I simply love it.

 

[cobbler]

I also just look at it as pre-paying my vacations at today's prices. Kind of locking in the rates on today's prices so I can stay even if I can't afford tomorrow's prices.

 

[Mister Incredible]

I'll be honest, when I saw all the DVC booths around the park I thought it was the biggest rip off. I said, "Who in their right mind would buy into that crap!"

On one trip I ran into an old college roomate of mine. He told me he was a member. I told him he was crazy. He then explained all the benefits and how it worked. The week after the trip we invited him to dinner at our house. A day later my wife was on the phone with a sales rep.

My only regret was I was foolish not to look into it more when we were first down there.

We have been member since '97. At one point we banked and borrowed and brought 23 of my family members down. We picked up the tab for 5 nights using our points. My parents were chosen as Grand Marshalls because we had special shirts made up and they thought we were a tour group. It was the greatest trip I ever had. We still talk about it all the time! I credit that to the DVC because we would have never been able to do it without the points.

 

[sleepydog25]

I am trying to understand the logic of paying so much and getting so little back

I'm not sure if too many on here would admit to being totally logical when it comes to all things Disney! However, there is a logic behind buying into DVC as long as you know what you're getting. As many others have said, it's a one-time buy-in (unless you decide to purchase more points later on), and essentially what you're doing is prepaying your accomodation expenses up front for the next 49 years (if you buy into Saratoga Springs--the other resorts' points will expire sooner). The accomodations we're talking about are deluxe: studios, 1BRs, 2BRs, and at some resorts, a 3BR grand villa. If you enjoy staying at economy or moderate hotels just as much as a deluxe, then DVC might not right for you.

Another thing to consider is how often you plan to visit WDW or their partner collections of resorts that are available to DVC members worldwide--if you only vacation rarely, then again DVC is likely not a good choice. On the other hand, if you plan to travel to WDW every year or two for the next few decades, then you'll come out ahead.

Finally, two smaller points to consider. First, do not consider DVC to be an investment. Though it is currently possible to resell DVC contracts and possibly make a profit, there is no guarantee of doing so in the future. Second, one poster mentioned banking and borrowing. What makes DVC attractive to many is that you can bank points from one year to the next or borrow from one year ahead to the current year. In other words, if you had a 150-pt contract and you couldn't or didn't want to travel on vacation in 2006, you could bank all those point to 2007 for a total of 300 points. Or, if you wanted to stay in a 2BR villa at a peak season in 2006, you could borrow as many of your 2007 points as needed to add to your '06 points. In fact, you can bank, borrow, and use current year points all in one year; e.g., you wanted a grand villa in 2007--you could bank '06 points, borrow, '08 points, and use '07 points all at one time. Such a concept makes DVC a very flexible option.

Only you can decide if buying into DVC makes sense for your particular situation. Many feel it's not a cost effective means to enjoying WDW. Others feel it is the best deal going. There are plenty of links--including some FAQs on the main DIS page--to find out more about DVC membership. Good luck in your decision. aw:

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[missincredible]

My DH and I have been going monthly to Disney. We are Florida residents so we take day trips. It took us three years to make a decision on the DVC. We bought in June of this year. We wish we would have done it sooner. Now we realize we didn't buy enough points. 150 doesn't cut it. We just spent last week there. It was awesome not to have to pay for the room, but do all the other great things that Disney has to offer. We will have ours paif off in two years, than we wil be back for more points.

My only suggestion, look for other financing. We got a better deal with our bank with a home equity loan. If you can put as much cash down and get a loan for less than half, it will be more cost effective. The interest won't add up.