Poll: For those of you who have owned DVC greater than 5 years, do you plan to stay long term or sell?

[E2ME2]

Been an owner since 2011 with a plan to increase ownership, incrementally, up to and through retirement.
We stayed 5 weeks on DVC points in 2021, and 7 weeks in 2022. We still find great value in our DVC ownership (665 Points), fulfilling our primary reason for purchase; avoiding much of winter in the mid-atlantic.
We also still enjoy walking the parks, Disney Springs, and the golf courses (including the Putt-Putt) We were fortunate that we renewed our APs in 2021. Prior to that, we were buying APs every third year, but now that we're on site for several weeks at a time, it makes the $/Day very reasonable. We still see Disney Magic, and received quite a few sprinkles of Pixie Dust on our last trip, so we have not thought about selling any points yet. We actually would like to add on at BCV, because we got spoiled there on our last stay, being that close to EPCOT and enjoying SAB & Beaches&Cream.

 

[npatellye]

Like a few others, I did not answer because we didn’t buy in until 2019 and I didn’t want to skew your results. We bought RIV with incentives bringing it to around $170/point (plus closing costs) and then added on at OKW in 2021 at $165/point (plus closing costs). We bought both sets of points split so each child can have her own blue card and then some extra points.

We’ve enjoyed some amazing trips since then. We had a few rescheduled but we finally went with our points in November 2020. We’ve been back in May 2021 and December 2021. Every trip has been fun and our kids (8 and 6 at our last trip) have absolutely loved it.

We do have APs. I bought them in January or February of 2020 because I was worried I would forget in May 2020 for our trip. We did renew in 2021 and are planning to renew again. We have always appreciated that there is more to central Florida than just Disney.

We used to say 350 points was enough but, depending on how things go with the Poly tower, we may add another 150 there to get to an even 500. That is absolutely where we will stop, though. We know 350 is enough for us to generally get a 1 bedroom for 7-10 nights spanning Thanksgiving. We also know that, eventually, we will need to upgrade to 2 bedroom units, though we think those days are probably at least 8-9 years away (kids are now 9 and almost 7).

We like to travel to other places, too. We’ve taken our kids to a lot of places internationally pre-pandemic and, in a couple of years, we hope to go back to intentional travel again and to finally take our kids to Paris again now that they’re both old enough to remember it (they went as a baby and a toddler before so neither kid remembers even having gone to Paris).

We have no plans to sell as long as we can afford the MFs. In our eyes, the MFs are affordable so long as Disney is not our only vacation each year. Once we hit the point where we can only go to Disney each year, we will sell. We don’t have an “exit strategy” beyond “sell the contracts”. I’m sure this is not a popular opinion and that’s okay. This is what works for us and I appreciate that different things work for different people.

 

[BekCG45]

This has been so helpful. I am grateful for both the positive and negative viewpoints of DVC everyone has so thoroughly shared here. My husband and I will be taking it all into consideration as we discuss it more.

Also, I feel like I need to start looking into prices for a European vacation! A few of you said your trips to Europe were less expensive and that blows my mind. I am on the East Coast though so it is pretty $$$ to fly from here. (We are a family of 5).

 

[SleeplessInTO]

This is an interesting thread - thanks for starting this, OP. I haven’t responded to the poll since we have only been owners since 2019. But we have gone from 150 points to 500 very quickly. Admittedly we may be in a honeymoon phase still as we are fairly new and are working through a stash of 9 platinum APs, so haven’t been feeling the financial pinch of tickets as much. We intend to use our BWV and SSR points until the bitter, bitter end. We just bought VGF2 points so our daughter can use them if she wants to, in the future. If she doesn’t then we will snowbird here for when we retire.

 

[limace]

Also, I feel like I need to start looking into prices for a European vacation! A few of you said your trips to Europe were less expensive and that blows my mind. I am on the East Coast though so it is pretty $$$ to fly from here. (We are a family of 5).

East coast? There are often amazing deals to Europe from the East Coast (we are on the west coast so I notice and envy those!).

But, for example, I was able to buy amazing airfare from Oregon to Florence Italy for $600 pp. we are paying $1700 for 10 nights in lovely two bedroom apartments. And we are not spending a fortune here. Food, of course, but it’s generally less expensive than at home, and some museum admissions, train tickets, souvenirs.

We are also a family of 5. We were in Florida for ten nights last May-if you add up ticket prices, airfare (and we had another killer deal then and only paid about $800 for all of us where over $300 pp would be more typical) and hotels you’re well over the cost of this Italy trip without even factoring in much higher food costs.

 

[Minniesgal]

We will be holding ours. We love going to Aulani and live in a cold country so will happily stay at our DVC for two weeks for some winter sun and not go anywhere near the parks as we get older

 

[McCrae]

East coast? There are often amazing deals to Europe from the East Coast (we are on the west coast so I notice and envy those!).

But, for example, I was able to buy amazing airfare from Oregon to Florence Italy for $600 pp. we are paying $1700 for 10 nights in lovely two bedroom apartments. And we are not spending a fortune here. Food, of course, but it’s generally less expensive than at home, and some museum admissions, train tickets, souvenirs.

We are also a family of 5. We were in Florida for ten nights last May-if you add up ticket prices, airfare (and we had another killer deal then and only paid about $800 for all of us where over $300 pp would be more typical) and hotels you’re well over the cost of this Italy trip without even factoring in much higher food costs.

Don’t know if you are aware it is quicker to fly to the U.K. from the East coast than it is to fly from the East coast to the West Coast.

Disney is a very special place, but I wouldn’t want to limit it to the only place I go on vacation. Going over to Europe, especially the U.K. is a very easy and rewarding trip and everyone should do it at least once.

 

[limace]

Oh, I am (she says jealously). I was responding to a PP who mentioned they thought of airfare to Europe too expensive from the East coast.

 

[Stargazer65]

Planning to hold until I hopefully age out of my last contract left in 2060.

 

[PalmettoPath]

We're just over 10 years in and just added 200 more Grand Floridian points when we visited last week. Yes, there have been some changes we don't like etc. But that also goes for a lot of things at Disney Parks and Resorts beyond DVC. Things ebb and flow depending on who's in charge, but at the end of the day, we still plant to continue visiting for three weeks each year and so DVC is a far better value than what we would otherwise pay for Disney hotel rooms at the Grand and other Deluxe Resorts. So for us, it is still good value.

 

[BekCG45]

East coast? There are often amazing deals to Europe from the East Coast (we are on the west coast so I notice and envy those!).

But, for example, I was able to buy amazing airfare from Oregon to Florence Italy for $600 pp. we are paying $1700 for 10 nights in lovely two bedroom apartments. And we are not spending a fortune here. Food, of course, but it’s generally less expensive than at home, and some museum admissions, train tickets, souvenirs.

We are also a family of 5. We were in Florida for ten nights last May-if you add up ticket prices, airfare (and we had another killer deal then and only paid about $800 for all of us where over $300 pp would be more typical) and hotels you’re well over the cost of this Italy trip without even factoring in much higher food costs.

This is so good to know! I will definitely keep an eye out for deals! Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[BekCG45]

Don’t know if you are aware it is quicker to fly to the U.K. from the East coast than it is to fly from the East coast to the West Coast.

Disney is a very special place, but I wouldn’t want to limit it to the only place I go on vacation. Going over to Europe, especially the U.K. is a very easy and rewarding trip and everyone should do it at least once.

We definitely have this on our bucket list. Buying into DVC would not make Disney the only place we go on vacation. We plan to go every other year. So we would still take other trips. I am happy to know it sounds like a much easier trip than what I envisioned!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Keeping mine for the long term. I grew up a DVC kid, going to Disney yearly and staying in the DVC villas. My parents bought into OKW the first year it was available and added on over the years, so they could bring along extended family as well on our trips. When I got married we bought our first contract and added on over the years also. My parents are willing their contracts to me when they pass (hopefully not for a very long time) and I will give them to my kids when they’re grown. I figure even if the parks price us out eventually, we can always have resort centered vacations or use them as a home base to explore areas we haven’t yet. It sounds corny but our Disney trips are part of our family now. So many of our family memories and funny stories took place there. I don’t see us ever selling.

 

[DisneyTim76]

The reason I am asking, is because I have seen comments lately, (especially since the Poly2 announcement), that some don’t feel good about the direction DVC is going and have their exit strategy in place. I have seen this with discussion of annual passes as well. Obviously there is also a TON of excitement regarding Poly2 and many on here seem to be perfectly happy with their DVC membership, so there are many differing views.

My husband and I have been looking into DVC for a few months- podcasts, blogs, youtube videos, message boards, Disney guide, etc. I’m sure we still have a lot to learn, but we feel that it makes financial sense for our family and travel habits. At the same time, I want to make sure we aren’t thinking about joining something that many are thinking of jumping ship from. Maybe there is something about the direction DVC is going that I don’t fully understand because I am new to learning about it. Thanks for your votes and feedback!

We’ve only owned DVC a couple of years and have gone to Disney each of the last 4 years. I didn’t vote based on the criteria. With that being said, take what you read online with a grain of salt. There are certainly some negative trends within Disney right now but not enough to get us to jump ship. The internet can go negative very quickly. For every posted complaint there are probably 20 non-posted compliments. If you love Disney, can afford it, and plan to get reasonable use out of DVC then to me it seems like a good idea. Good luck in whatever decision you make!

 

[DeeCee735]

We definitely have this on our bucket list. Buying into DVC would not make Disney the only place we go on vacation. We plan to go every other year. So we would still take other trips. I am happy to know it sounds like a much easier trip than what I envisioned!

We have used our points in other places, Hilton Head (which eventually lead us to buy a Marriott timeshare week there), Sedona, AZ, Aruba, Cape Cod, Charleston. One can use DVC points for Europe as well as the rest of the world through II (used to be RCI), and we hope to do so one day, probably in the year of retirement, not too far off....

We are also looking into a trip to CA, Vegas and S. Florida - all through II using DVC points, so it doesn't just have to be DVC. We have also used our points to cruise years ago a couple of times. Once when the kids were little and once just the two of us when they were in college. There are options, many options. But as stated by a PP, Disney is part of the family now, been doing it for 21 years. I think we'll also use it as a home base, rent a car and start doing overnighters with an hour or two of WDW...never been to the West Coast of FL and looking forward to that.

Dee

 

[BrianR]

Like anything else, having an exit strategy or plan is always prudent just in case life comes at you fast a different direction than you expected. We just added more, but have a plan if one of us has a job / work interruption short term / long term / permanent disability and it involves other funds we have and augmenting with selling contracts in a certain sequence / order. Never plan on selling but always good to have it figured out before having to do it in a panic.

 

[redboat45]

We're holding for now as it's part of our "winter in Florida" retirement plan. However, if we need the money for the kids college we'll sell. That doesn't mean we'll be going to the parks always though. We have 3 day tickets for our 2 week trip in June and we're sort of regretting even having those 3 days. If it wasn't for me 5 year old niece coming we wouldn't have those tickets.

 

[paults]

owned since 2002. With all the nickle and diming going on and all the cutbacks, it's not worth it to us any more.

 

[jodifla]

We have owned since 1996. We have no plans to sell. We bought in at about $62 a point and only have about 200 points. So it would just be foolish for us to give them up because we don't like Genie+ or we are mad about pandemic changes.

People want to snap their fingers and have all the aftermath of the past two years to go away, but the truth is the affects linger on with staffing, supply chains and more. And WDW was becoming way too packed right before the pandemic hit. So changes were always going to occur.

We went last May and it was sure different, but we had a great time anyway. And our Riviera room was going for about a grand a night, but not for us!

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

And our Riviera room was going for about a grand a night, but not for us!

That's the best feeling!