Psychological traps of DVC

[GrumpyInPhilly]

Talking about wrong “bones”, I stayed at an SSR 1BR beginning of october, and have to point out the unusual nexus of doors to the bathroom to and from the living room to and from the bedroom to and from the bathroom. IIRC, BCV, BWV, and VB all have this three door oddity!

Yeah, I'm pretty used to it by now seeing as BCV & SSR are my homes.

 

[Lumpy1106]

The DVC magic band sliders are kinda clunky though. I don't think we'll use ours.

I took one of my daughter's hairbands, looped it over a couple of times, rolled it onto one end of the MB, fastened the MB, rolled it back over the place where the two ends came together - bingo! You've got yourself a flawless slider. If you've got a daughter with long hair you know those hairbands multiply like rabbits anyway - might as well use one for good.

 

[bakerworld]

Personally, I think we largely avoided the DVC Psychological traps. Maybe because we bought when we were older. We've never been big on souvenirs and we've never been park commandos. We've been enjoying WDW since the 70's. We took the 80's off because it was beyond me to lug anyone in diapers on a plane and around a park.

The 90's we hit the ground running. We had family planning meetings and the kids were well aware of expected behavior. I enjoyed mousekeeping making beds, vacuuming, providing coffee and extra pillows. DH said I would start smiling when we entered WDW and didn't stop until a few days after we were home. We looked into the Vacation Club when it arrived and it wasn't in our budgeting means. Every few years I'd look again. When our eldest joined the College Program we finally stayed at OKW and we were glad not to have joined there - just not for us. Then 9 years later we were finally seeing the end College and I dragged DH into the DVC BW Open House. We started out with the 'then' minimum of 160 and have added small contracts over the years so we're up to 345. Considering DVC doubled the points as part of the incentive back then, we're about where the guide thought we should be but with three Homes versus one. Now we're retired and coming to the end of our WDW vacations so we told the kids we're planning to sell in 2028. Suddenly, they didn't want us to sell so this year we added our daughters onto our contracts. They'll both be in their late 60's when the contracts finish so the timing works.

We have enjoyed our DVC villas. Our ideal locations and park habits have changed over the last 17 years but we still are amazed by DVC. DVC let us return to our Polynesian 1970 roots. I know our youngest can't wait to return to a Fort Wilderness cabin, which was our 90's destinations until the 'wild Indian' stage deceased. One of our homes is the Beach Club, which girls loved in their 20's. There's nothing quite like a girls trip in a studio villa - hanging by the pool during the day and enjoying the WS or Disney Springs or a monorail bar crawl at night. I'm sure there will be a Gondola crawl in their future.

 

[BrianLo]

I have fallen into the current psychological trap of a direct contract because my last resale attempt with Aulani was simply so miserable. I can not bring myself around to doing it ever again.

I’m going to buy 25pt direct at Aulani and fully realize it’s throwing a couple grand out the window. Not that I could find a 25p contract - I’d even take up to 100 resale… But at the end of the day I need the points to own enough for the room type, I need them shortly, they’ll come near immediately and not take a six month process that derails and causes me undue stress.

That one isn’t even really on Disney itself…

 

[emchen]

I have fallen into the current psychological trap of a direct contract because my last resale attempt with Aulani was simply so miserable. I can not bring myself around to doing it ever again.

I’m going to buy 25pt direct at Aulani and fully realize it’s throwing a couple grand out the window. Not that I could find a 25p contract - I’d even take up to 100 resale… But at the end of the day I need the points to own enough for the room type, I need them shortly, they’ll come near immediately and not take a six month process that derails and causes me undue stress.

That one isn’t even really on Disney itself…

To me, practicality and pragmatism isn’t a psychological trap! That “couple grand out the window” is providing good value and buys you the avoidance of misery.

 

[Chili327]

To me, practicality and pragmatism isn’t a psychological trap! That “couple grand out the window” is providing good value and buys you the avoidance of misery.

Definitely a good value!!

 

[SugarSweetLee]

To me, practicality and pragmatism isn’t a psychological trap! That “couple grand out the window” is providing good value and buys you the avoidance of misery.

Agree. It's not money wasted if it gets you exactly what you need when you need it.

 

[Girlstar30]

I have fallen into the current psychological trap of a direct contract because my last resale attempt with Aulani was simply so miserable. I can not bring myself around to doing it ever again.

I’m going to buy 25pt direct at Aulani and fully realize it’s throwing a couple grand out the window. Not that I could find a 25p contract - I’d even take up to 100 resale… But at the end of the day I need the points to own enough for the room type, I need them shortly, they’ll come near immediately and not take a six month process that derails and causes me undue stress.

That one isn’t even really on Disney itself…

Thats about $11 a day. I can spare $11 a day is how I would justify it

 

[Cfabar1]

Thats about $11 a day. I can spare $11 a day is how I would justify it

Aka Disney Math

 

[VGCgroupie]

Thats about $11 a day. I can spare $11 a day is how I would justify it

Hey you already don't really care for coffee, so I suggest taking up a Starbucks habit then stop buying it to save $11 a day. Follow me for more sound financial advice.

 

[Girlstar30]

Hey you already don't really care for coffee, so I suggest taking up a Starbucks habit then stop buying it to save $11 a day. Follow me for more sound financial advice.

I was totally thinking about Starbucks and how people spend that much

 

[PolyRob]

I’ve been a little worried about having FOMO if we go resale and aren’t “real” DVC members. I’d have to explain to my kids why we can’t go to the lounge. I’m making that a bigger deal that it would ever be.

I watched a couple videos about the EPCOT and MK lounges, and they really seem underwhelming. I also wouldn’t be happy about having to wait to enter. Other than that, my family has no clue about any of the other perks, so it really only comes down to the AP savings with direct. How long can you really count on that discount, though?

If you're a family of four+ and plan on purchasing APs the savings in one year could honestly cover the difference between direct and resale on PVB.

 

[PolyRob]

To me, the new rooms layout is so much nicer than bwv and bcv, the two bedroom at PIT felt so much more luxurious and bigger than bcv. Maybe it is maybe its not, idk.

I think the Kidani, BLT, VGC, and VGF rooms are where DVC really hit it out of the park. Kidani, BLT, and VGC all have the double bathroom in the one bedroom and BLT, VGC, and VGF are all massive in comparison to the newer builds.

 

[PolyRob]

The DVC magic band sliders are kinda clunky though. I don't think we'll use ours.

These were really only good for the original MagicBand 1.0. Once the puck became round and removable with MagicBand 2.0 circa 2016 it was awkward to have a slider because it couldn't slide all the way up

 

[Girlstar30]

I think the Kidani, BLT, VGC, and VGF rooms are where DVC really hit it out of the park. Kidani, BLT, and VGC all have the double bathroom in the one bedroom and BLT, VGC, and VGF are all massive in comparison to the newer builds.

I havent stayed at the one and two bedrooms in these yet, but I will be staying in a one bedroom at kidani and vgf next year so it will be fun to compare! Is there 3 bathrooms in the one bedroom? We have family staying in the Murphy bed so I hope they will have their own bathroom

 

[intamin]

If you're a family of four+ and plan on purchasing APs the savings in one year could honestly cover the difference between direct and resale on PVB.

Considering the stripped Poly contracts are 160 and then loaded Poly through DVC direct is like what 215 after incentives? Assuming each UY is worth like 16 to 20 dollars per point and then add on benefits of purchasing direct like no resort restrictions and benefits it's a little hard to justify resale currently.

 

[PolyRob]

I havent stayed at the one and two bedrooms in these yet, but I will be staying in a one bedroom at kidani and vgf next year so it will be fun to compare! Is there 3 bathrooms in the one bedroom? We have family staying in the Murphy bed so I hope they will have their own bathroom

I think you'll love them both!

The one-bedrooms in Kidani, BLT, VGC, and PVB IT would have two bathrooms. The two-bedrooms in these resorts would have three bathrooms.

 

[Takeitforgranite]

Considering the stripped Poly contracts are 160 and then loaded Poly through DVC direct is like what 215 after incentives? Assuming each UY is worth like 16 to 20 dollars per point and then add on benefits of purchasing direct like no resort restrictions and benefits it's a little hard to justify resale currently.

There are a few under $160 that pop up here and there, but they go quick. You also don’t have the UY flexibility.

Once I was able to able to factor in Sorcerer pas, MB, referral, CC cash back, etc for direct, it really closed the gap.

 

[Takeitforgranite]

Aka Disney Math

My Disney math is that I have three girls in 8th to 11th grade. Over the next 8 years, we will be buying cars, college tuition, insurance, etc. The yearly cash WDW trips are going to get tougher to justify, especially with the way costs go up every year.

We will be in a good spot to buy direct this winter to get our foot in the door, so it makes perfect sense to lock in much more affordable future annual costs.

 

[Cfabar1]

I think the Kidani, BLT, VGC, and VGF rooms are where DVC really hit it out of the park. Kidani, BLT, and VGC all have the double bathroom in the one bedroom and BLT, VGC, and VGF are all massive in comparison to the newer builds.

I agree... I feel like VGF (1.0) was the pinnacle of the DVC product despite some minor issues I have with it (like the lack of second bathroom in the 1 BR units).

After that, it has felt more and more to me like DVC has been "value engineered" too much...

I have a similar complaint about the DVC 2.0 iteration rooms (BRV, BCV, BWV). The locations are great, but the rooms are quite middling...