Purchasing DVC

[Deb & Bill]

DVC is more than a room, Bill. It's a club....
Yes it's just a room. But that's an incredibly downer way to look at it. In our view, that room enables so much more.

No, it's not a club. It's a timeshare. A timeshare located at a really neat place to vacation.

 

[disneynutz]

DVC is more than a room, Bill. It's a club.

Really.

Saying that DVC is just a room and the parks are something different is like saying that a cruise is just a boat and the scenery is just incidental to the experience.

I don't drive or fly to Florida from Texas to stay in a hotel room. I'm going to Disney.

By prepaying for the room and tickets with an AP, and by being a frequent guest and not needing to load up on trinkets and junk, DVC allows me to come to Disney for $1500/trip instead of $5000.

That in turn enables me to make several trips each year.

DVC has changed the way we do Disney. We love it.

Yes it's just a room. But that's an incredibly downer way to look at it. In our view, that room enables so much more.

Sorry you see it as a downer, I see it as fact. You can still experience Disney without paying for a DVC contract, you can get a room from Disney or from some other booking agent or you can get a reservation from a DVC owner.

As I posted DVC may save you money on your room which will let you spend more at Disney or take extra vacations at Disney. Just because someone calls owners club members doesn't really mean that it's really a special club. DVCMC does offer member only paid events to create the club atmosphere and that's nice, they also offer a member only cruise for grandfathered or direct buy customers with some extras and activities but the owners pay a high price to attend, sometimes $1000 or more extra.

Bill

 

[ziravan]

No, it's not a club. It's a timeshare. A timeshare located at a really neat place to vacation.

Of course it's a timeshare

But it's no more unrealistic to call it a club than it is to say it's just a room.

As you say, it's a room - at a really neat place to vacation.

 

[supersnoop]

DVC is more than a room, Bill. It's a club.

Really.

Saying that DVC is just a room and the parks are something different is like saying that a cruise is just a boat and the scenery is just incidental to the experience.

I don't drive or fly to Florida from Texas to stay in a hotel room. I'm going to Disney.

By prepaying for the room and tickets with an AP, and by being a frequent guest and not needing to load up on trinkets and junk, DVC allows me to come to Disney for $1500/trip instead of $5000.

That in turn enables me to make several trips each year.

DVC has changed the way we do Disney. We love it.

Yes it's just a room. But that's an incredibly downer way to look at it. In our view, that room enables so much more.

I have to disagree with you and agree with Bill here. Yes, DVC allows you to visit Disney more often. But that's the Disney magic, not DVC, that makes your trips special. DVC just makes them less expensive and more frequent. If I could sell you a timeshare on a cruise ship, it would still be the same scenery as a normal, more costly room. That doesn't make it a club.

 

[ziravan]

Sorry you see it as a downer, I see it as fact. You can still experience Disney without paying for a DVC contract, you can get a room from Disney or from some other booking agent or you can get a reservation from a DVC owner.

As I posted DVC may save you money on your room which will let you spend more at Disney or take extra vacations at Disney. Just because someone calls owners club members doesn't really mean that it's really a special club. DVCMC does offer member only paid events to create the club atmosphere and that's nice, they also offer a member only cruise for grandfathered or direct buy customers with some extras and activities but the owners pay a high price to attend, sometimes $1000 or more extra.

Bill

I think that you are trying to introduce a bit of reality to future buyers. I can actually appreciate that.

I just think you take it too far. "It's just a room" can be said of any timeshare - or hotel room in Orlando for that matter.

And yet, for most people visiting Disney, a room is an essential part of the equation.

There are cheaper room options outside Disney, heck there are cheaper AND better options. No doubt.

But for the Disney experience, DVC is a great deal - for people who can plan and take advantage of the booking windows, or who are flexible.

I don't think it's possible or even reasonable to remove the room component of a Disney vacation from the equation. It's not just a room because for most people, it's one of four components of a Disney vacation: room, tickets, transportation, food.

DVC doesn't save me money. It enables me to come more often - much more often - than before DVC. Instead of visiting every third year, DVC allows me to visit three times a year.

DVC may not be a club, but it certainly has changed how I do Disney. That's what I was looking to achieve much more than just getting a room. That's what I accomplished with DVC.

 

[disneynutz]

I think that you are trying to introduce a bit of reality to future buyers. I can actually appreciate that.

I just think you take it too far. "It's just a room" can be said of any timeshare - or hotel room in Orlando for that matter.

And yet, for most people visiting Disney, a room is an essential part of the equation.

There are cheaper room options outside Disney, heck there are cheaper AND better options. No doubt.

But for the Disney experience, DVC is a great deal - for people who can plan and take advantage of the booking windows, or who are flexible.

I don't think it's possible or even reasonable to remove the room component of a Disney vacation from the equation. It's not just a room because for most people, it's one of four components of a Disney vacation: room, tickets, transportation, food.

DVC doesn't save me money. It enables me to come more often - much more often - than before DVC. Instead of visiting every third year, DVC allows me to visit three times a year.

DVC may not be a club, but it certainly has changed how I do Disney. That's what I was looking to achieve much more than just getting a room. That's what I accomplished with DVC.

Don't you come more often because you can afford to do so since you have saved money by owning DVC?

The room/resort is an important part to the Disney equation but you don't have to be an owner to use a DVC room. The theming of the room and resort are very important to my family and to be blunt some of the new DVC refurb design choices are not our favorites. The resorts are also important to us but other than OKW and SSR, the DVC rooms are part of a non-DVC resort. Because we enjoy the rooms so much, DVC maintenance and room cleaning are important but in the last couple of years the wear and tear on some of the rooms has reached an all time high. My guess is that we have issues around 60% of the time but it's interesting that we have never had the same amount of wear or cleaning issues when staying on a cash rate or when staying at other hotels/resorts.

Bill

 

[ziravan]

This is what I've been doing the last hour.

I only have a few points avail in either of my accounts simply because our trips for the next 11 months are all booked.

My niece is a CM and was in a car accident the other night. She's OK, but my Stepfather and Sister (her Poppy and Mom) are making an unplanned trip to Orlando tomorrow, just for the night.

So. Knowing that people have to cancel today if they aren't going last minute, I checked to see what's avail. I found a AKV Value for tomorrow night, 9 points. But, I only had three points in my account. I have a split stay next year where two nights were at BWV BW Room 17 points each. While looking over points to see where I could save points, I found BW Standard rooms avail for those dates, 14 points.

I changed the BWV BW rooms to Standard for those 2 nights, added those 6 points to my 3 points avail, and viola! My Stepfather and Sister have a AKV Value room booked for tomorrow night.

Yes. DVC is a timeshare, but it's a danged good one.

 

[zavandor]

I bought 3.5 years ago and I'm still in my honeymoon period. To be totally honest I don't know if I would buy now. I paid 60% less than today resale prices. It is for me a way to treat myself with better accommodation and it works because I bought during the best moment for buyers.

The negativity here is from people who know the system well and they know how pixie dust can affect someone during a trip. Believe me, I'm in Disneyland right now and I know what a pixie dust high is

Take the time to understand all the details of DVC. Everyone is diffentent and only with the right amount of knowledge you can understand if this system is for you.

 

[dvcmom14]

I love our DVC membership and I'm so glad we did it. No question. The only thing I wish we'd done differently is some more research up front. We had no idea what DVC even was before our tour at WDW and we bought without doing enough research. I would have much rather bought resale at AKV right up front instead of buy at VGF direct. Now, we're selling our VGF contract and have purchased our AKV resale because that's the resort we love and want to stay at most often.

All that to say - I love DVC, but had to do a bit of work to personalize it for our family and our vacation style.

 

[DougEMG]

Is anyone still happy with their DVC purchase? Let alone a direct purchase from Disney?

I still love our DVC purchase and wish I had of bought more points. I bought resale though back in 2010-2012 when prices were really low, $50/point with lots of free points on the contracts.

I bought DVC as the most economical way to stay in a DVC room, after all you could always rent points or pay cash for the same room, so there had better be some good savings in owning.

For me personally, the current direct prices are higher than I'm comfortable with paying.

 

[CarolynFH]

We've been owners for 18 years now and are still happy with our purchase. As has been pointed out, having DVC has allowed us to vacation at WDW more often than we would have been able to otherwise, not just because the room was "paid for" but because the four of us could no longer fit in one hotel room! We too have treated family and friends to vacations they wouldn't have had as well as giving our daughter the WDW honeymoon she had wanted since childhood. Now we're retired and can enjoy longer trips "just the two of us." But we've been fortunate to have opportunities to vacation in places other than WDW, too, so buying DVC didn't restrict us. So again as others have said, you need to consider how you like to vacation now and also how your family and vacation desires might change, before making your decision.

 

[CarolMN]

Here is what I'd take away from the posts here if I were looking at buying.

DVC is not perfect. There are things about DVC which you are likely to find disappointing. Be realistic about that. When you turn over your money to DVC, Disney has you committed. You can't walk out because the room sucks and contest the credit card charge, a threat to never come back is empty. Rooms get shabby prior to the refresh cycle. Availability is often a lot harder than you would wish or understand when you are at the point in the process you are now. Perks come and go, and Disney doesn't see DVC as a loyalty reward program where they shower you with perks.

There are things about Disney that over time you are likely to find disappointing or have not planned for. Tickets get more expensive every year, and when you go from two small children to two "Disney Adults" the park tickets get really expensive - and sometimes the kids would rather be at Universal, or the beach. Sometimes your favorite attractions or restaurants disappear (RIP Adventurers Club, goodbye Wonders of Life pavilion). Over our Disney life together (we married in 1995), the food has gone from pretty good to barely edible - and at a dramatic increase in price.

There are things about your life that will change over time. Your kids will get older and may want to go different places - or be where mine are where there is no time on the calendar that there isn't school, sports practice, rehearsal, leadership retreat, or mom and dad having a work commitment (ETA: We can't even travel over Spring Break - baseball tryouts and practice is over Spring Break). Your finances may not always be what they are now. You may have a period of poor health that makes Disney difficult.

Be realistic going in. Understand what you are contractually getting - because that is all Disney is obligated to give you. Make plans for "what happens in ten years when our kid is doing traveling soccer and we don't have time to travel" - there are options like renting points that can keep you content through that period. Know what availability is like - so you aren't disappointed by not being able to get a room for a week at Hilton Head during the Summer, or not being able to get that trip to Disneyland. Understand the cost of cruising on points if that is a driver for buying direct.

The people complaining here have a valid perspective. Your opinion under the same circumstances may be different and the things they are complaining about may not bother you or knowing about them, you may be able to compensate for them. But take your time to understand them - setting realistic expectations for your DVC experience can be the difference between being delighted and disappointed

We've owned since 1999 and I agree with everything crisi said, but I'm still glad to have our DVC and am a long way from ready to sell. I'd still want to own, even if I knew everything that was going to change with Disney when we first purchased. It's been a very good value for us and I'm happy that DVC still provides the discounted annual pass and other perks. I'm looking forward to Avatarland (AK), Star Wars and more in the coming years.

your friend - FWIW, the DIS DVC posters on this board report their bad experiences much more often than they do the good. (We all expect a good experience every time). I do not doubt that these bad things happened, but they have not happened to us in over 15 years and my guess is that they do not happen for the vast majority of other owners, either. As you become more familiar with the boards, you will learn for yourself who is mostly negative, who is always positive and who is fairly balanced in their opinions and postings. Glad to have you here! Don't be a stranger.

 

[jedcaum]

I'm going to chime in here, with some simple numbers. Our first contract with DVC was AKL, for 190 pts.

190 pts @ $105/ pt was a very nearly $20K investment in 2007. We've had at least one week at Disney every year since, almost all of them between Christmas and New Year. Yes, that's right, we're part of the problem! It's a magical time for us, we've learned how to deal with the crowds, and FOR THIS PARTICULAR USE, DVC is a great value. We can reserve well out for the week we need, and we simply could not get the reservations otherwise. We'd be paying every bit of rack rate if we wanted to go cash.

It made sense for us because we knew while our kid was young we'd want to go every year, and the timeshare made us prioritize that trip in addition to making the costs manageable. Not cheap, but manageable.

Another perk in buying direct at the time we did - we got triple points the first year. That was worth a lot to us, as it fit what we wanted to do, we were able to bank all of our actual contract allotment for two years which set us off down the path nicely, and mathematically (had we paid for those two extra trips in cash) almost paid for the upfront buy-in. You can't get those deals retail.

Here's the part people don't really think about in the Direct vs Resale equation, or don't talk about much - Maintenance Fees.

We've paid around $100/month (average) over that 9 year period. Over the life of our contract, we will pay FAR more in yearly dues than we did in upfront costs. That's where the real expense of DVC is. 50 years, $1200/year that increases 2%/year, give or take... It's way over 4 TIMES what we paid in upfront costs, and will be, no matter how good a price per point we manage resale.

What I'm saying is, while it can be eyepoppingly more expensive to purchase from Disney direct, it really just depends on what you want from your contract and whether you want to stay for certain at a place that only Disney is selling right now. The real money is in the dues, and they will overshadow even a very expensive contract over the life of the deal.

All that said, we just made an offer for 160 pts at VWL. We will pay around $14000 for this contract, so we are saving a tad, but not much, over the price we paid direct a decade ago. We can't ever get into VWL over the holidays which is when we travel. We liked the rooms the one night we did stay, and the restaurants the couple times we've eaten there. Excited about the pool upgrade. We like the quiet of this lodge. Our family is getting older (if not bigger yet) and we wanted enough points to do a 1 br or bigger and still do the yearly RCI exchange reservation we like to do to mix things up.


For us, the value is there, the flexibility is nice, the perks of a contract at two different lodges was attractive, etc. So for us, despite going in eyes wide open on costs, we decided to double down instead of complain or bail on our contract. We even bought a 2042 instead of a 2057 or 2054 contract, because where we wanted to stay came into the equation. Whether you have a contract you can resell or not when you are finished with it doesn't really enter into it if you intend to hold on to it for life, as we do.


I'd say DVC is worth it if it fits your life and your travel style, and if you really enjoy the Mouse. If these things aren't true, it isn't.