Question for people in their 30's(and others)...

[Jon99]

Buying into DVC with a VWL contract would only give us vacations until we in our mid 60's while SSR would go well beyond that.. Even though we love VWL, at what point is getting SSR more practical????

 

[Cinderella]

Hi, I am 36 and have 150 pt at VWL and just added 250 at SSR - WL gives me until early seventies and SSR until early eighties. If I were you i would seriously take a look at SSR - you could still swap to WL now and then but you'd have the extra years and then there is the current 15% discount incentive. I am a no 1 wl fan, but i really did love ssr and could see us spending a lot of time there. I think it's not just a matter of whether you will use it until then - my way of thinking is that i may only use it until i am in my sixties - who knows, but there will still be a few years left on the contract by then, either to sell or rent out.

 

[utahkennedys]

We picked a resale at OKW b/c I loved the resort after touring them all in person. I am also frugal and loved the OKW point structure. SSR wasn't for me because I grew up in Boston and our vacation style is more "tropical". We are 31 and we didn't care about the extra years right now, we cared more about where we wanted to vacation in the next 30 years. So, my advice is to pick your favorite resort instead of trying to guess where you may want to vacation when you are 80. I am not even sure I will be around then!!!

 

[Aneille]

My husband and I are both 31. And we opted for BWV. We really liked it there and didn't care for Saratoga as our home resort and at the time the only difference was the extra 12 years. We did think about it for a very long time though.

Now if Disney is still offering the current SS promotion I would have to even more seriously consider purchasing there.

We bought where we saw ourselves wanting to be more often, now with our kids and later when we were older. But we only bought enough pts (including a small cushion) for our family size now.

I think we will eventually do an add-on of about 60-70 pts to cover having to go during school vacations in a few years and also our 3rd child is due soon and then we will certainly always need a 2 bd then. When we do this we will purchase at whatever is the "new" resort with the longest contract.

My thought is if we want to keep 1 Disney contract when we are older and the kids our out of the house, we will keep the add-on one and sell the oldest first.

Thats how we thought about it though.

 

[cavecricket]

Hello!

I am 24 and I just purchased 200 SSR points.
My cousins bought last year and stayed at SSR this past oct and LOVED IT we are from Rhode Island and I figured we would hate the concept of SSR but we are going to try it out !

 

[Daitcher]

If it was me this is a no brainer. With the current SSR incentives and the extra years, a SSR purchase seems to be the way to go. If I had more time I would run some thorough numbers for you. Look at it this way, how much is 12 years of vacations worth? You are giving up 12 years of vacations by buying anywhere else. Lets assume a 200 point purchase, renting at $10/pp works out to $2,000 a year times 12 years. This is approximately $24,000 in vacations you are losing by buying anywhere else. Is a resale purchase $24,000 less for the same number of points? No, and besides we own SSR and never have had any trouble booking other resorts at 7 months. The busiest times could be tough but right at 7 months isn't too tough. You could then add on a small amount of points at VWL if you wanted to take trips there every other year. This would give you the 11 month priority there. Good luck. You know where my vote stands and I'm not a fan of SSR.


DAVE

 

[MrsNick]

I'm turning 34 this month, and bought at SSR. For me, the big point was the extra 12 years, coupled with the incentives. Even if I bite the dust before 2054, my kids (when I finally have some) can take my grandkids. Or, maybe I'll just live in SSR year round, instead of an assisted living facility.

 

[crisi]

39, figuring I may only have a few productive years of vacations by the time DVC expires, and it really isn't worth it to have home resort points at a resort I don't like (I'm sure its a fine resort, my DH and I just don't like it) for the 38 years I held the contract (we bought before SSR was announced, but I don't regret not owning SSR). If we continue to vacation at Disney in our retirement, we will pay cash and be happy - I wouldn't be happy at SSR in my 60s anyway.

 

[tmt martins]

We bought SSR now for the extra years being 40 ,DD will make out like a bandit .I know we will do an addon in a few years so I just figured we can plan on a new resort or 1 of the current ones for our midweek trips.
We also don't mide where we stay a place to lay our head is all.But we love SSR and DTD so it all fits for now.

 

[mydogdrew]

If it was me this is a no brainer. With the current SSR incentives and the extra years, a SSR purchase seems to be the way to go. If I had more time I would run some thorough numbers for you. Look at it this way, how much is 12 years of vacations worth? You are giving up 12 years of vacations by buying anywhere else. Lets assume a 200 point purchase, renting at $10/pp works out to $2,000 a year times 12 years. This is approximately $24,000 in vacations you are losing by buying anywhere else. Is a resale purchase $24,000 less for the same number of points? No, and besides we own SSR and never have had any trouble booking other resorts at 7 months. The busiest times could be tough but right at 7 months isn't too tough. You could then add on a small amount of points at VWL if you wanted to take trips there every other year. This would give you the 11 month priority there. Good luck. You know where my vote stands and I'm not a fan of SSR.


DAVE

I agree that it's difficult to justify resale vs. SSR at $83 - at least until the resale market reflects this discount in resale prices. However, it is misleading to suggest that there is a $24,000 difference. In today's dollars, those vacations starting in 2042 would be valued at closer to $3,000 (i.e. $3k invested today at 5% will get you a $2,000 annuity for 12 years starting in 2042). Yes you can argue the rental rate inflation factor and I could counter with a discount rate more in line with expected rate of return. I don't care for SSR so I would prefer to own where I anticipate staying (and if I want, I'll buy a cheap SSR resale in 2042).

 

[agotta]

We were 24 when we bought into SSR, but frankly I don't care where I own my points at this point. We stayed at SSR and really didn't care for it. We will not use our points there again unless we are forced too. We got a great deal at the time and are excited to have our points for so long.

 

[gppnj]

I'm in my late 30s. I bought at VWL rather than SSR. (SSR was the current resort when I bought.) I figured I'll be lucky if I make it long enough to even use all of my VWL contract, and if I'm still around after that, going to Walt Disney World probably won't be my top priority. (If it is, there's always cash.)

There are a lot of people who are concerned with leaving DVC to their heirs. If that's a concern for you, that might tip the scales toward SSR. I'm not concerned about that, though.

One other point: One argument some people use to argue for non-DVC timeshares as opposed to DVC is that many non-DVC timeshares offer perpetual deeds rather than deeds that revert back to the original owner. I was aware of this when I bought, but it made absolutely no difference to me. Unless they figure out a way for people to take it with them, a lease with 36 years left on it and a perpetual lease are virtually the same thing for me: a lifelong lease.

 

[CharlesTD]

We own at HHI I am 36 and my Dw is 33 we also own at SSR and will not purchase another contract unless it is at a resort that offers a longer term of use.

 

[disney-super-mom]

Since we're making such a large vacation investment, we're going to buy where we want to stay. That's more important to us then being able to vacation at WDW when we're in our 80s.

However, if another new DVC resort was built that we really liked, and it just so happened to have an extended contract, we'd absolutely consider buying points there, but ONLY because it's somewhere we WANT to stay.

It would be horrible to invest thousands of dollars into a vacation resort that you hate to stay at! And you never know, at some point the rules could change and only being able to book at your home resort could happen. It probably won't happen, but it could.

 

[cobbler]

I am 28, hubby is 34. We decided we would not buy an older resort for just that reason. We bought SSR so we can enjoy it much longer. It was a no brainer. We got 49 years in our contract. 83 per point which is less per point right now than an older resort - well maybe not OKW - and our resort was newer.

Also the proximity to DTD we figured we would like better as our kids grew up more.

Plus when we toured the resort we liked it really well and wouldn't mind at all if we got stuck there and not able to book at the other resorts. Just as long as I have tried them all at least once first

 

[SSR-CM]

Buy where you want to stay !

 

[dsneygirl]

DH and I went back and forth on this as well before we bought VWL. In the end the atmosphere of VWL and DH's childhood love of Bay Lake and Ft Wilderness won out. Perhaps some day down the road we'll buy into a new resort with a longer contract. But we knew that VWL at Christmas was very important to us and owing at VWL guaranteed that.

 

[PBader]

We have been vacation club members for 11 years. Our initial purchase was at OKW (310,which we dearly love), after that we did an add-on at VB (100). Our vacationing style has changed over the years and I imagine it will continue to evolve more. When we first bought our DS was 6. We would take him out of school to vacation in the off times, my position at the time was a convenience store manager and my husband worked in an auto repair shop. I had a very difficult time taking off in the summers for vacation--it wasn't feasible at all with my work. But as Adam entered middle school--it became increasingly difficult for him to miss school. Now Adam is a sophomore in high school and we have bought the business that I used to manage. We still can not take him out of school and so we vacation in the summer. But with the change of owning our own business--we have a much more flexible schedule and find that me and DH can take much needed vacations and Adam can stay with his grandma. We did another add on of 240 points in 2003 at SSR for the extra 12 years. We still have a diificult time taking extended vacations, but 4 or 5 night trips are well worth it. I would love to own a condo on the beach, but would hate the expense and worry that would bring. DVC has given us the best of both worlds--we probably will do more add ons depending where they build. But I would buy at SSR for the extra years. The great thing about DVC is the flexibility that it gives and being able to do add ons (or sales) as your life changes is the most wonderful aspect of the program.
Paula

 

[DVCPAT]

Since we're making such a large vacation investment, we're going to buy where we want to stay. That's more important to us then being able to vacation at WDW when we're in our 80s.

However, if another new DVC resort was built that we really liked, and it just so happened to have an extended contract, we'd absolutely consider buying points there, but ONLY because it's somewhere we WANT to stay.

It would be horrible to invest thousands of dollars into a vacation resort that you hate to stay at! And you never know, at some point the rules could change and only being able to book at your home resort could happen. It probably won't happen, but it could.

I agree. I believe in preparing for retirement in other ways. I want to be guaranteed a room at our favorite resort anytime we vacation. One of the main reasons we bought into DVC was to vacation at WDW while the kids are young. It would be hard to explain to my wife and kids that we couldn’t get reservations at the VWL at Christmas or the BWV during the peak season.

 

[G8RFAN]

39 and DW is 33. We have never planned for any vacation more than 4 months out. It is just impossible with our careers. While that is generally is not a good trait to have as DVC members, we had only one situation where we could not find something using our points for a particular time period. Since we go so often, we also split time with on-site cash ressies and the occasional off-site.

What I find so interesting is that the 12 year difference may not mean much to some today, but eventually they will have to be. Whether you keep using the points till they expire, pass it on to kids or sell them, the 12 year difference will become an impact in some form. All I know is that I have yet to find a reason to regret buying into SSR, as it has allowed us to sample all the resorts so far. We like SSR and if for whatever reason we could no longer access other DVC resorts, I'd be fine with it.