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

[Daitcher]

Buy where you want to stay !

Why exactly? I own SSR and stay wherever I want now. We usually stay at BCV & BWV booking at the 7 month mark. What possible reason would DVC have to rescind staying at other resorts? The flexiblity is what makes the program. If you must travel peak times then buy where you want to stay. If you have an ounce of flexiblity or cannot book at least 8 months in advance it makes no difference where you own. Traveling to WDW during school breaks is not a vacation and we will NEVER do it.


DAVE

 

[Daitcher]

Another thought on this great topic. Resales values are still high right now. They bottom is going to fall out soon. Who would be willing to buy a resale with only 10 years use left? Nobody unless it was ridiculously cheap. Time is running out on the older resorts and sooner rather than later the resale value will be falling. This may not mean much because most people probably plan to keep the contract. I like knowing that with my SSR contract I have quite a few years left before the value drops. Hey it might go up as older resorts near the end of the term and new resort pricing increases. I wonder how those "buy where you want to stay people" will feel when there beloved resort is worthless? I strongly urge new DVC buyers to consider the extra years and future value. You never know when an emergency may arise and you must sell. You'll have to pry my contract out of my cold dead fingers.


DAVE

 

[disney-super-mom]

Why exactly? I own SSR and stay wherever I want now. We usually stay at BCV & BWV booking at the 7 month mark. What possible reason would DVC have to rescind staying at other resorts? The flexiblity is what makes the program. If you must travel peak times then buy where you want to stay. If you have an ounce of flexiblity or cannot book at least 8 months in advance it makes no difference where you own. Traveling to WDW during school breaks is not a vacation and we will NEVER do it.


DAVE

Well, it's not so much a worry that Disney would change the flexibility of the program. As I said in a previous post, it probably would never happen.

BUT - as Disney builds more and more DVC resorts, and the number of DVC members increases, the harder it will be for you to book wherever you want to stay, especially at the smaller DVC resorts like BCV and VWL. The number of members WILL increase over time, but the number of villa rooms at BCV or VWL WON'T. For example, lets say in 8 years, you want to book a room at the BCV. However, during those 8 years, the number of DVC members has doubled from today. As we all know, BCV are in high demand due to it's location, so your chances of being able to book a room there in 8 years is very very small, unless you have the 11 month home resort booking advantage.

If you're happy at SSR, then you bought at the right resort for you.

 

[pouncingpluto]

I'm 27, and my husband is 34. I won't even have hit retirement age when the older DVC resort contracts are over, and I just hated the sound of losing our DVC at that point. We want to have those points in our retirement!

We've toured SSR but not stayed there yet. We basically feel that it's lovely and we are happy to stay there sometimes, although we want to stay at the others (especially BWV) too.

I'm half wishing we had bought 150 at SSR and 50 at BWV (so we could bank and borrow and have 150 to play with at 11 mos) instead of all 200 at SSR, but it didn't occur to me at the time. That would have made for a nice balance between practicality and sentimentality (we were married and honeymooned at BWI).

 

[CapeCodFam]

I'm not worried about 2042. Alot can happen before then.

We travel during busier DVC months and enjoy the extra booking window we have at BWV.

 

[crisi]

Another thought on this great topic. Resales values are still high right now. They bottom is going to fall out soon. Who would be willing to buy a resale with only 10 years use left? Nobody unless it was ridiculously cheap. Time is running out on the older resorts and sooner rather than later the resale value will be falling. This may not mean much because most people probably plan to keep the contract. I like knowing that with my SSR contract I have quite a few years left before the value drops. Hey it might go up as older resorts near the end of the term and new resort pricing increases. I wonder how those "buy where you want to stay people" will feel when there beloved resort is worthless? I strongly urge new DVC buyers to consider the extra years and future value. You never know when an emergency may arise and you must sell. You'll have to pry my contract out of my cold dead fingers.


DAVE

My dad and I have this discussion about remodeling my house. You see, we live in a nice house in a nice neighborhood - not a luxury house in a luxury neighborhood. And when I redo my kitchen I want some really nice cabinets, Silestone counters, stainless appliances, custom tilework done. And we intend to do similar quality work through the house - built ins around the fireplace, a basement full of bookcases. My dad says "you'll never get the money out of that house." And I reply "it doesn't make any difference as long as we are there long enough to get the enjoyment out of it - I can afford it."

I see my DVC contract as a sunk cost. Sure, I could get something out of it if I sold, and currently more than I bought it for. But I didn't buy it for potential resale value ten years out. As long as I get the enjoyment out of it worth the money I put into it, I'm happy. If I wanted an investment, I'd have bought stock.

 

[athenna]

Well, I am 34 (bought last year) and am single and have no children (all though I don't plan on staying that way forever ) and I bought at SSR for the extra 12 years. And I love it! I love how close it is to DTD, and the spa. And yes, I will be pretty old in 49 years (if I'm still around at all) but that's all right with me. I'm hoping my future offspring (and their offspring) will wheel me around if needed around WDW!
Now that being said, most folks say buy where you want to stay! You must think to yourself-if this was the only DVC I could ever stay in would I be happy. The answer for me, and others, is yes, but everyone is different.

 

[Sheetshouse]

Just a quick question....I have 200 SSR but would like to add some HH points (maybe 50).

If I wanted to stay a week at HH that will take 200 points would I still be able to book out 11 months in advance since my points at HH would not be sufficient to cover the whole week. Or would I have to wait and book 7 months out since I would be using my SSR points in addition?

 

[drakethib]

I will be around 70 when my OKW expires.

Hopefully by then if I am alive and skill kicking (I plan on being, it is up to the big guy upstairs) maybe Disney willoffersome kind of extension program for existing members or maybe my DD who is now 3 months old will be a very rich and I will just mooch off of her.

 

[DVCPAT]

Another thought on this great topic. Resales values are still high right now. They bottom is going to fall out soon. Who would be willing to buy a resale with only 10 years use left? Nobody unless it was ridiculously cheap. Time is running out on the older resorts and sooner rather than later the resale value will be falling. This may not mean much because most people probably plan to keep the contract. I like knowing that with my SSR contract I have quite a few years left before the value drops. Hey it might go up as older resorts near the end of the term and new resort pricing increases. I wonder how those "buy where you want to stay people" will feel when there beloved resort is worthless? I strongly urge new DVC buyers to consider the extra years and future value. You never know when an emergency may arise and you must sell. You'll have to pry my contract out of my cold dead fingers.


DAVE

I think you worry too much. If WDW remains the quality resort it is today, the bottom will never fall out. A 10 year contract will be very attractive to people who say “your going to vacation at WDW for 50 years !?!?!?!”. The resale price will always correlate with WDW resort rack rates. For example, In 2025, it might cost $500 per night to stay in a BWV studio. If you can save an individual 50% off the next ten years of WDW world vacations, It will attract a lot of people who don’t want long term commitments to WDW

 

[Disney1fan2002]

We bought in at the 40 year mark (2002). DH was really concerned about what would happen after 40 tear. Because we own another time share forever, he couldn't get over this 2042 date. He then comforted himeslf by saying we could just buy more points (If DVC is still selling)

When we both realized we would be 74 years old, we laughed and laughed! IF we make it that long and I know 74 is not old, but not many people live that long and are still healthy and vibrant, we probably would not be looking to "own" DVC for any length of time.


Besides, by then, our kids will have their own contracts, and we can take our trips on their dime!

 

[Fellowship9798]

My DW and I are both 31 and decided that we prefer the hotel style resorts and really like the Epcot area, so we valued that enough to sacrifice some contract time. I figure who knows what we will both want to be doing in our late 60's when our BWV contract runs out? If we want to continue with DVC for a few more years, I'll bet there will be plenty of 12 year SSR resale contracts on the market to be had for a song. This of course assumes that by that point we haven't already been tempted into an add-on at a future unbuilt resort that calls out to us (Disneyland, AKL, etc.).

Who knows what the WDW experience will be like in 30-40 years? Maybe I'll prefer a different kind of vacation by then. Maybe WDW will be different. Maybe there will be some new megaresort built somewhere that is better suited for me. I hope not, since I want to take my kids and grandkids to WDW, but 12 extra years when I'm in my 70's isn't worth trading a guarantee now and for 37 years of being able to book in the Epcot resort area that I like when I want and guaranteeing advance access to standard view rooms to stretch our points further. But that's my own personal valuation of the choices and a trade I'm willing to make. I've got 37 years to figure out if I made the right choice.

It's a very personal choice that must be evaluated by the individual.

 

[vince971]

I am 34 my wife is 32. I agree you should buy where you would want to spend most of your vacations. I have 225 points at ssr and I would like to try all of the dvc resorts but have no problem with the fact I may have to spend most of my vacations at ssr. I was there in November and had a great vacation. I think you will be happy with whatever choice you make. The extra 12 years, that I hope my kids will enjoy, made the choice easy for us. plus who knows maybe we will have enough points to spend a month during the winter at Disney when we retire!!

 

[Rozzie]

I'm 30 and DH is 33. We actually love SSR and the extra years were really just like a cherry on the pie.

 

[jomik1]

I was 38 and my dh was 39 when we bought at SSR 2 years ago. I'm so looking forward to riding TOT when I'm 88

Seriously, we loved knowing that our boys (currently 12 & 10) and their children will have many memorable vactions at Disney. I hope I'm around to see most, if not all of them.

 

[Dale-n-Chip]

Apparently, I'm one of the very few who don't really care which DVC resort I end up in for vacations. For me, SSR doesn't appear "inferior" to the other resorts. I figure we've got a few years of flexibility if we want to try other resorts at the 7 month mark, even as the DVC membership grows. After that, so what if I "have" to stay at SSR? Cry me a river!

I say if you care where you stay, then buy there. I can respect that some folks feel VERY strongly about the particulars of one resort over others. I have my own "issues" that have nothing to do with DVC. If you don't care, all the PPs comments about longer contracts and "resale-ability" come into play.

Only you can decide if you could be happy at SSR if that became your only option down the road.

My two cents. . .

 

[browniemtb]

I guess I have a few questions for the current young owners. I have 2 children, 5 and 3. We've gone to Disney the last 3 years and stayed at the deluxe resorts. I've been mulling over the idea of buying into Saratoga Springs even though we like the Beach Villas or the Boardwalk. Possibly looking at 200 to 250 points. Has anyone really crunched the numbers and found it to be advantagious to be a DVC member? What are the true feeling out there about being a DVC member??
Any help??

 

[pouncingpluto]

For us, I see it more as getting more for our money, rather than saving a whole lot, since we prefer to stay in 1-bedrooms over studios, whereas we would get just a regular hotel room if we went to a hotel.

But I do think it makes actual financial sense, too, particularly if you don't have to finance or if you're able to pay it off within the first couple years instead of dragging it out to the full term of the financing (fingers crossed that we can do that). If you do the math of what each point cost you per year (49 years) and add to that your maintenance fees, you're paying much less for accomodations than you otherwise would. For us (bought in at SSR at the recent promo rate), I calculate every 2006 point to have cost us under $6.

Obviously, how much financial sense it makes depends on what you do with your points once you've got them!

 

[Jen D]

We haven't bought yet but it looks like we may be going for an SSR contract. The 12 years really isn't a huge factor but I do believe it is a bonus and will help the contract keep its value. Personally I will be very surprised if I am still in this yearly Disney obsession in 50 years, or 40 years for that matter, but I think I have a reasonable assumption it will continue for the next couple decades. I'm not planning to sell or not sell down the line, I just like options and the 12 years extends the options.

The main factor for us is the attractive incentive right now-- but we like the looks of SSR. I agree with Dale n' Chip, I would never buy SSR if I thought I couldn't be happy there. I like the lower point structure (not as low as OKW and standard BWV, but still lower than the resort add-ons) and the decor and everything else. I'm not crazy about the distance to some of the parks and I feel very neutral about Downtown Disney, maybe I'll change my mind later. But I think every resort has its drawbacks and I can be very happy at SSR, although I do intend to try all DVCs. If there was one that I felt was the one I really wanted to stay at every single time I'd try to get that one, but there isn't one I feel that way about. SSR is selling for a very nice price right now and that is good enough for me.

My current plan is to buy in at SSR at 150-200 points, and then hold out for a 75-point add-on at CRV....

Seriously, I do think the next DVC will be another hotel add-on rather than free-standing... which will ease off the possible pressure everyone (including myself) has worried about the huge SSR putting on the small resort add-on DVCs.

 

[cobbler]

browniemtb-
While I am a new member myself. I do keep a spreadsheet of what costs I have actually put out and how much rooms would be at rack rate and such.

Sure I know there are discounts but its less stress and less math involved based on rack.

For example my last stay at SSR was a 1bdrm villa from Sun-Thurs. Cost me 108 points. My cost per point was 5.53. (dues for 2005 and cost per point of 1.70 [that is 83.30 divided by 49 years of the contract]) So that room cost me 597.24.

Same room at rack rate 350 a night, so with tax would have cost me 1951.25.

Sounds good to me