Red Headed Step Child!

[honeymo78]

..

 

[k3chantal]

I did compare the same exact room I was getting with DVC paying out of pocket for dining and tickets, with actually booking the same room with Disney directly the only difference was free dining included and the free dining with the same package was cheaper for the SAME room!! I to enjoy the DVC hotels and that is why I purchased my DVC points but after all is said and done if I can book the same room with free dining and tickets cheaper than what my points, annual dues, dining plan, and tickets per trip cost why not do it that way? I too love my DVC just with free dining in play we are not saving money! And the annual passes are only good for family members so we have to pay per trip for any guests.

Part of the 'savings' part of DVC is that it is already paid for. I don't need to find xxxx amount of dollars in my checking account to pay for that hotel stay; all I need to find is the money each year for maintenance fees, which is significantly less than paying cash for any of the DVC resorts for just a few days.

But I must say, I would love to be a guest of yours if you are paying for their tickets into the parks. We have brought two families to enjoy WDW with us but our generosity stops with providing the villa which we share with them (2 bedroom).

Sincerely, next time you go, try a trip without a dining plan. I think you will find that if you eat breakfast in the villa (minimal clean up and prep if it is cereal or toast) and if you purchase a TIW card, that the costs could be less.

 

[Jenngoofys]

Can you share your numbers? I'm having trouble seeing how a 2 bedroom villa booked through CRO with free dining is cheaper than the value of a 2 bedroom on points.

The hotel I priced was Animal Kingdom Villas, 2 Bedroom Savannah View. and paying out of pocket for dining is $3,024 (9nights), basic tickets for those 10 days for 6 adults (12,12,12,13,37, & 40) is $2032. My Points I priced as $11 a point for a total of 419 points is $4609, my dues for those points is $2486 for a total of $12,151, that same room for the exact same time with free dining is $10327. A difference of $1,824. And even if you value your points at $8 you are still spending $567 more.

A two bedroom at rack rate plus tax, plus tickets (with tax) for all six guests with free dining is cheaper than using points and paying for dining and purchasing your two day ticket anywhere you want? In that case, pay cash for that stay and rent out your points to pay for it.

I wasn't using a 2 day ticket I was using the 10 days Id be there, because some are not family members and Id have to pay for them any way. And not any where I only priced Animal Kingdom. I agree with you 100% it would be better for me to rent my points at this time and opt for free dining. Great suggestion.

 

[DizBub]

We have done "free" dining, paid for the dining plan, paid out of pocket for food, had pin codes, paid rack rate. You name it, we've done it (except stay at deluxe resorts). I wouldn't trade my DVC for anything.

When we have run short on points, have considered booking a cash reservation just to go on a trip but can't face the prospect of staying in a regular resort any more. Can't go back......even for "free" dining.......which isn't free at all.

If this really bothers you and you are ok with the regular resorts and don't mind paying the prices associated with the promotions, then maybe DVC isn't for you. If you sell your membership you should be able to pay for many vacations with these types of incentives and feel better about it.

One size does not fit all.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The hotel I priced was Animal Kingdom Villas, 2 Bedroom Savannah View. and paying out of pocket for dining is $3,024 (9nights), basic tickets for those 10 days for 6 adults (12,12,12,13,37, & 40) is $2032. My Points I priced as $11 a point for a total of 419 points is $4609, ....

To be fair, you should value your points at the price you paid for them, plus future value of the money divided by the number of years on the contract. So it might be less than $8 a point.

 

[vicki_c]

The hotel I priced was Animal Kingdom Villas, 2 Bedroom Savannah View. and paying out of pocket for dining is $3,024 (9nights), basic tickets for those 10 days for 6 adults (12,12,12,13,37, & 40) is $2032. My Points I priced as $11 a point for a total of 419 points is $4609, my dues for those points is $2486 for a total of $12,151, that same room for the exact same time with free dining is $10327. A difference of $1,824. And even if you value your points at $8 you are still spending $567 more.

If I was trying that comparison, that's not the way *I* would value my points - at the price I could get for renting them. Not saying you are wrong, because there are various ways to look at it. But when we used to care about such things, I think my DH had come up with a value per point based on our cost of the points over our ownership which nets you a much lower number.

You would also get a different result if you didn't have 6 adults on the DDP. If you were a smaller family with younger children, it wouldn't be such a huge impact to have free dining.

 

[Jenngoofys]

Part of the 'savings' part of DVC is that it is already paid for. I don't need to find xxxx amount of dollars in my checking account to pay for that hotel stay; all I need to find is the money each year for maintenance fees, which is significantly less than paying cash for any of the DVC resorts for just a few days.

But I must say, I would love to be a guest of yours if you are paying for their tickets into the parks. We have brought two families to enjoy WDW with us but our generosity stops with providing the villa which we share with them (2 bedroom).

Sincerely, next time you go, try a trip without a dining plan. I think you will find that if you eat breakfast in the villa (minimal clean up and prep if it is cereal or toast) and if you purchase a TIW card, that the costs could be less.

I understand the not having to find x amount of dollars to cover the cost of that nice a hotel each year, and the luxury paying it in monthly with dues. That is nice. I guess I am just saying paying for the dining plan and Tickets per trip shouldn't cost me more than a room, tickets, and dining at ANY other Hotel.

Yes when we travel we bring my daughters friends, and the families pay for the plane tickets, we pay for the tickets and dining.

We looked into TIW, and it does look like it would benefit us if we went more than once a year (with the $100 Fee) or for longer trips, and I'm sure in the future we will. Thank you for the suggestion. My Husband likes having things paid for in advance that's how we ended up getting DVC (obviously other factors as well LOL), so he opted for the dining plan this trip.

 

[honeymo78]

I too would value my points completely differently. The rental rate of $11 would cover my dues on those points as well as the cost/value of the points themselves. I would never use both rental and dues together to calculate cost. However, with your method free dining works

 

[myxdvz]

It's really interesting to me how everyone tries to value their points. To me, my purchase price is sunk cost. The way I value my points now is just my MF/point ~ $4.53

So, 419 points to me is $1898 (with DVC ownership) vs $5866 (with renting) vs $10327 (with Free Dining + tickets).

Since you have 10 people, have you priced it with TIW with 20% savings? And if you know you were traveling with 6 people for 10 days, did you get the discounted PAP (that's $300 saving per person $1800 in your case)?

Coz an apples to apples comparison of this should be

DVC + TiW + Discounted PAP vs Discounted Room / Tickets / Free Dining package.

Any other comparison is not fair.

 

[Jenngoofys]

To be fair, you should value your points at the price you paid for them, plus future value of the money divided by the number of years on the contract. So it might be less than $8 a point.

If I was trying that comparison, that's not the way *I* would value my points - at the price I could get for renting them. Not saying you are wrong, because there are various ways to look at it. But when we used to care about such things, I think my DH had come up with a value per point based on our cost of the points over our ownership which nets you a much lower number.

You would also get a different result if you didn't have 6 adults on the DDP. If you were a smaller family with younger children, it wouldn't be such a huge impact to have free dining.

We own at OKW, and AKL ,the Lowest I could Value my points at was $8 for what we paid, and allowing for costs of dues to go up over the next 40 some years.
I agree if it were not 6 "adults" on the DDP it would be a lot lower But that is what I'm dealing with for this trip. Granted Not the Usual, and as stated earlier renting my points and paying cash for this trip would be smarter.

 

[kkbutterfly]

Have you considered TIW? Free dining isn't 'free' as mentioned above and doesn't TIW give you a comparable 20% discount if you're going to spend alot of money. AND if you really don't want that dessert you can save money and NOT buy it, or share something.

I've never been sold on the dining plan and we have APs so I have no issues with not offering free dining.

 

[honeymo78]

We own at OKW, and AKL ,the Lowest I could Value my points at was $8 for what we paid, and allowing for costs of dues to go up over the next 40 some years.
I agree if it were not 6 "adults" on the DDP it would be a lot lower But that is what I'm dealing with for this trip. Granted Not the Usual, and as stated earlier renting my points and paying cash for this trip would be smarter.

So if your point value includes a dues contingency, that $11 should cover what you paid for points plus this years dues. You are double counting dues with the 12k figure.

 

[Jenngoofys]

It's really interesting to me how everyone tries to value their points. To me, my purchase price is sunk cost. The way I value my points now is just my MF/point ~ $4.53

So, 419 points to me is $1898 (with DVC ownership) vs $5866 (with renting) vs $10327 (with Free Dining + tickets).

Since you have 10 people, have you priced it with TIW with 20% savings? And if you know you were traveling with 6 people for 10 days, did you get the discounted PAP (that's $300 saving per person $1800 in your case)?

Coz an apples to apples comparison of this should be

DVC + TiW + Discounted PAP vs Discounted Room / Tickets / Free Dining package.

Any other comparison is not fair.

We are a total of 6 people not 10. If they all lived with me the discounted Annual Passes would have saved me a lot of money. But since they are not I have to buy tickets for them. And since I am not going to the parks within the next year the annual passes wouldn't make sense for any of us.

I too would value my points completely differently. The rental rate of $11 would cover my dues on those points as well as the cost/value of the points themselves. I would never use both rental and dues together to calculate cost. However, with your method free dining works

I also added the savings in for the cost of $8 per point which is what my points cost. Not everyone of us paid the same for our points. I mean the cost per point difference between my OKW and AKL is $30. So what works for your Cost per point is not the same for me. I averaged the 2 together. I took the total of my points cost (per contract), added in dues for the contract period, and $8 is what I came up with. If anyone is paying interest by paying a loan the price goes up.

 

[honeymo78]

I completely understand we all pay different prices and some finance. However, your 12k total includes a 4600 rental valued at $11/point PLUS 2500 in dues. I'm only arguing that your dues are already factored into the 4600 amount and shouldn't be added again to get to 12k.

 

[Jenngoofys]

So if your point value includes a dues contingency, that $11 should cover what you paid for points plus this years dues. You are double counting dues with the 12k figure.

You are absolutely right!! Thank you for pointing this out. I really feel like an idiot L:OL!! So I take back my figures. And in the end Id be saving $662 Using DVC. Honestly being proven wrong never felt so good LOL

 

[WDW in Pearls]

What OP said is exactly why I'm undecided on DVC. I think it'd be wonderful to have a "home", but I feel like I'd miss out on a lot of deals. I almost wonder if its worth it financially considering the special offers I've gotten. I'm sure I will spend many hours one night over an Excel spreadsheet determining this in the near future.

 

[thepops]

One other thing on the TIW card... That looks like it could save you about $500 ($600 in savings - $100 cost for the card). And since your DH says he wants to prepay so he doesn't have to worry about it, buy $3200 worth of Disney gift cards to prepay your meals with or put it on a prepaid visa gift card (and you'll still have $ leftover when you're done) and you have the best of both worlds!

 

[bocaj1431]

Well poop. My family and I are headed home in August. I love DVC and signed on because it truly is our happy place. However, I'm thinking, there are many that look forward to incentives.. we so don't. We DVC'ers are a big fan base but I'm thinking they don't give a fig about us. Are we offered disney dining for our stay, yeah no. Jumping off my soap box, just being pissed. I love my DVC but hating it none the less. I feel like they don't give a tinkers damn.

By the way, I have red hair and I am a step child. ha ha. I never really care for this expression. I know you mean nothing by it but maybe next time use a different phrase.

 

[k3chantal]

We are a total of 6 people not 10. If they all lived with me the discounted Annual Passes would have saved me a lot of money. But since they are not I have to buy tickets for them. And since I am not going to the parks within the next year the annual passes wouldn't make sense for any of us.



I also added the savings in for the cost of $8 per point which is what my points cost. Not everyone of us paid the same for our points. I mean the cost per point difference between my OKW and AKL is $30. So what works for your Cost per point is not the same for me. I averaged the 2 together. I took the total of my points cost (per contract), added in dues for the contract period, and $8 is what I came up with. If anyone is paying interest by paying a loan the price goes up.

I think you would save a lot of money if you had your guests pay for their tickets and food. You probably would 'save' more than the difference you are finding between a cash stay and a DVC point stay.

 

[k3chantal]

By the way, I have red hair and I am a step child. ha ha. I never really care for this expression. I know you mean nothing by it but maybe next time use a different phrase.

I agree! My daughter is a red head and by no means is she second rate in our family.