So glad we purchased DVC - Saving REAL $

[mjr0483]

We purchased 250 OKW points back in 2000 and it is still one of the best things we did.

We are staying 10 nights starting 8/24 including 4 nights in a 1 bedroom. Yes, we are taking a tour
4 Nights Kidani Studio Savanna
2 Nights OKW 1 Bd
2 Nights Beach Club Villas Studio
2 Nights Boardwalk Villas 1 Bd

This trip cost us 205 Points or $1,232 in dues.
If we were to pay today's rack rate these resorts would cost us $5,137 (Inc Tax)

And people ask me why I go to Disney so much.
I had a friend who stayed 1 week at Polynesian cash last year and I had to smile as I did the same trip last year on points.

 

[mrsR123]

Love, love, love my OKW points. As a family of five, having access to 2BD kept us from killing one another through the tween and teen years. Now as we near the era of no-kids vacations, I am thrilled to think how many nights my points will buy.

 

[jade1]

Yea those of us in a while and/or at the right times (we added a bunch after the crash) are killing it in value. Some of ours are outpacing the dues even. Just amazing really.

 

[rmcildw2m]

We purchased 250 OKW points back in 2000 and it is still one of the best things we did.

We are staying 10 nights starting 8/24 including 4 nights in a 1 bedroom. Yes, we are taking a tour
4 Nights Kidani Studio Savanna
2 Nights OKW 1 Bd
2 Nights Beach Club Villas Studio
2 Nights Boardwalk Villas 1 Bd

This trip cost us 205 Points or $1,232 in dues.
If we were to pay today's rack rate these resorts would cost us $5,137 (Inc Tax)

And people ask me why I go to Disney so much.
I had a friend who stayed 1 week at Polynesian cash last year and I had to smile as I did the same trip last year on points.

I agree all the way for a one time cost I can stay deluxe from now on ,best Disney deal I ever got.

 

[rmcildw2m]

I agree all the way for a one time cost I can stay deluxe from now on ,best Disney deal I ever got.

I also own at OKW AND LOVE IT .

 

[apple9117]

totally agree!

 

[freediverdude]

And I think even people purchasing retail right now, as long as they will be using it for more than 10 years, will still be saving lots of money over the years after that and always being able to stay in the deluxe resorts. If you're a Disney addict and go every year or more I certainly feel it's worth it.

 

[carlbarry]

Your figure for your cost is not accurate.
How much did you pay for your points in 2000?
To get an accurate amount for your cost, you must amortize your cost of purchase over the life of your contract, and add that into your cost.
By not figuring in your purchase price, you are working with an unrealistic figure.

 

[suebeelin]

Your figure for your cost is not accurate.
How much did you pay for your points in 2000?
To get an accurate amount for your cost, you must amortize your cost of purchase over the life of your contract, and add that into your cost.
By not figuring in your purchase price, you are working with an unrealistic figure.

I did this for our huge trip in 2014. We have 200 bwv points and used two years worth of points to book 11 std bwv studios for btwn 3-5 days per studio in mid January (lowest points). Family and friends celebration trip. So probably it was about 40 hotel days total.

Our maint fees were $2400 for 400 bwv points. If the rooms were retail $300 including tax even after a pretty big discount then that's $12k of hotel rooms, conservatively speaking. So, essentially we "netted" $10,600 (let's round that up to $11k).

Since our purchase price on 200pts was not much more (we bought in 2011), and we have had an additional 5 yrs of family trips on top of that big trip, we are definitely at break even now .... and every trip after this is only maint fees cost going forward. Yay!

However we bought BLT in 2014, our addonitis contract, we now need to amortize that one now going forward.... lol.

 

[OhhBother]

We bought OKW in 1996 -- 310 points on the resale market for less than $50 per point. Had free park passes through 1999. Have gone on too many trips to accurately count since then. It was a big purchase for a couple of 20-something newlyweds at the time. But it was the best thing we've ever done. A great use of money and a lifetime of priceless memories.

 

[MouseOfCards]

I did this for our huge trip in 2014. We have 200 bwv points and used two years worth of points to book 11 std bwv studios for btwn 3-5 days per studio in mid January (lowest points). Family and friends celebration trip. So probably it was about 40 hotel days total.

Our maint fees were $2400 for 400 bwv points. If the rooms were retail $300 including tax even after a pretty big discount then that's $12k of hotel rooms, conservatively speaking. So, essentially we "netted" $10,600 (let's round that up to $11k).

Since our purchase price on 200pts was not much more (we bought in 2011), and we have had an additional 5 yrs of family trips on top of that big trip, we are definitely at break even now .... and every trip after this is only maint fees cost going forward. Yay!

However we bought BLT in 2014, our addonitis contract, we now need to amortize that one now going forward.... lol.

So you're the reason why there were no studios available!

Just kidding. Sounds like you bought the BWV resale. Did you bye BLT direct?

 

[suebeelin]

So you're the reason why there were no studios available!

Just kidding. Sounds like you bought the BWV resale. Did you bye BLT direct?

It was Martin Luther king wknd, so parks were crazy crowded (in 2014). Was surprised we were able to lock in 10+ standard BWV studios for that weekend!! The 11mo home resort definitely worked in our favor for that trip!!

I'm all about resale . With BLT, we got in before the price jump, closed February of 2015. I'm considering selling that contract after our aulani trip in 2018. We will never sell Boardwalk bc it holds a special place in my heart!!

 

[keishashadow]

People pay rack rate?

OP if you feel you are happy with your DVC, then you "got a good deal".

Don't let anyone burst your bubble! Enjoy your trip

 

[DebbieB]

I keep an excel spreadsheet of all my trips since I bought in late 1999. I was looking at it the other night and thinking about the various trips, 38 in all! I've stayed at all the WDW DVC's except SSR, plus VGC. Plus used points at POFQ, Paradise Pier, Grand California before DVC. I paid $65 per point for 250 points and got a $1500 credit for returning 150 of my 1999 points. So $14,750 plus dues. Amazing!

 

[Anal Annie]

I don't need to go thru amortizing numbers on a spreadsheet to know that we've at least broken even and are probably ahead of the game on the numbers. We bought 250 pts direct at SSR in Dec. 2006 on a "friends & family" deal ($86 / pt. = $21,500). Our first DVC trip was in the summer of 2007. I keep track of our trips in my signature so I know how long each trip was for and where we went over the past 9 years. We currently have 96 nights total under our belts already with 11 more nights planned (5 @ OKW & 6 @ SSR). We have stayed at all of the DVC resorts now except VGF (we'll get around to that one day). I consider some of our stays like at DL, Aulani, BLT and the Poly an especially valuable deal as we'd have never spent the cash required for any of those resorts.

Our home resort has a very friendly point chart good for those of us who are points challenged and easy to stomach annual dues. I can guesstimate that our combined stays so far have had a ballpark average worth of probably around $400 / night (rack rate). Does anybody pay rack rate? Probably a few if they don't know what they're doing & don't know how to plan but probably not most people. If they get a discount deal say they pay an average of about 20% off rack rate?! So rack rate for our 96 nights that we've already had would be about $38,400 and 20% off rack would still be $30,720. Not too far off of what we've paid so far including our initial investment plus annual dues. Knowing that we still have so many years of use ahead of us just means we're starting to pull ahead of the game on our savings - esp. as Disney raises their rates so much every year. I KNOW we would never have planned that many nights in deluxe resorts over the years. We would have been booking lesser resorts and not going for as long or as often. The ability to be able go so often is worth a lot in itself. Overall we're still happy to have our DVC.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We bought our 175 points in January, 2002. Back then it cost $75/point. One day around 2005, we sat down to figure, like the OP, how much we would have paid vs. the cost of 175 points. Since we'd made our money back, we've felt comfortable buying 4 add-ons since then.

 

[Eddie]

I have to agree, wife and daughter are the big DIS fans. I do really enjoy the food options however. We bought retail in I think 2007 225 at SSR and added 100 at AKL 2 years later. Sat down recently after this year and figured even with dues added this year we stayed 22 nights in various locals and it works out to about $ 100 a night. So as daugther has aged we now see that we may need multiple bedrooms or at least 1 and the pullout in the future we are adding points. While I may not be the biggest fan, BTW did I say I do love the food options and dinning. We are adding on. It saves more then I can imagine and in the future would be more then happy to stay in the area to golf and eat while the parks are not really that big a part of it.

 

[zavandor]

With DVC I haven't saved anything, actually I paid more then before. But saving money was never the plan.
Before DVC I stayed in a nice off site hotel on International Drive for 2 weeks for around $900, and I even had free breakfast. Last year, before moving to VGC I stayed off site in a Best Western hotel 10 minutes walk to Disneyland gate for one night. That night cost me less than the MF for one night at VGC.
If I hadn't DVC, I would never pay rack rates for deluxe Disney Hotels which I think are crazy. I bought DVC as a way to experience those without breaking the bank. So I think I broke even, not because I saved money, but because I had a lot of value off my membership. So glad I bought when I did (during recession, $50 a point), at today prices it would be a bit more difficult to justify.