So, your a couple without kids and you bought DVC

[Timon-n-Pumbaa Fan]

What made DVC make sense to you as a long term purchase if you don't have kids? You have to pay maintence fees every year. Yes, I know that you get some discounted stuff, but is it worth it?

Corey and I stuggle over this question and so far, we just can't justify the purchase. If we were to buy, it would have to be in about 5 years. We both want to have our cars paid off before we take the plunge, if we can commit to it.

TIA

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Well, when we bought it we were living in the northeast and thought we'd be visiting WDW maybe once a year. My wife's parents had done the tour and thought we should too, so we did in August of 96 when we were down here for my wife's birthday.

We fell in love with the whole concept and bought 310 points. Less than a year later we moved to Fort Myers! LOL.

Then in 2001 my wife's father died, so we relocated to the Orlando area so we could be near her Mom.

We, okay I have thought about selling it a couple of times, but she is totally opposed to the idea, so we keep it.

We do use the points for weekend stays, and for company/guests. We used points to stay at Disneyland Hotel when we went to CA.

All that to say, we keep thinking we should use our points for something other than a DVC stay yet we never do!

 

[pixierella]

Andy and I will never have kids. It didn't work out when we tried and we're ok with it now. We love to vacation but me and the sun, not so much love. I burn easily even though I'm half Puerto Rican and half Italian. I'm not so much with the sand in my **** either.

We went to Disney for our last anniversary in October and on a down day decided to do the tour. FELL in love with BLT. I had stayed at the Contemporary Resort when I was a kid in 77 and thought it was the best vacation ever. Andy and I both agreed after the tour that disney was a great vacation that we could take over and over during our favorite time of year and we'd never get bored.

If one year we dont' feel like doing Disney we could always rent the points out or bank them for a really great MK disney view. For us it was really worth it. Years of vacations doing something we really love.

 

[PghLybrt]

We did it. We are kid free, no plans for any.(especially after tonight, I am babysitting, alone! This is maybe the 3rd time in my life but this time 2 babies!!!!!) Sorry. Anyway we went with Baylake because of location and yearly fees are actually less (no animals to pay for and no long bus rides!).

It took me a while to decide and i asked a million questions. It works for us because we like to take people on vacation with us. Sometimes it is my brothers wife and kids, sometimes its her parents, sometimes mine. The only way we could ever do a grand villa was with DVC. We also go everyyear so the yearly fee is less then I wold spend on a hotel. I also like the idea that we can cook.

Sorry if this is not so coherent tonight!

 

[jennynoel]

I'm trying to convince my wife we should buy DVC, but I haven't even quite convinced myself yet. We are in the process of starting our family (fostering) and without kids in the picture I think the decision would be much easier!

We love Disney and I can see us vacationing there every year forever without kids - but with kids, I worry that going every year lessens the excitement, and that a bigger variety of experiences would be better for them, too.

 

[PghLybrt]

- but with kids, I worry that going every year lessens the excitement

I have went everyyear since I was born at least once. I assure the excitment did not go away for me as a kid, or as an adult for that matter!!!

 

[Disney_Villain]

For my DH and I (no kids - and no wish to have them either), it is a hedge against both hotel rates and bad currency exchanges.

We bought DVC as we go to a Disney park (DL, DLP or WDW) about 2X/year, not including other little junkets now and then (like our DCL cruises or Disney on Broadway). On cash, these trips cost far too much money! We were spending $10,000+ every year on our trips - and we knew it wasn't sustainable.

As DVC owners, we now pay approx. $50 USD in maintenance fees to stay at say OKW per night in a low season. That is way cheaper than a Value Resort, which we would never stay in anyways (we'd do a moderate at least, at > $200 per night with tax).

We are also Canadians, which means we are also at the mercy of terrible exchange rates, which constantly fluctuate. They usually aren't in our favor. Imagine budgeting $4000 for your upcoming Disney trip months in advance and finding out a week before you go that it will cost $5000 instead ... as the exchange rate just nosedived.

-Ken

 

[OrlandoMike]

I wont even go to the preview center!

I know myself too well!

 

[M4travels]

Marc and I love timeshares. It really works out best for the way we were vacationing. We have one in Cabo (actually have a few weeks there) and we had one up in Tahoe. We used our Tahoe one for trading and use the Cabo one for our getaways from L.A.

We went to the DVC presentation when we were DLR on a Saturday back in '05 and decided then that we could really do this, too. The point system was easy to understand, nothing too difficult. We had never been to FL (spent all our time at DLR) so we also thought that it would be a great way to submerse ourselves into WDW and see if we liked it. We do!
We've used our points on DCL (yes, people will say it's not the most economical use of the points), DVC stays (5 so far, I think), and stays at the GCH at D'land. I'm not one who's going to be looking for codes for discount stays and stuff like that. That's just not me. The points work for me/us. Would we get more stays if we stayed in studios? Oh, yeah, but I like space and a one-bedroom unit is great!

In January there were 16 of us from both our families that enjoyed the parks and Old Key West. We wouldn't have been able to do that with cash stays - or at least as easy on the pocketbook.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

No kids, don't want them, will never have any (my nephews and nieces are enough for me).

Chip loves Disney and we choose AKV for many reasons:

1. Animals in Savannah View
2. Decor of the building and rooms
3. Jiko
4. Boma
5. Distance from MK (sorry, I don't want to hear the fireworks EVERY night)

We only stay at Deluxe resorts, so it only made since to buy. We were comparing last years vacation to this years and even after the monthly payments and dues we are still paying less then we did last year at Polynesian, and Chip gets to go for two weeks instead of just one.

If you enjoy Disney, and go at least every other year and stay in Deluxe rooms, DVC pays for itself pretty quickly. Granted the payback varies whether you pay cash or finance, but it still works out great.

We are taking Chip's family on vacation with us in 2010, 15 of us total. The rooms would run over $10,000 if we booked cash (6 nights at $350/night plus tax at 12.5% for 5 rooms (we are actually booking 2 - 2 bedrooms, but the equivalent is the same based on who would need to be in each room). We paid a little over $20,000 for our points, so we've made a huge dent in the payback already.