Taking the leap to be a DVC member...

[smsharp]

I've been considering DVC since my first Disney trip in 2018. Since then my extended family has decided to go back every other year and I hope to go once a year (single no kids so I'd either go by myself or bring a friend). So I know our points would get used, but how in the heck do you convince yourself it's OK to spend the money?!?! I plan to do resale and pay cash. Regardless if it's $5k or $50k it's still a lot of money and I'm having a hard time taking the leap. And then let's not even get in to the addonitis that is bound to kick in afterwards! So tell me what was the tipping point mentally that allowed you to make that large purchase?

 

[Spark65]

If the money part is bothering you, don't buy, you will always have it in the back of your mind. I will say what would it cost you to take a weeks vacation at Disney or anywhere else every year?

Don't worry plenty of DVC'rs will be along with the yearly maintenance fee to scare you too.

 

[tgarre06]

I can say that I finally took the leap yesterday resale after thinking about it for years. We go at least every year (except 2020), typically twice a year, and I know we are going to keep going. We enjoy going even if we aren’t going to the parks. I know it will save me money in the long run. And I know we can just sell it someday if we no longer want it. Also, we want to take family and friends on some trips, and I know this will be a more cost effective way to do that.

Also, I won’t lie, I freaked for a minute after spending the money even though we can afford it, it was the feeling I get after buying a new car! We work hard for our money, so for most it is a little scary spending such a large amount of money on something that is simply a want and not a need.

 

[JoeyPeligroso]

I rented points for many years before I was ready. Renting points helped me understand a lot more about DVC. It also helped me know that I could work with some of the DVC time windows for booking rooms. It allowed me experience the difference between a DVC villa and a hotel stay on property and off property. There are emotional, financial, and practical tipping points. For me, those all had to line up.

 

[tgarre06]

I rented points for many years before I was ready. Renting points helped me understand a lot more about DVC. It also helped me know that I could work with some of the DVC time windows for booking rooms. It allowed me experience the difference between a DVC villa and a hotel stay on property and off property. There are emotional, financial, and practical tipping points. For me, those all had to line up.

This is also a good point. I rented for years as well, and I didn’t like the lack of control and cancellation with renting.

 

[princesscinderella]

I've been considering DVC since my first Disney trip in 2018. Since then my extended family has decided to go back every other year and I hope to go once a year (single no kids so I'd either go by myself or bring a friend). So I know our points would get used, but how in the heck do you convince yourself it's OK to spend the money?!?! I plan to do resale and pay cash. Regardless if it's $5k or $50k it's still a lot of money and I'm having a hard time taking the leap. And then let's not even get in to the addonitis that is bound to kick in afterwards! So tell me what was the tipping point mentally that allowed you to make that large purchase?

We initially purchased because we intended to go to Aulani for a family vacation in the summer of 2013. We priced a one bedroom for a week there and it was $10k. My in laws had already been long time DVC owners but wouldn’t share their points with us often because they enjoyed them and rightly so. I was a dis member and started exploring the DVC boards and it opened my eyes to the resale market. I found a 230pt bwv contract for $55 a point and paid a little over $13k. We ended up getting a two bedroom for a week at aulani instead because it had banked points. So I look at our initial buy in was the same aspaying cash for a trip we were going to take anyway. So there was no guilt but excitement that we still had 30 more years to enjoy BWV. We have added on since then only when we have been able to pay cash for them. I’m very conservative with my money and prefer to save for a rainy day and retirement but have never regretted DVC, even when my dues bill come in.

 

[Wedgeout]

I looked at it from the yearly fee budget first. Once I knew I could handle that for years to come, it was easy. The happy thoughts of the future trips, made the amount paid as just random numbers on the paperwork.

 

[smsharp]

Also I won’t lie, I freaked for a minute after spending the money even though we can afford it, it was the feeling I get after buying a new car! We work hard for our money, so for most it is a little scary spending such a large amount of money on something that is simply a want and not a need.

Yes, all of this! This is exactly how I'm feeling!!

 

[UrsulaWantsYourSoul]

It forces you to save money / pre-pay for vacation. If you know you'd go yearly/every other year and know you prefer deluxe resorts over budget/moderate and can afford it... I say go for it. Really, you can always get about what you pay into it or possibly more if prices go up. If you like a lot of resorts and don't neeeeed studio or standard view to save on points you could go with Saratoga or Old Key West. If you really love a particular resort and want to for sure be able to stay there and often might take advantage of a studio... and are someone who can plan more than 7 months out... choose your home resort wisely of somewhere you would love to stay. Sounds like you might go solo or just two people so a studio sometimes might be perfect for you sometimes. What resorts are you considering? Woot!

 

[smsharp]

It forces you to save money / pre-pay for vacation. If you know you'd go yearly/every other year and know you prefer deluxe resorts over budget/moderate and can afford it... I say go for it. Really, you can always get about what you pay into it or possibly more if prices go up. If you like a lot of resorts and don't neeeeed studio or standard view to save on points you could go with Saratoga or Old Key West. If you really love a particular resort and want to for sure be able to stay there and often might take advantage of a studio... and are someone who can plan more than 7 months out... choose your home resort wisely of somewhere you would love to stay. Sounds like you might go solo or just two people so a studio sometimes might be perfect for you sometimes. What resorts are you considering? Woot!

I thought about Saratoga due to the low buy in, but when we went in 2018 we had dinner at Ohana and I just fell in love with the atmosphere at poly. Low dues and longer contract along with being on the Monorail and I just keep going back to buying at poly. It's higher up front, so I'm freaking out even more, but I just think it's the better buy in the long term. Things change....and if I need to sell 20 yrs down the road I think poly will hold its value longer.

 

[UrsulaWantsYourSoul]

I thought about Saratoga due to the low buy in, but when we went in 2018 we had dinner at Ohana and I just fell in love with the atmosphere at poly. Low dues and longer contract along with being on the Monorail and I just keep going back to buying at poly. It's higher up front, so I'm freaking out even more, but I just think it's the better buy in the long term. Things change....and if I need to sell 20 yrs down the road I think poly will hold its value longer.

Awesome! Poly has so many studios so that would be great if going just 1-2 people and like you said - on the monorail - woot! You can always add on at different resorts later. Poly has huge studios (the largest in DVC!), can sleep 5 and has a split bathroom. Solid choice! Some people advise against going with Poly because there are no 1 or 2 bedroom options there but the studios are almost big enough they feel like a 1 bedroom if you're just 1-2 people and 1 and 2 bedrooms are much easier to get at other resorts than studios are.

 

[tgarre06]

I thought about Saratoga due to the low buy in, but when we went in 2018 we had dinner at Ohana and I just fell in love with the atmosphere at poly. Low dues and longer contract along with being on the Monorail and I just keep going back to buying at poly. It's higher up front, so I'm freaking out even more, but I just think it's the better buy in the long term. Things change....and if I need to sell 20 yrs down the road I think poly will hold its value longer.

I debated back and forth too and was considering PVB also. We ended up with SSR because we know that Poly has a lot of studios, so we may be able to stay there on some trips for at least a split stay. We typically end up doing split stays when renting because we like staying in different parts of Disney near different parks or DS. We really like what we have seen with the SSR renovations, and we would be happy staying there because you can walk to DS. There honestly hasn’t been a deluxe that we haven’t enjoyed staying at, they all have their pros and cons imo. And the tipping point really for us was the initial buy in cost. I couldn’t swallow the extra thousands of dollars for PVB or BLT, and I don’t think I would’ve taken the plunge at that cost. We were comfortable spending the money for SSR. I know SSR will sell for less in the future, but we bought it for less too, so in my mind it is a wash. This of course was what made sense for us though, everyone is different! If you love PVB and know you will want to stay there most trips, then go for it!

 

[CSLucas]

I've been considering DVC since my first Disney trip in 2018. Since then my extended family has decided to go back every other year and I hope to go once a year (single no kids so I'd either go by myself or bring a friend). So I know our points would get used, but how in the heck do you convince yourself it's OK to spend the money?!?! I plan to do resale and pay cash. Regardless if it's $5k or $50k it's still a lot of money and I'm having a hard time taking the leap. And then let's not even get in to the addonitis that is bound to kick in afterwards! So tell me what was the tipping point mentally that allowed you to make that large purchase?

Definitely a lot of money up-front, but maybe look at what you have already spent with Disney so far. We ABSOLUTELY HATED Disney our first trip. As in swore there was nothing on this earth that would ever get us to go back there. And then one of my husband's clients (not knowing our extreme hatred of the place) gifted us a trip because he thought it would be fun for our kids. And they loved it. Our first trip we spent $7K in accommodations. We added on 2 extra days to the second trip and that was another $1400 or so. That add-on was what opened my eyes to the fact that if we were going to keep going to Disney (we already have 2 more trips planned and the kids talk about nothing else) then DVC was the only thing that made sense (we know that we only ever want to stay at deluxe properties).
Maybe get a small contract first that is about the same price as accommodations for your next planned trip. Then you can add on small every year and end up paying roughly the same as you would have paid anyways, but have some future benefit.

 

[smsharp]

I debated back and forth too and was considering PVB also. We ended up with SSR because we know that Poly has a lot of studios, so we may be able to stay there on some trips for at least a split stay. We typically end up doing split stays when renting because we like staying in different parts of Disney near different parks or DS. We really like what we have seen with the SSR renovations, and we would be happy staying there because you can walk to DS. There honestly hasn’t been a deluxe that we haven’t enjoyed staying at, they all have their pros and cons imo. And the tipping point really for us was the initial buy in cost. I couldn’t swallow the extra thousands of dollars for PVB or BLT, and I don’t think I would’ve taken the plunge at that cost. We were comfortable spending the money for SSR. I know SSR will sell for less in the future, but we bought it for less too, so in my mind it is a wash. This is of course was what made sense for us though, everyone is different! If you love PVB and know you will want to stay there most trips, then go for it!

Good points! That has been my struggle with poly vs Saratoga. The Saratoga buy in is just so much easier to stomach! The 11 month advantage isn't super important for me and I'd like to try other resorts too. There are so many pros to choose saratoga....just that long term value is holding me up. But what you say makes so much sense!

 

[gisele2]

We had to cancel all our vacations in 2020, did not go to restaurants, bought less clothes. So we took the money and made the purchase. I think it is better to pay cash and not borrow the money.

 

[UrsulaWantsYourSoul]

Yup - if you're not feeling the need for the 11 month and would enjoy a variety of resorts and don't absolutely need a studio, then SS sure does save you a lot of money and you can buy a second home resort later. Those refurbished SS rooms look so nice! Transportation isn't great for SS but yeah if you are flexible with what resort and don't have to have studio, you can likely get somewhere you'll love when booking.

 

[tgarre06]

Good points! That has been my struggle with poly vs Saratoga. The Saratoga buy in is just so much easier to stomach! The 11 month advantage isn't super important for me and I'd like to try other resorts too. There are so many pros to choose saratoga....just that long term value is holding me up. But what you say makes so much sense!

The long term value was really holding me up too, I was thinking of it almost only from the resale value aspect of it instead of what we really need/want as a family out of DVC. I had to stop and realize that I personally was buying into it to enjoy, not for the resale value of it. I figure even if I use it for 10 years and sell it for only half of what I paid for it (unlikely), I still would be staying at Disney cheaper than booking deluxe stays direct with a discount.

 

[Spark65]

I figure even if I use it for 10 years and sell it for only half of what I paid for it (unlikely), I still would be staying at Disney cheaper than booking deluxe stays direct with a discount.

I believe it's been said after 10 years it's paid for itself I think Sandi has posted it numerous times.

 

[happythoughts & pixiedust]

I kept telling myself that even if I decided I had made a mistake buying in, I could rent the points and then sell the contract and get out with minimal financial damage. I also imagined myself NOT buying DVC, checking into All Stars, and kicking myself every time I thought about the fact that I could be at Copper Creek for the same price if I had bought DVC.

 

[tgarre06]

I kept telling myself that even if I decided I had made a mistake buying in, I could rent the points and then sell the contract and get out with minimal financial damage. I also imagined myself NOT buying DVC, checking into All Stars, and kicking myself every time I thought about the fact that I could be at Copper Creek for the same price if I had bought DVC.

Good point!