To DVC or not DVC... that is the question!

[a1tinkfans]

We are a family of 6 and it is totally worth it for us. There is nothing like being onsite, being able to have the deluxe rooms, having a washer and dryer and a kitchen when you have 6 people.
But even though you can pay it off (if you use Disney financing) in 10 yrs, you still have yearly dues which vary on how many points and which DVC is your home resort...

This is ONE of the prime reasons I/we did NOT do it
When I am on vacation....I want to do NOTHING remotely like cooking or feeling like it is "work" ................

Interesting article in paper recently about time shares in general saying that they are the worst in this economy and people do not do enough research to figure out "real costs" ...........

 

[DISNEYFOS]

It was a good decision for us. We do go at least two times a year and stay in deluxe. We try to time them so we can get two trips out of the Discounted DVC AP. I'm not sure i would say it was a good idea if you would have to finance the purchase. The maintenance fee for our points is reasonable. The points have maintained the value as well in terms of resale.

Pros

beach club villas Even with AP discount rate stays would be more than what we pay for our points in year maintenance fee.
full kitchens allow for healthy breakfast in room for kids
Washer/Dryer = less to pack
Much more room!, Privacy! Multiple bathrooms for getting ready in morning

Cons
Requires a bit of advance planning if you have a specific resort request and timeframe (if popular time)
i.e. Beach club/boardwark during food & wine
Points don't transfer well to cruiseline/outside disney
You have to really commit to Disney vacations

 

[puffkin]

It was a good decision for us. We do go at least two times a year and stay in deluxe. We try to time them so we can get two trips out of the Discounted DVC AP. I'm not sure i would say it was a good idea if you would have to finance the purchase. The maintenance fee for our points is reasonable. The points have maintained the value as well in terms of resale.

We have it down to a science. 2 trips a calendar year but 3 trips on an AP. We also purchase our TiW to get 3 trips off of. Makes the passes very, very reasonable!

Our past trips looked like this (all 1 week, though we usually stay the first night or two at a non dvc resort to save points).
3rd week October 2007- purchase AP's, TiW
January 2008 (marathon)
2nd week October 2008
2nd week May 2009- purchase AP's, TiW
December 2009
April 2010
last week October 2010- purchase AP's, TiW
May 2011
mid October 2011

So, 3 trips per AP! Every now and then we swing a long weekend trip if we find spectacular airfare/resort discounts. Doing it this way really keeps the costs down!!!!

 

[kpm76]

This is ONE of the prime reasons I/we did NOT do it
When I am on vacation....I want to do NOTHING remotely like cooking or feeling like it is "work" ................

Interesting article in paper recently about time shares in general saying that they are the worst in this economy and people do not do enough research to figure out "real costs" ...........

I'm not the greatest cook and at home DH does most of it, but I love having the option with DVC to get fresh fruits and veggies for our 2 yr old DD. We don't cook full meals but we eat cereal, toast, fruit etc for breakfast. It's a nice cost savings and a healthier option. We've been to WDW many times and honestly, spending so much time at TS restaurants has gotten old. We're more interested in attractions than food.

When DD was 6 months old we stayed at ASSports during an extended family vacation. That trip made me realize we needed to buy DVC. I don't know how families stay in one room! DD has always been a great sleeper and still requires afternoon naps. When DD went to bed at 8pm, DH and I were trapped in a small hotel room with nothing to do. DVC gives us the option of having more space and for us, that means a more enjoyable vacation. Since having our daughter, our vacationing style has changed and we are less concerned will going to the parks from morning till night and more concerned with having nice accommodations and being able to keep our DD on her regular schedule without having to compromise our comfort. As she gets older, it will still be nice to have our own space. Plus we are able to take family along with us and share the magic.

 

[crisi]

There are also bunk bed rooms at AKL and WL, and trundle bed rooms at POR.

I'd forgotten about the bunk beds.

 

[macmom3]

We're a family of 5 and we bought into DVC beginning of this year. We're planning our first DVC trip in May 2010. We couldn't go last year because of other vacations planned. So we rented our 2009 point to another family. We're planning on going to WDW twice next year. Once in May and another in Oct. We bought into DVC because as a family of 5 we would have to get 2 rooms or stay at POR or Cabins in FW. We'll be staying in a 1 br villa which will give us more space than a normal room.

 

[Colleen27]

IMO, the decision is a little trickier for a family of 5 because so many of the DVC resorts require you to bump up to a 2bd to sleep 5. So if you were staying deluxe (other than AKL/WL), you could get away with a standard room, but to stay DVC you need to go all the way up to a 2 bedroom villa. Needing that many points hikes up the cost of DVC a LOT, and it is a big part of why we're still waffling over whether or not to buy in. Frankly it doesn't make a lick of sense to me - my family of 5 can fit in a 380sq ft standard room at the Beach Club, but not in a 726sq ft 1 bedroom villa at BC Villas?

The newest properties do sleep 5 in a 1 bedroom, so if you're interested in AKL or BLT, buying in might make a little more sense. Those are the least appealing deluxes to me (AKL for location, BLT for theme), so as I said, we're still back-and-forth about what to do. In a perfect world, I'd love to buy in to BCV because the BC is my whole family's favorite resort, but the need to have enough points for a 2bd makes it more expensive than just booking a room at the BC/YC. The member fees alone would be in the neighborhood of $1500/year.

 

[miprender]

We are a family of 5 and our youngest will be 3 in a few years bumping us up into a few locations where we can rent. We still keep going back and forth but for us the yearly dues is what makes it hard to commit.

We are renting points for the first time for our April trip. We get to enjoy a deluxe resort without any of the additional fees. We may just go this route for all our future trips to Disney.

 

[Brancaneve]

We have been very happy with DVC, and living in CA makes a trip to Florida quite a trek. We paid about $17,000 for 210 points at Saratoga Springs. The first year we combined 2 years of points and went on a 7 day cruise with 7 nights at Animal Kingdom. We had a savanna view and absolutely loved every day of our vacation.

Here's the thing.....If we paid cash for that trip, it would of cost us around $6,000! Yes, there are monthly dues, but even if we set aside that money in our savings, we could not afford the wonderful vacation we went on.

Now, we can go to Hawaii in a few years, Disneyland, and go back to Florida, which we love!

 

[Amy5000]

We purchased dvc and I'm not really a Disney fanatic. My reasons:

1. I didn't want to feel like I had to see everything when we went to Disney b/c it was our only chance. Since I purchased dvc I knew I would get to go back semi regularly so I could do some more relaxing.

2. I wanted to stay in nicer accommodations than a value. Even tho I did not grow up going to fancy places, I wanted to enjoy a relaxing resort experience and take advantage of what disney had to offer.

3. My husband gave me very little resistance, and actually seemed into the idea.

4. At the time, we could afford it. We could not afford it right now so I'm glad we did not finance it and that we have very few points.

If you are really interested you should go check out the dvc boards. Especially the Operations board. They really know the details there.

Good luck.

Amy

 

[mom2girlsx3]

Thanks, guys! You all have some really great things for us to consider and think about. Our family has a different thought-process than most when it comes to vacationing. We always stay deluxe... and we squeeze in Cinderella's Royal Table at least twice while we're at Disney... great way to begin and end the week. Others have told us we're crazy, and they may be right. But I just feel like if we're going to vacation, then let's VACATION!

We don't finance our trips and are paid in full before we leave. Therein lies my dilemma... I'm thinking probably a "no" on DVC until we can pay in full at the outset.

 

[Amy5000]

We don't finance our trips and are paid in full before we leave. Therein lies my dilemma... I'm thinking probably a "no" on DVC until we can pay in full at the outset.

I totally understand about the financing and feel the same way. Can I ask, how often do you plan to go to Disney? If you are going delux and plan to go regularly DVC probably makes a lot of sense. But I noticed your tag doesn't have a ton of trips listed. (Mine wouldn't have either and I bought dvc). Do you think that you would go at least every other year? My kids are young and I planned to do several trips with them and then sell the DVC if we grow out of it.

just curious...

amy

 

[mom2girlsx3]

I totally understand about the financing and feel the same way. Can I ask, how often do you plan to go to Disney? If you are going delux and plan to go regularly DVC probably makes a lot of sense. But I noticed your tag doesn't have a ton of trips listed. (Mine wouldn't have either and I bought dvc). Do you think that you would go at least every other year? My kids are young and I planned to do several trips with them and then sell the DVC if we grow out of it.

just curious...

amy

Those are our "family" trips that are listed on the tickers.... DH and I have been multiple times other than that. We would definitely do Disney at least every other year. Would go every year if it were a little easier on the pocketbook.... hence, the dilemma of the DVC.

 

[VanessasMom]

We absolutely LOVE to rent DVC. We checked into owning a number of times, but it just didn't make financial sense. Paying $9/point with no taxes, maintenance, financing, etc. is the cheapest way to go. We stay in Deluxe's everytime for little more than it costs to stay in a Value. We always buy the dining plan, so we do miss out on the free dining sometimes. The cost is comparable though. We do studio's, but we are only a family of 3. DVC is very nice to stay at.

 

[Amy5000]

Those are our "family" trips that are listed on the tickers.... DH and I have been multiple times other than that. We would definitely do Disney at least every other year. Would go every year if it were a little easier on the pocketbook.... hence, the dilemma of the DVC.

I am fighting a strong urge to "sell you" on dvc!!! Have you checked out the cost on some resale contracts? They are pretty reasonable, especially if you are purchasing at OKW or SSR. I just checked the "Anyone made it through ROFR recently" thread on the dvc operations board and there were deals there:

lovinpoohbear------- 150 SSR (Aug) $69, 150 banked '08 pts, all '09 pts(passed 10/9)

For $10,350 (plus closing) this person has 300 points to use by August 2010 (and can bank 150 of those into the following year if he/she can't use them). How much did the accommodations portion of your poly trip cost?

If you are staying delux everytime and you think you will be able to go frequently (or at least every other year) over the next several years. I have the urge to say "go for it". Of course, the safety part of me says "Don't do it if you have to finance."

I will say that while I'm totally happy that we bought DVC and I can be assured of more disney trips in our future. The way things are today we most certainly would not have bought DVC. Even though we have the money to pay for it right out. Our cash flow is negative every month lately because of various changes in our life (that's probably tmi) and I would never have purchased it, b/c I cannot easily spend $$ on a luxury and enjoy it when I'm at this place.

If you financed this, would your cash flow be negative? Are you carrying a lot of debt? None of my business if but if the answer to either of those questions is yes, ignore my urge to sell you on DVC and don't, don't, don't do it.

Curious Amy

 

[shelly3girls]

We absolutely LOVE to rent DVC. We checked into owning a number of times, but it just didn't make financial sense. Paying $9/point with no taxes, maintenance, financing, etc. is the cheapest way to go. We stay in Deluxe's everytime for little more than it costs to stay in a Value. We always buy the dining plan, so we do miss out on the free dining sometimes. The cost is comparable though. We do studio's, but we are only a family of 3. DVC is very nice to stay at.

We have very rarely rented out our points but I can promise you that at $9/point many owners are making a profit. I believe most rentals go for at least $10/point. I think renting is a wonderul option for many people and saves non-owners a great deal of money. It is incorrect though to say that it is the "cheapest way to go." I am sure there are many reasons why DVC may not be right for you but technically we could rent our DVC every year and make money. We would never do this but there are owners that do.