Waiting for DISNEYLAND HOTEL DVC Thread (see post 1 for updates)

[Dreams&wishes]

Do you reckon that the one bedroom studios will still sleep 5 or there is a chance they could sleep 6?. We really want to buy DVC but being a family of 6 our only option is a two bedroom and you need so many points for that!

 

[limace]

I don’t think it’ll happen-sorry . No other 1 bedrooms sleep 6 and I believe some still only sleep 4.

2 studios might work for less than a 2 bedroom?

 

[VegasDisneyMom]

I don’t think it’ll happen-sorry . No other 1 bedrooms sleep 6 and I believe some still only sleep 4.

2 studios might work for less than a 2 bedroom?

Maybe even a tower and a studio at VDH or Riviera?

 

[UrsulaWantsYourSoul]

Photos from Aug 26, 2022 - courtesy of disneygeek.com. Looks like it finally pokes up to the 12th floor (or is it 11th?). Frontier tower is 13 floors, yes? Anyhoo here's some fresh pics: https://blog.disneygeek.com/2022/08/26/pictures-disneyland-hotel-dvc-tower-construction-8-26-22/

 

[NVDISFamily]

The talk of getting a 2BR villa vs a Studio + Pod made me think of another way we could do an analysis. How about we look at square foot per point spent. Data is based on Riviera point charts and standard views for the studios, 1BR, and 2BR. And the points were based on a full week stay:

SQ FT Per Point Spent (Weekly) - Riviera

	Tower	Studio	Studio + POD	1BR	2BR
Season 1	3.36	4.07	3.77	3.82	4.39
Season 2	2.90	3.65	3.32	3.28	3.92
Season 3	2.68	3.44	3.11	3.14	3.65
Season 4	2.45	3.38	2.96	2.95	3.39
Season 5	2.20	3.04	2.66	2.76	3.23
Season 6	2.04	2.73	2.42	2.53	3.04
Season 7	1.47	2.02	1.77	1.91	2.09

Tower/pod rooms are the worst square feet per point. 2BR are the best. If you have a lot of people, going for a 2BR is nice, plus the kitchen, in room laundry, and more.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

I don’t think it’ll happen-sorry . No other 1 bedrooms sleep 6 and I believe some still only sleep 4.

2 studios might work for less than a 2 bedroom?

Thank you for this idea. Our kids are still small though so we would really like to be all together.

Help me to understand this though. Given the high points requirement for a 2bedroom accommodation, around 450 for a week, @$180 that is $86,400 not considering dues.
When we stay at the Disneyland hotel( 6 people suite)we spend around $1100 per night that is around $7700 for a week.
So with $86400 without the dues it would be as if we were getting more or less 11 stays out of it .

In 11 years my children will be 22, 20, 17 and 16.

Is DVC really gonna benefit us you think?

Thank you

 

[elenex]

Thank you for this idea. Our kids are still small though so we would really like to be all together.

Help me to understand this though. Given the high points requirement for a 2bedroom accommodation, around 450 for a week, @$180 that is $86,400 not considering dues.
When we stay at the Disneyland hotel( 6 people suite)we spend around $1100 per night that is around $7700 for a week.
So with $86400 without the dues it would be as if we were getting more or less 11 stays out of it .

In 11 years my children will be 22, 20, 17 and 16.

Is DVC really gonna benefit us you think?

You should be aware that dues will be pricey on 450 points and account for it in your costs, as I'd estimate an additional $3500-4000 per year. The answer depends, but overall if you have the money to do it, then yes.

When your kids are grown, you'll have plenty of options. You could take trips with them and their families. You could downsize to 1br or studios. You could gift studio/1br trips to your kids and their young families. Even if the kids end up phasing out Disney, you and your partner may want to keep going and go more often in retirement. Which brings me to my next point.

You can sell some, or all of your membership in 11, 20, 30, whatever number of years you want. And it's likely you'll see far more of a return than $180pp. You can have your guide split your contacts into any denomination of points you like. Let's say hypothetically, you buy 3 x 150 point contracts. Your kids don't go to Disney anymore, but you and your partner want to keep going but decide a studio is enough. Sell 300 points and keep 150.

Don't look at it as a one time purchase that covers your vacations for 10 years. It WILL retain value, and likely increase in value while you own it. You'll get your 10 years, and even if you sell at that point, you likely will recoup a large chunk of what you've paid for it.

 

[NVDISFamily]

Thank you for this idea. Our kids are still small though so we would really like to be all together.

Help me to understand this though. Given the high points requirement for a 2bedroom accommodation, around 450 for a week, @$180 that is $86,400 not considering dues.
When we stay at the Disneyland hotel( 6 people suite)we spend around $1100 per night that is around $7700 for a week.
So with $86400 without the dues it would be as if we were getting more or less 11 stays out of it .

In 11 years my children will be 22, 20, 17 and 16.

Is DVC really gonna benefit us you think?

Thank you

There is a lot to think about here. And I will say, my research to try and help advise you might have just convinced me to not buy VDH points and instead add on another 200 or so points at VGC based on this -

2BR Suite Weekly	Disneyland Hotel	Grand Cal
April High	9,698.00	17,290.26
April Low	6,592.95	15,322.32

If cash rates at Disneyland Hotel for suites that work are "reasonable" and readily available than I would factor that in to the don't buy DVC column of your analysis. If you are staying for a week, I would guess the in room laundry and kitchen would be of benefit and the 7 to 10k a week rooms don't have that. I'm just kind of shocked at how much more the cash rate for the suites is at the Grand Cal. I'd also consider what you might do with the points outside of Disneyland in the coming years. Would your family perhaps want to visit Aulani and stay a week in a Ocean View Grand Villa? You could likely do that if you did some banking/borrowing. At the end, it really comes down to what kind of point chart they make for VDH, and if they did change up the offering mix a bit to give us more "large" rooms that would be great. I kind of don't know how they would do that given the design seems to only have the dedicated 2BR units in the ends of the building. Perhaps they will add some value lock-off 2BR units that will be a better value.

Do you like to book well in advance of your stays? VDH could likely be like VGC where booking in the 9 to 11 month window is important.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

You should be aware that dues will be pricey on 450 points and account for it in your costs, as I'd estimate an additional $3500-4000 per year. The answer depends, but overall if you have the money to do it, then yes.

When your kids are grown, you'll have plenty of options. You could take trips with them and their families. You could downsize to 1br or studios. You could gift studio/1br trips to your kids and their young families. Even if the kids end up phasing out Disney, you and your partner may want to keep going and go more often in retirement. Which brings me to my next point.

You can sell some, or all of your membership in 11, 20, 30, whatever number of years you want. And it's likely you'll see far more of a return than $180pp. You can have your guide split your contacts into any denomination of points you like. Let's say hypothetically, you buy 3 x 150 point contracts. Your kids don't go to Disney anymore, but you and your partner want to keep going but decide a studio is enough. Sell 300 points and keep 150.

Don't look at it as a one time purchase that covers your vacations for 10 years. It WILL retain value, and likely increase in value while you own it. You'll get your 10 years, and even if you sell at that point, you likely will recoup a large chunk of what you've paid for it.

Yeah my point is it's gonna be 11years before I see any financial benefit to this because until then it would like having just paid a suite directly.
That's why I don't see if it will work for us given that by then my children will be older and might not be all that keen.
We live in Australia so it's not a quick long weekend to Disneyland it's a bit more of an investment...

 

[Dreams&wishes]

There is a lot to think about here. And I will say, my research to try and help advise you might have just convinced me to not buy VDH points and instead add on another 200 or so points at VGC based on this -

2BR Suite Weekly	Disneyland Hotel	Grand Cal
April High	9,698.00	17,290.26
April Low	6,592.95	15,322.32

If cash rates at Disneyland Hotel for suites that work are "reasonable" and readily available than I would factor that in to the don't buy DVC column of your analysis. If you are staying for a week, I would guess the in room laundry and kitchen would be of benefit and the 7 to 10k a week rooms don't have that. I'm just kind of shocked at how much more the cash rate for the suites is at the Grand Cal. I'd also consider what you might do with the points outside of Disneyland in the coming years. Would your family perhaps want to visit Aulani and stay a week in a Ocean View Grand Villa? You could likely do that if you did some banking/borrowing. At the end, it really comes down to what kind of point chart they make for VDH, and if they did change up the offering mix a bit to give us more "large" rooms that would be great. I kind of don't know how they would do that given the design seems to only have the dedicated 2BR units in the ends of the building. Perhaps they will add some value lock-off 2BR units that will be a better value.

Do you like to book well in advance of your stays? VDH could likely be like VGC where booking in the 9 to 11 month window is important.

Thank you very much for this.
My only doubt is that hotel room prices have gone skybonkers high in the last few years so, who knows in 6 years that same room mighty be costing us $20k...
So it might still be a good investment?
As you said we wouldn't go to Aulani but we would definitely want to do Disney world every few years banking and borrowing. But again because it's so much money as it is ATM I could just rent points or book directly and not give me any monetary advance for another 11 years.....

 

[NVDISFamily]

Thank you very much for this.
My only doubt is that hotel room prices have gone skybonkers high in the last few years so, who knows in 6 years that same room mighty be costing us $20k...
So it might still be a good investment?
As you said we wouldn't go to Aulani but we would definitely want to do Disney world every few years banking and borrowing. But again because it's so much money as it is ATM I could just rent points or book directly and not give me any monetary advance for another 11 years.....

Your other consideration as a resident on the other side of the pond would be can you lock in a good exchange rate. I follow USD to AUD/NZD exchange rates quite often and if I were in your shoes I'd also look to try and pull this off when the exchange is good to get as much for your Ausiebucks as possible and avoid that uncertainty in the future. The annual dues payments will still be subject to the exchange rates when you pay them so caution there.

If you can hold it even longer than 11 years, than that would be even better. Yes your kids will be much older some day, but then like magic sometimes the grandkids come and there are more little ones to enjoy the parks with.

One idea I would consider is this. Buy enough points to have an awesome trip every other year so you don't force yourself to visit every year if you can't.

 

[DL1WDW2]

I would be concerned about more than just locking in a price.
It is not so easy for Foreign transactions if you ever needed to sell your points.
I also worry about Disney manipulating the point charts and the price per point and the the maintenance dues. A DVC member does not have any control over these future costs.
You also are competing with the members that already are creating problems with availability.
Especially the ones that”Walk” to get their desired 11 month window.
I hope you are very careful with this decision for your family.

 

[Royal Consort]

Help me to understand this though. Given the high points requirement for a 2bedroom accommodation, around 450 for a week, @$180 that is $86,400 not considering dues.
When we stay at the Disneyland hotel( 6 people suite)we spend around $1100 per night that is around $7700 for a week.
So with $86400 without the dues it would be as if we were getting more or less 11 stays out of it .

In 11 years my children will be 22, 20, 17 and 16.

Is DVC really gonna benefit us you think?

Thank you

I'm Australian and a DVC owner at both DL and WDW. Based on your information, no I don't think DVC will work out the way you want. You're going to lose flexibility buying DVC vs paying cash. We are a childless couple and have no intention of discontinuing our Disney trips in the next 10-20+ years. We were going consecutively (paying cash) for over 10 years prior to purchasing DVC. As a long term commitment it suits us. If you think you will outgrow it as the kids age, maybe it's not the right choice. However, you could purchase a contract and then resell it 11 years later and all your trips would have cost you is the annual dues. There are a few extra steps required to sell as an international owner but not insurmountable. I am not into renting points following the pandemic and lockdowns, I want the ability to cancel. It took me a decade to be convinced by DVC.

Your other consideration as a resident on the other side of the pond would be can you lock in a good exchange rate. I follow USD to AUD/NZD exchange rates quite often and if I were in your shoes I'd also look to try and pull this off when the exchange is good to get as much for your Ausiebucks as possible and avoid that uncertainty in the future. The annual dues payments will still be subject to the exchange rates when you pay them so caution there.

This is what I did. Opened a foreign currency account and when the exchange rate was favourable I deposited my cash. I paid a high price for my latest resale VGC contract but I've still come out ahead: the Australian dollar has dropped so much that paying the higher USD price with a good exchange rate cost me less than buying at a lower US price now!

The only thing I would add is that if you're buying from Disney direct as an Australian you need to physically be in the US. You may be at the mercy of an unfavourable exchange rate at the time (VDH 2023) unless you've opened a foreign currency account and deposited money at better exchange in advance.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

I'm Australian and a DVC owner at both DL and WDW. Based on your information, no I don't think DVC will work out the way you want. You're going to lose flexibility buying DVC vs paying cash. We are a childless couple and have no intention of discontinuing our Disney trips in the next 10-20+ years. We were going consecutively (paying cash) for over 10 years prior to purchasing DVC. As a long term commitment it suits us. If you think you will outgrow it as the kids age, maybe it's not the right choice. However, you could purchase a contract and then resell it 11 years later and all your trips would have cost you is the annual dues. There are a few extra steps required to sell as an international owner but not insurmountable. I am not into renting points following the pandemic and lockdowns, I want the ability to cancel. It took me a decade to be convinced by DVC.

This is what I did. Opened a foreign currency account and when the exchange rate was favourable I deposited my cash. I paid a high price for my latest resale VGC contract but I've still come out ahead: the Australian dollar has dropped so much that paying the higher USD price with a good exchange rate cost me less than buying at a lower US price now!

The only thing I would add is that if you're buying from Disney direct as an Australian you need to physically be in the US. You may be at the mercy of an unfavourable exchange rate at the time (VDH 2023) unless you've opened a foreign currency account and deposited money at better exchange in advance.

Thank you all for your replies.

We are Disney fans and have been going to Disney parks for many years so I will definitely like to continue going past the 11 years mark. I just used that number to say that I will be basically paying upfront 11 years+ of Disney holidays and probably more if I consider the dues.
So I will really come to an advantage point only after the 11 years mark.

I would love to bring my children and grandchildren although I need to consider airplane costs from Australia and whether they will be able to afford it for their families once they grow up.

We really love Disney and would love to be DVC owners, but I'm not seeing that much financial gain from this unless we sell. Where am I wrong with this?

I looked and the smaller contract and using the borrowing feature to go every second year, but we love to go to Disney world as well, and when we go we like to stay two weeks+, because it's so far. But to be able to do that I need to purchase one whole week...

 

[Royal Consort]

We really love Disney and would love to be DVC owners, but I'm not seeing that much financial gain from this unless we sell. Where am I wrong with this?

I looked and the smaller contract and using the borrowing feature to go every second year, but we love to go to Disney world as well, and when we go we like to stay two weeks+, because it's so far. But to be able to do that I need to purchase one whole week...

If you are wanting to go to Disney long term, then DVC will work out. Its needs to be a long term commitment to gain value from it. It will take some time to break even but after you do, you're staying for the price of your annual dues. If you can see yourself going 10+ years into the future DVC makes sense. Perhaps make up an excel table to compare cash prices (including inflation) to the DVC cost (including maintenance fees). See where your break even point is and let the data inform you.

You have the option to rent points for WDW stays every couple of years and buy at Disneyland Hotel because it's a closer location.

I use my DL points for a week earlier in the year. I use my WDW points for 12-14 nights at WDW at the end of the year with a stopover at DL before flying home. I've found value in it but there's only two of us and we don't need anything bigger than a studio so our points stretch further. If we don't go one year we can either bank the points and do a one bedroom or rent them. If you really wanted to do WDW for two weeks alternate years I would consider buying a cheaper resale contract at WDW (Old Key West, Saratoga Springs, Animal Kingdom Lodge) that you could bank/borrow. Then buy Disneyland Hotel for California exclusive stays. If you buy VDH for WDW stays it could get expensive.

 

[VegasDisneyMom]

Another update by Adventures In Design over on YouTube. Fast forward to 10:35

 

[LAX]

Any news on cost per point yet?

LAX

 

[NVDISFamily]

Any news on cost per point yet?

LAX

Sadly not yet. Here is my recent post where I give some support to why I think it will fall in the 170 to 180 per point range if buying in some bulk (300 points) -

https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...-see-post-1-for-updates.3807808/post-64260554

 

[Dreams&wishes]

Goodness VGC are super expensive. Definitely not in our budget considering how many we need to purchase...

 

[NVDISFamily]

Goodness VGC are super expensive. Definitely not in our budget considering how many we need to purchase...

It’s an expensive hobby

VDH should be a good deal for you and would be an awesome place to stay for the next 50 years. Let’s hope the mouse is kind and gives us an amazing point chart…… That’s what I need to tempt me back into the BUY VDH column…..