What is/was your long term DVC plan? Please add your thoughts!

[sjrec]

We bought 200 points at BCV in 2003 and 100 AKL points a few years later. We’re a small family so that’s been enough points for us-we’ve used them for VB and HHI as well, and one year a Caribbean cruise because we had a surplus. Our daughter and her husband love Disney and we have had many wonderful trips together-especially after our grandson was born. We also like to give them points for trips for just the three of them.
We just added our daughter’s name to the BC contract. We have a vacation home on the Eastern shore and I won’t move away from family. The 300 points don’t keep us from taking other vacations-and yet we still enjoy the parks. So I don’t see us selling anytime soon.

Have enjoyed everyone’s stories!

 

[Goofy DVC]

First and foremast, Great thread Doc!
We joined in 1993 and were both 31 years old with two DD. We quickly added on and now have 520 points at Old Key West and Beach Club Villas. Early years mostly consisted of summer trips with our daughters, family, and friends. To date we’ve shared our trips with over 60 family and friends and that has been awesome. Now me and DW are enjoying a February and October trip most years and an occasional trip with family.
Initially, the plan was to accumulate enough points to spend a winter month at OKW in a studio once retired. Well, the dreaded1 BR addiction changed that math. So we are now thinking of other options like purchasing a condo in Florida rather than adding more points. With all the changes and price increases, we‘ve even discussed, for the first time, the possibility of selling some points. But we realize that theses are different times and we need to wait and see how things shake out before making any big moves that could result in regret. So stay tuned.
One final comment, as of today, purchasing DVC in 1993 was a great family decision. No regrets.

 

[Fellowship9798]

Very interesting stories from all of you.

Mine is similar in some parts and different in others. I've been a long time Disney Parks fan, living on the west coast in the Vancouver, Canada area. I remember hearing about DVC when it first started up (I was in my late teens at the time) and thought about how great that would be but couldn't imaging being a grown up with enough money to do anything like that. Fast forward several years and in 2005 at the age of 30 I was married with a 6 month old son on a trip with my DW and parents to WDW. We decided to take the DVC tour just to see what it was about. We toured SSR at that time but weren't ready to commit, liked but didn't love SSR, and I had wanted to learn more about resale so after getting home the research started, with a lot of that here on the DISBoards back in 2005! See my "Joined" date?

Within about a month I had purchased a resale BWV "loaded" contract for 150 points based on a plan to go every second year and stay in a 1BR. I rented all the banked and current year points to offset some of the purchase costs and then saved up 3 years worth of points to do a big 2 week trip with 1 week of that in a 2BR with my sister and parents as a "thank you" for all the times they brought me as a kid. And by then we had a daughter as well. I loved our choice of the BWV and my wife and I decided we would like to be able to stay in a Boardwalk View anytime we went so we added on another 50 points.

In 2010 we stayed at VGC just days after it opened and we really debated adding on but didn't at the time. However, a year later we made another trip to Disneyland after some personal struggles and decided that while we were OK staying off property in Anaheim we really wanted to stay in the Disney bubble so we jumped on a tour and added on 165 points (115 and 50 point contracts so we could sell 50 later if we wanted).

So getting back to the topic of this thread, being an engineer, this was all based on calculated point usage going to WDW and DL on alternating years for the next 15+ years while we had kids and then holding on for a while until they had children and we could start the cycle again as grandparents for a few years until BWV expires when I'm 68. I had the rough idea in my head of stretching points in studios for extended stays in the winters of several weeks when retirement came around and maybe purchasing some near end of life contracts for hopefully inexpensive amounts to hold on into my early 70's and turn those studios into 1BR's.

In the years since, on top of several DL and WDW trips including multiple RunDisney events we've stayed at VB, AUL, and rented out points to take a few Disney cruises, and shared trips with extended family several times. All great uses of points and my wife and I agreed that the DVC purchases were a really good choice for our family during all the toddler, tween, and early teen years. "Plan A" for the first 14-15 years worked really well.

HOWEVER (record scratch sound effect?) in late 2019, my wife and I separated and are finishing up divorce paperwork now. Amicable but there were many underlying problems. My DD15 still loves Disney and the parks, but my DS16 is in a phase where he feels he can't enjoy "kid stuff" anymore. Through the divorce process, I decided to hang onto the DVC points and paid out my portion for them. I was always the bigger "Disney person" and holding on to them was partially an emotional/comfort decision but I also know they are an asset that could be sold later if needed because of how the contracts were set up in smaller increments and I likely wouldn't repurchase new points now for today's price compared with what we paid for them in 2005 and 2011. And on top of that during COVID, the Canada/US border has been closed to leisure travel so between my separation and COVID, I've only had a weekend in 2019 with my daughter at WDW tacked on to a work trip to Orlando and before that my last major Disney trips were in 2017. I've rented out points the last several years, first to fund an Alaska RCL cruise in 2018 for my family and another Spring 2019 trip elsewhere, and after that just to try and use points that would expire otherwise while I couldn't/can't travel across the US border.

So today I'm a 46 year old single Dad of two teenagers, one of which isn't really interested in Disney anymore (or at least for now, until he grows up a bit and has his own kids) and I've got 365 points between BWV and VGC and no clear plan for how I will be using them in the future. I'm sharing some with my sister as a post wedding stay at VGC for her in the Spring and I hope to get another 4 day weekend with my daughter in November before another Orlando work trip, then hang on after for several days at VB on my own as some quiet mental decompression time after the last couple years of personal stress between death of both a parent and grandparent, separating, COVID, plus working in a company under some serious COVID-driven financial distress.

So Plan A phase 1 (young kid time) worked well. Plan A phase 2 (post-young kid time) not so much. Time to come up with Plan B...

That's my DVC story (and more) so far. I'm still happy to have the points as it keeps me thinking about getting out the door on vacation, well at least when I'm able to travel again from Canada. Selling off 50 points of each of the BWV and VGC contracts may be in the cards as I don't see myself using as many points in my current situation for some time and retirement is still 15-20 years away. But it would be nice to have them later when my kids start having their own children and I do like to share them with extended family too. I'll wait a bit and see. If I end up continuing to rent out out the majority of them even after COVID that's a pretty clear sign that it's time to let them go. We'll see in the next 1-2 years where life goes next.

 

[sleepydog25]

Sleepydog25, I kept waiting for you to say you LIVED at the Disney resort. One of your quotes on another thread really got me intrigued--where you stated that you are "intimately familiar" with the resort (or something to that effect). Since you don't live there, maybe you work part-time at the resort???

I see by your photo, you found perhaps the most picturesque place on Longview Island (aka DHHIR). And, yes, you may have seen me running around in a pair of dark blue shorts and rust-colored top.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Hi! We bought in 2003 because DM mentioned she wanted to celebrate her 85th birthday at WDW! We had looked at DVC in the 1990’s but our two DS’s were in college and neither said they cared enough for Disney things. During the years when we began to look and when we bought we went to Europe and National Parks in the US many times, but DH and I went back to WDW with DM and friends.

The 85th party was a success! Mom came with us at least 4 other times and once in 2008 we had a wonderful 4 generation family trip, that would be her last. Our older son and his family came with us at least 10 times over the next 6 years and those times were all recorded in a Photo book our DDIL had made for us.

We are both in our 70’s now, and we have health issues, but we are both ok with going to WDW and enjoying what we can do. We enjoy VB and HHI immensely! We have a dog, and will probably always adopt another (older) one, so, our thoughts about spending months in DVC won’t happen, but we do go for 2 weeks at a time.

We have enjoyed a week in Aulani three times so far, twice in a two bedroom and once in a GV ! We enjoy sharing our DVC with family and friends.

We don’t have an exit plan, but are thinking about formulating something. We have about 1500 points and our current reservations include a 4 night stay with both DS’s and their families in October!! Our younger DS has two sons and this will be their second family trip, but the first time all our immediate family will be at WDW. Our older DS has requested a week in Aulani if we could manage it. That DDIL is in health care and its been a hard year and a half. I can book in August and we will get them there if there’s availability!

We live in Cape May NJ which is a vacation destination itself. Later this week, our whole family will be here and DH does expect to talk about DVC points with our sons to get an idea of their thoughts about travel and ownership. Some of our points will be gifted to my DSis, that’s a given.

I have to say that the whole Disney product has been a positive experience in my life. In 1991 we rented a FW trailer for us and my parents rented at GF for them and my DSis. It was our only time with my dad in WDW, and the memories of our sons interacting with dad there are priceless. Also, because of Disboards and DVC, I have met real life friends. We have had outstanding vacations with aunts and cousins. We love cruising, and have cruised sixty something cruises, 35ish on DCL. Our 2019 European trip included land tour of the D-Day Normandy sights, ( Dad was a part of the movement, he had been stationed in Wales) and going there was definitely a bucket list item for us. After France, we took WBTA on DCL. That was a wild ride, we hit very rough waters and landed in NYC with an overnight on the ship. That gave us the opportunity to visit the 9/11 monuments as well as George Washington’s Wall Street’s inauguration NHS.

So, what’s ahead is coming and we are determined to enjoy our DVC for as long as we can.

 

[LPnerd]

We have had many great family vacations at DHHIR over the years.

We used to get a points reservation for Sunday - Friday in a GV and then add Friday night with the 25% cash discount since (at least at that time) weekends were usually available for the GVs.

We also would get 2BRs for each daughter's family and a 1BR for us so that everyone had their own escape but could still participate in the HH recreational programs together. Our 3 oldest grandkids will be in college this year, so the family vacations have started to become more challenging trying to involve everyone's schedules.

For those familiar with the HH resort, "Chef" Gordon, a mainstay on the recreation staff (who used to offer "A Private Affair" which was a meal for up to 6 prepared in a GV with a menu of your choice), told us that the typical pattern for those ultimately moving to HH was timeshare, condo, followed by a home ... and we laughed when he told us that many years ago.

we used to live in hilton head plantation. we sold and moved to Bluffton and have regretted it, mostly . The caveat here is they have no idea, or did they seem to get it even post, what happens and how to handle a hurricane. we left about 6 months prior to Mathew, and it was devastating for the island due to lack of preparation and believing they would never get one. so, beware, and get out of there if there is one headed your way. having said that, we have moved back to FL. around Orlando, and find we are using points more than in the recent past. Disney villas are super safe during hurricanes, plus now that we're retired we can use our points so many other places whenever we feel like a trip!
also, we bought our points in 1996,so we could make a lot of money over what we paid for them. as long as the dues don't run above what we would have to pay for vacation lodging we won't sell.

 

[Nappy1380]

We purchased 270 points at SSR just as the pandemic started after taking 3 trips to Disney in 18 months. We are in our mid 30s and have two children ages 6 and 7. Their first trip to Disney was also my first trip to Disney and we all fell in love with Disney it at the same time. Seeing how excited and elated they were throughout that first trip most likely made my first experience exponentially better than what it might have been otherwise. We have already gone back once since reopening, and my wife and I are celebrating 10 years with an adults only trip in August.

For now, our plan is for the long term ownership. Annual/Semi Annual trips will hopefully be a family tradition until the college years when it will be time to make our first reassessment. Ideally, we would like to own through retirement and be able to take those large family trips most people here report on with kids and grandkids along for the magical ride!

 

[corpcomp]

I have 4 contracts all at BCV. One 210 (bought in 2006 at $95 per point) and then bought three 30 point contracts in 2008 for about $85 per point. I recently put my son (25) on the 210 contract and will pass that on to him. The smaller contracts I may sell eventually.

DW and I go up to 2 times per year from CT and if I move to Orlando, which I am trying to do having lived there before, will stay for a weekend every two months. DW will get tired of that haha so I will go alone. Need that Mickey bar.

 

[wdwnut]

I first heard about the Vacation Club in 1993. The free passes were tempting, but we didn’t have the $12-13k cash to buy in. The kids thought it was a bit too far away from the parks. We were staying in a Contemporary tower room for $125/night on an AP discount. We loved the convenience and how easy it was to get to the MK (a cast member showed us how to walk there) and Epcot. We usually went 2-3 times per year up until about ‘97 before we took a break.

In 2000, 14 of us decided to take a family vacation back to WDW. We looked back into DVC and purchased our first BWV contract. We purchased our 4th BWV contract in ‘08 for a total of 570 points. We’re able to take some of the extended family (19 of us this Nov.) every other year as well as some “work”friends on the other years.

We’re waiting til 70 to retire, 2 more years. We’ll definitely spend some additional time at WDW and continue to do larger family trips. Our oldest DS and DDIL are already listed as associate members so they will be taking over if we cannot continue to go.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

We have a total of 1200 points but our goal is to have about 1500 in the next year or so. We plan on using dvc in retirement and also buying and living on a yacht. I’m not sure if that is feasible or if we will end up buying a house and ditching the yacht, but I do not think we will ever buy a condo. Dh hates living too close to other people. Weird, because he loves dvc. We have 3 kids who love Disney and in the end plan on gifting the dvc contracts to them.

 

[bwvBound]

@Fellowship9798, that is quite a story. You've been through a rough trip of late ... praying for your peace, strength, & recovery (finding yourself, your footing, your purpose, your joy).

{{ HUGS }}

 

[yesdnil]

We bought 175 points at Copper Creek in 2018, on our oldest daughter's first trip. Before this, we were deluxe resort people who typically visited Disney every other year.

With the military discount prices on deluxe resorts, buying into DVC actually cost us more money up front, but financially it made sense long term, especially after becoming parents.

We much prefer staying in a one bedroom for our family of (now) four, or getting a two bedroom if we're bringing along extended family. The full kitchen and the in-unit washer and dryer are things that we really really use and love, and that's where the biggest benefits are for us in the young kids phase of life.

Since we also love to vacation at National Parks and would eventually love to take our kids on more international vacations, 175 points is working for us now. I'll be in my 80s when we hit our 50-year mark.

I don't see us adding on anytime soon, but a new DVC property at Disneyland would probably be a game changer for us. We really love both resorts, and knowing we could have an easy 11-month booking window at DL would be a huge added benefit. I could see getting 100 points and planning a 200-point trip to DL every other year, and then we could have a 350-point trip to WDW on the alternating years.

 

[Lorana]

We only bought into DVC a couple of years ago, but our history with Disney is long. I would watch the World of Disney with my dad on Sunday evenings, and our trip to Disney when I was 9 was all the magic I had hoped it would be. I wouldn't return till I was an adult, with my then-boyfriend as our first big vacation together... and it became the place he proposed. As we had bought APs for our 2 week trips (as the longest tickets then were 7 days and 2 7 day tickets were significantly more than APs), we visited more than once over that year and we were hooked. We married in Disney a few years later.

Then kids came. Our oldest's first trip was at 10 months, and while kids may not concretely remember what happens at 10 months, I can tell you that some part of it sticks with them; you can tell by their reaction to things. Our oldest came three years later, and his first trip was when he was at 2. We have many wonderful, amazing memories of our kids at the parks, which is why we knew we would want to own DVC... because we love it, and love to go there even without the kids, but because it holds so many memories of happy, fun times with our children. And while they are now teenagers - and my oldest is off to college next year - we knew we want to make the most of the remaining time. But we also wanted to prepare for the future.

We didn't buy in earlier because, financially, we just weren't where we wanted to be to take on annual dues, and we wanted to plan and prepare for college and retirement and what-not. DVC is a factor in our retirement plans, too, as we want to be able to spend a month or more in the winter (we are in New England) in Disney once we can, and I'm hoping to at least semi-retire in 15 years.

We have a LOT of points in preparation for that retirement plan, but we have plans to take friends and family over the next few years, and want to be able to do Thanksgiving and holidays with the kids through the college years. Our plan presently is that we will rent some of our points each year to put into savings/invest to help pay for dues when we do retire, when we aren't using them all to spoil people. We have a lot of places still on our bucket list, so buying into DVC was actually to enable to take lots of small long weekend trips over the next many years, too -- the Gold AP discounts plus the savings over time on accommodations is what drew us. We want to be able in these next many years to go frequently, for shorter stretches, and save the long vacations/vacation time for National Parks and international travel. Also, some of our friends are only now having children, so it gives us a chance to take our "fairy godchildren" to Disney and help create memories for our friends and their kids, and maybe we will have grandkids down the line as well.

We bought our contracts as many small contracts, with the intent of leaving them to our boys down the line. They keep and sell them as they need/want. But part of our other reason for buying them in small contracts was so that if we needed to sell, we could sell off some as needed without losing all of them.

Right now, we are still thinking we will live in New England come that time, but we also recognize plans may change. 15 years is a long time. We don't know where our kids will end up or what they will do. We may decide we love HHI enough to want to retire there, though right now our thinking is more along the lines of NC for the Smokey Mountains, if it isn't further north say near Acadia in Maine. Lots of small contracts gives us the ability to be flexible if our future plans do change.

 

[Lakegirl]

Love reading all these stories!!

 

[disneyfan123]

Our first contract is currently in ROFR, so while we are not technically owners yet, our main reason to jump into DVC was to be able to book Disney trips regularly, at a discount. Disney is something that brings our family together; my 9 year old discovered on our last trip that she LOVES the fast rides, and is constantly talking about riding Everest for the first time (I can't wait to take her on it!), while my son really enjoys all the details of places like Pandora.

So our plan is basically to have the opportunity to stay at amazing resorts (looking forward to trying out more DVC properties) while at Disney, and Hawaii, for years to come. We'll probably book some form of Disney vacation every other year, and while that may slow down once the kids are out of the house, DW and I are both Disney fans and would go on our own too. I'm expecting to hold on to our SSR contract until it expires. Maybe someday we will add more at another resort, but we'll see. I really don't want to experience addonitis before I have my first contract!

 

[mercuryvenus]

We’re very new DVC owners (purchased 325 points at Riviera in Feb 2020). We just added on at Aulani, so we now have 495 points. We’re in our mid-30s with one young daughter. Our plan is to do a trip to a DVC property (either WDW or Aulani) about every 2-3 years. We want to be able to do trips that are about 10 days long in 2-3 bedroom properties, so we can accommodate family.

It’s possible we’ll scale back our points once our daughter is out of the house and our parents pass or are too old to be able to enjoy traveling with us. But for now, we’re excited to be able to do this!

 

[MonaMN]

We are new DVCers too, with a kid starting seventh grade in the fall who is a total Disnerd. We were not Disney people until we took her to Disneyland when she was 4, then followed up with a trip to WDW when she was 5. We have been going either to the parks or on cruisegenerally every year since then, mostly staying at moderates.

One of the clinchers for us is that our kid has food allergies, and WDW is one of the only places where we don’t have to stress about the food options.

We had been joking about DVC for years, but when I looked at prices for a trip, even the moderates had gotten really expensive… and we had saved a decent chunk of change during the pandemic… and well, here we are with 150 points at Copper Creek. Our general plan is to do a 1 bedroom every other year with a cruise or other trip in the off years.

That said, friends who have never been asked if we could plan a trip together, so our first trip as DVCers will be next March at CC in a 2 bedroom. We are really looking forward to sharing that time with them!

 

[DVC92]

I originally visited WDW the 1st year it opened during a spring break college trip. We purchased at OKW in 1992 during its opening year and cashed in on the free passes. Since then, we have added on points at BLT and VGF, but sadly sold off the OKW points during the pandemic. In lieu of going 3x/yr, we are now down to spring and fall (about 16 days/yr). One of the great things about OKW which I will miss is that many of the staff remained the same over the years, and I had more of a personal connection with them than in the hotel connected resorts. OKW has more of a home feel to it which I will miss.

 

[smjj]

We have already fulfilled our long term goal. That goal was to save money on our yearly trips to Disney. Since we bought OKW back in 2004 at $68.00 per point and have added on 2 times since all at OKW with a June use year we have more than made up and I mean way more than made up for our investment. We have now been 34 times and have 2 additional trips booked. Our next is just the two of us in late August and the next after that is with our son and his family over Thanksgiving in a 2 bedroom villa. We have stayed in grand villas and two bedrooms and studios all over the place. I think all here know who much a grand villa or two bedroom can run you. Yes, our long term goal has been accomplished and we are still living the dream...ºoº

 

[Chuck S]

and our parents pass or are too old to be able to enjoy traveling with us.

My Mom was never too old, her last trip before passing was at age 86. She passed at 87, with another trip planned.