What regrets do you have/mistakes made re: DVC purchase?

[Jaaron2]

we should have bought sooner

 

[Sandisw]

My only regret is that I didn't choose a profession that would allow me the income needed to buy the number of points I really want to own!!!

 

[crisi]

One thing that jumped out at me in the OP was the implied intention of taking family.

DVC has been GREAT to allow us to take family. At the same time, its been expensive. We've ended up "helping" family go by buying park tickets, plane tickets, picking up their dinner checks. I've probably spent $20k on plane tickets, park tickets, and dinners for people other than myself, my husband and our kids in the past ten years. I have some fairly well off relatives - and some poor ones - but they don't all prioritize a Disney vacation in their spending, so sometimes we need to help them go. We've been willing to do that, but be prepared. As kids arrive, your relatives may not be able to afford park tickets for four, food for a growing eleven year old boy, etc. If you can afford it - great, but don't make your purchase plans based of your idea of how your relatives will be able to spend their money (or time - time has also been a big one - not everyone wants to use their valuable vacation time at Disney over and over again) ten or fifteen years from now.

 

[SanDeeKath]

One thing that jumped out at me in the OP was the implied intention of taking family.

DVC has been GREAT to allow us to take family. At the same time, its been expensive. We've ended up "helping" family go by buying park tickets, plane tickets, picking up their dinner checks. I've probably spent $20k on plane tickets, park tickets, and dinners for people other than myself, my husband and our kids in the past ten years. I have some fairly well off relatives - and some poor ones - but they don't all prioritize a Disney vacation in their spending, so sometimes we need to help them go. We've been willing to do that, but be prepared. As kids arrive, your relatives may not be able to afford park tickets for four, food for a growing eleven year old boy, etc. If you can afford it - great, but don't make your purchase plans based of your idea of how your relatives will be able to spend their money (or time - time has also been a big one - not everyone wants to use their valuable vacation time at Disney over and over again) ten or fifteen years from now.

I agree with you. My family just assumes we will "pay" for the room since we have points. For examle, this Thanksgiving, we are reserving a 2br and a studio for our family of 12 for 4 nights. It's almost 400 points at GCV and if you value about $10 per point, we just spent $4000 on the room. Not that I would expect them to pay me cash to offset the cost, BUT I would like some appreciation of using OUR points for the extended family vacation. For example, they could offer to buy us dinner one night, perhaps.

Instead, I just get the "oh, we can all go to Disneyland for free since Kath has all those points to burn." HMMMMM.

Otherwise, no regrets here. Buy where you want to go and buy smaller contracts or broken up contracts if possible instead of one large one. Also, buy resale if you don't need points right away because it's so much cheaper. Excepts are Aulani and BLT, where the difference is minimal so it is simply easier to buy direct from Disney. Oh, and don't plan on using your points for the Disney Cruise Line. Total ripoff!

Katherine

 

[culli]

I agree with you. My family just assumes we will "pay" for the room since we have points. For examle, this Thanksgiving, we are reserving a 2br and a studio for our family of 12 for 4 nights. It's almost 400 points at GCV and if you value about $10 per point, we just spent $4000 on the room. Not that I would expect them to pay me cash to offset the cost, BUT I would like some appreciation of using OUR points for the extended family vacation. For example, they could offer to buy us dinner one night, perhaps.

Instead, I just get the "oh, we can all go to Disneyland for free since Kath has all those points to burn." HMMMMM.

Katherine

WOW you have to be kidding me..........you need new family. That is ridiculous, I wouldn't charge them $10 a pt but maybe the MFs. At the very least I would let them know what your cost is for the trip. And if you are getting a separate room for someone.........sorry pay for it yourself.

People without common courtesy and respect is one of my biggest pet peeves.

 

[eljefe45]

I bought at SSR and GCV. We bought at GCV because it was cheaper but we live in NY and don't expect to go to California very often. So my suggestion is that you go to and if you can stay at the place you want to buy first.

If you buy direct take the info you get from the cast member with a grain of salt and throw it past the board if you doubt it all.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

I'm going to go against the grain here. My biggest regret is that I spent money staying BEFORE I purchased. I research things to death. I had researched and done virtual tours enough to know we would resort hop. I also knew we'd go back to Disney often, but we thought we'd try it. So we spent around $3,000 and then turned around and immediately purchased. We could have still taken that trip, and put the $3,000 on the contract.

For the times we travel (July/Aug and spring break), I've had excellent luck booking at the 7 month window. However, I don't mind if my first choice isn't available (in 10 trips, that's only happened once). With the exception of Bay Lake, we've stayed at all the DVCs on property, and we'll continue to hop. I can honestly say if Disney ever changes rules about where/when you can stay, I won't be disappointed because I have to stay at my home resorts, I'll be disappointed because I can't stay at others as well.

For our initial purchases, it came down to best price and longest contract. For the second two, it was best price. Though I'm not planning on adding points any time soon, I've thought about where I'd add on if we did. I still think it would come down to price and maintenance fees, then possibly length of contract. It would be hard to go with my top 2 or DH's top 2, because they are different!

And yes...I wished I had bought sooner, though the prices now are amazing! We spent $84 a point on Saratoga back in January of 2007. Think of the points I could have purchased with the same amount of money!

 

[SanDeeKath]

WOW you have to be kidding me..........you need new family. That is ridiculous, I wouldn't charge them $10 a pt but maybe the MFs. At the very least I would let them know what your cost is for the trip. And if you are getting a separate room for someone.........sorry pay for it yourself.

People without common courtesy and respect is one of my biggest pet peeves.

I agree, I need a new family.

 

[dolphinsleb]

My only regret is buying from disney, Much better deals through resale companies, 30-40 cheaper a point in most cases, You still get the same great service from customer relations.

 

[arielrocks]

i regret only buying 160 points and wish I had bought 200 to give me enough without having to borrow or rent!

 

[phelps]

We bought OKW almost at the beginning of the DVC contract. Should have bought more points when they were so cheap. Also, it took us two years staying on property to commit. Should have done it the first year.

 

[DisneyDad222]

My wife and I are looking at buying 100 points resale for SSR to get started with the DVC. We have a two year old and hope to have another child in 2012. The goal is to be able to get a one bedroom every other year for a week during off season, and maybe be able to go for a long weekend every now and again in a studio for just the two of us.
The problem that I'm having in jumping on it is that I keep doing the math and it's not making sense. With yearly dues of 600 to 700, and no savings on park tickets, I'd be spending 1400 every two years, which would basically be the cost of booking a room for four people in a moderate resort for a week.
What are the top reasons to buy into DVC? Is it just about a better room or are there real savings over time that I'm not seeing? Any feedback would be welcome, thanks...

 

[SabresFan]

My wife and I are looking at buying 100 points resale for SSR to get started with the DVC. We have a two year old and hope to have another child in 2012. The goal is to be able to get a one bedroom every other year for a week during off season, and maybe be able to go for a long weekend every now and again in a studio for just the two of us.
The problem that I'm having in jumping on it is that I keep doing the math and it's not making sense. With yearly dues of 600 to 700, and no savings on park tickets, I'd be spending 1400 every two years, which would basically be the cost of booking a room for four people in a moderate resort for a week.
What are the top reasons to buy into DVC? Is it just about a better room or are there real savings over time that I'm not seeing? Any feedback would be welcome, thanks...

Compared to the price of staying in a Moderate Resort, no, I don't think you are saving anything. It also depends what kind of room you are looking for - if a Studio is OK, then you need fewer points per night. For ourselves, with two teenage daughters, we are looking at a 1 BR whenever we go. Compared to a room at the Poly, the payback is about 6 trips (i.e. after we go 6 times, it is cheaper to stay in a 1 BR Suite at SSR (where we bought our points) than a 1 BR room at the Poly. Of course, at the Poly you get daily mousekeeping, amazing decor, and the Monorail. At the SSR, you get an extra room and about 300 more s.f., plus a kitchen.

So for us, the extra space and long term saving outweigh the advantages of the Poly. But of course, to each his own.

 

[DeeCee735]

Absolutely no regrets. We bought our largest contract in 2000. Over the years we've added on a few times. Our average price per point is $77.00. We didn't finance anything. So now we have 385 points to use to go to our most favorite vacation destination.

When we bought our kids were little. Now they are young adults, and they use the points for short trips with friends each year too! I wasn't really thinking about that when we bought, but it works out great. We go as a family once a year, I go with friends on short 3 night trips 1 - 2 x a year, and now my kids are using it for a 3-4 night annual trip as well!

We figured out that the ownership paid for itself in about 5-6 trips (including one land/sea vacation), and we used moderate to deluxe hotels as a norm for our vacationing style. So basically for the cost of our dues, we get quite a bit of vacationing opportunities out of our ownership, and have for awhile now. We'd never be able to travel this often or with such diversity without DVC. (we'll have 2 DVC cruises under our belts after April, have stayed in conceirge collection hotels, and have used DVC Hilton Head a few times, as well as our favorite place...WDW, now our kids are using it for Spring break with their friends!) My personal next intention is to trade out with RCI for Sedona. Looking at two years from now, I think!

It's a real good thing....

 

[FindingFigment]

My wife and I are looking at buying 100 points resale for SSR to get started with the DVC. We have a two year old and hope to have another child in 2012. The goal is to be able to get a one bedroom every other year for a week during off season, and maybe be able to go for a long weekend every now and again in a studio for just the two of us.
The problem that I'm having in jumping on it is that I keep doing the math and it's not making sense. With yearly dues of 600 to 700, and no savings on park tickets, I'd be spending 1400 every two years, which would basically be the cost of booking a room for four people in a moderate resort for a week.
What are the top reasons to buy into DVC? Is it just about a better room or are there real savings over time that I'm not seeing? Any feedback would be welcome, thanks...

Good news! The dues for 100 points at SSR is only $450. So that should help some.

 

[katieam1]

Only regret is we did not buy more points. We plan on buying more but it would be nice to have more points in the first contract.

 

[CAMPI1]

No regret ever we had 250 points originally and then added on 50 more-best investment ever

 

[CAMPI1]

It will pay over time You can eat in your room for a meal if you want the washer dryer and you are staying in the best resorts. They are roomy, I have 3 boys and to stay in a hotel everyone has to hang out on the beds, when we go to DVC it is relaxing and we are not on top of one another. It pays for itself over time, when that 1400 won't pay for a room !

 

[culli]

It will pay over time You can eat in your room for a meal if you want the washer dryer and you are staying in the best resorts. They are roomy, I have 3 boys and to stay in a hotel everyone has to hang out on the beds, when we go to DVC it is relaxing and we are not on top of one another. It pays for itself over time, when that 1400 won't pay for a room !

Totally agree, we usually get 2brs now with 4 kids. When we had 3 kids and my mom went we got 2 rooms (got very lucky to get adjoing) and hanging out on the beds just didn't seem relaxing. Trying to eat in the room also was a pain and just seemed very crowded. Now we can truely rest and relax in the living rooms and have plenty of space for everyone. We actually can go to WDW to relax and unwind, people think I'm crazy or lying or both but the 1 and 2brs make all the difference for our family.

 

[ilikedvc]

no regrets. It's the best thing we ever did. members for over 10 years