It's been a long time since I read an 8-page thread start-to-end w/out a pause...this is so interesting.
I'll throw out my experience, which is slightly different. Start with I knew when I bought and I know now that this purchase is pure luxury. Add to that my further understanding that a choice to buy a luxury is a simultaneous choice not to save that money, or use it to retire debt.
I'm (thankfully and knock wood!) in good shape financially. I have (hopefully) adequate savings--short and long term. My only debt is my primary home mortgage. I can and do meet my other voluntary obligations--DS' law school (and before that, his college); my father's long-term care expenses prior to his death last year; help for struggling family members, etc. I am (again knock wood--hard and often!), through a lot of hard work and long hours, able to earn enough to cover these expense.
I am so not saving money w/my
DVC--I went from one 7-day annual trip to 4-5 trips/year. But the AP I buy covers the cost of park admission (I, too, value the AP's flexibility in terms of time in the parks) at a cost that is little more than park tickets cost when I was going on cash each year...I do fly down...sometimes w/frequent flyer miles; more often on cash. That's more spending for luxury. I eat at Disney restaurants--but I eat out at home, too. I hardly ever cook.
Mostly, it's just me. DS is away at school and has been since 2005.
I own 515 points...one master contract of 150 points bought in June of 2006; the rest add-on's (one 115-pointer; one 100 pointer; and 3 50-pointers. 150 points at BCV; the rest at SSR. Love both my home resorts).
For the last year I've been resisting adding on more--To cover my points "shortfall" (after full borrowing!), I rented points once; I got a points transfer another time. Will likely do that for another year.
My motivation for buying in was my DS. Every trip we took from the time he turned 14 I thought would be the last one he'd want to take w/his mother. But I was wrong. He still likes to go w/me. In fact, he talked me into the DVC purchase by promising to go for T-giving every year (knowing that jobs being what they are, there could come a year where he can't go)...we take his friends. We take my friends. I take trips w/friends w/out him. (He hasn't yet gone w/out me, but he knows he could)...
Bottom line: I love going to Disney. I love the parks, I love the resorts--each trip is different. Sometimes it's just DS and me. Sometimes DS and a friend and me. Sometimes it's me and a friend w/kids. I have two "almost daughters" (they were nannies to DS during his young years) and 3 "almost grandchildren" who are as much part of my family, and as "entitled" to go to Disney w/me, as my DS.
So, for me...if I want to go to WDW w/any of these precious, dear people, I need the points to make it happen. Other than DS, everyone I take pays their own way (altho my annual Christmas gift to one of my almost daughters is a hefty check for her to put in her "Disney fund"--and of course, as "the mom/grandmom," I get to buy many a meal, many a treat, many a souvenir)!
They are all very grateful to get to go w/me. But from my perspective, I'm the one who's got the most reason to be thankful. I get so much pleasure from these trips, and they wouldn't happen w/out my DVC. W/out the "free room" DVC provides, the families I take probably wouldn't go--and if they did go, it would probably not be w/me! So my points are buying me major pleasure, important memories. They are so worth it.
And much of the cost I'd incur anyway. I pay to eat out even while I'm at home. The cost of an AP makes 2-3 of my 4-5 trips "free" in terms of park admissions. I'd buy the treats/meals/gifts for the people I take (including DS) anyway, too...they'd just be from different places or in different ways.
I've noticed the deterioration at Disney, and it saddens me. But I still love it. And I still want to go, frequently. Whether that will change when DS is a first-year (or first 5-7 years!) associate in a big city law firm, w/precious little time off, I don't know. That's why I'm resisting adding on yet more points. I need to see how it all sorts out once DS is out of school and in the working world.
I don't know how much I'd want to go solo. So far, I've only been once by myself--and that was 5 days after my beloved father died. For me, that trip significantly helped me begin the healing. I needed to be by myself and Disney was the perfect place for me to be. But I just don't know how I'll feel about a trip to Disney all by myself. Haven't tried it yet.
Sorry to be so long-winded. Just thought our story was just enough different from most that it might add something to the thread. For me the bottom line is that it's so not about the money. But it works on a money basis, when I start with acknowledging that it's a pure luxury purchase that I can afford.
Bill
