Why have you NOT bought DVC?

[rie'smom]

exactly! www.shadesofgreen.org

they're compared to deluxe rooms. they are much larger than deluxe rooms though! very nice place, w/table and chairs, refrigerator, daily housekeeping and price depends on your rank. This Dec. will cost us $117 per night and there is no tax I just can't see paying for DVC when we can stay at Shades. Its just a short walk from the Poly plus if they are sold out, sometimes Disney will offer a discount at one of the disney resorts. That is why we stayed at the Poly in Dec. 07 we got an overflow rate. It equaled like 20% off...I'll take it

We stayed here in 1982, the year wewere married. We walked to the Poly to hop on the monorail. It was called the Golf Resort and was really nice.

 

[shelly3girls]

Another reason I forgot to list:

It works out pretty evenly if you consider rack rates, the rate at which they are increasing versus DVC points, annual dues and the rate at which they are increasing. However, the absolute best you can hope for with DVC, is that the price doesn't go up. It will never go down. With resort rates, though not a guarentee, there is always a possibility of discounts, such as AAA or Annual Pass. You factor in the money you'd be ahead by getting a discount every now and again, and you're making out much better.

Although this is true, DVC members also have the benefit of $100 off/person on annual passes. This is a huge benefit for our family of 5. At the current prices I am not sure we would have bought DVC. We are very thankful to have bought in over 5 years ago when it was much more affordable.

To answer an earlier question about why people can book cash DVC when members cannot get reservations with points, Disney maintains a certain % ownership of each DVC resort which they rent out in cash.

 

[Momelie]

to help get back on track, there are lots of good reasons to balk at buying DVC:

1) thousands of $ upfront plus annual fees require a certain level of financial ability and commitment (and still need to pay for tickets and travel, etc.)
2) commitment to wdw/fear of wdw burnout (sorta - while you can trade out, the best value is staying at the DVC resorts)
3) DVC not as deluxe as deluxe hotels in some senses (limited housekeeping, sofabeds, no room service at some DVC resorts)
4) prefer to stay on weekends and weekend point costs are OUTRAGEOUS
5) financing a depreciating (sooner or later) luxury purchase is generally a poor idea
6) happy with value hotels
7) want to stay at a monorail resort (pending "kingdom towers" announcement)
8) amenities like a kitchen and washer/dryer have no value for me
9) i don't/can't plan my vacations 6+ months in advance
10) i enjoy hunting for deals/bargains for each trip

Thank you!!!!

We had been batting the DVC idea around for a while now, trying to decide, and this did it! A solid 8 out of 10 of the above apply to me, for sure!

I'm at Disney probably 20-30 times per year, but all but a couple of those are weekend visits, some long holiday weekends. We do WL for a week once a year in January, and POR for Spring Break. Other than that, just weekends, and values are just fine for that.

After a long week of pounding art history into college freshmen, my favorite thing to do on Friday afternoon is to pick the kids up from school and drive about an hour to my happy place, and just leave all my cares behind! Unfortunately, I have to go back to pounding again on Monday, so I eat lunch at France, and wave goodbye till the next time! All these weekends are totally unplanned (I'll never get to eat at Le Cellier!), and that's the way we like it, so I guess DVC is just not for us at this time.

Again, thanks!

 

[deide71]

There are ways to make DVC more affordable:

We originally purchased a 50 point contract via resale for $78/pt. We wanted to get our feet wet. Well, before the ink was dry we added on 150 points during a promotion Disney was having: $83 and change a point.

My initial buy in was $16,500 for 200 points. Due to timing I also received some extra points without dues. So over the last 3 years I paid $2400 in maintenence fees. This was off set by renting points out (220 @$11point =$2420 back). So $18,900 in costs minus 2420 = $16,480 total outlay.

To further muddy the waters We decided to sell a one of our 50 point contracts two months ago. Total $ back after commision paid $4000.

I am out $12,480 but have 150 points and have enjoyed:

5 nights at Villas at Wilderness Lodge in a 2br
2 nights at Saratoga Springs in a 1br
6 nights at Old Key West in a 2br
and coming up in August:
5 nights at Saratoga Springs in a 2br.

Being a family of 5 is hard. You really require a 2 br. We decided the weekend point requirements were punitively high (or the weeknights a bargain depending on how you look at it ) so we decreased our holdings and we are spending 2 nights at the Fort Wilderness Cabins before moving to Saratoga Springs.

Since we get discounts on AP's (that perk saves us $500 ) we will return to Orlando in March for spring break...and we will rent a villa at Windsor Hills.

So the moral of this story is...there are ways to get the system to work for you if you put in some effort. If you plan on staying in only studios or 1brs and avoid the weekends you can buy a small resale contract and make out like a bandit!

 

[tasha99]

I just can't afford it until my kids are grown. I would love to own though--when my kids have flown the coup, I'm hoping to buy 150 points or so to take my nieces, nephews, and any future grandkids. That's 10 years down the line though--right now I'm struggling too much financially to buy in.

 

[Tink415]

We DIDN'T buy for years because I didn't want to finance the purchase and didn't have enough extra cash to devote to DVC, I also had doubts about being able to fly and purchase tickets every year etc, AND I like to stay at all the different resorts - I like them all
We finally purchased a 75 point resale which works well for us, and we'll purchase another 75 point contract when the time is right so each of our children can have DVC.

 

[Reginak]

How did you come to that conclusion? The maintenance fees alone are what a Value resort would be. Minumum buy in is 160 points now and at $4.50 per point in maintenance fees, that's $720 a year. You can get a week at a Value resort for that.

With that same 160 pts. you can get a studio at OKW for two full weeks during Adventure (value) season or 4 trips for 5 nights each if you travel Sun. - Thurs..
You get almost the same value at BWV standard view.

Regina

 

[Reginak]

We decided to buy while I was in the middle of planning our fourth trip. I realized that the money we were paying on our hotel room was filling Disney's pocket and we would only get to enjoy it for a short time but if we used it as a down payment for DVC then we could get years of enjoyment out of it.

At $200/mo. I don't miss the payments and, once it is paid off, at $600 a year for dues we get a two bedroom villa for 5 nights averaging $120/nt. at the Beach Club. I have never seen a discount that good. And, with adjustments for inflation, Disney promises the same deal to me for 50 years.

If, at any point, you tire of Disney you can probably get a good deal selling the timeshare unless Disney stops taking care of its resorts - but I have faith that will never be a problem.

Regina

Regina

 

[tidefan]

Would you pay your electric company $16,000 upfront for electricity?

Would you pay Macy's $16,000 upfront for clothes for the next few years?

Of course you wouldn't...because it makes no sense financially.

I have seen other posts about owning other timeshares. The best thing about DVC is that it is one of the few timeshares to hold its value. Granted, this is up to this point, but a 16 year track record is not bad. So I would pose this question when asked about the upfront dues. Would it change your perspective on the $16,000 in Electricity or Clothes if 5 years after you bought them, you could sell it and recoup most, if not all (maybe even a bit more), of that initial investment and you have gotten 5 years use out of it?

I would never consider DVC as an investment tool, but there has not been a depreciation (at least yet) in fees as Disney keeps prices close to direct on the resale market via Right of First Refusal. If you don't like it after a few years, sell it for about what you bought in for it...

The nice thing about resale, however, is even though you don't save that much $$ per point, you can buy less points than Disney requires for an initial purchase. This is because members can add on (after initial purchase) in contracts as low as 25 points and can then turn around and sell those contracts. You could get into a 50 point contract for around $4300. If it were at Saratoga Springs, your annual maintenance fees on this would be $210.50. This would get you 4-5 nights per year in a studio.

While thinking about that point, one thing that you also need to factor in is that you also have to pay tax on room rentals, something that always seems to be left out when I see various DVC comparisons. Tax for DVC is part of the maintenance fees. Tax at a $150/night CSR stay is an additional $15 per night.

DVC is right for a lot of people and it is equally not right for a lot of people, but there is definitely value to it. I have run various numbers and I look at DVC as allowing me to stay in a Deluxe or Villa style accommodation for the price of what a value would cost me over the same period of time. I do agree that financing DVC would diminish the value of it.

As to the "I have a timeshare offsite" argument, I think that is a different animal. To me, that is analogous to the onsite/offsite argument, i.e., the equivalent argument as to "why stay at the Beach Club when I can stay at the Hyatt?", or "why stay at POP when I can stay at the Comfort Inn?".

 

[ElizabethB]

We didn't want the yearly maintenance fee.
Points required for weekends are punitively high, and we like to stay weekends - we don't like changing resorts.
We like daily maid service and turn down service.
We don't like the whole timeshare concept.
DVC timeshares end at a fixed date.
Value over time depends entirely on Disney continuing to exercise its ROFR, which they likely will only do so long as they are still building DVC properties.
We often get nice discounts for the DVC properties -- AP, public code, etc.
Disney is canabalizing existing hotel inventory and turning it into DVC inventory, which tells me DVC is extremely lucrative for Disney. If it's so lucrative for the seller, it's something less than a bargain for the person on the other side of the transaction.

 

[mikkiwikki]

Ive run the numbers ...

The 'opportunity cost' of allowing disney to have my 16k upfront
is greater than
investing that money elsewhere and simply renting stays.

Other *additional* reasons include
1) DVC is not a deeded property - meaning you cant pass onto your children after 2042. or 2056 depending on resort. So after decades of paying maintenance fees, you have nothing to pass onto your kids.

2) We have flexibility without DVC of staying at any of the resorts.
3) My money is making money for ME as opposed to making money for disney. no offense walt.
4) We are NOT having to pay maintenance fees which would be 1/2 cost of moderate stay.
5) With the money we earn - we can stay whereever we want. and have no commitment.

OH - and did I mention that right in the DVC literature that they send you - it clearly states that this is NOT an investment. ie. not a money making instrument...ie. purely a luxury item

 

[dvczerfs]

I have seen other posts about owning other timeshares. The best thing about DVC is that it is one of the few timeshares to hold its value. Granted, this is up to this point, but a 16 year track record is not bad. So I would pose this question when asked about the upfront dues. Would it change your perspective on the $16,000 in Electricity or Clothes if 5 years after you bought them, you could sell it and recoup most, if not all (maybe even a bit more), of that initial investment and you have gotten 5 years use out of it?

I would never consider DVC as an investment tool, but there has not been a depreciation (at least yet) in fees as Disney keeps prices close to direct on the resale market via Right of First Refusal. If you don't like it after a few years, sell it for about what you bought in for it...

The nice thing about resale, however, is even though you don't save that much $$ per point, you can buy less points than Disney requires for an initial purchase. This is because members can add on (after initial purchase) in contracts as low as 25 points and can then turn around and sell those contracts. You could get into a 50 point contract for around $4300. If it were at Saratoga Springs, your annual maintenance fees on this would be $210.50. This would get you 4-5 nights per year in a studio.

While thinking about that point, one thing that you also need to factor in is that you also have to pay tax on room rentals, something that always seems to be left out when I see various DVC comparisons. Tax for DVC is part of the maintenance fees. Tax at a $150/night CSR stay is an additional $15 per night.

DVC is right for a lot of people and it is equally not right for a lot of people, but there is definitely value to it. I have run various numbers and I look at DVC as allowing me to stay in a Deluxe or Villa style accommodation for the price of what a value would cost me over the same period of time. I do agree that financing DVC would diminish the value of it.

As to the "I have a timeshare offsite" argument, I think that is a different animal. To me, that is analogous to the onsite/offsite argument, i.e., the equivalent argument as to "why stay at the Beach Club when I can stay at the Hyatt?", or "why stay at POP when I can stay at the Comfort Inn?".

very nicely put. dont forget the the ap discounts and the laundry (i spent $40.00 at the laundy at car.beach last june) and not having to eat out for three meals a day. i agree, this agrument could go on forever. the best part is,which ever you decide, sounds like everyone has a great time the way they like to do it.( i love my king size bed!)

 

[minnie61650]

Because DVC dosen't have a resort with a monorail location.---yet

 

[letthewookiewin]

When we were at WDW last, we took the DVC tour. My DH (that I can barely convince to go to WDW every other year) after going through the whole tour and hearing the prices, even he really wanted to buy in. The only thing holding us back is the credit check. Right now there is no way we could pay cash for it, and with our credit in the shape it's in we could not finance it.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

DVC certainly isn't for everyone. We have 3 kids (soon to be four) and DVC was absolutely the best decision. DH is spoiled and insists on the Deluxe resorts. Those rooms were just getting too cramped (and only one bathroom!). Also, my boys go to bed relatively early and it is so nice to not have to go bed at the same time. With our DVC, DH and I can enjoy some alone time after our boys go to bed. Not to mention, with a family of 6, DVC was the most affordable option considering we go to Disney at least once every year.

Oh, yeah, I forgot. We aren't going again until Jan, and were able to rent 1/3 of our points to a friend...paid our whole year's worth of dues.

 

[DisneyMusician2]

I just can't afford a DVC as a young professonal with a family.

I wish there was a cheaper alternative or some value DVC (I don't know how that would work, but there it is!)

We can only go every couple of years, but always want to go more, and we really can't afford any buy-in with five figures.

I don't know how you guys can do it!

 

[REL1203]

I just can't afford a DVC as a young professonal with a family.

I wish there was a cheaper alternative or some value DVC (I don't know how that would work, but there it is!)

We can only go every couple of years, but always want to go more, and we really can't afford any buy-in with five figures.

I don't know how you guys can do it!

Why dont you buy a resale with like 80 points, and if you go every 3 years, you can bank, and Borrow, and have 240 points for a vacation every 3 years, or 160 every other year... You can get great deals on some weeks with those points

 

[Markstudy]

Because DVC dosen't have a resort with a monorail location.---yet

My perdition....for existing DVC members- is a 2 year waiting list to book reservations for the Tower with monorail, when finished.

They will sell it to new folks at a premium price (and sell-out) and then everyone that has been in the DVC program for the last 10 years, will also want to stay there!

 

[RJD]

I have looked into it. We don't go once a year... more like every couple of years, but we probably would go more often if we could afford to, so that's the main reason we haven't joined---MONEY. Although we have considered it and may do so in the future. But with the economy and the price of everything today--who knows? Don't feel confident enough about our future finances to make the investment at this time. Also with 2 boys (14 and 11) college funds are the priority at this time.

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

With that same 160 pts. you can get a studio at OKW for two full weeks during Adventure (value) season or 4 trips for 5 nights each if you travel Sun. - Thurs..
You get almost the same value at BWV standard view.

Regina

.....but this theory doesn't work if you work Monday - Friday. Our annual 10-day holiday includes two weekends.....suddenly this theory doesn't work.....not to mention the other long-weekend visits we enjoy each year.

DVC is soooooo much not worth burning vacation days to avoid weekends.

Also.....I travel for work and use my Priority Club points for free hotel rooms....last year alone......

3 nights in Bar Harbor Maine

2 Nights in Vancouver

2 Nights in Anchorage

2 Nights (X 2 rooms for wedding guests) Seward, Alaska

+ a 10 day free car rental at WDW


ALL at no cost - simply by using the points.

Even without the advantages of castmember rates....DVC would be far too restrictive.

I have heard grumbling from my DVC friends who can no longer use their points at WDW as freely because resorts are unavailable. Pay a small mountain of $$$ in advance, expensive yearly fees......cannot get reservations easily anymore.......hummmmmmmm.....hardly a tough decision for us.

Last trip.......I realized I had a free southwest reward flight about to expire. DH hops onto the castmember portal.....long weekend in two weeks.....flights booked.....free car rental arranged......and we are off to the Wildie. THAT's the flexibility and $$$$$ we enjoy.