Wow. 2021 Annual Dues

[SL6827]

I can't imagine staying at the same resort every trip, not even at the Beach Club.

 

[sethschroeder]

I can't imagine staying at the same resort every trip, not even at the Beach Club.

If I could just pick the specific room I wanted each time I might switch more often as well. I would only want to stay in a Studio (Couples Trip) or 2BR (family trip) at RIV, BWV, BCV, BLT, CCV, and VGF though with a vary rare appearance of AKV 1 time every 20 years. I also would not want a split stay if at all possible especially for family trips.

Alas its unlikely that I would easily get those resorts when I want them so I am buying at where it made the most sense for me. BWV resale originally (sold 2 of my 3 contracts) and then RIV direct (300 points at $155/point).

Also like the idea of the same resort through the years for the memories.

 

[E2ME2]

WOW - I was feeling like the odd duck in this analysis, until recently. We are genuinely happy to just be "on-property" when vacationing at WDW. We had many trips where we stayed somewhere that was a "short ride to DISNEY" , and that got old real fast. The first time we stayed on property, in a Value Resort, we thought we had hit the WDW lottery. So SSR has been a great value for us, and even if/when we can't get anywhere else, we're happy at SSR. Having said that, we just put our toes in the water, so to speak, by buying some BCV points. We really like the Crescent Lake locations for EPCOT & DHS. Walking to 2 parks is a great perk. We have been stretching our points with studios to get longer stays, and BWV or BCV Studios at 7 Months is hard to get. So, for that reason, I agree with buying where you want to stay. However, we are also still happy with staying at SSR. We plan to use the BCV points when we have APs, and SSR as primary on our non-park stays. If we are fortunate enough to seek more points in the future, I could see adding AKV to our portfolio as well. Savannah Views are awesome on lazy vacation days, and the Jambo Lobby is impressive, as are the restaurants there. To a DVC newbie, who has a budget issue with some of the higher priced resorts, I would still encourage them to try SSR (maybe rent there for a week) to see how they like it. If true to the pattern I see here on the boards, they will probably wind up adding-on anyway, and then they can branch out to other DVC Home Resorts. Our initial SSR contract was a leap of faith financially, and from a "will we really use it" perspective, and it has paid off handsomely for us.

 

[Lorana]

Is that much different than doing the 5% off Disney gift cards at Target with a Target RedCard? I suppose if you can then turn your 5% in Chase points into more points through a card's multiplier?

This is getting a little off-topic from the thread, but if you have a Chase card where you can transfer Chase Ultimate Reward points to a travel partner, you can get much greater value than the just cash back. As an example, 35,000 points is $350. You would have spent $7,000 to earn that. However, two years ago, I used those 35,000 points to transfer to United to book a roundtrip flight to New Zealand that cost ~$1200. For next year, my son is studying abroad in Japan over the summer (I hope!!!), and I just transferred 68,000 to book a ticket in business class to go out to meet him (as we're going to do a mother/son trip when it ends), and that's a ticket that is selling for $5,059! But at straight 5% cash back, I would have only gotten $680 back.

That said, if you are able to purchase gift cards online, you CAN increase the multiplier cash back if the store has additional earnings to it. For example, I've sometimes gotten 2-3% additional by going to the Chase shopping portal first and then going to Staples or ShopDisney to purchase gift cards. (Sometimes I want to earn specific rewards, or the store isn't the Chase portal, so sometimes I go to an airline shopping portal first).

 

[Spark65]

It absolutely still has value. If you are buying DVC, you want to go to Disney. And most people in that camp would agree that they would choose to go to Disney and stay somewhere that wasn't their first choice, then staying at a value or offsite. So the value is there even if you stay at the locations that usually have availability like Saratoga.


The choice for alot of people is between buying the most economical or not buying at all. If you can't afford the most economical then obviously you don't buy. Of course there are some that still buy lol.

There is no value in being unhappy! I would not be happy paying for anything that doesn't satisfy my hunger all the while wishing I had that elusive goal post I can't shake.

 

[RoseGold]

Except I could pay even less and stay off site. So I don't 100% buy it when there is no accounting for point charts, location, room layouts and contract length (the biggest in my book).

I could pay even less and not go to WDW at all. But that’s not why we are on a DVC board, is it?

To me, points are points. For SAP, a 15% up charge for overpriced points doesn’t make sense. So, yea, $1.50 on dues matters in context. And my VGF room is the same as yours.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I could pay even less and not go to WDW at all. But that’s not why we are on a DVC board, is it?

To me, points are points. For SAP, a 15% up charge for overpriced points doesn’t make sense. So, yea, $1.50 on dues matters in context. And my VGF room is the same as yours.

It seems like this is an apples to oranges comparison, then. For SAP, definitely get the most economical!
I see both sides here: we are lucky we can be very flexible for when we go, but we like to go first week of December to kick of holiday season (and because low crowds and temperatures are agreeable to us), which needs 11 mo window. So we own where we want to stay for that annual trip. But we also make more unplanned trips throughout the year for bdays or to meet up with family, so we got SAPs at SSR for those times.

 

[Lorana]

It seems like this is an apples to oranges comparison, then. For SAP, definitely get the most economical!
I see both sides here: we are lucky we can be very flexible for when we go, but we like to go first week of December to kick of holiday season (and because low crowds and temperatures are agreeable to us), which needs 11 mo window. So we own where we want to stay for that annual trip. But we also make more unplanned trips throughout the year for bdays or to meet up with family, so we got SAPs at SSR for those times.

Same as you! I own at the resorts I love and “must” stay at during Halloween/F&W/Christmas so that I have my 11 month window (and my FWs) to guarantee my stay. I then own SSR for SAP. (DH is trying to convince me to get Aulani for SAP next so that we have the 11 month advantage when we do go. If I find a subsidized contract, maybe. Same thing with VB if I could find a subsidized contract. We want a shot at those beach cottages!)

 

[sethschroeder]

I could pay even less and not go to WDW at all. But that’s not why we are on a DVC board, is it?

To me, points are points. For SAP, a 15% up charge for overpriced points doesn’t make sense. So, yea, $1.50 on dues matters in context. And my VGF room is the same as yours.

• 15% upcharge is also not entirely accurate
  • (my direct-RIV is $11.63/yr vs resale-SSR of $10.26 based on this chart vs direct-SSR of $11.96/yr vs hybrid-SSR of $10.97)
  • My direct purchase though saves me roughly $1k-$1.4k/yr in ticket costs as well easily accounting for that $1.37 difference ($411/yr)
  • RIV also accounts for an additional 16 years or 112% increase in contract length without another base contract purchase
  • There was a 2.6% change in difference and likely will be another cost savings different for RIV in 2022 (less likely in 2023 when they likely start increasing at the same costs)
• 15% of just room becomes less when looking at total stay
  • Lets say 300 points (1 week stay)
  • $10 point/yr is $450/yr extra (if 15%)
  • Room costs $3000 (switching between 1BR/2BRs to on average use 300 points)
  • 8-day Base Tickets (cheapest day of year Jan 22nd) Adults $464 or Kids $448 or $1,824 for family of 4
  • Food is roughly $40 day/person or $1,120 for family of 4 (this can easily vary a ton)
  • Total expenses for week $5944 with that extra $450 making up 7.5% of total cost for week
  • Every year total stay cost will go up while $450/difference is likely to not grow

As for "no Disney trip"

• WDW vs not-WDW is roughly the same for my DVC vs Cabin rental costs (so no real savings in not going on room side)
• Staying offsite is still WDW at probably roughly 50% the cost
  • If you want WDW at a cheaper price and not accounting for any additional benefit since not all points are the same
  • A 15% increase on the room or 7.5% increase on overall cost is an exchange for more "guaranteed" booking at specific resort person likes over other resorts

For SAP, definitely get the most economical!

If you absolutely don't want a specific resort and are fine just staying where ever completely agree. I am not dropping $20k-$60k upfront and then another $1k-$3k per year in order to "randomly" stay at the "left-overs" of other resort owners. Each math equation will be different based on the person but in my case I was able to get the resort I want plus make the math look as attractive as the "most economical resale DVC".

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Same as you! I own at the resorts I love and “must” stay at during Halloween/F&W/Christmas so that I have my 11 month window (and my FWs) to guarantee my stay. I then own SSR for SAP. (DH is trying to convince me to get Aulani for SAP next so that we have the 11 month advantage when we do go. If I find a subsidized contract, maybe. Same thing with VB if I could find a subsidized contract. We want a shot at those beach cottages!)

Those FWs being part of the incentives are a game changer! We definitely partook for our week (it's next week!!)

 

[Lorana]

Those FWs being part of the incentives are a game changer! We definitely partook for our week (it's next week!!)

Right??? We did our FWs as studios, knowing we’d want those when it’s just DH & I and wanting to extend our time at Disney when we retire. But we also got resale CCV points to upgrade to 1BRs and/or give us more time — and while the kids are still traveling with us, to give us 2BRs or Cabins by banking/borrowing.
Getting FWs with incentives brought the pricing close enough to resale rates that with the benefits of direct and the benefits of FWs, it was a no brainer for us.

 

[gscott8075]

Hilton Head -
9 years to get to $4 pp
5 years to get to $5 pp
5 years to get to $6 pp
4 years to get to $7 pp
2 years to get to $8 pp
1 year to get to $9 pp
2 years to get to $10 pp

2021 Dues increase is a whopping 9.6% going from $9.10 to $9.97 - that's $2000 per year for 200 points - for 5 nights in a 2BR in the summer.

For this reason along with the many rule changes and new restrictions, we decided to sell last year. The value proposition was no longer there for us. DVC was great while we had it ...

 

[Lva5]

I think looking at the resorts we can expect fee increase to accelerate as resorts age. Purchasers may want to factor this into their calculation.

 

[RivShore]

Not yet. I didn’t get around to sending the question mid week this past week.

I will keep you posted for sure!

Looks like no one asked this question at today's meeting. Did you ever get an answer?

 

[Sandisw]

Looks like no one asked this question at today's meeting. Did you ever get an answer?

I have not and have sent 2 emails. In both I indicated it should go to member accounting.

I am going to send a 3rd and this time to membership satisfaction since I usually get answers more quickly and just tell them to please find it from whoever needs to answer.

I know they are still on skeleton crews so I am giving them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Am I correct to say that we can subtract the “rebate” amounts from the numbers listed on the first page to get the final numbers for each resort??

 

[i<3riviera]

͏

 

[bobbiwoz]

^ Thank you....

 

[havoc315]

Yes and no. I don't want to speculate as to the cause for the price differences. But Riviera at $8.38 is now almost exactly the same as OKW, and within 5% of AKV and BRV. Within 10% of BCV and BWV. One could say the 3 monorail resorts are artificially low.

It seems very possible that Riviera dues will be right in the middle of most of the resorts, within just 2 years.

I posted this 2 years ago... I said that within 2 years, Riviera would be in the middle of the pack:
Now, 2 years later.. 2023 dues released...
WDW resort dues ranking:

1. OKW - $9.36
2. AKV -- $8.81
3. BWV - $8.51
4. BRV - $8.51
5. RIV - $8.50
6. BCV - $8.17
7. Poly - $7.95
8. CCV- $7.92
9. SSR - $7.86
10. BLT - $7.43
11. GFV - $7.33

So 2 years ago, RIV was about tied with OKW. It's significantly lower than OKW. 2 years ago, I said it was within 5% of AKV and BRV -- It's now cheaper than both AKV, BRV. 2 years ago, I pointed out it was within 10% of BWV -- It's now cheaper than BWV (by less than a penny difference). It's now within 5% of BCV, and within 10% of Poly, CCV and SSR.
So only WDW resorts now have dues more than 10% cheaper than RIV.. only BLT and GFV. But even those 2 resorts are only a bit more than $1 cheaper.

 

[Spivey378]

DVC-damus.