Be honest... are you happy you bought DVC?

[Maistre Gracey]

And then there are those of us who consider ourselves fortunate to even own 250 points and who feel we have as legitimate of an opinion as those who own 1550 points.

Indeed that's true. My point being was because I spend so many nights in hotels, plus I use DVC frequently, I have seen issues with rooms on a wider scale than many folks here.

MG

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

My satisfaction rate is about 50%. We bought our membership several years ago with the understanding that we would basically always stay for the same amount even though regular WDW rooms would go up in price. Although that may be true, we have found that the increases are always accompanied by promotions of some type...free dining, military discounts, AP rates, etc. When I add up the cost of the original membership along with the annual fees, I don't feel that we've actually benefited from DVC that way we thought we would.

Also, not DVC's fault, but we live on the West Coast and airfare has risen to a point that we can't travel to FL as much as we used to -- for the first time I have unused points that I'm not sure what we're going to do with.

I'd sell my membership, but the price per point has dropped lower than what we paid. Oh well, we knew all of these things could be a factor and still chose to become members.

I'm still in love with the concept of DVC and happy that so many families have been able to use their memberships to the fullest.

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

I am happy that I own DVC, I am not happy with the way I bought DVC. To me (and I am entitled to my opinion), for DVC membership to be "worth it", you need to pay cash. Your membership is then the cost of your points plus your annual MF's ( let us not forget MF's fluctuate yearly).

Just using made up round numbers for argument sake. Say GFV are introduced at $125pp and you buy 200 points. That means your points cost $25000. Your $25000 investment has a 50 year lifespan (assuming your grandkids do not purchase an extension). That is an annual cost of $833 ($25000 divided by 50 years.Lets say the MF's on your 200 points are $1000 per year. $1000 plus $833 equals $1833 is what your annual trip will cost you if you travel to WDW every year.

Here is my situation. I own 320 points at BLT. I financed through Disney. My monthly mortgage payment plus monthly MF's are just about $500 per month. thats $6000 per year. As I said in my opinion, i truly believe you have to pay cash to reap the rewards of true vacation ownership.

I think of what I am getting each year for my $6000 hard earned dollars. A room with somewhat worn out furnishings and a vacuum in the closet for me to do the cleaning with myself. We go out in the morning and come home to unmade beds and towels on the bathroom floor. Not what we are used to on vacation. Granted one day my points will be paid for (7 more years) and my vacation cost will be my annual MF's. But for now, we could be cruising the 7 seas and staying at locations all around the world for six grand.

But that all being said I still love my DVC. When I was a kid my family would stay in Daytona and drive to WDW for the day (it was only the MK back then). I would board the monorail at the TTC and head towards the MK. When the monorail would pass through the CR I would look at the families staying inside the resort. I never asks my parents why we weren't staying there. It was beyond my comprehension that my family would ever stay at such a luxurious resort (we were jammed into a days in motel). Today I have a deeded ownership to a piece of that resort (BLT). I sit on my balcony and watch the monorail go by. I think back to my trips with my family. My points are priceless. Everyone buys for their own reason.

 

[eporter66]

Situations change, but that is not really the fault of the timeshare you have. We bought in 2003, and understood what DVC was. We have been very happy with DVC, maybe it was our expectations, but I made sure I read everything so I understood what we were buying. We wanted somewhere to bring our family, and every vacation has been a blast.

Things change, and now with it being more difficult to take our DD out of school, we have had to think about where to go next. We probably have 1 or 2 more years tops when we will be able to take her out of school. My only issue is I have no interest in going to WDW during the school breaks. After these many years of low wait times, I dont think I could stand in line for something I have already done for 90 minutes.

My parents spend winters near Orlando, so I could go down and stay at our DVC resort and get to visit them. I am a golfer, so going down for golf in the winter is an option, and I have always wanted to do a baseball spring training trip. My wife is a runner, so she may do another 1/2 or full marathon for one of the Disney events, or have a girls trip. We do think it can be flexible for us -

So far - we are very happy, and I hope that continues for years to come. Just make sure to understand all about how the contract works.

 

[hjgaus]

THIS IS MY RECENT RESPONSE FROM ANOTHER THREAD:

Back in 2005, it took us 3 years with 2 very expensive stays @ BCV to want to buy into Disney time shares but NOW so happpy with our decision! Owners @ BCV & VGC
(Southern California locals) which makes weekend trips @ VGC even better!! We love how you can choose where, what & when of your stay! We now think we would have done this years ago when our kids were much younger but sadly could not afford this luxury back then. Having a choice of spacious accomadations & meal planning wiith a limited budget (having use of full kitchens) along side some disney perks (being ON or VERY near park property) is what TOTALLY SOLD us on DVC!! We recently will be going to Aulani using just the points we already own and have had LONG weekend stays in the grand villa @ VGC with extended family so its given us wonderful family vacations we never thought possible! NO REGRETS here only happiness!!

 

[childsplay]

In a nutshell: 12 years of ownership (bought in 2000)
First 7 years of ownership, over the moon
Next 3 years of ownership, very good, minor complaints
The last 2 years, shine wearing off, but still basicaly satisfied

 

[kurlyred]

I would say that we are 100% satisfied as well...only regret is that our first purchase was direct...we could have saved A LOT of money had we purchased resale. Our second contract WAS resale...needless to say, we use our membership, understood what we were getting into, and love it for what it is. Just like a marriage, you gotta love the one with are with FOR all of their imperfections, rather than despite them!

-KJ

 

[montrealdisneylovers]

THIS IS MY RECENT RESPONSE FROM ANOTHER THREAD:

Back in 2005, it took us 3 years with 2 very expensive stays @ BCV to want to buy into Disney time shares but NOW so happpy with our decision! Owners @ BCV & VGC
(Southern California locals) which makes weekend trips @ VGC even better!! We love how you can choose where, what & when of your stay! We now think we would have done this years ago when our kids were much younger but sadly could not afford this luxury back then. Having a choice of spacious accomadations & meal planning wiith a limited budget (having use of full kitchens) along side some disney perks (being ON or VERY near park property) is what TOTALLY SOLD us on DVC!! We recently will be going to Aulani using just the points we already own and have had LONG weekend stays in the grand villa @ VGC with extended family so its given us wonderful family vacations we never thought possible! NO REGRETS here only happiness!!

I see many references like this on the DISBOARDS and we are no exception. We bought when our children were teenagers despite having gone every year since they were very young. Did not know about DVC then and even if we did, we would not have been able to buy as we bought a home. If we are lucky to have grandchildren in the future, I am hoping to provide them with this luxury when they are young and more importantly to my daughters if they have young families!!

 

[DougEMG]

I've got a trip booked for WDW for Dec 9-24 in a studio at OKW (165 points) and am hoping to switch to BWV view studio (229 points).

For fun I went to the Disney site to see what equivalent rooms would cost (right now there are no discounts offered for that time period) and this is the numbers I got from Disney for cash rates.

Caribbean Beach $3,139
Coronado Springs $3,223 (were I would normaly stay)
Boardwalk Inn $7,223

OKW $6,227
BWV $7,155

My actual points are currently costing me around $6.20/point (MF and buy in costs). So my costs are:

OKW $1,023
BWV $1,420

So I'm pretty happy with that kind of savings. No matter what kind of discount Disney does eventually offer for that time, my DVC room is going to be cheaper.

So I'm very happy with my purchase

 

[JimMIA]

Caribbean Beach $3,139
Coronado Springs $3,223 (were I would normaly stay)
Boardwalk Inn $7,223

OKW $6,227
BWV $7,155

My actual points are currently costing me around $6.20/point (MF and buy in costs). So my costs are:

OKW $1,023
BWV $1,420

It's pretty easy to structure a comparison to prove just about anything.

I assume your calculations are correct, but even so they're a bit skewed by the fact that you are comparing YOUR DVC point costs to Disney RACK rates at a time when DVC points costs are at their lowest and rack rates are at their highest.

And all that math notwithstanding, I'm sure there are legions of folks over on the DIS Orlando Hotels and Attractions board who are equally thrilled with their $700-$800 per week TWO BEDROOMS at Wyndham Bonnet Creek.

I can't imagine anyone who would pay $6,000-$7,000 to stay for 3 weeks in ANY timeshare program's studio. If anyone actually DID that, I'd submit they are just not well.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Well we paid $3000 for 5 nights at BWI in 2006. ( We did get free dining with apps and tip included). We didn't know about promos or specials back then.

 

[DizDays]

We are very happy with our DVC purchases (AKV, BCV, VGC) - but we're also pretty easy going. We love the flexibility. We love the resorts. We like having options outside of Disney (RCI). And we love that we can treat family and friends to something more than they would be able to do on their own.

 

[crisi]

I just want to clarify for the OP, as I am noticing that people are doing their own creative accounting on this thread.

When figuring out the true cost of a DVC room vs. cash, you MUST total your buy-in of the points plus yearly dues and divide by number of nights. So for us, we are at approx. $200-$225/night (depending upon CDN exchange and number of nights per year) for our 1 bedroom villas. That is buy-in, add ons and yearly dues combined together to get a per room cost.

That is the only way to truly compare. It seems some people are only using their dues to calculate per room price, and that is not altogether accurate, as the buy-in for points and additional add-ons must be added together.

Tiger

I disagree. There are a number of ways to calculate this (I have an accounting degree). To pick nits, the "right" way would involve a TVM calculation, which your way doesn't have. But another right way is to use your first couple of years getting your ROI, and from that point, treating the initial investments in points as sunk costs and then you can say "I stay for $5.25 a point" or whatever dues are.

A few people here are not delighted due to price issues - and most of them bought direct recently with the big gap in pricing (for a number of years, resale pricing wasn't that much of a discount). For those that can afford to tie up their money and for whom DVC is a good fit, it is (resale) a good VALUE. But I think that MOST of the people not 100% satisfied aren't disappointed over pricing issues. They are disappointed over quality issues, because they misread their own situation (they thought they'd go to Disney much more), the didn't understand the program at purchase (it isn't a great deal outside of DVC, there is no "free dining") or its more of a stages of life thing.

 

[robinbutterfly]

I don't understand why so many of you have 2 or more DVC memberships? Am I missing something? Why would I want more then 1?

 

[wendyt_ca]

I don't understand why so many of you have 2 or more DVC memberships? Am I missing something? Why would I want more then 1?

I know for us we just bought into BLT at the minimum of 160 pts. With our vacationing habits we def want to double this in future years (through resale). So since we will be doing that to increase out pts as doing that amount at this time wasn't feasable we want to go with AKL cause we would rather have at another resort as well. It also gives you priority booking at multiple resorts. I would think this would be the same reason for most. Also we like the idea of "owning" at 2 different places.

 

[Tiger926]

I disagree. There are a number of ways to calculate this (I have an accounting degree). To pick nits, the "right" way would involve a TVM calculation, which your way doesn't have. But another right way is to use your first couple of years getting your ROI, and from that point, treating the initial investments in points as sunk costs and then you can say "I stay for $5.25 a point" or whatever dues are.

A few people here are not delighted due to price issues - and most of them bought direct recently with the big gap in pricing (for a number of years, resale pricing wasn't that much of a discount). For those that can afford to tie up their money and for whom DVC is a good fit, it is (resale) a good VALUE. But I think that MOST of the people not 100% satisfied aren't disappointed over pricing issues. They are disappointed over quality issues, because they misread their own situation (they thought they'd go to Disney much more), the didn't understand the program at purchase (it isn't a great deal outside of DVC, there is no "free dining") or its more of a stages of life thing.

Well I am not an accountant, so I don't know the specific overcalculations of what you are referring to, as you are the expert here.

I am just speaking from a simple perspective, as there are many who don't add in their buy in as they say it is already paid for. I just want people who are considering DVC to know that if they don't do that, then the actual numbers are lower. Just counting dues is not entirely accurate, as the initial buy in has to be accounted for in some way. Of course, your way is much more specific, but us regular folk don't quite understand that way.

Tiger

 

[pinnocchiosdad]

I don't understand why so many of you have 2 or more DVC memberships? Am I missing something? Why would I want more then 1?

Lets say you love the Grand Floridian DVC when it is revealed. But you can only reserve there at the 7 month window. (they are only building 137 units so good luck getting a room at 7 months). If you buy points there (add a second DVC membership) you can reserve there at the 11 month mark. Some people buy small contracts 50 points, when they bank and borrow they have 150 points every three years. To answer your question, they own at different locations to have the best availability of reservations to stay there.

 

[Anal Annie]

Lets say you love the Grand Floridian DVC when it is revealed. But you can only reserve there at the 7 month window. (they are only building 137 units so good luck getting a room at 7 months). If you buy points there (add a second DVC membership) you can reserve there at the 11 month mark. Some people buy small contracts 50 points, when they bank and borrow they have 150 points every three years. To answer your question, they own at different locations to have the best availability of reservations to stay there.

And we have 2 contracts, both at SSR - and both purchased from the beginning at the suggestion of our guide. Our main contract is 200 points and our 2nd contract is 50 points. He suggested that we split them up in case we ever decided we had TOO MANY points rotfl: yeah, right) because the smaller contracts are easier to sell. There is always someone looking for a small add-on of say 50 points. Easier & quicker to get someone who really wants it to be willing to maybe pay top dollar for a small add-on since the smaller contracts are fewer & farther between. Seemed to make sense at the time and I think probably still does. Of course, back when we bought we caught a realllllly good promotion from DVC (they never have REALLLLY good ones now) to buy direct ($15 off the "going rate") which at the time was only a few dollars more than the resale prices. NOW of course the resales are tons less than buying direct. Who knew the resale market would tank the way it has and that DVC would still be able to command top dollar direct.

Anyway, my point was that some people buy multiple contracts in smaller chunks. Easier to afford a few at a time & easier to unload a few at a time if you want to sell.

 

[cdmickey]

Each have to access, value received; after that, you either feel good about your purchase or bad. Put me down for good about my purchase.

 

[Joey7295]

I have never regretted purchasing DVC once and I am always adding on.