Purchasing FW Cabins DVC

[AwfulWaffle]

I really don’t get why everyone hates it so much

I don’t think everyone hates it because it has always been a stable cash cow for Disney so clearly many others love it as well. Lack luster incentives, lack of amenities, lack of food options (unless you rent a cart), nightly dog fees, cart fees (unless you want to walk another 5 miles every day), maintenance fees, and the list goes on so yes it’s just a tough sale for most to get excited about it as a potential buy. I think this will have the lowest floor of all the restricted resorts so it wouldn’t shock me if in 2-3 years the resale on this resort is already below 100. Yet another reason some may not pull the trigger direct. I think the property is great for what it is but an annual family trip with all these cons is just a tough pill to swallow for most. We too hope to visit it again, maybe as cash again, but certainly not as our direct dvc home membership.

 

[intamin]

I don’t think everyone hates it because it has always been a stable cash cow for Disney so clearly many others love it as well. Lack luster incentives, lack of amenities, lack of food options (unless you rent a cart), nightly dog fees, cart fees (unless you want to walk another 5 miles every day), maintenance fees, and the list goes on so yes it’s just a tough sale for most to get excited about it as a potential buy. I think this will have the lowest floor of all the restricted resorts so it wouldn’t shock me if in 2-3 years the resale on this resort is already below 100. Yet another reason some may not pull the trigger direct. I think the property is great for what it is but an annual family trip with all these cons is just a tough pill to swallow for most. We too hope to visit it again, maybe as cash again, but certainly not as our direct dvc home membership.

Something else to consider is CFW has really cheap point charts but if you trade out to other resorts at 7 months, you're essentially punished. Could you imagine trying to book a VGF room with CFW points and essentially paying 12.15 in dues on each of those points? Compare this to a VGF owner who bought in over the summer who is paying like 7 dollars and change in dues. Most people probably won't want to buy 200-300 points at the cabins because at the end of the day there's only 1 room type and the charts are pretty cheap, idk I think Disney is going to struggle to sell this thing.

 

[AstroBlasters]

So current incentive is $480 + 12.5% in taxes = $540 a night.

A cabin is 22 points a night on average.

$200pp buy in avg / 50 years = $4pp/yr
$4pp x 22 points = $88

22 points x 12 dues is $264.

$264 + $88 = $352

$540 discounted cash rate vs $352 a night DVC

You could add in $110/night TVM is you want to and it is still $540 vs $462.

So…. I think that the issue is that traditional DVC people are not Cabins people…. but my understanding is that the Cabins do well… so it’s possible that the current DVC membership is not a good barometer of how the cabins will do…

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

So current incentive is $480 + 12.5% in taxes = $540 a night.

A cabin is 22 points a night on average.

$200pp buy in avg / 50 years = $4pp/yr
$4pp x 22 points = $88

22 points x 12 dues is $264.

$264 + $88 = $352

$540 discounted cash rate vs $352 a night DVC

You could add in $110/night TVM is you want to and it is still $540 vs $462.

So…. I think that the issue is that traditional DVC people are not Cabins people…. but my understanding is that the Cabins do well… so it’s possible that the current DVC membership is not a good barometer of how the cabins will do…

I’m too lazy to do the math myself, but I am curious how it compares to one night in a 1bed at RIV/VGF or even CCV (since contract life is similar). My understanding is that dues per point are higher in part because they are keeping the point chart light. Again, no reason to buy there if you can trade in at 7mo, but I suspect sooner or later that’s going to be hard to do.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I’m too lazy to do the math myself, but I am curious how it compares to one night in a 1bed at RIV/VGF or even CCV (since contract life is similar). My understanding is that dues per point are higher in part because they are keeping the point chart light. Again, no reason to buy there if you can trade in at 7mo, but I suspect sooner or later that’s going to be hard to do.

Avg point for a 1Bd LV seems to be 51 points a night. $12pp buy in (this could be different based on when you bought in and for how much) and dues and $17 with TVM.

So $612/night who TVM and $867/night with TVM.

SV is 43 points so $516/night and $731/night.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Avg point for a 1Bd LV seems to be 51 points a night. $12pp buy in (this could be different based on when you bought in and for how much) and dues and $17 with TVM.

So $612/night who TVM and $867/night with TVM.

SV is 43 points so $516/night and $731/night.

The Cabins are a great deal if you need 4 real beds and want deluxe perks (and aren’t too picky about transit or plan to drive). With even modestly good incentives, I think they will sell fine.

 

[pianomanzano]

Am I the only one who's not really a fan of CCV/BRV's boat/bus transportation and by extension CFW's transportation? For MK our only options were the monorail resorts because idk on a hot summer day in Florida I don't really want to be outdoors as much as possible. If CCV were on the monorail I'd probably have bought there just because I love the Peter Dominick resorts. I know, pretty hypocritical considering we own AKV with it's bus only transportation but we wanted 1 resort in each area. But anyways that, in addition to the dues that are second only to VB make CFW a hard pass.

I love it 50% of the time. We use a tandem double stroller and our daughters seem to always be sleeping when the boat arrives, so the smaller ferries are out of the question.

 

[CWTC]

So $612/night who TVM and $867/night with TVM.

What’s TVM?

 

[accm]

So…. I think that the issue is that traditional DVC people are not Cabins people…. but my understanding is that the Cabins do well… so it’s possible that the current DVC membership is not a good barometer of how the cabins will do…

This. The cabins have a huge following. If you already booked it yearly and paid cash rates, you would absolutely consider buying into DVC.

I’m too lazy to do the math myself, but I am curious how it compares to one night in a 1bed at RIV/VGF or even CCV (since contract life is similar). My understanding is that dues per point are higher in part because they are keeping the point chart light. Again, no reason to buy there if you can trade in at 7mo, but I suspect sooner or later that’s going to be hard to do.

I ran the numbers for 1 bedroom RIV vs the cabins for the middle DVC season for one week. RIV cost $3,622.94 vs $2,441.01 for the cabin. This is using the current incentives.

 

[intamin]

This. The cabins have a huge following. If you already booked it yearly and paid cash rates, you would absolutely consider buying into DVC.


I ran the numbers for 1 bedroom RIV vs the cabins for the middle DVC season for one week. RIV cost $3,622.94 vs $2,441.01 for the cabin. This is using the current incentives.

Despite everything we say on here, if you’re a CFW cabin person already this is definitely a good buy. For everyone else though, not really. This resort feels like the on property version of Vero Beach without the cheap buy in cost and resale restrictions.

 

[lowlight]

Despite everything we say on here, if you’re a CFW cabin person already this is definitely a good buy.

Is it? A $30000 USD minimum contract with lifelong dues obligations versus spending a few grand every year? Just because you book a cabin a week a year doesn’t mean you want to enter the timeshare world, or have the upfront money to prepay for 10 years worth of vacations.

 

[AstroBlasters]

What’s TVM?

Time Value of Money.

 

[pianomanzano]

This. The cabins have a huge following. If you already booked it yearly and paid cash rates, you would absolutely consider buying into DVC.


I ran the numbers for 1 bedroom RIV vs the cabins for the middle DVC season for one week. RIV cost $3,622.94 vs $2,441.01 for the cabin. This is using the current incentives.

In the non-DVC Disney communities I'm in, there are cabin people who do not like the idea of them being converted to DVC (most likely due to not understanding how DVC works), nor do they like the modern/tiny house makeovers of the cabins.

 

[intamin]

Is it? A $30000 USD minimum contract with lifelong dues obligations versus spending a few grand every year? Just because you book a cabin a week a year doesn’t mean you want to enter the timeshare world, or have the upfront money to prepay for 10 years worth of vacations.

That’s fair, I should’ve prefaced that its a good buy if you’re already going regularly and plan to go for the foreseeable future. But yes the high dues definitely are concerning and if you’re only planning to go for the next few years it’d likely be better to continue staying on cash for flexibility.

 

[MarkNC2Disney]

The high dues alone (not including 5 figure buy in) are more than my amortized cost at PVB and RR, and I’ve only been a DVC member for 3 years….

 

[princesscinderella]

In the non-DVC Disney communities I'm in, there are cabin people who do not like the idea of them being converted to DVC (most likely due to not understanding how DVC works), nor do they like the modern/tiny house makeovers of the cabins.

I agree the cabin in the woods aesthetic is ruined with the new modern styling that does resemble a tiny house.

 

[Cfabar1]

I might be interested in staying at the cabins if the right circumstance were to work out.

However, the great thing about DVC is the flexibility of the system. Right now for us 1 BR makes sense, but in another time in our lives a studio might make sense. Maybe we will have more kids, and a 2 BR makes sense for us to buy some more points.

Or maybe we will have grand kids and want to combine two weeks of trips in a 1 BR into 1 week in a 3 BR.

You can easily do this at 11 months if you have the same home resort.

The cabins are very limited at 11 months - one room type.

 

[Mirabell Rose]

Is it? A $30000 USD minimum contract with lifelong dues obligations versus spending a few grand every year? Just because you book a cabin a week a year doesn’t mean you want to enter the timeshare world, or have the upfront money to prepay for 10 years worth of vacations.

Disney seems to be able to charge way over $200 a point with plenty of buyers. People were raving about the fabulous ‘deal’ they got this summer on GFV, and they paid over twice what we paid years back for points at a resort that needs one of the highest number of points to stay. I never thought Disney would be able to charge as much as they have for any of the resorts, but if the CFW don’t sell out, it would be a first. As for the dues, not a single DVC resort guarantees dues prices. What they start at is never what they stay at. Whether they stay higher than others, no member really knows.

 

[pianomanzano]

People were raving about the fabulous ‘deal’ they got this summer on GFV, and they paid over twice what we paid years back for points at a resort that needs one of the highest number of points to stay.

Seems silly to me to deride that deal when it's all relative. Of course current incentives won't hold a candle to prices from years back. The summer deal for VGF was almost 3x the opening price of OKW. But it was still a good deal relative to the direct offerings and resale prices at the time it was offered. $160/pt for unrestricted points with low dues? That's a no brainer these days.

 

[EYL]

I wasn't planning on purchasing CFW in the first place, but to me, the high dues is almost a "direct sale restriction". If I'm paying the high dues for CFW, then I feel like I have to stay at CFW. Any use of those points at other than CFW, then I'd be losing money, not to mention at high-point cost resorts... They're definitely not SAPs!