We have been owners since 1998 when we bought boardwalk direct because we got a $ for $ reduction for the room I had at the Contemporary for a week when I was there for a work conference. And then we started adding on, direct at bay lake, animal kingdom and aulani at opening day prices and through incentives on cruise ships. We also bought resale and have accumulated over 1400 points at 7 resorts. We never go for less than s week and go for two weeks in March every year. We go to aulani once a year in May for at least 10 days.
We usually go to the parks once during a trip. And we only do the big rides. We do a
Disney Cruise once a year so my kids and grandkids can see characters there.
My adult disabled daughter brings her best friend and they enjoy all the services from the staff in the activity centers at all the resorts. My husband and I play tennis, lay around the pool and we go to table service restaurants every night. We also get the tables in wonderland card which pays for itself very quickly for us.
We paid cash. I’m retired and my husband is an attorney who can make his own schedule so planning is not an issue. We can always go off season so we usually get what we want 7 months out if we don’t have enough points at a specific resort 11 months out. We always stay in at least one bedrooms.
For all those reasons it made perfect sense to buy. And we are very lucky that we could pay for them in cash and can use them the way we want. After we’re gone we’ve made provisions that the dvc points will be used solely for our daughters benefit.
I feel very blessed that we purchased points the way we did. We would never pay the prices dvc charges today. And we are grandfathered in for all benefits because of when we bought resale.
For us it was an emotional decision. We never did a financial analysis. We just aren’t numbers people. We pay s lot of maintenance fees every year but we get that value back when I look at the value of the rooms. I figured out once that in an 2 years period we stayed at Disney resorts over 80 days. A one bedroom ocean view at aulani is 500 points for 10 nights. But if we paid cash for that room we would pay at least 1200 a night. That trip alone covers all of our maintenance fees. Any accountant would tell you that’s not the way to look at but that’s our justification. We’ve also pretty much earned out the initial cost to us too.
None of this makes sense at today’s direct sale prices though. Even for us. So we are glad for what we have and enjoy the hell out of it!