Curious on cost

[TXDisney]

I've now traveled to Walt Disney World 5 times in the last 2 years and I live is Texas, so it's not like I'm right down the road, we fly there. 1st trip was the week after thanksgiving almost 2yrs ago. 2nd that following April when I proposed to my now wife. 3rd for our wedding planning visit. 4th to get married down at Disney. And 5th just this last week to get some last use out of our perk of the free annual passes from the wedding and discounted hotel. So obviously you can tell that me and my wife love Disney World. My question is, is it worth it for us to join the Disney Vacation Club? We obviously won't be going to disney twice a year, but once a year could very much be possible. Also if not to Disney we wouldn't mind other places that the vacation club offers obviously. We have no kids, but definitely plan on having a couple in the next few years, so taking kids to Disney will be in our future. I know the vacation club works on a point system based on your home resort. More than likely we'd be looking at a moderate resort like Saratoga Springs or Caribbean Beach resorts. Also we'd probably look for a resale as well rather than a straight up purchase from Disney. We have average credit. Not bad but not great, I'm sure an interest rate of around 9% is what I'd hear it would be around. My question is about how much would it cost my monthly to finance the initial loan and points for a week long stay at a moderate resort offseason with average credit? Just a ballpark. Just so I have an idea of price. I've read people say if you have to finance the initial payment then the DVC isn't for you, but it don't agree, I spend a lot of money at disney and am pretty sure the DVC will be cheaper than the amount I've been spending there yearly. I'd just rather it be monthly than a huge fee like I have to do now. Thanks in advance for any Insite.

 

[mammaminnie]

We typically visit once a year and we bought DVC. We prefer staying in Deluxe, so that is a huge part of the reason, plus as a family of 5, the added space of a 1bedroom and the ability to do laundry during the vacation for free is a big selling point as well. Oh and we are in Texas too

I don't know if I agree about not financing. We financed both of our point purchases, but we also paid both off well in advance (first one paid off in just over a year) so the interest wasn't as big of an issue.

 

[mammaminnie]

I should add that when we go, its typically for 10-14 days at a time as well, so having that extra space is definitely appreciated

 

[TXDisney]

Thank you. Around how much was it monthly for your points and to pay off the financing if you don't mind me asking? I know you said you do deluxe, which could be a possibility for us, if the price is right. Plus I think we'd only do 7 nights 8 days per visit.

 

[slappy magoo]

This might be nitpicking but Saratoga Springs isn't considered a moderate resort, it's a DVC resort, whereas Caribbean Beach is strictly a Moderate resort and has no DVC units. What sets Saratoga Springs and Old Key West apart from the other DVC Villas is that those two resorts are essentially 100% DVC, whereas the other DVC Villas are attached to an already-existing Deluxe resorts. For example, there are regular hotel rooms at the Boardwalk Inn, and then DVC rooms at the Boardwalk Villas. Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Villas At Animal Kingdom Lodge. And so on.

Being a moderate resort, Caribbean has a refrigerator but not technically speaking a kitchenette, and no larger accommodations you'd find in a DVC Villas (1BR, 2BR, 3BR Grand Villas, the Treehouses at Saratoga Springs, the in-development bungalows at Polynesian).

If you plan on having kids, a good question to ask yourself is how you plan on visiting Disney with those kids? Do you all want to be in one room, or would you rather have a bedroom for the grownups separate from the kid(s)? That alone could influence your decision. Without DVC, you either share a room, or you'll have to book two rooms. No big deal a lot of people do. But having a 1BR unit, where the kids can sleep in the living room area, and a full kitchen might be more to your liking. And some of these 1BR units come with 2 bathrooms (most of the Villas at Animal Kingdom Lodge, all of Bay Lake Tower and Grand Floridian Villas, and the Poly once they're open).

There are online mortgage calculators where you can type in your principal, your interest rate and length of the proposed mortgage and get your monthly cost. Bear in mind, you'll have to add the maintenance fees on top of that, but you'd be paying the maintenance fees even if you were able to pay for your points in one lump sum. The Timeshare Store tells you at the top of this page what current fees are for each resort, then lists all the resale opportunities they currently can offer.
http://www.dvc-resales.com/dvclisting.cfm

Then use this to figure out your monthly payments, though you wouldn't necessarily need to finance from this company (they are one of the companies The TImeshare Store will steer you towards if you need financing)
http://timesharelending.net/financing.html

Looking at that first listing for 200 Animal Kingdom Villas points @ $72 per pt, 10 years with no interest at their 13.9 rate (yeesh) is $222.72/mo. Add the maintenance fees and you have $322.67/mo. That's not chicken scratch. Bonus - buyer's covering paid 2015's maintenance fees so that'll save you about $1200. It'll be less per month and a lower interest rate, if you can make a down payment.

 

[TXDisney]

Awesome great insite. I think we've pretty much decided if it's between 3-4k yearly it might be worth it for us. Also it their perks as a vacation club member for park tickets?

 

[EOD K9]

Awesome great insite. I think we've pretty much decided if it's between 3-4k yearly it might be worth it for us. Also it their perks as a vacation club member for park tickets?

I've been a DVC member since 2005 and paid it off early. I was single then but still planned on going every year or twice a year. If I were you, buy resale. Yes, DVC members get APs for a great price. They also get some discounts and restaurants and some discounts for mini golf or watercraft rental. Once you get an AP, I believe you also get discounts at World of Disney. You are also entitled to a discount for a Tables in Wonderland card. Recently, DVC was offering a 4 day 4 park (non-hopper) for 200 dollars. In the past, it has only been just for an AP. With my trip next year, I will have stayed at every DVC resort on property. It has given me the flexibility to stay at numerous resorts. I have also used my membership to get three studios for the wife, her family, and mine. I am now married and have two infants. I will be either renting DVC points to pay for DVC cruises and/or going to the World for years to come. If you can swing the payments, and will be going most likely once a year, DVC may just be for you.

 

[TXDisney]

If you don't mind me asking what we're your payments monthly and at what resort and other details. Also what resort is the best for your point value.

 

[sxeensweet]

Also even if you are going every other year not every year it is worth it in my opinion and that would allow you to stay longer,etc. Higher point rooms also if you are going every other year and not have to buy as many points up front. So that's an option as well to save money.

 

[GoofGoof]

Buying resale will save you a lot on upfront costs. The only downside is you cannot use the points to book a regular hotel room at a Disney park or for a Disney cruise. You can still book a room at any DVC resort or trade in through RCI. Trading in points in general is not a great use of your points since you won't get good value.

You have to figure out how many points you will need in general. Do you plan on staying in a studio or a 1BR villa? Will you stay for 5 nights, 7 nights, 10 nights? What time of year do you generally travel and will that change any time soon? Once you figure all that out you can look at the point charts and determine how many points to buy.

It's possible to bank this year's points into next year or borrow next year's points to use this year so you could buy half as many points as you will need and with banking/borrowing use the points every other year. This allows you to pay half as much upfront (or in a monthly mortgage) while you decide if you like the program. If you decide later to add more points to use every year it's pretty easy.

Having kids is a pretty big lifestyle change. You probably need to think about possibilities like going down to 1 salary for a little while and added costs for baby stuff. If you don't think it will be a burden to have the extra monthly payments then WDW is one of the best places to bring kids (even very little ones). DVC rooms all come with a portable crib so it's very convenient.

Here's one of the companies that finances resale DVC purchases. It has a loan calculator to estimate monthly costs:
http://monerafinancial.com/loan-application/

 

[TXDisney]

Kids and the dvc are within budget. I just need to research more info. Ideally I'd want a 2br, 2bth villa for 7 nights once a year. Might not go every year but those points can carry over for a nicer villa or longer stay the following year.

 

[BigTxEars]

We travel from Texas once per year as well. We joined DVC this year, bought points twice on the secondary market. We just have 210 points total at SSR but it's enough for a nice trip once per year. We used them (first time using DVC points) for our next trip in Jan 2015. A week at a 2 bedroom at AKL, total was 220 points so we had to "buy" 10 one time points from Disney for $15 per ($150 total) as we only had the 210 points.

I would say this, I would not pay for a 2 bedroom out of pocket (I know myself and that just would not happen) so DVC is allowing us to stay at a 2 bedroom with all three of our kids plus a family friend. That alone is pretty cool to us and it's only our first time using DVC, we have until 2054 to milk it some more!

I say join if you think you would like it, you can always sell it latter if your don't but I doubt that happens

 

[TXDisney]

If you don't mind me asking how much does it run you a month for those 210pts a year and ur resale a month.

 

[EOD K9]

If you don't mind me asking what we're your payments monthly and at what resort and other details. Also what resort is the best for your point value.

I bought 150 points at SSR and was paying $148 a month. There are less maintenance costs associated with that property as opposed to some of the other ones. The nice part is that you still get to experience the other resorts. Downside is that if you want one of the more popular resorts around the holidays, they may be a bit harder to get if you buy there. If you do buy in on a popular resort then it wont matter.

 

[BigTxEars]

If you don't mind me asking how much does it run you a month for those 210pts a year and ur resale a month.

We paid $75 per point for the first batch (100 pts), plus $400 closing. We thought that would be enough for us

We paid $85 per point for the second batch (110 pts), plus $400 closing. I am pretty sure we are sticking with 210 for a while.

Lesson I learned is buy a little more than "you need" and be safe. Us waiting to buy more cost us more money in the long run clearly.

We did try to buy a 30 pt contract but Disney exercised the right of first refusal on that one and we lost out on it. I think that was at $73 per point, at OKW.

I can send you a link to who we used, they send emails daily with contracts for sale if you want them to or you can just check their website. There are a few places that resale contracts and I would guess most are equally good. We just happens to use this one and it worked well for us.

 

[TXDisney]

Yes please I'd love more info. Very serious about purchasing.

 

[GoofGoof]

I bought my points resale through The Timeshare Store. Really easy and painless process. Here's a link:

http://www.dvc-resales.com/dvclisting.cfm

 

[TXDisney]

So if I'm buying a resale and want around 160pts/yr I'm probably looking at around a $400 monthly payment after maintenance fees? Is that about right?

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Hmm, we own 360 points at SSR, and our maintenance fees are $147/month. Looking at a typical resale at the Timeshare store, you can buy 160 points at $73/point ($11,680). If you finance for 10 years at 12.9%, your monthly payment would be about $174/month. The annual dues are approx. $4.87/point, so 160 would be approx. $65/month. Total would be approx. $240/month. Obviously, financing for a shorter period will up your monthly loan payment.

If you really only wish to stay deluxe, and go every year, then DVC will save you a whole lot of money on your lodging. Right now, it can save you a bunch on APs and dining (especially if you opt for a TiW), plus other savings, but those perks can go away at any time. Don't bank on getting cheaper APs and TiW forever. We have never regretted our decision to buy many years ago, and wish we would have done it sooner!

 

[TXDisney]

Wow so it's cheaper then I thought. Which could allow me to shoot for deluxe resorts point wise if I'm only looking to do 7 nights per year.