Eat, Drink and be Merry or Delay Gratification

[William Marsden]

Okay I'm just wondering what the opinion of everyone out there is. My family was planning on going to WDW in May of 07. We were going to rent points from a DVC member, stay in a one bd., standard view unit at Boardwalk for 13 nights and take a cruise. Total for the vacation was about $7,000. As I thought more and more on this I have considered that if we were to wait two years on the vacation, we'd be able to buy a DVC membership at 200 pts., (I'll most likely by from another DVC member) bank and borrow points for a total of 600 pts., have the same vacation and then take other vacations until 2042, (2054 if we bought at Saratoga Springs). Now I realize that there are some things to take into consideration with a DVC membership like the annual dues which seem to increase every year. But should I exercise patience and put off the vacation looking forward to many more, or should I live for today and go in 2007? One thing I just don't want to do - finance either the vacation or the DVC membership. We've gotten into too much trouble with our finances before doing stuff like that. Besides, I don't want to go alone to WDW and if I financed something like that, I'm afraid my wife would leave me.

 

[jesserin]

How about not doing the worlds biggest vacation ever? 13 nights plus a cruise? WOW! You'll be sick of the whole thing by then...

I'd go for 10 days or so in a regular resort in '07 - then maybe wait a year & a half to purchase your DVC thing... or what ever that plan was... then you can have the best of both worlds - and trust me - as awsome as Disney is - 2 weeks of non-stop Disney is a blast - but adding a cruise might just be a little exhausting... (dare I say overboard?) If you tried this method - I think you'd be very happy with your choices and get a little of both ideas...

Hope this helped a little...

 

[William Marsden]

How about not doing the worlds biggest vacation ever? 13 nights plus a cruise? WOW! You'll be sick of the whole thing by then...

I'd go for 10 days or so in a regular resort in '07 - then maybe wait a year & a half to purchase your DVC thing... or what ever that plan was... then you can have the best of both worlds - and trust me - as awsome as Disney is - 2 weeks of non-stop Disney is a blast - but adding a cruise might just be a little exhausting... (dare I say overboard?) If you tried this method - I think you'd be very happy with your choices and get a little of both ideas...

Hope this helped a little...

Well I am a little (a whole lot) obsessive about vacations. I really like planning them and I love the whole escape thing but I've always thought that a cruise could really be relaxing (I've never been on one). Let's face it, getting up at around 6:00 a.m. to make it to the parks at opening time is really fun but not very relaxing. I thought that a cruise might be great after the hub bub.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Relax? On a Disney Cruise? This is news to me. There is so much to do on the cruise you don't have time to do it all, it seems!

I'm going to have to think a little more about your go-now-or-buy-into-DVC question... it's a tough one.

 

[wannab@dis]

$7K for ONE vacation? Or wait and buy into DVC?

Well, first off, I doubt I would spend that much on just one vacation. That sounds like about 3-4 weeks at Disney for our family (on property). :lol:

But, if I had that cash now AND I wanted DVC, then I'd buy into DVC now (resale) and use the cash as a downpayment and head out for a visit as soon as the points were ready.

 

[Nemo14]

Just the voice of experience here:

Do what you can afford to do when you can afford to do it. Life is terribly unpredictable, so enjoy the moment!
13 days plus a cruise sounds extremely excessive to me. I love WDW and all, but I get Disneyed out in a week easily.

 

[slappy magoo]

If you're seriously considering DVC, then ponder this:

If you can, use the 7K to buy into DVC NOW, and finance the rest of the points, but make every effort to pay off the loan within that 2 year time frame (interest rates can be a pain). If you bought someone else's points, then, depending on their use year, you could still possibly do the bank-and-borrow thing and have your 600 points in time for your proposed trip in 07. The main wrench would be that you might not have the $ necessary for the cruise you want, but with such a long stay at WDW, you could have plenty of time to relax and not overdo it. If it didn't have to be a Disney cruise, I've seen some incredible deals on cruises from the travel agencies via Costco & BJs Wholsesale Clubs. You could possibly do the Disney trip, and then take a wholly unrelated cruise right after or shortly after.

 

[Magic Maker]

Prices are going up April 1st to $101 a point, but think of this

$7k will be just shy of HALF of the membership cost, so you will be getting about 50 years of accomodations.

I am a DVC Cast Member so my opinion may be considered biased, b ut I am a CM for DVC because I believe in it.

 

[jim1051]

Dvc

I am happy DVC Member since 1999. I say use part of your 7K as Downpayment, finance the rest and start enjoying it now. It's nice to pay off membership as you can, even paying annual charges, the vacations seem "free". Since 2000 we have been to Hilton Head, Vero beach, WDW at beach Club( 4x), Old KEy West, Grand Floridian. The sum of what these would have cost is more than we paid. Now we get 280 pts per year for the cost of the annual fees which for us is less than $1000.

 

[ConstanceIrene]

I am happy DVC Member since 1999. I say use part of your 7K as Downpayment, finance the rest and start enjoying it now. It's nice to pay off membership as you can, even paying annual charges, the vacations seem "free". Since 2000 we have been to Hilton Head, Vero beach, WDW at beach Club( 4x), Old KEy West, Grand Floridian. The sum of what these would have cost is more than we paid. Now we get 280 pts per year for the cost of the annual fees which for us is less than $1000.

You have 280 points and pay less than $1000 in annual dues?

 

[Magic Maker]

Annual dues depend on which home resort your membership is from.

Vero Beach has higher annual dues than let's say Saratoga.

 

[artvandelay]

If you're going to use your $7k for a down payment, I would get a Disney Visa card first. Use the Disney Visa for the $7k down payment, pay it off right away, and get 70 Disney rewards points to use towards paying your maitenance. We use our disney Visa for everything and got enough points to pay 95% of our DVC maitenance.

By 2007, maitenance for 280 points will go over $1000 a year.