Is It Worth It?

[MikeHolden23]

Hey fellas,

so I am currently a senior in college, and I am fortunate enough to have received a pretty well paying job next year. I was planning on taking my girlfriend to Disney next January, and found that the cost would be approximately $3-4k. My dad told me I should look into DVC, and so far from what I see it seems like a great deal. I would like to buy points to BLT, but I'm not sure if it would be worth it considering I'd want to buy 160 points at approximately $97-100 per point, and I would have to finance the contract. I would want to sign up immediately however, because otherwise the $3-4k vacation in January would be wasted. I feel as if now would be a good time to sign up, however, since I am just graduating and do not have any major responsibilities yet (mortgage, college loans, etc.) I just wanted to see if you guys had any opinions on the matter. By the way, one of the biggest cons about the financing would be the nearly 14% APR. Thanks for the time everybody!

 

[Sir Goofy]

I think that you will find that the majority of members on here would tell you, if you need to finance it, dont do it! DVC membership is a "luxury item", and a %14 interest rate is outrageous! You will spend WELL MORE than the 3-4k your vacation will cost in interest over the next 10 years-

My reccomendation to you would be to wait until you have more stability in your career and life... (PLEASE!!! I AM NOT CALLING YOU UNSTABLE!! DONT READ TOO FAR INTO THAT!!!)

Enjoy a trip with your GF, and make sure that a WDW vacation is something that you can see yourself taking annually for the next 45 years or so.

MY wife and I joined DVC 5 years after I graduated from college, and were able to enjoy a few trips before we had children- we now have 45 years of vacations to look forward to with our two daughters! Our investment in DVC was one of the best things I have ever done! We own 700 points, and love having the ability to bring family and friends with us to share the magic with! That said, I would never have bought in unless I had the cash to pay for my purchase up front... Also, keep in mind that once you graduate, start your career, life happens, and you decide its time to buy a house, having the DVC purchase on your credit report may help your credit score, but will adversely affect your debt to income ration, and make it much more difficult to secure a mortgage. Lenders are getting very picky these days, and every little thing can effect their decision-

Finally, if you have not yet visited a DVC resort or preview center before, do that before you sign up- there is a great one at the Boardwalk Villas where you can view the models- take your time, show your GF, and make sure it is something you want to get into before jumping to purchase-

 

[RonAnnArbor]

Have you heard Disney's best kept secret? (The slogan they use throughout the park)....

Well, it's that you spend a LOT more money per year on points in the DVC than if you just paid for the vacations as you go.

I go to WDW twice per year and say about 5 days in the moderate resorts with 4 days of parkhopper tickets. That cost, for two trips a year (i.e. 8 days in the parks, 10 nights in the resorts) is about 1/2 the cost of a DVC payments for the year.

If you are doing a one time trip for a week, there is absolutely no way you should be DVC. And if you have to finance DVC, there is no way you should be doing it. It's the first thing a Financial Advisor would tell you to sell if you had purchased a share.

 

[slappy magoo]

Have you heard Disney's best kept secret? (The slogan they use throughout the park)....

Well, it's that you spend a LOT more money per year on points in the DVC than if you just paid for the vacations as you go.

I go to WDW twice per year and say about 5 days in the moderate resorts with 4 days of parkhopper tickets. That cost, for two trips a year (i.e. 8 days in the parks, 10 nights in the resorts) is about 1/2 the cost of a DVC payments for the year.

If you are doing a one time trip for a week, there is absolutely no way you should be DVC. And if you have to finance DVC, there is no way you should be doing it. It's the first thing a Financial Advisor would tell you to sell if you had purchased a share.

oh, not this again

To the original poster, enjoy your vacation, and wait until you have at least some of your ducks in a row - career/house/car/etc., and know what your budget is going to be like, and be able to pay at least a big chunk (more than half) of your initial payment, before considering any time share, DVC or otherwise. While they have their benefits, they are an expense most college seniors or recent college grads really don't need.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Have you heard Disney's best kept secret? (The slogan they use throughout the park)....

Well, it's that you spend a LOT more money per year on points in the DVC than if you just paid for the vacations as you go.

I go to WDW twice per year and say about 5 days in the moderate resorts with 4 days of parkhopper tickets. That cost, for two trips a year (i.e. 8 days in the parks, 10 nights in the resorts) is about 1/2 the cost of a DVC payments for the year.

If you are doing a one time trip for a week, there is absolutely no way you should be DVC. And if you have to finance DVC, there is no way you should be doing it. It's the first thing a Financial Advisor would tell you to sell if you had purchased a share.

I'm responding to this for any potential member that is looking to purchase DVC in the future. This is not an accurate portrayal of the program, and each person's situation will be different. In many cases, if you plan to go to WDW regularly over time and usually stay in DELUXE resorts then the program pays.

RonAnnArbor...if the program doesn't work for you, that is fine. However, a blanket statement like you made is not fair for anyone considering the program who might not be in a similar situation as you. I am a very fiscally responsible person who broke down my costs with inflation and potential other investment and found that DVC (not financed) would be a good deal for me. In no way am I paying twice what you pay for a stay over the cost of my contract.

 

[SnowWhiteMomma]

I think that you will find that the majority of members on here would tell you, if you need to finance it, dont do it! DVC membership is a "luxury item", and a %14 interest rate is outrageous! You will spend WELL MORE than the 3-4k your vacation will cost in interest over the next 10 years-

My reccomendation to you would be to wait until you have more stability in your career and life... (PLEASE!!! I AM NOT CALLING YOU UNSTABLE!! DONT READ TOO FAR INTO THAT!!!)

Enjoy a trip with your GF, and make sure that a WDW vacation is something that you can see yourself taking annually for the next 45 years or so.

MY wife and I joined DVC 5 years after I graduated from college, and were able to enjoy a few trips before we had children- we now have 45 years of vacations to look forward to with our two daughters! Our investment in DVC was one of the best things I have ever done! We own 700 points, and love having the ability to bring family and friends with us to share the magic with! That said, I would never have bought in unless I had the cash to pay for my purchase up front... Also, keep in mind that once you graduate, start your career, life happens, and you decide its time to buy a house, having the DVC purchase on your credit report may help your credit score, but will adversely affect your debt to income ration, and make it much more difficult to secure a mortgage. Lenders are getting very picky these days, and every little thing can effect their decision-

Finally, if you have not yet visited a DVC resort or preview center before, do that before you sign up- there is a great one at the Boardwalk Villas where you can view the models- take your time, show your GF, and make sure it is something you want to get into before jumping to purchase-

Couldn't agree with you more. 3 trips last year Pop, GF and Coronado 6 days each trip... Still didn't pay as much as DVC.

 

[Sir Goofy]

Couldn't agree with you more. 3 trips last year Pop, GF and Coronado 6 days each trip... Still didn't pay as much as DVC.

Im curious what financials you are using to base that on?? MY wife and I made 3 trips the year we joined, and the only regret I have is not buying in BEFORE making those trips! IF you are only comparing the initial investment in your comparison (using the purchase price as a one year basis, im sure it doesnt seem right!) but if you consider it over 50 years, we "paid" for our DVC membership after our 5th trip- Granted, we generally stay in a 2 bedroom villa, but that is what works best for us. As ANY DVC member will tell you, its not for everyone, and it very well may not be for you! For us, I have a 2YO and a 5YO, and there are MANY disney trips in our future, as well as Disney cruises, Adventures by Disney, etc that we will enjoy as a family for many many years to come (at a cheaper rate than even our AP discount would have been for rooms!)

Again, we could not be happier with our purchases of DVC points, and plan to add on more points again next week- we love it! I cant wait for the day to offer my daughters to use our DVC membership for their honeymoons, to bring their kids someday, etc (I know! They are young now, but the days are long, the years are short!!!)

For the OP, even with as satisfied as we are with our purchase, I have paid cash for all of the points I own- I would never buy, as I originally stated if I had to finance that purchase- the interest on the purchase will dilute the value of your ownership!

 

[ddbowdoin]

if you can get a deal in the resale market, why not? It's certainly a hell of a lot cheaper than buying direct.

 

[disneyeater]

I would recommend against it. I love DVC and am looking to join myself. However, you have no idea what your living costs will be, what your budget looks like, and if you will be able to affort the maintenance fees, let alone the cost of tickets and flights/driving added on each year you go.

Wait. The program is not going anywhere.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

I forgot to mention my opinion before. I am in the group of people who wouldn't want to finance their DVC purchase. I am only 23 and purchased this year but I did it because I have a decent paying job and was able to pay cash. I also looked at the future and decided that even if I go back to grad school for a year (likely to happen in a few months), that I have the ability to pay my dues for the year without a problem. As far as I could tell after my analysis, I would only have a problem supporting my DVC membership if I was to be unemployed in the future for an extended period of time and had to pay my future house and such off before my vacations.

 

[dizzney]

Have you heard Disney's best kept secret? (The slogan they use throughout the park)....

Well, it's that you spend a LOT more money per year on points in the DVC than if you just paid for the vacations as you go.

I go to WDW twice per year and say about 5 days in the moderate resorts with 4 days of parkhopper tickets. That cost, for two trips a year (i.e. 8 days in the parks, 10 nights in the resorts) is about 1/2 the cost of a DVC payments for the year.

If you are doing a one time trip for a week, there is absolutely no way you should be DVC. And if you have to finance DVC, there is no way you should be doing it. It's the first thing a Financial Advisor would tell you to sell if you had purchased a share.

Certainly not sure what you are basing your info on BUT I definitely disagree with you, we made two trips last year, one for 9 nights - 2 bedroom villas with both Boardwalk and MK views over New Years and one with Boardwalk view for our anniversary and my yearly dues cost would not have begun to cover the cost of these trips.

Factor in of coruse that we paid for our 375 points in cash, no financing, and get $100 discount on each annual pass, we are way ahead.

Love my DVC and after five trips we broke even on our investment and now we have decades of Disney Fun still to come.

Your calculator must be broken!

 

[MikeHolden23]

Hey everyone,

Thank you so much for all of your input! I was shocked to log-in today and see so many comments. I feel as if a lot of people made great points, and I just wanted to comment on a few of them.

Obviously, the biggest deterrent from buying into the DVC would be the financing rate. I would not have even posted the thread had rates been as low as 4-6%, but unfortunately that's not how it works. I would love to pay cash up front, but since I would not be able to afford that for a few years, it's not an option :brick:

Now, somebody mentioned having the costs of "life" such as a car, house, etc. The way I see it, those costs will become more expensive as I get older and start a family, so why not just buy in when I'm young and secure the rights to go on vacation for the next 50 years (assuming I buy a stake in BLT)? I feel as if once I begin saving money, then I might be persuaded to put it towards a down payment on a house instead of DVC, which will lead to wanting to start a family in that house, which will lead to having to save for college, etc. I think that it would be better to just pay off the DVC in 3 years and then not have to worry about vacations with my girlfriend for a while since they wouldn't be AS expensive. I also found a credit card that gives 2 miles for every dollar spent, so flight costs would not be an issue.

Overall, I can definitely see the perspectives of everybody who has commented in this thread, and I appreciate all of your inputs. I think it would be great if we could keep this thread going for any other people in situations similar to me - basically younger members who are not sure if financing the rights to vacation over a period of time is a fiscally responsible thing to do :wave:

 

[MikeHolden23]

One more quick point I forgot to mention. I think it would be okay to finance the initial purchase (say 160 points at BLT) but from that point on I would save in order to buy points for cash in the future as opposed to financing. I feel as if once I've set up a base amount of points, it would be nice to just try to save $5-10k dollars every few years to put towards the points in order to take my family on nice vacations down the line but not have to worry about the burden of financing those points.

 

[tjkraz]

Im curious what financials you are using to base that on??

Yeah, funny how these people who claim to do so much better as cash guests rather than DVC never grace us with any actual numbers. :ROFLOL:

To the OP, I won't tell you what to do but I will share some of my own experiences. My wife and I honeymooned at Walt Disney World in 1997. We looked into DVC to some degree and could have afforded it. But we wanted to play things cautious so we didn't take the plunge.

As it turned out, it was 5 years before our next trip to WDW. Over that time we bought our first house. My wife also give birth to our first child and was pregnant with our second when we finally returned to Florida. We went 5 years without any meaningful vacation because the funds were needed elsewhere.

While there is a part of me that regrets not buying in at those 1997 prices, I also have to look back on our finances and know that things would have been MUCH different if we had committed so much money to Disney. It's not just the monthly payments and the annual dues but also the money paid for transportation (we live 1100 miles away), park tickets, food, souvenirs and so on.

If we had committed that money back in 1997, it literally would have put our house purchase in jeopardy. Even if we could have still afforded the house, we would have had hundreds less per month to spend on repairs, improvements, furnishings, appliances, etc.

After the kids were born, my wife worked part time for several years so that one of us was always home with them. Again, with several hundred dollars of our monthly budget earmarked for Disney, I don't know if we would have been able to afford those lost wages.

DVC is a clear money in the long run. But when you finance, the bulk of the financial obligation falls in those first 10 years or so. We have every intention of using our points until the contracts end so we are quite content with the purchase. But we were also careful to wait until we were certain that it wasn't going to compromise our other financial goals.

So my best advice is to look beyond the here-and-now. Consider what you want to accomplish in the next 10 years and really think about whether the DVC points, park tickets, airfare, food and so on has the potential to compromise those goals. DVC will always be there.

 

[dizzney]

Yeah, funny how these people who claim to do so much better as cash guests rather than DVC never grace us with any actual numbers. :ROFLOL:

To the OP, I won't tell you what to do but I will share some of my own experiences. My wife and I honeymooned at Walt Disney World in 1997. We looked into DVC to some degree and could have afforded it. But we wanted to play things cautious so we didn't take the plunge.

As it turned out, it was 5 years before our next trip to WDW. Over that time we bought our first house. My wife also give birth to our first child and was pregnant with our second when we finally returned to Florida. We went 5 years without any meaningful vacation because the funds were needed elsewhere.

While there is a part of me that regrets not buying in at those 1997 prices, I also have to look back on our finances and know that things would have been MUCH different if we had committed so much money to Disney. It's not just the monthly payments and the annual dues but also the money paid for transportation (we live 1100 miles away), park tickets, food, souvenirs and so on.

If we had committed that money back in 1997, it literally would have put our house purchase in jeopardy. Even if we could have still afforded the house, we would have had hundreds less per month to spend on repairs, improvements, furnishings, appliances, etc.

After the kids were born, my wife worked part time for several years so that one of us was always home with them. Again, with several hundred dollars of our monthly budget earmarked for Disney, I don't know if we would have been able to afford those lost wages.

DVC is a clear money in the long run. But when you finance, the bulk of the financial obligation falls in those first 10 years or so. We have every intention of using our points until the contracts end so we are quite content with the purchase. But we were also careful to wait until we were certain that it wasn't going to compromise our other financial goals.

So my best advice is to look beyond the here-and-now. Consider what you want to accomplish in the next 10 years and really think about whether the DVC points, park tickets, airfare, food and so on has the potential to compromise those goals. DVC will always be there.

Couldnt have said it better myself.

We wish we had bought earlier also, BUT when we purchased in '99 (buyin was 220 points) we paid cash and thats what made it affordable. We already had the house, both of us work, and 3 children. (of course our twins were born in '99 and made their first of many trips at 10 months).

Since then every couple years we have purchased more points. All same use year (did a different one once and sold that fast too confusing) so we now have 375 points - 275 in BWV and 100 in BLT. Right now that number works for us, and the yearly dues are easily managable. I dont think we're done yet purchasing - but if we do, it will only be in cash.

Plan your purchase so you dont jeopardize the house etc. DVC will be there - in several years maybe there will be another monorail resort by then in addition to BLT, either way your future would be more secure

 

[disneyeater]

Hey everyone,

Thank you so much for all of your input! I was shocked to log-in today and see so many comments. I feel as if a lot of people made great points, and I just wanted to comment on a few of them.

Obviously, the biggest deterrent from buying into the DVC would be the financing rate. I would not have even posted the thread had rates been as low as 4-6%, but unfortunately that's not how it works. I would love to pay cash up front, but since I would not be able to afford that for a few years, it's not an option :brick:

Now, somebody mentioned having the costs of "life" such as a car, house, etc. The way I see it, those costs will become more expensive as I get older and start a family, so why not just buy in when I'm young and secure the rights to go on vacation for the next 50 years (assuming I buy a stake in BLT)? I feel as if once I begin saving money, then I might be persuaded to put it towards a down payment on a house instead of DVC, which will lead to wanting to start a family in that house, which will lead to having to save for college, etc. I think that it would be better to just pay off the DVC in 3 years and then not have to worry about vacations with my girlfriend for a while since they wouldn't be AS expensive. I also found a credit card that gives 2 miles for every dollar spent, so flight costs would not be an issue.

Overall, I can definitely see the perspectives of everybody who has commented in this thread, and I appreciate all of your inputs. I think it would be great if we could keep this thread going for any other people in situations similar to me - basically younger members who are not sure if financing the rights to vacation over a period of time is a fiscally responsible thing to do :wave:

Yes, you could pay off your DVC purchase in a few years, but the vacations are not free after that. You have MF, flights, tickets, food....

I am not saying DVC isn't a good deal, I am saying you don't know right now if you will have the $$ to actually go on vacation when you own a house, have kids, ect.

I still would advise you to wait.

 

[twinnstar]

Hi Mike

I thought I could share my opinion, because unlike most people here, I spoke extensively with a CM over the phone about getting a DVC, was about to do it...then took a week to sit on it, and decided not to. I have been out of college for 7 years now, and am recently engaged. This is important cause, I want to tell you - though you think you might know what your future holds, you have no idea! haha.

Right now, you might want to do the DVC cause you have the money for it, and you dont want to be persuaded to buy a house or start a family in the upcoming years, like you said. But what if in the upcoming years you WANT to buy a house and you WANT to start a family, but you cant cause you have to pay for your DVC? That would totally suck. This is exactly why I came to the conclusion not to do it. I got a pretty good APR rate on my offer, and I figured out financially I could afford it. So I was about to do it...but then I realized, what if in a few years, I want to buy a house? Or, what if after 25 years of Disney Vacations, I dont want to go to Disney every year anymore (although this is not likely haha). What if in the future, I have other financial burdens that I must take care of that are more important?

I agree with everyone here, as someone who has just started to really get all her ducks in a row, you should really try to wait. Expenses for things you want, but more especially things you need are very unexpected. While the DVC sounds like a great idea now, it might prevent you from doing something in the future, or even hurt you. Also, as someone who was laid off last year for 6 months - you can't predict that. I was fine for that 6 months, but if I had a DVC to pay for, I probably would be in big trouble!

So basically, I agree with everyone haha! Wait till youre a little more settled in bills, income, etc and you're pretty sure nothing will dramatically change. Then take another look into DVC. Like someone said, its not going anywhere! Plus...not to put a damper on anything but, im just being realistic lol...your GF, is not your wife, right? What if your future wife HATES Disney! lol You will be in quite a predicament! haha.

 

[ncstate7991]

I want to start off this reply by saying:
1. I do not own DVC yet
2. I agree you should wait

HOWEVER, I am going to play a little devils advocate :goodnevil.

1. If I had the money to do buy into DVC with cash (no financing) around the time I first got married I wish I had done so.

2. If you change your mind in a few years you can always sell. There is always the resale market that has held its value pretty well. Just be prepared to take up to a 25% hit on your initial purchase price. People act like DVC is something you can never get out of, but you can! You might not want to, but in a pinch you can sell.