To DVC or not to DVC??

[S. Paridon]

My family (6 year old boy, 2 year old girl, and my wife) go to WDW annually. We stay at WL for nearly every trip. Actually, my kids would be heartbroken if we stayed anywhere else. That being said, I have noticed that it is getting more and more difficult to get a room at WL. If you don't believe me, try shopping for one for the remainder of this calendar year...it ain't easy. I assume this to be because of the popularity of the resort, the ongoing construction, and finally the prep for the new DVC cabins. But who knows.

In the past, last year actually, we rented DVC points and stayed at Villas at the Lodge. We loved it! This past April we stayed at the Lodge itself for nearly the same cost. This brings me to my question...is DVC worth the cost? We would only want to stay at WL, and renting points was easy. I foresee my family going to WL every year for at least the next 8-10 years.

Is it a crap shoot to try and rent DVC points in order to save money?
Is it more cost effective to buy a WL DVC resale?

We are only looking for something with about 120 points for the year. We can only go once a year at the present time and that point rate is best for us.

Please, I want actual opinions. Don't post links to DVC resale FAQ pages, I've read all of those. I want honest DVC owner opinions please. Thanks in advance.

Seth

 

[LuvtheGoof]

If you can afford the 120 points, I would personally go for it on the resale market. You may have to go with 150 or 160 as I don't think there are too many 120 point contracts available. Yes, renting can be a crap shoot, and there is no guarantee that it will be cost effective in the future. Owning is the only way to ensure that you will know what it will cost you.

There is a 150 point contract with a sale pending for $12,450. Dues this year are at $6.03/point, so $904.50 for the 150 points. Over a 10 year period, assuming a 4% rise in the cost of dues, you would be paying a total of $5,536 for your dues. So a total investment of $17,986 over the 10 years, or an average of $1,798/year to stay there. It takes 127 points to stay in a studio for a week in April, and if you are renting at $14/point, that comes out to $1,778 this year. While the points for the studio won't change, the rental price will, so that $1,778 price now, may easily become $2,540 in 10 years, or possibly even more. Your price to own won't change as much.

Anyway, either option is less than paying for a room through Disney CRO. If you wish to take the chance that renting points will still be an option in 10 years, and still be affordable, then you can take that chance. If you wish for more control over it, then you should buy now. Remember that even if you are only planning on 10 years of trips, the longer you own, and the more trips you take, the bigger the savings in 15 years, 20 years, and even longer.

Some will tell you that it is a bad fiscal investment, and they would be right. DVC is NOT an investment to make expecting a return on your money (though it can be done!). It is a luxury purchase that you need to fully understand. It will save you a lot of money on your resort costs. That is ALL it is for, nothing more, nothing less. Yes, we do receive quite a few other discounts, but those can go away any day, so never buy in expecting them to be around in the future.

We're here to help. Let us know if you have any other questions!

 

[S. Paridon]

If you can afford the 120 points, I would personally go for it on the resale market. You may have to go with 150 or 160 as I don't think there are too many 120 point contracts available. Yes, renting can be a crap shoot, and there is no guarantee that it will be cost effective in the future. Owning is the only way to ensure that you will know what it will cost you.

There is a 150 point contract with a sale pending for $12,450. Dues this year are at $6.03/point, so $904.50 for the 150 points. Over a 10 year period, assuming a 4% rise in the cost of dues, you would be paying a total of $5,536 for your dues. So a total investment of $17,986 over the 10 years, or an average of $1,798/year to stay there. It takes 127 points to stay in a studio for a week in April, and if you are renting at $14/point, that comes out to $1,778 this year. While the points for the studio won't change, the rental price will, so that $1,778 price now, may easily become $2,540 in 10 years, or possibly even more. Your price to own won't change as much.

Anyway, either option is less than paying for a room through Disney CRO. If you wish to take the chance that renting points will still be an option in 10 years, and still be affordable, then you can take that chance. If you wish for more control over it, then you should buy now. Remember that even if you are only planning on 10 years of trips, the longer you own, and the more trips you take, the bigger the savings in 15 years, 20 years, and even longer.

Some will tell you that it is a bad fiscal investment, and they would be right. DVC is NOT an investment to make expecting a return on your money (though it can be done!). It is a luxury purchase that you need to fully understand. It will save you a lot of money on your resort costs. That is ALL it is for, nothing more, nothing less. Yes, we do receive quite a few other discounts, but those can go away any day, so never buy in expecting them to be around in the future.

We're here to help. Let us know if you have any other questions!

This is the most informative response I've seen on this forum!! Thanks a bunch. I'm still interested in what others have to say, I'm gauging all of my options. I get the strong feeling that once these cabins are built, the price of WL will skyrocket, both traditional rooms and DVC. Would you say that is a safe assumption?

 

[ToTBellHop]

If you can afford the 120 points, I would personally go for it on the resale market. You may have to go with 150 or 160 as I don't think there are too many 120 point contracts available. Yes, renting can be a crap shoot, and there is no guarantee that it will be cost effective in the future. Owning is the only way to ensure that you will know what it will cost you.

There is a 150 point contract with a sale pending for $12,450. Dues this year are at $6.03/point, so $904.50 for the 150 points. Over a 10 year period, assuming a 4% rise in the cost of dues, you would be paying a total of $5,536 for your dues. So a total investment of $17,986 over the 10 years, or an average of $1,798/year to stay there. It takes 127 points to stay in a studio for a week in April, and if you are renting at $14/point, that comes out to $1,778 this year. While the points for the studio won't change, the rental price will, so that $1,778 price now, may easily become $2,540 in 10 years, or possibly even more. Your price to own won't change as much.

Anyway, either option is less than paying for a room through Disney CRO. If you wish to take the chance that renting points will still be an option in 10 years, and still be affordable, then you can take that chance. If you wish for more control over it, then you should buy now. Remember that even if you are only planning on 10 years of trips, the longer you own, and the more trips you take, the bigger the savings in 15 years, 20 years, and even longer.

Some will tell you that it is a bad fiscal investment, and they would be right. DVC is NOT an investment to make expecting a return on your money (though it can be done!). It is a luxury purchase that you need to fully understand. It will save you a lot of money on your resort costs. That is ALL it is for, nothing more, nothing less. Yes, we do receive quite a few other discounts, but those can go away any day, so never buy in expecting them to be around in the future.

We're here to help. Let us know if you have any other questions!

That pending sale is mine!

 

[ToTBellHop]

This is the most informative response I've seen on this forum!! Thanks a bunch. I'm still interested in what others have to say, I'm gauging all of my options. I get the strong feeling that once these cabins are built, the price of WL will skyrocket, both traditional rooms and DVC. Would you say that is a safe assumption?

I would agree. This is the time to buy. Demand will rise once upgrades are made to the resort.

 

[lostpro9het]

We recently took the plunge ourselves. For us it wasn't so much if we buy but more when could we save enough to buy straight up without financing. It was obvious with our regular vacation pattern, averaged 2.5 trips a year, we would save over the life of the contract, even more since we went resale. This is why I think it would probably work well for you. You have a history of regular visits and you have little ones that have many years of visiting left. We rented and experienced 7 of the DVC resorts in the bubble over a year and a half while we saved. For us, we fell in love with AKL and purchased there. While the resale process can take time the amount we saved doing it was substantial and we have no regrets! We take our first trip as members in little over a month and can't wait to take many more.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

This is the most informative response I've seen on this forum!! Thanks a bunch. I'm still interested in what others have to say, I'm gauging all of my options. I get the strong feeling that once these cabins are built, the price of WL will skyrocket, both traditional rooms and DVC. Would you say that is a safe assumption?

Yes, the price will go up!

 

[Seanual757]

I agree with others now is the time to buy and I believe this will fit your schedule that you plan to use annually. I do agree prices will only continue to rise as long as the demand is there. My wife and I purchased our DVC back in late March 2015 and have 3 trips planned 2 this year and one in March 2016 (if we had to pay out of pocket for those rooms we would be looking at $8.5k-$9k). For us it made financial sense because we are local and we stay 3-5 times a year and over the past 3 years we have spent a little over $12k staying at Disney, this year will add another $3.5k, and our March 2016 trip would have run us close to $6k for rooms. So when I add them up by March 2016 we would have spent just over $20k for rooms at Disney since 2012. By the end of 2017 with the schedule we stay we will have exceeded our total cost of our DVC membership so for us it just made sense being local 3 young kids, and we will get our money’s worth.

 

[DisDadWoz]

If Disney is where you plan to vacation AND you have the resources to pay for it then yes. We decided after our 3rd or 4th trip with the kids that this was the way we wanted to go. While you say that you or your kids may not want to stay anywhere else, I would still try so you can experience the various experiences each provides. We didn't think we would ever go to HHI or Vero Beach yet we have an loved it. We own at AKL and actually only have stayed there once in the many years we have owned. It does save you in the long run on your resort costs and like others say that's where you should "expect" your savings and not on the discounts that can go away tomorrow if they wanted to. It is also a very long term investment so understand the financial implications you have with it. We have no regrets at all with our purchase and will continue to use again and again.