My wife and I are looking into the DVC and would love some opinions of people actually using it to see what their experiences are. Thanks for the input!!!!!!
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Vacation Club opinions??
- Thread starter MouseFan4Life
- Start date
ConstanceIrene
Member
There's an entire discussion forum dedicated to the Disney Vacation Club and several threads regarding people's opinions about DVC.
Grab a cup of coffee and have a good read. There are those who do not feel DVC is good for their needs, but I think you'll see that most members are completely satisfied with their membership.
Grab a cup of coffee and have a good read. There are those who do not feel DVC is good for their needs, but I think you'll see that most members are completely satisfied with their membership.
Couldnt have said it better myself.
Churro_Jet
New Member
Well I dont know what it is Like personally but me and my parents are eventually going to take a tour. What the tour is, is about they take you to a Resort [ Preferablly the one your staying at ] and they bring you into one of the rooms they the Vacation club offers. They show and tell you how everything works and what hotels have it [ For example, the north wing of the Contemporary resort was taken down to put in a vacation club thing ]. It's approximatly an hour to 90 minutes i think and they "lock" your kids in a room with video games etc while the parents go on tour. They also said that the hardest decision your going to make is what is your favorite ice cream flavor [ not sure why ]. All you have to do is go to the DVC stand in your hotel [ WDW hotel of course ] or another WDW hotel doesn't have to be YOURS and the DVC Cast Member will set up a time for you to go bye. MY family is taking the tou in December, and we most likely joining. 
.:hammer:
.:hammer:
DVC Mike
Well-Known Member
We love DVC! We can highly recommend it. That said, DVC is not for everyone.
DVC membership might make sense if you meet most or all of these criteria:
- The cost of membership and dues does not appear to present a financial hardship.
- You vacation at Walt Disney World frequently: ideally at least once every two years.
- You plan to continue vacationing at Disney World far enough into the future to make the membership at least break even.
- You prefer to stay in Deluxe or DVC accommodations and/or you stay a long time (10 days or more per year). If you always stay at a Value resort, or always stay off-site, or you really spend the entire day at the parks away from your hotel, and you don't spend time at the resort itself (other than crashing at the end of the day), then DVC may not be for you.
- You are able to plan your vacations well in advance -- ideally 7 to 11 months out. If you aren't a planner, don't even look at becoming a DVC member. If you can't plan and book your vacations 11 months in advance, and staying at a particular DVC resort is important, then don't join DVC. If you really don't care which DVC resort you end up with, then it's not an issue.
- You can do without daily mousekeeping and room service (of course, you can pay extra and get mousekeeping as a DVC member).
- You desire more space than a typical resort room (such as a 2 bedroom villa, with full kitchen, living room, 2 bathrooms and jacuzzi suite, and even a washer/dryer).
- You’re not looking at DVC as an investment or a way to make money (it’s not). It is a decision to prepay, at today's rates, the next several decades of Disney trips.
Pumbas Nakasak
Heading for the great escape.
Its timeshare.
But nice timeshare.
But nice timeshare.
It has worked out well for us. It takes a little planning and working the system, but we are members since 1999 - Hilton Head. We have never regretted it. Our $18000 purchase price and approx. $ 6500 in annual dues since then have been used for over $35000 worth of vacations at disney , thru Interval International, thru concierge hotels and Holland america lines.
NewfieFan
Well-Known Member
Thanks! I've just started to look through these threads to see what DVC is all about. My husband and I have talked about it but we really do not know enough about it yet to make a commitment. You've given us some great thought on the topic - thanks again!
ConstanceIrene
Member
Fortunate as you are, I wouldn't want a perspective member to think that you need to spend that much time at WDW to make it worthwhile.
We only get to visit WDW app. 10 days per year and it's still been worth the investment for our family.
janni518
New Member
Yeah, thanks for the clarification. I was a bit taken aback by that. We'll be looking in to this on our next trip.
DisneyPhD
Well-Known Member
I hope that's $650 per year and not $6500!!! We pay around $800 in dues per year. We love DVC but are now having to cut back how often we go since we can't take the kids out of school as much as we have in the past. I'm hoping it will give us some time to catch up from all the point borrowing we have done over the last 5 years. We originally planned on going just once per year but have consistently made 2 trips (or more) per year since at least one of our kids was under 3 and so was free for many things (including park admission).
We are running into the same issue. Our son starts kindergarden next year so the wife and I are really considering doing a trip every other year over the Christmas holidays, and maybe staying at the Contemporary or Poly with two years of saved points.
ConstanceIrene
Member
I could be wrong, but I think the $6500 was the total in fees since 1999, not per year.
I would agree wholeheartedly with what Mike posted.
I would add that you should think about not only what you need right now in terms of vacation, but what you may need in the future, because you are buying a long-term...for many people a life-spanning...product. DH & I bought when I was 35 years old and our contract ends when I am 80 and DH is 84.
Right now, it may be you and spouse. But maybe in 5 years it will be you, spouse & 1 child. In 10 years, it may be you, spouse and 2 or 3 children. Your needs will change with time.
Right now it may be you, spouse and a passel of kids. But maybe in 10 years, it will be you and spouse. In 20 years, it may be you, spouse, adult children and grandchildren.
My point being...think long-term. Will you and spouse still want to go to WDW during those years when your adult children may not be able to come? For us, WDW is a great adult vacation...we have no kids and still go at least twice per year. There is much more to do there than the theme parks. It is truly a resort, plus, there is a lot to do in the surrounding areas that is a pretty close drive...day trips and so forth.
What I have found is that my Disney vacations are more relaxed as a DVC owner. I don't feel the need to "commando tour", since I know I'll be back. We are more apt to relax in the morning, cook a light breakfast in the room (we always get at least a 1BR, even if it is just the 2 of us), have our coffee on the balcony...we just go at a more leisurely pace. We spend more time enjoying the resort and its amenities.
But, our "specs" pretty much matched exactly what Mike posted above. his advice is good, so truly take it into consideration when you are making your decision to purchase.
I think that if you hold onto it long enough, the cost does equivocate better to what it would cost you to vacation there and stay in regular on-site moderate or deluxe hotels.
We first saw the DVC in 1991, on our honeymoon. I wanted to buy right then. DH, ever the practical man, thought we should save for and buy a house first.
So, we spent the next 6 years going to WDW at least once or twice per year, staying at at least a moderate resort...probably a total of 2 weeks every year at a moderate or deluxe resort.
I'm going to say the average cost per night of our accomodations during those 6 years was $100...mid 90's prices for moderate and deluxe probably hovering between $89-$250/night, depending.
So, in the 6 years between 1991 (when I wanted to buy) and 1997 (when we actually bought) we probably spent $8400-ish on accomodations at WDW.
We bought 200 points at OKW in 1997 and I think we paid $62.50/point, so that was $12500 for the DVC.
Do you see where I am getting at?? If we had bought in 1991, we would have had the thing almost paid off by 1997 (12500-8400=4100 left to pay off) and would have already had 6 years of vacations, not to mention free APs till the year 2000, since they were offering that as an incentive to purchase back in 1991 when they were first building OKW.
Now we own 2 contracts, for a total of 430 points. Both are paid off, so all our DVC costs us now is about $1600 in maintenance fees per year. We spend about 3 weeks there in the course of any given year, and always get at least a 1BR.
So we average about $105/night:
$1600 yearly{maintenance fees for 2 contracts} +
$611 yearly{for buy-in cost of both contracts-$27500 averaged over 45 years}
divided by 21 {average # of days per year at WDW}
And this is for deluxe level accomodations.
Not bad....
Now, with all that being said, if you are the type who vacations there in the cheapest motel you can find and are happy to do so, and think you will always be happy to stay in the cheapest motel you can find, then DVC is not for you.
We first saw the DVC in 1991, on our honeymoon. I wanted to buy right then. DH, ever the practical man, thought we should save for and buy a house first.
So, we spent the next 6 years going to WDW at least once or twice per year, staying at at least a moderate resort...probably a total of 2 weeks every year at a moderate or deluxe resort.
I'm going to say the average cost per night of our accomodations during those 6 years was $100...mid 90's prices for moderate and deluxe probably hovering between $89-$250/night, depending.
So, in the 6 years between 1991 (when I wanted to buy) and 1997 (when we actually bought) we probably spent $8400-ish on accomodations at WDW.
We bought 200 points at OKW in 1997 and I think we paid $62.50/point, so that was $12500 for the DVC.
Do you see where I am getting at?? If we had bought in 1991, we would have had the thing almost paid off by 1997 (12500-8400=4100 left to pay off) and would have already had 6 years of vacations, not to mention free APs till the year 2000, since they were offering that as an incentive to purchase back in 1991 when they were first building OKW.
Now we own 2 contracts, for a total of 430 points. Both are paid off, so all our DVC costs us now is about $1600 in maintenance fees per year. We spend about 3 weeks there in the course of any given year, and always get at least a 1BR.
So we average about $105/night:
$1600 yearly{maintenance fees for 2 contracts} +
$611 yearly{for buy-in cost of both contracts-$27500 averaged over 45 years}
divided by 21 {average # of days per year at WDW}
And this is for deluxe level accomodations.
Not bad....
Now, with all that being said, if you are the type who vacations there in the cheapest motel you can find and are happy to do so, and think you will always be happy to stay in the cheapest motel you can find, then DVC is not for you.
DisneyPhD
Well-Known Member
Thanks for clearing that up. I now see it plain as day in your post I just didn't read it carefully enough. DVC good, my reading ability bad:brick: