wdw vacation club

[wdwmom2+1]

ok i've sat in on the information seminars before and done the tour etc. but that was about 6 years ago and I can't for the life ofme remember these things so i thought i'd ask.

is there really a benefit to joining?

we go to disney every year usually about 2 weeks out of the year (different times added up) sometimes more often. (we got married there) we normally stay in an all stars resort and like it just fine. we curretnly live in florida and are moving to texas. we thought of joining the vacation club. but im wonding if there really would be a benefit??

we normally pay about 70.00 a night at an all star (fl resident rate) so that would be about 1100 a year (with tax etc) wouldnt it cost more then that just to join the vacation club with monthly dues etc? do you get tickets included>?

thanks

 

[happymom52003]

We were really excited about it and almost joined, but when my husband very carefully did the math, we found that we would come out ahead in the future if we invested the money ourselves and let the interest go to us. But that was just us. So I would suggest studying the math very carefully to make sure it is a wise investment for your family. It turned out not to be for us, but there are many people who do find it to be a wise investment. We still stay in the DVC villas....the only downside is that it is harder for us to get a 2 bedroom since we are not members. I really would have loved to have joined, but it just was not the right move for us. I hope it works out for you.

 

[k.hunter30]

happymom has a good point. One other thing you should take into consideration is if you're willing to take the risk. As is the case when you sign up for any sort of payment plan - there is a risk that one year you just might not be able to afford such a trip (need to buy a new car, birth of a child, some unexpected medical need, or any financial emergency) . Without the DVC you would just hold off on taking a trip to WDW that year. With it, you're still locked into the payments.

Just another thing to consider when weighing your options.

 

[HauntedPirate]

We're DVC members since 2005, 240 points at Saratoga Springs.

wdwmom2 - When you move to TX, you will no longer have the FL Resident discount (duh, I can really state the obvious. ). In the past 10 years, the price of a room at the All-Stars has risen $50-60 per night (rack rate) from $59-69/night to $119-129/night (it's good to keep Birnbaum's around ). With the DVC, your room cost is fixed for the next 46 years (currently, the Saratoga Springs and AKLV contracts expire in 2052). Currently, you get a discount on Annual Passes, but no discount (that I'm aware of) on regular Park tickets. However, perks change and this discount could go away at any time (I don't see it happening).

k.hunter30 - You don't have to take a vacation in a particular year if you don't want to. You can bank your points and use them the next year, or rent them out to someone and get most, if not all or even more, of your annual maintanance costs back.

If you prefer to have nicer accomodations (we're a family of 5, so it made sense for us just for the space aspect), or want to use DVC's flexibility to vacation in other parts of the US and the world, then I don't see any reason not to join.

 

[wdwmom2+1]

Is there anyplace where in black and white i could see the prices of teh club. I know last time they sent me a dvd and packet. with all the info. again that was quite a while ago. i will reorder one but in the meantime does anyone konw a webiste or anything where they list the costs etc.

 

[jmicro59]

We're DVC members since 2005, 240 points at Saratoga Springs.

wdwmom2 - When you move to TX, you will no longer have the FL Resident discount (duh, I can really state the obvious. ). In the past 10 years, the price of a room at the All-Stars has risen $50-60 per night (rack rate) from $59-69/night to $119-129/night (it's good to keep Birnbaum's around ). With the DVC, your room cost is fixed for the next 46 years (currently, the Saratoga Springs and AKLV contracts expire in 2052). Currently, you get a discount on Annual Passes, but no discount (that I'm aware of) on regular Park tickets. However, perks change and this discount could go away at any time (I don't see it happening).

k.hunter30 - You don't have to take a vacation in a particular year if you don't want to. You can bank your points and use them the next year, or rent them out to someone and get most, if not all or even more, of your annual maintanance costs back.

If you prefer to have nicer accomodations (we're a family of 5, so it made sense for us just for the space aspect), or want to use DVC's flexibility to vacation in other parts of the US and the world, then I don't see any reason not to join.

Haunted hit it right on the head.
DVC only makes sense if you want to stay onsite, like moderate accommodations, have the money to buy the points and not take a loan out for the purchase, don't mind paying the yearly "condo" fees and are going to go to a WDW property every year. We’ve been DVC members for almost 7 years and love it. And we spend all of our 2000 points every year as well. :lol:

 

[HayAntPat]

This is the DVC website !! Hope you find it helpful.

http://dvc.disney.go.com/dvc/index

 

[k.hunter30]

k.hunter30 - You don't have to take a vacation in a particular year if you don't want to. You can bank your points and use them the next year, or rent them out to someone and get most, if not all or even more, of your annual maintanance costs back.

Honestly, I don't know much about DVC - other than it's a timeshare. But I'm interested in how Disney's works. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you locked in to your payments? I know you explained that you don't have to take a trip one year if you don't want to - but my point was you still have to PAY for it. Is that correct?
If so, then there is still that risk. You'd be left with a payment on something that you wouldn't have had to worry about without signing up for it. Granted, you may be able to rent them - but that's not guaranteed as simply not paying for a trip and using the cash for something needed would be.

 

[Champion]

Honestly, I don't know much about DVC - other than it's a timeshare. But I'm interested in how Disney's works. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you locked in to your payments? I know you explained that you don't have to take a trip one year if you don't want to - but my point was you still have to PAY for it. Is that correct?
If so, then there is still that risk. You'd be left with a payment on something that you wouldn't have had to worry about without signing up for it. Granted, you may be able to rent them - but that's not guaranteed as simply not paying for a trip and using the cash for something needed would be.

The simplest way to put it, without worrying about when you're using points is this:

Minimum buy in is 160 points, for a total of about $16,500 right now. (Not including annual fees). This is for roughly 50 years, depending on the property you chose as your home property. Points are roughly $100 a point.

As for points and how many nights you get, heres a chart for Saratoga Springs:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-vacation-club/SS-Points.htm

The only other cost are annual fees.

 

[Bug715]

I don't know from the money side of it but I know that my parents are glad we joined. Before we were members we stayed at all star music and the former dixie landings. Now we stay at boardwalk all the time. I never knew how much boardwalk cost per night in money till I was on the Disney site to e-mail my friend the link since she's coming on vacation with us this year. Its around $300 a night when we always go. I know that there is no way my family could afford this for a week almost every summer without DVC.

 

[k.hunter30]

Ok, so if one was to pay the $16,500 in cash right now (plus closing costs, etc.) the only other payment would be the "annual fees" (of which I'm clueless as to their cost). Depending on those fees I can see how it might be a good deal (although earning 12% interest in a good mutual fund still sounds a bit more appealing to me - as happymom, in a way, mentioned).
However, it would seem that most people would finance it as they would something like a house - locking them into payments.
Makes sense to me now I think. Thanks guys.

 

[Unplugged]

DVC Explanation from a DVC Member

Honestly, I don't know much about DVC - other than it's a timeshare. But I'm interested in how Disney's works. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you locked in to your payments? I know you explained that you don't have to take a trip one year if you don't want to - but my point was you still have to PAY for it. Is that correct?
If so, then there is still that risk. You'd be left with a payment on something that you wouldn't have had to worry about without signing up for it. Granted, you may be able to rent them - but that's not guaranteed as simply not paying for a trip and using the cash for something needed would be.

Being a DVC member for about 6 years, I can see there's a lot of confusion on this so let me attempt to help out by clearing up a few points.

Purchase

• DVC is indeed a timeshare. This means you purchase into a real estate ownership. In the case of DVC, points purchase translate to a percentage of ownership. In other words, your minimum 150 point purchase will translate into less than 1% ownership of a specific unit in a specific building.
• Your Purchase Price = Cost Per Point * Points Purchased. How you pay for it is your business in that you can pay cash, credit card, finance with DVC, make your children assemble Nike shoes in your basement, etc.
• Typically (for reference only as this changes from resort to resort), the initial DVC lease on the land is 40-50 years from construction, so your purchase is for the remainder. When we purchased into Wilderness Lodge Villas, we had 42 years left.
• What this all means as far as the purchase goes is that we have 150 points issued to us every year for a total of 42 years. We paid a 1 time purchase price, which we chose to finance and paid off early.

Maintenance

• There are annual maintenance fees assessed that cover property taxes, building repair & maintenance, etc.
• These are determined based on a budget that DVC publishes every year to owners. Thus, you can see how much was spent and how.
• The overall budget set by DVC is divided amongst all the points and that's how your dollar amount is determined. More points, more maintenance fees.
• You can pay your maintenance as a lump sum once per year or monthly.
• Remember, this is a vacation home and requires upkeep. Many non-members thinks these fees are "the catch" but that's simple ignorance of real estate. If you own a house, you have to do keep-up work and pay taxes or it falls apart and gets taken by the local tax authorities. No scam....simple real-world business.
• Happy Note: Since part of your fees are property taxes, it is deductible on your taxes as a vacation home.

Opinion On Value

• Everyone asks "is it worth it?". Only you can determine that. Here's how I determined I was a fool for not having joined sooner.
• In a simple spreadsheet I put down the fact that we go every year to WDW. When we go, we stay at the middle to upper end resorts (Caribbean Beach, Boardwalk, Wilderness Lodge, etc). I added up the costs for room only every year. I noticed the prices went up 4%-6% every year and could easilly project estimated room costs for the next 40. (Basic math then cut'n'paste). I compared the costs of the DVC ownership (don't forget to add in estimated maintenance fees) and compared the two.
• In our case we estimated we would have spent the same room mony in 5-6 years.
• We ended up saving enough to have paid for it in 4 years because we took my parents and my wifes parents one year. This required 3 Studios for 1 week. (Roughly 250 points). The retail on those rooms was over half of our initial 150 point membership.

General

• How often do I hear "Why don't they give us tickets?". Here's whyVC is a separate company (Owned by Disney) from the parks operations. DVC members get discounts on the park tickets based on agreements set up between the business units.
• DVC is also separate from the resorts. Unused rooms are "sold" to the resorts for rental. This helps lower maintenance fees by generating revenue from unused rooms. This is also why it's hard for non-DVC folks to book rooms in DVC resorts. We own them and have first opportunity to book them before selling the inventory to the resort.

Hope that helps.

 

[Unplugged]

However, it would seem that most people would finance it as they would something like a house - locking them into payments.
Makes sense to me now I think. Thanks guys.

You're never "locked" into payments. It's like buying a house or car. You can pay it off early every time. If you do not pay off early, then you should be calculating out your interest into your value determination.

 

[k.hunter30]

Great explanation unplugged! Thank you! That definitely clears some things up for me.

For our household - not being a fan of debt - this just isn't a good idea unless we had the cash to pay for it up front. As I said, being locked into payments just isn't something we'd want to risk every year until we're able to pay it in full. :shrug: We'll stick with saving for each vacation as we can afford it - and put that interest, earned instead of paid, towards ourselves.

 

[Craig & Lisa]

We have been members since 2003, and my DW and I have figured that we have saved at least 5,000 on where we stay in that time. We will be staying at SSR at the end of June into July, at that time a one bedroom is 450 a night. There is no way we could ever afford that, But we pay less than 400 a month to DVC. And the one thing that was not said was, pay it for 10 years and own it for 50. And at tax time it's also added to the paperwork for interest. :animwink: so it's a tax rightoff . There are up's and downs, my DW and I waited for 2 years before we joined, but we have never regreted it. As said it's not for everyone but I've yet to see anyone who has joined to have any complaints.

 

[tiggerguy2000]

I have been a member since 2001 and you should have bought back then.I payed $68.00 a point for my first home resort and now it's $100.00 so you missed the boat on that.You stay Value so DVC would not be for you.I on the other hand have 500 points and it has been a good investment.We go 2 or 3 times a year and never less then 10 nights in a deluxe room.
Being a member is magical :sohappy:

 

[kgallag808]

My fiance and I are going to join this August or September. The reasons we are joining are simple. We both like staying in the Villas, we have "borrowed" points the last two years on our trips to WDW. We enjoy the theming of the DVC resorts and do not see any of them coming down in price in the next fifty years. My calculations are that we have now gone to Disney every year for the last six and have averaged about $4,000 per trip. I do see the point that you never know what may happen five or ten years from now to your financial well being but that is a risk you take with any purchase. We are a young couple, late 20's, and will have children within the next few years. A major selling point to us is bringing our children and family to Disney and using our points for a Grand Villa. Last thing is we can see ourselves using this to travel outside of the US. We would both like to see Europe and can actually do that and still visit Disney later in the year. It may not be for everyone and I am not under the impression that I am making money on this venture. This just falls under one of those things that isnt about gaining monetary value. It is simpy pre-paying for a vacation.

 

[Mickifan17]

As a DVC member since 1994, I can honestly say it's the best thing I ever did. I owned it before I was married and now have been married almost 9 years and have 3 boys. I just got back from the world at the endof April and that was my 7 year olds 11th trip. Not bad.

It may not be for everybody, but it certainly was right for me. We go about 3-4 times per year and I also have annual passes. So if I find a good flight out of New York, going to Disney is actually cheaper for me than going to an island or something like that. Just my $.02. Good luck with your decision.

 

[farmgirl]

Does anybody know if the tours for DVC are offered in the evening. We have one free night available and would like to check it out but they are not allowed to send info to us because we are from Canada and Ontario is the only province they are able to send to ...thanks

 

[wdwmom2+1]

thanks for all the great input I have a few more questions

basically by signing up how many nights a year do you get to stay without paying extra?

How about if you want to add on disney dining etc when you stay?

Also about how much do you pay yearly in the maintance fee?

Thanks!@