What is the math on DVC? Why does it work?

[CSUFSteve]

Great summary, DVC Mike. Those were many of the same points that my DVC rep told me to consider when purchasing. For me, it's pretty much a no-brainer. Yes, I could get AP discounts on All-Star/Pop Century and save more money. But I've never liked staying at either and stayed there only when I needed a rock bottom cost visit.

I prefer to stay at Moderate or Deluxe. There were two years in a row where I stayed at GF in a LBV view room, Wilderness Lodge with a BL view room, and Beach Club with a SB view room. 8 nights all 3 times. I average about two trips a year, for 9 days/8 nights each. I'm not worried whether DVC will breakeven for me

Plus, the discount on AP's is a benefit that contributes toward savings. Add to that that when I take friends, I charge them the maint fees on the points I'm spending (family is free, though). Maybe that sounds vicious but hey, my friend is staying at Beach Club for Epcot's 25th, which she would not be able to afford on her own, for 6 nights. I don't remember what that came to, but somewhere around $4xx. And in 2009, I'm inviting 11 other friends to stay at a Grand Villa.

So for 3 years my MF will be paid by someone else and I figure that probably pays the interest on my 1-year loan, if not more than pays for it. So then whatever I am saving on my "prepaid" accomodations is basically going toward principal. That's how I look at it.

By like DVC Mike said, it's really not about the money. It makes traveling to Disney incredibly cheap for me (which I'm sure is how Disney wants us to feel), it means I don't have to worry about ever saving for accommodations, and I like staying in deluxe accomodations on every trip now.

 

[Phonedave]

Can someone please comment on the cost of annual passes with and without the DVC?

Also, how about the differences in the cost of the Dining plan with and without DVC?


Thanks...

From the latest DVC Discount guide

Its $100 off an adult AP, or $90 off an adult renewal

Its $88 off a kids AP or $79 off a kids renewal

The savings are more if you are buying premium APs.

These are for NON FL resident passes. The savings on Florida Resident AP's are very small ($4 -$5)

There is no discount for the DDP. but your DVC membership gets you the following off

10% at Tonys Town Square for lunch
20% at Chefs de France lunch
20% at nine dragons lunch
20% lunch and dinner at Marrakesh
10% at San Angle Inn for lunch

and about 30 more places

There are also discounts on shopping, golf, boat rentals, spas, water parks, tours, etc.

-dave

 

[msmith]

Thanks Dave... I appreciate the info.

Wifey still isn't sure about it, but then again neither am I... Definitely going to look into it a bit further and 'we'll see what happens'.

Thanks again...

 

[hansel1]

True... DVC is not for everybody but when we looked at the #'s it doesn't work for us since we felt it better to keep the 20K in the bank and earn 5% interest and you should get about $1,600/year interest earned plus the cost of maint fees, but never buy direct from Disney always get a resale for about half the price from a timeshare broker it will save some big $$$$

I don't agree that you should never buy from disney direct. If you buy through disney the process is extremely fast and painless. If you buy resale you end up waiting months and hoping that you pass disney's Right Of First Refusal. If you don't you have to start over.

Disney has their own in-house financing which makes things much more simple as well.

Depending on which resort you want to buy into, you save 10-20 dollars per point using a resale, but you also have to pay closing costs and sometime maintenance fees up front. Don't forget that some contracts are stripped or don't contain all of that years points. (most people take their vacation and then sell their DVC). All that and still having to wait months before you can make a reservation.

 

[GrimGrinninAnna]

As per my passholder post, I was considering this, too. I have a ton of friends in the DVC and it seems great.

But, does anyone know if you pay taxes on your DVC timeshare?

 

[Phonedave]

As per my passholder post, I was considering this, too. I have a ton of friends in the DVC and it seems great.

But, does anyone know if you pay taxes on your DVC timeshare?

Yes you do - but thats a good thing.

Property taxes are part of your maintence fee - its already included. So you get to deduct a portion of your fee from your taxes. (provided you don't already have a second home). It's just like owning a co-op. Part of your monthly maintence goes towards property taxes, and you can then deduct it.

It's not much, but it's there.


-dave

 

[pauluk]

Can you use your points to go on the Disney Cruise as well? Seems like I've heard that you can.

As soon as we can afford it, we're signing up.

Hi , appears no one has answered your question. Yes you can.

We joined in 1996 and used our points for the Disney Magic is 2000, best thing we ever did.

Without the points we would never of gone on a Cruise , since then we have been on 5 more Disney Cruise and loved it every time.

 

[dznygrl]

Can someone please comment on the cost of annual passes with and without the DVC?

Also, how about the differences in the cost of the Dining plan with and without DVC?


The wifey, Junior, and I plan on visiting at least once per year, but possibly twice each year for a week at a time. We don't mind the All-star/Pop resorts, but wouldn't mind an upgrade either.
Just need to figure out if it's worth our time to more or less have the room paid for, but still need to buy the AP per year and dining plan each time we visit.

Thanks...

We save $$ by buying an annual pass every OTHER year, so we get at least two annual visits out of one pass. Example: This year, we purchase an AP and activate it for use on October 10th for a 12night trip. Next year, we'll plan our trip for @ the end of September, and use the AP again. We won't have to buy another AP until our next trip in 2009. An annual pass, depending on which level you purchase, pays for itself at about the 5-7 day level vs. a regular park hopper, especially when you add in the DVC discount. For us, that means that the second half of our 2007 trip and all of the 2008 trip will be "free" in terms of ticket costs.

We are Deluxe resort people, so the DVC made perfect sense for us. I'd estimate that we pay @$105-$120/night for our annual DVC trip, when the same room would cost us $300-up were we not in DVC. Add in the AP savings and the dining plan, and we do pretty well - but we never feel like we are nickel and diming ourselves through a vacation.

 

[msmith]

We save $$ by buying an annual pass every OTHER year, so we get at least two annual visits out of one pass. Example: This year, we purchase an AP and activate it for use on October 10th for a 12night trip. Next year, we'll plan our trip for @ the end of September, and use the AP again. We won't have to buy another AP until our next trip in 2009. An annual pass, depending on which level you purchase, pays for itself at about the 5-7 day level vs. a regular park hopper, especially when you add in the DVC discount. For us, that means that the second half of our 2007 trip and all of the 2008 trip will be "free" in terms of ticket costs.

We are Deluxe resort people, so the DVC made perfect sense for us. I'd estimate that we pay @$105-$120/night for our annual DVC trip, when the same room would cost us $300-up were we not in DVC. Add in the AP savings and the dining plan, and we do pretty well - but we never feel like we are nickel and diming ourselves through a vacation.

Wow... So an AP actually goes for 1 year from the date of activation?

I figured that they'd be like the other 'passes' that I've seen from other parks where its only valid for this year (even if you only have a few months left), or a 'seasonal' year which is really only 8 months long or so... Or... etc.

I'm going to have to call and talk with a rep after this next trip (leaving in 397 hours... ) to discuss the option of buying the APs for the three of us for our next trip... we generally go in October, but wifey wants to switch to an early December trip next year... that would mean we could go back in 2008 in October for a discount...

Or... we could go early next year and then again in early December... but since we're not sold on the DVC yet, we'd still have to pay for our resort (we're all-star/pop folks). I'll have to figure out if its worth the AP at the regular price though... This 'from activation for one year' deal sounds great...

 

[dznygrl]

Yes, it is one year from date of activation. You can buy an AP whenever you want, and they will mail you a voucher. The AP "clock" doesn't start to tick until the day you take your voucher to one of the AP activation areas and turn it in for your actual AP. We bought our AP vouchers 2 months ago, but the AP's will not activate until next Wednesday when we arrive on property and turn them in for our "real" AP's.

Woo-hoo - next Wednesday . . . !!!!

 

[dznygrl]

One more thing - just remember that if you are NOT a DVC member but you ARE an AP holder, you are not eligible for DDP. Only AP holders who are also DVC members are eligible for the dining plan . . .

 

[lilclerk]

One more thing - just remember that if you are NOT a DVC member but you ARE an AP holder, you are not eligible for DDP. Only AP holders who are also DVC members are eligible for the dining plan . . .

Well technically, they could book a regular package and buy 1 day base tickets with the dining plan, then put the cost of those base tickets towards renewing their APs next year.

 

[dznygrl]

True, true - I forgot about that option. Thank you.

 

[DVC Mike]

Here is a link to one of many commonly available financial comparisons that shows why DVC may make sense for you.

http://dvcnews.com/index.php?option=com_easyfaq&task=view&id=55&Itemid=148