But without the numbers, there's just no point to DVC.
Every single thing on your list can be had without purchasing a DVC membership. All of it. Anyone can make a cash reservation at a DVC resort and have the master bath, and the separate rooms, and the extra room, and the whirlpool, and the kitchen, and the washer dryer, and the booking well in advance. You can even get substantial discounts on villas through CRO. Many people do stay in villas on cash reservations, or rent from an owner, because they don't want the multi-thousand dollar upfront payment, and the 40 years of mandatory maintenance fees whether they want to take a Disney trip that year or not.
IMO, DVC is the most cost effective way to stay in the DVC resorts for most people who plan to do it on a regular basis for many years to come. So it's the number-crunching that makes DVC make sense.
Sorry a bit late to the thread. Been busy.
Lynne, while it may be true that a cash guest can get into SSR or OKW pretty much anytime, try getting into BCV or BWV during F&W, or VWL or the SSR Treehouses during busy times of the year. It will be next to impossible. Now, of course, a cash guest can stay at BW Inn or plain BC, but that doesn't get them a 1 or 2 bdr (unless you want to pay a thousand dollars a night) with a full kitchen and w&d. Oh, and don't count on the discounts from CRO lasting forever. The current discounts are normally only at a few resorts, and limited rooms and dates. I would expect most of them to go away over the next few years as our economy improves.
In addition, let's not forget some of the discounts (APs and now PAPs come to mind!) that we receive as DVC owners. I mean, c'mon, $399 for a PAP!! That discount alone pretty much pays for my dues for my family of 4 for the entire year! I know that APs (which we also have) get better discounts, and we always buy the TiW, but for people that don't, the other discounts, even if only 10%, still add up. Something a cash guest or renter does not receive.
So we are one of those that go to Disney multiple times per year, only stay on-site, and only stay in deluxe resorts. We bought DVC many years ago, and we have never looked back. We don't check discounts to see what other people might be paying, we would NEVER do free dining since we save so much with the TiW (try using your DDP at V&As! - yes, we dine there at least once a year).
We did check awhile back and found that we had saved several thousand dollars over the DISCOUNTED rate of rooms (even if not offered when we went) that we had stayed at. We found that we could have saved some money by renting points each time, but we much prefer owning the points ourselves, rather than relying on someone else. Just us. YMMV.