It's one thing to compare the cost of DVC vs the cost of staying on property. It's quite another to compare the cost of DVC vs staying off property.
Absolutely true. I am one of those heathens that stays offsite sometimes, even for a Disney vacation. I always have. Many of those places are equal to (or better than) Disney's resorts in isolation. But Disney's Reality Distortion Field is nearly unprecedented, and the resorts don't exist in isolation. People
believe that it makes a difference, and because perception is reality, it does. Heck, I'm not sure the benefits of being onsite have
ever objectively justified the price premium, and I've been going to WDW for a minute.
Subjectively? An entirely different ballgame. And part of that subjective experience is sometimes referred to as "the bubble." The idea that you enter those gates once, and don't see them again until your vacation is over, is a powerful one.
Honestly, I've stopped trying to convince people that offsite stays can be just as wonderful, despite the fact that has been my experience over many years. More often than not, people tell me I must be wrong, despite the fact that they've never tried it.
Even moreso, compare the cost of DVC to not going to WDW on a regular basis.
I'm less sure about this one---at least, assuming you replace the DVC trips with other vacations. Some of our vacations are definitely less expensive. Others are comparable or even more, depending on where we are going and what we are doing.
WDW was a more attractive product even just a few years ago.
Maybe, though I think at least some of this for me is that familiarity breeds contempt. But even so: people are not deciding between going to WDW now and going to WDW in 2018. They are deciding between going to WDW now, or doing something else now. WDW still holds its own there.
Egg prices [...] Gas prices
I've always been struck by how important these things are in the popular press and consumer psychology, vs. their actual impact on total day-to-day expenses. But, that's another conversation for a different board.