Please tell me I'm wrong

[10drum]

I've been crunching numbers now for nearly two weeks and I can't see that much savings in joining the DVC.
The only way I see any savings, is if I were to pay rack rates at a deluxe resort for 7 nights each year for forty years.
The numbers I'm using, includes the annual maintenance fee(assuming it never increases) and financing 80% of 200 points for ten years.
I realize the inflation rate for a room, each year, is difficult to calculate and this seems to be the main reason for joining.
If I wanted to pay the full 200 points up front, maybe it would be different.
Please, if I am missing something let me know. I thnink it would be a wonderful gift I could give my children in about ten or fifteen years, but education must come first.

 

[DisneyCrazy]

I don't know all that fancy-smancy financial mumbo-jumbo I just looked at it in simple terms:

If I added up what I spend on Disney vacations from 1991 (when OKW opened) until I FINALLY purchased in 1999 I could have paid off my initial investment and been going 'free'.

Of course it isn't free, I've got $1200/year in dues to pay. But would I get a 2Br for 5 nights in June and a 1Br for 5 nights in December at the Boardwalk for $1200???? I think not!

The 'rack' rate might not be a good comparison. The 2Br in June would be $670/night... Let's say I got a GREAT deal and got 50% off ($335/night) - that would set me back $1675. So my December trip is 'free' in a way.

Now this doesn't account for my investing the money in junk bonds and making 200% anually... But I wouldn't have done that with the $$ anyway - to me this is MY real life situation.

As always, YMMV...

 

[kamgen]

Well said Paul!

I look at it this way...we spent over $3000 on our honeymoon at WDW and ended up buying then. We wish we would have bought sooner!!!

We now go on vacation (WDW, Vero, DCL) 2-4 times a year. That would NOT be possible without DVC. We love it.


Kamy

http://gennaroworld.topcities.com

 

[Doctor P]

Here is some quick and dirty math. 200 points at $75 per point is $15,000. A rough estimate of interest on the loan for 10 years at 10% would be $6000. That is $21,000. At $4.00 per point in annual dues that's $800. 40 years of dues would be $32,000. Thus, total outlay over 40 years is in the range of $53,000. This works out to about $1300 per year. At the holiday time, you can stay at All Stars for about $110 per night (this year is an exception) plus 12% tax or roughly $125 per night. Points for a studio room would let you stay approximately 10-12 nights per year. This equates to $1250-$1500 cost at All Stars. I figure I get DVC accomodations at All Star rates by being a member of DVC even at the current prices. This is very quick and dirty, but I can assure you that I have done the complicated calculations as well and they come out basically the same. I am a cheapskate and also a bit of a numbers person, and DVC made sense to me. It may or may not make sense for you, as it really depends on your vacation habits and your tolerance for a bit of risk.

 

[DisneyCrazy]

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

And yes Kamy our first trip to OKW was about $3000 also (I think it was 1992) and we STILL didn't buy until 1999 (resale BTW)!!

I'm not stupid, just a little Slooooow.

I actually plan to buy more someday (when/if I get married) - right now I own with my sister. We have great family vacations, we invited our other sister (and DH, DS and DD) to join us last August in an OKW GV (I think the rack for that was about $1000/night) - and this past June we did the 2Br at BWV and my friend and her daughter joined us after a 3 day cruise. There is no way, even at 50% these types of trips would have been possible - especially 2+ per year (three times last year).

Of couse we LOVE to do to Disney at least ONCE per year, if you don't then it may not be worth it to you.

 

[DebbieB]

Comparing DVC to a deluxe resort can be comparing apples to oranges when talking about a 1 bedroom or above at DVC. There's just no comparision between even a deluxe room and a 1 bedroom or above at DVC. You have at least double the space, a full kitchen, jacuzzi, walk-in shower, separate living room, washer/dryer in room. The question is do you want to spend the money on a luxurious "home away from home" or a regular hotel room. If you are happy with an All Star or moderate room then it may not be worth it to you, but once you see a DVC room you probably will be hooked. I have a friend who owns DVC and I thought the same way, that it's not worth all the money, but once I spent a long weekend in a 2 bedroom at OKW, I was hooked! Maybe you can rent points from a member to try it out first before you decide.

 

[10drum]

Thanks for your reply. I have been doing the simple math as well, I am also, as a friend of mine puts it, "thrifty". You said a mouthful when you referred to vacation habits. Our vacation habits for the past few years always include wdw, as a matter of fact, next time we go, will be the first time we will venture outside of the world. This brings up the problem that I am struggling with. Habits change.

I would hope someday, my grand children, if we are lucky enough to have any, will enjoy wdw as much as our family does, and this seems to be the main reason I will probably get serious about the dvc when the bc villas become availble.

Thanks to everyone who replies!

 

[Joeblack]

10DRUM:

There is only one mistake in your calculations IMHO. You should ahve bought two years ago and you'd be 1/3 of the way to breaking even. Buy today. You won't regret it.

 

[Pyersin]

10Drum,

We went through the same calulations when buying 3-4 years ago. I think the key items that other members have mentioned is what you are getting for your stay. Before we bought, My family (wife and three kids) shelled out $300-$350 per night at the Grand Floridian for a week. The resort was great, first class however my wife and I would have traded a 1-bedroom villa for the very cramped two bed room at the Floridian. Especially when my in-laws came and stayed three days with us. The space in the Villas 1-bedroom and up has no comparision over a hotel room.

One other thing I calulated into my decison, which was when staying in a hotel room we normal have to eat out three times a day other then bring some snacks along. The figure for a family I used for three meals a day averaged from $125-$150 per day. We normally stay anywhere from around 8 to 12 days. Although we still eat out about 25% during our trip now as DVC members, we no longer pay $15- $20 for a couple bowls of ceral and bagels. For me my dues are easly payed for by the money we save in food expenses during the vacation.

Hope this helps....

 

[spruce]

We bought in 98 and added-on in 99. If you look at the trips in my signature, I"ve estimated that the rack rate cost for these trips is around 14K. After my mortgage is paid, I'll have 17400 plus dues spent on DVC. I'm way ahead of the game because in the last 3 years we would have never afforded 14k in vacations at Disney any other way.......spruce

 

[Disnydad]

Boy, on two trips to the Contemporary with conecting rooms (1998 & 1999) we spent $8,000 & $6000. (We brought our parents) Those two trips alone would have paid for our DVC which we joined in late 2000.

 

[Laurajean1014]

My dh and I are in deep with DVC. We have a high 5 figure investment into DVC and we believe it's the best thing we ever did (excluding marrying each other and having a family).

We would never have had this many vacations, and enjoyed so much with our family. Our friends don't know how we can accomplish all the vacas we do?????

Putting it simply: There are some things in life that are no-brainers, this is one of them!

 

[rickster57]

If I own 300 points and pay dues for 10 years I will spend $33,000.00 total. This will give me 9 nights on the off season. If I pay on average of $250.00 per night not on the DVC and include inflation I will spend the same $33,000.00. With the DVC dues for the remaining 30 years I may average about $175.00 per night. Not on the DVC, at the tenth year I would be paying over $400.00 per night and increasing with inflation, paying out an ADDITIONAL $200,000.00 for the remaining 30 years greater than the DVC dues. The remaining 30 years is where the savings are.
Before buying in I made a 40 year chart showing me the total cost over 40 years, with the DVC costs and without the DVC starting at $250.00 per night and including inflation for 9 nights per year.
There is nothing better than a good speadsheet.

 

[Dean]

The "savings" for DVC varies with a lot of factors including room type, number of days, etc. A 1 BR for the weekend is the worst value imaginable while a studio or 2 BR for S-F for 5 nights can't be beat even with the cheapest discounts available except maybe All Stars at $49 plus tax. There are other savings like food and comfort. Many of us went through the calculation as it pertains to OUR situation. For us, it didn't save us money, just gave us better accomodations and the ability to stay on property.

 

[normr]

Owning DVC has made our vacations just that, Great vacations, from the first year when we bought in, we were able to start taking incredible vacations, we spent 5 days in London (2 rooms) and 5 days in Paris (DLP) with our kids, and now 2 vacations to WDW a year where we started with the one-bedroom unit and now do the 2 bedroom.

It feels like we have a home in WDW that we really love, instead of a room not much bigger than a refrigerator box.

We were tired of doing WDW commando style, where you run from 7AM-midnight and then come back to a cramped room, where everyone had to go to sleep as soon as everyone was out of the bath. Even if you wanted to stay up and watch a little TV or read, you couldn't because it would disturb the kids.

Now we have the LUXURY of slowing down and really enjoying our vacations and staying in incredible accomodations. We can do some things in the morning, and come back to relax and shower and then go back in the late afternoon or evening if we want or do other things in the afternoon like swim, boating, shopping, explore.

Now DW and I have privacy in our own room, the DD's have their own room each with their own queen size bed, their own bathroom, their own little refrigerator. We have the living room to relax in and watch TV and enjoy some snacks that we can cook up in the full kitchen, and as you've learned, having the kitchen really can save you some money even if you use it a little.

We get things for breakfasts, quick lunches, snacking, and alot of beverages, just the money saved on breakfast each day is incredible not to mention the time it saves, I take a litle intermatic timer with us that I can plug the coffee maker into that has coffee ready for me when I wake up, pop in some bagels and enjoy a leasurely breakfast on the patio while everyone else is getting ready.

The refrigerator has plenty of OJ, water, soda, beer that saves us money too. We have quart thermoses that we fill with ice and everyone takes the drink of their choice with them, (they have shoulder straps, so it's easy to carry).

Just these couple of things I mentioned makes you understand why DVC has really changed our vacations and you really won't understand until you experience it yourself, that's why the suggestion of renting points from someone will really tell you why most of feel that DVC was one of the best things we did for ourselves and our families.

 

[mikek]

well- as most have siad- if you regularly go to WDW and stay at something higher than All Stars you'll save something. I think its a bunch, but same figure just a little.

That aside- you mentioned you're worried that your habits change and you are afraid you wouldn't go to WDW so much in the future. If that were the case (e.g. you stopped going regularly), than yes it would NOT make sense.

BUT and a BIG BUT- if you change your mind down the road- you can sell your investment. We've only owned a few years- and i tell you what- I'm floored everytime Disney raises the price. It's amazing to me. We could sell today and MAKE money on the investment- not tons, but we'de be up no doubt. In the mean time we vacationed all those times basically by paying the dues and any interest that we lost by not saving the money. IF you were to finance, you only would pay the dues plus the interest you've paid on the loan. So actually if you were afriad you might need to sell it shortly, i think it makes even more financial sense.

I cant see the price going up forever but it has so far.

Mike

 

[downontheBW]

10drum,

Interesting that you said that this will be your first trip "venturing outside of the world". I'm not sure if you meant that you would be staying off-site or not but that's one thing that made us decide to buy DVC. Our one stay off-site; it's just not the same. Once we decided that when we go to WDW that we'd stay on-site, the only way to go was to join DVC. Good luck with your decision.

 

[10drum]

What I meant when I said the first time we will venture outside the world is, that we will visit other places in Orlando. We've been to wdw every year for the past three years and never left the property. Each year we would add another day more than the year before. Next year we'll probably stay 9 days. I have no intention of staying offsite, except the Hilton has offered us a 3 night stay plus 2 tickets to universal studio or wherever for a low price. We'll probably take them up on the offer but we'll stay another week or so in wdw, probably at a moderate or a villa in 2002.

 

[ds251]

Why I just purchased 280pts at OKW....

When I got married in '95 I talked my wife into doing a 4 days at DW. She did not want to go at all. So we spent 10 days in Jamaica and then 4 at DW's Dixie Landings. I had been to DW about 5 or 6 times before, my wife never had been and thought it was "just for kids."

Well, she ended up agreeing that we should have done the 10 days at DW and 4 in Jamaica, we had a great time. As a matter a fact we had such a great time we went back in '96, '97 and '98. Due to the fact that our family has been growing for the past few years this will be our first trip "home" since '98.

If we added up what we paid rooms in '97 and '98 (in '96 we stayed at Shades of Green across from the Poly for about $42 a night so I will not count that) trips at Disney deluxe resorts we could have paid almost half the cost of the 280 points we just purchased at resale for OKW. Add in the tax deductions we take because this is a deeded property makes this an even better deal for us then a timeshare. We have found it to be both a great investment and wonderful way to make sure our family continues to enjoy Disney and all the other places they offer.

 

[LarryM]

My wife and I bought because we go to wdw frequently. Also what helped us determine to buy was that the first time we went to Dixie Landings in 94 with the magic kingdom club we paid $85 a night. In 99 the same room was $149 a night. If we wanted to continue to vacation at disney we figured another 5 years and that room would be $200 a night. So now we own and we can go more thatn once a year and keep costs resonable. We figure about 7 years after our purchase we willl be on the plus side.