Vacation Club

[mousemaniacs]

Good points, ericpabear. I own DVC, but don't buy DVC if you answer "no" to any of the following questions:

• -Do you go to WDW at least every 1-2 years?
  -Do you typically stay on WDW grounds?
  -Do you typically stay at a moderate or deluxe resorts?
  -Is WDW your primary vacation destination?
  -Do you have a sustaining primary source of household income?
  -Are all your previous answers good for the next 30-40 years?
  -Are you debt-free (outside of mortgage, and maybe 1 auto loan)?
  -Do you have a liquid emergency fund (6-8 months of expenses)?
  -Are you actively participating in a retirement plan?

Don't mean to burst anyone's bubble, but in today's economy, you have to be careful. DVC is setup for people to save money, but only in the long term (10-15 years at least)...and it only pays off under certain circumstances, hence my questions above.

[ericpabear]

Good points, ericpabear. I own DVC, but don't buy DVC if you answer "no" to any of the following questions:

• -Do you go to WDW at least every 1-2 years?
  -Do you typically stay on WDW grounds?
  -Do you typically stay at a moderate or deluxe resorts?
  -Is WDW your primary vacation destination?
  -Do you have a sustaining primary source of household income?
  -Are all your previous answers good for the next 30-40 years?
  -Are you debt-free (outside of mortgage, and maybe 1 auto loan)?
  -Do you have a liquid emergency fund (6-8 months of expenses)?
  -Are you actively participating in a retirement plan?

Don't mean to burst anyone's bubble, but in today's economy, you have to be careful. DVC is setup for people to save money, but only in the long term (10-15 years at least)...and it only pays off under certain circumstances, hence my questions above.

Sorry, but I answered no to a couple of those. I still have a great vacation coming up in 10 days. Animal Kingdom this year (all on plastic).

[lebeau]

I'm glad to see a very even-handed discussion of DVC here. This is a subject people tend to get very emotional about. The Disney fan in me wants to jump on this, but every time I run numbers, I realize that DVC just isn't right for us.

In order for DVC to make sense, I figure you really need to be going at least every other year. On top of that, you need to stay at at least moderate resorts every trip. I forget if that even does it. It may have been deluxe resorts. Finally, you can't finance your purchase. If you do that, the time/value of money pretty much eats your "savings".

For DVC to make sense to me, I'd have to have a lot of disposable income sitting around (money that wouldn't be better invested in retirement accounts, college savings accounts, etc).

We only go every few years. And I don't want to be committed to have to go more than that in order to get my money's worth. Plus if I had the money to pay it all up front, I'd feel irresponsible spending it on a luxury rather than a necessity.

From what I have seen talking to people on message boards, a lot of people who think they are saving money haven't actually run the numbers and adjusted for inflation, etc. I wouldn't join DVC for the savings. But I would join it for the personal satisfaction if I had a heap of money laying around.

[YZFDonor]

In order for DVC to make sense, I figure you really need to be going at least every other year.

I am not sure that statement is true as worded anymore. You may want to qualify it with to WDW as DVC is opening Resorts in CA and Hawaii! I can rotate to one each without a problem every year!

[jcodirewolf]

YZFDonor I think it should be worded you need to use your points DVC points at a Disney DVC destination every 3 years. 3 years is really the key. Because year 1 you Bank, year 2 you borrow year 3 and in year 2 you use 3x annual points, rinse and repeat...

So you have to use your points every 3 years, and you have to plan at least a year in advance (that alone is a deal breaker for some people.) You can and we have used our points on very short notice, but to be honest right now we known which weeks we are using points.

One other point someone made, was buying points from one of the resale sites. As with everything, you have to be VERY careful to understand what you are buying. I've seen some contracts at a wonderful price there, only to find out the whole contract has been raided (no points this year, no points next year) so you are on the hook for atleast a year of MF before you can use it, and next year you will be borrowing points to use it. Not to say I've not seen contracts with all the points (and some banked points) for sale, just be careful... Points right now are worth about $7pp/year (what you'd pay on a new 50 year contract), the market rate for points is closer to $15-20pp (what you'd pay on the boards if someone sold you some points for this year.)

If/when you buy DVC always talk to a guide first. I don't think anyone should pay the upfront price ($109pp I think for DAKL), they always seem to have a deal (extra points the first year, a discount on points, etc..) once you start factoring in the "value" of those offerings, often times it's much closer.

johno

ps if you want to know, wedding anniversary (end of may); Week after santa-fe century in gainesville (middle of Oct); week after Turkey Day.

[lebeau]

YZFDonor I think it should be worded you need to use your points DVC points at a Disney DVC destination every 3 years. 3 years is really the key. Because year 1 you Bank, year 2 you borrow year 3 and in year 2 you use 3x annual points, rinse and repeat...

Good point. I suppose every 3 years would be doable.

There are still too many "cons" for the logical part of my brain to make the jump into DVC. But sometimes the less logical part is sorely tempted to do it anyway.

[jcodirewolf]

I personally think they are overselling DVC. DVC doesn't make sense for everyone. I've run the numbers a few times and for my family it made sense or atleast within the limit of error.

But I hear a lot of people on the dvc boards who CLEARLY DVC wasn't right for...

johno