DVC - is it worth it?

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

Back somewhere around 2007/2008 we took the tour and seriously considered buying. I did all the math from front to back. Looked into the resale market and everything. We decided to hold off and look at some of the resorts more on our next trip, which we did. I crunched the numbers some more and what I came up with is if we were going to completely dedicate ourselves to going to WDW every year for the next 40 or more years, it MIGHT be worth it. We decided to stay at Saratoga on our next trip and I will admit it is a nice resort. When we got back home we started heavily searching resales and were getting close to pulling the trigger. Somewhere along that time, Disney put restrictions on the resale points and took amenities away which completely through my math out of whack so we went back to the drawing board. Then the recession hit and severely disrupted my business ventures so that definitely put DVC on the back burner.

So due to the recession we didn't even go to WDW for a couple of years and had we owned DVC, paying the annual dues would have been just another burden. On top of that, they started making changes in the parks including FP+ which I detest. The changes have seriously changed how much I want to visit the parks. In fact, the past 3 trips to WDW haven't been "vacation" trips, they have been trips centered around special events our kids were participating in that happened to be hosted at WDW. We have another event this summer so we will be there for that. I haven't scheduled an actual "vacation" to WDW in about 6 years now. The times I have been, I have gotten special pricing or stayed offsite for less than what the annual dues would have cost. So our vacationing plans and habits have completely changed since the time we almost bought into DVC.

With everything that has happened and changed over the last 10 years since the time we first considered DVC, I am one of those that is very glad we decided not to buy DVC. There is absolutely no way we would have ever gotten a return on the investment required for DVC. We have been taking other vacations and traveling instead the past several years and are going to start traveling to Europe in the next year. So my recommendation is to think very long and hard about how much you really want to be locked into Disney for the next 40 or 50 years before you make the purchase because at the end of the day, it is really is just a timeshare that just happens to be at a Disney theme park and anything can change at any time.

I like your analysis, while not a business owner, I consider myself a "number cruncher" and still have spreadsheets going back to visits in the '90's calculating our trip costs.

My wife and I visited WDW for the first time together back in '91, about a year before we got married. I remember at the time thinking about it and almost pulling the trigger on it. But, we weren't married yet, they only had I think the one resort at the time (now OKW) and we didn't have kids and weren't sure how often we'd be back. I regret not pulling the trigger back then, but like you, don't have regrets not pulling the trigger since then.

Our last three visits, with kids, in 2010-12-15 were all stays at POR and two of the stays were with free dining and the other was the Stay-Play-Dine promotion. When people analyze the "is it worth it" from the financial perspective, I think some things get lost in translation, the biggest of which is that the DVC Savings is generally compared to otherwise paying rack rates. But in our last three stays, getting free dining and and reduced dining/rates, we've essentially never paid rack rates, and that really throws off the math.

For us, the two things that probably were the biggest road blocks were 1) transportation and 2) resort levels. The first, if we lived within reasonable driving distance of WDW, it would have a huge impact in our decision making process, but we don't, any trip there requires airfare for 5, and that puts the kabosh on annual visits. The second, we've traditionally stayed at moderate level resorts, ones that can accomodate 5. Granted I want nothing more than to stay at Deluxe level, but its never been an actual requirement when we've traveled to WDW. If you are purchasing DVC you are basically stating "we have to have Deluxe level".

The other detractor for us, again being a number cruncher, is that many if not most of the WDW resort promotions that I see, generally have some form of discount, usually 25-35% off select DVC Villas. Granted it doesn't cover all of them, but still, when I've looked at renting points and looking at the Disney discounts, fairly close in final prices, so it again acts as a discincentive for me to buy DVC.

I would like nothing more than to be a DVC owner, and if I did I'd do my best to make it happen thru the resale market. Unfortunately, answering the question from a financial standpoint "Is it worth it?", the answer is no for us.

[baldburke]

Our last three visits, with kids, in 2010-12-15 were all stays at POR and two of the stays were with free dining and the other was the Stay-Play-Dine promotion. When people analyze the "is it worth it" from the financial perspective, I think some things get lost in translation, the biggest of which is that the DVC Savings is generally compared to otherwise paying rack rates. But in our last three stays, getting free dining and and reduced dining/rates, we've essentially never paid rack rates, and that really throws off the math.

For us, the two things that probably were the biggest road blocks were 1) transportation and 2) resort levels. The first, if we lived within reasonable driving distance of WDW, it would have a huge impact in our decision making process, but we don't, any trip there requires airfare for 5, and that puts the kabosh on annual visits. The second, we've traditionally stayed at moderate level resorts, ones that can accomodate 5. Granted I want nothing more than to stay at Deluxe level, but its never been an actual requirement when we've traveled to WDW. If you are purchasing DVC you are basically stating "we have to have Deluxe level".

The other detractor for us, again being a number cruncher, is that many if not most of the WDW resort promotions that I see, generally have some form of discount, usually 25-35% off select DVC Villas. Granted it doesn't cover all of them, but still, when I've looked at renting points and looking at the Disney discounts, fairly close in final prices, so it again acts as a discincentive for me to buy DVC.

I would be willing to compare those numbers. Just accommodations alone of course. No travel to and from, no park tickets, no meals or other incidentals. However it would have to be at least 10 years of history for a family that goes at least every other year and stays in deluxe resorts only then broken down on a per person basis (assuming the family of five goes for a two bedroom vs. a family of three that might be able to get away with a studio). Regardless of discounts I would be willing to bet that the DVC person pays less per widget than the standard guest. Again that's just accommodations and that's at least 10 years. Add on top of that savings for annual passes, food and merch then you get more leverage. Do it over 20 or more and the numbers would pale by comparison. However Disney ad nauseam isn't for everyone. If you are a Disney die-hard then it's cheaper.