How did you determine DVC was right for you?

I agree with everyone. I said no way all the time until I heard about resale. We had stepped up our vacations to deluxe resorts and realized it would be cheaper in the long run to get the DVC. We purchased resale at our favorite resort. Problem is that we ended up spending more...we went more! And the more you go the more you spend. But we are loving it. We now need more points but it's not in the budget for now....I look at the resale points and wish...

DVC now is more emotional than financial. Husband I joke if we split who gets the kids or the DVC - we both want the DVC. :)

Also,we are older - late 40s, and a shorter ownership was perfect for us.
 
I had toured the suites on BWV several times, just could never make the numbers work. Plus I was facing college age DD and I didn't want to borrow, so I had stopped even thinking about it. I also thought, as my DD were getting older vacations with them would stop. As the youngest went through college and the oldest was in her early career, they would only find time to do one vacation as a family, Disney. Beach, all-inclusive, cruise... all were met with I don't have enough time or vacation days (or better uses of those items). However, if we were going to Disney it was OK. 2 years ago on our 4th "last" trip as a family, I did the sales tour for the $100 card as the family swam at SAB one afternoon. I still wasn't convinced the numbers made sense and was unsure about how long vacations with now adult children would last. Over the next few months I educated myself on the resale market and decided to do a stay with rented points. Going through the rental process educated me on the current state of the market, lots of people looking for points, and fewer renting them. I was able to get a rented split stay between BCV (1BR) and SSR (Studio). After that process, knowing there was a back-up if the adult children wanted to take some time off vacations with the parents, and understanding the prices on the resale market (thanks DISboards!!) I went into the resale process. Now I have annual passes, 2 contracts (SSR & BCV), am in rofr at AKL and more SSR, and spend way too much time on DISboards according to my wife.

So be careful
 
When we had 2 trips to plan in an 11 month window that were going to cost us about 10K staying in a mod. We had already known about DVC, done tours, etc. Decided to sink the 10K into points instead. We will spend around 15K for those 2 trips now (after APs and food), but they will be at the Boardwalk and we will have many future years of trips with DVC accommodations for only the price of our dues. I consider it an initial "splurge".... no different than many people will do on trips they really want to take.... and don't worry about break even and such.

We have been going regularly for years and are now becoming more interested in enjoying the resort we are staying at, maybe taking tours, dessert parties, holiday parties, etc. We already attended a Moonlight Magic event. So, the DVC perks / discounts are worth it to me - even if they change or disappear. Just a few initial trips will make up for the cost differential for our family.

Our kids are older. If it looks like they will continue to vacation with us as they age and begin their families, it is our goal to be able to provide them an easy way to continue on our "tradition" of the family Disney vacation with the next generation. AKA we will need more points. lol Since we already have direct benefits, those points will likely be resale. Although, I don't know. We may just buy each kid a direct contract of their own with a later exp date if things are going well so that it will last them into their own retirement. We shall see.
 


I always loved WDW. One trip we took the friendship boat from the studios to Epcot. Spotted Boardwalk Villas. Got off the boat and explored. Had no idea what DVC was but once we were home, I started investigating. Badgered my then hubby into agreeing to let me buy, spotted a 60 point contract on the timeshare store website. The rest is history. As soon as the 60 pts closed, bought another 40, then 50 at BC, then 30 direct at BLT. Paid cash for all. I got custody of the DVC in the separation agreement. I get a little burst of joy every time I open my wallet and see that blue card.
 
looked at the Spring season when we go most often...saw how many points we needed for a 1br during that time, and doubled it. that's how i decided how many points to buy.

just wish i could have afforded it 20 years ago when we first took the tour.
 
I am still trying to figure that out. But as of now, I feel like it is, so I will either need to buy another contract or sell the one I have and buy a larger one for a permanent basis. With the parking situation, I feel as though I will be doing one of the following sometimes this year.
 


We have older children and we needed to reserve two hotel rooms to fit our family. DVC just made more sense. I waited until we could pay cash, then I made sure to purchase enough points to cover a two bedroom unit at least once a year. We love it so much, we're going to add on another 150-200 points next year.
 
Our kids were 7 & 4 at the time we bought into DVC in July of 2010. We had just completed our 2nd trip to WDW and knew we would be making many more trips in the coming years. We also purchased resale and saved a lot of money! The contract we purchased had the 2010 points banked so we had enough points to take our family of four on a 4 Night Disney Cruise that included a two night stay after at AK Jambo House with our points for 2010 & 2011. This was prior to the perks being taken away for resale contracts. It was the perfect storm for us. We have never regretted the decision and absolutely love Disney Vacation Club!!!
 
I compared owning DVC against our typical trip (moderate with free dining) and determined that owning DVC worked out being a getter discount for me.

DVC is a room discount. I want to go a lot and stay at deluxe resorts, owning DVC was the cheapest way to do that.

Prior to owning DVC we would go to Disney for 10 days a year, now we are averaging 30 days a year. So spending more money, but at a lower daily rate than if paying cash rates.
 
We had a Disney cruise planned for the summer of 2012. I had somehow come to know about the DVC resale market around the same time that we booked the cruise. It may have been through this site, but I don't remember exactly. But in any case, Disney was on our mind.

My wife and I both love Disney. I stayed at the Contemporary as a young kid when my aunt brought me and my sister for the first time. As a teen, my grandparents purchased DVC and I was able to take a couple of trips to Old Key West, which I loved. My wife and I traveled to Orlando and stayed offsite with friends in the early aughts (pre-kids) and I realized during that trip that I really really preferred staying on site.

So in 2012 with three young kids and no plans for any more, we knew what our vacation lodging requirements for vacations were going to be. At the time, I looked into planning various kinds of vacations and things looked like a pain. Most cruise ships only house four in a room, which means the extra expense of a second room. Many hotels also only sleep 4 in a regular room unless you start moving up to suites and so forth.

I did a bunch of research on the DVC resorts that would allow us to sleep 5 in a 1BR and we settled on AKV. The resale market was pretty favorable to buyers and prices were pretty low because the economy was still recovering from the recession at the time. I knew that using points on a cruise or non-DVC vacation was a crummy value, so we didn't care a bit about not buying direct.

So long story short, we like Disney. We like the deluxe resorts. Our family size was set and we knew exactly what we needed. We had the cash on hand. I looked at the math of lodging 5 people in cash deluxe rooms over time vs. our DVC costs. We decided that buying was right for us.

Another added benefit is our ability to bring other family with us. We're skipping WDW this year (it's our first year "taking off" from Disney since 2012), so we'll have 500 points next year. Since we'll be able to get a 2BR for about a week and a half, I can ask my parents or my nieces to come with us. We're a family that likes to vacation together so being able to bring other people along on occasion is nice.
 
Many people will tell you that you should never a finance a vacation, and they are correct. It almost never, 99% of the time, makes financial sense, and you should pay cash. However, some people will look at their own personal situations and decide that financing is right for them. If you go this route, just remember you do not have to finance with Disney. The lowest rate you will ever achieve with them is 9.9%. You can obtain personal financing through other banks for quite a bit less, so do your research.

Nope, our last add on was financed through Disney at 8.9% and will be paid off after about 14 months of payments. Too much? Maybe. In the meantime we have used those points for an extra visit and some much needed down time. It all depends on what your individual priorities are.
 
Nope, our last add on was financed through Disney at 8.9% and will be paid off after about 14 months of payments. Too much? Maybe. In the meantime we have used those points for an extra visit and some much needed down time. It all depends on what your individual priorities are.

Guess we can call you a "1%'r", only in DVC purchasing terms. Congrats on figuring the best financial plan for yourself, but yes, those sorts of conditions I am sure are rare.
 
Would current DVC member agree that 100 points is a good start for a first purchase from DVC resale for someone who would be content staying in studio-rooms and who can travel during off/low point cost times (September/January etc)? Thanks in advance!
 
We bought in 2008 after one trip as a family. I’d been many times prior to marriage. Knew I loved Disney. I read about DVC and told dh about it. We did some research. It seemed like a good way to vacation. Truthfully, we bought at AKV sight unseen because it’s what they were selling. Very happy with AKV thankfully. We started with 200 points. After our first trip down, we added 100 more because we knew we’d be visiting more and decided we liked one bedrooms.

We’ve done multiple add ons since. Own 860 points. Dh wants ample time away from his stressful work. Disney is great with dd’s allergies. It’s a short flight.

We rent excess points. That amounts to a nice income now and then. Offsets the dues (usually pays them in full).

We equate dvc to a cottage without the responsibility. It truly is home.

We’ve never run the numbers. It works. It makes us happy. Do we spend a lot a Disney? For sure. The only downside has been escalating AP pricing. Now we let APs lapse and only purchase every second year. We used to renew. Too expensive for that now.
 
Would current DVC member agree that 100 points is a good start for a first purchase from DVC resale for someone who would be content staying in studio-rooms and who can travel during off/low point cost times (September/January etc)? Thanks in advance!
It depends on the other specifics. For a full week yearly with a studio as the plan I would not go for less than 125 and would personally go up to 150 as the minimum if looking at SSR. Looking at just what you need in this situation creates significant risk. Having a real cushion gives you lots of options you wouldn't have with 100 including different resorts, times of year and unit size. Looking at AKV and value I still wouldn't go that low because getting the value is risky on a consistent basis.
 
Would current DVC member agree that 100 points is a good start for a first purchase from DVC resale for someone who would be content staying in studio-rooms and who can travel during off/low point cost times (September/January etc)? Thanks in advance!

DH and I have only stayed in studios the 9 years we have owned. We need 210 a year to do that and most of that was getting value studios at AKV. Now days getting those rooms is rare and we are using more points for standard rooms. Only you can know the answer. We could not have done our trips with less points and often think about getting 100 more for a king bed in the one bedroom.
 
I 1st used a friend’s DVC, OKW. Imagine, they were original owners of 3 weeks that they no longer used, but after 2 visits with my then 2 year old, I was hooked. Two key things in my 20 year success with DVC ownership, I love Disney, though I don’t « drink the kool-aid » as they say and I plan 7 to 11 months ahead! I don’t have issues booking where, when I want. We’ve had wonderful vacations, reunions, weekends over the years, and now with a son, 22, my usage has changed but remains as exciting. And no, I’ve saved no money, but if that was my intention, I wouldn’t have bought. Would I do it again, absolutely but not at today’s prices. Buy resale, buy cheap, pay cash. Perks, I get with my AP & TIW card (I’m a FL resident)
 
We went in 2014 and knew that we were already planning an extended family visit in 2018 -- with this in mind and needing a number of rooms or a larger villa it was going to be around $8000. So at the end of 2015 we bought a smaller AK contract for ~$9600 -- with banking and borrowing we had the points we needed - We just had our family trip this April with 3 nights in 2 poly studios (which through Disney would have been close to $4000) and then 4 nights in a 2 BR at AK ( this would have another $4000) =so just with this one trip we have almost broken even with our initial buy in. We have one more 4 night trip in November. We only plan on every other year trips so a small contract fit our needs and our budget for the yearly MF.

So for us is was a number decision as well as us enjoying the deluxe resorts -- if you are fine with value resorts then DVC won't make sense, but if you find value in the deluxe or even usually stay moderate -- DVC definitely makes sense.

Everyone gets drawn into DVC for different reasons - but what should be a major deciding factor should be the numbers. If it makes financial sense for how you like to travel to WDW then go ahead and buy in. The one comforting fact is that DVC has a very strong resale market, so if you bought and then in 5 years realized it isn't for you there is a way out which will recoup a good portion of your purchase.
 
It depends on the other specifics. For a full week yearly with a studio as the plan I would not go for less than 125 and would personally go up to 150 as the minimum if looking at SSR. Looking at just what you need in this situation creates significant risk. Having a real cushion gives you lots of options you wouldn't have with 100 including different resorts, times of year and unit size. Looking at AKV and value I still wouldn't go that low because getting the value is risky on a consistent basis.
Thank you for your advice!
 

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