DVC Question(s)

@laprana you are right…i shouldn’t really throw travel costs, etc into my thinking, however taking my family into account…i’d need to use more points to get a room meant for 5 than just for me and the hubby and to really take advantage of ownership i’d want to go every year cuz it would KILL me to pay fees annually with no actual reward if i didn’t make it that year. so i guess i’ll just stick with our every 2 or so years and save up and enjoy it when i DO go. at least i’m finally convincing hubby we should try paying a little more this round and seeing how the other half live. Anyone have about 280 points they want to sell me??

@jamiedawn27, I definitely know what you mean! It would be hard for me to pay those dues every year if I hadn’t used my points for at least one trip that year! And just throwing this out there…several of the DVC resorts have studios that sleep 5 people. There’s a standard queen size bed, a double size sleeper sofa, and a single pull-down bed. The pull down bed is kind of small, probably best for kids, but I will say that I, my sister, and my mom have all slept on them on different trips when we’ve stayed in a studio and they’re actually pretty darn comfortable! (I’ll qualify that by saying that we are a people of small, squatty stature and don’t have to worry too much about the length of a bed It might not be as comfortable for someone who is tall.) The resorts that have studios for 5 people are Boardwalk, Beach Club, Boulder Ridge Villas at Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and soon the Riviera. I know that Saratoga is scheduled for a refurb next year and I *think* they’ll be getting the pull-down beds, too, but I’m not 100% positive on that. In any case, there are studio options that wouldn’t require you to use more points to bump up to a bigger room! (And if I had the extra 280 points, I’d book a room for you in a second! )

AVITWeb wrote:

Trust me…I feel the pain…We haven’t been in 13 years!

God bless you, I would literally be catatonic in a corner

The previous summaries have covered a DVC membership well. We have been DVC members since 2011. We first bought 75 points at Saratoga Springs and later bought 75 more at the Poly when they opened it up. We have taken a few trips on our points and it is nice to not have to pay for lodging when we go even though we paid for it up front. The contract costs and fees plus the annual dues paid over the term of the contract add up to quite a bit of money. We bought in at $19k ($7k for SSR and $12k for Poly) and pay $80/month in dues. Over 50 years that equates to $67k

We look at it like this….our trips are pre paid for lodging. We go every year and get a week at the Poly or Grand Floridian and even more time if we stay in a cheaper (less points per night) room. We don’t usually go for more than a week unfortunately I just researched a room at the All Star Resorts for about $1,000 for a full week. That is ~$300 cheaper than what our overall costs average to for each year and we stay in Deluxe Villa accommodations. We felt like it was worth the investment as prices seem to be steadily rising but to each their own. Today’s prices put the annual cost at around $1,750 for a 150 point contract which is in the neighborhood of a moderate resort stay. I would be much more hesitant to buy today than I was a few years ago with this price increase, however, if you go every year and want to stay in deluxe accommodations then this is still a value.

I added up what our costs would have been had we paid cash for a room at the resorts we stayed at for the first few years of our membership. It took 7 years to break our initial investments of $19k which included stays at AKL, SSR, GF, Poly, BLT, and Beach Club. We are going in May and I have 2 theme park view rooms at BLT that would cost $13k if I paid out of pocket!

We haven’t taken any trips using points outside of WDW but I have looked into it. It seems as though you lose quite a bit of value when you transfer points out through RCI. I have only looked at a couple locations in my neck of the woods and it is not worth it at all to try and use my points to pay for them. For now, I’ll keep using my points exclusively at WDW.

All in all, we have thoroughly enjoyed our membership and are so happy we joined when we did. Our kids have had many memories of WDW vacations. Our last trip was a daddy/daughter trip last January when I was able to get my daughter to conquer her fears and ride all of the coasters. The only one she didn’t get on was EE. But she’s looking forward to conquering that in May!