confused on the draw to DVC

[SecondEventuality]

Hi there!

We are huge fans of WDW and plan on going at least 1 a year, maybe even 2x. We are new adoptive parents to a wonderful 5-year-old son. We usually opt to stay at value/moderate hotels since we view it as a way to just hang our heads at night, spending most of our time at the parks.

I feel like I'm in the dark with DVC - why do you have it? Am I missing something on why it's worth it to stay at a deluxe hotel? Any time I view the costs per night over the years we've gone, I can never wrap my head around why spending $500 vs $150 for a nicer room is worth it. I feel like I'm missing something! We are getting older, 46 and 49 respectively, and am wondering if you could enlighten us! Is it because you go with other family members whereas we are only a family of 3? I can then imagine if 2 families are going, then having more room and a small kitchen makes sense!!!!

Thank you in advance for your help with this! I really want to like DVC and no matter what I read or watch, no one really clues in WHY they chose it.

 

[Great3]

If you are fine staying in value and moderate hotels, and saving money / going to for the least amount of cost possible, than I would say continue doing what you are doing, you will come out ahead in the long run financially. There's no need to justify getting DVC.

DVC is for those who like a to splurge a little bit while at WDW, but don't want to pay the full rack rates or even discounted cash rates for Deluxe resorts. Than the math can work out in your favor in 10-15 years time, and DVC might make sense.

That's the gist of DVC without too much getting into the details of it all. We can certainly help discuss all the details if you are really interested for comparison purposes to the Values/Moderates/Deluxe resorts.

Great3

 

[clm10308]

It just depends on your individual preferences. With kids younger kids (or even teens) it is nice to have the space to spread out a bit. I like having the kitchen so that we don't always have to eat a restaurants, or resort to just shelf stable food in the room. The washing machine in the room has been a life saver at times.

 

[SecondEventuality]

Do all DVC rooms have kitchens?

 

[lmhall2000]

If I were you at this stage- I would not buy. We are a family of five- visited Disney over a dozen times while raising our kids. We scored kids free, free dining, AKL Savannah view for $129 a night (when youngest could still fit in a pack n play. We mostly stayed in Deluxe because most Deluxe fit 5 in one room. Our trips with food, tickets, and all ran about $3000 or less for 6-7 nights. This past August we spent $5500 for 4 nights- that was WITH free dining. Whoa Nellie!

it was the price of the rooms that went up. Way up. Now that we anticipate our family growing and spreading across the US- all starting their own careers in the next 2 years- we want to make it easier for us to get together. Within 5 years- grandkids will likely start. A 2 bedroom unit would be ideal for us to enjoy family getaways or a short weekend trip for just us. A 2 BR will run us $600-800 a night easily! Fitting 9 in 3 value rooms will run just as much and we don’t have the living space to relax and enjoy a meal.
Until you reach a stage that value/moderates won’t fit- don’t bite..or if you find yourself going 3-4x a year- it would be worth it possibly.

 

[Great3]

No, Studios do not. 1 bedrooms and larger have kitchens. Studios are basically glorified hotel rooms, with small fridge and microwave, and a sleeper sofa usually in addition to the bed.

Great3

 

[lmhall2000]

Do all DVC rooms have kitchens?

No, a studio has no oven or cooktop- we did have a fridge and sink.

 

[Brett Wyman]

If you don't want to stay at Deluxes then DVC isn't targeted at you. Its simply a way to guarantee your future vacations with Disney and a way to save some money on Deluxe accommodations. Its also the only option on property if you want a full kitchen and multiple bedrooms (not counting the crazy suites each Deluxe has of course. Which don't have full kitchens either).

 

[SecondEventuality]

Deleted - thanks for understanding.

 

[AnnaS]

Studios have a Kitchenette. A small dorm refrigerator, a small sink, microwave, coffee pot and toaster. You can google. They all have balconies. Views.....some are great and some, nothing to talk about but they are nice to have/sit outside.

1BDR and up - have laundry facilities - studios get laundry free. Needless to mention, full kitchen.

DVC has some nice communiiy halls. Extra space in the villas too.

Flexibility of staying in different size accommodations and some flexibility on booking when you want to go in advance.

Not going to list all the differences between the value/moderates vs. Disney's Deluxe. It really comes down to - do you want to pre-pay for your vacations and spend a lot of time and $$ with Disney (WDW/Vero, HH, etc.)? Are the above extras mentioned worth it to you? (not mentioning any perks/discounts).

I would take a tour, request a video and perhaps rent points from a member in the future.

 

[AnnaS]

Ok, now I understand, so it's due to the family size that you guys basically are forced to book deluxe, gotcha! thank you!!!!

Not really - there are a bunch of reasons - larger accommodations for a growing family is definitely one of them and worth it!!!!

 

[Jenniebee]

If you enjoy the Value and Moderate resorts it may not be what you are looking for. I also loved my stays at Values and Moderates. When my kids were little they absolutely loved the Pop Century pool. But two things happened: 1) I wanted to upgrade our experience, nicer accommodations, pools, nicer restaurants 2) As my kids got older I realized we could use more space. One year we stayed at WL resort (spring vacation week) and that vacation was sooo expensive, after I got home I realized for what I sepnt on that trip I could have been halfway into a DVC purchase.

 

[Lumpy1106]

You sound like me - pre-3 kids. We stayed at POR and loved it. We had priced out some of the Deluxe resorts when deciding on POR and just couldn't justify the added cost. I ran the numbers on DVC after the first trip and made the same conclusion - if you are happy with a Value or Mod Studio, it's really hard to make DVC pencil out, even buying resale.

On our last trip though, with 3 kids, 2 now in HS;
We booked CBR to try something different, plus for some reason POR was either not available or more expensive than we had anticipated - can't remember which. We were getting situated after our red-eye flight to get there and a day in the parks...and HATED it. The rooms were meh, the internal CBR bus was driving us crazy. We called the front desk and they moved us to AoA. LOVED it! We had a 1 br suite with a second bathroom and a decent area to prep food. We were so much happier than we would have been at CBR, for reasons we hadn't even considered.

But...
A 1 br, even at AoA is a decent bump in price. So much so that DVC starts to look REALLY attractive, and the numbers do pencil out, even compared to AoA. What's more, if you own DVC, you ARE COMMITTED to going on vacation - something we really sometimes have to force ourselves to do. Resale owners at BLT now.

 

[gluestickgirl]

Ok, now I understand, so it's due to the family size that you guys basically are forced to book deluxe, gotcha! thank you!!!!

We book deluxe (and bought DVC) because when we travel without our kids the amenities offered at those hotels matter to us. We spend a lot of time on the balcony and relaxing around the resort. Everyone vacations at WDW differently. If the amenities don't matter to you... then deluxe / dvc won't make sense.

 

[Great3]

I will say though, even for a family of 2-3 people, DVC can still make sense if you are going often enough over a value / moderate resort stay. Consider you get free parking once a dvc member to the DVC resorts, and free parking at the parks, if your aren't using the Magical Express and Disney's transportation system. This is only from a strict financial prospective. But yes, most families buy due to other reasons, it is not really about saving money, because the reality is, you will just end up spending much more money on Disney once you own DVC.

Great3

 

[Dawn T.]

I understand where you're coming from. I LOVED the values when my kids were small, but even then we couldn't afford to visit very often. I used to stroll the Boardwalk and look up at the balconies and never envision that we would ever be in a position to buy into DVC. My daughter worked the college program, and we were able to stay at Wilderness Lodge at a cast member discount, and a whole new world opened up. We ultimately discovered resale and were able to buy our first contract at Boardwalk. I was no longer a park commando, and enjoyed hanging out at the resort pools and eating leisurely meals, and not rushing to do everything because my next trip was just around the corner.

Now, our kids are grown, and we're expecting out first grandchild in February. I'm so excited to think about the family vacations we have in our future. I still love the values (stayed a week solo in August before I had to go back to work, and loved every minute. Never enough points! ) But DVC makes deluxe affordable, and it's great having a kitchenette and more "luxurious" (sorta) accommodations. It's not for everybody, but for us, it's absolutely, well, magical.

 

[JETSDAD]

Ok, now I understand, so it's due to the family size that you guys basically are forced to book deluxe, gotcha! thank you!!!!

We're a family of 3 but like to stay at nicer resorts than the Values and Moderates (we'll stay there if we get in early or something like that but not for a full stay). The resorts are nicer, the amenities are better, the locations tend to be better, rooms are larger, the restaurants are also better, etc. It does also open up the option of larger rooms with kitchens and washer/dryer if we wish though most of our stays are in studios.

Also, we can stay deluxe for less than it costs to stay moderate and quite often even less than staying value or around the same. We are checking to in to AKV next week.....our cost, including the buy in and dues, for 6 nights will be around $90/night. That includes parking and there's no tax. I get annoyed paying more to grab 1 night at POP than I do to stay in a Deluxe Studio at many resorts when booking with points.

 

[MrsBooch]

We bought into DVC as a family of 3. We love the deluxe resorts and we also spend a fair amount of time in the resort for resort only time. So the room and the level of comfort/home matters to us.

 

[Great3]

I understand where you're coming from. I LOVED the values when my kids were small, but even then we couldn't afford to visit very often. I used to stroll the Boardwalk and look up at the balconies and never envision that we would ever be in a position to buy into DVC. My daughter worked the college program, and we were able to stay at Wilderness Lodge at a cast member discount, and a whole new world opened up. We ultimately discovered resale and were able to buy our first contract at Boardwalk. I was no longer a park commando, and enjoyed hanging out at the resort pools and eating leisurely meals, and not rushing to do everything because my next trip was just around the corner.

Now, our kids are grown, and we're expecting out first grandchild in February. I'm so excited to think about the family vacations we have in our future. I still love the values (stayed a week solo in August before I had to go back to work, and loved every minute. Never enough points! ) But DVC makes deluxe affordable, and it's great having a kitchenette and more "luxurious" (sorta) accommodations. It's not for everybody, but for us, it's absolutely, well, magical.

I think timeshare in general, spoils us. It definitely ruined it for me. I can't go back to hotel rooms. And when I do go back, I hate the stays. But even than, I still do all the math before buying into any timeshare system, because it still have to make sense financially to me, which DVC did, as well as the other timeshare systems I currently own. My problem now with the DVC purchase, I simply don't have enough vacation times to use up all my weeks. But thanks fully, DVC is an easy rental, that's what made my purchase decision for it, I have a fallback for the times I can't go.

Great3

 

[bwvBound]

We own DVC because we like the 1BR and larger units. When traveling as a couple, we book a 1BR. When traveling with family and friends we book the larger units, such as a 3BR Treehouse Villa.

We purchased DVC to support us during a period of intense conference travel. The 1BR unit offered us a space to retreat and recharge from the pressures and intense schedule of the conference. We used the full kitchen, and appliances stored in our Owner's Locker, to maintain our typical diet. The in-room laundry kept us looking and feeling fresh. The huge jetted tub restored my feet and overall energy levels, when needed. Basically, we appreciated having a "home away from home" while meeting a difficult schedule.

Even beyond the conference, we continue to enjoy the 1BR unit for many reasons. I'm an early bird married to a night owl. It is helpful that the one awake can be in the kitchen and living room w/out disturbing the one the one crashed in bed.