Contemplating vacation club but on a budget

[Wendysofftoneverland]

We took a DVC tour about a year and a half ago just to get a gift card, and while the rooms look gorgeous, I am admittedly quite cheap (like paying less than $90 for a night at All-Star Music cheap). However, we recently returned from a split-stay where we had a gorgeous HGV 1 bedroom (in exchange for going to their vacation club presentation), followed by a room at All-Star Movies. We have 2 preschool-aged kids and felt so cramped for space. Plus, I see how the prices have increased since I first booked on-property in 2010. I never thought I'd seriously be considering a timeshare, but it is looking like it could be an option, not necessarily to save money, but to vacation more comfortably.

My husband really liked the HGVC, but I said if we really were serious about a vacation club/timeshare, we need to give Disney another look. We also have an RV and enjoy Ft. Wilderness, so we only spend about 3 to 4 nights in a Disney-area hotel each year, and it is usually in January.

How many DVC points would we realistically need for a family of 4? The 125 pts advertised direct is out of the budget. Is resale the only way to go for smaller contracts? We have no real interest in Riviera resort, other than that the Skyliner is cool. Is SSR going to be the most economical option?

Thanks for the info!

 

[supersnoop]

SSR is generally the most economical, but AKV and BLT give it a run for the money when you consider annual dues and the length of the contract. Resale is a great option, and a strong resale market means your timeshare is actually an asset. If you really liked the HGVC, search ebay or other timeshare sites for resale pricing. While DVC resale tends to hold 80% of the direct cost, other timeshares tend to be closer to 20%. You'd have to research whatever resale restrictions HGVC imposes.

The main reason to purchase is exactly the reason you noted; to vacation more comfortably. I use to stay at moderate resorts, and now stay at deluxe villas for roughly the same amortized cost. It will be more expensive than a value resort, but it should be more comfortable.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

And to be honest, if you are happy at an All Star and concerned about cost, DVC will absolutely cost you more.

 

[starry_solo]

do you want or need to stay on property?

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

I wouldn't say we need to stay on property, but myself and the kids greatly desire to. I feel like even if we went with a timeshare elsewhere in Orlando, we would end up having a split stay and staying at least a couple nights on Disney property. Only once out of our past 10 trips to Disney did we stay anywhere further than one of the Disney Springs hotels.

I wouldn't say we are necessarily happy at the All-Stars anymore, though we have fond memories of there. Willing to give Pop another try due to the Skyliner, but on our next Disney hotel stay, we are trying Caribbean Beach resort.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

The board's sponsor, DVC Resale Market, just published a ranking of the most economical resorts to buy through resale.

https://www.dvcresalemarket.com/blo...4qHf5d0xxLdXgMZHkS0-sgGXAi7RPluAOEm6HoKSofkXI

Saratoga has most frequently been the front runner on this list, but Polynesian unseated SSR for this quarter.

Keep in mind that this chart does not take into account the points charts, and SSR beats PVB in that regard.
SSR also has the full range of room sizes plus the Treehouses as options. PVB only has studios and extremely point-heavy Bungalows.
Polynesian does have a fantastic location for getting to MK (and Epcot via the monorail from TTC, when it's running), but SSR is close to Disney Springs, and not terribly far from any park. It also is close to I-4 if you want to go to Universal, Sea World, or other places.

Saratoga is nice, but I dislike how sprawling the campus is. Other people like it's size to be able to spread out and have calm spaces. The near-park resorts are definitely more busy than the ones that are a bit more remote. For example, in Normal Times, there are usually a ton of people milling around the Polynesian lobby waiting for 'Ohana.

 

[starry_solo]

How often do you go to WDW? Yearly? Every two years? Every three years?

 

[Divaofdisney]

I will say from someone who just purchased a resale and then added on direct to obtain the blue card, you should know DVC will cost alot of money in the short term. Figure in not only cost but also dues that are due each year and it is a considerable investment. But I will also say there is nothing better than knowing your vacations are paid for in advance and that you can always trust that your accommodations will be amazing and very comfortable not to mention all the incredible memories you will make along the way. For that you can't put a price on it. Disney has been and always will be my happy place and provide all I need for a vacation. I am the second generation in my family and my children the 3rd. We will be welcoming the 4rth generation in June who will be making her first visit at the age of 10 months. I just cant wait and am so excited to see my grand daughter' eyes light up! This gives me the greatest joy!!!

 

[Meglen]

Rent points. The huge upfront cost that only breaks even if you go multiple times a year or after like 7-10 years. Even after you purchase you will have annual dues that can be half the total trip (room cost). If money was no issue and you hated value resorts I would say go for it. But if you are a penny pincher on a budget dvc is not for you imo.

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

How often do you go to WDW? Yearly? Every two years? Every three years?

What started out as every other year became 1-2 times a year after we had kids. Usually 1 RV trip, 1 hotel trip a year.

 

[Divaofdisney]

May I suggest you speak with a DVC guide if you plan on direct sale or with another representative from the dvc resale market who I believe is the sponser of this page. They can adequately assist you in answering all of your questions and you will be able to determine if this is something financially feasable or not.

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

What started out as penny pinching because we had to has become more penny pinching out of habit, so the idea of knowing vacations are already paid for is appealing to me, while my husband likes the idea of nicer/bigger accommodations. We would only buy if we do not have to finance and just pay in full. I guess we should talk to someone from the resale market and see which listings might be a realistic option.

Trying get an idea of whether a 50 to 60 point contract is realistic given how we vacation or if we really "need" the 125 pts. the DVC website recommends. Or if the resale prices listed are realistic, or if Disney will do the ROFR on many of those. Does Disney sell smaller initial contracts direct or just resale?

I have never rented points before but maybe we should try that route. I almost booked a cash SSR room once. Perhaps we should give that a test run. Or maybe staying at Disney Springs, Swan/Dolphin, or Shades of Green should be the way to go. That being said, I worry about a decade from now paying as much out of pocket as it would have been if I had just bought DVC.

Thanks for the input, everyone.

 

[Best Aunt]

Over time, you might find that your vacation style changes. Those kids might become active in a sport or activity which goes year-round, limiting the times that you can vacation. They might enjoy something more than trips to Disney. Lots of things can happen. But once you buy a contract, you are locked in to paying dues every year -- even if you don't go to Disney that year.

If you want to "vacation more comfortably," are you thinking of 1 bedroom villas? Those require more points than studios. You need to look at square footage and you need to look at the sleeping surfaces. A villa that "sleeps" a number of people does not mean that everybody gets their own bed. It doesn't even mean that everybody gets a bed at all; it includes beds that pull down from the wall (some of which are smaller than twin size), sofa beds, chair beds, etc.)

 

[Nabas]

I wouldn't say we need to stay on property, but myself and the kids greatly desire to. I feel like even if we went with a timeshare elsewhere in Orlando, we would end up having a split stay and staying at least a couple nights on Disney property. Only once out of our past 10 trips to Disney did we stay anywhere further than one of the Disney Springs hotels.

I wouldn't say we are necessarily happy at the All-Stars anymore, though we have fond memories of there. Willing to give Pop another try due to the Skyliner, but on our next Disney hotel stay, we are trying Caribbean Beach resort.

We've been DVC members for over a decade and stay onsite several times a year.

Still, when we want extra space and don't want to spend DVC points, we use eBay to book a 2-bedroom at Wyndham Bonnet Creek (WBC).

WBC is essentially located on property, has an extensive pool system, and is a fraction of the cost of a Disney room. Their 2-bedroom condos are larger than DVC's villas. We have never paid more that $130 per night for a spacious 2-bedroom, and often have gotten one for $100 per night.

WBC makes sense if you have a car, want space, and don't want to pay Disney prices. Since Disney is eliminating most onsite benefits (e.g. ending DME and EMH), there's less incentive to stay onsite, especially if you have a car.

 

[karen4546]

Rent points. The huge upfront cost that only breaks even if you go multiple times a year or after like 7-10 years. Even after you purchase you will have annual dues that can be half the total trip (room cost). If money was no issue and you hated value resorts I would say go for it. But if you are a penny pincher on a budget dvc is not for you imo.

Yes! rent points. You won't get any $90 a night rooms. But, you will be getting a deluxe resort that cost less than Disney direct.
If you bought 125 resale at $100/pt plus closing then you are looking at potentially 7/8 nights in a Deluxe studio a year. You will also have to pay roughly $8/pt in dues on those 125 pts. So, the dues are more than you are spending now on value resort prices. If that is your budget and price point, then DVC is not for you. But, if you want to stay at a Deluxe resort for about half or less of what Disney direct charges, then it is very much worth it. But, buy where you want to stay.

We own a measly 125 pts and would love to add several hundred more (resale this time) but my husband said he would like to get one of the RVs and stay at the campsite also.

Rent points a few times to get your feet wet and see how you like it.

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

Maybe I shouldn't have led with background on how cheap I am used to being lol. My husband is okay with paying around $200 or so a night, if it gives us space to spread out (which a previous poster mentioned might not really happen in a studio). It looks like in the example above, over a 30 yr period, it would end up equating to about that a night. But we really only want 3-4 nights a year, so I didn't know if that is realistic to look for.

Sounds like we need to stay in a studio to see if that is what we want, or if it doesn't give us enough of an advantage over a regular room at a moderate or neighboring hotel. Perhaps we have 1 bedroom dreams at a studio budget.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

To find out how many points you'd need, you really need to take a look at the points charts. 50-60 points would give you 3-4 nights/year in a studio at SSR, but not a one bedroom. Those same 50-60 points at Polynesian would only get you 2-3 nights. The number of points you need is determined by the resort, room size, and season.

https://www.dvcresalemarket.com/point-charts/

You could rent points; that could be a good option for you. However, the downside is that you don't have control over the reservation, and cancellations are usually not allowed. That is the trade-off for the savings.

 

[Bearval]

We took a DVC tour about a year and a half ago just to get a gift card, and while the rooms look gorgeous, I am admittedly quite cheap (like paying less than $90 for a night at All-Star Music cheap). However, we recently returned from a split-stay where we had a gorgeous HGV 1 bedroom (in exchange for going to their vacation club presentation), followed by a room at All-Star Movies. We have 2 preschool-aged kids and felt so cramped for space. Plus, I see how the prices have increased since I first booked on-property in 2010. I never thought I'd seriously be considering a timeshare, but it is looking like it could be an option, not necessarily to save money, but to vacation more comfortably.

My husband really liked the HGVC, but I said if we really were serious about a vacation club/timeshare, we need to give Disney another look. We also have an RV and enjoy Ft. Wilderness, so we only spend about 3 to 4 nights in a Disney-area hotel each year, and it is usually in January.

How many DVC points would we realistically need for a family of 4? The 125 pts advertised direct is out of the budget. Is resale the only way to go for smaller contracts? We have no real interest in Riviera resort, other than that the Skyliner is cool. Is SSR going to be the most economical option?

Thanks for the info!

First off if you need to finance this purchase than I would pass on buying dvc since you say you are frugal. Second this is not an asset, while it is true the prices keep rising if you ever have the need to sell especially when alot of other people need to sell ( think recession) the prices will have a hefty drop. If you still want to do this and get the most bang for you buck in my opinion I would buy an OKW extended contract. The rooms are on the larger size compared to the others in this price range with the studios having 2 full size queen beds. To my family OKW feels more like a vacation home instead of a hotel since you are not walking thru interior hallways to get to your room. As a side note, we do not own here ( at the time we were buying there were no resale extended contracts for sale in our point and price range) but we do stay here every other trip and get a 1 bedroom near hospitality house. We own at AKL , resale price and point at the time was hard to pass up. Also don't use the value room point charts in making a decision where to buy. You will almost never get these rooms

 

[chalee94]

Orlando is overbuilt with timeshares, so offsite has amazing deals. As a current timeshare owner (DVC and non), I used Interval International to book an upcoming cash stay in a Marriott studio with a king bed for 7 nights for $48 per night taxes included. (A 1BR would have been about $10 per night more.) Buying a $1 timeshare on ebay with low annual dues and trading into Orlando can be a great deal for larger timeshare villas if you don't mind staying offsite. You can check out TUG for more information if you want.

Hotel Photos | Marriott's Grande Vista Photo Gallery

I also own at OKW. It has some of the largest studios (with 2 queen beds - not the standard 1 queen + 1 sofabed for most DVC studios) and the largest 1BRs (about 1000 sq feet) in the DVC system. The point charts are also the lowest (not counting a handful of value rooms at AKL).

OTOH, most OKW resales expire in 2042 (some resale and all direct OKW expire in 2057). And OKW is often available at the 7 month window and except for the boat to DS, it is all about the bus travel.

But your description sounds similar to me when I got started, so take a look at OKW and its point charts as a possibility...

 

[cruisehopeful]

Based on what you've posted up to this point, I recommend not purchasing DVC right now. HGVC has a lot of large, nice properties and you aren't married to Disney in that system. It may be more reasonable to stay do the split stays that you mentioned when you really want to be on property for a couple nights.

Your kids may fit nicely into a studio right now, but you'll be wanting a one or two bedroom in the future. At that point, you'll end up buying another contract if you start off small right now.

I think it's an illusion that owning DVC saves any money. That was never the case for my family. When we owned DVC, we spent way more money than we used to on Disney vacations. The cost of DVC is a significant issue by itself, but then you are paying way more for food, entertainment, etc, than you would pay on most other vacations because Disney charges a lot more than other places. I owned both DVC and HGVC (and just currently rebought into DVC) so based on my personal experiences, I would steer you to HGVC resale for the lower cost, larger rooms and more locations for vacations.