Do you ever feel trapped in DVC???

[Mouse Ears]

We have been considering DVC for quite a while now. I have pretty much convinced myself and my DW that it is a good value (thanks to hours of spreadsheet analysis) for staying at the Disney properties.

One of our biggest reservations is the ongoing cost of vacationing at WDW. Even though we have been fortunate enough to go to WDW twice in the last 3 years plus a trip to DLParis, I am somewhat concerned that we won't be able to afford to keep up this pace, even with DVC. How do you cope with the cost of air travel, park passes, car rental, food, etc over 40+ years?

So, I'm a bit worried that I will make the initial outlay with the idea that I can provide a lifetime of memories for my kids only to find myself trapped into spending hordes of cash at Disney over the years. Has anyone ever felt trapped in this way (even for a minute)?

-ME

 

[JonHM]

we have not been members nearly long enough to properly answer this, but let me point out a few things.

There are some safety valves built in. First of all, if you think you'll have difficulty making trips in a given year, for whatever reason, you can bank all of that year's points into the following year. If you still don't feel you're in a comfortable position to use the points that next year, you can rent out the points pretty easily. At least as I understand it, there is really something of a demand for them.

Also, many members save money by not going into the parks every day, spending some days at the resort, pool hopping or at DD. You can cook some meals in the room, or eat leftovers from trips to restaurants. You can also save money on rental cars and just use the Disney transportation system - although it is not flawless, it usually performs quite well, in my opinion. (Although that is another discussion, in and of itself... )

 

[Synonymous]

Ears- I thought about this, too, before joining. It seems like there is an extremely lively market for re-sales, though, so I figure I can always get out if I absolutely have to.

The other thing that comes to mind is that, if you ever find you can't afford to go to WDW, you could always use the points to go to some other resort, in Concierge Collection or through Interval International, where the cost of vacationing isn't so steep. I know, for example, that in the CC there is a great resort at Lake George, NY. We used to go to Lake George when I was a kid, and our family didn't have a lot of money to spend on vacations. If your room (at an first class resort) is covered by your points, you could probably have an extremely economical vacation at a place like that. There are many such options available.

Good luck!

 

[teri]

We schedule our family time as a priority, and we budget throughout the year for our trips. We also do other non-Disney family trips -- this year we went to the Texas Hill Country which had a lot of very nice things going for it, and last year we went to Idhao, Wyoming and South Dakota, which was also a nice trip. Frankly, I much prefer the Disney vacations. If you budget, and plan ahead, and don't throw your money away on things you want but don't need, and look to this as a family-time opportunity, then it doesn't seem like much of a trap. It is more liberating than the other trips, actually... we aren't spending time getting from destination to destination, or looking for appropriate restaurants, or looking for safe, affordable and fun activities -- at WDW they are all around us. We can relax. The DVC accomodations are quite nice. I guess I would feel trapped if I didn't like the place.

 

[dianeschlicht]

If this is "trapped", trap me with a few more points!

We were traveling 2-3 times a year, but now that we have been members for awhile, we find that one LONG trip is sometimes better per year than doing the airfare thing multiple times. We also find we are cooking more on some trips when we have guests. Also, as stated earlier, the banking and borrowing and the ability to exchange are viable options. While some may argue that the exchange possiblilities may not always be there, just the banking and borrowing options make this a good deal.

 

[Granny]

If you drive to Orlando, as we do, that portion becomes very affordable....even with this summer's gas prices.

One of the nice aspects of going every year or so is you don't have to feel like you need to "do it all" on every trip. So spending days at the pool, cruising Downtown Disney and the Boardwalk or other non-theme park destinations becomes part of your plans. These can be very inexpensive, relaxing days. I know the times we have gone in the past we felt that we had to spend every possible minute in the parks because we only got there every so often. Now as DVC members we will see parts of Disney and the Orlando area we never had time for.

The other tips about some meals in the rooms, etc are excellent ways to cut costs as well. The only "required" annual cost is the maintenance dues. It is important that you feel that you can handle those, year in and year out, without causing financial stress. Once you do that, you have a lot of flexibility through banking points, etc to control your annual vacation costs.

Good luck on your decision!

 

[mickey7861]

We like to drive down so that cuts the airfare and car rental costs way down. It cost us $90 to drive (round trip) in our 6-cyl. Intrepid so that's not too bad in comparison. Then we have our car available for touring while we're there. In the DVC units we use the kitchen (we used 1 bedrooms) and ate breakfast and most lunches in our unit. Very cheap and convenient. We go back to the hotel around 1:00 anyway for a break so we just ate lunch then. While staying at DVC resorts we don't have the urge to spend every day at the parks. The units are spacious enough to enjoy hanging around the resort. We had AP's this past trip and still didn't go into the parks everyday. We loved our DVC units.

 

[DVCDAVE]

Mouse Ears,

One of the unusual things about DVC or any time share for that matter, is that it almost makes for a prepaid vacation. Yes, you still have to pay for airfare and meals, but if you are planners like my family, we already have things planned out to November of 2002. Given that time of lead, we are usually able to get great airfare well ahead of time how about $168/ per person direct flight from CT to Orlando peak season ! Nice to know when I am down there the lodging is taken care of, and we don't go to the parks every day. As JONHM points out, a 1 BR or larger has a full kitchen, so eating in can save lots of money.

I don't know your families situation, but we have found that by owning DVC it 'forces' us to vacation longer, and more frequently. I for one can relax knowing that the lions share of the expense is paid for.

 

[BobH]

My wife and I use frequent flyer miles earned by managing credit card purchases with a card that gets miles. We put college tuition on the card and then pay it off. Earns us a lot of airline tickets (7 over 4 years). If WDW costs get to be a problem try Vero Beach. My wife and I recently spent less than a $1000 for a week there because we used our points. These days even going camping you will be hard pressed to spend less than $500 for a week away.
While our college ae kids still like WDW, my wife and I tend to gravitate toward the other resorts. We are going to Hilton Head next May and anticipate about $400-$500 for airfare. About $200 for car rental for a week and about $150 per day spending cash.WE should be under $1500 for the trip. Without membership in DVC we would spend twice this amount. I think it is nice to be "trapped" by the flexibility of DVC. With two kids in college we would be taking no vacations if we were not DVC members. It has provided us with cost effective vacations. Before becoming DVC owners we would have spent $2000 per year on rooms.
In about 6years we will recover our cost for points and the next 34 years will be gravy.

 

[Lisa P.]

That's a legitimate concern. There are ways to reduce your costs, as others have said... drive there, eat in more, use Disney transport, buy park hoppers that don't expire, to divide between two trips and spend more days enjoying the resort itself.

If you do find that you can't manage a Disney trip, do a direct trade with someone (for fewer points than an II trade) and get a week at a nice timeshare resort closer to your home. Maybe spend a week at the beach or in a nice cabin in the mountains or on a lake, with family-friendly activities. Those kinds of vacations can be very cheap when you've already got onsite activities and a kitchen for convenience food meals. This is an option for those years when every dollar counts.

The big questin is whether you see yourselves visiting WDW most years or not, barring financial changes. If you do, the exchanges can offer options. If you aren't so sure, maybe it's not the time to buy.

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Head over to Vero Beach in a two bedroom, eat your meals in, and hang out at the pool, ocean and other resort activities. It can be very reasonably priced when 1st class accomodations are already paid for. Same goes for Hilton Head.

 

[pluvc1993]

Just a thought... inflation will always happen we have no control over that. But inflation is also going to make resort prices high also. We purchased at OKW because we know that the $200 accomadations will cost about $350 in a couple of years and who knows where those prices will be in 25 years or (gulp) 30 years. It is nice to know that at least we can take a vacation even if we just relax by the pool a couple of days.lol

 

[Laurajean1014]

We've been DVCrs since 95 and we now know what the cost will be and save a the money to bring on the trip. Ironically, we bring the same amount and bring more home with each visit!

I believe it's because we become much more savy on WDW, and don't have to buy the lot 'cause we know we'll be back! We know the cost of food is a little higher than other places and we compensate for that!

We also buy our AP's prior to trip, so the expense is not all at once nor used up by the end of the trip (hence to return and not have to pay for los').

Also, the 1-bedroom is fantastic. My dh loves the jacuzzi and I love the homey feel!

You can cook in (but we never do). However, we do eat breakfast in the condo and bring snacks! We found those two things to be the most expensive. Heck, I'd rather have a good dinner and forgo a big breakfast!

Keep on the boards (if you haven't already) and you'll see we are all not Rockafeller, but still can enjoy a little slice of heaven.....

 

[mikesmom]

As others have said, quite the contrary. We also use a credit card for air miles - Southwest's is very flexible and we haven't bought a plane ticket in 3 years!

I love to cook, so we don't spend a lot on food (maybe 1 or 2 ressies per trip). We bought APs last January. Combining that with free airfare and our prepaid lodgings, we've been able to do getaways that we never would have considered in years past. This year alone I took a quick trip down in Jan with DS (3 nites), we had a family vacation at Vero and BWV in May (7 nites), DH and I are going to run down for the Food & Wine in November for 3 nites (NEVER would have done that without DVC) and finally DS and I will run down for 3 days in December to see the Christmas decorations. This, by the way on 300 points (we had a few banked over from last year).

We feel like DVC has freed us up to take vacations we never would - no out of pocket for air or lodging ads up to a pretty cheap trip.

 

[Mouse Ears]

Thanks for all the feedback. So, in short it seems the answer among those present is 'NO!' as I suspected. I have lurked around with only occasional comments for quite awhile and have learned a lot. Yet, it seems like the direct answer to my questions seemed to drive home some great points in this decision.

I fully expect to spend a lot of vacation time at WDW, but really need to know there is a 'safet valve' if needed. The banking and alternate vacation choices should cover for that. Is banking a permanent part of the program (or a nonguaranteed privilege)?

Lisa P. - where can I learn more about direct trading as you suggested? I assume you mean going around II.

The resale market does seem to offer another 'safety valve'. If I had bought when I first had the urge, I would have paid less, covered one of my trips to WDW, and probably could come close now to recouping my costs in the resale market with the recent hikes in price (and surely more are to come).

I appreciate all the advice on saving money. I guess I should spend some time on the budget board too.

I really need to get a credit card that gives miles. It might not cover every year, but could cover at least one every so often. Also, I do travel with work and hadn't factored this in either.

Granny, thanks for the reminder of something I've heard often here, but tend to forget. I really like the idea of slowing down and losing the 'do it all/ commando' attitude on vacation. Plus my wife would like me to relax a bit and not wake her at the crack of dawn. Perhaps this one will only sink in once I have had the chance to experience it myself.

I'll continue lurking about, so feel free to add any other comments or suggestions.

 

[chris1gill]

Boy, I can DEFINITELY relate to what you are asking... We bought into DVC because we liked staying in the BWV 1 bedrooms, and the cash costs were just getting too high... So we bought DVC to control that....

Regarding park passes, we buy Annual Passes go for our first vacation, and then 11 months later, go for the second vacation... we generally go for 12 nights at a time in the low point seasons. We paid about 1300.00 I think for the four AP's (2 adults, 2 children with DC discount)

About food, since we always stay in a 1 bedroom, we have all of our breakfasts in the villa, and we also have MOST of our dinners in the villa... I order Omaha Steaks to deliver, and I also take advantage of Netgrocer as well... I spend no more on the groceries than I would at home... So for 12 nights, we eat all breakfasts in, as well as all but 1 or 2 dinners.... We eat most lunches in the parks, although once in a while if we are in the villa at lunchtime, we'll eat in... but the lunch is usually from the parks...

The wonderful thing about the villas, especially if you can book them like we do for 12 nights or more, is that you truly feel like you are at home, but with the wonderful option of going to a park for a short outing... We used to go through all the parks all the time, but after a few years, we learned to just sit back, relax, do all the fun things that we like, and just enjoy our vacations.. That is the best thing about owning DVC.. you can do it all and visit everywhere on your schedule, and you know that you will always be back within a year to finish anything you missed.... I don't know about others but we always come back rested and relaxed!!!

Our last 12 night stay, we bought our regular amount of groceries, and spent about 300.00 on lunches and one dinner, as well as a pontoon boat rental! Split the AP cost in half for each of your two vacations, and it is much more reasonable....

About airfare, last year we paid 98/rt from Manchester, NH & this year we are paying 75/rt from Hartford, CT... so if you look for the good deals, you will find them!

Good luck!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Banking and borrowing are an integral part of the point system. They won't change.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

NO! I have options and I have a brain.

 

[vernon]

As others have said there are a lot of options if you find yourself SERIOUSLY short of funds one or two years. Driving from Tx isn't impossible and eating in wouldn't be much more than you spend at home. If the other things ( park tickets,shows,eating out etc ) are a little out of budget then the "worst" holiday you get is first class accommodation and some great pools to laze around it's a lot better than staying at home JMHO.

If it was ABSOLUTELY necessary I'm certain you could have a VERY CHEAP and great vacation having DVC available to you.

 

[rickster57]

We always plan our vacations a year ahead and save enough money each month for it. I watch Tavelocity for my airline tickets and when find it lower than nomal I buy the tickets even 6 months in advance. When we go we plan on traveling around Florida, but we find it really nice to always have a grear place to stay. We do not spend all our days in the WDW parks or other parks but just swim and relax. We spend half the time in amusement parks. It is so nice to go on vacation to get away from everything.