Hi Danny-
We've been DVC members since 2003 and have been happy with our purchase. Whether or not its "worth it" is kind of a personal call based on your financial situation and travel habits. Generally speaking, if you typically visit Disney World at least once a year and stay at Disney's Deluxe resorts, you'll likely save money with DVC. If you go less often or are happy with Disney's value resorts, you're probably better off without DVC. Also, if you're thinking that you'd frequently use your DVC points for non-DVC vacations (Disney Cruise, Concierge Collection, etc), you're better off paying with cash than DVC points. We typically go to Disney World once or twice a year and enjoy the space/amenities that we get with a DVC 1-bedroom villa. So for us, its been a really great purchase. I hope that helps.
Hi Danny-
We've been DVC members since 2003 and have been happy with our purchase. Whether or not its "worth it" is kind of a personal call based on your financial situation and travel habits. Generally speaking, if you typically visit Disney World at least once a year and stay at Disney's Deluxe resorts, you'll likely save money with DVC. If you go less often or are happy with Disney's value resorts, you're probably better off without DVC. Also, if you're thinking that you'd frequently use your DVC points for non-DVC vacations (Disney Cruise, Concierge Collection, etc), you're better off paying with cash than DVC points. We typically go to Disney World once or twice a year and enjoy the space/amenities that we get with a DVC 1-bedroom villa. So for us, its been a really great purchase. I hope that helps.
Best Wishes
Leslie
Leslie,
Yes it does. The cruising and visiting other locations outside of Disney is what really interested us but you offer up some great advice. Thanks for your help.
For us living in the UK, the Disney Vacation Club is soooooooooo worth it !!!
As you can see below, we have been members since 1994 so we have only had to buy fly-drive, which has made a huge difference to our holiday (whoops sorry..... Vacation !) costs !!!!!
If anyone likes the quality accommodation from Disney, then joining the DVC is a really good move !!!
__________________ DISNEY VACATION CLUB MEMBERS SINCE 1994 !!!
We love being members. We travel to WDW twice a year, so it is worth it. Just knowing you are going to stay somewhere fabulous, and on site, makes it SOOO worth it. We have 600 points, so we have even used points to cruise once... some say this isnt a great use of points, but for us it works well! Cant say enough good things about DVC!
The key to value in DVC is your need to stay onsite. If you are happy staying offsite, then DVC is very poor value, especially in this timeshare market. The amount you save by staying in larger, more luxurious timeshares but offsite in resorts such as Marriotts, Hilton's or Starwoods, will pay for your annual vacation.
We considered DVC but after sitting down and figuring it out it wasn't the best deal for us. We don't want to do Disney every year, we love cruising too (not disney) so we passed on it.
We know a few people that love the program and some that regretted it. It's really an individual thing, will be different for each family.
Its not a bad deal if you go a lot and always stay on site. DVC's flexibility is much better than other vacation clubs.
However, in DVC, you often can't take advantage of other incentives, such as free dining, room discounts, etc. But, you do get $100 off APs as well.
One alternative you may want to consider is to buy an existing contract. The price per point is usually a good $20 below the going Disney rate (unless you're looking for a very recent property, such as Bay Lake Tower). I'm not sure if I can post links here, but if you Google "Timeshare store", I think you'll find it.
For our family, it was a good value. We live on the west coast, but go to Florida at least once a year now that we have our membership. We just tried Vero Beach last month and it was a beautiful property. I highly recommend it! I wouldn't use points for cruising, though. We are also hoping to stay at the Grand Californian property as well. Good luck with your decision!
We joined the DVC in 2000, so our initial investment wasn't anywhere near $18k. We purchased through resale only because we wanted OKW and it was not available through Disney at the time. We also own at Hilton Head but we've never been there. We use those points for our WDW trips also and have never had a problem getting aeservation within the 7 month window.
We like DVC for it's flexibilty. I wouldn't like being tied into the same week or size accomodation year after year. My husband and I always stay in a 1 bedroom. If we brings guests, we will rent a 2 bedroom. Had 9 family members join us back in 2007 and we had a grand villa for 7 nights. That alone would have cost us over $9100 w/o tax if we were paying cash.
Personally, i would not use points for a cruise or adventure by Disney. I did use them for a hotel once when we were going out of town and had some extra points that we knew would not be used for a Disney fix.
For us, it has been more than worth the money we invested. I wouldn't be able to make 2 or 3 trips to Disney each year without it.
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