[DisneyTeacher]

Originally Posted by Mickey Mom

Thanks everyone for all of your help and information. I think we will wait a few more years and look into it again.

One day I will own a little piece of Disney!

It's worth the wait. We waited several years before we bought in and I'm so happy we did.

[MissDisney]

Originally Posted by WishUponAStar

MissDis, I am near 100% sure that once they lock you into a 'monthly payment' & an interest rate it doesn't change. My good friend at work bought in 11 years ago & financed. She paid $163/month (or whatever it was) for the entire length of the loan term. I've never heard of the monthly payment going up at all.

Oh hahahaha.... I can see where it sounds like that's what I meant. But what I was trying to say was:

If you choose to finance, you will be making interest payments each month in addition to the monthly DVC fees. If there is ANY way to avoid making interest payments, it is always a good thing.

We always pay cash for cars, for instance, because we get the car for the purchase price. If you finance, you have to pay the purchase price and enormous interest that adds up to become overwhelming over the life of the loan.

Same with DVC. If you finance the membership, you will pay gazillions in interest. The DVC interest is high, and probably not much better if you get a private loan from a bank. We saved the money to make a lump sum payment up front so there are no interest and finance fees.

[MissDisney]

Originally Posted by Mickey Mom

Thanks for the tip, that was definately our opinion as well. When going through the numbers I saw the financing rate can reach 5-10%, on 52K, my, that price suddenly sky-rockets! A lot more than the average 7 years to make up that price!

Exactly!

But wow, can I pry and ask about that 52K??? That's more than three times the amount we paid, I believe. Are you thinking of buying a ton of points for super lengthy vacations?

[MissDisney]

Originally Posted by Mickey Mom

Thanks for the info.
Does it work out better if you break the trip into smaller/shorter trips throughout the year? Maybe that too is part of the problem for us. Travel itself is one of the most expensive parts of our trip, so for us it is better to go once a year and stay for a longer period of time. Also, we prefer to go during the slow seasons, always trying to avoid the crowds!

Kind of, yes. The rooms are available for a particular number of points for each night. You can break them up any way you like.

There are huge differences in the number of points needed for the same room depending on what time of year you are going. For instance, a 1-bedroom standard view at BWV during Adventure Season (off-season) is 16 points during the week, and it goes up to 24 points during Premier Season. In addition, the weekend nights are higher than week nights.

200 points for our membership allowed us to take three trips the first year (one is coming up -- we are visiting colleges).

If you are going for alonger trip, you can play around with how many points to expend based on what time of year you go. For instance, if you take a 10-day trip over Christmas, you will use a lot more points than if you go in October.

[Mickey Mom]

Originally Posted by MissDisney

Exactly!

But wow, can I pry and ask about that 52K??? That's more than three times the amount we paid, I believe. Are you thinking of buying a ton of points for super lengthy vacations?

Well, like I said earlier, we are a family of 7, so I looked at the points required for a two week stay in a villa that will sleep 8 (we like to go for 10-14nights). I looked at AK point system and it would cost us about 500 points for that stay at "regular season" (I don't have the exact info in front of me right now), and that many points would cost us 52K. The dues would be roughly 2300/yr (according to this chart).

I really don't want to change the length of our stays, it just seems like a lot to put out for the comfort of a deluxe resort. Right now two rooms at a moderate for 14nights (without any specials/deals) costs us $5000 a year. I think it works better for us right now to keep this going and just pay extra here and there for the deluxe and just re-invest the money.

Maybe we'll look into renting some points to try it out first.

[BDavis932]

For 8 of you, would you consider two studios and save a bunch! We can stay 7 nights in a studio early summer at OKW or AKL (value=not a savannah view=room) around 98 points each room.

Just a thought!

[Mickey Mom]

Originally Posted by BDavis932

For 8 of you, would you consider two studios and save a bunch! We can stay 7 nights in a studio early summer at OKW or AKL (value=not a savannah view=room) around 98 points each room.

Just a thought!

Thanks for the tip! That would work out a bit better for us, hadn't thought of that simply because booking through Disney it is cheaper for one villa sleeping 8 then two deluxe rooms. That would bring us down to only requiring approx. 400 points, still a little pricey, however, I feel it is looking more reasonable!!

We'll get there yet!!
Thanks again.

[MissDisney]

Mickey Mom -- I have to agree that two studios will be vey comfortable at at only 97points per week each, you could to the same trip for les than 400 points. I see why it's so high fo ryou, with so many people. You'd have to basically buy a double set of opints to take care of a double sized crowd. It's so nice you'd like to do it!

[DiZ NeE O8]

dang that is A LOT of money!!! but I see it as you spend 5k every year! well, if you keep going for 10 years and hoping that prices dont inflate more which they will, you will get 10 years of vacations for the same price basically that you will pay for 50 which is a big difference.

[TaraRae82]

Thank you so much for this info! I'm just beginning to explore DVC and this was a question I was just wondering!

[WishUponAStar]

Originally Posted by TaraRae82

Thank you so much for this info! I'm just beginning to explore DVC and this was a question I was just wondering!

There's alot to learn, trust me, but luckily you are in awesome hands with so many informed DVC members around.

[mrsmouse]

This has been a good learning experience for DVC. We just joined in November 2009. We considered it 10 years ago and the timing wasn't right, but this time we just jumped in. I only wish we had joined 10 years ago as we would have gotten it so much cheaper. We are just so excited we are in now.