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Forums Other Destination advice DVC – Disney Vacation Club – any experience?

  • travelwell 48 posts

    Hello! Here in Orlando at the moment and wondered if anyone on here is a member of the Disney vacation club and how you have found the experience?

    Rob
    HfP Staff
    2,702 posts

    The DIBB (the main UK Disney forum) is a good place for this sort of info.

    travelwell 48 posts

    Thanks Rob 👍

    Iona 67 posts

    We’ve been members since 2007 and haven’t regretted buying in once. We’ve definitely got to the point now where the accommodation on our trips just costs us the price of the annual dues. However, these days you really do need to run the maths (considering how frequently you’d go and what accommodation you’d stay in if you didn’t buy into DVC) – when we bought in the points were cheaper and the pound was a lot stronger against the dollar. Happy to try and answer any specific questions you may have but as Rob says The DIBB is a great resource.

    The real Swiss Tony 940 posts

    We have been members since around 2008 – bought Bay Lake Tower “off plan” as it were.

    As Iona says, because the Pound was strong, it has been an OK deal for us. The points have also appreciated massively in value despite us now being around 1/3rd of the way through the contract, so I could sell out now at a profit that is so high I would recover most of the annual dues, too.

    However, DisneyWorld has now got eye wateringly expensive, the kids are older and so on. From the sums I’ve done now, we can just rent out the points via a broker and continue to cover our costs maybe going less often (we already string the points out to only visit every 3 years), but I’m not sure I’d buy in today. There also seem to be a whole world of unknowns going on both in Florida, Disney (with the abolition of RCID) and the wider USA.

    The higher end DVC properties do give exceptional convenience (washing machine, separate living area, great locations, you’re in the heart of all) but if you’re at all unsure about making the leap, remember that you can rent the points via brokers which is way cheaper than booking the DVC rooms direct from Disney.

    travelwell 48 posts

    Great perspective, thank you. We’re doing the tour soon but this info really does help.

    The real Swiss Tony 940 posts

    Great perspective, thank you. We’re doing the tour soon but this info really does help.

    We didn’t do the tour as we had already stayed in the DVC properties, albeit on cash rates booked via Disney (didn’t realise you could rent points back then). I assume they will sell you a land of milk & honey, being part of the magic etc etc.

    Two things to bear in mind….

    1) As a UK owner (assume you are UK based…) you’re likely to make longer and less frequent trips than a US owner which is presumably where the sales pitch will be, and
    2) It will be harder to take advantage of the special “member night” type perks they offer as these are announced with relatively little notice.

    One other thing I forgot to mention is that buying direct from Disney does give you some extra perks that you don’t get in the resale market. Again you probably need to *try* and ascribe a lifetime value to these if you make a decision to sign up.

    DIBB debates on ownership are “interesting” as people seem to make the investment decision then twist the numbers to suit their case. It’s as good as impossible to accurately forecast inflation or exchange rates 5 years out, never mind over a 50 year horizon, but members over there will be adamant that they can save $x over their lifetime by doing this, whilst also conveniently ignoring the opportunity cost of the initial five figure outlay.

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