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[TurtleKent]

Okay so we need help... we are looking at DVC (through a reseller) but when we do the math I may be missing something!!!

Initial purchase cost + annual dues

but each year we still have to pay for tickets, dining packages (we like those) and airlines... which when you add up what we pay now (staying at poly of BW or Beach Club) would be about the same...

We do not travel more than once a year... is it really worth it for us?

We have also purchased our trip (3land/4sea) for next year... how would that be affected? could we somehow apply the DVC to reduce the cost of that trip?

[tjkraz]

It would help if you shared some of your numbers. Forget the park tickets, food, transportation and other expenses because you're stuck paying for those whether you are a cash guest or not.

Focus on the lodging. How much are you paying for your hotel room now vs. what it would cost for DVC?

If you are doing a true apples-to-apples comparison, you should find that you start to save money in less than 10 years. That's comparing a typical Deluxe resort room with a DVC studio.

Some common errors you could be making:

1. Are you comparing the same number of nights when looking at cash vs. DVC? You can't compare 7 nights at a Deluxe with 10 nights in a DVC studio and expect the numbers to be glowing.

2. Are you comparing a standard Deluxe room to something larger than a Studio? One Bedroom villas are 700+ sq ft with a jacuzzi tub, washer/dryer, full kitchen, separate living space, etc. Again, you can't expect to see tremendous savings if you are making that sort of apples-to-oranges comparison.

3. Are you factoring in stays at non-DVC resorts like the Poly? Those locations cost 4-5 times as much as a comparable DVC resort room. If you are contemplating buying into DVC, you really need to resign yourself to staying at the DVC resorts.

As for your question about the cruise, that would depend upon your cancellation policy. Pending availability, you could spend DVC points for the "land" portion of your vacation and rebook the cruise by itself.

[chezp]

I agree - if you can provide us with more information about the numbers you're looking at, then hopefully we can help you.

[mickeymombecky]

As the info says about DVC, it generally takes 5-7 yrs/trips to equal what you first paid out. When we go to WDW, I go to disney.com and price our vacation. I get a price for room and tickets and then print. In 26 days (our 5th trip) we will be at the equal point. Meaning our initial payout is equal to what we would have spent in cash. Of course we go twice a yr. So the annual tickets are cheaper that park hoppers. An with all the room perks like kitchenette or kitchen, making most of our own meals, it is alot cheaper than paying out of pocket each yr. In January, my husband and I will be going on our 3rd trip on 2008 annual passes. So right there we're saving $750.

As for annual dues, we just save up for them. We treat them like another house insurance bill!

[Disneybine]

Here's what I did: I added up all the DVC points I'd get till our contract ends (about 7,500 over the next 45 years or so). Then I added up all the annual dues we'd pay during that time (incl. an annual increase of 3% to be on the safe side). Lastly, I divided the initial purchase cost, cost of financing and annual dues by 7,500. (It's not 100% correct as technically you'd have to consider more factors when looking at a 45-year-period...) If I remember correctly, that led to a price of $5-8 per point. Now, when I made our first reservations using points, I compared the amount of points we'd use for that stay to the room-only price (incl. tax) Disney states on it's website had we payed cash for it. On average, I got a "value" of $10-13 per point.

Soooo, for every stay we use points instead of paying cash, we'll save about $5 per point. For example, if we make a reservation using 100 points, those points (according to the calculations above) cost us 100 * $5-8 = $500-800. If we paid cash for that reservation (as non-DVC members), we'd have to pay 100 * $10-13 = $1000-1300, meaning that we saved $500 on this particular trip.

I know this is just one way of looking at it but every way I've looked at it, I always came out way ahead! DVC is worth it if you know you'll be able to vacation regularly for years to come.

Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know. Having the figures you looked at would definitely help. And I agree with tjkraz that you need to leave tickets, dining, airfare etc. out of the equation as you'll have to pay for that no matter what. Note, though, that you CAN add dining packages to your reservation when using DVC points.