Disney Vaction Club: worth it for ABD?

[WeLoveABD]

A couple of years ago we went to a DVC presentation at Disney World--we asked how points would be applied to ABD trips, and were not satisfied with the answer so didn't sign up (far too many points needed for an ABD trip). But I see from some threads on this site that people are using points for ABD--so my question: does it work out financially? We live out in San Diego, and saw that there will be DVC units at the Grand Californian up in Disneyland/California Adventure. And a Disney cruise ship is porting in LA starting next year--so maybe things make more sense, since we love ABD, look forward to Alaska (maybe!) cruises on DCL and the Grand Californian is one of our favorite hotels. Thoughts/advice/experiences (good and bad) with DVC are sought please!!

 

[Tozzie]

A couple of years ago we went to a DVC presentation at Disney World--we asked how points would be applied to ABD trips, and were not satisfied with the answer so didn't sign up (far too many points needed for an ABD trip). But I see from some threads on this site that people are using points for ABD--so my question: does it work out financially? We live out in San Diego, and saw that there will be DVC units at the Grand Californian up in Disneyland/California Adventure. And a Disney cruise ship is porting in LA starting next year--so maybe things make more sense, since we love ABD, look forward to Alaska (maybe!) cruises on DCL and the Grand Californian is one of our favorite hotels. Thoughts/advice/experiences (good and bad) with DVC are sought please!!

You should go over to the DVC boards to ask this because the people over there have a lot more advice than I can give. I think it depends on the size of your family and your vacation habits. I do own DVC but I wouldn't have enough points to cover a ABD trip because I go to WDW at least 2 times a year (yes I get a lot of vacation time ) If you were to purchase DVC strickly to use on ABD and DCL then no it is not for you, at least in my opinion if you were to use the points for a DVC resort and occasionally use them for ABD or DCL then it is for you.

There will be some people who tell you to rent the points and pay cash for the other trip you want, to me I don't want the hassle or worry in renting points out as if there are any outstanding charges or if your renter damages the property you as the owner are liable.

There are others who have asked about this and if you search you may be able to find the threads if not ask on DVC you will get a lot of responses some good and some bad, some harsh and some not so harsh but you will get the info you are looking for and then some.

 

[Traveling Tinkerbell]

We have been DVC members for 9 years. We have used our points for Disney cruises, WDW resorts, and ABD trips. The biggest concern I have seen over the years is that the monthly maintenance (or association fees) have been climbing over the years as well as the points needed to redeem for certain Disney adventures. I would hope that Disney is working hard to control their administrative costs to run the various DVC properties and sensitive to additional costs added each year to DVC member's fees. We have never rented out our points.

 

[Poppins2000]

We did this last year for our Ireland trip, only because we had an abundance of developer (purchase incentive) points that we had to use before they expired. It will probably be the only time we use points for both of us on an ABD trip, cause we'll never have that many points again! The trip cost a total of 666 points (333 early booking points each) for two adults and the $95 transaction fee. We also paid about $100 for trip insurance. Keep in mind, the points for each ABD trip change every year. The same Ireland trip this year (going the same week) is 428 points per person which would be a total of 856 points.

I do know that you can use points for one person and pay cash for the other for an ABD trip. However, if you decide to so, once you make your reservation you will have to PAY IN FULL for the "pay with cash" person(s) on the trip (+ the $95 fee).

For us, using points was worth it - only because we had 500 developer points to burn. But, we only have 360 points a year - not even enough to cover one person on an ABD trip (unless we borrow from a future year).

Unless I had purchased 1000 + points, (and even then that wouldn't cover an annual ABD trip if points go up by 90+ points a year!); we will continue to use our points for WDW or DL resorts for the best bang for our buck!

 

[SLK1]

My husband thought it was a really bad idea to use points for my ABD trip (I was in favor of using them). He tried to explain what he was talking about, and basically if it requires THAT many points, it devalues them. You can use a fraction of the points for a Disney trip or trip to Vero or whatever, or even a few trips, that it would take to use on an ABD trip (this is using what WE have - we have 240 points and a family of six) or a cruise. You can split it up though - pay for ABD for one person, or pay for one person on a cruise, but that is assuming you have points to spare for other things, if you're so inclined to use them. ABD and Cruise trips are very expensive, points-wise.

 

[Pakey]

As a DVC member, I think it's a terrible use of points on a recurring basis (I'm a financial analyst and have run the numbers every which way). For developer points or the occasional use of them because something happened and you could not use them for WDW stays, it's probably better to use them for AbD or a cruise rather than losing them. But to purchase DVC with the intent of using them for anything other than stays at DVC resorts is not a wise investment.

Let's say that the DVC points cost you $100 per point to purchase. Since it's a bad idea to finance them, for my analysis, I'm going to assume cash was paid. I'm also, for simplification, not going to include the cost of tying up your cash now for future uses. You have 50 years of use on these points so each point is costing you $2 for each year just to buy them. Then you have the maintenance fees each year. Let's assume that those are $5/point for year. So your total is $7 per point per year. I picked Alaska for AbD since it's first on the list. 2009 Alaska OOP is $3119 per person. For a DVC member, it's 503 points per person. AT $7 per point, that comes out to be $3521. Plus there is the each usage transaction fee DVC will charge which is something like $90. So you will have "spent" $3600 by using DVC for a vacation that would cost $3120 OOP.

And this does not take into account that during the next 50 years of ownership, AbD may not exist and even if it does, the points it requires to take one of these trips increases every year. From 2008 to 2009, it was a 10% increase. So if it takes 503 points in 2009, it might take 550 points next year. So while it's not a bad ratio in the first 5, even 10 years of your ownership, it's going to skew further and further during the course of the 50 years.

 

[WeLoveABD]

Thanks all for great advice on this topic--the financial analysis was excellent and solidified what my gut was telling me.