Purchasing DVC as a MILITARY Member

[OilyDisneyFamily]

I did a search of the boards and there isn't a lot of recent information involving the value of buying into DVC for military members. We have access to some deeper discounts then civilians, so what were some of your thought processes when choosing to buy in or not?

My situation personally: stationed in Florida, getting out in 4 years, APH, visit Disney several times a year, always used to do rope drop to fireworks in cheap hotels, but looking to do more slower paced stays in the future. Also we are a family of 4 (babies) and aren't looking to grow our family. So we are looking at studios and 1 bedrooms as a back up.

 

[sethschroeder]

I did a search of the boards and there isn't a lot of recent information involving the value of buying into DVC for military members. We have access to some deeper discounts then civilians, so what were some of your thought processes when choosing to buy in or not?

My situation personally: stationed in Florida, getting out in 4 years, APH, visit Disney several times a year, always used to do rope drop to fireworks in cheap hotels, but looking to do more slower paced stays in the future. Also we are a family of 4 (babies) and aren't looking to grow our family. So we are looking at studios and 1 bedrooms as a back up.

Within 3 years you would need to have a 2BR has no Studio/1BR fits 6 people.

I know there is discounts but no clue about them.

 

[MJ NH]

The military discounts direct are ok, but resale is still cheaper. if you live in Florida or get the military tickets for parks, direct has no extra value (gold pass). As retired military I think DVC is great, my room is paid for and I use my military tickets for cheap park entry. If I was still in I would be nervous booking 11 months in advance since missions could come up at anytime. I guess it depends on how stable your job is (chance of deployment).

 

[OilyDisneyFamily]

Within 3 years you would need to have a 2BR has no Studio/1BR fits 6 people.

I know there is discounts but no clue about them.

We are only a family of 4 with no desire to grow, so I think we'll be okay.

 

[OilyDisneyFamily]

The military discounts direct are ok, but resale is still cheaper. if you live in Florida or get the military tickets for parks, direct has no extra value (gold pass). As retired military I think DVC is great, my room is paid for and I use my military tickets for cheap park entry. If I was still in I would be nervous booking 11 months in advance since missions could come up at anytime. I guess it depends on how stable your job is (chance of deployment).

Great points! My husband is on shore duty with a very low likelihood of being deployed, but it's definitely something to consider! We tend to vacation in September so I chose a September use year so that if we needed to bank points for a canceled trip that would be an option for us. We did decide to buy direct, but that's mostly becuase my husband won't be retired military so we lose a lot of perks AND all the rumors about the points minimums going up for direct sales.

 

[sethschroeder]

We are only a family of 4 with no desire to grow, so I think we'll be okay.

Oh read it as having 4 babies hahaha

 

[3 DD love princesses]

I did a search of the boards and there isn't a lot of recent information involving the value of buying into DVC for military members. We have access to some deeper discounts then civilians, so what were some of your thought processes when choosing to buy in or not?

My situation personally: stationed in Florida, getting out in 4 years, APH, visit Disney several times a year, always used to do rope drop to fireworks in cheap hotels, but looking to do more slower paced stays in the future. Also we are a family of 4 (babies) and aren't looking to grow our family. So we are looking at studios and 1 bedrooms as a back up.

If I were you I’d weigh if the discount savings really save you buying direct vs resale. If you go DoD they have been giving you the same ticket deals as the military ticket. We have done the AFV $300 deals for the week but it’s not the same as staying on property. We went resale bc the savings were so much better. If you go direct I would get the cheapest direct out of the later resorts and just get the min then add on resale

 

[becauseimnew]

I did a search of the boards and there isn't a lot of recent information involving the value of buying into DVC for military members. We have access to some deeper discounts then civilians, so what were some of your thought processes when choosing to buy in or not?

My situation personally: stationed in Florida, getting out in 4 years, APH, visit Disney several times a year, always used to do rope drop to fireworks in cheap hotels, but looking to do more slower paced stays in the future. Also we are a family of 4 (babies) and aren't looking to grow our family. So we are looking at studios and 1 bedrooms as a back up.

We enjoy the Disney bubble and enjoy Disney deluxe resorts, that’s why were are actively searching for our perfect contract. We have spent $5,000 in Disney hotels, we could have spent that money on DVC. We plan to continue our trips so why not just buy a resale contract? The military discounts on rooms have been good, but as the economy got better the discounts got smaller. We have talked about buying direct but paying an extra $9,000 for the same product is really painful and we can’t bring ourselves to do it, that’s 2 non-Disney trips.

 

[OilyDisneyFamily]

If I were you I’d weigh if the discount savings really save you buying direct vs resale. If you go DoD they have been giving you the same ticket deals as the military ticket. We have done the AFV $300 deals for the week but it’s not the same as staying on property. We went resale bc the savings were so much better. If you go direct I would get the cheapest direct out of the later resorts and just get the min then add on resale

Yes we bought the smallest points contract at Old Key West direct and plan to add on later with resale contracts. They offered me double points and the use year I wanted which is what tipped the scales. Plus a lower rate for financing and we get our points right away instead of waiting months. They do offer military discounts for larger point packages but I think I'd still pick resale over that.

 

[BestAunt]

i asked about the military discount for DVC. it is basically $3+ off a point on top of the current incentives for riviera (i didn't ask about other resort).

 

[BestAunt]

the thing that swayed me to become DVC vs military discounted rooms is when i stayed at poly and beach club for CHEAP, and then tried years later and the military discount was twice what i was paying before. i knew i couldn't depend on it (and i was desperately hooked on the deluxe hotels). i am also a florida resident so i didn't need the annual pass discount, so i bought resale at beach club. 3 years later, i am adding a contract at animal kingdom lodge (it's the place to take it slow and chill).

 

[RoseGold]

visit Disney several times a year, always used to do rope drop to fireworks in cheap hotels,

You probably aren't a good candidate for this. The math of DVC vs Disney value/cheaper off-property will not work. DVC hotel stays are still expensive, you just locked yourself in and prepaid some of it. If your objective is cheap hotels, DVC is not a good fit.

A FL ID card is good for eight years, and the most valuable discount is the FL/DVC/military? tickets. If you already have access to that discount, the remaining DVC direct (blue card) discounts aren't worth much.

 

[hlhlaw07]

You probably aren't a good candidate for this. The math of DVC vs Disney value/cheaper off-property will not work. DVC hotel stays are still expensive, you just locked yourself in and prepaid some of it. If your objective is cheap hotels, DVC is not a good fit.

A FL ID card is good for eight years, and the most valuable discount is the FL/DVC/military? tickets. If you already have access to that discount, the remaining DVC direct (blue card) discounts aren't worth much.

I think the OP meant cheap hotels as in military discount on Disney hotels.

 

[hlhlaw07]

I did a search of the boards and there isn't a lot of recent information involving the value of buying into DVC for military members. We have access to some deeper discounts then civilians, so what were some of your thought processes when choosing to buy in or not?

My situation personally: stationed in Florida, getting out in 4 years, APH, visit Disney several times a year, always used to do rope drop to fireworks in cheap hotels, but looking to do more slower paced stays in the future. Also we are a family of 4 (babies) and aren't looking to grow our family. So we are looking at studios and 1 bedrooms as a back up.

I am military and also a DVC member. When I ran the numbers, it made perfect sense for us to buy. But our situation may be different than yours. We are a family of 4 as well, but do not like to stay in hotel rooms where we all have to sleep in the same room. So it was always trying to chase down a military discount on DVC villas, trying to get a suite at Shades (which is really tough to catch availability on), getting two rooms at Shades, or paying rack rate because we were going at a holiday and no discounts were offered. By my calculations, DVC always came out ahead against rack rate, military discount on dvc villas and 2 rooms at shades. Now, that was with resale prices a few years ago, so it may not work out as well with direct prices or the higher resale prices of today.

We also hedged our bets and purchased points direct before they raised the minimum for a blue card above 25 points. We used the AP discount one year when we had over 3 trips planned, but otherwise we just use the salute tickets because they are such a great deal. But I love my DVC points (all 640 points! Thanks addonitus!)

 

[OilyDisneyFamily]

You probably aren't a good candidate for this. The math of DVC vs Disney value/cheaper off-property will not work. DVC hotel stays are still expensive, you just locked yourself in and prepaid some of it. If your objective is cheap hotels, DVC is not a good fit.

A FL ID card is good for eight years, and the most valuable discount is the FL/DVC/military? tickets. If you already have access to that discount, the remaining DVC direct (blue card) discounts aren't worth much.

I literally finished that sentence saying we wanted to vacation at a more slower pace... and therefore in a more deluxe resort way. We want the luxury and less park time.

 

[OilyDisneyFamily]

We ended up paying 160 per point for an extended contract at OKW direct from disney if anyone is interested. We already bought direct. Just curious what some people's math was.

 

[sethschroeder]

We ended up paying 160 per point for an extended contract at OKW direct from disney if anyone is interested. We already bought direct. Just curious what some people's math was.

With OKW it really comes down to if the $50-$70/point premium is worth it or not for the benefits. For the next 20 years it really comes down primarily to the AP discounts then after that possibly some more benefit of being able to stay at future resorts (as no Epcot resorts will be available to resale contracts after 2042 likely).

If I didn't get a benefit out of the AP discount there is no way I would likely buy direct.

 

[OilyDisneyFamily]

With OKW it really comes down to if the $50-$70/point premium is worth it or not for the benefits. For the next 20 years it really comes down primarily to the AP discounts then after that possibly some more benefit of being able to stay at future resorts (as no Epcot resorts will be available to resale contracts after 2042 likely).

If I didn't get a benefit out of the AP discount there is no way I would likely buy direct.

I think the benefit of being able to stay at the new Disneyland Tower is huge. I'm crossing my fingers that in 10 years we'll see the benefits of buy direct. If not, it's luckily only a few hundred dollars in my case.

 

[sethschroeder]

If not, it's luckily only a few hundred dollars in my case.

If you paid 160/point that's going to be at least $5k since I would expect to easily get 100 points of extended for $110 but I would personally be shooting for $95-$100 which takes it upwards of $6k just on the 100 points for the blue card.

It's not too bad though because you can choose now moving forward to just buy resale if you really wanted.

For me new resorts are not that big of a deal because I can always just buy transfer points for that 1 or 2 times in the next 40-50 years I would use them.

 

[OilyDisneyFamily]

If you paid 160/point that's going to be at least $5k since I would expect to easily get 100 points of extended for $110 but I would personally be shooting for $95-$100 which takes it upwards of $6k just on the 100 points for the blue card.

It's not too bad though because you can choose now moving forward to just buy resale if you really wanted.

For me new resorts are not that big of a deal because I can always just buy transfer points for that 1 or 2 times in the next 40-50 years I would use them.

Sure but I'm certainly going to able to take advantage of some monetary gain such as buying discounted AP for family members, parties and lounges, accesses to member cruises, and of course the savings of purchasing direct before the minimums go up. I guess what I'm saying is I'm playing the long game. I believe it will be worth it in the long run. Also it's really hard to find a 100 pt extended contract in the August or September use year I wanted. And I get points right away instead of waiting 3+ months. All of that made it worth the Premium, but mostly just that I believe it will be worth it in the long run.