Stopped considering DVC this week. Anyone else?

I think that's probably the reason that Disney started Magical Express. It kept people in the bubble and 'forced' people to stay and spend at Disney. I think with the popularity of Uber and Lyft and possibly other reasons, people aren't staying inside the bubble like they previously did. Disney decided that the costs to run Magical Express weren't worth the returns they were now seeing. Or maybe not. Maybe it was solely a cost cutting decision in tough times.

I also think that with the contract with Mears ending 2021, they simply didn’t want to sign another one in these tough times.

But, the outcome of the decision will be what happens and if occupancy and visitors don’t come back when the pandemic can no longer be the reason, they will need to reevaluate, IMO.
 
if it's just as convenient for me to hop in the rental car and shoot over to CVS for the sunblock I forgot rather than swing by the gift shop, I'm doing that. And if the ride to Universal is now free since the rental car is paid for anyway, I'm absolutely moving some of my ticket money into the Universal category. And that's just one stop away from, "Well why do I even need to pay a premium to stay on site if I now have my own transportation to and from the parks, anyway?"

If I'm renting a car and hauling my carseats and lugging my own luggage, Orlando as a whole is looking less magical. I can do those things anywhere, and that Disney travel budget goes a long way elsewhere...
 
This has been planned for a long time. Disney was preparing everyone for the loss of the bus service and the use of corolla Uber drivers. That is why we get the small backpacks. They are the only items that fit in the trunk. I am back in Disney! Thank you for the backpack that replaces all that luggage I would have transported down. And when I get short of clothing, I can just buy more at your stores!
 
I think this is a really good point. I am one of the people who loves the "bubble" because I like convenience and having decisions taken out of my hands once I'm there. But now if it's just as convenient for me to hop in the rental car and shoot over to CVS for the sunblock I forgot rather than swing by the gift shop, I'm doing that. And if the ride to Universal is now free since the rental car is paid for anyway, I'm absolutely moving some of my ticket money into the Universal category. And that's just one stop away from, "Well why do I even need to pay a premium to stay on site if I now have my own transportation to and from the parks, anyway?"
I see this explanation a lot, and I get the logic, but as someone who almost always has a car (mostly rentals, we have driven to/from twice) despite staying onsite at DVC, let me suggest that you might not find yourself driving offsite as much as you think. No guarantee, of course. Everyone values their time and money and the friction of using either differently. But I'm not driving from BLT or the Poly to an offsite drugstore to save <$10 on a couple of bottles of sunblock. That's easily at least 45 minutes round trip, maybe more, not counting time in store. On our last trip I forgot to bring a Britta filter for the pitcher in our Owners Locker. Those are not sold onsite. I ordered a pack from Amazon and paid the overnight premium on Prime rather than drive to an offsite store where I could buy them both immediately and for less money.

One big planned grocery/sundries trip can make sense, and driving for a better/cheaper restaurant option also. But little stuff, no. And the biggest obstacle to splitting Disney and Universal is not transportation, but that 2 extra days at WDW (once you buy the first 3-4) cost much, much less than the first 1-2 days at UO.

Now, if the lack of onsite benefits keep you offsite altogether, that's a completely different analysis, of course. But I think people who rely on Disney transportation overestimate how much they will venture off with a car. My family has more than 10 week long onsite w/ car stays in our history. We twice did one day at UO, to experience Harry Potter, and exactly once went offsite for dining (which involved seeing a family friend who lived in Celebration), and that's it. Only other trips were to attend Mass, which is (almost always) not available onsite and not vacation related.

Again, I acknowledge that everyone has different priorities, but once you're onsite at that massive, nearly all-encompassing resort, the mental effort to decide "let's go elsewhere" is pretty high.
 
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Honestly, if the points were priced right, we would consider adding, but I don't know if I would buy in new at this point and I definitely wouldn't buy into Riviera with the restrictions on selling.
 
I see this explanation a lot, and I get the logic, but as someone who almost always has a car (mostly rentals, we have driven to./from twice) despite staying onsite at DVC, let me suggest that you might not find yourself driving offsite as much as you think. No guarantee, of course. Everyone values their time and money and the friction of using either differently. But I'm not driving from BLT or the Poly to an offsite drugstore to save <$10 on a couple of bottles of sunblock. That's easily at least 45 minutes round trip, maybe more, not counting time in store. On our last trip I forgot to bring a Britta filter for the pitcher in our Owners Locker. Those are not sold onsite. I ordered a pack from Amazon and paid the overnight premium on Prime rather than drive to an offsite store where I could buy them both immediately and for less money.

One big planned grocery/sundries trip can make sense, and driving for a better/cheaper restaurant option also. But little stuff, no. And the biggest obstacle to splitting Disney and Universal is not transportation, but that 2 extra days at WDW (once you buy the first 3-4) cost much, much less than the first 1-2 days at UO.

Now, if the lack of onsite benefits keep you offsite altogether, that's a completely different analysis, of course. But I think people who rely on Disney transportation overestimate how much they will venture off with a car. My family has more than 10 week long onsite w/ car stays in our history. We twice did one day at UO, to experience Harry Potter, and exactly once went offsite for dining (which involved seeing a family friend who lived in Celebration), and that's it. Only other trips were to attend Mass, which is (almost always) not available onsite and not vacation related.

Again, I acknowledge that everyone has different priorities, but once you're onsite at that massive, nearly all-encompassing resort, the mental effort to decide "let's go elsewhere" is pretty high.
I do agree with pretty much all of this upon further reflection. I do think that staying onsite will still feel like being in the bubble. Really the only difference is grabbing an Uber to and from MCO instead of DME. And I do love the bubble. But I also love not overpaying with things and it's hard to argue against the economy of staying offsite once DME, FastPasses, EMH, the Dining Plan, etc. etc. has been stripped away. I think it may have been @Sandisw who said not to be surprised if many of those things return in one form or another, and I agree with that as well. Disney is never static, that's for sure! And change can initially be scary and uncomfortable and sometimes an outright bummer, but is often mindblowingly wonderful as well (hello, Flight of Passage!)
 
People who can afford DVC are likely on the upper end of the economic spectrum and likely have saved money over the past year due to things shut down during the pandemic (restaurants, travel.....etc). They're looking for somewhere to spend their money.
I’m not sure if I’m ‘upper end of the economic spectrum,’ (I make too much to get a stimulus check haha- is that upper?) but I did save probably $20,000 or more from not traveling in 2019 (2 DVC stays at WDW - 17 total days, 1 week long DL cash stay, 1 10-12 day fall European cruise, 2 or 3 ten day trips cross country for family get togethers.) I was thinking about adding on at VGF, but the elimination of EMH put a stop to that - being west coast based, I loved those late nights in a park. I suppose we’ll have to switch over to the paid late entry, or just not bother since we like signature restaurants for dinner and those take time, it’s one thing to wander into a park after a nice dinner, but not so good to only use a small part of the time in a paid for after hours. We used DME & I liked it - but I won’t miss being the last stop on those bus rides, I will miss the baggage delivery, but it’s not a deal breaker.
And yes, I’m considering where to spend that extra money. My current thinking is to just increase the length of a Spring ‘22 cruise (not a Disney cruise - nice line, but they aren‘t big on Europe) along with upgrading my cabin & to start flying first class on long flights, including to WDW from CA & back. In other words, yes my travel budget will increase, but nothing disney has done is tempting me to spend those dollars there, indeed, quite the opposite.
But your missing part of the equation. Rentals rates are based on cash rates. If Disney devalues on site stays enough where they have to lower room prices and offer deeper discounts then cash rates would be much closer to rental rates. Or rental rates need to come down. If that happens, you are fighting 2 things: rental costs coming down and dues going up. An extreme scenario could see that point happening in the next few years where the cost of DVC essentially gives you no benefit to staying on site using cash. They will always be able to compare to “rack rates” but if you know there are 30-40% discounts and you don’t get locked in long term there could be an issue.
During the last recession Disney aggressively discounted room rates w/ 40% off in some cases, my last trip before I bought DVC I calculated renting v. the 40% discount, they were even, so I opted for Disney as it was far less of a risk. If Disney needs to undercut the rental market to financially pencil out at their resorts they’ll find a way to do it. Rental rates are also based on supply & demand, for the last several years there’s been increasing demand, but if a WDW vacation has less appeal for renters going forward causing demand to go down, supply will increase pushing rental prices down.
 
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I see this explanation a lot, and I get the logic, but as someone who almost always has a car (mostly rentals, we have driven to./from twice) despite staying onsite at DVC, let me suggest that you might not find yourself driving offsite as much as you think. No guarantee, of course. Everyone values their time and money and the friction of using either differently. But I'm not driving from BLT or the Poly to an offsite drugstore to save <$10 on a couple of bottles of sunblock. That's easily at least 45 minutes round trip, maybe more, not counting time in store. On our last trip I forgot to bring a Britta filter for the pitcher in our Owners Locker. Those are not sold onsite. I ordered a pack from Amazon and paid the overnight premium on Prime rather than drive to an offsite store where I could buy them both immediately and for less money.

One big planned grocery/sundries trip can make sense, and driving for a better/cheaper restaurant option also. But little stuff, no. And the biggest obstacle to splitting Disney and Universal is not transportation, but that 2 extra days at WDW (once you buy the first 3-4) cost much, much less than the first 1-2 days at UO.

Now, if the lack of onsite benefits keep you offsite altogether, that's a completely different analysis, of course. But I think people who rely on Disney transportation overestimate how much they will venture off with a car. My family has more than 10 week long onsite w/ car stays in our history. We twice did one day at UO, to experience Harry Potter, and exactly once went offsite for dining (which involved seeing a family friend who lived in Celebration), and that's it. Only other trips were to attend Mass, which is (almost always) not available onsite and not vacation related.

Again, I acknowledge that everyone has different priorities, but once you're onsite at that massive, nearly all-encompassing resort, the mental effort to decide "let's go elsewhere" is pretty high.

While we've only gone to WDW using MDE... this makes sense to me ^

However, I think with MDE no longer available it does make doing 1-3 days at Universal prior to heading over to WDW an easier decision, as you're not missing out on the "full magical experience" anymore.
 
So glad we did not lock in a purchase that would force us to travel to Disney regularly.

Just got back from a 10 night trip and have to say it was amazing. Loved the extra space in lines, like less crowds in general, liked being able to get through all the rides we wanted to fairly easily.

Downsides were things that will return like no AP and some restaurants still closed (Flying Fish / ESPN / Artist Point).

The vacation was certainly more work than our previous three trips at DVC properties

Have to say its basically opposite for me. No FP+ requirements of jockying for more, no requirement to be locked in to a park 60 days out because of FP+ or 120 days out because of a dining reservation, no requirement to book restaurants 120 days out, and more use of mobile dining.

Planning for WDW went from a masters degree to middle school education at this point. If they bring back FP+ I hope its only like 14 days out for onsite and like 7 day out for offsite. I think they could drop dining down to 30 days instead of 60 days as well.
 
If I'm renting a car and hauling my carseats and lugging my own luggage, Orlando as a whole is looking less magical. I can do those things anywhere, and that Disney travel budget goes a long way elsewhere...
This is the biggest thing for me. Went twice in 2019 (January and November) and rented a car with a toddler in January. Absolute nightmare between strollers, car seats, base, luggage, etc...

In November we used Magical Express and the trip in all was 1000% better just because of it. And that was with one kid. We have our next trip planned for October this year now with 2 kids and we are using DME. This change for a family with young kids is devastating to the magic of a Disney vacation.
 
I see this explanation a lot, and I get the logic, but as someone who almost always has a car (mostly rentals, we have driven to./from twice) despite staying onsite at DVC, let me suggest that you might not find yourself driving offsite as much as you think. No guarantee, of course. Everyone values their time and money and the friction of using either differently. But I'm not driving from BLT or the Poly to an offsite drugstore to save <$10 on a couple of bottles of sunblock. That's easily at least 45 minutes round trip, maybe more, not counting time in store. On our last trip I forgot to bring a Britta filter for the pitcher in our Owners Locker. Those are not sold onsite. I ordered a pack from Amazon and paid the overnight premium on Prime rather than drive to an offsite store where I could buy them both immediately and for less money.

One big planned grocery/sundries trip can make sense, and driving for a better/cheaper restaurant option also. But little stuff, no. And the biggest obstacle to splitting Disney and Universal is not transportation, but that 2 extra days at WDW (once you buy the first 3-4) cost much, much less than the first 1-2 days at UO.

Now, if the lack of onsite benefits keep you offsite altogether, that's a completely different analysis, of course. But I think people who rely on Disney transportation overestimate how much they will venture off with a car. My family has more than 10 week long onsite w/ car stays in our history. We twice did one day at UO, to experience Harry Potter, and exactly once went offsite for dining (which involved seeing a family friend who lived in Celebration), and that's it. Only other trips were to attend Mass, which is (almost always) not available onsite and not vacation related.

Again, I acknowledge that everyone has different priorities, but once you're onsite at that massive, nearly all-encompassing resort, the mental effort to decide "let's go elsewhere" is pretty high.
I agree about the small items. But disagree about other things to do. As a DVC member, I am going to be spending a certain amount of nights on property, but with a car I can spend a bunch of time exploring other things and not at parks. Not cheaper, but different. When I was younger we used to always spend a day and my dad would take my brother and I to Coco Beach to go fishing with a guide. More expensive then a Disney day but a great experience. We have gone to NASA, Universal, Sea World, Gatorland and others. Now that I’m older and have kids I can see spending a day golfing offsite with my dad. All this is much easier if I am “forced” to have a car I might as well use it. Like I said, I agree about the CVS runs and grocery stores for me is Amazon. But restaurants are a sure thing with a car.
 
This is the biggest thing for me. Went twice in 2019 (January and November) and rented a car with a toddler in January. Absolute nightmare between strollers, car seats, base, luggage, etc...

In November we used Magical Express and the trip in all was 1000% better just because of it. And that was with one kid. We have our next trip planned for October this year now with 2 kids and we are using DME. This change for a family with young kids is devastating to the magic of a Disney vacation.

So I will say if you want a better experience working with a town car service and having them provide car seats is going to be superior to MDE.

MDE is free and does have Disney touches which is great.

The service will cost money but is there only to support you and you are now not waiting for a bus in line, waiting for the bus to leave, and can have a luggage handler help you directly to the vehicle instead of only as far as MDE checkin.

Luggage service was seperate from DME and the company already went under so it was not going to be offered.

We will have to see what happens over the next year.

Wish we still had DME included for sure.
 
I priced out selling a contract. Considering I just closed a contract, and this is a contract I've never even paid dues on, that's pretty insane.

Good news is, I'd be within a few hundred bucks on the whole transaction, and that's after using 1.5 years of bonus points I didn't pay dues on when I bought.

I decided I'm holding for now, but I don't have a good justification for that.
We closed on our contract last February. The only thing I regret about the timing is that we closed right before COVID hit and couldn't use our points. I don't regret the decision whatsoever. We bought for the ability to stay at deluxe resorts in the WDW bubble at an incredibly low price. That's it...that's all we factored in when purchasing. COVID will eventually be in the rearview mirror and, likewise, WDW will return to normal as well. And we will continue to enjoy WDW trips for years to come.

I think holding is a good idea. You can't make rash decision based on what Disney is doing right now during COVID. I would let the dust settle before making a decision like selling.
 
OP hit on something that doesn’t get touched on a lot from a DVC perspective. The most expensive part in the long term of owning DVC is not the initial purchase price, it isn’t even the annual dues, it is visiting WDW for the next 30-40 years.

Us DVC members actually have some control on costs as it relates to what we have already paid and tracking dues. However, we have no impact on the cost that a WDW vacation will be post COVID or 5 years from now. Pete said it in a recent video but I think post COVID we are going to see very significant increases in park passes, ticketed events, fast passes and more. I wouldn’t be surprised if the AP system here gets overhauled in the near future as well. The cost for our vacations (even with DVC) will probably be close to double what it was in 2019 in 2022. That is what scares me the most as a DVC owner. Outpacing inflation and all other travel alternatives could ruin demand.
But the cost of a WDW vacation has been going up since its inception. And yet we still go. My family loves WDW, so we will continue to go if the vacations costs continue climbing. Being a DVC owner locks in our room at a huge discount for future years. And we also bought at the resort we wanted (BCV) precisely so we didn't have to go to the parks if we didn't want to. As my kids get older (they are only 3 years away from college), my wife and I will be taking more 3 day WDW trips on our own for things like Food and Wine. We won't be worrying about things like FP, etc.

One of the things I think many people forget is that travel tastes change over time. All the things you are spending money on today won't necessarily be the things you want to spend money on in 15 years from now.
 
So I will say if you want a better experience working with a town car service and having them provide car seats is going to be superior to MDE.

MDE is free and does have Disney touches which is great.

The service will cost money but is there only to support you and you are now not waiting for a bus in line, waiting for the bus to leave, and can have a luggage handler help you directly to the vehicle instead of only as far as MDE checkin.

Luggage service was seperate from DME and the company already went under so it was not going to be offered.

We will have to see what happens over the next year.

Wish we still had DME included for sure.
That stinks. I didn’t know they were separate. So your saying the bag tags at your house then getting them in your room is gone for good? Even for my October trip?
 
I boarder on being 'overly' frugal. Yet, I bought DVC.

Here's the thing. Normally, I would never, ever spend even for discounted cash deluxe Disney prices. In 2018, my family experienced Disney at Xmas 6 nights at CCV. I want more!

Knowing myself return trips would be few and far between, because it's easy to find vacations elsewhere much cheaper. DVC was the only way for me to ensure my family goes back.

I had great fun obtaining a contract 'frugally'...hehe... Now I know I'll be going to Disney for years... Having fun in the bubble ( my frugal nature won't let me waste points... We just did 3 nights in BC/BWV for 36 pts... Absolutely fantastic... See trip report forum ) See... I still can feed my frugal nature, finding 'deals' within the DVC ecosystem...

I share some of the 'losing the magic' concerns... however, the magic was still in full bloom last week 😀... Half of the magic is in you... I think if you go in with intent to have fun, the magic flows natural... Most cast members play right along with you, if one doesn't - there's usually one 20 feet away that will ... So much fun! (Sorry, got a little thick there...hehe)

Anyway, there were other factors that influenced my decision... (Upcoming Hawaii trip, maybe a midlife crisis...hehe) ... but my frugal nature was the driving force... for me DVC is the right choice.
 
Yes they never ran it but you could go to Disney with any problem with the service. Any other service would be difficult for 7 people, luggage and my daughter's wheel chair. Ie we have to rent a van and deal with driving, luggage, checking in to get the vehicle, filling up with gas, etc etc. So much less convenient. Defeats one of the main purposes of being on property for me.... Convience, 1 stop shop. We got a rental one time to try it and it was nice going to the parks but it was not nice for the airport to and from.
Again, Mears has announced they will continue the DME service starting in 2022. It just won't be called DME. So you can have the exact same DME service that you have always had, there will just now be a charge per person.
 
I agree with this 100%. We have made 5 long weekend getaways and they have done wonders for us. We haven’t gone to the parks and haven’t missed it. We were just remarking at how when we do go back to the parks it’s going to be hard to get the kids up early for rope drop. There’s still so much to do at a resort stay, and it’s much more relaxing. We always joked that we needed a vacation from our Disney trips because they were so busy.
LOL, we have always made the same "we need a vacation after our WDW vacation" comment after we get home. My wife is a great/crazy planner and locks in all the restaurant reservations, park passes, and FP reservations. Many of the days sometimes feel too "scheduled", although I know without those schedules we would be scrambling to eat and would be waiting in 2 hour lines for rides. And when my kids get hangry they want to eat...now! That's why we bought into DVC last year. We are going to have much more "relax" time built into the plan. Heck, we are going in April for a week and have three days planned where literally nothing is planned.
 
That stinks. I didn’t know they were separate. So your saying the bag tags at your house then getting them in your room is gone for good? Even for my October trip?

That is correct, I just learned in January that Mears did not do the luggage transfer. Supposedly there were a ton of complaints and I have several issues with the bags over the year, In January 2020, I landed at 9 am, and when my bags were still not at the resort when I called bell services at 12:30 am, they checked and the company never even showed to pick them up. They were still at MCO. They did not arrive until after 2 am and it meant I couldn’t put thr security bolt on my door until the did. Needless to say, it was not a restful night.
 

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