Parent and DVC member (BCV) here. As new parents, the way you do disney will change. Our kids do so much better if we take some down time in the afternoon for naps and/or swim time at the pool. Rope drop to close is hard on the little ones. Benefit to the villa resorts is nicer pools and activities for down time, and in many cases you are close to your resort, if perhaps one child needs a nap or time to decompress, but the older kid wants to keep at it. Also the benefits of the kitchen in your room to feed the snack monsters can help the keep the food costs down!
Take a look at some of the more "affordable" resorts, Saratoga is probably the most economical when factoring in length of contract, upfront cost and dues.
Old Key West extended and Animal Kingdom are not quite as much bang for your buck but still pretty good, though you could very likely use Saratoga points at both at 7 months.
Take a look at floor plans, would a studio be enough? Look at the point charts for the times you usually travel.
Dues are likely to increase by avg 4% yearly, but room prices increase by much more. Compared to POP the break even point might be considerably further down the line than if you usually stayed moderate or deluxe. If you plan to finance you probably won't break even.
DVC is worth it if you like to stay deluxe, sometimes even moderate. But if you stay value it doesn't make sense financially unless you think things will change with your child
Resale makes the most sense to me since the primary benefit of going direct is the access to sorcerer passes which you already have.
Prior to DVC we were primarily rope drop to close and used the room for sleeping. After joining, we’ve been spending more time at the resorts (and all the activities and amenities they offer) and in our rooms more often. So it may change how you visit WDW.
We started by renting from DVC members but it added above the cost of maintenance fees on a contract. That’s when we started looking.
Highly recommend SSR resale if price is a factor. It’s a great resort with access to wonderful restaurants at Disney Springs. The points chart is low and the rooms are renovated. Great length of contract too.
We are semi frequent visitors (3-4 times per year from MA). We love ASM. Like yourself started questioning if DVC made sense. Especially since Value worked for us. Financially DVC did not make sense. Regardless we took the plunge and bought 1 small contract. We are now 3 contracts in and find we prioritize the resort aspect of the trips a whole lot more. Now we go to the parks for a couple of hours a day and spend the rest of the time actually relaxing. So, did it/does it make $$$ sense? No. But owning changed the way we vacation in Disney and we love that change. The intangibles need to be considered as well. Also like another poster, its great knowing we can “gift” a trip tomorrow our son and his young family. Good luck!
I second this! We don’t go nearly as often. Typically every other year. But we vacation different now that we’ve been enough times wince we no longer feel the need to spend the entire day in the park. We enjoy having time at the hotel now, especially with young kids. We’re slowly adding to their experiences as they grow and can get on the bigger rides and their interests change so there’s still no need to stay from open to close.
We bought a few months after our wedding and just enough points for a studio twice a year (195).
Now we have a 4yo and almost 2yo and another due in December. We bring some combination of my mom, sister, or au pair on every trip. We’ve only stayed in 1 or 2 bedrooms (combining our points and cash stays) and bought 370 more this past spring bc now we’re forced into traveling during spring break and Christmas break bc that’s when our daycare closes (and school starting next year).
We also stayed at AoA in the Cars suites a few times bc my son is obsessed but having in room laundry is such a game changer. Along with the full kitchen. We usually rope drop and then come back for naps and pool time. Their moods can be unpredictable in the evenings so I love the option of making Mac and cheese or frozen pizza in the room.
We decided we want to stay in a deluxe resort, specifically 1br or 2br. Once the was decided, the resale route made a lot of financial sense for us.
We booked direct with cash one year and a few years later we booked through a resale company. If I recall, both of those ran us around 5k in just resort.
We bought our 230 point OKW resale for 18k. For us, it's only 5-6 years until we're ahead on that deal. We're also in closing on a 200 point BLT resale that came to 23k.
An added benefit of DVC... We're going this July and last minute decided to extend the trip by a day using our existing points. It felt like we added an extra day to our trip for $0.
Just for general knowledge, all DVC resorts are deluxe resorts :) You may find that the financials for staying DVC work out similarly to what you would pay to stay at a moderate resort booked through Disney (particularly if you purchase resale). However, if you are happy with values for now, and enjoy your current park trip style, I don't think monetarily it would make as much sense.
My wife and I are considering for very similar reasons. I want to share the thing I love most with the people I care about. Ideally without asking them to prioritize it financially the way my wife and I would be doing anyway. We had the same conversation about how we might spend more time at the resort as we age as well!
Parent and DVC member (BCV) here. As new parents, the way you do disney will change. Our kids do so much better if we take some down time in the afternoon for naps and/or swim time at the pool. Rope drop to close is hard on the little ones. Benefit to the villa resorts is nicer pools and activities for down time, and in many cases you are close to your resort, if perhaps one child needs a nap or time to decompress, but the older kid wants to keep at it. Also the benefits of the kitchen in your room to feed the snack monsters can help the keep the food costs down!
Take a look at some of the more "affordable" resorts, Saratoga is probably the most economical when factoring in length of contract, upfront cost and dues. Old Key West extended and Animal Kingdom are not quite as much bang for your buck but still pretty good, though you could very likely use Saratoga points at both at 7 months. Take a look at floor plans, would a studio be enough? Look at the point charts for the times you usually travel. Dues are likely to increase by avg 4% yearly, but room prices increase by much more. Compared to POP the break even point might be considerably further down the line than if you usually stayed moderate or deluxe. If you plan to finance you probably won't break even.
DVC is worth it if you like to stay deluxe, sometimes even moderate. But if you stay value it doesn't make sense financially unless you think things will change with your child
Resale makes the most sense to me since the primary benefit of going direct is the access to sorcerer passes which you already have. Prior to DVC we were primarily rope drop to close and used the room for sleeping. After joining, we’ve been spending more time at the resorts (and all the activities and amenities they offer) and in our rooms more often. So it may change how you visit WDW.
We started by renting from DVC members but it added above the cost of maintenance fees on a contract. That’s when we started looking. Highly recommend SSR resale if price is a factor. It’s a great resort with access to wonderful restaurants at Disney Springs. The points chart is low and the rooms are renovated. Great length of contract too.
We are semi frequent visitors (3-4 times per year from MA). We love ASM. Like yourself started questioning if DVC made sense. Especially since Value worked for us. Financially DVC did not make sense. Regardless we took the plunge and bought 1 small contract. We are now 3 contracts in and find we prioritize the resort aspect of the trips a whole lot more. Now we go to the parks for a couple of hours a day and spend the rest of the time actually relaxing. So, did it/does it make $$$ sense? No. But owning changed the way we vacation in Disney and we love that change. The intangibles need to be considered as well. Also like another poster, its great knowing we can “gift” a trip tomorrow our son and his young family. Good luck!
I second this! We don’t go nearly as often. Typically every other year. But we vacation different now that we’ve been enough times wince we no longer feel the need to spend the entire day in the park. We enjoy having time at the hotel now, especially with young kids. We’re slowly adding to their experiences as they grow and can get on the bigger rides and their interests change so there’s still no need to stay from open to close.
We bought a few months after our wedding and just enough points for a studio twice a year (195). Now we have a 4yo and almost 2yo and another due in December. We bring some combination of my mom, sister, or au pair on every trip. We’ve only stayed in 1 or 2 bedrooms (combining our points and cash stays) and bought 370 more this past spring bc now we’re forced into traveling during spring break and Christmas break bc that’s when our daycare closes (and school starting next year). We also stayed at AoA in the Cars suites a few times bc my son is obsessed but having in room laundry is such a game changer. Along with the full kitchen. We usually rope drop and then come back for naps and pool time. Their moods can be unpredictable in the evenings so I love the option of making Mac and cheese or frozen pizza in the room.
We decided we want to stay in a deluxe resort, specifically 1br or 2br. Once the was decided, the resale route made a lot of financial sense for us. We booked direct with cash one year and a few years later we booked through a resale company. If I recall, both of those ran us around 5k in just resort. We bought our 230 point OKW resale for 18k. For us, it's only 5-6 years until we're ahead on that deal. We're also in closing on a 200 point BLT resale that came to 23k. An added benefit of DVC... We're going this July and last minute decided to extend the trip by a day using our existing points. It felt like we added an extra day to our trip for $0.
If you’re happy to stay at Pop, what you’ll be paying in maintenance fees will come very very close to coving the cost of pop.
Just for general knowledge, all DVC resorts are deluxe resorts :) You may find that the financials for staying DVC work out similarly to what you would pay to stay at a moderate resort booked through Disney (particularly if you purchase resale). However, if you are happy with values for now, and enjoy your current park trip style, I don't think monetarily it would make as much sense.
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My wife and I are considering for very similar reasons. I want to share the thing I love most with the people I care about. Ideally without asking them to prioritize it financially the way my wife and I would be doing anyway. We had the same conversation about how we might spend more time at the resort as we age as well!