Am I missing anything?

[gskywalker]

We had looked at DVC before but had never done it as we have been a Free Dining at a value resort sort of family. We have a family of 6(plus Mom in the basement). Then this year we did annual passes and want to continue to renew them(from Toronto). I am thinking of buying a 75 point contract at OKW(Lowest Dues, Low Points needed for a stay) partly to use every second year for a week stay and partly to save on the annual passes. The savings on annual passes will be $2280 a year(with current prices) and the cost of the points is only $11625. Anything else I should consider, I am not aware of, etc? Does being an international come with any extra cost(besides the crappy exchange rate), difficulties, etc? PS It kills me to think of what I could have bought when we did our DVC visit the first time when the CDN $ was higher than the US and the price per point was so much lower, ugh.

 

[CraigInPA]

Consider that the current AP offering for DVC members is not a permanent benefit. It can be taken away at any time.

 

[CarolMN]

Assume you know::

• DVC villas paid for with points are NEVER included in the free dining offers.
• DVC villas have very limited housekeeping services and that you pay extra if you want daily service.
• And have done the math to determine the number of days you need to be in the parks to make the annual pass the best ticket value for your family.

Good luck wit tour research and decision.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

Does being an international come with any extra cost(besides the crappy exchange rate), difficulties, etc? PS It kills me to think of what I could have bought when we did our DVC visit the first time when the CDN $ was higher than the US and the price per point was so much lower, ugh.

Ottawa here. If your buying direct (your talking about getting the annual pass), you can sign up for a credit card that has no Foreign Exchange Fees. You still pay the foreign exchange of course, but you save on the FX Fees.

$154 * 75 = 11,550
11,550 * 1.33 (exchange rate) = 15,361.50
15,361.50 * 0.025 = $384. This is the amount you would save.

If you apply for the Scotiabank AMEX Gold card, you get the free FX fees, plus 30,000 bonus points ($300), and 1% cashback ($153.62). The cost is $120. So in total on the purchase, you would save $717.00.

I would also consider Saratoga as the purchase price is not much higher, but the annual maintenance fees are much lower.

 

[skippytx]

I'm starting to believe the discount on the Gold AP being so large (which is a new thing) is something that will go away pretty soon, and is not something you should count on in the future.

Remember, 2 years ago DVC members could get a Plat Plus AP for 559 dollars. There was the 13 months for the price of 12 deal as well.

Now we're rushing to spend thousand and thousands to "save" (theoretically) over 400 dollars a pass when that discount has only been there for a few months and will likely change next time they adjust pricing again.

I can see the Gold AP jumping another 100 dollars here pretty soon. It's gone from 549 when it came out to the current 699. The Plat is up about 400 dollars in the same time frame.

I'm not renewing our AP's this year, but we bought them last year with the intended purpose of us taking multiple trips on them, and then a bit of a break.

I suggest running the numbers for your family and see what you're really saving. The choice between the DVC Gold AP and the Platinum usually isn't an either or choice. How many people would really buy the Platinum AP instead of just buying regular park hopper tickets. You'd need 2 7 day parkhoppers to break even I think depending on the dates.

How would you feel in 2 years if the AP discount dwindled to 200 dollars difference, and you had spent 12,000 USD on OKW points and signed up for 500 a year in MF.

 

[gskywalker]

Consider that the current AP offering for DVC members is not a permanent benefit. It can be taken away at any time.

Thank you, I do realize that. Its part of the reason we never bought before. I figure even if I got one year out of it gives me 20% back of the purchase of the DVC, then 20% each year after that I buy annual passes and it is available.

Assume you know::

• DVC villas paid for with points are NEVER included in the free dining offers.
• DVC villas have very limited housekeeping services and that you pay extra if you want daily service.
• And have done the math to determine the number of days you need to be in the parks to make the annual pass the best ticket value for your family.

Good luck wit tour research and decision.

1) Yes I knew about the free dining but we go for free dining and then are using the tickets towards annual passes
2) Not worried about the housekeeping, we actually opt out at pop in exchange for the gift cards
3) If we get in 2 trips it is worthwhile, we likely will hope for more. Nothing like the 10 we had on this year's annual pass, but enough to be worthwhile

Thanks for the good points to consider though.

Ottawa here. If your buying direct (your talking about getting the annual pass), you can sign up for a credit card that has no Foreign Exchange Fees. You still pay the foreign exchange of course, but you save on the FX Fees.

$154 * 75 = 11,550
11,550 * 1.33 (exchange rate) = 15,361.50
15,361.50 * 0.025 = $384. This is the amount you would save.

If you apply for the Scotiabank AMEX Gold card, you get the free FX fees, plus 30,000 bonus points ($300), and 1% cashback ($153.62). The cost is $120. So in total on the purchase, you would save $717.00.

I would also consider Saratoga as the purchase price is not much higher, but the annual maintenance fees are much lower.

We have the Hometrust card for that purpose. It doesn't have the greatest cash back but it has 1% and no FX cost, it would be nicer to have some other bonuses but I don't really want to get another card to get a small extra perk when we would be wanting to cancel it right after.

As for Saratoga. So I figured it would take just over 6 years for the lower dues to offset the higher cost of points, do you think Saratoga is better than OKC? OKC has lower points required for stays as well. I am not sure what it is like to stay at either of them. I know I made the mistake of taking the buses to SSR when I was trying to get to Disney Springs and I found the transit at SSR a pain and huge, did I just get unlucky?

 

[gskywalker]

I suggest running the numbers for your family and see what you're really saving. The choice between the DVC Gold AP and the Platinum usually isn't an either or choice. How many people would really buy the Platinum AP instead of just buying regular park hopper tickets. You'd need 2 7 day parkhoppers to break even I think depending on the dates.

How would you feel in 2 years if the AP discount dwindled to 200 dollars difference, and you had spent 12,000 USD on OKW points and signed up for 500 a year in MF.

Thanks for your input, actually I would feel pretty good if I got 2 years out of it. I am happy to have the DVC room/trip going forward as well and if we got 2 years of the current savings, I would save $4600 as well as my mom would save $760. Each year it is available and that we would get the annual passes would offset 20% of the initial cost. I was only going to renew one annual pass this year when we had to get the platinum because the cost has gotten too high, but if for the same two trips we can now get the annual passes for less of a ticket cost than two trips then we will renew until we stop wanting to go twice or more a year.

Enjoy your break from Disney. After our trip next week I am looking forward to having at least 6 months without a disney trip. Going almost every month this past 12 months has been too much.

 

[skippytx]

I didn't know you were visiting that often. Go ahead on then!

Not really taking a break from Disney, going to go to Disneyland instead after our next trip. My SIL and her family have never been, and our school calendars overlap in 2021 enough we can get out to DLR together for 5 days. I'll still probably go to WDW in 2021 for the 50th stuff, but haven't nailed the timing down just yet. Our next trip isn't until Feb 2020, but I might pop in a few days while I'm in Orlando for work in November. I have the AP anyway, might as well use it

 

[Deb & Bill]

Coming every other year, with 75 points, you won't even need annual passes, unless you plan on paying for a lot of cash stays. A family of six would need a two bedroom villa at OKW. Or you and the spouse could be split up for every vacation and have half the kids with each of you in a studio. Unless one of your six is at least 18 years old. And no studio at OKW connects to another studio.

You don't get a gift card for no housekeeping with DVC. You just get no housekeeping for a week's stay. Just towels replaced on day 4.

 

[gskywalker]

Coming every other year, with 75 points, you won't even need annual passes, unless you plan on paying for a lot of cash stays. A family of six would need a two bedroom villa at OKW. Or you and the spouse could be split up for every vacation and have half the kids with each of you in a studio. Unless one of your six is at least 18 years old. And no studio at OKW connects to another studio.

You don't get a gift card for no housekeeping with DVC. You just get no housekeeping for a week's stay. Just towels replaced on day 4.

Yes I understand about not getting a gift card, my point was that I am used to not having daily housekeeping. As for trips on the 75 points, we would be only doing a stay every second year or so with the 150 points in two studio's. Aside from that we would do other stays on property with the annual pass room discounts, perhaps free dining and also using offsite condos/hotels. We may also buy a resale contract when the CDN Dollar or a time we decide works well for us.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Yes I understand about not getting a gift card, my point was that I am used to not having daily housekeeping. As for trips on the 75 points, we would be only doing a stay every second year or so with the 150 points in two studio's. Aside from that we would do other stays on property with the annual pass room discounts, perhaps free dining and also using offsite condos/hotels. We may also buy a resale contract when the CDN Dollar or a time we decide works well for us.

So you are okay with having the two adults in two different studios, maybe even in two different buildings. OKW studios are usually at the ends of the buildings and there may only be four in a building.

 

[igrsod]

From Kingston Ontario here. We bought a 100 point contract last year resale and have been enjoying every minute of it.
Our family, only one of us gets an annual pass at a time, as it saves money but still gives us the discounts. When we did our calculations, resale made more sense financially even with the annual pass discount. It may be different for your family. Anyways, enjoy the process. Will be interested to hear what you decide.

 

[amypetecar]

When doing the math, remember that you can sell the asset (assuming you dont keep it the full term of the contract). While its hard to know what it would be worth when you sell, even a conservative resale figure helps the numbers work.