10/11/22

DVC and Me

October 11, 2022

The Disney Vacation Club was created for me.

Well okay, maybe not me specifically. I mean in 1991 when DVC was started, I was just graduating high school and Walt Disney World wasn’t even on my radar. But it was created for those who are just like me. WDW isn’t an “every five year vacation” destination for me. I want to go every year, multiple times a year. I always want to stay on property. I want to stay in deluxe accommodations. I want the flexibility to stay in different types of villas and not be locked down to a condo timeshare. I want to sell my home and live in the little lighthouse on Crescent Lake right in front of Yacht Club.

So why have I been living living on the outside looking in if the product is so perfect? I’m not independently wealthy. I know, I know, you don’t have to be a one percenter to buy into DVC, especially with deeply discounted options on the resale market. However, I haven’t always been the wisest steward of my finances and I have student loans. A lot of student loans. My scheduled payoff date of my student debt will require some MAJOR medical advances for me to even see that finish line. Financing a real estate deal in Florida for pre-paid vacations while languishing in $75K of student debt definitely isn’t in chapter twelve of Warren Buffett’s newest book. So alas, I am DVC-less.

So what is DVC? It’s kind of a… Well, it’s a different type of… See, it’s got this… You know what? Go read someone else’s article if you want that kind of information. That isn’t what I do over here. There are eleventy billion articles about what DVC is and how it works, so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. Just so I don’t alienate any readers who have never heard of the product however, I will give this understated and completely misleading definition. It is Disney’s version of a timeshare that works on a point system and allows you the flexibility of choosing unique times and different locations for each vacation. There you go. I think that is just enough information to create more questions than answers. You’re welcome.

This type of arrangement is not going to be for everyone. Even the biggest Disney World fans might not find the value in DVC. It really depends on how you Disney (*sigh* yes, Disney can be used as a verb. Do try to keep up please). If you go full stink© on your Disney vacations, normally stay at the cheapest resort you can find, and are only using the room as a place to sleep for six hours before rope-dropping Animal Kingdom at 6:15 AM, then DVC probably isn’t going to be your thing. Value resorts will always work out to be cheaper, even in the long run, than purchasing DVC. If however, you plan to enjoy your resort and use the amenities afforded there, then you might want to look it over.

So if my financial situation is so rigid and I have no immediate plans to buy into DVC, then why am I droning on and on about it on the World Wide Web? Because life happens. Normally when people say this, it has a negative connotation, but it can just as easily go the other way. What if I do win 1/25 of a lotter jackpot? What if I do have a rich uncle that I’ve never met leave me a healthy trust fund? What if there is ONE legitimate Nigerian Prince trying to establish a financial footprint in the US before moving over and wants me to be his steward? ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN! And I want to be ready.

Six years of research has made me fairly savvy and honed my DVC instincts. I scour the DVC Resale sites two or three times a week. I look for juicy stripped contracts that are ripe for the picking. I look for several smallish point contracts with the same use year for resorts in which I’ve always wanted to stay. I look at point charts and see how many points I need for a week at a DVC flophouse ™. I look at availability charts to see what weeks and what resorts I can get at the 7 month mark. I want to be prepared. When my ship comes in, I want to be able to pounce. I am ready!

The Disney Vacation Club was created for me.

™ - Intellectual Property of the My DVC Points Podcast