Why I ended up cancelling my DVC (disney vacation club) contract? 2019

Thanks for sharing your experience. I do think there were a few things working against you here which made it not make as much sense for you:
- As you mentioned, a party size of 6 tips you over into needing two-bedrooms at minimum which vastly increases the number of points needed. A party size of 5 can fit in a lot of studios (not all), so that one extra person means you need ~3x the points. Looking at it, I think the range of DVC accommodations available is just not a good fit for this party size (lots of extra space), and you end up paying a lot more compared to the family suites at All-Star Music and Art of Animation.
- The interest rate for direct financing is quite high and taking such financing pushes out break-even by several years (according to my math I did when evaluating DVC), especially as it was a 10 year term vs. 5 year term.

Sat through the spiel on our Disney cruise and there is no way I can justify the expense. We never stay in accommodations that are more than $250/night ever, and taking the DVC Model for riviera to its full term your daily rate (not including inflation from annual dues costs or interest) would run nearly $400/night for a standard studio. Just for the room. That is best case scenario and sucks IMO.

Dvc is a rip off - noninclusive resort at $600/night on average +massive maintenance fees.

amazing video. u actually stop me on buying DVC. Thank you

Dr Er, thank you so much for the video! The decision is even easier not to do it. Paying and actually staying at the same resorts is better, plus you get the same attention wether you are in or not in the DVC. Definitely not worth it. A $200 maintenance fee is $24,000 in 10 years & a +$700 payment a month is $84,000 in 10 years, TOTAL=$108,000. No way in hell is this a good purchase! Plus the most important thing is that you don’t really own it like other time shares. It expires in 50 years! You can’t even will it to your children so they can pass it down to their families. Not worth it for sure!

It was the best money I ever spent. Seems you did almost no research prior to buying. Sorry it didn't work out for you.

Talk about the savings you can get with a re sale WorldMark Timeshare. You can get about 6000 credits for only 3500 dollars!

Talk about SAVINGS!! I paid with taxes about 7400 dollars for my 6000 credits at WorldMark Trendwest. That was over 20 years ago. I know that WorldMark does not build up equity like most of DVC. I joined RCI the exchange company and paid a 99 dollar fee to be a member. It costs about 240 dollars to do the exchange. When I exchange in to DVC I also pay a service fee that is around 79 dollars. I paid off my Timeshare over 20 years ago. I pay about 742 dollars per year in Maintenance Fees for my WorldMark Timeshare. I can easily get SSR or OKW every year in a 1 bedroom. I used to be able to get in to any DVC. DISNEY DID PUT A STOP TO IT. BECAUSE IT WAS TO GOOD A DEAL FOR NON DVC OWNERS. I can now only get a 1 bedroom in SSR or OKW. I still save Thousands of dollars! Those resorts in a 1 bedroom for a 1 week stay at its lowest price is about 3500 dollars per week. I can get OKW or SSR with in a 3 month booking window for only 4000 credits! Outside that booking window it is 9000 credits. Even 9000 Credits is a fantastic deal! Someone purchasing a WorldMark Timeshare on a resale can save even more money. People can purchase 6000 credits for only 3500 dollars. Imagine the unbelievable SAVINGS! Remember a WorldMark TIMESHARE GOES ON FOREVER! You can will it off to your kids!! There is no expiration like there is with DVC!! TALK ABOUT SAVINGS!!

Thank you Doctor for your clarity in this matter. My husband and I have been tempted many times while we were at Disney and “in the moment “ but fortunately we always walked away and thought it through. We came to the same conclusion as yourself, it’s just not a good value for us. We still visit Disney World and love it though, just on our own terms. Thank you too for all you do, especially now during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Yikes.

Thanks God math is not your strong subject.

I'm a huge Disney fan, and we go once or twice a year from Tennessee, but for this family of 5 this makes sense... We have never stayed on property because we can find an AWESOME 2-3 bedroom unit at a resort 10 minutes off property for roughly $1000 for 7 days...We would love to stay on property one time but can't justify it financially.... Hard to pay that much money when you could stay 10 minutes off property for 1/3 of the price...

so funny

I LOVE THIS GUY....you are hysterical!!

Come on this guy is not stupid. 1 He got a ton of views for this video. 2. When you sign up on board a cruise you typically get a bunch of onboard credits to spend on that cruise. 3. He got some free stuff. He new what he was doing. It is Extremely rare, one could ever say No One buys 400 points, that is a Insane amount.

You didn't understand how timeshare works. You have to book out 11 months in advance to get the vacation you want

I guess my question is that if you're willing to stay at an AirBnB, why wouldn't you be willing to step down from a 2 Bedroom Villa at the Grand Floridian? Which is the only one I found that was around 400 points for the week, to maybe something more modest at Saratoga Springs? At that point you would have only needed around a 250 point contract, which BTW you could buy right now on the secondary market for around 23K. Sure you wouldn't have gotten the cool hat and the cool Backpack, but you would have gotten a contract that would be good until 2054, well into your 70's. If you don't have good credit and would have financed via Monera, you could have gotten it for 2K down and $359 a month (MUCH less if you have good credit!), add to that $134 a month for maintenance and your total less than 500 a month, or 6K a year. YES, DVC requires planning, but the truth is you already know when your kids get Spring Break, your anniversary, time off in the summer. Usually as long as I'm making plans 4 to 7 months in advance, I have zero problems getting the rooms I want.
5 years ago I bought a 220 point contract at Vero Beach for 8K. That same contract today is probably selling for around 14K. This year, I went to Boardwalk Villa on the 3rd week of march (my son's Spring Break) and stayed in a 2BR Villa from Sunday through Thursday with some family friends and it only cost 164 points. With the leftover points we booked another vacation from Sunday through Thursday during the week of my son's Birthday in Sept. in a Studio in Saratoga Springs. I looked up both reservations, just to see how much they were in Cash. The 2BR Villa at Boardwalk would have cost me around 6K and the Studio around 1.5K, so in just ONE year I got almost the same value as what I paid for the contract. True that I've been paying Maintenance, which started at around 1500 a year 5 years ago and next year will be 1900 (about 3% a year increase), but considering that maintenance fees have been going up at half the rate that the hotel rooms have been going up, it's STILL a good deal. Every year the gap between what I pay in maintenance and what it would have cost me to rent the same room has been widening and keep in mind that's with me owning at Vero Beach, which has the absolute HIGHEST maintenance fees of ANY DVC resort. If you own at Old Key West or Saratoga Springs, maintenance is around 1/3rd less!

No Maid service???!!! Nope 👎 that is not acceptable.

Who spends that kind of money with out researching it?

This guy is a moron - his maths are like 2+2=17 ... I mean who the heck doesn’t understand % interest !!

400 points was WAY too much, even for 6 people. 200 points a week gets you a 2 bedroom. If you go every year. Every other year you can spend 2 weeks. At animal kingdom! Plus all the discounts you get as a member. You will end up spending more for the same without it.

You can rent DVC points instead of buying the membership and save a ton. We almost bought into it, but it wasn’t a smart move financially for us, so we looked into renting points. It saves a TON of money, but I am not locked into a 50+ year contract. Win win!

This is why you don’t finance these kinds of things without at least 50% down

Having been a DVC Member for 20 years and counting, I can truly say that it was well worth it.  I get an allotment of 450 points a year.  I've been able to bring both sides of my family on my side and my wife's side, and we've made nothing but lasting memories.  I will say that when we did the tour, we purchased 3 years later.  That began years of memories.  It's truly what you make it, but I can assure that if I wasn't part of DVC, I could not go as much as I do coming from NJ.  I'm enjoying DVC.

Shocking that an ER doctor would do such poor research before buying, and then not actually doing the math beforehand. DVC is a great value if done right, this guy just did everything backwarf

lol...

DVC is worth it if you buy resale. If you buy directly through Disney now, it's gotten way too expensive. I'm thinking of buying resale during the next recession when more people will be looking to sell them. also, financing a timeshare is not a good idea.

Lol - why bother researching beforehand? Duh

Waste of money! Just go on a budget, save for a vacation and you will be able to vacation a lot more for a lot less with lots of family memories years to come! Mickey has enough money, he is very greedy! Don't let him brain wash you by telling you how much money you are saving with him as a DVC member with no discounts on park tickets or Dining plan etc....

You 100% shouldn't IMPULSE buy DVC. You should have done your research.

Should you book with a travel agent for a 5 night stay at Disney ?

Completely shocked that you would buy 400 points without doing these calculations. Also, for people who haven’t checked out DVC and are interested, PLEASE venture beyond this video and do more research.

We travel and see other locales, but like to go back to Walt Disney World every year or two. Over time, our family save on the vacations we take PLUS, we have been able to treat extended family to a free room when they go (with or without us). The product isn’t right for everyone, but this video does NOT explain the cons in a helpful manner. Most DVC owners are not spending 120k 🙄

Yeah, I've done the math many times and I just can't even make it work either. Between the maintenance fees, the skyrocketing ticket and meal prices and the horrendous overcrowding, I just wouldn't want to be married to Disney for the entirety of my vacation budget every year. The final nail in the coffin was when I rented points to try it out and found out just how darn difficult it was to get a stay where and when you wanted, even at 10 months out. I'm sure it works for some people, but there are people who are convinced the dining plan saves them money too - so who knows ?

It’s nice to stay in Disney but not for that amount of money you can rent a house and drive in

DVC? NO WAY! I rent great houses just outside Disney for a fraction of the price and effort. I also travel all around the world. ...not just Disney.

This guy clearly had NO IDEA what he was doing. This is just being a foolish consumer. You need to figure out how many points you need depending on how often you go. 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

Disney vacations should be planned 5-6 months out to manage Advance Dining Reservations and FastPasses in my estimation, so that is a problem for you.

$1000 a month. I just must not be living right.

No way could I afford it, let alone justify it.

Last trip cost us $3k for a week including food, room and tickets for 4

Wise man. Just rent DVC points if you ever want to stay in DVC accommodations or buy points through resale. Much, much cheaper. 😊

You can still stay like a DVC member by renting points and staying at the same dvc resorts. You can also schedule those closer than the dvc 11-month and 7-month windows.

DVC is not for everyone. What is great is the 10 day to rescind your contract.

Our family have been DVC members since 2002 and for us it has been awesome. Before considering buying everyone should research. There is a lot of reputable information on the internet both good and bad but always do your own math and make decisions that are right for your family.

DVC is great if you love coming to Disney, are willing to pay a premium to stay on property, have a budget for vacation and are a planner. There is a vlogger Jen Leforge who has a great vlog, is a DVC member and has published a video on who should not buy DVC which is on point.

Never buy for the perks. They are not in the contract and can be ended at anytime.

Only buy what you can afford. You can buy more points later.

There is also a robust resale market. We bought our original contract from DVD and bought two contracts years later resale from the Timeshare Store for thousands less.

Unlike normal timeshares there is a vibrant market and historically prices have gone up. I bought @ Beach Club @$81 per point in 2002 and recent sales have been $130 per point - unheard of in timeshare industry.

Lastly I can't say it enough DVC is awesome for my family, but its not for everyone.

You can stay in a value resort for £87 a room per night which sleeps 4 people which will give you access to EMH for two days. So you could stay there for 3 nights and a villa the rest of your stay. Works out so much cheaper!

$12,000 is essentially what a 2 bedroom villa costs for a week for a cash reservation at Disney. 400 points is an exorbitant amount of points for someone who went on a single trip to Disney and liked it. And you don't need 400 points to stay in a 2 bedroom villa either. When planned correctly, for someone who does Disney every year (or even every 3 years), DVC can save them boat loads of money. You just made a completely uneducated decision. You decided to finance 70 grand worth of DVC points and then made a video to say why it's a bad program. Ridiculous.

DVC is awesome! Been a member since 2007. Bought in at 250 points. Twelve year into the 50 year membership, I've already more than broken even on my investment. If this guy really committed to $120 K then he must have bought in at over 600 points which is far more than you need. This is a bunch of nonsense.

You did not even address the yearly maintenance contract that increases about 3% each year.

You completely missed the Fantasy Boat on dvc. First of all planning an expensive vacation or just a long vacation has to be done in advance with just about any vacation. Even Grand canyon. Change the way you typically book your vacation and it works out. The other thing is you had to finance costing you more money than those who don't finance. Also, book a 2 bedroom Villa at copper Creek for example. Going to run you about 275 points. Now you have 125 points left over. Put those points on the point rental site. That can get you 14$ a point. Thats 1750$ you can use to help purchase park tickets. The annual dues you pay are no different any owning any other type of property. Even your main dwelling. You typically spend 3 percent of your homes value annually to maintain it. This deed is for 50 years so after you pay off your loan, you still have 40 years to go-to Disney or tent your points. 400 at 14$ is 5600$. If you love the mouse, look at today's cost to stay Dec 30 through Jan 5. 2 bedroom copper Creek Villa. Now that is expensive. Given that Disney is likely never going to reduce the price of staying at a Disney resort, you will only be saving more money Everytime you use the points.

We have 600 actual dvc points. We paid cash up front, typically only use 250 to 280 points a year. We rent the test out. It covers our annual dues and annual passes every year. In top of that we order food from Amazon to be delivered to our Villa. Keeps us from having to eat every meal with our food looking like a mouse.

What about Maintenance Fees for a DVC? We have a timeshare outside WDW that is paid off (interest rate was very low 20 years ago) so our only costs are exchange fees IF we book another resort in the network - PLUS yearly maintenance fees (like a condo fee) that are now about $2000 for a year (we budget for that). When we break down the costs, it's affordable for US but the initial investment was much lower than a DVC. Plus, our unit is a weeks unit and not points so we lock ourselves into a weekly vacation, which is less flexible but cheaper.

Thank you! I love the honest opinion!

The glorification of DVC is so hyped up currently. I needed this video to talk me down. And the money to buy it!!