Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<DVCers always have a tendancy to do this. There's a basic cost upfront (or financed for years) and last I checked you had to spend at least $16,000 to buy in.>> Those are sunk costs. They remain absolutely the same whether I vacation at WDW or not. The only thing relevant to me is the additional expense I will incur for my current WDW trip. <<In economics and business decision-making, sunk costs are costs that cannot be recovered once they have been incurred. Sunk costs are sometimes contrasted with variable costs, which are the costs that will change due to the proposed course of action, and prospective costs which are costs that will be incurred if an action is taken. In microeconomic theory, only variable costs are relevant to a decision. Economics proposes that a rational actor does not let sunk costs influence one's decisions, because doing so would not be assessing a decision exclusively on its own merits. The decision-maker may make rational decisions according to their own incentives; these incentives may dictate different decisions than would be dictated by efficiency or profitability, and this is considered an incentive problem and distinct from a sunk cost problem.>> Source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost</a>
Originally Posted By dshyates "The only thing relevant to me is the additional expense I will incur for my current WDW trip." But you can't claim it's a great value by ignoring a $16,000+ hotel room.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<But you can't claim it's a great value by ignoring a $16,000+ hotel room.>> But that is not an "expense". I bought my Boardwalk points for $65 per point. Boardwalk resales currently are between $75 and $85 a point. At this point my purchase is not an expense, but has actually increased in value. Obviously this will not go on forever. As the contract nears expiration the points will become worthless. But I (or my children) will have had the use of those points for 42 years. If I spread the cost of my $13,000 purchase over 42 years that comes to $309.52 per year. If you want me to add that to the cost of my yearly vacation I will be glad to do so. I am not going to get into an argument with anyone over whether DVC is "worth it" or not. To some it is; to some it is not. All I know is that it MINIMIZES my CURRENT vacation expense, and that makes WDW for me very affordable compared to other vacation destinations.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip About $50 per month. But like I said, those are sunk costs. They are the same whether I vacation at WDW or not. But if you want me to add in the $600, fine. My base $3,200 + $310 for DVC + $600 for maintenance = $4,110. That is $411 a day which I STILL think is very reasonable compared to other vacation destinations. When I go to Chicago (another favorite vacation spot) I spend $200 per night on hotel (and get a nice room but nothing even close to a DVC One Bedroom unit), at least $100 per day on food, at least $40 per day for taxis, anywhere from $50-$100 per day on entertainment (museum tickets, theater tickets, excursions on the Chicago River, etc). I've not even counted airfare, and my Chicago trip is costing at least $390-$440 per day, which is at least as much as my WDW vacation costs. I'm sure I could vacation in Omaha for a heckuva lot less. But why would I want to?
Originally Posted By dshyates Islamorada is hardly Omaha. But location isn't the whole story. I can show you a hotel in the woods of WV where the cheapest room at the place is about $800 a night. And golf is NOT free. By the way, the Sam Snead that I mentioned earlier was their golf pro. Now why would ANYONE pay those kind of prices to go frickin' White Sulfer Springs, WV. Oh yeah, The Greenbrier. <a href="http://www.greenbrier.com/site/" target="_blank">http://www.greenbrier.com/site/</a>
Originally Posted By MPierce Isn't the Greenbriar where they had the Presidential bunker in case of a nuclear attack?
Originally Posted By dshyates Yes. They now have tours of the Congressional Bomb Shelter. It is really impressive. VERY Dr. Strangelove.
Originally Posted By dshyates <a href="http://www.greenbrier.com/site/bunker.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.greenbrier.com/site...ker.aspx</a>
Originally Posted By MPierce Thanks for the link. I remember watching a program on the History channel about it. I long for the good old days when I only had to worry about a nuclear holocaust, instead of a disintegrating stock portfolio.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 BTW, I don't disagree with what Trippy is saying about the costs -- I don't dislike DVC as HE KNOWS, I just feel it has been overdone at WDW. And I have a DVC cousin at OKW and Vero who is thrilled with being so. My point is I hate it when I hear some DVCer say 'my trip's free' when it is far from it. For some folks, especially those like my cousin, Trippy and VBDAD who bought years ago, DVC 'can' be a value. But it isn't FREE. And it is NEVER is free, even after the original cost is paid for.
Originally Posted By dshyates I don't dislike DVC either, and for regulars I believe that its probably the way to go. I just get irritated that they have 3 large DVC under construction and nothing for the parks. And Disney has not been focasing on the parks in a long time. If the parks were fresh I wouldn't care about DVC at all. but it is obvious they were supping at the fountian of easy credit. And instead of actually putting it into the parks, they were hiring a new level of vice presidents.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <Thanks for the link. I remember watching a program on the History channel about it. I long for the good old days when I only had to worry about a nuclear holocaust, instead of a disintegrating stock portfolio.< yep, and we had the perfect defense in case those Ruskies attacked- you went into the hallway - got down on the floor and covered your head- and you would be fine... LOL !!!
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt Is WDW worth it? maybe! We have recently been trying to set up our summer vacation. Last year WL for a week. Great time! This year we thought we would visit Lake Sabago in ME (DH likes to fish, bought a new boat, let's use it). Well, all of the resorts we've looked into are atleast $2000- a week PLUS $200- for a boat slip! For that kind of money we could spend another week at WL!! Although, with the 4 days/3 free deal, I would much rather the Contemporary!
Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad At the risk of making this a DVC thread I have to ask, how long is the DVC contract? and after the initial $16,000 is $50 a month your only out of pocket?
Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad As for the original question, our vacation package at POR for 8 nights with 8 day park hopper + water parks for 4 people all over 10 yrs old was around $2250. This works out to about $70 dollars a day per person per day. So for base cost yes I think it is worth it. The problem for me comes in how much we spend on all the other stuff. My kids pin trade. We do character meals. We buy souveniers. We ride boats. I have a hard time saying no because I enjoy Disney so much myself. My wife and I have discussed what we call the "Disney Effect". this is where the Disney attitude carries over into regular life. After a few years of visits to WDW we become accustomed to the higher prices at WDW and by comparison start to view things that I used to think were too much in everyday life as normal. I am now much more likely to purchase things now than I was before WDW exposure. Anybody else notice this. It is funny because I'm a guy who packs his every day and have always been very conservative with my money.
