Timeshare Secrets Exposed

The Disney Vacation Club is, as its name says, a vacation club in which you buy membership for a fixed fee and are given points that you can use on its properties. You also pay an annual fee that is subject to increase, though they have historically been around the rate of inflation. The Disney Vacation Club is unique in that you can very easily compare the value of the club membership because you can often buy the lodging even as a non-timeshare owner. I think the most extensive Disney Vacation Club explanation exists at MouseSavers.com, which I find it indispensable if you’re ever planning a Disney vacation.

Let us compare the cost of owning a Disney Vacation Club membership versus all the other options available to you if you were to stay at a resort.

The example used at MouseSavers is this one:
Let’s say you buy 160 points at Saratoga Springs Resort. For purposes of this example, 120 points would cover 11 nights of vacation in a Saratoga Springs Studio unit: a 6-night stay (including one weekend night) in Magic Season and a 5-night stay (including one weekend night) in Choice season.

• Your dues for 160 Saratoga Springs Resort points cost $659 in 2007. (This ignores the buy-in cost of $16,640 and the associated opportunity cost.)
• If you rented points from an owner to stay in a Saratoga Springs studio for the same dates at $11 a point, it would cost you $1760.
• Maybe you’d be just as happy staying in the least expensive Disney Deluxe hotel room, and you’re able to get a modest discount on the hotel room. If you stayed at Wilderness Lodge in Regular Season with a 10% discount, 11 nights would cost you $2925.21 with tax in 2007.
• If you paid the full “rack rate” charged by Disney to stay in a Saratoga Springs studio for 11 nights in Regular season, it would cost you $3789.89 with tax in 2007.

The takeaway here is that the difference between a typical discounted rate, of $3000 for the Wilderness Lodge, is far more than the annual dues of $659 if you owned membership in the Disney Vacation Club. However, even if you factor in the opportunity cost and the fixed membership fee, you’re still looking at savings. So why doesn’t everyone do this?

Not everyone is planning on visiting Disney for eleven days each year. If you were, then the Disney Vacation Club is a perfect choice, much like many other timeshares (especially if you purchase on the secondary market), for the Disney-phile.

So, the lesson here is that if you are going to visit Disney every year like this guy, then timeshares and vacation clubs is your best bet. If you don’t plan on going every year, you could always rent points from an owner and get a big discount!