This question gets asked a lot.

Membership in the Disney Vacation Club is not for everyone. DVC can make sense financially -- assuming you would always stay in a deluxe resort. If you always stay in a value resort, then it won't -- but that's not an apples-to-apples comparison. The DVC resorts offer deluxe amenities and room size.

DVC membership might make sense if you meet most or all of these criteria:


The cost of membership and dues does not appear to present a financial hardship.
You vacation at Walt Disney World frequently: ideally at least once every two years.
You plan to continue vacationing at Disney World far enough into the future to make the membership at least break even.
You prefer to stay in Deluxe or DVC accommodations and/or you stay a long time (10 days or more per year). If you always stay at a Value resort, or always stay off-site, or you really spend the entire day at the parks away from your hotel, and you don't spend time at the resort itself (other than crashing at the end of the day), then DVC may not be for you.
You are able to plan your vacations well in advance -- ideally 7 to 11 months out. If you aren't a planner, don't even look at becoming a DVC member. If you can't plan and book your vacations 11 months in advance, and staying at a particular DVC resort is important, then don't join DVC. If you really don't care which DVC resort you end up with, then it's not an issue.
You stay more on weekdays and can limit Friday and Saturday night stays.
You can do without daily mousekeeping and room service (of course, you can pay extra and get mousekeeping as a DVC member).
You desire more space than a typical resort room (such as a 2 bedroom villa, with full kitchen, living room, 2 bathrooms and jacuzzi suite, and even a washer/dryer).
You’re not looking at DVC as an investment or a way to make money (it’s not). It is a decision to prepay, at today's rates, the next several decades of Disney trips.
If the only consideration is whether it makes financial sense, then maybe you should be staying offsite and only eating offsite as well, since that beats staying onsite. Beyond just the financial considerations, DVC membership is emotionally satisfying (you “own a piece of the magic”), and it gives you a reason to take a vacation at WDW.

Buying a DVC membership is a rational, financially viable option for some people: namely people who plan to stay in the higher-end accommodations at Walt Disney World on a regular basis.

Buying into DVC is almost a lifestyle choice. A DVC purchase is a way of committing to an annual Disney vacation with family and friends. For some people, that may outweigh any financial considerations. DVC will pay dividends beyond mere dollars and cents – your return on investment will be the joyous times, the family gatherings, and the experiences of a lifetime.

Only you can determine if DVC membership makes sense for your situation, based upon your lifestyle and financial capabilities.

Mike - I agree with most of what you've written. Thanks for laying those points out for others like that.

My one exception is your comment that if you typically stay at value resorts then dvc probably isn't for you. I definitely disagree on that one, and will use myself as an example. I bought dvc in 1997 - 10 years ago. I've long since broken even on those points by now, which leaves me with dvc stays that only cost me my annual dues - which was averaging me about $50/night (and included some weekends and some trips with larger than a studio). Have you priced value resorts today?? It's not possible to get the cheapest value room in the cheapest season for $50 including tax. So, while the greatest savings are for people used to shelling out $300/night (or more) for the deluxe resorts - it's still a savings in the long term for people staying at a value or even offsite (excluding the $30/night motel places).

Also, for families with more than two children, who would end up paying for two rooms, at a less than Deluxe level, it also makes sense. As for limiting weekend stays, if you want to stay the weekend, it has made sense for us to move to a studio, rather than to pay OOP for a hotel room. We still save the cash that would go to paying for a standard hotel room, and it also allows us to stay at a nicer place. I would rather spend points to stay at a studio at the Beach Club, for example, than to pay cash to stay there, or to pay cash to stay at a less expensive hotel. With banking and borrowing points, it has not been hard to use points to stay the weekend, for at least one trip a year. This year, we are doing four nights in a two-bedroom, during the week, in March. We are doing the Disney cruise (paying OOP) in June, and will stay in on-site studios, at the Beach Club, and Animal Kingdom Lodge, before and after the cruise. There was a little banking and borrowing involved, but we still have plenty of points for next year, and it made a lot more sense, for our cash flow, to use the DVC resources we already paid for. We have just figured that we won't "treat" any extended family to a trip until 2010.

Mike - I agree with most of what you've written. Thanks for laying those points out for others like that.

My one exception is your comment that if you typically stay at value resorts then dvc probably isn't for you. I definitely disagree on that one, and will use myself as an example. I bought dvc in 1997 - 10 years ago. I've long since broken even on those points by now, which leaves me with dvc stays that only cost me my annual dues - which was averaging me about $50/night (and included some weekends and some trips with larger than a studio). Have you priced value resorts today?? It's not possible to get the cheapest value room in the cheapest season for $50 including tax. So, while the greatest savings are for people used to shelling out $300/night (or more) for the deluxe resorts - it's still a savings in the long term for people staying at a value or even offsite (excluding the $30/night motel places).

Sue, the break-even point where DVC begins saving you money compared to staying in an onsite hotel is probably 5-7 years if you always stayed Deluxe and 7-9 if you always stayed Moderate. The break-even point for Values is probably 10-13 years.

It's common for a lot of DVC members to sell their memberships before they reach 10-13 years. It's also common for DVC members to switch from studios to 1-BR and 2-BR units, which pushes out the financial break-even point even further.

Based upon that I can't in good conscience recommend it to those folks who always stay in Value resorts, or for those that stay offsite.

DVC makes great sense (cents). I calculated up the average cost per night for me to stay in a studio room at Deluxe resorts and it is $68 a night with my DVC membership until January 2054. I can't stay at a value resort for that rate now, just imagine what the rates will be several years down the road. We visit Disney about 6 times a year and our DVC will have paid for itself in about 3 years. With the exception of maintenance fees, this means I'll have 44 free years of accommodations in Deluxe resort hotels on property. Yay for DVC!!!