Best Economical DVC Resort To Purchase: Spring 2018

Disney's Aulani

At DVC Resale Market we like to keep an economic Disney Vacation Club Resort (DVC) ranking maintained for our clients as prices, dues, resorts and Disney can change over time.  We started this ranking in the Fall of 2014, and this blog represents our 8th in the series: Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, and Fall 2017.

The chart below provides a long-term economic ranking of Disney Vacation Club resorts to own.  The long-term value considers price, dues and years remaining on the deed to ultimately get to a price per point per year.  This ranking may provide directional information in choosing a resort to own, especially for those Members or potential New Members who are less concerned about home resort priority and more focused on economic savings.

Spring 2018 Changes in DVC Economic Ranking

There was no surprise that Grand Floridian fell in the rankings as the price has risen sharply in the last couple of months in large part driven by Disney’s direct price increase on January 17th.  Surprisingly, despite an even sharper price increase in resale price, Grand Californian is still hanging on to its 8th place ranking on the list.

Disney's Grand Floridian

Copper Creek entered our list for the 1st time.  While it still has a low sample size, typically only having 2-6 active resale listings in the marketplace at any given time, it has now been present in the DVC resale market for more than six months and as a result should be given a ranking.  Despite having the longest deed life, it enters at a ranking of 9th.  This lower ranking is due to price and higher dues.

Disney's Copper Creek at Wilderness Lodge

Which DVC Resort Ranks #1?

The answer to which resort ranks #1 has been the same since we’ve been performing these rankings for the past several years, Saratoga Springs.  With the lowest dues in the network, a below average resale price and 36 years still remaining it is tough to beat on value.  Granted, part of the reason the price remains low is due to the 11 month home resort priority not being a factor for this resort unless you are trying to book the tree-house villas.  Outside of the tree-house accommodations, Saratoga Springs is typically the easiest DVC resort for availability.

Disney's Saratoga Springs

 

Technically, an Aulani subsidized dues contract would rank ahead of Saratoga Springs with a total cost per point per year of $8.09 vs. $8.64.  However, do to their scarcity, much like Vero Beach subsidized contracts we do not include them in the rankings.  However, we do include Extended Old Key West contracts as they are not as scarce and continue to grow in numbers.  Whenever Disney buys back an Old Key West contract and resells them, they are automatically given an extended 2057 deed expiration date vs. a 2042 end date.  Conversely, whenever a subsidized contract is bought back by Disney, it will no longer be subsidized when resold.

DVC Resort Economical Rankings: Spring 2018

Resort Avg. Cost Per Pt. Years Left Cost Per Pt. Per Year from Price 2018 Dues Per Pt. Total Cost Per Pt. Per Year Rank: Fall 2017 Rank: Spring 2018 Rank Change 
Saratoga Springs $100 36 $2.78 $5.86 $8.64  1  1   —
Old Key West (Extended) $101 39 $2.59 $6.72 $9.31  3  2   +1
Bay Lake Tower $144 42 $3.43 $5.92 $9.35  2  3    -1
Polynesian $152 48 $3.17 $6.20 $9.37  5  4   +1
Animal Kingdom $110 39 $2.82 $6.76 $9.58  6  5   +1
Grand Floridian $167 46 $3.63 $6.13 $9.76  4  6    -2
Aulani* $107 44 $2.43 $7.54 $9.97  7  7   —
Grand Californian $187 42 $4.45 $5.88 $10.33  8  8   —
Copper Creek $158 50 $3.16 $7.26 $10.42  N/A  9  N/A
Old Key West $93 24 $3.88 $6.72 $10.60  9 10    -1
Hilton Head $81 24 $3.38 $7.72 $11.10 11 11   —
Boulder Ridge $104 24 $4.33 $6.93 $11.26 10 12    -2
Vero Beach** $69 24 $2.88 $8.53 $11.41 12 13    -1
Boardwalk $121 24 $5.04 $6.55 $11.59 13 14    -1
Beach Club $144 24 $6.00 $6.44 $12.44 14 15    -1
 – Average cost per point based on average asking price on disneydvcresale.com March ’18
 – *Aulani with subsidized dues would be at $8.09 for a total cost per pt. per year (dues for 2018 are $5.66/pt.)
– **Vero Beach with subsidized dues would be at $9.59 for a total cost per pt. per year (dues for 2018 are $6.71/pt.)

 

Additionally, this cost per point per year from the chart above can be used to help determine what a DVC Member theoretically pays for a Disney Vacation Club Villa.  For example, let’s say you purchased a Beach Club contract and were going to stay at a Beach Club studio for one night on a weekday in Dream Season during Flower and Garden Season at Epcot.  The amount of points needed for that one night would be 16, and the estimated cost per point per year according to the chart above would be $12.44.  So multiply the number of points needed by the cost per point and the result is 16 x $12.44 or $199/night.

Click to view DVC Resale Market’s current listings

Disney's Beach Club

Comments

  • Michelle
    August 13, 2018

    I’m a little confused. For Saratoga Springs is the amount per point going up to $8.64 a point for dues? I’m not sure that I’m reading the chart correctly. I’m still new to all of this. Sorry for the crazy questions.

    • Nick Cotton
      August 13, 2018

      Michelle, no, the dues for Saratoga Springs are not going up to $8.64/pt. What the chart is showing is a cost per point per year with dues for Saratoga, which are $5.86/pt. plus the purchase price per point per year of roughly $2.78/pt. The $8.64 is just a way of trying to account for not only the dues but what you paid to purchase the points. Hopefully this helps.

  • Mel
    July 9, 2018

    Sorry, I’m still new to this DVC world. What does “subsidized” mean? In the article it said when Disney buys back subsidized contracts, they will no longer be when resold. TIA

    • Nick Cotton
      July 9, 2018

      Mel, “subsidized” refers to Disney covering part of the costs of your annual dues each year. This has been done at Vero Beach and Aulani due to miscalculations in estimating what they expected the dues to be. There are very few Vero Beach contracts left with subsidized dues, in fact, we only see a Vero Beach subsidized contract every couple of years. However, there are still Aulani subsidized dues contracts that come through on the resale market. For example, in 2018, Disney will cover roughly $1.88/pt. of dues for an Aulani subsidized contract. If Disney does not exercise right of first refusal on a subsidized contract sold, the subsidy is transferable.

  • Carlos
    July 7, 2018

    Good article. Thank you!

  • country backlinks
    June 27, 2018

    Hello. Thanks.Great article.

  • Vikki Cerbin
    June 14, 2018

    Using your point cost per year, is that number if purchased this year? Is that at the resale price? I purchased OKW resale three years ago and when I calculate the point cost per year using the amount I paid as well as the dues, I’m coming up with a lower figure. Of course, I had 27 years in my contract when I purchased which I’m sure is also contributing to the lower cost. Should I be using the numbers from the price I paid and the years left on the contract when I purchased?

    • Nick Cotton
      June 14, 2018

      Vikki, to compare what you purchased I would use the price you paid, and if you purchased 3 years ago the price was very likely less. However, given you are looking at a snapshot of value now, I would use the current years left vs. the years left at the time of your purchase.

  • Chris
    June 4, 2018

    Hey Nic! Didn’t realize you had been doing these analysis, would have saved me the excel practice about a year ago! Happy to know I made much of the same deductions.
    I see about a 30% spike in resale price over last year, that attributed to Disney paying more on rofr?
    At current pace direct contracts of 75 points will be a potential hold and profit like my 50 contract at AK from 08.

  • Another calculation needed
    May 24, 2018

    I am in some agreement on this, but the calculation I try to maintain is what is the value of my points.

    Example: Using OKW points at Poly is a better deal than using BLT points at Poly. Points needed are the same, point costs are different. Although I think we will need to use our 11 month window for OKW for late Fall of 2019 due to Star Wars.

  • David Poole
    May 15, 2018

    Hi Nick,

    Just want to say I’ve read a load of the blogs and they’re full of very useful information.

    I’m anticipating having my 3rd contract in a row taken at ROFR stage in the coming days, AKL, SSR, SSR. The information you have on here is making me think i should change tactic for my 4th attempt.

    Many thanks

    • Nick Cotton
      May 15, 2018

      Thank you David, I’m glad you’ve found the blogs helpful. Best of luck passing ROFR!

  • Jason
    April 26, 2018

    How do you calculate the average asking price for each resort? For example if there are two listings and one is 100 pts at $100 and the other is 400 pts at $110 do you calculate the average price at $105 or $108? Do you weight the average cost per pt based on the number of pts listed or is it just a straight average per listing?

    • Nick Cotton
      April 26, 2018

      Jason, we use the “average listing price” and not the “weighted average listing price” from disneydvcresale.com. We don’t use the weighted as that would have the larger contracts influencing the average unproportionally, where in this case we want each contract to be represented proportionally.

  • Rodney Walsh
    April 15, 2018

    It seems that Vero would be a better buy. You pay about 285 dollars more on 100 points in fees. Your initial price is 3600 more for Saratoga springs. It would take you roughly 12 – 13 years to make up the difference, not accounting for the time value of money. I don’t really want it for more than 20 years anyway. The fee increases can not continue at their current rate over inflation, or none of them will be a good value.

    • Nick Cotton
      April 15, 2018

      Rodney – the focus of this blog is over the long term or life of the Membership, but I completely agree with your point. Vero is an excellent buy right now, especially for anyone not concerned about home resort priority and are thinking in a 12-13 year scope or less. And even in your scope of 20 years, it deserves consideration due to the time value of money.

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