I can’t say I wasn’t warned. I was told by many of the seasoned veterans on the DVC forums at DISboards.com that once I bought into DVC, I would be taken with this strange affliction called add-on-itis.
Add-on-itis is the malady that affects new and veteran DVC owners alike. Symptoms include an insatiable craving for more points, a process of creative rationalization that strains the bounds of sanity and a wanton disregard for money by way of the kind of creative accounting once the sole domain of politicians and mafia bosses.
It begins innocently enough. You thought long and hard about DVC. You had many discussions with your husband/wife, you scoured the message boards, asked question after question, weighed the pros and cons, tossed and turned while considering all aspects of DVC – do I buy direct, or resale? Do I buy at Vero Beach for cheap points, or do I buy at Bay Lake Tower so I have that 11 month window? Then, the moment of reckoning – you decide it’s time to pull the trigger. You buy into to DVC with 150 points! You’ve done it – you’re a DVC Member! You own a piece of Walt Disney World and will now take your place among the great real estate barons of history.
You’re also a Disney fan with a new toy and you want to play with it. A LOT. So, you begin figuring out how you’re going to spend your newly acquired points. Like Eisenhower planning the invasion of Normandy, you begin to map out your next visit to Walt Disney World and your first visit as a DVC member. You excitedly enter your dates only to find that your home resort has no studios available (unless your home resort is Saratoga Springs, in which case you’re fine). You realize with horror that the deluxe studio you had based your decision on was going to be much tougher to book than you realized.
If you REALLY wanted to get the most use of your points, and have some flexibility on how far out you could book, you’d need enough points for a one bedroom! The realization hits you that the common sense approach you took when deciding to buy in to DVC in the first place was woefully naive. So, you begin stalking the resale web sites for good deals . “I’m just looking, it doesn’t cost anything to look” (rationalization). So you look, and you look, and you find that perfect contract. The one that will make everything alright.
You might also start thinking things like “What if my sister and her family want to join us?” or “Great Aunt Susie and her 6 alcoholic step-daughters have been talking about wanting to do a family trip to Disney World”, and of course, the ever-present thought – ” If I just grab another 75 points, I’ll be satisfied! ” (Insatiable craving) Then starts the back-of-the-napkin calculations (creative accounting). You say “If I don’t eat for a month, and walk the fourteen miles to work every day, the money I’ll save will more than cover the investment – and the kids don’t really need college. Little Johnny is a great kid, but he’s got ‘trade school’ written all over him. It will be fine… “
And then it starts. You put an offer in on a resale contract. You wait on the right of first refusal decision like Casey Anthony waiting on a verdict. You begin wondering what will happen if Disney takes the contract in right of first refusal? What will I do??? I need to be prepared! So you start looking at ‘backup contracts’, you know the contracts you’ll make an offer on if this one falls through. You find two or three that you had missed before (or maybe they were newly listed) and wow – they’re even better deals than the last one. Then you see it! Another “perfect” contract! Right use year, great price, and “I’ve always wanted to stay at the Grand Floridian, but I won’t be able to unless I have that 11-month window – and look – this contract has 200 points available immediately, I can take an extra trip this year”. And so it goes….
😂😂 you may understand me better than my own husband 😂😂😂
WOW, you got it bad. Great ideas though😂
This is me. Totally me. I purchased 145 SSR in ’17 and then got this REALLY bad itch. I could scratch it enough until I submitted an offer for BCV 30 resale in ’19. I looked up back up contracts and then started bugging my mother to buy with a small resale contract, too… Passed ROFR with 30 BCV and now I continue to bug my mother – because I KNOW she would like to come with us when we go in her own room… #DVCforlife
Was about ready to pull the trigger on buying in until recently.
Now I’m back on the fence, due to personal reasons regarding in park price hikes, customer service, paying more getting less etc ( in my opinion ) Although watching DVC / DIS content sure tempts me to go ahead and take the plunge.
Staying at Old Key West 2 bedroom villa May 22nd for a week. Although I have stayed at other DVC resorts this trip could be the deciding factor.
This new DVC Fan forum has been very informative & a great add on under the DIS umbrella. Keep up the good work!
Would love to me up with team while we’re there if y’all are out and about in the parks. Heck feel free to review our villa if you need content…
Again great & informative content Pete & team!
I feel ya Pete! I have been wanting to add on for a while. Besides the original sticker shock of the contract, just calculating how much it will cost me to maintain the contracts is what keeps me from pulling the trigger…well that and my wife would kill me using a real trigger. Haha! How do you handle the continued and increasing costs to maintain the contracts that you continue to purchase?
“Aunt Susie and her 6 alcoholic step-daughters” ” Little Johnny is a great kid, but he’s got ‘trade school’ written all over him. It will be fine… “ ” like Casey Anthony waiting on a verdict.” Oh and the Ramen noodle image. Dying laughing!!!!!
We feel your pain. We started at 190 and added on three times to get to 300.
Welcome to the madness.
5 contracts here…. 🙂 Original one at VWL, now Boulder Ridge, 2 at BWV, and 2 at OKW.
Oh em Gheee- You had me rolling this morning.
So funny! Probably why my husband has always said no on purchasing DVC.
I’ve been happy with our VGC. We’re in SoCal and haven’t been to WDW. Last year we went to Aulani. I’m thinking about putting our kids in public school to get 300 Aulani points.
omg This is all so true bought into Saratoga back in 2006 and have never stayed there yet so addicted to “the Grand” and Bay Lake and with two teenage Girls we are spoiled saving points for two years In order to get a two bedroom. As I thought we would get older and out grow it ..Our hunger has only grown stronger for more and more Disney !!!
This was so us in 2015! Well, me really. My husband was just along for the ride! I picked the perfect loaded Vero Beach resale for the low buy-in cost, and I had 3 backup contracts ready! We got the Vero Beach, and have loved every minute of DVC ownership.
This post totally nailed it! The commentary had me legitimately laughing out loud.
Finally pulled the trigger and we bought 150 SSR points resale and before the contract was even out of ROFR, I called DVC and bought 75 BLT points direct just so we could get in the system and start making reservations. Now I spend at least 30 minutes each day prowling the websites looking for new contracts that I wish I could pounce on. 🙂
Oh no!! These symptoms are exactly what I’m going through now!!! At least I have it narrowed down to three resorts and I’m (almost) positive it will be resale. I’m sure once I just get this second contract, the addonitis will resolve itself 😆
Getting a second contract will resolve addonitis, very funny! I’m now looking for my third……
Owned 150 OKW direct for a while. A huge extended family trip (19 of us) had me convinced we needed 2 OKW GV. What’s a girl to do?
Added on 220 pt OKW resale for $72/pt in December 2017.
Want to take my parents to Aulani in 2020. Looked like 1BR Island View in early June might be hard to get at 7 months. Plus, I would love to get 2 BR Ocean View, so I can also take my daughter & grandkids. What’s a girl to do?
Between ROFR & closing on 220 pt Aulani resale for $85/pt now.
Once the dust settles, we’ll (hopefully) settle into a 3 year pattern of longer trips… year 1 660 pts at Aulani, year 2 450 pts at OKW/WDW, year 3 660 pts at OKW/WDW. Repeat.
More articles by Pete, please!!! Nailed it on the mental negotiations you do with yourself.
I’ve never seen a more truthful article than this one!!! Researched for 6 months to get that first contract and have since bought wo more LOL
Thought I had headed this off by buying 983 points to start. But…oops no. Have another 300 points in ROFR right now. Oh, and I am typing this from a 2BR Savannah view at AKL! Only 51 days till our next trip. The struggle is real!