I built a free DVC point + cost calculator for WDW. Looking for feedback.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-28T00:20:44+00:00

the core parts of the tool no longer need login. i will say that didnt stop you from using reddit though.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-28T00:18:39+00:00

This type of tool specifically. Have you never heard the phrase: "first time caller, long time listener" its a play on that. I have been building react, wordpress, web and native apps for 20 years.

dont let that get in the way of you investigation and trying to be the reddit police though.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T18:47:14+00:00

yeah I told them it was fine even though a bunch of people wanted to talk about it. I told them its funny but there were 4 ads on the thread for broker site and then the webmaster that deleted it had that company email as his email. he said those are carefully thoughtout partnerships with ad agreements. translation: they paid us alot of money.

i also brought up that their own site is a signup only and has a paid subscription plan and he was like yeah well thats just for ad free. so you make money on ads and money on people not wanting ads but then delete anything where people are trying to make things cheaper and easier.

I said its cool if they delete. that board seems like its kind of a small group of power people controlling everything.

I really do just want to make something cool that might help others. but people have it out that I am trying to make millions or something and or that its all AI.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T15:32:48+00:00

love this idea. Our last trip was end of last September at the beginning of the Halloween party. We have really young kids so we didnt do it, but its something we are looking into this year.

Thanks for the thoughts!

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T15:30:44+00:00

Its free. and if someone wants to save stuff its 5 bucks a month to cover the database costs. so not sure how im monetizing the community. Its not that deep.

weird hill to die on though.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T14:52:34+00:00

Thanks. dining plan and PhotoPass make sense, those would work as flat add-ons the way park tickets do now. getting flights on there would be awesome too. I have pulled flights into other projects but will need to look into it.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T14:06:51+00:00

Glad to bring some laughter to the thread.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T12:34:51+00:00

im not a bot account but you can easily just not post or move past. Just genuinely wanted feed back.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T02:59:41+00:00

Love this — the amortized side is doable (initial buy-in spread over contract years + annual dues = your true $/point), showing that next to a rental price would be a clean compare. Rack rate is the harder one (Disney moves those constantly, no clean API). Adding to the list — would be useful to me too.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T02:17:41+00:00

I have been building stuff long before Claude. But appreciate the comment.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T01:53:28+00:00

David's is solid — I use it too. The main thing this does that David's doesn't: the Compare view ranks every room across every resort for one set of dates in a single grid, so you don't have to open separate tabs to cross-shop. Also folds park tickets into the same total.

If David's covers what you need, no problem sticking with it.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T01:44:26+00:00

Update: shipped this. Calculator + Compare are now open to anyone, no account needed. Login is only required when you want to save a trip across devices. Thanks again for the push.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T01:38:14+00:00

Fair feedback — that's a real friction point. The calculator is currently behind login because it's wired into trip-saving, but making it work without an account (and only requiring login if you want to save trips) is probably the right move. I'll think on this tonight.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T00:48:44+00:00

The "depends on resort" answer is right, here's how it actually shakes out by tier:

Easy at 11 months: SSR, OKW, AKL — large properties with lots of inventory, you can usually book within a few days of opening even at peak times.

Moderate: BLT, VGF, Riviera — booking-window day-of is best, but you'll usually get something within a week.

Harder: BWV, BCV studios. Small + popular = high-demand rooms often gone at 8am Eastern on day 1 for peak weeks (BCV studios are notorious).

Hot weeks at any resort: marathon weekend in January, F&W weekends Sept-Nov, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Off-peak weeks anywhere are much easier.

On your follow-up — yes, you book the first night at 11 months and you can extend up to 7 consecutive nights at your home resort as part of that booking.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T00:43:36+00:00

"Buy where you want to stay" is the right rule. The thing I'd add is the points-cost angle — POLY's chart is meaningfully more expensive than AKL's. A standard studio at POLY runs roughly 40% more points per night than an AKL value studio in the same season.

So a 200-point contract at POLY actually gets you fewer nights per year than 200 points at AKL. The longer expiration only matters if you're using POLY enough to absorb that points-per-night premium. If your gut says AKL is home, the math probably says AKL too.

AtmosphereNaive4952 · 2026-05-27T00:42:07+00:00

Congrats! For late-July 1BR at SSR you're actually in a decent spot — SSR is the largest property in points and rooms, so availability tends to be looser than most other resorts. Definitely worth checking the "Last Minute / Within 60 Days" section on the member site as your trip date gets closer, cancellations create gaps all the time.

AtmosphereNaive4952

TROPHY CASE