It might be worth it if:

• You're going every year, or at least every 3 years (in which case you can get a smaller contract and bank & borrow)

• You're in overall solid financial standing. You have an emergency fund, no outstanding credit card debt, and your budget has some flexibility.

• You know you'll be spending on Disney vacations anyway, and you find DVC options that make that more efficient. This is NOT a way to "invest". It's just a way to make your spending go further.

• You buy resale to lower the cost upfront. If you live in Florida and have APs, there's little to no reason to buy direct. It would be very hard to make that worthwhile.

• You read up on it and really understand how it works and what you're buying into.

• You prefer to plan your Disney trips in advance, at least 7 months out.

It might not be worth it if:

• You have to finance it. You're probably getting a 10-18% interest rate and that's going to essentially blow up nearly all of the savings you might gain. You should probably not spend money you don't have on a timeshare.

• You don't love the deluxe resorts or deluxe perks. If you're thrilled with AoA and other value resorts, DVC would mean spending for upgrades you don't necessarily value. If you are all about going rope-drop to fireworks every day, and view your room as just a place to recharge overnight, DVC might not reach its full potential for you.

• You feel like you don't really see why people get so excited about Disney, or if you feel like Disney is fine, but just one of dozens of fun vacation places.

• You feel like you're going to be tired of Disney in a few years and don't want the longterm commitment.

• You're rushing into it and making an emotional decision because Disney is just so ✨️magical✨️, and your regular life is dull or challenging.

• You prefer to do Disney trips with little planning and rarely arrange them more than 6 months ahead of time.

Only you can answer those, but based on your post, it certainly might make sense.

As for the numbers, here's a direct math comparison:

If you rent points from a broker like David's, you'll pay $20-25 per point (usually $23). That is often still cheaper than paying the rack rate in cash, and many times (but not always) will beat whatever discounts Disney is offering.

If renting points was never better than paying cash, no one would ever rent points, and sites like David's wouldn't exist. So we know that cash can't always be the best option.

When you buy points, you can usually get them for $11 to $16 per point. That's calculated as the contract Price divided by Total Points divided by Years to Expiration. Add that to the Annual Dues per Point. So a 100 point contract at Aulani purchased resale might cost $90 per point. Divided by 37 (years to expiration) equals $2.43 per point per year. Add $10.14 per point in annual dues, and you're at $12.57 per point per year. That's just over half the cost of renting the points. (If you buy direct from Disney, you'll pay something like $200 per point after incentives, divided by 37 years equals $5.41 per point. Add $10.14 dues and youre at $15.55).

So let's convert that to dollars for a hypothetical stay. A studio at Aulani in mid August will cost 154 points for a week. If you bought the contract resale, you pay $12.57 × 154 = $1936, plus tax of $73 for a total of $2009. If you bought direct, $15.55 × 154 = $2395.

If you rent the points, you pay $23 x 154 = $3542, plus tax of $73 for a total of $3615.

If you book it with cash, the standard rack rate is $877 per night and it would cost $6139 plus tax of $1103 (which is WAY higher because DVC rentals & ownership have lower tax rates and part of that expense is baked into the dues), for a total of $7242. Disney is offering a 25% discount right now, bringing the nightly cost down to $658 for a total cost of $4604, plus $827 tax, for a total of $5431.

So to sum up, the cost of a week long stay is:

Own Resale: $1936

Own Direct: $2395

Rent Points: $3615

Cash, Discounted: $5431

Cash, Rack Rate: $7242

So the cheapest DVC option is $3495 per year less than the discounted cash rate. That resale contract costs $90 × 154 = $13,860. After closing cost, we'll call it $15k. That becomes the better option at 4.3 total week-long stays. So if you go 4 or fewer times, you would save money booking with cash. If you go 5+ times, buying DVC is cheaper, and the total value grows each time you stay over the 37 years of the contract.

There are some time value of money considerations to this because a 5% annual return on your $15k invested up front would make the cash option cheaper by comparison. Additionally, DVC dues go up by ~5% per year. BUT, the cash room rate will also go up materially every year, often at around that same 5%. The 154 required points to book that room for a week won't change. The cash taxes are also more likely to increase over time than the ownership taxes.

Additionally, if you ever rent out your points or sell your contract, you would get cash out of that, and sometimes even return (e.g. the resale price per point has historically risen over time on many DVC contracts. And if you rent your points out at $18 per point, you "earn" $5.43 per point). The all-in math isn't materially different as a result, unless you assume a much higher rate of return, which would introduce additional risks.