Freaks in the (Spread)Sheets

I'm going to make a copy and nerd on that soon. I made a simple spreadsheet the other day showing how I could switch between a studio and 2 bedroom on 100 points at Disneyland from one year to the next. But I didn't save it. 😓

Let me know what you think! If it doesn’t suit your needs PM me and we’ll get your use case incorporated! I think this thread could be valuable because I know how much time I spend on that one double and triple checking it (I 100% not so secretly enjoyed it though)…no sense for folks to reinvent the wheel!

Brilliant! I'm not excel proficient, but I am a data nerd (I know, sounds incompatible; we're like the rare white rhino ;)

Does anyone know (or already have) a spreadsheet that allows you to play around with projected point needs for trips?

We have a big family trip (think 3BD/2BD and split stays), and we're thinking about locations and configurations (all while staying within the points we have available). I'm imagining something that allows to select some dates, then the rooms/resort, and POOF you see a point total for the trip. Then, change the room type and POOF POOF - new total.

Again, fully acknowledging my spreadsheet (shame) deficiency...don't know if this is even possible.

DVCFan has a good calculator for trip planning that focuses on point needs. https://app.dvcfan.com/point-chart-calendar. You can enter in the resort/dates/room type and it will calculate the total point needs. Sounds like what you need.

I love a good spreadsheet - I often make my own but I'm usually the only one who can understand them lol.

I did make one awhile back comparing whether it was better to buy VDH direct or VGC resale taking into account the Transient Occupancy Tax that you are charged at VDH.

You can see some of the spreadsheet I made in an old blog post I wrote here: https://dvcfan.com/purchasing-dvc/is-disneyland-hotel-or-grand-californian-a-better-investment/

Oooh. Yes. I'll go hunting for it now. Thanks

Thank you so much! This is very helpful. I might need some help understanding all of it LOL

This is a nice tool. 👌 Thanks for pointing this out.

This is the spreadsheet I made when comparing resale contracts with different home resorts and amounts of points already used by the seller to compare the cost/point: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qxcPxKy7UQnXdBKWynKWUUKKGzOiZ7vKX8WPPkIxtFk/edit?usp=drivesdk

I hope someone else might find it useful.

I feel at home here. 😆

Happy to help! Feel free to post any questions here or DM me.

I’m just here for the name of this thread. 😂 It’s hilarious.

Your spreadsheet is excellent! In particular i like the functionality to look at the cost of staying elsewhere with your points.

I like the overall PV of all dues but find that due to contract length differences its a tough measure to compare. I’ve been working on looking at that but on an annualized basis.

By far, the cleanest and easiest way to do cost/benefit analysis of future cash flows is with a Net Present Value model. Just discount every future cash flow to the present, then add up the costs and benefits. A few advantages of this approach:

1. It puts everything in today's dollars, which is intuitive to you because that's what your life is in right now.

2. It ensures you aren't missing any inflationary moves, either in dollars or in points. It's quite common for people to recognize that an upfront contract purchase in today's dollars has a higher nominal value in future years. But it seems easy to miss the fact that points have higher nominal values in the future due to increasing rack rates. When you use a discounted NPV approach, you ensure that this is all taken into account.

3. You can easily tweak the rates and assumptions to see how various scenarios might play out.

My resale BLT contract had an NPV of over $125K compared to rack rates, and $75K compared to buying stays at a 25% discount. It's Internal Rate of Return was 19%.