What finally prompted you to purchase?

[DOREEN1779]

I have the bug, the DVC bug. Financially, it makes sense but my husband is hesitant. The layout and offerings of the villa's works best for our family. If you or your spouse was hesitant, what finally convinced you to purchase? What size contract is best to start with?

 

[BestDadEver]

Well neither of us were hesitant ,but when I saw the price go up 3 times in a very short period of time that is what prompted me to buy .

 

[DVCmom4]

What did it for us is our first trip with the kids cost us just under $20,000! We knew that we wanted to take them back and we needed to find a better way. We looked in the buying from Disney or resale and thought about how we would use it. After about 6 more months we decided that buying resale would be best for us! We have 348 points, our home is Bay Lake Towers, and it cost us little more than our first trip with the kids!! Now our trips cost only around $5000 with airfare and dining plan, for a family of 6 that's not bad! (by the way now my dad is coming with us too)

Our first DVC trip was three years ago! We wouldn't change it!

 

[bakerworld]

About 5 years before joining we started buying APs which saved us $$ on our yearly trips with the various discounts but also inspired us to go more frequently than annually. Then we started using the discounts on better venues and found we really enjoyed the Epcot area. After about 4 stays DH said DVC made sense - if we were going to stay at the Epcot venues we might as well do it at the price of the moderates.

 

[Rmgdisney]

My husband LOVES Disney World and we usually go every couple of years. I personally have become valued (resort)out. Earlier this year we were planning on staying @ POFQ , I was really looking forward to it. To my surprise I did some research and learned about the DVC resale market. So I thought that if we could get a small contract (50pts) we could bank and borrow to go every 2 years and take a year off (staying in a studio). So we cancelled the POFQ and used that money and some to purchase a 50 point SSR contract. We have our 1st trip booked in December, really looking toward to it! I have a feeling that addontis will strike soon lol...

Oh by the way I was the hesitant one.....

 

[Pirate Granny]

We rented points for a GV at OKW for our family vacation for 11 of us in 2011...it sold my hubby and I...wasn't sure about the yearly maintenance fees, but the resort was perfect and the space unbelievable ... We're making plans for our 2014 trip. We bought enough points to borrow and bank every three years! Of course addonitis struck and we have BCV points for the pool and VWL for Christmas visits...those points are for "our" vacations...this year we took our youngest grandson to BCV...now we plan to take each of them on their "own" trip in the years in between the entire family trips. Such fun...

 

[TIMLEO007]

For us, we are a blended family of 8 now, so any time we go somewhere accommodations are a difficult thing. We also like staying in deluxe type rooms. Our youngest is 8 now, so they are outgrowing the MK/princess phases quickly, but we like to vacation on a regular basis too. I grew up in Tampa and visited Disney often, so it is in my blood At the age now where I can travel more and Disney World is near the top of the list still.

Looking forward to regular family vacations as well and memories to be made. We are rather frugal for the most part on extras, but like to do vacations right and DVC affords that option, if we want to cook in the room we have that option as well.

 

[VrBchJ]

I was staying on discounts at the Plaza in Downtown Disney for several visits. We were returning from Food and Wine one night on a bus with a bunch of loud, obnoxious drunks and I said "Basta." I had to find another way. I rented BWV for a couple of years from a very nice Dis'er. Finally he suggested I buy in and give DVD my money instead of him. So I bought 150 BWV points resale. When I was ready to add on 50 points to my Oct. UY I couldn't find anything resale so I bought direct. I added on direct 4 more times in 50 point increments. But the spread between resale and direct was not as large as it is now. And DVD paid the closing costs. I bought BLT direct when it opened. I've enjoyed my DVC for many years but I don't think I'll be adding on again. Way too expensive direct and it's very difficult to find small contracts with my Oct. UY.

 

[dcfromva]

When they built BCV.

 

[Sandisw]

We bought when BLT went on sale. We loved that location and had decided years earlier that if it was built there, we'd be in!! Don't regret it at all. We started in 2009 with 180 and quickly went to 210 within 4 months. Fast forward to 2013 and we now have 430!!! Some of the best money we sent and its so nice to know we have the option to go away if we want. Now that we have annual passes, and airline miles, it makes it just so much easier to up and go!!

 

[twinsouvenirs]

GFV and having twins set the stage but the real kicker is when we took a week off work this year for vacation but ended up staying home because we couldn't find any accommodations for nearby day trips that were worth the hassle of trekking babies out of the house. We started imagining how kid friendly Disney is, and how clean, and how the dvc properties have kitchens... and it suddenly seemed like there was at least one place we could take the girls and actually relax. Then I saw the low low price of some DVC resales now (specifically hilton head where we regularly visit) and got a little more serious about my research. Wasn't worried about saving money, just didn't want to make a foolish expensive mistake, because we'd pay with available cash so if the bottom falls out of our lives we could hopefully just sell the points and lose only up to the initial investment. Our biggest motivator is the intangible--DVC will make vacations a largely sunk cost, which will get our butts moving on making family memories. Also, long term it does not appear foolish for our situation.

 

[spruce]

We like timeshares as they afford us a style of vacationing that were unaffordable. Every timeshare we have owned has been a resale, except disney. We looked at okw in 96 but had just bought our house so decided not to buy. In 98 okw was within a month of selling out, so we bought as we knew we wanted a disney timeshare. Bwv began sales in 98 but we stuck with the more traditional condo timeshare style of okw and bought 164 points, plus the Florida tropical theme was awesome. After understanding point reallocation possibilities a couple years later we thought we'd do a small add on but okw was sold out and I don't think the 3 new okw buildings were announced yet. So we added a small 64 point bwv contact as a buffer against a point reallocation since our okw contract was just enough points for 6 nights in a 1 br during magic season. We loved bwv lake view but also discovered that we loved sab at bcv, so we added 50 points at bcv to get a pool/spa days during our trips. Then, with our love of bwv, I thought, let's add 1 more time and got 100 more bwv points.
We vacillate between which is our favorite resort. All 3 are great.

 

[disneynutz]

I have the bug, the DVC bug. Financially, it makes sense but my husband is hesitant. The layout and offerings of the villa's works best for our family. If you or your spouse was hesitant, what finally convinced you to purchase? What size contract is best to start with?

We decided that we wanted to vacation at WDW for the foreseeable future. We looked at the cost of paying for cash rooms each year and found that we could save some money if we bought a DVC contract and we liked the size of the DVC rooms. Wish that we had spent more time staying at the different DVC resorts before buying additional contracts. Buy where you love to stay.

Bill

 

[DrMomof3]

We've been debating DVC for 5 years and we finally bought VGF (the closing documents are on the dining room table so I guess we haven't officially bought until we sit down and sign everything! ).
What finally convinced my DH was:
1. Villas at the Grand Floridian. He felt that this is a resort that we will continue to love long after the kids are gone. When we are older (we're already in our 40's), we will love the elegance of the Grand.
2. The ability to put a family of 5 in a studio at VGF. While we prefer a one bedroom or even a two bedroom villa, we were finally able to buy a starter contract (160 points) and still vacation for one week every year. We usually take the family in late August and a standard studio at VGF is 153 points during the time period. We don't need to bank/borrow to travel every other year. Eventually I think we'll buy more points so we can get a one bedroom every year but at least we can use this purchase annually from the start.

Amanda

 

[Deb & Bill]

We bought in 1997 on our first trip as a family to WDW. OKW, BWV, VB and HHI were available and we bought OKW. We also got a great deal and were able to use our stay at the Polynesian towards our purchase. Our points cost us $50 a point direct from Disney. We still like OKW best of all.

We could afford it and we drive to WDW from our home each time. So we don't have to be tied to airfare. We usually book one bedroom villas for the space and king sized bed. We are a family of three with our son currently in college, so Bill and I can vacation when we want now.

Bill watched a lot of the DVC channel on our first trip so he set up a visit to the Commodore House at OKW to talk to a salesperson.

 

[dbs1228]

It took a few years from the time we did the dvc tour to decide to buy in. What did it for us was BLT and the location. We also purchased SSR for the THV. After staying in the GV at BLT it convinced us to add on at bwv to do a GV stay every 3 years or so alternating between BLT and bwv. For me I also knew it was a way to ensure that our dd's could continue to travel with us when possible and they would have a free place stay.

 

[Snurk71]

I had run the numbers and knew how much financial sense it made, but we didn't buy until... location, location, location. We were monorail snobs at WDW and GC snobs at DL. So when they built DVC at BLT and GC, we were in.

Add a few on here always say, buy where you want to stay. That's what we waited for and were happy doing so.

Sent from my SAMSUNG Note2 using DISBoards

 

[NoleFan]

My DH stayed off-site with my DS during spring break & had a terrible hotel experience. Hotels were sold out or very overpriced. I was home sick with the flu. DH said never again & was reminded of his fondness of staying on-site @ deluxe resorts. Bought 100 points & 1 month later added 50 all via resale. Enough points for us to plan a getaway during all school breaks & more!

 

[JustTinking]

My DH is a Brit, and has always been in love with Disney. We first went in 1988, and stayed off property for a number of years. We rented houses but pretty soon the extended family in England started joining us as well, and it got crazy. The rented car (okay, minibus) to Kissimmee and back every day was killing us, so we started with the treehouses at WDW, before it was Saratoga, before it was even Disney Institute. We loved the extra space, the kitchen and living room facilities, and of course, the proximity.

Where it became obvious that we would be vacationing in Orlando frequently, I started looking for more economical options, and in 2002, we purchased 300 points at VWL. We loved staying at Wilderness Lodge, so it was a natural for us. Have never regretted it, and had added on since.

If you need financial proof to convince your other, there are plenty of math geeks here on the boards who can give you the ammunition. But seriously, most purchases are more emotion than logic, it's just a happy coincidence that logically it also makes sense.

 

[DizBub]

True story......We bought because of the sofa and ottoman in the studio.

We went along with our DD and her DH to review and sign papers. They told the guide not to try to sell us because we were NOT buying. We took the tour with them and we both ended up buying 210 BLT points. Since then we have added 100 more points at BLT and 160 resale points at BCV. Kids still have their 210 points.