A Trip Down DVC Memory Lane

[RobDoc]

I've been searching thru almost 17 years of DVC memorabilia looking for the early BWV Point Charts (have not found them yet), but have come across all sorts of stuff from our first few years as DVC members. We were at WDW in early June, 1993 and decided to take the DVC tour (then located at the Commodore House at OKW) and purchased on the spot.

Our first DVC trip was in October, 1993 and we stayed in Building 18. In those days, the room keys were Ving Cards (hard plastic cards with punched holes) and guests received an ID which could be used for park admission - if that was included. As DVC members we had the free park admission program which used separate tickets so our IDs were "Not Valid For Admission" but were still required to use the WDW Transportation system (yes, they did check in those days). Upon arrival in our 1BR villa, we found a Welcome Home gift on the key stand in the entry - a very nice leather DVC Photo Album. Our welcome packet was a bright yellow with the DVC logo at that time, which included the three mountains. One mountain was lost a couple of years later and only remain in the logo to this day. Note that the 3 mountains remained in the room ID logo thru 1995.

In 1994, the Conch Flats store had a pretty nice selection of DVC logo member merchadise and members also received a catalog for mail order purchase. The OKW rooms at that time included silk flower arrangements, peach colored towels and even bathroom scales among other amenities no longer found in the villas.

Included here are a few scans of some of these memories (be sure to note that the Member Catalog is no longer valid for ordering ). I will try to add more of these as time permits. I included the cover of the 10th Anniversary Vacation Magic magazine and will include some of the timeline memories found in that issue in this thread too.

To view a larger image, click on the thumbnail. If anyone has similar photos, please feel free to share your early years too!

Enjoy!

 

[RobDoc]

From the Winter, 2001 - Volume 10 No. 4 - issue of DVC's Vacation Magic magazine (this was the 10th annivesary issue of DVC) here is a timeline of significant events in the history of DVC:

October 7, 1991 - DVC Preview Center opens to the public, MS begins accepting reservations, first 5 information kiosks open.

December, 1991 - 1st phase of DVC Resort (now OKW) opens. Preview Center is renamed Commodore House

January, 1992 - 1st edition of Vacation Magic

May, 1992 - Sharing the Magic referral progam launches. # of member families: 2,300

June, 1992 - Select WDW resort exchanges added as options.

December, 1992 - 1st DVC Condo Associaton meeting held

January, 1993 - DL and DLP resort options added as options.

November, 1993 - 1st international member event held in London.

December, 1993 - Number of member families: 8,000

April, 1994 - Number of member families: 9,400

June, 1994 - All planned phases of the Disney Vacation Club Resort completed and opened to members and guests.

October, 1994 - Pre-sale of VB begins

December, 1994 - Ground breaking for HH

January, 1995 - Member update sessions begin at Disney Vacation CLub Resort

March, 1995 - 150 point Vacation Point Membership package introduced. HH preview center opens.

April, 1995 - Adventure Travel and Cruise Member Getaways exchange programs debut.

October, 1995 - VB opens, number of member families: 16,000. Disney Vacation Club Resort officially renamed Disney's Old Key West Resort.

January, 1996 - Disney Discovery Club (2Dc) launches as an edu-taining experience for children at DVC reorts.

March, 1996 - HH opens

July, 1996 - BWV opens, DVC sales center opens at BWV

November, 1996 - Concierge Collection is added to member getaway program.

June, 1997 - DCL added as vacaton exchange option.

October, 1997 - Number of member families: 25,000. DVC commemorates 25th Anniversary of WDW with daily celebrations at Commodore House

JUne, 1998 - Shadow the dog is introduced at HH.

July, 1998 - Commodore House is closed to add 34 new vacation homes at OKW (buildings 62,63,64)

December, 1998 - 3 DVC resorts are named by readers of Conde Nast Traveler to it's prestigious Gold List - BWV, VB and HH

April, 1999 - Ground breaking for VWL.

Novermber, 1999 - Final 3 bulidings at OKW open for members and guests.

October, 2000 - VB celebrates 5th Anniversary. Ground breaking for BCV

March, 2001 - HH celebrates 5th Anniversary

July, 2001 - BWV celebrates 5th Anniversary. DVC announces plans for 600 unit propposed resort at Eagles Pines Golf Course.

September, 2001 - New Annual Member Guidebook debuts (replaces original 3 ring binder)

October, 2001 - DVC celebrates 10 Years of Memories, Dreams and You!

December, 2001 - OKW celebrates 10th Anniversary.

 

[RobDoc]

Not exactly DVC - but this was about 1997 and DW, oldest DD and myself were seated behind Drew Carey and his date-du-jour on Tower. We just had to buy the photo . They were whisked away by a CM immediately when the doors opened and did not exit thru the gift shop - same thing when they were seated on the elevator - they were brought in from backstage and seated just before the doors closed.

Here are the OKW Point Charts for 1994/1995 -

... and the first reallocation in 1996 -


The last issue of Vacation Magic that used the 3 mountain logo was Summer, 1995 - Wonder what those kids are doing now, 15 years later?

... and the first to use the current logo was Autumn, 1995 -

On the back cover of the Autun, 1995 issue was a construction photo of the HH Beach House facility. Those who have been there will recognize the area - although it has grown up quite a bit since the summer of 1995. -

(Again, just click on any of these images for a larger view.)

 

[RobDoc]

The Winter, 1995 issue of the Disney Magazine had a nice cover promoting the summer 1996 opening for BWV. - .

Inside there was a nice article about the coming resort. Here is the BWV article from that issue. the description of the Disney Vacation Club Member's Attic that never came to be is included in the third column on page 21.

Page 20 - - Page 21 - - Page 22 -
- Page 23 -

In January, 1999 the travel magazine Conde Nast Traveler publised their annual "Gold List" where resorts worldwide have been ranked by their readers. DVC had three in the top ten - VB, HH and BWV. DVC used that in a marketing program.

-

Here are the BWV Point Charts from 1996/97, 1998, 1999 and 2000 (which then remained the same until the 2010 Point Charts were released a year ago) - included are revisions to the original 1998 and 1999 charts to include the creation of the Standard View category:

Here are the BWV charts for those years:
1996-1997 - 1998 - revised 1998

1999 - revised 1999

2000 - 2009

 

[Shadeaux]

In 1994, the Conch Flats store had a pretty nice selection of DVC logo member merchadise and members also received a catalog for mail order purchase. The OKW rooms at that time included silk flower arrangements, peach colored towels and even bathroom scales among other amenities no longer found in the villas.

I'm happy to hear someone else remembers those bathroom scales. I was beginning to think I had imagined them! I know they were there during our first visit in '94 and I think in '95. I remember thinking getting on a scale was the last thing I wanted to do on vacation!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Wow, this is so cool to know! Thanks, Doc. Now how much will it cost me to buy that sweatshirt? I want one. I can't help but wonder why, when they had less than 8,000 DVC members, there was more DVC merchandise and you could buy it on-line. But now with (I'm not sure of this number) 100,000 members, you can't buy what little there is now on-line.

 

[RobDoc]

Wow, this is so cool to know! Thanks, Doc. Now how much will it cost me to buy that sweatshirt? I want one. I can't help but wonder why, when they had less than 8,000 DVC members, there was more DVC merchandise and you could buy it on-line. But now with (I'm not sure of this number) 100,000 members, you can't buy what little there is now on-line.

LOL - remember, that catalog was not available online in 1994 - only fax/phone orders. I always thought that they ended the logo merchadise too early and should have waited for the membership numbers to grow the demand. I suspect it ended early just due to poor member response from a business standpoint.

I think DVC member families are approaching 200,000 now.

 

[BigEeyore]

So cool - thank you for sharing! I love Disney history. I am so jealous of everyone who bought in back in the early days. Would you mind sharing how many points you bought initially and what the price per point was?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Very cool Doc!

I was thinking the exact same thing Simba's Mom about the growth of DVC and how they now have little to no DVC items available when they used to even have a catalog!

 

[DenLo]

Thanks for the memories Doc. DH and I just love that kind of information.

P.S. Good luck on the point charts. Here's a little pixiedust to make the charts appear quicker.

 

[RobDoc]

So cool - thank you for sharing! I love Disney history. I am so jealous of everyone who bought in back in the early days. Would you mind sharing how many points you bought initially and what the price per point was?

We bought 230 points at $57.50/per - and then added onto that contract with another 45 on our first trip that October. 230 was the original minimum and they had lowered it to 190 just before we purchased. We ended up with 6 add-ons for that original contract plus another 3 contracts via resale. We were able to get one of those for $50/per and the other two at $54/per point in 1998/99.
One of those add-ons was at HH - the original selling price was $61.50 and we were going to get 85 points, but before our closing set for September, 1995 there were some changes to the details of the contract (they had to remove ownership of a nearby private island) and they lowered the price to $56.50 - so we bought 120 instead for just a little more than our original purchase. We own almost 1% of unit 1D at HH - plus a resale and another HH add-on. I understand there still is no preventive cure for add-on-itis.

 

[js]

Wow, this is so cool to know! Thanks, Doc. Now how much will it cost me to buy that sweatshirt? I want one. I can't help but wonder why, when they had less than 8,000 DVC members, there was more DVC merchandise and you could buy it on-line. But now with (I'm not sure of this number) 100,000 members, you can't buy what little there is now on-line.

I can tell you. I just purchased a DVC gray hoodie for my mother as one of her Christmas Gifts. The DVC Owner hoodie came to $70.

 

[dallastxcpa]

I love the idea of the catalogue but some of those prices are just crazy. $100 for a robe. I have a robe that I received when my husband and I lived in a high rise. absolutely love it but I might pay $50 for a nice robe but never $100.

 

[podsnel]

Love this thread! Thanks for starting it- and hope to hear more of it from other members, too. Good luck finding the old point charts!

 

[dburg30]

That Drew picture is pretty cool!!

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Thank you so much for sharing Doc!

I remember seeing something about THE Disney Vacation Club resort on our honeymoon in April 1992. I remember looking at the guy like he had 2 heads. To think, they wanted $12-$13k to join some club. at $48/pt.

Knowing what I know now about the lean times, our not purchasing then was the right decision for us at the time.

 

[Tigger031266]

We bought 230 points at $57.50/per

Sadly the price of OKW is close to what it was when you bought in.

From this boards:

OKW230-06-0129 Old Key West-$61/pt. June 230 $14,030.00  
Notes: 4 points coming on 6/1/10 and 230 points coming on 6/1/11. Can Close 3/26/10. Priced at $61 per point.

At least you got at lot of good years out of the your memebership

 

[Sammie]

How far back are you trying to find the BWV points?

 

[parrotheadmom]

Thanks for starting this thread!! I love the Drew Carey photo!

 

[RobDoc]

How far back are you trying to find the BWV points?

In the 2011 reallocation thread there has been discussion about the early change in the BWV points to add the standard view category. My recollection is that the point charts were changed very early after sales began and others think they were not changed until 1998. BWV opened in July, 1996 and I think the points were already modified before it opened.

I have found point charts for OKW and VB for 1995/1996 and early charts for HH (VB and HH were not changed from opening until the 2010 charts came out), but still have not located early BWV charts. If anyone has BWV charts from pre-opening until opening, please share the info. If the SV points are on the chart, the date when the BWV points were changed is what is wanted so we'd also want to see the prior year's charts to make sure there was no SV category at that time. The real interest is to see when in the sales process SV was created at BWV.

Sadly the price of OKW is close to what it was when you bought in.

From this boards:

Code:
OKW230-06-0129 Old Key West-$61/pt. June 230 $14,030.00
Notes: 4 points coming on 6/1/10 and 230 points coming on 6/1/11. Can Close 3/26/10. Priced at $61 per point.At least you got at lot of good years out of the your memebership

We actually sold an OKW contract 11 months ago at $71 per point - so we are not at all troubled with resale pricing since we were $21 per point ahead after 11 years of use - not bad at all. The fact that there are some resales listed at that level is not an indicator of ALL resale listings either as there are many well above $61 per point - and most are not stripped contracts like the one mentioned above.