About to join VWL, anyone do paperwork at time of arrival?

[Epcot Mom]

Our guide says they are trying to stop people from joining from home and having the guide convert cash reservations to points. He says we can do all the paperwork before we check in and join when we first arrive. He says it will take 30 minutes and not be a big deal.

Call me crazy, but I'm skeptical it will be that simple. We have a 2 1/2 yr old who will know where she is and want to get to the MK. My husband is an attorney so we won't sign anything without reading every letter. Has anyone done this? Any words of advice or suggestions?

I have several questions about VWL studios, but I'll put them in another thread.

Thanks!

 

[caverill]

My vacation time is too valuable to waste time trying to sign paperwork and stuff.

I would join from home, make your first reservation on points, and go from there.

We were able to join from home and make our first reservation very quickly. In fact, I think I made our first reservation the same day I up the deposit down. You can stay on points until you close, but closing will only take 30-45 days when buying through Disney after you return the paperwork!

Clark Averill

DxL 95
DL 97
Off-Site 98-Courtyard/DD
DxL 00
Joined DVC - Sept 00
BWV - Feb 01

 

[drusba]

I'd say ask for another guide or ask your guide for a complete explanation. First, Disney's policy and practice is to do home sales unless you are in a state where they are not registered (if Disney's policy were otherwise it would have no need to even register in other states). Second, all the guides I am aware of are always more than willing to do a home sale and then try to get you a ressie for the same time you have already scheduled so you can cancel original cash reservation. Basically your guide wants you to pay for the vacation and and then buy DVC too.That to me is foolish if you can avoid it. Also, you are correct. If you are going to read all the documents it will take significantly longer than 30 minutes (count on 5 hours at least to read all the contract materials and disclosure documents). If you were to get them all in advance to study, then you could do it in 30 minutes. But I simply would not go the route he wants you to if your intent is to avoid paying for the vacation and switching to DVC.

 

[Epcot Mom]

In her attempt to keep the posting simple, I think my DW left out a few salient facts. What we are essentially trying to do is "test drive" VWL. We would like to "join" DVC, stay at VWL, but still be able to cancel the contract after our stay, which will be within the thirty (or however many) days cancellation window. If we don't cancel our membership, we will have used points for our already-completed stay. If we cancel, we'll pay cash for the room. The guide says we can do this. But he recently said that, to make it work, we need to complete the paperwork on site. I'm really not sure why - it may be to get the cancellation period to work out. In any event, to minimize the time of the closing session on site, it seems that the important thing is to get the papers in advance (so I, the lawyer, can go over them all).

 

[Luv2Dream]

Epcot Dad,
Yes, there are a LOT of papers. We signed at the sales office at the Boardwalk on the first day that VWL became available in November. If we read every single paper completely, I'd probably still be there....and still not understand it all. I understand it is NOT smart to do this, but for us, we signed, took the papers home, and still had time to cancel. Since you want to test drive it, I'd try to get the papers in advance. The actual signing process only took 30-45 minutes. They have a playroom supervised by Disney people for your child to play in while you do this. The kids love the room and actually cry when you get them to leave. It was a nice, smooth process and completely stress free for us.

 

[Erin12303]

My husband and I did our paperwork on our second day of vacation. 30min was actually 1hr 30 min.
This was with all our info already put together.
We had to do this as NY can't buy into VWL by mail yet.
If I remember correctly-the cancellation period was 15 days.
Hope this helps.

 

[mrhodes]

I had a slightly different variation to this and completely different answer given to me by a member of DVC.

We have a paid in full reservation at Coronado Springs for spring break. We were thinking of buying VWL site unseen from home and then cancel our existing reservation to convert it to points.

We live in a state that allows the long distance purchase. I was told that if they had availability (on the short five weeks notice) that as long as our deposit would cover the stay she could book it. They would use the points after we close, or if we changed our minds we would pay cash.

I was told we could do all this from home and no site visit was needed for "paper signing". DVC is checking availability, but they were closed when she called, so won't find out until tomorrow.

In the mean time I called to see if we cancelled our existing reservation would they waive the $100 cancellation fee "if" we were purchasing at DVC? I was told that they are a different part of Disney and not connected with DVC and not only could the $100.00 cancellation fee not be waived, but we might be liable for one nights stay as well. Needless to say, no point in spending $300.00 to cancel, then use points, and still get charged if we change our minds. So, we will just wait and take the tour this April.

Seems hard to believe Disney would give up a purchase site unseen and also they can avoid their investment of time in a tour over a $100.00 cancellation fee.

V/R Mike

 

[Lesley]

"But he recently said that, to make it work, we need to complete the paperwork on site. I'm really not sure why - it may be to get the cancellation period to work out. "

Yes, this is probably it. You only have 15 days to cancel in the event you change your mind. If you do the paperwork from home your arrival and stay may go beyond that 15 day limit and you would no longer be able to cancel the contract if you so chose. You could also use this 15 day thing to your advantage by just signing the papers and reading them after you return home. If there's something you don't like you can cancel.

We did our paperwork on site (did tour, etc...and signed up on the spot..but we did plan it that way even though we hadn't informed them that we were really planning to join then and there) from the time we said we were going to go ahead and join to the time we walked out of the office was no more than 45 minutes...and most of that I think was waiting for the "quality control" or whatever guy to make it in to us. If you have plans to just go in and sign the papers they will probably have this person ready for you. Definitely shouldn't take more than half an hour.

There is a nice play area for kids...my son didn't really choose to use it on his own, but did actually want to hang out there with one of us. There is a babysitter on hand, if your child is okay with that.


Lesley


1979 Contemporary
1992 Off-site
1994 Carribean Beach
1999 Fort Wilderness and Coronado Springs
2000 Polynesian and Old Key West
2002 Boardwalk Villas

 

[eva]

When they FedEx the paperwork to you don't you have a certain number of days to return it to them? I was just asking because someone advised to get the paperwork ahead to read then fill it down there. I'm not sure if this would work if there is a time limit set on the return of the contract.

 

[Peter Johnson]

When we joined OKW in 1992, we signed up the morning after our first night's stay on points. It really wasn't supposed to work that way NH was not registered yet, so we couldn't do anything by mail. We were supposed to arrive mid-afternoon, sign up, and stay the weekend. My wife flew to WDW from home, and I flew from a business meeting, but I was delayed and didn't arrive at OKW till 9pm or so. By then, our guide had checked us in and worked it out so we could stay at OKW anyway, and sign up in the morning. (And I was so wound up, I didn't get to sleep till 2am.)

Of all the magical touches we've had over the years, that one still ranks near the top

Peter and Syl
DVC (OKW) '92, VB '95
Going to OKW May 19-30 and Dec 8-19