Are there better incentives if you take a DVC tour?

[Pennyguy23]

I read that there are better incentives if you take a DVC tour? Is this true?

 

[phorsenuf]

I don't think there are better incentives on price, but they may give you a little something for taking the tour. I've heard of people getting dinner or fast passes.
I don't think there is any better deal going than the friends and family promotion.

 

[aprince&princess]

We did a tour on Friday. Incentive is $15. friends and family discount if you know another DVC member. We were there with our kids (four of us total) so we were given four fast pass cards good for 3 passes each. To make up for the time that you are at the tour.

 

[Pennyguy23]

How long is the tour? What time of the day is it?

 

[Pluto 2]

How long is the tour? What time of the day is it?

got to one of the dvc information sites and they will hook you up. if its during the day they will have a van drive you there and you take a tour with a guide then when you are done they will drive you back

 

[Mouse511]

We did the tour on Wednesday and received fast passes that were good for 48 hours. Our tour lasted 2 hours, we had a lot of questions.

 

[byoung]

How long is the tour? What time of the day is it?

Mostly about 1 hour. You set up the time.

 

[emerson7]

i referred my sister and mom for a tour last week while we were there. They each got a $50 gift certificate and I got $100 for referring both of them. They were offered the $15 referral discount per point. I thought the guide may have said something about special rate financing, but I am not quite sure about that.

 

[crisi]

I think there is a disadvantage to taking the tour. Once you take the tour, you get a ticking clock on any price incentives - and people have reported that they didn't qualify for incentives YEARS later because they took the tour. So only take the tour if you are pretty ready to buy.

 

[starbox]

I think there is a disadvantage to taking the tour. Once you take the tour, you get a ticking clock on any price incentives - and people have reported that they didn't qualify for incentives YEARS later because they took the tour. So only take the tour if you are pretty ready to buy.

We took the tour in 2003 and did not purchase DVC. We called this past spring and I asked what the current incentives were. My guide sent me a package with two incentive offers:

A "Magical Beginnings" offer where DVC applied your first point balance to the downpayment or something like that.

OR

A 12$ per point rebate and all of the current years points.

These were both better offers than the one we were offered in 2003. Plus, when we toured, SSR was very unfinished and unappealing.

We also got free fastpasses and ice cream for taking the tour.

 

[crisi]

We took the tour in 2003 and did not purchase DVC. We called this past spring and I asked what the current incentives were. My guide sent me a package with two incentive offers:

A "Magical Beginnings" offer where DVC applied your first point balance to the downpayment or something like that.

OR

A 12$ per point rebate and all of the current years points.

These were both better offers than the one we were offered in 2003. Plus, when we toured, SSR was very unfinished and unappealing.

We also got free fastpasses and ice cream for taking the tour.

Some people have not been so lucky. They first took the tour years ago, and have been told they are disqualified from incentives after their incentive window closed. Sometimes they are able to talk DVC into the incentives anyway, sometimes they take them at their word, and sometimes this sours them so they don't buy. I don't think anyone has reported this recently, but I don't read every thread like I used to, either.

I think its stupid DVC would do this, but since people have reported it happening, its worth mentioning - don't tour unless you are pretty sure you want to buy.

 

[starbox]

I think its stupid DVC would do this, but since people have reported it happening, its worth mentioning - don't tour unless you are pretty sure you want to buy.

Maybe they have changed their policy - because it makes no sense to punish people who, for whatever reason, could not make it work to purchase sooner and not offer them the same offer that everyone else is eligible for.

As far as I can tell, people who take the tour don't get a "special offer" that is unavailable without touring. Perhaps they did at one time, and that's why they had the "no incentive after the tour" policy?

 

[mickeymarcor]

I had quite a different experience with the tour. I originally reviewed DVC over the phone in July 2005 when I saw the DVC ad at the Disney website. The guide was great at anwering all our questions. We spent 5 weeks talking over the phone. Although we were interested, it wasn't quite for us at the time, so we passed on it. The rate was $98/pt but there was an $8/pt incentive for an effective rate or $90/pt

Last May, we visited WDW and decided to see what SSR really looked like and so we took the tour. We loved what we saw! The atmosphere was wonderful and relaxing, and being across from DTD was nice. The rate was $101/pt with a $8/ppt incentive, so the effective rate became $93/ppt. Although we were moe excited to buy this time, we still felt it was not exactly right for us, so we left without buying.

When we got back home from our vacation, we found that our guide had left us a voice message that they would offer the $90/pt rate from July 2005. Even at this rate we didn't buy, since by then, I had discovered the resale market from the Timeshare Store, where SSR points were selling at $82 to $85 per point plus closing costs, so I thought I'd wait. Good thing I did because I took advantage of the $15/pt F&F incentive which made it comparable to the resale market, so now I am happy to say that we are now DVCers.