Buy at the First DVC You Stayed?

[hglenn]

For instance, silly as this is, I miss the turndown service.

IMO, this type of service is a lost art...

 

[Disdreaming479]

We’ve stayed at BCV twice but I need 2bd amount of points. So I purchased SSR.

 

[Sandisw]

We bought DVC when they were building BLT. So we did not stay any DVC until we were owners.

 

[OKW Lover]

So my wife and I have a theory that many people often buy their first DVC contract from the first DVC resort they stayed out.

I voted yes, but its really not a fair question for us. We bought in 1995 and what is now Old Key West was the only choice.

 

[DVCjj]

Never stayed at any. Bought BCV as 'seemed very nice' when we stayed at Swan & Dolphin. Never even walked in the door. Bought Resale.

First stay - one studio night at OKW (only what I could get). Didn't like layout or outside entrance so got scared made wrong decision buying. I didn't. Love DVC. Bought Poly direct to add to BCV. Should have bought FAR sooner than 2014. Darn.

 

[bp2412]

No for us. We knew a couple people who were DVC members that let us stay once on their points as long as we just covered dues and the other gifted us a week for our honeymoon as a wedding gift. So a week in BCV in a studio in 2017 (we were there during hurricane Irma) and a week in a studio at OKW in 2019 before buying in at SSR in late 2020.

 

[KPeterso]

Nope -rented points and stayed at OKW. Bought SSR a few years later, then VGC, and then AKV (and then added on to all of them). I have never stayed at SSR (and I have owned since 2007). VGC I did stay in the villas there before I bought (but on SSR points) and mainly added there after having problems getting in at 7 months. AKV is why I wanted to buy as we had stayed in the hotel before it was announced and I just dreamed of always staying there (typically at least 1 trip a year is at AKV).

 

[CarolynFH]

Yes, we did — stayed at BWV in 1996, bought in 1997. That said, we did the DVC tour at OKW in 1994 (while staying at Ft.Wilderness cabins), were interested, but waited to buy until finances were right. And we were glad we waited, because we love having BWV as our home!

 

[Lunchbox66]

No, AKL was our first stay as a married couple and my first as an adult in 2018. I was uninformed and didn't even consider DVC then based my knowledge of scammy timeshare companies.

We ended up buying at RIV last year after a lot of research and touring all the resorts we were interested in first. I'm a big research everything guy. Couldnt be happier so far.

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

So my wife and I have a theory that many people often buy their first DVC contract from the first DVC resort they stayed out.

Looks like the theory isn’t holding among this group… but I do wonder if this may be truer amongst the “average” vacationers who get into a sales pitch while enjoying their fabulous vacation

We (like many others here) did not ever stay in a deluxe or DVC property prior to owning DVC points. In fact, we didn’t even stay on-site!! Our first purchase was BLT resale, and we love it… enough to have added on several more resorts (and 3 of the 5 additions were also resorts we’d never stayed at before buying in!!).

 

[DebLovesPooh]

I was on my 4th Value resort stay and decided I wanted to go deluxe and get 1-bedrooms. I had dinner at Boma and purchased AKV as soon as I got home.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Bought BLT before we stayed at any DVC, but our first DVC stay was where we bought. I don't think that supports your theory so much as most people book in the 7-11 month window and stay there, and that is their home resort. We do like BLT but are really enjoying staying at the other resorts too and thus have only stayed at BLT that one time.

 

[Her Dotness]

Looks like the theory isn’t holding among this group… but I do wonder if this may be truer amongst the “average” vacationers who get into a sales pitch while enjoying their fabulous vacation

What might be an interesting question is, "After a DVC sales pitch/tour, did you buy that resort rather than the one you intended to get?"

I think the "no" answers here may better reflect that people who hang out on this board as much as most of us do were knowledgeable about what resort they wanted, regardless of whether or not they'd stayed there.

Contrary to that, I've known/seen posts by a number of people, veteran WDWgoers, who fell right into that sales pitch/tour pit and bought into a resort they said they hadn't intended to buy. Like the vlogger who was certain he wanted BWV for some pretty solid reasons but did the tour shortly after RIV went on sale and bought there instead. A coworker of DH's did something similar, said our talk of VGF and her enjoying a GF stay had persuaded her she wanted VGF. She toured and bought RIV, too.

We were impervious to incentives when we decided to buy. Our first guide detailed why we'd do better for ourselves buying Poly or Aulani, on sale at the time. I bet he lit up like a Christmas tree when we said not interested, that we wanted VGF even though at off-sale price. And yes, we would waitlist it despite all that that entailed.

I'm thinking, perhaps erroneously, that most here were too well-researched and informed to be swayed. We knew what we wanted and bought that.

 

[Sandisw]

Looks like the theory isn’t holding among this group… but I do wonder if this may be truer amongst the “average” vacationers who get into a sales pitch while enjoying their fabulous vacation

We (like many others here) did not ever stay in a deluxe or DVC property prior to owning DVC points. In fact, we didn’t even stay on-site!! Our first purchase was BLT resale, and we love it… enough to have added on several more resorts (and 3 of the 5 additions were also resorts we’d never stayed at before buying in!!).

I would also venture to guess that many buyers are cash guests who are staying in the WDW hotels when they buy and were not staying DVC.

 

[Wiltony]

This is a good poll because I would have thought your theory correct as well. It's interesting to see that it may not be!

(I voted yes according to our experience -- first rented BLT, then bought BLT, and still love it there most.)

 

[DVCjj]

No, AKL was our first stay as a married couple and my first as an adult in 2018. I was uninformed and didn't even consider DVC then based my knowledge of scammy timeshare companies.

We ended up buying at RIV last year after a lot of research and touring all the resorts we were interested in first. I'm a big research everything guy. Couldnt be happier so far.

TOTALLY understand about Scammy timeshare companies. That is exactly why I would literally walk AROUND the DVC kiosk at the parks/resorts. I was very biased against them. But 2014, I was around 2 people I knew and liked who were wearing Mickey Mouse shirts/jewelry etc (I was shocked as I never pictured them dressed that way) and they said they bought OKW in 2009 and so glad they did. I valued their opinion and bought into DVC.
Such a great decision. Should have bought the first year it opened.

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

No. I had stayed at BCV and WL prior to buying the first contract with AKL direct. I assumed at the time, all the DVC resorts would have availability at the 7-month mark since I typically go to WDW during non-peak seasons. Therefore the choice of the home resort didn't matter.

 

[SM1992]

Voted no. Bought OKW in '96 before ever staying at one.

 

[badeacon]

Voted no. Had never stayed at the Disney Vacation Club before buying. Were staying off site and the last day decided to visit as had been seeing the kiosks during the week. Bought that day. A little later Disney changed the name from Disney Vacation Club Resort to Old Key West.

 

[RichVIII]

This is a good poll because I would have thought your theory correct as well. It's interesting to see that it may not be!

(I voted yes according to our experience -- first rented BLT, then bought BLT, and still love it there most.)

Yes, it has been interesting! I just only wish we had the cash we paid for our first BLT stay and put it towards DVC! For us, I think if we had stayed at BCV or BWV first, we would have purchased there instead. I feel like many say the same about CCV/BRV/WL, they fell in love. But again, interesting to see folks answers! Thanks everyone!