Did most of you visit the resort first? Before buying?

[Florida Princess]

We made a special trip down in Jan. 1992 to see Phase 1 of OKW and buy during our visit. I had made my decision years earlier when I had heard of Disney's plan to venture into the interval ownership market. My Husband wasn't so sure but now is so HAPPY that we bought early and have enjoyed DVC for so many years!

Florida Princess


DVC--OKW since 1992

 

[Simba's Mom]

I was just wondering if most of you had been to the resort you bought at? And did you go to more than one to compare before you bought?
How did you 'know' what one was right for you?

Thanks
Sandy

We toured, but did not stay where we ultimately bought before we stayed there. Now I'm a big believer in staying where you're considering buying BEFORE you buy if at all possible. Once we stayed where we'd bought, it didn't really "feel" like us, and yet once we stayed at OKW, DH fell in love, and wants to sell off our VWL points so he can be an OKW owner (only 1 problem-we haven't paid off our VWL purchase yet). Then I stayed at BCV, and I had to have some points there, just for my solo trips. I stayed at BWV and SSR, and although I liked them, they weren't as much for me as BCV was.

 

[wordzylady]

We did the DVC tour at BWV and looked at pictures of other places. We bought at Vero in 2002 and have never been there yet. We still enjoy spending all our time at Disney. We bought Vero because when it's just hubby and I enjoying vacations in a few years we will enjoy baseball spring training and quiet vacations. LOL

 

[CherCrazy]

We bought SSR sight unseen.

I worked as a travel agent for many years and was very familiar with the quality of all the Disney resorts. When I changed careers, I wanted a way to make sure I had affordable, high quality vacations now that I had to give up my travel agent discounts!

 

[erikthewise]

We also bought BCV before even seeing a DVC room -- the first time we did was when we walked into OUR 1BR!

"Sight unseen" isn't exactly true. We did walk past BCV during construction and glanced that way briefly. But I wasn't yet interested in DVC. That didn't happen until I started following this board!

 

[NMW]

We bought a BWV resale sight unseen sort-of. We had stayed at BWI, but had never actualy seen inside the villas. We looked at room layouts, info from DVC, but that's about it. We wanted an Epcot resort because BC and BWI are our two favorite resorts.

 

[mamaprincess]

All we saw was the promo video. It took us [really him] 2 years to decide on buying. We are so thrilled to own dvc. When we went in june 0f 2004, we couldnt have been more pleased!

saratoga owners and proud of it

 

[ryley26]

We visited boardwalk my db was staying there. We went back to off property room and set up appt for next day and bought

 

[Pig Pen]

We purchased VB in 2002 and haven't been there yet..but we are going in April.

We bought this particular resort because we fully intend to move to Orlando within the next few years and plan to work at WDW (for real)! So we figured Vero would be a nice escape for us when/if we get Disney overload.

We have stayed at VWL & BWV. We will be at BCV in April as well.

 

[Tennesotans]

We had seen the exteriors of BWV -- our honeymoon was
at the swan and we knew we liked the Epcot area. So
that narrowed us down to BWV or BCV -- I did the research
and like BWV's standard/premium points structure along
with Grand Villas (if and when we can convince my extended
family).

We have now stayed at VB, OKW, and BWV and my wife is
definitely a "BWV girl". I've always wanted to stay at
wilderness lodge, and get my first crack in February. I
guess its concievable that we would love BCV, VWL, HH,
or SSR more than BWV -- but we won't find out for
three or four more trips

Tennesotans

 

[JimFitz]

We bought at OKW sight unseen. Last time I was in Disney was when I was 6, about 25 years ago. A friend came home from vacation telling me he bought SSR. I did research on the net and then bought a resale at OKW that is 250 points a year and had all 2003 and 2004 available.

We went to VWL in a 2 bedroom for our first trip in Sept of 04 and we are VERY VERY HAPPY WITH OUR PURCHASE.

 

[DisneySpence]

Nope we bought HHI for the MB promo and no other reason I have been to tennis camp at HHI but never to HHI DVC and have no plans of ever going LOL.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We never toured the inside of a DVC before we took the plunge and became members BWV, and VWL. After we stayed at VB last March, DH knew that I found a beach place we could afford, so we did buy a resale there after we stayed there.

Bobbi

 

[gtrist4life]

I remember seeing the kiosk at the All Stars in 1996, but I didn’t have much interest, then too busy being a park commando.

I then was reminded about DVC in 1998, from a business acquaintance who absolutely loved it. But he stated it was very expensive and we were tight on money then.

When we finally made it back to WDW in 2001 (All Stars) and 2002 (Port Orleans FQ), I looked at the kiosk info; didn’t do an appointment, but called and had the video and book sent to the house upon our return from the 2002 trip. Sticker shock was pretty strong so we decided to wait.

In July 2003 we stayed at the Swan, and talked my wife into doing the tour at BWV and she was ready to purchase right then! I said let’s talk it over when we get home. We did, looked at resales, and decided to finance through Disney. Just about all the resorts had points available but we chose BWV for the location and standard point amounts.
Just wish we had bought sooner and more points! Plan on doing an SSR (or other new DVC??) add-on in a few years.

Peace,
G4L

 

[wisbucky]

We stayed at OKW once and fell in love immediately. We purchased resale for OKW. Then sight unseen (Complex itself) we purchased points for SSR. Now after one visit to BW area DH wants to buy points there. Its addicting...

 

[Merilyn]

We stayed at OKW before we knew it was a DVC resort. In fact, it was the only one in 1994. We paid cash and stayed in a 2 bedroom. We loved the option to cook and did many times in the first few years. We don't cook much anymore. When we decided to go back the next year, I called and asked about the timeshare. We saw people taking tours so we thought there was one. They sent me the information and here we are 11 years later. We love DVC and never regret joining or adding on and we have done that many times. We bought at VB sight unseen but knew after our experience with DVC we couldn't go wrong. We now have OKW and VB so we can have the best options on our vacations-peace and quiet at VB or go go go at OKW. BOY WE LOVE DVC!!!!

 

[ScottOKW2K]

Add another one to the "sight unseen" crowd. We had our first trip to WDW in november 1999, staying at Dixie Landings. We came away quite impressed by Disney, and the whole onsite feel. Found out about dvc from R.A.D.P., which led me to this board. Two months of research convinced me this would work for us, and two more months for my wife. Bought an OKW resale from Jaki, and the rest is history.

Best decision we ever made.

 

[Good Ol Gal]

I ordered the promo video expecting it to be a dream that would never come true! DH surprised me by saying YES!! I ended up being the scardy cat.. should we really, it's so much $$ (we are doing the one year financing).

We purchased SSR sight unseen and I was still very nervous when we went in Dec for the first time.. Would it really be nice? Would it work for us? Will it be worth it??

YES, YES, YES!! I wish we had done it earlier!

 

[Goofyzgurl]

We toured vwl, but ended up buying at bcv. When we toured we decided it wasn't something we could afford right then, so two years later when it was time to buy, they were selling bcv.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

We did tour BWV three years before we finally bought. So, we did know what we were getting ourselves into.