Did you overthink your DVC purchase?

[MsChristy12]

Nah, not at all. However, I did research for a long time before deciding DVC is right for us, it took the entire pandemic!! I watched a lot of vlogs, all the dvc fan shows, to get as much information as possible and all the pros and cons. When we met our DVC guide earlier this year, she was amazed I knew what UY we wanted and how they work, what 11 month and 7 month booking windows mean!

I know a lot of members are very into the deep analysis, but I didn't do any of that. I did think about the 2042 resorts for a little bit (we own BRV), and I know many say it's not worth it based on their calculations on this or that, but we'll be close to retirement age when the time the 2042 resorts expire. If we are lucky enough to be healthy and continue to travel by then, a DVC contract expiring will be the least of my worries!

I basically just needed to know how many trips it will take to get our buy-in back, how many points we need, is this for sure the home resort that will make us happy? Then off we go! We now have a 2nd contract (different resort) in ROFR, definitely did not overthink!

 

[tom1944]

Nah, not at all. However, I did research for a long time before deciding DVC is right for us, it took the entire pandemic!! I watched a lot of vlogs, all the dvc fan shows, to get as much information as possible and all the pros and cons. When we met our DVC guide earlier this year, she was amazed I knew what UY we wanted and how they work, what 11 month and 7 month booking windows mean!

I know a lot of members are very into the deep analysis, but I didn't do any of that. I did think about the 2042 resorts for a little bit (we own BRV), and I know many say it's not worth it based on their calculations on this or that, but we'll be close to retirement age when the time the 2042 resorts expire. If we are lucky enough to be healthy and continue to travel by then, a DVC contract expiring will be the least of my worries!

I basically just needed to know how many trips it will take to get our buy-in back, how many points we need, is this for sure the home resort that will make us happy? Then off we go! We now have a 2nd contract (different resort) in ROFR, definitely did not overthink!

You could always purchase a late 2050 to 2070 resort in 2042. Basically similar to buying a 2042 resort now.
You will also have an example of the years to expiration there is a significant drop in value

 

[MsChristy12]

You could always purchase a late 2050 to 2070 resort in 2042. Basically similar to buying a 2042 resort now.
You will also have an example of the years to expiration there is a significant drop in value

Great minds think alike!! That is EXACTLY my plan!

We have a small 50pt BLT in ROFR now. My goal/plan is that, as it gets closer to 2042 and if we still want to be members, then I'll slowly build up the BLT ownership. That way, we can spread out the cost, have time to look for contracts that suit us and won't have any gap years that we aren't members.

 

[pwr_eng]

Didn't really think about it at all. We wanted to stay at BLT so our nieces could see the castle from their room and walk across the street to MK. Put in a request with David's and the board sponsor. We got tired of waiting after no news for a couple of weeks so cancelled the request and bought direct so we could reserve what we wanted.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Boy I feel sorry for those that overthink!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/potential-buyer-thinking-out-loud.3924773/

/s

 

[Stargazer65]

We did not overthink our first purchase. We were at DHS 14 years ago and ducked under a DVC kiosk during a brief shower. They said hi, we said hi, then we asked "What is DVC?". They took us over to the preview center the next morning, showed us BLT and AKL rooms. Afterwards, DW and I talked, and since we both agreed we'd like to come back regularly, we decided to join. Signed the papers the next day.

 

[kevtlas]

I overthink everything lol.

 

[Moneypenny]

We thought about it, researched it, analyzed it, etc for months before buying our first contract. I suppose that would seem like overthinking to some, but to us it was the appropriate amount of thought to give to a large, luxury purchase. Happily, we haven't regretted it for a second and have added on twice since then!

 

[Cfabar1]

We overthought it and still made not the perfect choice with our first contract, but we have been pleased.

 

[Royal Consort]

Yes, it took me ten years before buying into DVC. I met with several guides and walked away. They were all annoyed I think but tough, I asked a lot of questions and was only comfortable buying in when I felt I had enough expertise about the product.

Now, part of this was due to us being Australian and it's 24 hr flight to Florida. We queried "how long will we realistically want to do this?" Our mistaken assumption was that our desire to visit would decrease over time after having experienced our fill. In actuality the enjoyment of visiting kept growing along with our familiarity. During the time we weren't DVC members we were scoring on the generous UK deals that featured discount hotel rates and free dining so DVC was less of a saving in the first place. The UK deals are not nearly as attractive these days.

In the end, I have invested more in DVC than I ever imagined....rational.

 

[kanerf]

Before DVC, I never stayed on-site. I usually stayed at one of the timeshares in the area. During one trip I did go and look at DVC but did not buy right away. Instead I found a small resale package and bought that. I added on 50 direct not long after that purchase. Thus my DVC adventure began. Between resale and direct I have over 730 points.

 

[MagicDVC]

Yup, overthinked the process and researched for our first purchase. During the overthinking phase, the DVC pricing went up. Just closed on a resale purchase this year and now overthinking whether we paid too much.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

I would say that we did and we didn’t. We only went to DL once a year when visiting my in-laws; but only stayed at DL for a couple days. Looked at DVC once, but since we weren’t planning on going to Florida, didn’t like VGC, always had short stays and I found good deals with Costco; we decided to pass.

Went to WDW with our friends once in 2014 and hated it, lol. We stayed off site and our friends had a schedule from morning to night. It was exhausting and we were constantly comparing it to DL. Fast forward to 2017 and my husband had a conference at WDW. Stayed at GF and fell in love. We kept asking ourselves, “Why did we hate it before.” Thought about DVC on and off, but managed to talk ourselves out of it each time. We would go to conferences, get reduced hotel rates/tickets and my husband’s company would pay for it. We called it the Doctor’s Vacation Club.

Then two things happened simultaneously : VGF opened up and we inherited some money. At that point, we didn’t even think about it and bought in. We even started adding more points before the ink was dry bc we didn’t even look to see how many points we needed for our trips and how much we could save by purchasing more points. Thankfully our guide was able to re-write our contract (several times) bc we were changing our mind every week.

 

[Apiary]

DVC didn’t look like it would save us money based on the discounts we were able to use for deluxe resorts and the high upfront cost of a direct contract. Eventually the math worked out as room prices increased and a resale contract of the right size and price became available.

 

[CamillaF]

I love looking at DVC and dreaming of buying. However after looking at the prices (and fees) of the Disneyland hotel I have told my husband that we are not doing it now. We are a west coast family, the twins are 9, and we like to travel all over the world.

I will reconsider it in 20 years if it looks like grandchildren might be in the cards. Until then I will. rent points (DW) or stay off property (DL). You can say I am overthinking buying..... but it does not make since at this time.

 

[MsChristy12]

DVC didn’t look like it would save us money based on the discounts we were able to use for deluxe resorts and the high upfront cost of a direct contract. Eventually the math worked out as room prices increased and a resale contract of the right size and price became available.

That's exactly when I thought, okay this makes sense now to buy in because the room rates will never come down. Even with promos, they will continue to get more expensive and DVC seems like the only reasonable way to keep the cost down. Of course, that's only if we want to continue to stay at deluxe, which we do!

 

[JELLYROLLS4LIFE]

My original purchase in 2014 i found out about the existence of resale in 2014 shortly after our 1 and only Disney Cruise in February. By the end of March we had made an offer on AKV. I did quite a bit of research (including on here) and felt relatively comfortable making the jump.

Subsequent contracts were all purchased pretty quickly: Small BWV contract in 2017, Double our AKV points in 2019 from 160 to 320. Actually I guess the longest one I sat on was our first direct purchase of 50 pts at VDH but only because we've been planning to buy for a long time.

 

[AdamsMum]

Nope, originally it was an entirely emotional purchase. Got off the friendship boat, saw BWV walked around and decided I want to stay there. Got home, badgered then DH (if you know anything about badgers, he had no chance) into letting me buy resale. That was the extent of my decision. I was truly a DVC dummy but I was on these boards. Went to the sponsor of the board and found a small resale, made an offer. Then immediately added on another small contract direct. Picked up another one a year later. As direct prices go up, I do overthink my addonitis.

 

[bakerworld]

We looked into DVC 3 times before we bought, the 3rd time being the charm. In '92 we decided we weren't financially well enough to afford airfare every other year, and then went in '92, '94, and '97. I looked into it again in '01 but that was gonna be our final trip and we didn't like OKW so.... I went back in '04 with my sisters, early '05 with youngest, late '05 with a couple of kids and then we started going as a couple in '06, twice, and '07, three times. In '08 we took youngest plus her boyfriend, stayed in BC DVC 1Br villa and he wouldn't go to any parks because he didn't want to stand in line. So the DVC preview incentive was 3 any time FP and I ran over to BW to sign up for a preview. The guide gave us 12 any time FP's when she heard why we were there and then she preceded to sell DVC. DH looked at me and said this is obviously something we should do. After I picked myself off the floor, we did.

 

[Cfabar1]

Reading several of these membership stories, it really is amazing. We are so glad to finally be full members with DVC and cherish our trips. Glad to see so many people have loved their membership and have gotten great use from it.