Did you stay at your home resort prior to purchase?

[joanne312]

DH and I have decided after much consideration and number crunching to buy a resale. Because of location, transportation to Epcot & DHS we are thinking BCV or BWV. DH also likes the idea of the restaurants/bars at BWV.
We have never stayed at or been to either of these resorts. We've done lots of research and seen lots of pictures online, but I'm still hesitant to buy into a resort that I have never actually been to! We are thinking of going down for a quick trip just to take a look at the resorts, but then that's money we are using for the trip and not for our resale purchase, so our purchase will be delayed a bit. But if we went down we could see if we had a preference BCV or BWV.

Did you have a stay at your home resort prior to purchase? If not, did you worry that you wouldn't like it (even though you'd have no reason to think you wouldn't!)

 

[Missyrose]

DH and I have decided after much consideration and number crunching to buy a resale. Because of location, transportation to Epcot & DHS we are thinking BCV or BWV. DH also likes the idea of the restaurants/bars at BWV.
We have never stayed at or been to either of these resorts. We've done lots of research and seen lots of pictures online, but I'm still hesitant to buy into a resort that I have never actually been to! We are thinking of going down for a quick trip just to take a look at the resorts, but then that's money we are using for the trip and not for our resale purchase, so our purchase will be delayed a bit. But if we went down we could see if we had a preference BCV or BWV.

Did you have a stay at your home resort prior to purchase? If not, did you worry that you wouldn't like it (even though you'd have no reason to think you wouldn't!)

Nope. We knew we wanted an Epcot resort for our first purchase (we're Food and Wine Festival regulars). We'd visited both BC and BW before, but never stayed at either.

We like the decor a bit better at BW and knew the BW had a bit more of an adult feel than the more family-oriented BC.

We also knew that when it comes to restaurants, it didn't matter where we bought, you get to enjoy the whole Epcot resort area.

When we bought early last year, the BW prices were much lower than they are now (we paid $50 pp for a 150-point contract). So that helped to make our decision easier.

As far as our other contract, BLT, we've stayed at CR so we knew we loved the location and the modern decor.

I think it just depends on what you know about the resorts and what your needs are when it comes to a resort.

 

[DizBub]

We did not stay at our home resorts (BLT and BVC) before we bought. Visited BW many, many times and always thought that's where we would actually buy. Since buying into DVC we have stayed at all but VWL and would be happy to own at all of them. Our favorite tends to be the one we are staying at. But that's just us.

I would suggest you go ahead and tour the DVC resorts on your trip. BWV actually has a model villa set up right next to Big River Grill on the boardwalk. You could also arrange to see model rooms at the DVC Preview Center at SSR, get lots of good info to take home and buy resale. Maybe even rent points to stay at a DVC resort to try it out.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[disneynutz]

Didn't stay at BLT before buying there, it's our least favorite resort. Stayed at BCV, BWV, VWL and AKL before buying there.

A DVC costs thousands of dollars and over 30 years your Disney vacation costs can exceed $250,000. I would make sure that you love where you are buying.

Bill

 

[Splashboat]

I personally feel it is really important to visit the resort before you purchase. It is a long term investment and I can't imagine going in blind. You should make sure you like the location, layout, parking situation (if you have a car), dining options.... Everyone is different and you can read on these threads that any of the above mentioned criteria makes the Resort a positive or negative experience depending on your preferences.

 

[jekjones1558]

We bought at BWV after touring a room there. It was totally a whim. We happened to be visiting the BW area, walked through the model, liked it, signed on the dotted line. No research. Maybe we just got lucky but we have loved every minute of our ownership and have added on at BWV numerous times. We have treated family members many, many times and they always choose BWV when we ask where they want to stay. We must have at least 40 BWV stays under our belts by now.
Good luck with whatever you decide. I hope that your DVC purchase brings you as much joy as ours has.

 

[dopey2]

Yes we stayed at our home resort prior to purchasing. There was only one DVC resort in 1994 when we purchased and we had stayed there in 1993 and loved it. The resort was called Disney Vacation Club then, now it is known as OKW.

 

[lovin'fl]

We lived in NC when we bought into DVC in 2006. We did our 1st trip in 2003 and stayed off site. I didn't even want to go to WDW...it was DH's idea and I thought it would be a ton of work with no fun for us parents. Boy was I wrong and that 1st trip got me hooked. We then went back in 2005 and I convinced the cheapo DH to stay on site at POR and we even got the dining plan (was a great deal then with appys and tips included for $37/adult and like $9-something for each of our kids). After that trip, we realized we'd like to go to WDW 2-3 times every 2 years....and we realized that it would be nice to have larger accommodations than the standard 2 queens hotel room (there are 5 of us). We decided to buy into DVC and SSR was still selling new at about $90-95/point with incentives. We saw that resales were a bit cheaper, so we went with the cheapest 200 point contract we could find (WDW resort) and that was OKW. We bought it in 2006 never having stayed there or any other DVC resort (we didn't take the tours either). We still didn't stay at OKW until 2009 and have only stayed there 2 times (9 nights total). We prefer the Epcot area resorts and have been able to get them 3 times (BWV twice and BCV once) and also have tried VWL, HH, VB and SSR (all once each). All resorts have their pros and cons (not too many cons since they are WDW resorts). We have our order of preference for sure, but we are happy to be at WDW (and in FL) and will make any resort work.

Another plus about buying BWV is that you can book the standard view which is tough to get at the 7 month window but it does save you quite a few points. One minus is that the busing from BWV isn't the best since the buses stop at Swan, Dolphin, Yacht and Beach club too. But you don't need the buses for HS or Epcot and you can even monorail to MK from Epcot. AK, the water parks and Downtown Disney aren't too fun to get to/from.

 

[Sammie]

Yes, several times

 

[Mousewerks]

I guess we didn't technically stay at SSR before purchasing but we had been there before and felt the resort fit our likings the best. We had rented points to stay at Kidani to "try things out" before purchasing. That allowed us to go through the models at SSR and to visit all the resorts before finally deciding on a smaller SSR resale contract.

 

[bwvBound]

We had enjoyed 2 or 3 DVC stays at BWV before buying SSR over the phone, sight unseen, during SSR's construction (May 2004). FWIW, we use our points at many different DVC locations and didn't visit the SSR location until Dec 2009. The "home resort" means very little to me.

 

[paults]

never stayed at any DVC before we bought in 2002. We liked BWV for location and bought there but our first stay was at VWL do to our resale contract and pts needed to be used and couldn't get in at BWV. Love them all.

 

[DougEMG]

We never stayed at any of the resorts before buying. I'd seen all the pictures online and had visited WDW many times, so had a fairly good idea of what I was buying into. SSR and OKW we bought for the price and BWV we bought for the location.

 

[WDWDLRFan]

I stayed at the hotel portion before buying into the DVC portion of it. I think if you know the area where you are buying or have visited it in previous trips, it should be ok. But if you have never stayed at that property, I believe it would be a good idea just to try it out. You may think that it is money that you could have put into the purchase, but if it helps you make that final decision between 2 (or more) DVC properties, it's money well spent.

 

[Chuck S]

Nope, before purchasing OKW, we had only stayed at the Contemporary.

 

[lodge]

I read that location is not the only factor... that the ambiance and "feel" of BWV's and BCV's is very different. We found this to be true.

Based upon this, we felt it necessary to spend some time on the properties we were interested in, prior to purchase. It did secure our choice (and what we felt was important was lowered on the priority list)

If I had gone with what we had intended to purchase, prior to a few visits, we'd actually be unhappy with our DVC purchase now.

 

[Kidanifan08]

We purchased AKV direct before Kidani was finished. We visited the models of AKV and BLT at SSR and really loved the feel of the AKV villas. I had never stayed at a DVC resort before, but my wife stayed at OKW once. Neither one of us had stayed at AKL. Up until owning, we had done primarily values and mods, besides staying at BWI once for a professional meeting.

We have tried other resorts and are considering eventually buying something in the Epcot area, but so far we don't regret our decision to buy AKV.

 

[michelleiada]

DH and I have decided after much consideration and number crunching to buy a resale. Because of location, transportation to Epcot & DHS we are thinking BCV or BWV. DH also likes the idea of the restaurants/bars at BWV.
We have never stayed at or been to either of these resorts. We've done lots of research and seen lots of pictures online, but I'm still hesitant to buy into a resort that I have never actually been to! We are thinking of going down for a quick trip just to take a look at the resorts, but then that's money we are using for the trip and not for our resale purchase, so our purchase will be delayed a bit. But if we went down we could see if we had a preference BCV or BWV.

Did you have a stay at your home resort prior to purchase? If not, did you worry that you wouldn't like it (even though you'd have no reason to think you wouldn't!)

We did! We rented points twice to stay in 2 bedroom villas at BCV. Fell deeply in love with it instantly! Finally took the plunge and purchased BCV points in August. Our first official trip home is 12 nights in June and I can't wait! I would definitely recommend staying once first, or at least seeing the resorts. Both BCV and BWV are beautiful resorts in the best location in Disney, IMHO! It is so nice to stroll into World Showcase at night to dine in one of the countries! The Boardwalk had great evening entertainment, and don't forget the Swan and Dolphin. They have some great restaurants and lounges/bars too, although not on Disney dining plan.

Best of luck with what ever you decide!

 

[puffkin]

We bought our first contract at SSR without ever staying there. That was in 2004 and we stayed there once in 16 DVC trips since. We do love AKV and did an add on there before it was built...but we had stayed in the hotel part prior. We've stayed in all the onsite DVC resorts and all have good and bad points. Home resort doesn't mean too much to us, we like variety.

 

[staceymay00]

While I think it is a great idea to try a DVC resort before purchasing points there, we did not...and so far have never regretted our purchase. I did my research and looked at a lot of pictures, and decided that OKW would be a great fit for us. It turns out that it is - we love staying there and usually choose to stay there even if we can switch to something else at 7 months. My family is not overly picky, though. We would probably be happy campers owning at most of the WDW DVC resorts, but the extra space and the parking right in front of the villas at OKW is very appealing to us. We like more of a condo feel than a hotel feel for stays of more than a few nights.

I'm not sure we'll ever add on somewhere else without staying there first, though. One of the things that has kept me from adding on is simply not being able to decide on a resort! Adding on at OKW is appealing because one day we might like to be able to have points to book a grand villa at 11 months. We are trying AKV in a couple of months because it is one of the resorts I've thought about as an add on. BCV is also on the list (we've stayed Beach Club Resort and liked it), but BWV is hard to pass up with a lower resale price and the 11 month booking window for standard view villas. We recently spent two nights at the Contemporary and liked it, which made me think about adding points at BLT to tack on a few nights after an OKW stay, or for shorter trips. And then there is the Polynesian...we love it there and maybe we should hold out for DVC there.

Anyway, I think if you are torn between several resorts it is a good idea to try them, but it is possible to find the right resort without staying at all of them. At least that was the case for our initial purchase.

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