DVC Tour

[theostwalts]

We are going on a Disney Cruise the week after Thanksgiving. We will be in Cape Canaveral the day after Thanksgiving and are thinking about driving over to Orlando to spend a little time resort hopping and shopping. I am also thinking about taking the DVC tour while we are there. We have a guide we have been working with and I have a call into him now to check on this. Would you guys take the official tour or go on your own and look aroung some of the DVC resorts? Where are the model rooms? We know how DVC works, how many points we need, etc. My only hold up at this point is the "mystery construction" at the CR. Other than that I am leaning very heavily toward AKV. Anyway, what would you do as far as the tour?

Thanks

 

[dianeschlicht]

I'd probably go ahead and take the "official" tour, but I would also do some driving around and specing out the existing DVC resorts on your own. Most will show you a room if there is an unoccupied one ready.

The model rooms for both SSR and AKV are at SSR and the main sales area, so you will automatically tour those with an official tour. It's always fun to go see the other resorts though too.

 

[GusMan]

I'd say take the tour. It was very helpful, extremely low pressure (ie:no pressure) and it answered all the questions we had at the time. If you are on the edge about buying, this may help you decide one way or another for sure, but you do not have to make a decision right then and there.

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

I'd probably go ahead and take the "official" tour, but I would also do some driving around and specing out the existing DVC resorts on your own. Most will show you a room if there is an unoccupied one ready.

The model rooms for both SSR and AKV are at SSR and the main sales area, so you will automatically tour those with an official tour. It's always fun to go see the other resorts though too.

I agree!

 

[beetle64]

If you only have a short amount of time, I'd also say take the "official tour" , there's no pressure and it will help you hugely to see all of the different models for DSSR and VAKL. I also like to be able to talk face to face with someone. If you have 4-5 hours then taking the time to have a look at BC,BW and OKW as well is a sensible option. There are DVC info desks at all of the resorts and also on the Boardwalk areas. They will be able to book you a time for your tour at Saratoga and if you need it get a van sent over to collect you and your family. Booking a tour as opposed to just turning up is a good idea, Thanksgiving is a busy week, just showing up at Saratoga means you may be faced with a 2-3 hour wait to get seen(or not at all). If you check availability before you do your own resort visits you have the option, if they have limited availability, of fitting your independent visits around the "official tour".

 

[AKV707]

Definitely take the tour. As has been stated above there is no pressure and you will get all og the info and tour the SSR and AKV models. (The AKV mosel rooms are incredible!)

Definitely call ahead and schedule it with your guide.

 

[DMKEDM]

A quick contrary thought: After the tour, the guide will offer you an incentive that will expire within a fairly short time-frame (in our case, it was 3 days...I've read here, though, that some folks have recently gotten 7 days). It's the unanimous experience/opinion on these boards that once your time frame expires, it expires. Disney doesn't extend for anyone (as far as I can tell). So if there's some reason why you wouldn't buy within 3-7 days, even if you've decided you're going to buy, it would make sense to delay taking the tour til you know you can--if you decide to do so--buy in order to take advantage of the incentives. (In our case it was $8/point, and it was about 18 months ago, at SSR.)

 

[theostwalts]

A quick contrary thought: After the tour, the guide will offer you an incentive that will expire within a fairly short time-frame (in our case, it was 3 days...I've read here, though, that some folks have recently gotten 7 days). It's the unanimous experience/opinion on these boards that once your time frame expires, it expires. Disney doesn't extend for anyone (as far as I can tell). So if there's some reason why you wouldn't buy within 3-7 days, even if you've decided you're going to buy, it would make sense to delay taking the tour til you know you can--if you decide to do so--buy in order to take advantage of the incentives. (In our case it was $8/point, and it was about 18 months ago, at SSR.)

I have never been clear on incentives after the tour. We are going on a cruise that week so there is no way I would buy within the 7 days following the tour, because we will be on the Disney Magic. Do they offer additional incentives other than what is being offered over the phone? As I understand it now, with AKV you can take developer points or a cash discount off the current price point. Do they offer some other incentives if you take the tour?

 

[mowog]

On the cruise there will be several presentations, and a DVC desk. They seem to offer some great incentives on the cruise, which are probably equal to the land incentives. So you will have the entire cruise to think about it plus probably some extra days after.

Jean and Bob

 

[iteachlit]

It's the unanimous experience/opinion on these boards that once your time frame expires, it expires. Disney doesn't extend for anyone (as far as I can tell).

We were told that we had 72 hours, but we just couldn't "run the numbers" correctly in that period of time. It was about two weeks after our tour that we decided to buy. The first question that I asked our guide was "Will we still get the incentives?" He told me that he "checked with his boss" and they decided to allow us the incentive, even though we were past the 72 hour limit.

Although it sounds like these are hard and fast deadlines, in all likelihood most potential buyers should be able to get the incentives, especially when they are still being offered to those currently taking the tour. In fact, our guide still gave us the choice of $10 per point (@ SSR) or DDP; both of those promotions were still active two weeks after our tour.

Think about it. Does it make sense to turn away someone who toured two weeks ago, just because the 72 hour deadline has passed? The next family to tour can easily come in, buy the same number of points, and get the same promotion. Either way, DVC still "loses" the amount of the incentive. Why would DVC turn away any potential member?

YMMV.

 

[tink_lover]

What is the DDP promotion? We considered buying our last trip but held off. Looking to tour again next year.

 

[iteachlit]

What is the DDP promotion? We considered buying our last trip but held off. Looking to tour again next year.

DDP = Double Developer Points

Basically, we could receive an additional 320 points when we purchased our 160 points at SSR.

We weren't ready to go back right away, so we took the $10 off per point.

 

[theostwalts]

It sounds like the incentives being offered are the same ones my guide has told us about already. So if I take the official tour and do not buy then they will not still offer them? If that is the case it seems like it would be better to skip an official tour and buy when I have made a final decision on a home resort. I have had several conversations with our guide about a purchase and there has been no mention of the incentives going away. Only that they change from time to time and you get whatever is offered at the time you buy. So are there any extra incentives offered at the tour that is not offered to someone who gets the information by mail and then makes a purchase from home?

 

[CarolAnnC]

Prices increase, interest rates increase, incentives change, but one thing is the same. Your best price will be now.. Waiting for better incentives does not work. If you are just not ready to buy, then by all means wait. But I would suggest taking the tour. I took it several times over several years before I finally purchased. My one regret - that I did not purchase sooner.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Prices increase, interest rates increase, incentives change, but one thing is the same. Your best price will be now.. Waiting for better incentives does not work. If you are just not ready to buy, then by all means wait. But I would suggest taking the tour. I took it several times over several years before I finally purchased. My one regret - that I did not purchase sooner.

Yep, that was us too!

 

[DisneyBride'03]

We just got lucky...we took the double incentive points. They were not available when I first tried convincing DH this was for us..lol...so now I am thankful we waited for a trip and got this offer on the last day...phew...I had plans for those point already. Of course they come with restrictions
Just back in March the buy in was at 150 pts with Disney..so NOW is the time...all DVC veterans here say they wish they would have bought sooner!
Except for those who bought in 1992