DVC Tour

[motofox4]

My sister and I will be traveling to WDW in 20 days! I'm thinking about taking a DVC tour to see the resorts and get a little more information.. I'm not sure yet if we can afford it, but would like to go to check it out.. Does anyone know if there are any "perks" for taking a tour, like free FastPasses or gift cards or anything?

 

[Desnik]

My sister and I will be traveling to WDW in 20 days! I'm thinking about taking a DVC tour to see the resorts and get a little more information.. I'm not sure yet if we can afford it, but would like to go to check it out.. Does anyone know if there are any "perks" for taking a tour, like free FastPasses or gift cards or anything?

All we got was the free icecream at the end of the tour! Oh, and when we visited with our guide last year we got some DVC bags, like the recycle ones you use at the grocery store. Some people have gotten $25 gift cards to do a phone tour, that info is on the budget board. I have heard of some getting fast passes.

I would encourage you to go anyway. It is a great tour, no pressure at all. We own at SSR and AKV and it was the best thing we ever did!!

 

[mecllap]

You don't really get a "tour of the resorts" or much in the way of perks. You will see a gorgeous 2-bedroom mock-up of the Aulani resort, and maybe another (AKV?) at the SSR DVC center. You can travel around on property, by onsite transport or car, and walk through the main areas of all the resorts to get a feel for their amibence. There is a model of a DVC unit at the Boardwalk area (kind of near the Atlantic City Dance Hall) that is pretty much always open for drop-ins. As well as what you can learn about DVC on these boards (which is more than you will learn on the tour), you might want to learn more about timesharing in general -- TUG is a good source for that: http://tugbbs.com/forums/

 

[LSchrow]

The tours are normally fun and informative, and the incentives vary (as noted above - on her bd/grad present from me, a week at the BWVs, my friend was given a $100 GC. She did buy, btw). In addition to taking the actual tour, try to read as much as possible beforehand (there's lot of info on these boards), and visit a few GVC resorts while you are in WDW. The sold out resorts go for much less on the resale market.
Just ask is you have any questions

 

[bmalonef45]

6 years ago my wife and I took a short trip to WDW just to tour DVC. We left the kids at home and made a weekend of it. We stayed off site in a cheap place and rented a car. We didn't receive any incentives but thats not what we were looking for. Our guide was nice and gave us a great tour of Saratoga Springs. We asked him if we could tour the other resorts and he said we could and to just let the security guards at each gate know what we were up to. We went to all the on property resorts that day and even went to the front desk and asked to tour a room. Each time we were welcomed to look if there were rooms available. The staff was always helpful at answering our questions and showing us around. In our opinion we were about to spend a lot of money and we wanted to know what we were getting. We didn't have tickets for the parks and there was a hurricane headed in so it was a perfect way to explore and dodge rain showers. We even decided to drive out to Vero Beach. Again we were welcomed at the resort and given a full tour.

Needless to say we did join and its been a great decision. Our kids are lucky enough to be able to say they've been to WDW almost 10 times in 6 years and even though they don't know it they will be returning in Oct. Being able to take them to WDW in the fall and Hawaii for spring break is something we would have never been able to do without DVC. And we only own 200pts so know that with proper planning it can be done without having to buy a ton of points.

Good luck with your decision and enjoy your tours.

 

[deebits]

My In-laws did the tour a week ago and were given the option of 3 fast passes or $15 Disney Gift card each

 

[Barbydoll8]

Depends on if you are staying on property (our incentive was offered because we were staying at a DVC resort already - AKL) and if they are having any type of promotion.
We got free ice cream and $100 gift card.

We did buy but the GC was before the decision to buy.

Been tempted to add on already (only a little over 1 year member here) but haven't yet (will probably do resale for add on).

This board and the members here are FULL of information. Take your time and inform yourself and have fun.