DVCNews December 2024 Direct Sales

[AstroBlasters]

And what makes one resort better to one family vs another is what makes DVC good for different people. We own at Bay Lake and Grand Flo as well and I prefer the Skyliner to the monorail. And while I'm a big fan of the Boardwalk, I do enjoy the short walk to the skyliner after a long day at Epcot. And with the Skyliner right outside of Riviera and to both Epcot and Hollywood it is a plus for us.

The Skyliner seems great…. when it is working….

 

[Brian Noble]

There Is No Pixie Dust In Transportation (tm)

(That's probably not the best example, unfortunately, but it is a common sentiment on the Transportation board.)

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

The Skyliner seems great…. when it is working….

All transportation is finicky. I’ve had more issues with the boats and monorail (and super long waits for the bus) than I’ve ever had on the skyliner. Even walking can be derailed with a rainstorm. Doesn’t mean I won’t get caught with a bad skyliner trip but sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw and all that

 

[AstroBlasters]

All transportation is finicky. I’ve had more issues with the boats and monorail (and super long waits for the bus) than I’ve ever had on the skyliner. Even walking can be derailed with a rainstorm. Doesn’t mean I won’t get caught with a bad skyliner trip but sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw and all that

It’s also about diversification. With many resorts you can bus, monorail, walk or boat. With RIV….. without the Skyliner…. I’ve heard from some people who say that the backup transportation is sorely lacking.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

It’s also about diversification. With many resorts you can bus, monorail, walk or boat. With RIV….. without the Skyliner…. I’ve heard from some people who say that the backup transportation is sorely lacking.

It’s also about timing. There was a morning during my last stay at VGF that the boats weren’t running, the monorail line was nuts and the walking path to the MK was closed…which of course was where we wanted to go. So even with diversification, you sadly may have to be dependent on non-Disney transportation.

 

[Sandisw]

It’s also about diversification. With many resorts you can bus, monorail, walk or boat. With RIV….. without the Skyliner…. I’ve heard from some people who say that the backup transportation is sorely lacking.

We have only experienced the Skyliner being down a few times but when it was the buses came pretty quickly.

But I have been elsewhere and had glitches too so I think all of them can have issues.

 

[Mirabell Rose]

We did a sales meeting with DVC on our January trip. The tower was beautiful. But….I definitely had some insecurity given the current political climate. When you hear of tens of thousands out of jobs because their agencies were shut down, you feel unease, even if it doesn’t effect you personally.

When we bought our direct contract in the Great Recession, our sales agent stressed all the positives. Family time together, memories and experiences and their lasting value. Becoming part of the Disney family. The extreme flexibility to stay at all the different resorts.You could pool hop and visit them to see what they were like (with a few restrictions) And even the high resale value of such a premium timeshare. It made me feel more at ease. More open to spending the money. And it was easy and relaxing to see the models. We looked while the kids enjoyed ice cream and cookies.

Fast forward to last month. Took 4 attempts to get a meeting setup. Looking at the tower was a long wait at the tower gate to even get in, despite having an appointment. Don’t even get me started on the gate wait, parking lot, walk to one bus stop, switching busses, walk to the models at the cabins. The sales agent at the Poly meeting stressed the need to own there to stay, ‘too hard to book without’. He stressed how when all the 42 resorts flip to new resorts in 42, resale owners will be locked out of all those resorts PLUS RIV and Firelands and all built after that. On to Firelands and asked it Cabin DVCers could use Wilderness workout center. Absolutely not, and the path to Wilderness has been shut down was told. I left those meetings feeling more anxious than before.

I won’t say that everyone has had this as their experience. And I feel the prices of points and park costs rising more than inflation also plays into it. But the sales experience this time pushed me away from buying mentally, whereas 15 years ago it did the opposite.

 

[AstroBlasters]

We did a sales meeting with DVC on our January trip. The tower was beautiful. But….I definitely had some insecurity given the current political climate. When you hear of tens of thousands out of jobs because their agencies were shut down, you feel unease, even if it doesn’t effect you personally.

When we bought our direct contract in the Great Recession, our sales agent stressed all the positives. Family time together, memories and experiences and their lasting value. Becoming part of the Disney family. The extreme flexibility to stay at all the different resorts.You could pool hop and visit them to see what they were like (with a few restrictions) And even the high resale value of such a premium timeshare. It made me feel more at ease. More open to spending the money. And it was easy and relaxing to see the models. We looked while the kids enjoyed ice cream and cookies.

Fast forward to last month. Took 4 attempts to get a meeting setup. Looking at the tower was a long wait at the tower gate to even get in, despite having an appointment. Don’t even get me started on the gate wait, parking lot, walk to one bus stop, switching busses, walk to the models at the cabins. The sales agent at the Poly meeting stressed the need to own there to stay, ‘too hard to book without’. He stressed how when all the 42 resorts flip to new resorts in 42, resale owners will be locked out of all those resorts PLUS RIV and Firelands and all built after that. On to Firelands and asked it Cabin DVCers could use Wilderness workout center. Absolutely not, and the path to Wilderness has been shut down was told. I left those meetings feeling more anxious than before.

I won’t say that everyone has had this as their experience. And I feel the prices of points and park costs rising more than inflation also plays into it. But the sales experience this time pushed me away from buying mentally, whereas 15 years ago it did the opposite.

Sorry you had a negative experience.

 

[Instagramhusband]

We did a sales meeting with DVC on our January trip. The tower was beautiful. But….I definitely had some insecurity given the current political climate. When you hear of tens of thousands out of jobs because their agencies were shut down, you feel unease, even if it doesn’t effect you personally.

When we bought our direct contract in the Great Recession, our sales agent stressed all the positives. Family time together, memories and experiences and their lasting value. Becoming part of the Disney family. The extreme flexibility to stay at all the different resorts.You could pool hop and visit them to see what they were like (with a few restrictions) And even the high resale value of such a premium timeshare. It made me feel more at ease. More open to spending the money. And it was easy and relaxing to see the models. We looked while the kids enjoyed ice cream and cookies.

Fast forward to last month. Took 4 attempts to get a meeting setup. Looking at the tower was a long wait at the tower gate to even get in, despite having an appointment. Don’t even get me started on the gate wait, parking lot, walk to one bus stop, switching busses, walk to the models at the cabins. The sales agent at the Poly meeting stressed the need to own there to stay, ‘too hard to book without’. He stressed how when all the 42 resorts flip to new resorts in 42, resale owners will be locked out of all those resorts PLUS RIV and Firelands and all built after that. On to Firelands and asked it Cabin DVCers could use Wilderness workout center. Absolutely not, and the path to Wilderness has been shut down was told. I left those meetings feeling more anxious than before.

I won’t say that everyone has had this as their experience. And I feel the prices of points and park costs rising more than inflation also plays into it. But the sales experience this time pushed me away from buying mentally, whereas 15 years ago it did the opposite.

That is an interesting push for sure.

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

It’s also about diversification. With many resorts you can bus, monorail, walk or boat. With RIV….. without the Skyliner…. I’ve heard from some people who say that the backup transportation is sorely lacking.

True, true and I’m sure those people were really inconvenienced and it affected their opinions, makes sense. But I maintain, it’s not very different anywhere else. I commented in a different post about the buses from BWV to HS during a rainstorm that took 30 mins. Anytime a resort has to rely on its secondary transportation it takes a some adjustment time. I’ve actually had no issues the one time the skyliner had unscheduled downtime because of weather (I was also there during the refurbishment last year and buses were perfectly fine) and the buses were up and running super quickly and better yet, don’t share with any other resorts. Oddly, I think buses at RIV are one of its strongest suits because of its central location and the fact it doesn’t share with other resorts.

But everyone’s trips and experiences are different, for every positive review of the monorail you’ll find 10 hating it, same for the boats and skyliner. I know you’ve said before your wife is afraid of heights but maybe you can just take your kids for a quick little loop on a quiet afternoon or just to get coffee at RIV one morning and see how you feel about. I think it’s nice as just a little activity even without a bigger purpose. You’ll know pretty quickly if it’s for you or not. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

 

[AstroBlasters]

True, true and I’m sure those people were really inconvenienced and it affected their opinions, makes sense. But I maintain, it’s not very different anywhere else. I commented in a different post about the buses from BWV to HS during a rainstorm that took 30 mins. Anytime a resort has to rely on its secondary transportation it takes a some adjustment time. I’ve actually had no issues the one time the skyliner had unscheduled downtime because of weather (I was also there during the refurbishment last year and buses were perfectly fine) and the buses were up and running super quickly and better yet, don’t share with any other resorts. Oddly, I think buses at RIV are one of its strongest suits because of its central location and the fact it doesn’t share with other resorts.

But everyone’s trips and experiences are different, for every positive review of the monorail you’ll find 10 hating it, same for the boats and skyliner. I know you’ve said before your wife is afraid of heights but maybe you can just take your kids for a quick little loop on a quiet afternoon or just to get coffee at RIV one morning and see how you feel about. I think it’s nice as just a little activity even without a bigger purpose. You’ll know pretty quickly if it’s for you or not. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

We’ve got a dinner reservation at Toppolinos…. so we’ll see what happens!

 

[DVCGuide]

Interesting that, eliminating the pandemic years, 2024 was the lowest sales year since 2016. I wonder why?

Is it simply the economy, or are the product options currently offered by DVC not as appealing to prospective buyers anymore?

It's because they don't do traditional "tours" anymore and instead want the sales people standing out by Tomorrowland trying to hawk DVC while people are running to rides / bathrooms, etc. Whole business model changed after COVID and sales are showing. Temp opening new resorts only put a band-aid on it, so who knows what will happen long term.