This is so funny!! I have to tell a story.
My parents, esp. my father, gave me a REALLY hard time when I bought an OKW resale in 2000. Timeshares are a rip off, maintenance fees are rediculous, blah blah blah. I finally had to tell them we made the decision right for us, and tough luck if they don't like it. They just didn't get it.
My father goes to an insurance convention every summer, and this summer, it was in Orlando - I found out about it a year or so before, and told my parents I'd put them up in OKW for their conference, they could save on hotel money, much nicer than a hotel room, full kitchen, etc.
And in order to make sure they had a good time, I put together about a 15 page document that explained EXACTLY where to go, what to do (parking, room layouts, the best restaurants, where grocery stores were, etc). VERY comprehensive.
The day they checked in, I called them to make sure everything was OK. As everyone knows, it's always possible to have minor problems with a room, so I wanted to be sure they were fine with the room.
THEY ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!! When I called, my father had me explain the entire process of
DVC and how it worked. He has so many questions, I told him he should take a tour; they could answer any questions he had.
So they did; I got a call a couple days later from them. My husband answered the phone, and my father asked for the
travel agent (that would be me!). Very funny.
As it turns out, they like OKW so much, they actually purchased on site while they were there. Originally planning on buying at Vero Beach, I faxed them over a 3 page letter that explained about buying where you want to stay the most, 7 month vs. 11 month booking window, etc. They want to stay at OKW, but they ended up buying at BCV. Didn't have the patience to wait for a good resale, and they were able to buy and finance through Disney.
So, I got my $200 referral, and got my parents off my back for buying a timeshare! They're treating us to a week family vacation with them next May! Their plan is to go each year with a different kid and their family (I have a brother and a sister, both with kids), so they can share WDW with their grandchildren.
But first, they have a trip scheduled just for themselves just after Thanksgiving.
We didn't have a lot of money when were were growing up; vacations were always spent at the grandparents, or occasionally we'd go with him to the summer insurance conference. We'd always run around doing stuff while he was in meetings.
Now with DVC, he'll be able to go to WDW and run around and do things himself, instead of hearing about them afterwards.
I'm so glad I could share DVC with my parents!!! They certainly deserve to have some good times now that they're retired!
