Has anyone ever purchased into DVC without staying or touring a property?

[speedyf]

I have never actually stayed at a DVC property or toured a property, but we are thinking of buying into DVC. We typically go once per year and now have an 8 year old and a 2 month old. We all love Disney and we have been visiting at least once per year since my 8 year old was 4 years old (2004).

We are planning a trip with my mom and dad and sister and her boyfriend for October 2009. They want to stay in a 2 bedroom at Old Key West, so I was thinking about renting points....but, I hate to spend $1000's on a rental and buy-in after that. I'd rather buy-in now and use my own points.

So...has anyone ever done this before? Basically...bought into DVC without actually seeing a unit or staying in a unit? Of course, we have the DVD and we have looked at pictures online and read up about the whole ownership process. I'm looking to buy about 150 points.

My next problem is where to buy. We had pretty much settled on Old Key West or Saratoga Springs. I wanted Old Key West...but, the accountant in me kept saying that the price per point is almost the same for both resorts and you get 12 extra years at Saratoga Springs. Then, I'd go back to the point charts for Old Key West being lower....then, they announced the Tree Houses as part of Saratoga....and I have fond memories of the Tree Houses when I went as a youngster.....

HELP!....lol....

Speed

 

[dvcdisney]

We considered this a major purchase and researched extensively. We also toured the models, drove around to the different resorts and spoke constantly with the guide and even then, we took a very long time to make a final decision. I don't think I could have made such an expensive purchase without first viewing the resorts or models.

In terms of choosing the resort. Maybe to help you decide, you can go and visit the resorts you think you will be interested in and then decide what feel the best. Keep in mind, you can stay at any of them, but (just a recommendation) to purchase the resort you feel you would stay in the most. It may help to have the home resort advantage if you book during peak seasons.

Good luck.

 

[flyingcat2003]

We did!! We've never regreted it either. We were staying at POP and went to DTD. We saw SSR from acreoss the lake. When we got home we decided DVC was for us. Maybe we are crazy but it worked well for us!

 

[adminjedi]

We carefully crunched numbers on whether or not it was a good financial decision, but we bought sight unseen at Saratoga. We bought AKV after touring the model but having never visited the AKL. We have since bought yet another contract there. Needless to say, we are very happy with our purchases!

 

[Judy WI]

I did.

We went to Disney a couple of times and I saw the stands never did a tour or saw the rooms in person. Went home did a ton of research and decide that I liked BVC. Purchase first contract though resale and love, love what we did.

I like the hotel feeling places not the condo type so I knew SSR was not for me. So now we own at the new BLT and BVC.

 

[tedisney]

We also bought without taking the tour or visiting any of the DVC resorts. We had stayed on property many times, though, so we were quite familiar with Disney hospitality.

We were in WDW about 2 weeks after our first point purchase, and we took the tour then, LOL.

No regrets here, we've added on and love every stay.

As far as which resort to buy, honestly, I'd go with SSR for the extra years and treehouse booking advantage. We just got back from a stay at OKW, and we didn't like it quite as much as the other DVC resorts we've stayed at, but it appeals to many, many people.

You can't really go wrong, though. OKW and SSR are the two resorts with the most wide-open availability, so you should be able to stay at either resort rather easily, regardless of which is your home resort.

Best of luck, and enjoy the purchase!

 

[robandkelly13]

We bought sight unseen and couldn't be happier!

 

[PSC]

We did a lot of on line research at the DVC site and here on the Disboards. We ended up buying resale via The Timeshare Store and haven't regretted it for a single minute. We stayed at our new home a few months later and marveled about how most everything we read here on the DIS was accurate. That few months of waiting for our first stay was a little nerve racking, but it all turned out great.

 

[np4gp]

Bought over the phone before ever seeing the properties or models or having stayed on Disney property since I was a little girl. Stayed for the first time 2 nights ago on developer points after stopping into the DVC office to have our docs notarized. I was THRILLED with our stay and our purchase.

 

[toocherie]

not only did I not tour or visit a DVC resort before buying . . . .

I've never even been to WDW!

(well, unless you count the trip in the 70's when I was a kid and there was only a Magic Kingdom )

My first trip "home" to both SSR and WDW is on Halloween . . . .

 

[Disney_Villain]

We'd never seen OKW but bought 230 points of it "sight-unseen" in 2006 - and we couldn't be happier. Our 1st visit to OKW took our breath away as we loved it (and it impressed my in-laws, who we put up on our points there too on that trip).

We were in the same boat as you. We didn't want to lay out the cash for a trip and buy DVC at the same time, when we knew we were committed to buying DVC anyways.

 

[av8tor]

We bought without ever visiting a DVC resort or touring a demo unit. However, we had stayed on site at WDW several times at moderate resorts and were very confident that we would be satisfied with DVC. I did all my research here on the DIS boards before deciding to do a resale at BCV. DVC has far exceed our expectations, in fact, we just did an add-on at BLT.

 

[kerickson]

We purchased in Jan 08 and I've never been to WDW at all! I'm a California native and have been to DL many times. We joined SSR for a shot at the DVC villas at the Grand California. We also planned to make some trips back East to WDW and take a Cruise, but longer term plan to use our points at VGC and eventually Hawaii (I hope!)

So, I've never even been at a WDW property and we didn't get to tour the DL models as they were being converted to VGC models. So, I'm going to tour my first DVC model when we are down at DL in mid Nov (hopefully they'll be open again by then)

But, we had stayed at the Grand California and knew Disney quality, so that wasn't a concern for us. The primary purpose of us joining was to pre-pay vacations to force us to make vacationing a priority. We knew we'd enjoy Disney vacations for many years to come...

 

[thesupersmartguy]

The closest we came to seeing the units was walking along the Boardwalk and stopping in the model. Besides that, no past experince.

 

[simzac]

We bought a resale at OKW site unseen because we felt it was the closest match to CBR, which was our favorite non DVC resort, and we were right

 

[tiffany123]

We bought sight unseen and hadn't been to WDW in over 15 years! We knew almost nothing about DVC but somehow it sounded like something that would be right for us. Our first purchase was in 2000 and we've added on 4 times since. No regrets at all.

 

[toocherie]

We purchased in Jan 08 and I've never been to WDW at all! I'm a California native and have been to DL many times. We joined SSR for a shot at the DVC villas at the Grand California. We also planned to make some trips back East to WDW and take a Cruise, but longer term plan to use our points at VGC and eventually Hawaii (I hope!)

So, I've never even been at a WDW property and we didn't get to tour the DL models as they were being converted to VGC models. So, I'm going to tour my first DVC model when we are down at DL in mid Nov (hopefully they'll be open again by then)

But, we had stayed at the Grand California and knew Disney quality, so that wasn't a concern for us. The primary purpose of us joining was to pre-pay vacations to force us to make vacationing a priority. We knew we'd enjoy Disney vacations for many years to come...

kerickson: my story is very similar to yours. I wanted the priority at VGC too and also wanted to buy to force myself to actually go on vacation once in a while! I also didn't get to see the models at Anaheim because they were closed when I bought--I did get to see the new VGC models when they first opened. I wasn't worried either about the quality or whether I would enjoy it (although I have to admit the "snake" stories at WDW have me a little nervous!)

 

[njmeisje]

We did. We just knew BCV was the one for us. And we were right!

Now, we never would have guessed that HHI was a match for our family. But a 4 day stop on the way home from WDW sold that one. DONE!

 

[Amy5000]

I was going to sheepishly admit to purchasing DVC sight unseen...and I figured I might be the only one who did that. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was not alone. I did not tour the properties but I did a lot of research on the Disboards and elsewhere and I think I may have been better informed than many purchasers who bought after the presentation. There's a lot of information to assimilate and I wouldn't be surprised if a once over on the tour was not enough for many purchasers.

Good luck. Amy

 

[nickspace]

We bought w/o touring. However I researched it for a a couple years.