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

[lisareniff]

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.

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 )

WOW I didn't know there were other risk takers (or foolish) in the crowd. We also purchased BCV without either seeing the models or even going to WDW (at least within the last 20 years). It has worked out wonderfully for us. We were happy with our purchase and have since added on.... twice!

 

[tinkerbell of winter]

I bought SSR sight unseen after our first Disney Vacation in 2003 after receiving the information package and speaking with the Disney Vacation Club specialist over the phone. Since then we have been to WDW 3 times since then and Disneyland once and it will be paid off next June so I should be about at the break even point. Looking forward to the next trip in April 09

 

[Anal Annie]

We are definitely leaning towards SSR because of the extra years and the newly added THV. My mom has always wanted to stay at OKW. From what I've read, SSR and OKW seem to be the two "easiest" resorts to get into if they are not your home resort. Is this correct? Would it be relatively easy for me to stay at OKW every once in awhile with SSR points? I'm not talking Christmas week, or Easter week...just maybe during the summer or during our fall break in October.

We stayed at OKW for our first DVC stay in order to scrimp on points...we had no problems getting a studio for mid-August when the "Dream" season starts. Although there were a lot of people there, I don't believe the resort was completely full. OKW and SSR are the 2 largest DVC resorts which is why they often have availability when the smaller ones do not.

 

[bsusanmb]

I bought SSR over the phone...never toured it...and then added on 3 times and added on VWL. I love it. Never have regretted it.

 

[speedyf]

Thanks for all the great feedback! I just wanted to let everyone know that I signed an agreement on a resale through The Timeshare Store today. Now, I have to wait for the seller to sign and for the ROFR process. I'm (hopefully) purchasing 150 points at SSR (to start ).

We've never stayed at SSR, but have a few friends that own there. We also did a ton of research and decided to go with SSR.

Again...thanks for the help and I hope to be a member of the DVC soon.

Speed

 

[gk90]

Congrats on your purchase speedyf!

And add us to the sight unseen buyer list. After staying at Pop and CSR and visiting AKL and the Poly we were impressed with Disney resorts and (after doing the research) felt we couldn't go wrong with a small SSR resale contract.

 

[meriface11]

technically we didn't buy sight unseen, but DH and I were 100% sure that were were buying and had planned to buy SSR through resale when the later summer AKV promo came out and decided it was better for us to buy AKV through Disney. since we were only a few weeks out from our september vacation, we waited to buy until we got down there so we could go through the pomp and circumstance of taking the tour (glad we did b/c we got a $100 gc). once we got there, we were even more confident about our choice after we saw both the AKV model at SSR and the SSR grand villa. i can't imagine anyone strongly considering would take a tour and then think it wasn't as nice as they had hoped. anything you see online and in the videos pales in comparison to the real thing.

 

[lkenyon]

One day our friends called in Spring 2000 and said that they bought into DVC. I had never heard of it. I have gone to Disney every year of my life almost, but never seen DVC. Our friends said to call Roland their sales rep. For the amount of trips that we make it would pay for itself! We bought over the phone - 210 points at Board Walk. I bought another membership at Wildnerness a few months later. I did not go until 2001 to see our purchase. We have been hooked ever since. Now we have 610 points and enjoy this to the fullest. You are buying into luxury! It is worth every penny!!!

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

we bought sight unseen, never toured any of the DVC resorts...after my first trip to WDW I knew I always wanted to vacation there. then I heard of DVC, but financially we couldn't swing it. fast forward 7-years and we now could afford to buy in, which corresponded to the pre-sale of SSR and the extra 12 years was enough to make my decision very easy. no regrets

 

[kisly59@optonline.ne]

I don't have complete details, however, as I understand it, if you book a trip and stay at a DVC resort and you purchase the DVC while you are there on vacation, they may make a deal where you get credit for a portion of the money you spent on your current reservation at the DVC resort. You may want to inquire about this. It might be worth waiting to purchase your DVC while you are on vacation.