How did you decide to buy DVC???

[wasabi girl]

Hi,
I'm sort of new to this particular board, I haven't seen this information anywhere but if it's a repeat please forgive me. I have watched the DVC video, been lurking on these boards and DVC sounds very nice. I just wonder if it's is a good deal for everyone. How did you decide? DH and I haven't traveled frequently in the past (tied to our business) but we have greater freedom now, My DDs are older teens (so may not always be with us for many more years).
The DVC concept seems so much better than other timeshares since it is by points rather than weeks...I'm sure I'd love the flexibility to go to Disney more often, my DH adores Hilton Head....BUT....I'm just not sure. What convinced you all to go ahead and take the plunge?

 

[Kadorto]

We've always enjoyed our visits to the world and really wanted stay more at the deluxe resorts. So, I started reading these boards...and before I knew it, not only did I become a DVC owner but I also became addicted to the DIS boards as well...Heading back to Disney for Mousefest in December, maybe I'll be lucky enough to find a cure while I'm there Good luck with your decision

 

[Mickmse2002]

We bought in back in 1999 as we love vacationing at WDW. We have three kids, now ages 15, 13 and 9, and WDW has been a great, family friendly place to be together. We absolutely love the resorts with the large accomodations and kitchens. For us there has been no regrets.

 

[ksoehrlein]

I was a Cast Member when DH and I started dating. (In fact the night we decided to move from being "just friends" to "something more" was after a full day of commando park hopping. We MUST be perfect for each other!) After I moved up north to be closer to him, he took me on a vacation to WDW and proposed to me on Main Street during the fireworks. We returned to the "scene of the crime" at least once a year thereafter, so buying into DVC just made loads of sense for us. We knew we'd continue to vacation at WDW, so why not pay for it ahead of time and effectively lower the per-stay cost?

With "older teens" your situation is different than ours (we have 2 preschoolers). My in-laws are also DVCers, and they are now empty-nesters. But they are giving my sister-in-law and her fiance a honeymoon SSR stay as a wedding gift. Next year, they will take my other sister-in-law, her husband, and their daughter to WDW. There's so much for them to look forward to.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Tennesotans]

We had a tripped planned with our extended family. I knew I wanted
to stay somewhere nice and looked at the deluxe resorts and the
associated prices ( ::shock:: ).

I had access to a timeshare in a previous life... and got to stay at
Old Key West (when it WAS the Vacation Club) and remembered it fondly.
So... I went googling and found this board... and more importantly found
the resale companies.

Our thinking was that we could buy in, use for a while, and sell if our
needs changed (I'm the Disney-o-phile in the family... my wife is catching on..
but its a concern that she may lose interest). So I did the math, figured
out what it would cost, guessed at a depreciate rate for the investment,
and liked what I saw.

My wife is pretty interested in trading through Interval International, I'm not
sure how that will turn out. I have high hopes we can take friends and
family to Disney (which may not pan out as much as I like). So we are
a couple that was right on the bubble about hopping in (no kids, only
one Disney nut). We've had three vacations (one was an quickie at
Vero Beach...) and its been a lovely thing for us.

This is how our family got here

Tennesotans

 

[agotta]

We also stayed for our honeymoon on our in-laws points. We decided to look into it, just for the heck of it. Well with my cm discount it would have been silly not to. DH and I are both former CM's and know we will be returning every year.

Amanda

 

[dvcfamily41801]

I had been reading all sorts of message boards and gathering info on DVC. We took the DVC tour in 2000 when we went but just had to think about it a little longer. We ultimatley knew that it was the best decision for us, as Walt Disney World is the only place we ever go on vacation.

When my husband and I went to WDW on our honeymoon in 1996, The Boardwalk had just opened and we spent our last day walking around the resort saying we will probably never be able to stay here. Thanks to our DVC investment we can honestly say never say never!!!

 

[disney junky]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[bcvillastwo]

Clearly everyone has a different story but if I were a betting man I would say the one common tread that prompted people to buy into DVC is that they love Walt Disney World. Another common thread would be that they have found they prefer to stay on WDW property. OK with that said here's how we decided to join DVC.

A good number of years ago we went to WDW in a motorhome with friends during Independence Day week. We stayed outside the park and drove in each day. It was hot, the kids were small, the park was crowed, etc. We liked it but frankly we weren't in love with WDW at that point.

Fast forward about 15 years and youngest was graduating from high school so we gave him a trip to WDW as a graduation present. He took a friend and we stayed at one of the moderate priced resorts on property. This was much better, we loved it. One day we took our own tour, using WDW transportation, of all of the major on-site resort properties. Wow were we impressed. At that time we noticed the DVC kiosks but shyed away from them because they just had timeshare problems written all over. But, we were starting to get hooked on WDW.

About two years later we took our next trip to WDW (just the two of us) and we went to the Grand Floridian. We had a great time, loved the parks, enjoyed the resort and again noticed the DVC kiosks but still shyed away from them. The next trip we went to the All-Star resort and it was then that we first spoke to someone about DVC at a kiosk of all places and we decided to take the tour and hear their speal. We toured at the BWV site and saw examples of everything resort they had in the inventory at that time (Beach Club Villas and Saratoga Springs were not built yet). We were impressed and thought about it real hard but just couldn't make the plunge yet. In hindsight I think we didn't like what was available (through Disney for sale) at the time (HH and Vero Beach) and we didn't think we could swing it financially anyway.

We went back to Disney again and Beach Club was on the drawing boards. We really like the Board Walk Inn area and we like the proximity to Epcot and MGM so we talked to some DVC folks about it but we still didn't take the plunge. About 1/2 year late a number of factors converged that (1) made it affordable for us and (2) we were planning another trip to WDW so we called DVC, got the tape again, the documents and decided to take the plunge and buy into BCV.

That was 3 years ago and we have absolutely no regrets. For us while cost was a factor the fact the we really do love WDW and we like to stay on property and BCV is so near Epcot and MGM at that point the decision was a no brainer for us. Frequently, I see posts on these boards were people lament having not taken the plunge soon I am not in that camp. Frankly, I am glad we waited until we were sure.

So, good luck with your decision.

 

[caverill]

I am guessing that our experience is similar to many others...saw the DVC kiosks, which we avoided like the plague, until one day we actually looked into it. Of course, that was during our fourth trip in 5 years to WDW.

We took the tour (at the BWV), but just couldn't commit to that amount of money at the time.

After we returned home, my DW and I discussed it more and decided to "do it".

Our main reasons were:

We really love Disney (it started with my DW, but it was catchy) and felt we would want to return on a very regular basis.

We liked the idea of vacationing every year and felt doing this would force us to do that.

Being from Minnesota, vacationing in Florida during the winter doesn't suck!

We only wanted to stay "on-site" while at WDW

We wanted to have deluxe accommodations

We don't have any kids, so that wasn't a factor.

DVC is not for everyone, but if you go every year or two and stay only on-site at moderate or deluxe hotels it might make sense.

Something that we didn't factor in was the ability to share the DVC experience with our family. We have taken both our mothers during the last two trips. That has added some very nice memories that will be with us for a very long time.

Very difficult to put a price on that and I am not sure we would have done it without DVC.

Good luck

 

[crcormier]

Two of my best friends from college bought into it the year before I did, while I was on a trip with them and several other friends. They told me about it, and it interested me. Then we took a trip the next year with them on their points, and I was pretty sure I'd like to do it, so on my next trip down with my family I had done the research and was in a financial position to finally do it.

I had two reasons for doing it. The first was that I loved Disney so it seemed a worthwhile way to put money aside to go there. The second was that I wouldn't go away on vacation unless someone else had plans and invited me along, so it was a great way to force myself to take time away.

And I've loved every minute of it! If anything, it's made me a bigger Disney lover than before!

 

[murcor]

We've always enjoyed our visits to the world and really wanted stay more at the deluxe resorts. So, I started reading these boards...and before I knew it, not only did I become a DVC owner but I also became addicted to the DIS boards as well

LOL....me too!

My dad took us yearly to WDW as children and we would like to do the same for our family.

When we started planning our trip to WDW we literally looked at hundreds of hotels on tripadvisor, expedia, hotels websites etc and realized there were certain things that we wanted in our accomodations/resorts.

1) To be onsite or close by (we do not rent a vehicle)
2) Balcony (which eliminated values & moderates and many other hotels nearby)
3) We would need two rooms or a villa
4) Considering our stays are 1 - 2 weeks the washer/dryer sounds tempting
5) The full kitchen was a plus for breakfast, snacks, beverages and light meals (amazing how much money can be saved and theoretically applied to the room)
6) The quality and cleanliness of the entire Disney corporation

With all these things in mind we started looking at dvc. At first it seemed like too much $$$, the more I learned about the program, the better it seemed. DVC had everything we wanted without sacrificing.

A general public discount code came availble for our dates so we booked a cash stay with CRO for SSR. That was it....we bought while we were there. We are new members (Jan 05) and have no regrets about our purchase. We are looking forward to many years of fun, laughter and relaxation.

Good Luck Deciding

Angela

 

[Simba's Mom]

We had 2 things in common with the OP when we bought-older kids (19&22), and DH's love for HH. My reasons for buying-love for Disney and desire to "own part of Disney" (this was a BIG thing for me); also,although all our vacations were at Disney, on site, we'd never been able to afford deluxe accomodations and we were thrilled with the prospect of DVC accomodations-by buying DVC, deluxe style accomodations would be affordable. DH's reasons were-he really wanted to vacation at HH, I always "nixed" it in favor of WDW, but I promised him that if we bought, he'd get his long awaited trip there (which I loved once I tried it, so HH is an annual vacation now); his other reason was that he was (not is) a strong workaholic who rarely took vacation-by purchasing he'd be forced to take vacation ("we bought it, so we "have" to use it now). Boy, for anyone married to a workaholic spouse, our DVC purchase worked out great for that! I couldn't be happier!

 

[southtown]

We decided to get DVC because WDW is our vacation place and we knew we would be coming back every year. At first when we saw the DVC booths in all the parks we laughed at them thinking the people were suckers for even considering it. Well I bumped into this board and others with people ringing the praises of how great DVC was for them and there families. That made me decided on our next trip we would take a look. Before we went I asked all the people with DVC hats,shirts or whatever if they were happy with DVC,and they all said yes. I was getting excited about it but my wife didnt even want to go on the tour. But that all changed after we did. I wanted to do it but I was still on the fence because it is alot of upfront money but my wife who wasnt interested an hour ago was trying to talk me into it. The more we talked about it the more reasons we came up with that made sense to us. Like before DVC we basically stayed in Value resorts,so the upgrade in the rooms and resorts was incredible.I read that when WDW first opened the Contempary was $40/night and now they are over $200 so who knows what they will be in 20-30 years,but with DVC we dont have to worry about it. At that time we were planning on having children in the future(have a 6 month old now) and DVC would help make for a better vacation experience at Disney for years to come.
We are very happy with DVC and very glad we did it. Once you stay in a 1 or 2br you will wonder how you staying in a regular hotel room before.

 

[lisareniff]

We were a little different, if you look at my signature, we bought before we even went to Disney (as a family). We bought for the deluxe multi-room accomatations at a reasonable price. I want to take the girls to WDW a few times in their childhood but DH is not a theme park/crowd lover, so we needed to make the whole vacation enjoyable. Having a nice 1 or 2 bedroom villa went a long way in having him enjoy the trip. Throw in a round of golf or Richard Petty and he can put up with the parks. Like Simba's Mom, my DH also saw the advantage of having DVC for sneaking a few trips to HH. He said 'yes' and he really didn't think I would buy it....

 

[dianeschlicht]

We first heard about DVC back in 1991 on a family trip to WDW where our DS (who was 15 at the time) was with us at CBR. It was our first on-site stay, and we saw the DVC info on the TV. We also saw the construction of the light house and were intrigued. Our next trip was 2 years later when the whole family stayed at Wilderness Lodge. It was the year our DS was graduating from high school, and our DD who was 24 at the time was also with us. After those two trips, we decided we HAD to stay on site from there on, and we wanted to travel more frequently. We looked into DVC more closely and had the materials sent to us. By '95 we were staying for the first time at OKW and took the tour with our guide. We STILL didn't buy, because DH wanted to be able to pay cash for the whole thing at once. Finally, just after our January 1997 trip, we bought a 230 point contract. We went home thrilled and started planning our trips. Needless to say, but the time I had planned out the first two years, I realized we didn't have enough, so on our first trip "home", we added on another 150 points. Of course, by the time we actually purchased, DVC had become OKW, and we had the option of purchasing BWV if we wanted to. We didn't care for the size, decor or layout of the BWV or the hotel feel of it. We decided there was no way we wanted to spend more points to stay in a place we didn't like as well, so all of our points are at OKW. Our oldest (DD now 36) has only been to DVC with us 3 times. DS (now 30) travels with us as often as possible. Being older and having no children or grandchildren to travel with us makes no difference at all.

 

[CharlesTD]

We toured in 96 and loved the concept of DVC but both my wife and I being in school was a detering factor at the time. We thought it was the best use of our vacation dollars when looking at what we had been spending on our yearly pilgrimage to WDW.

 

[brivers222]

On our last trip we paid out the wazzoo for the "small" ASMv resort and then the "even smaller" AKL room. We took a DVC tour (signed up by SciFi Diner in MGM) and were impressed with the room sizes and the affordablitly of staying at such awesome resorts.

Haven't had the chance to stay on points, but I am anxiously awaiting our first trip!

 

[klh]

Just do it. You only live once. You can always sell it on the resale.

 

[lllovell]

My sister's sister in law (need a chart ) was with us last July for a short trip for my niece's 3rd birthday. She is a DVC member and we asked her about it a bit, having stayed away from the kiosk like many others here on our previous gazillion trips.

She explained a good bit in great detail and was obviously VERY happy with her purchase into DVC. Hubby had always wanted to go and talk to the DVC people, but we never did, so when I came home from the trip with a name and phone number to call, he was all for it.

Got the package and video. Talked to our guide once. Called him back and said send us the papers, signed and *poof* we were members in no time.

THEN I learned about the resale market DOH!!! lol But honestly, I am glad we bought the way we did. I might have bought in two small contracts unstead of one 250 pointer, but I would not have changed anything else.

Going home for the first time this Sunday and can't wait!