How did you get seriously interested in DVC?

[Takeitforgranite]

At a park kiosk?
At a resort?
From another member?
Doing your own research?

For 15 years, I passed those kiosks thinking it was beyond my reach and really having no clue how it worked. Discovering resale really open things up for me, for several reasons.

Obviously, the official DVC infomercials and kiosks never really drew me in.

 

[matt and beth]

Many moons ago stayed at ASM. It was so so but far from great. I asked a cast member for concierge service and he laughed at me. Knew then and there I needed to grind away for a few years and upgrade.

 

[Wedgeout]

I was too busy with life. Working. Raising a family. Disney trips were not very often. The DVC kiosks gave me no interest to even inquire at.

Then the time came when the world stopped & I too discovered resale. I could afford that & it made some sense to buy into it. Started enjoying Disney park visits more. Then added Disney cruising to Florida DVC stays.

 

[Brittleebee]

My first ever visit to Disney was January of 2023. I wanted to take my sister (24 at the time) for a “once-in-a-lifetime” trip (her first as well, this was her dream since she was tiny) and in doing some budgeting research I learned about renting DVC points. Rented points for the first trip and became a member a year later. We have taken 7 trips since 2023.

 

[Takeitforgranite]

Discovering resale immediately eliminated the worry that DVC was a lifetime commitment. Then, I quickly realized how well contracts can hold value.

That was enough to get me to dig in, and I wound up here. Knowing what I know now, it doesn’t seem like Disney focuses on actually explaining DVC to attract people.

 

[intamin]

At a park kiosk?
At a resort?
From another member?
Doing your own research?

For 15 years, I passed those kiosks thinking it was beyond my reach and really having no clue how it worked. Discovering resale really open things up for me, for several reasons.

Obviously, the official DVC infomercials and kiosks never really drew me in.

Got drawn in by my uncle unintentionally. Figured it had to make sense somehow otherwise he wouldn't be gifting me the points. Fell in love with a 1BR at SSR even though I didn't even know what a 1BR was. Paid a lot for an Aulani vacation even with a cast member discount and started doing research 3 years and now we're at 600+ points with plans to get to 800 in the next few months..

 

[TheThousandthSoul]

1- Word of Mouth from a professional colleague who also used to be a planDisney panelist
2- YouTube channels
3- DVC kiosks on a DIsney Cruise
4- Facebook Community Groups
5- I found this board

And here I am. 10 months later, with 2 contracts in hands, eyeing for a 3rd one.

 

[airjay75]

Saw it advertised numerous times, mostly just online or the kiosks. During our second trip to WDW in less than 12 months, we were staying at Coronado Springs in the Gran Destino Tower. On our check out day, I decided to go online and check out exactly what DVC was - I honestly had no idea. I don't think I even knew it was a timeshare. Set up a tour with a guide at Riviera. That was the beginning. We ended up pushing our flight home back one day and booking a cash stay in a RIV 1 BR. We loved it. I was posting on Facebook groups and here on these forums within the week, doing more research than I ever thought was possible and made my first direct purchase 7 days after that tour. Since then, I've purchased more direct and resale too.

 

[NVDISFamily]

YouTube watching Disney resort and cruise line stuff while locked up during covid. Once the algorithm figured we liked that stuff it eventually started feeding us DVC content too. Mostly Florida resorts but once we saw the grand cal was “for sale” I started building spreadsheets. The rest is history.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I remember seeing the kiosks around 2008ish but didn't really understand what DVC was and never looked into it.

Then a few years ago, someone I followed on social media mentioned being a DVC member so I looked into it. At that time, we were only taking Disneyland trips and staying off site. So I did the math and decided DVC wasn't worth it since we were happy staying off site.

It all changed in February 2023 when my friend got us a discount to stay at the Grand Californian. We loved it and knew we wouldn't want to pay rack rates to stay there every trip so I started researching DVC again. I mostly just researched here and some youtube videos.

The rest is history!

 

[AwfulWaffle]

Mine is easy. My last cash stay was enough to be like no I can’t keep doing Disney this way and my youngest at the time was only 2 so after a little google magic, I eventually found my first resale contract in Copper Creek. Fast forward a few years later and we are almost hitting our break even finally and still another 40 years of memories to go. Good luck even if it isn’t for you at this time.

 

[Sandisw]

We were going every year but loved CR. We said that if they ever built at that location we’d buy!

So we did!

 

[VGCgroupie]

Always thought about it. Never ever stopped at a kiosk. I did the by phone tours once or twice over the years. It was always such a crazy amount of money so thought it was only for the wealthy. I applied for a Disney Visa when booking a trip and the credit limit was so high I joked with my husband that they must want me to buy DVC on this credit card. We took said trip and spent $5500 on our 2 rooms. It got me thinking maybe DVC could be worth it… so I googled some things about DVC and then I remembered Disboards had a DVC section! So I came here for the first time in 2024 even though I had been a member of the boards since 2017. I learned SO MUCH. I learned about resale and my mind was blown! I was SOLD!

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Reading this board was the original impetus for looking deeper into it...and while on a trip no less. Rest as they say...is history

 

[atthebeachclub]

Tried renting points for my "one and done"WDW trip in 2024; didn't get any but did hear about DVC and got a great deal on Beach Club hotel through Costco. Knew halfway through that trip that I wanted to keep coming back, so came home and bought a resale contract (I already knew resale timeshares were a "thing" and figured DVC must also have a resale option, so that's how I found this board).

 

[Girlstar30]

Disney has been part of my life pretty much my whole life. The first time I heard about DVC I was a cast member and the only other person I knew of that owned it was a doctor so that completely was dismissed in my mind.

Fast forward to the first time I stayed at a DVC hotel. My now wife asked me to marry her at Disneyland in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle 4 years ago and gave me an engagement ring from Beauty and the Beast. She booked us a hotel room at vgc for afterwards. Because it was our engagement, they spoiled us with a theme park view where we could see the ferris wheel and goofys sky school. I fell in love with the hotel, but after she told me the cost I knew it would be the only time we stayed there

We had been going to Disney in some form every year since we met (Disney cruise, WDW, D23) and staying offsite in some pretty crappy hotels in Orlando. I started Our Adventure Book, Scrapbooking our trips, and i thought we go on vacations to Disney ALOT. When she got a higher paying job, we decided to rent points and stay at akv, vgf, blt, and ccv.

Unbeknownst to her I chose those because I did some research and thats where I wanted our home resorts to be if we ever bought

We both fell in love with AKV and BLT. Still did not think we could afford this. As soon as we got home, I went on dvcresalemarket and called for purchasing information. Put in an offer right then and there during the phone call and bought three contracts this year with a fourth planned for next

 

[juliebee]

I first got interested from watching Dis Unlimited on YouTube when they had shows about DVC, which morphed into DVC Fan. My husband was super reluctant to look into DVC, but while on a Disney cruise, I drug him to a presentation. He was sort of intrigued by it but not sold yet. Later that cruise, as we sat on the adult beach at Castaway, there were two couples nearby that talked nonstop about DVC. They had regular blue-collar jobs and they had just added on 200+ points during the cruise (the OKW sale a couple years back). My husband listened in on their conversation and later said to me "if they can own DVC, we could too". So I am sure I owe a big thanks to the chatty DVC owners on that cruise!

I still had a hard time convincing my husband to spend the money for direct points as he just wanted to dip our toes into DVC with a resale contract. We agreed that after a couple years if we liked it and used it, we'd purchase another contract. I'm a happy owner to one contract and planning out where we will buy next.

 

[gvel]

At a park kiosk?
At a resort?
From another member?
Doing your own research?

For 15 years, I passed those kiosks thinking it was beyond my reach and really having no clue how it worked. Discovering resale really open things up for me, for several reasons.

Obviously, the official DVC infomercials and kiosks never really drew me in.

I used to visit WDW almost every year and for budget reasons almost always stayed off property or in a value resort. I always assumed DVC was a super expensive thing that only snobby people got. I used to think, who would spend all that money just for a place to stay? I only cared about the parks.

Then I had a son who’s about to turn 3 years old, and he has a lot of dietary restrictions. For his first trip, it made sense to stay on property for convenience. We really wanted a kitchen, and I wasn’t even aware that there were rooms with kitchens at Disney. When I checked, I saw the prices were close to $1,000 per night for a one-bedroom. That’s when I discovered through DISboards that you could rent DVC points and save about 50%.

After looking into it, I realized that while renting points can be a great deal, availability can be tricky, and since I know we’ll visit Disney every year, buying made more sense. Once I saw how reasonable resale contracts were and how good the ROI and break-even timeline looked, we decided to go for it.

We chose Saratoga Springs since we usually go to Disney Springs every other night for dinner, I like to golf, and we wanted a resort that felt relaxing for our rest days. and very inortantly, it’s one of the best overall values in DVC.

We love DVC, and compared to rack rates, we’ll basically recover our upfront cost in about two and a half years.