How familiar were you with your home resort when you first joined DVC

[DVC Mike]

How familiar were you with your home resort when you first joined DVC?

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Making the decision to become a DVC member is not an insignificant one to most people. Purchasing an ownership interest in a DVC resort can involve several thousand dollars or more.

As discussed in the “Choosing Your Home Resort” thread, there are a lot of factors to be considered.

Before you made the initial decision to purchase your first ownership interest in a DVC resort, and make it your home resort, how much investigation did you do, if any, in regards to your home resort?

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It would seem logical that you’d want to stay at your home resort before buying an ownership interest at that resort, but my guess is that may be the exception rather then what most people do.

Each DVC resort, while having some similarities since they are all DVC resorts, has many differences – from theme/décor, dining, recreation, transportation, room layout, to views.

With so much money at stake, shouldn’t we actually stay at the resort before buying?

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Some people just bought whatever DVC resort was selling when they first became DVC members. Others didn’t care about any specific resort and just purchased the lowest overall cost resort - planning to book elsewhere at 7 months if they weren't happy with the resort they bought into.

What about you?

Did you actually stay at your home resort before you first joined DVC? Did you at least visit the resort in person to look around?

Or did you just tour the model rooms? Or maybe you never saw the resort or the model rooms in person and just researched photos (and perhaps reviews) on the Internet.

Perhaps you just saw floor plans, drawings and brochures of a new resort that hadn’t been built yet. Or, maybe you did buy in sight unseen.

Remember, this poll concerns your initial purchase that made you a DVC member, so please don’t respond in regards to any add-on purchases.

• Old Key West (OKW)
• Vero Beach (VB)
• Hilton Head Island (HHI)
• Boardwalk Villas (BWV)
• Villas at the Wilderness Lodge (VWL)
• Beach Club Villas (BCV)
• Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa (SSR)
• Animal Kingdom Villas (AKV)
• Bay Lake Tower (BLT)
• Villas at the Grand Californian (VGC)
• Aulani
• Villas at the Grand Floridian (VGF)
• Polynesian Villas & Bungalows (PVB)

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• A Comprehensive Introduction to DVC
• Does buying DVC make sense?
• Should I buy direct from DVC or buy resale?
• Choosing your home resort: what to consider?
• The DVC Annual Dues Information Thread
• Why buy DVC if I can keep on renting points?
• Adding on points and owning at more than one home resort
• History of DVC direct sales prices
• Purchasing a Guaranteed Week?
• Understanding Your Use Year
• A financial analysis of buying DVC
• Choices in deeding your DVC purchase
• What were your concerns about becoming a DVC member, and how did you overcome them?
• How familiar were you with your home resort when you first joined DVC?
• An explanation of renting points
• DVC Resort Information

http://i235.************************************************************* DVC Mike - *******.com

 

[DougEMG]

I'd never been to any of the DVC resorts or even seen a model before I bought. I did do lots of research on the web, including following the board here for months before I bought (resale). For me it was all about the numbers and where the breakeven point was.

 

[coastalhh]

We stayed at BLT 2 bedroom and a studio for a family trip without knowing anything about dvc. After that I was hooked and researched for about a year before buying at AK where we have stayed in the resort non dvc before. Now trying to add more at AK.

AK was always one of our favorites anyway and the cheaper buy in and point chart sealed it.

 

[a742246]

We used to stay at Port Orleans and after every Epcot fireworks show we used to walk to Broadwalk to catch a bus to DTD. I remember saying we are going to stay here one day. Yes the "one day" saying! I surprised my wife "one day" and bought into a DVC at Broadwalk. Great decision!

 

[freediverdude]

I guess I am a textbook example, I had previously stayed in the resort I purchased, as well as stayed in almost all the other deluxe resorts, as well as renting points from two different members to stay at a couple of the DVC resorts in villas. So I probably knew more than most going into the presentation, and still didn't say yes right away, and took a couple more days to think about it after the presentation and model tour.

 

[DVCjj]

I'd never been to any of the DVC resorts or even seen a model before I bought. I did do lots of research on the web, including following the board here for months before I bought (resale). For me it was all about the numbers and where the breakeven point was.

Same here.

 

[Minniesgal]

Fairly well. We used to take a day each trip to visit all the resorts. We had eaten at Sanaa and Boma and spent a lot of time at the resort. One night out by the fire pit I said to my husband if I were to buy DVC anywhere it would be here so we did.

Ever since our first trip in 1998 i have said I want to go stay at the GF for our 25th Wedding anniversary in 2018. We eat at the GF cafe, Narcooses and have eaten at V&As. now thanks to our VGF points we are staying there 2.5 years Early in 2016.

 

[ToddyLu]

I was willing to purchase anywhere on property. I was going for SSR but DH looked at it and said, "Absolutely NOT!! I only want to purchase at AKV!". I said whaaaa....OK. Neither of us had ever set foot on that property but we both secretly envied the AKL guests when they would board the bus at a park. I was so excited he wanted to buy there. Our first visit...he made me close my eyes...then he opened the door and I could see through the room to the savanna. It was just like the pics I had seen after purchase. He was pleased too. It is a double edged sword though because he is an AKV purist and only wants to stay there. So I cannot book other resorts...oh well...at least we purchased where we LOVE to stay. ( we were very lucky in that decision and I would never recommend buying site unseen to anyone)

 

[Drewski77]

We live on the West Coast and had been staying at the Grand Californian for a few years straight, it not for being able to buy the Grand as our home resort we wouldn't be joining DVC. So for us it made all the difference, but I could see if you visit WDW that the Home Resort could make much less of a difference.

 

[tasha99]

I bought BWV 2 years ago, and will see it for the first time this summer. We stayed at VGC on those points and loved it, so we added on there a few months ago. Also added SSR just to have more points (never been). The only resorts I've stayed at so far were OKW (pixie dust upgrade from all star music years ago) and vgc.

 

[dsnydaddy]

Visited SSR on our second trip to WDW. Sat through a presentation and looked at a mock up of BLT that was still under construction but since I was tied to a 5th wheel payment we declined. We didn't tour the property much at the time. But in our next trip to WDW we had some time to drive about to all the different resorts and look about at them. Even took a look inside an AKL room. And on our last trip we toured all the resorts again and looked at a BWV room. Saw enough to know that it didn't matter much to us where we stayed (except AKV which we both agreed was not our style). I almost bought into DVC on the Disney Wonder last year but really balked at the overinflated price and crazy loan terms. Got home and bought resale at SSR.

 

[lodge]

Ate breakfast at the Contemporary- BLT was bought sight unseen. Walked through the Grand Floridian at Christmastime- GFV bought sight unseen. Ate a sundae at Beach Club- bought BCV sight unseen and have yet to stay there (used points elsewhere). Sight unseen at AKV- would've bought more points if we HAD seen it! SSR- hadn't seen it but the price of the resale contract was ridiculous, so that turned out well. Used points at Aulani- glad we didn't buy there. Used points at VGC- want a contract there but getting there seems to be the difficulty. I can't even recall how I came to know of DVC (not a tour, nor a desk at a resort... likely here on the DIS). While at Disney, I just have never been able to justify any time spent touring a "possibility," or attending a presentation... time is valuable there.

 

[bwvBound]

Our first DVC purchase was SSR, over the phone ("sight unseen"), months before it opened.

However ... in the six years leading up to the purchase, we'd had 4-5 stays at BWV via either cash/package/exchange and had thoroughly studied the DVC Points System as a whole. We owned four other timeshares at that point and felt savvy about timesharing in general. We had tried buying BWV resale -- but two contracts fell apart on us. Discouraged, we handed our names and credit card to DVC Direct to go on the BWV waitlist (200 points, BWV, Dec UY -- we were specific). Eventually, that morphed into SSR (150 points, Oct UY), in a curious and backhanded strategy played by Developer. While we had never heard of SSR, we figured "points were points" and we liked the 12 extra years! We went for it.

The rest is history. DVC performs as expected. We've been very successful using the points as originally intended (BWV, every January) and all through the system. It was a good decision.

 

[pmaurer74]

We stayed at the resort 3 times and the villas once

 

[cnids00]

We are purchasing at OKW because we stayed there once and loved the atmosphere. First time buying and waiting on ROFR. We keep going back to wanting to stay there again and took the plunge having it as our Home Resort.

 

[crisi]

Not at all, really. We bought BWV and had never been back to the Epcot resort area.

We bought when our kids were little (they are now teenagers) because we knew we'd be going every other year for a bit - its an easy vacation with kids. I looked at pictures on the internet, and actually lost out on an OKW contract first (it was cheaper and I'm cheap) before a BWV contract at the same price point hit (it was stripped, but we had time because we weren't going for a bit).

BW turns out to be a great resort for us. Back then, there were fewer choices in resorts and so I don't think nearly as much pressure to make the "right" decision. Its like a toddler with outfits - we really only had two choices resale (VWL was available resale, but expensive, VB and HHI are offsite and so we didn't consider them), and only one active sale (BCV, which was not even built yet). Picking from two is easier than picking from nine.

 

[kristenrice]

We first visited AKL on our honeymoon (in 2002) which was before a DVC-component had been announced. I distinctly remember walking into the Jambo House lobby, looking at my new husband and saying, "If they ever build a DVC here, we HAVE to buy it!" That was our only visit to AKL before we bought an AKV contract in 2008.

In 2011, we bought a contract at HHI, sight unseen. We'd never even been to South Carolina, or the Atlantic coast either. The pictures and reviews from folks here on the DIS made me want to own there so bad...so we bought a 50 point contract with plans to use it every three years. We've only been there twice since then, but it did not disappoint. In fact, DH is retiring in three years and I see us taking more trips to HHI and less trips to WDW.

 

[DenLo]

We saw the promotional materials and floorpans for BLTwhich were emailed to us before we purchased. Also we were basing our decision on prior internet searches and comments based by current owners that we had met. Since we knew what a Disney deluxe hotel room was like we figured DVC had to be at of that quality to call it them deluxe villas. DH regularly mentions how glad he is that I made my original phone call.

 

[Sparrow624]

Stayed at the Grand Floridian 3 times and VGF once before buying. Recently stayed at BCV, AKL, and BWV in an attempt to choose a second home resort. Glad we did as we have found things we like and dislike about each.

 

[GrumpyInPhilly]

We had never stayed at a DVC villa but had stayed on-site at GF, YC, WL and something called Disney Vacation Villas way back in 1988 as well as a couple of off-site stays (Hyatt & Doubletree). We really liked the vibe around the YC / BC area so we bought there.