How long did it take you to finally join?

[Tara]

Well, let's see...we did the tour with my sister-in-law and her husband in 1999. They were really the ones interested as DH and I weren't in a position to buy in given that he was in grad school. Fast forward 9 years and more money spent on hotels than I care to admit...

For a while I was dead set against it. I didn't want a kitchen, wanted to stay at the Grand Floridian most of the time, etc. DH was just dead set against it, period. But slowly we both came around until during our June trip this year, I said to DH, "why don't we just take the tour and see what's being offered now?" The fact that DH was starting a new, much better paying job helped him agree to my little idea, I think.

But I had no idea just how much DH had warmed to the idea until we were taking the tour. He was a goner, more than even me! We signed the papers for AKV right there (on our 10 year anniversary, no less). But when we got home we had major buyers' remorse. His new job was being delayed for 3 months, we had issues with my job, and we had a nagging feeling that waiting for whatever was being built next to the Contemporary was a better idea for us than AKV. So we canceled. 15 weeks later we signed new papers for BLT. It turned out that the timing was just right and we couldn't be happier with the way things worked out!

 

[janni518]

Eight long years. We were there when they were selling the VWL and I begged my dh to at least go look but he didn't want to "waste his vacation."

Dragged him into a presentation when we finally went back this past year and we bought while we were there.

Better late than never I guess.

 

[Anal Annie]

I think it probably took us about 4 years to decide. We stopped at a kiosk on our first trip to AKL back when they were first offering SSR at like pre-construction pricing or something and we got something in the mail about it afterward (I think it might've been in '02). I don't remember exactly, but it was a LOT cheaper then. Anyway, we had just bought a new house so we didn't jump on it but should've. Took another trip down in like '04 and had to drop down to a "moderate" resort 'cuz the room / package prices had gone up. It was OK but we missed our "deluxe" resort (missed the queen size beds). Got ready to plan another trip in '06 for '07 and realized with the price increases we'd be looking at the "values" before long. I said we really should've bought DVC way back when and DH was like "you're right" (don't hear THAT very often ) and so he said let's do it now then. So I called right then & there and started the ball rolling. SSR was for sale and AKV had just been announced but wasn't for sale yet. I found the DISBoards and discovered they were having a "Friends & Family" promotion at the time so we were able to use the name of one of DH's co-workers to get an extra $5 off per point at SSR for a total incentive of $15 off per point. That pretty much sealed the deal for us to go ahead & buy at SSR rather than waiting for AKV.

 

[Coach81]

Took us about a year. We looked into it while we were on a trip, but figured it was too expensive for us. A year later, we finally paid off an addition to the house that freed up just enough money to allow us to buy in without missing a beat. We bought a year ago.. and haven't looked back since!!! We have three trips planned for next year, and we can't wait!

 

[mejkjj97]

It took us about 8 years....

Same here. We went in 200 also right after our engagement and toured but we were in the process of planning a wedding, buying a house etc. After being back 6 times since that trip we finally bought.
We kick ourselves because it would have paid for itself by now and would not been as expensive, but the time was not right.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I didn't want to hear of timeshares at all but a friend gave me the use of their OKW twice in 1999 and once in 2000 and I was hooked. I came up with the cash at the end of 2000 for an OKW resale. The best decision I ever made, my son (12) loves it and we've enjoyed sharing it with friends and family. He promises to take me along when I'm 80 with the grandkids.
I wish I had bought sooner and I wish I could add on but for now I'm just happy to have it!

 

[Golden Rose]

It took us about a year and a half to buy. We first found out about DVC here on the Disboards when we were planning a WDW vacation. (I know I must have seen the kiosks around when we were on vacation, but I never paid any attention to them.) We knew it was a good idea for us almost immediately, but we were building our dream home and were/are struggling with secondary infertility; the costs of IVF (which turned out not to work for us) and adoption (which we are now pursuing) were substantial enough to make us hesitant to buy immediately. We kept thinking we would buy once we were into our new home and we had either had or adopted at least one more, and possibly two more children. We thought that would probably be about four years, maybe five away. Time passed, and we got no closer to increasing the size of our family. (On the bright side, we did finish and move into the new house almost on time, and our fabulous builder came in on budget!)

In the meantime, we took two trips and stayed at the BW and the GF, and we kept thinking, we could have bought DVC and not paid quite so much for our rooms. We were planning our third trip for this fall, and we realized we were just being silly - what my grandfather used to call "penny wise and pound foolish." We'd already spent almost $6000 on hotel rooms since we considered first buying DVC, and there we were planning another vacation.

So, instead of taking a fall trip this year, we bought DVC instead. Twice. We decided we couldn't justify taking a vacation that we didn't book on points, and we couldn't book anything for the dates we wanted on short enough notice once our purchase went through. We're not that worried about missing our fall trip. We've already got two trips booked for next year (one in January) on just our developer points and the banked points on the resale contract we purchased.

We're very happy with our decision to buy DVC. As so many other people have said, we're just sorry we didn't buy when we first heard about it. (Hey, we could have spent that $6k on more points!)

 

[John VN]

We were at WDW for DW's birthday and saw the program on the TV. Decided to go to OKW and talked to a CM who took us around. Went back to his desk, talked numbers and then he told us to go have lunch at Olivia's on DVC and think about it. Filled our bellies and went back to him and bought.

Guess the time would have been around 1 1/2 hours since service was very good and we relaxed a bit while discussing things.

 

[Scott]

Three years and $6000 in rented points later we finally bought-in last month. Had we bought sooner we would be closer to our "break even" point by 3 trips. For me it was overcoming the "timeshare" stigma. In fact, I still have a hard time calling DVC a timeshare. When I tell friends about it, I say that we purchased a "DVC membership," not a timeshare. When they ask what it is, I say (in a barely audible voice and without making eye contact) it is "basically a timeshare." Perhaps there is a support group for those of us in timeshare ownership denial.
Scott

 

[robinb]

It took us about 1-2 months after we came back from our first trip to WDW. We were even DINKS then . We bought a resale and OKW and didn't look back.

 

[JasonDVC]

It took about 2 days.

We did the tour one day, flew home the next, and the following day decided it was right for us. We called Ray that day and said "send us the paperwork work, we're in!"

 

[disneymom8589]

My DH first talked to a DVC rep at the GC at DLR in July 2005. We didn't really talk much about it at that time. The following year we went to WDW and a Disney cruise, and after returning, bought into DVC a month later. We have mentioned to each other many times that we have had no regrets with our decision. In fact, we were watching a DVD last night of a Disney family trip we took in July 2007 using DVC points and we agreed that that trip was our favorite!