How old were you when you purchased your first DVC contract?

[🍀TwinsMom]

46 and 51. After cramming four of us at Caribbean Beach, storing groceries on ice in the bathtub, and sweating through a death march in August of 2019, I had my DH listen to the DVC spiel just to plant the seeds of DVC in the future. Well, he freaking blew my mind and announced two thirds of the way through the presentation we were buying 100 points at Riviera right then and there. He always jokes it's the only time in our marriage I have ever been struck quiet.

He never wants to be squished in one room, to go in the summer heat, and not have our own bathroom space. He went from hating "the mouse trap" to having his own Owners Locker of Disney clothing down at WDW for every trip, having every Haunted Mansion bit of merch, and adding on to Riviera, and we're probably adding on at Poly.

We have to go kids' vacations/prime weeks, so points don't go as far, but looking forward to off-peak winter trips as snow birds. We love New England and snow, but now we only get cold muck and ice. It's very depressing after Christmas. It'll be nice to do FARTS for my birthday in January, and we have our first Valentine's couples-only trip this February.

We very much hope to bring our kids and their partners and eventually grandchildren. We have brought tons of extended family already and love it! The plan is to give each kid two contracts, either each 50/50 Poly/Riviera or else one set of points to each kid, depending on who prefers which home resort. I think it's so expensive nowadays for young adults to fly the coop with college, rent, saving for a house. It'll be nice if the kids can enjoy a nice vacation with their friends and family after we're gone. Not that I'm planning on going anywhere anytime soon! LOL. I want to enjoy it for decades longer.

 

[DaveNan]

52 and 52

 

[MyDogTink]

Bought BWV in 1998 with my dad. I was 25 and he was 52. Bought again in 2023 with DH. I was 50 and he was 51. He rides my coattails…his DVC merch says “Member since 1998”. DD’s says “Member since 2019”.

 

[tom1944]

Both of us were 56. We bought during the COVID shutdown in 2020. I had always been skeptical of timeshares in general, but the prices were just sooooo good. Bought a small SSR contract resale. Went and stayed once and addonitis set in. Within a year bought two more contracts, resale at BLT and direct at VGF. I also have to admit having read through this thread, I thought beforehand that we'd be among the oldest first time buyers, was glad to see a lot of us are old!

I think it is a difficult purchase for a young couple. My wife gave up her job when our daughter was born. We could have purchased points but being tied to all the other costs would have resulted in cuts elsewhere. Ultimately the decision was not to buy.

 

[Patsaizan]

53 (me), 56 (hubby). Our son was 23 with his first contract.

 

[Ronaldo17]

53 for me and 47 for DW

 

[bakerworld]

Believe me when I say one of the positives of DVC for me is not having housekeeping in my space every other day . I like my space a certain way.

Until 2018, we left the room around 9:30 am and didn't return until 9:30/10 pm so housekeeping in the room wasn't a consideration. I just didn't like returning to an unmade bed. Now we tend to return but I have to say, except for during the pandemic when we'd stay in the room until closer to noon since getting to the empty parks was a non-issue, we hadn't seen housekeeping. Except for '20-'21, I could count on one hand how many times we've seen housekeeping in our room over 15 years.

 

[MyDearMinnie]

32 for me and 33 for my husband. Brand new DVC member here!

We just bought our first DVC contract this past Sunday at Riviera on the last day of our vacation. We'd been discussing it since my husband's first trip in Sept 2021, and we finally pulled the trigger. Since we are planning to have children in the next year or two and grow our family, we thought it was finally the right time. Started with 150 direct points and we will definitely add more via resale in the future.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

53

 

[darkconz]

38, just dipped our toes in our first contract. And we already regretted not buying sooner....

 

[Disney got all my$$$]

We each vacationed 1 as a child

Honeymooned at Disney 2003 (Coronado Springs) – Loved it! The alcoholic slushies, taco bowl and Downtown Disney (BET Soundstage) was GREAT!

Visit with first kid 2007 (pregnant with second) stayed at AKL Jambo House and toured DVC (model AKL), but we could not afford to join (very young and I was making a grad student salary).

Visited with grandparents and both kids 2010 – AKL again and still loved it, but still broke LOL (I was a stay at home mom for 4 years after graduating).

Kept going back usually used Wyndham points (Bonnet Creek) and another time share once on SIL points for Christmas. Hated the off-site experience. I had no idea about how off-site guests were treated – regarding parking and catching a tram from the parking lot to the front gate. IT.WAS.MAYHEM.

Fast forward 2021 - Stayed again at SSR (loved it) on RCI points. Best part was walking to Disney Springs and back late at night with my family after a good meal. It was a super chill vibe. We toured Riviera and loved it. Bought 200 points direct.

I was 43, DH was 45.

We added on at VGF in 2023 and are waiting for an AKL resale contract to post.

We plan on using the AKL contract for a large family trip in 2026 when my youngest graduates from HS.

 

[atthebeachclub]

I also have to admit having read through this thread, I thought beforehand that we'd be among the oldest first time buyers, was glad to see a lot of us are old!

I would bet message boards as a medium trend older as younger people may not be as familiar with them. Reddit or TikTok might have more young owners! But this is where the best knowledge is, so that’s why I’m here.

 

[beccasmom]

35 for both of us in 1992.

 

[intamin]

I would bet message boards as a medium trend older as younger people may not be as familiar with them. Reddit or TikTok might have more young owners! But this is where the best knowledge is, so that’s why I’m here.

On the younger spectrum for these boards, but for everything besides DVC I use reddit. It’s just a better platform IMO, but the knowledge base for DVC on here is unmatched and I’m addicted to talking about DVC and talking to DVC enablers so here I am

First contract was at 32 not too too long ago, have 2 more RIV contracts since and resale AKV/AUL with plans to add Poly in late 2025/early 2026 :X

 

[perchy]

52 when I closed on my first two resale contracts. The first one was International. The second was domestic. They closed the same day.

See my signature? I was in my 20s when I visited for the first time. When my kids were little, our visits were spaced out much more. It was post-COVID after two canceled cruises that I took my daughters to WDW. We had so much fun and it remains my favorite trip. I fell hard into the Realm of DVC, bought resale, caught add-on-itis and just couldn't stop. I love solo trips as well and need more points. #ICollectSmallContracts

 

[AdamsMum]

50 - 2007. Had only done theme parks all day and back to the room to basically pass out, stayed in POFQ until then. Then one day we decided to see where that boat outside the studos went. I found my happy place that night, and I've been happy with my BWV points ever since.

 

[Stargazer65]

44 years old and DW 43. Kids from 13 down to 1 year old.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

40/38, bought this year.

I've been going to WDW all my life. I grew up in FL about 80 min away from the parks and for years my grandma would send birthday money for my mom and I to have APs (we didn't have the money otherwise). We always would drive in early in the morning and stay til fireworks (or just before), get McDonald's across the street, and then drive home. Always saw GF, Poly and Contempo from the monorail and had no idea what kind of people could afford to stay there!

I moved away from FL after college, so no more regular trips for a while.

It wasn't until my late 20s that I had my first multi-day trip, staying in a resort (at AoA Little Mermaid room, when it was still pretty shiny and new). Anyway, fast forward another 10-15 years or so and have added more trips as circumstances improved, really just within the last 5 years or so. My husband and I got our first taste of luxury when we booked Coronado (our first moderate!) for a belated honeymoon in early 2021 and got pixie-dusted with a room in the GDT. Oh, we were in LOVE.

Got back into RunDisney in 2022 after a 15-year-long break, and started taking more frequent trips down for the races. Started looking into DVC rentals due to a RD friend's positive experiences with them. Still expensive, but not as bad as rack rates. Anyway, we ended up staying at Riviera on a 3rd party rental for Springtime Surprise this year while they were running the $200 gift card promo for taking the tour. Husband really liked the resort. I liked the resort. We'd been through it before while staying at Pop, hopping off the Skyliner to get food but joking that we would never be able to stay there. Ha. Ha.

Welp. After lots of back and forth emails with our patient guide, we bought RIV at end of June. I never in a million years would have thought we'd be DVC owners. Never thought it would interest Hubs (he likes Disney fine, but not like *I* like Disney). He says we get "free" vacations for the next 40 years. Okay, sure pal We're happy and excited though!

 

[DVC Gma]

I had no clue about DVC. We had kids in private school, 911, job losses during economy 2008 etc. In 2014, my 22 yr old daughter had a job conference in Tampa. My mom and I tagged along & then we went to disney for a couple days. Stayed at POR. I had only visited 1 time as a child, 7 yrs old. My mom could not believe the difference of staying on Property, she traveled to Disney with friends after I was an adult & when I was small. We went home and booked another trip the next May 2015.
Somewhere around late 2015 early 2016 I found this site. I spent months researching DVC all over the web. We booked a 10 day BWV, through one of the rental companies in June of 2016, traveling in May 2017. My SS resale points Passed ROFR while we were on that Trip! So, I was buying before we even went on that trip. Too many people had wonderful helpful advice & knowledge of DVC for me to wait. I was 46. I am so sorry I didn't know more about DVC earlier.

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

At 36. We had known about DVC for about 2 years before buying and discovered it in the process of planning our trip. We rented points for our first real disney trip and it was such a great trip we decided to buy within a month of getting back.