Bought BWV not long after it opened and then added on in 1999 and 2,000, including some by resale. What I dislike is Disney's metamorphosis from a seemingly model timeshare company to what it is today:
1999: Reasonable purchase price for the time, $65 a point (with an incentive to lower that price by $10)
2019: Excessively high purchase prices for the time that are being raised regularly (e.g., BLT and BCV are currently $225).
1999: Minimum purchase of 160 points, enough to get a 1BR at the time for five to six nights
2019: Minimum purchase of 50 to 100 points, enough to get only studios.
1999: Points needed per night were fairly reasonable and stayed the same as BWV for the new resorts added at the time, BCV and VWL.
2019: Most resorts added in last ten years have have much higher point per night requirements, further decreasing the percentage of purchasers who can buy enough points to get rooms larger than studios
1999: Studios limited to four guests.
2019: Many studios now allow 5 so more points can be sold to those who can afford only studios
1999: You could get a BWV standard view studio in October at 7 months out.
2019: You cannot get a BWV standard view studio, or a number of rooms at other resorts, in October at 11 months out.
1999: BWV had only 6 GVs, BCV and VWL had none, so DVD could not greatly oversell studios via points for the highest cost rooms
2019: DVD now builds many greatly overpriced bungalows and cabins resulting in a lot of extra points that can be sold to those who can afford only smaller rooms, such as studios. DVC also gets to make more profit in breakage income by having those high cost rooms.
1999: DVC told purchasers, and written documents show, that point changes were limited to correcting seasonal changes by raising points in one season for a room while lowering them for the same room in another season.
2019: DVC now asserts those prior representations are not binding on it and it can change points however it desires, such as by raising points needed for studios and 1BRs year round, which is its solution for correcting excess studio demand that has resulted mainly from its actions.
1999: Resale purchasers had all the same rights and benefits as new purchasers from DVD
2019: DVD now considers resale purchasers to be anathema, continuously eliminating their rights and benefits.
1999: POS's and applicable exhibits declare that new and resale purchasers are all members entitled to reserve any DVC Resort added to the DVC system.
2019: DVD creates Riviera, adds it to the DVC system, but, despite what those prior POS's say, takes away rights of resale purchasers to reserve Riviera and any other new DVC resorts.
1999: All reservations were done by phone and usually there was no more than a 5-minute exercise from time of dialing to time of hanging up.
2019: Reservations by phone have 15 minute and longer hold times and then take longer while making them. On line reservations, with a usually slow or often not properly working system, and requiring a search for rooms and then going through all the pages to get done, often take 30 minutes or more..
