Joining DVC while on vacation...should I book through Disney or AAA?

[gfy4dland]

I am planning a WDW trip for Jan. 2009. I am not a DVC member...yet. A friend of mine recently went to WDW, staying at the Pop Century Resort. While there, she joined the DVC. Disney said they would have given her a room upgrade due to her new membership had she made her reservation directly with Disney, but since she reserved with AAA, they couldn't do that.

Has anyone else experienced this? We would like to stay at the Beach Club and were trying to decide whether to book through AAA to get a slight discount, or to book directly with Disney just in case we decide to join DVC during our trip. Any advice?

 

[smep013]

Can you join DVC before you go - so you can use any incentive points they may be offering for your stay?

 

[CarolMN]

I'm sure any upgrade would have been to SSR - Disney is still selling that resort and so still owns the "unsold portions". SSR is probably the only WDW DVC resort likely to have the availability to upgrade new members on short notice.

FWIW, this is the first I've heard of this, so it's probably not something you should count on, anyway. I think there would have been more to the story had your friend been able to take advantage of the offer - I'm thinking that some of her incentive points would have been used to secure the upgrade and her POP reservation refunded.

 

[Grandbuddy]

book through Disney. I called yesterday and saved about $18 a night on a reservation I already had, through Disney, at Pop. (I have a resale under contract, waiting for ROFR - but it'll be awhile before I can use it, if it passes.)

 

[gfy4dland]

We were thinking about doing a DVC resale for Beach Club now, but don't care too much for the interest rates. I think we would have to refinance our home and pull cash out to do it. We are also considering renting a reservation. We thought we'd better get a reservation in hand for a standard room, and then cancel it if we work something else out.

And Grandbuddy, that's a decent discount! I put a call into my AAA agent and he's out until Monday.

Thanks for the input!