Mini-vent, told Mother about our possible DVC purchase....

[denecarter]

I had always thought I was lucky in the parental department. Now it has been confirmed!

DD and I have been going to WDW for several years. We usually convince another family member/group to go with us. One trip to CBR, my parents and I did the BWV tour... but finances were'nt quite right (too bad, cause prices were a lot lower). Later, we had rented points for OKW 2 BR with my aunt's family. The next year it was OKW GV with my parents, niece, nephews, aunt, and cousin.

ANYWAY, my parents were not surprised at all when I told them I used my income tax refund for a down payment at BCV in 2003. They knew I was going to WDW anyway, they knew the rooms were fabulous, they knew I had taken and would take my nieces and nephews in the future. SOOO, instead of giving me a hard time, they gave me the money to buy 150 pt add-on at OKW! I always pay the dues, I always control the points, I sometimes take family members along for the trip. It works for us!

 

[ErinC]

DH and I didn't immediately tell either set of our parents that we had bought DVC. We didn't want everyone knowing, and still don't tell everyone. They already think we are freaks about Disney, why give them more ammo? DH's parents had bought some timeshare in Orlando when they went on there one voyage to world when he was like 10. His mother went to get free tickets and ended up buying a timeshare, that they never used. Needless to say, they sort of have a bad taste about timeshares. But anyway they(both sets of parents) know now, and they don't have too much to say. We've treated my Mom and Dad to 2 trips( gave them a studio) and DH's sister to 2 trips at no cost, so what could they possibly complain about? When DH's parents retire in a couple of years we will treat them to a trip also. I think that hopefully after they get to see it first hand, they won't think we wasted our money. DH wouldn't really be the type to care what they think in this area. When DH's parent retire and we take over our family business, we fully intend to purchase more points through our business. We plan to offer some trips to some of DH's employees, that he feels deserve them. Hopefully, nobody will be complaining about our DVC ownership then! Maybe your Mom will lighten up later. Maybe you could take her on a trip sometime, if her approval is something you really feel like you need. If all else fails, tell her that your neighbor in Fairhope bought one, and you had to have one too!

 

[disgirl]

I understand exactly where you are coming from. We have not told all our family yet either and we have been members since Nov. of 03. We just mentioned to my MIL, who def. would be our worst critic, (at Easter time) that we were going back to disney in August and she rolled her eyes. We were there in Aug. 02 and Aug. 03 and went to DL last year. To my MIL, this is a lot of visits. She went with us once about 6 years ago and loved it! Well, when I told her we were going this August she rolled her eyes, looked at my SIL as if to say Are they nuts? My SIL already knew about our DVC purchase and she does not get into our business as we do not hers. After all, she buys what she wants with her money and is not bothering anybody and we do the same. My MIL, however, is a different story. She will always voice her opinion. After she made her comment, I said, "Well we bought a timeshare there and will be going often now." Then she perks up and says "Oh, how big is your place, maybe we can use it, too." Too funny. DH and I just explained briefly we have points and you can stay in different size rooms and that was that. I expect more comments when we actually are ready to leave in August. She has always been a hard worker and very conservative with her money and when she was in better health, would travel back to Germany and see different parts of the world and the U.S., so I guess she sees this as a big splurge and too much of the same thing each year. Well, she just has to realize we really enjoy Disney.

I agree that taking your mom on a trip and letting her see how great it can be, may make her less apt to judge and help her to understand your purchase. Good Luck and hopefully it helps to know you are not alone.

 

[champagne27]

TW1 - You had me rolling on the floor - thanks for the laugh!!!!

I have not come out about our recent purchase yet. My parents will be going with us on our first trip - they think on rented points Since we have never stayed at a DVC before, I hope I can fudge my way through pretending to be a renter!

Their response will determine if I let them in on our secret or not!

 

[keishashadow]

We too waited for years to buy into DVC. Even though we finally settled on a small resale (cash purchase, made me feel less guilty), we're now eagerly waiting to add on, hopefully CVR

As for the negativity surrounding the transaction, we've gotten it from all sides -

Extended family: ("you should have bought an RV?") No thank you, we tent camp, but never anywhere where it's hot or has lots of lizards & bugs.''

Older children: ("figure you'll get tired of it in a few years and give it to us").

Neighbors: ("why didn't you replace your above-ground pool with an in-ground instead?").

Friends: ("aren't you a little old for that".) Yeah, pushing 50 time to dig the hole.

Casual Friends: ("oh yeah, I heard you're real into that...I think Disney's stupid".) Perhaps it was my black Rendezvous with the Doom Buggy plates that gave me away.

However, my mother, had nothing but good things to say, even though she has no interest in visiting WDW with us.

Don't think it's uncommon in our neck of the woods to buy into DVC (our resale's original owners live less than 15 minutes from us). Plenty of people we know think nothing of dropping $3,000+ each year to go to the beach.

We haven't brought the subject up, only responded when asked where we were going on vacation this year. Not sure why people feel the need to poke holes in our Mickey balloon! I think it's pure ignorance and the aforementioned "DVC resort envy".

 

[Rozzie]

If all else fails, tell her that your neighbor in Fairhope bought one, and you had to have one too!

hey neighbor!

Good, I will place the blame squarely on you! All I really needed was a target for her hostility. Just don't answer the door....

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

I have the exact reverse problem of the OP. My wife and I got our first contract with DVC at the same time as my parents. Last weekend while I was trying to lay the groundwork with my wife about how good an add on at the BCV would be for us over dinner at my parents house, my parents became convinced to get 350 points there.

 

[mamatojon]

I've told a few relatives about our purchase, but no way I'm telling my dad. He gave me such a hard time about just watching the video when I mentioned it to him. Plus, he lives in Ocala and we had such a horrible time visiting them this last trip that I don't plan on letting him know each and every time we go, LOL. If he knows we bought this he will expect that we will add on a week to every vacation to stay with him and his wife. NOT gonna happen!

My MIL/FIL were actually on this past trip with us so they knew we were purchasing, they looked skeptical at first until they admitted if they were younger they would consider purchasing too. At first she gave me a hard time about never taking vacations anywhere else until I pointed out that we never go anywhere else anyway (as you can see from my sig, LOL) I never thought I'd love WDW as much as I do, when we took that first trip in 2003 I thought it would be a once in a lifetime thing, all set to go back to my DL trips. I'll still go back to DL every so often but my heart lies in Orlando now.

One thing, I told my MIL that her other son had an RV and look how much he has in payments on that thing, gas, maintenance, etc.. she said, "well, he uses it more than once a year too" to which I replied "well, I could do that too if I wanted to sleep outside! I'd rather stay home all summer and go to WDW once a year than to go camping every weekend from May to September, but that's just me."

No one else we know has even been to WDW so they just look at us like we've grown another head or something.

 

[Laurajean1014]

Our parents had a similar reaction to us buying over 10 years ago. However, once they had a few "free" trips and saw the accomodations, they never spoke another word about it.

My IL's know a few of their friends who bought, so they stopped talking about it 'cause all of their friends were.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

My mother is fine with it. We usually take her to WDW with us and she really enjoys being with the kids. My niece will be joining us this year also.

Haven't told BIL and SILs yet, and don't plan to. BIL will want to know why we didn't spend that money to visit him in Germany, and SIL will just be pissed since we told her no last time she wanted to borrow $. There is no way SIL and her 2 will ever go with us. I am not sure where the closest psychiatric facility is to WDW, and I am sure DH and kids would hate to spend vacation time visiting me in an institution.

As for others, it's not their business. I am known as the resident Disney queen, and I love helping others plan their trips, so why muddle it up with IL worries?

 

[tiffany123]

We're in our mid-50's and made our original DVC purchase in 2001. Have added on twice since and now own 500 points. We live next door to my parents and less than 2 miles from DH's parents. None of them know that we own DVC and we have no intentions of telling them. They grew up in the depression and are VERY conservative with money. DVC, timeshares in general, vacations, etc are luxuries that you don't spend money for----you save every penny you can because you don't know what will happen in the future. That kind of thinking may be fine for them and as long as they let us live our lives, we're fine with it. Our 2 married DD's know that we own DVC but no other family members do and we'll keep it that way. When the time comes that a sibling vacations with us, we'll let them think we booked the reservations through CRO. Less hassle and sometimes family doesn't need to know everything.

 

[NMW]

I told my parents right away. As usual they were supportive of any decision I made. I did get some "Do you really just want to go to Disney all the time" comments from my theme park hating mother. Along with some "wouldn't you rather see the REAL countries that are in Epcot"? When I told her that we just really want to go to Disney, she was fine.

DH's parents are a different story. They are negative, unsupportive, critical. We stopped telling them things years ago. In fact, when we bought the house we live in now about 5 yrs ago. We had already bought it (it was new construction) and sold our old house before DH would even tell them we were moving. He never tells them anything we buy- cars, sheds, furniture, etc. We have been married 10 years and it only took DH 5 years to realize that he was wasting him time!

I told them we own a couple of months ago only because they suggested that maybe they might meet us in Dec for our Disney trip. They won't say anything to me, except "oh". I then proceded to tell them that they can meet us but would have to get their own hotel (we are in a 1 bdr) and that our PS's get booked 90 days ahead. So, they would have to tell me to make the number larger or not eat with us. When they found out that the vacation would be under our control, not theirs, they backed out. My FIL needs to control everything. The funny thing is that I KNEW they would never come, I know them and how they are (we have vacationed with them a couple of times). DH however, gets his hopes up that they will be like the family in the Disney vacation promo videos, which of course would never happen.

Oh well, at least no one will be asking to use our points!

 

[JimC]

My advice -- be honest at all times or say nothing. Well meaning parents, particularly those who have worked very hard to secure themselves (and even more so if they suffered a major setback along the way), are naturally going to be suspect of heavy leisure spending by their children. A home, education, retirement and emergency savings before luxuries is the likely refrain and is good advice. You must be strong enough to thank them for it, make your own decisions and live with the consequences (good or bad). If need be just agree to disagree on that point and let it go. Life is too short.

 

[JimB.]

Some people I know give us a hard time about DVC & the cost. When I explain to them, for example, that the accomodations from our recent trip cost us, ohhhhh say, NOTHING out of pocket. Then I tell them they would have cost $3600 (+11% tax) if we had paid cash.

Sometimes the light starts to flicker on, but not much. I figure that even with putting the annual dues cost into it, DVC represented (on this trip) about a 62% discount (even more when you figure the tax deductibility of a portion of the dues).

And we still have over 100+ points to use or bank this year.

***** sigh ***** some people just don't understand.

But the bottom line is, it's your $$. Do with it what you think is best. If mom does not like it, then let her pay for oyur vacations (& do what you please anyway )

 

[bobbiwoz]

We finally bought in to give mom an 85th birthday party that she'd remember. We did, and she loved it, she's thrilled that we own it. She's coming back this December and then next May.

I mostly haven't had a full time job since moving to Ohio 13 years ago, and DM helped greatly with college expenses for our 2 DSs in the '90s. These trips for her are our way of paying that back to her. Sometimes now she talks as if traveling is too big of an expense, I think it's a sign of her age, I don't think she is not "making it" financially. However, I do know she's happy to be "treated."

It is my fervent prayer, really, that the Boston branch of my family, DS, DDiL and 3 DGC (all under 3 years old) will one day be able to come with us. We did not BUY DVC only for family and friends, but we do have some great times sharing with them.

Younger DS, 28, has been to DVC for the birthday, teases me about it. In '96 when we first looked, he was the one who was most vocal against it, and I think of all the people we know, he still doesn't think too positively about Disney. However, he says if it ever comes to him via our wills, he will keep it and go in our memory, so I think he's just pulling my leg with his complaints.

Bobbi