New member anxiety

[sissy_42]

I just joined DVC this week, got my fed-ex box today, signed all my papers and sent everything in this afternoon. I knew after the walk through I went on in July I wanted to join, was just waiting for the right time. Well I got a call last Monday from a guide, thought about it for a week and went for it. I am just so scared I am in love with the idea of it all and it wont live up to my expectations. And I don't just mean the resorts. I have this very romantic idea of Disney and travel in general. My fiance and I aren't planing on having children so I don't see us going to Disney every year. Maybe every other year, but I do see us going on vacation at least once every year. Thinking about it tonight I am scared I am overlooking things. We are both military so we have plenty of vacation days, but scheduling them together can be a nightmare. Many of our trips may have to be last minute which means through the roof airline tickets. What if we cant get consecutive nights? And my biggest fear, what if we just end up hating the accommodations? What if we end up deciding we prefer regular hotel stays? I know there is resale and renting possibilities, but I would rather not deal with that. Did anyone else feel like this right after they signed? If so how did you feel after your first DVC trip? Any advice is welcome. If you managed to read all of that thank you!!

 

[AirGoofy]

We are both military so we have plenty of vacation days, but scheduling them together can be a nightmare. Many of our trips may have to be last minute which means through the roof airline tickets. What if we cant get consecutive nights?

First, thank you for your service to our country. As for your anxiety about DVC, that is natural. Whenever I make a large purchase (car, house, DVC), that feeling was there. The great advantage of DVC is being able to schedule and reserve your vacation 11 months out (at your home resort). So, you may not be able to have this advantage. Some members will reserve their location at the 11 month time, or 7 month window at their non-home resort, and cancel or change their vacation 30 days prior to the trip if necessary. A question that may help - do you own your own home or are you renting? If you rent because you may be relocated and you cannot coordinate your schedules, you may think of a different option. As for consecutive nights, one thing you do get with DVC is some flexibility. So, if you are willing to move, you could stay in a different DVC resort everyday during vacation by checking out/ checking in to new resorts.

 

[Dizny Dad]

sissy_42

Welcome Home!

And, yes, we all thank you for the service and time in your lives that both you and your future Hubby are giving to this country and to each of us!

Now as to your psycological delima:

As with all things, you get out of DVC what you put into it. Plan ahead, dream about, explore to the max, use all of the opportunities. Once you have done all of that, then ask yourself if it was worth it.

All things worth participating in have people involved that find the worst and find a need to tell everyone. DVC has those people, too. But read the DISboards and you will find the overwhelming number of people that have found DVC to be a focus in their lives when it comes to relaxation and fun.

As to being without children and not seeing Disney every year- oh, my, you need to understand that Disney is for adults with children, not children with adults. There are so many things that Disney offers the "older kid" in life. My DW and I just love to be alone with each other in any of the Resorts and parks; visiting the different resorts to see the holiday decorations (many through out the year); sitting on a bench watching the crazy crowd go by in (you name the park); relaxing at any one of the DVC resorts; knowing that we don't have to see it all because we will be back again!

You will love the accomodations. They will set a certain standard for your travel expectations in the future.

Please relax, and don't look back!

And thanks again for your service.

 

[Crystal_27]

Many of our trips may have to be last minute which means through the roof airline tickets. What if we cant get consecutive nights?

DVC is certainly a huge commitment (not only the financial commitment at the outset, but also the continuing commitment of maintenance fees, park tickets, dining, travel, etc.). It is normal to feel a bit hesitant and worried about joining DVC -- anyone who does not probably is setting himself up for failure. Still, I think that the concern you listed above is a valid one. DVC works best for those who can book at the 11 month mark, and the longer you wait to finalize your plans, the less availability you will have. No doubt it would be an incredible source of frustration for you (i) not to get the resort you want; or (ii) to have to change rooms/resorts multiple times during a vacation; or (iii) be locked out of any resort when you call. Only you can decide how you feel about that, but it certainly should warrant serious consideration on your part. You may find that you never had a reason to plan 11 months out before, and DVC has now given you one and everything will work out *but* you may find that you are still unable to plan far enough out to get a room, making DVC pretty useless.

Either way, I wish you the best, and welcome home!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Don't worry that you will be childless at Disney. My DH and I are in our mid 60's, and we enjoy 2-3 Disney trips a year. It's our "go to" place to relax, reconnect, and enjoy the fantasy!

 

[stopher1]

I also thank you and your fiance for your service to our country.

You said that when you first walked through last summer, you knew you wanted to join. So right there you had an emotional connection with DVC, which is a primary factor for a lot of us members. My FIL has 8 different non-Disney timeshares, but I can tell you than 100% he doesn't really care about any of them - just that they provide a place to stay and trade-out for his many vacations. DVC is, in our experience, very different. First of all - it is not just for children. As Walt originally envisioned Disneyland, he wanted a place where parents & children could have fun together. Ok - you have said you don't intend to be a parent, but honestly, what are parents? The majority of the time they are adults. So loosely translating or paraphrasing Walt, he wanted a place where ADULTS & kids could have fun. Disneyland is that. Walt Disney World is that - as well as the other Disney destinations around the world.

DVC is an extension of that idea - providing awesome resort accomodations where adults (& kids) can enjoy staying (and staying, and staying, and staying...). The resorts are truly remarkable, and offer a GREAT vacation by themselves, even if you don't step foot into one of the theme parks! While your current situation might not be that you can return and stay each and every year; and you might not be able to plan as far out as others at this point in your life; the membership is not just for now, but for nearly 50 years. I'm sure as you go through different stages of your life you will be able to plan a bit more. But even if you can't, while there is no guarantee, many members are able to secure reservations with not so much notice. Personally I have been able to to do so at least twice already in our 3 years as members, both times with just about 31 - 45 days prior to travel. And sometimes you can secure decent to really good airfare in that same time - as we did with both of those DVC reservation I just mentioned. Sure DVC works best when you are able to plan 7-11 months in advance, but it DOES happen from to time.

Also, while DVC points do give you the "best bang for your buck" when staying at a DVC resort, you do have the option of trading out if you so choose. But even without trading out, there are numerous DVC resorts to choose from, with the possibility of Hawaii being added in to the mix in 2011. Who knows what other resorts they might decide to add into the DVC fold after that. You might be happily surprised to find that DVC, in the long run, works out really well for you.

Until then - Congratulations, and Welcome Home!

 

[Lynne M]

so I don't see us going to Disney every year. Maybe every other year, but I do see us going on vacation at least once every year.

Are you planning on using DVC to travel to non-DVC destinations every other year? If that's what you meant, I think you need to rethink this.

DVC is a good value when it's used at DVC resorts. Yes, it's possible to use it for those '500 destinations' the guides love to talk about, but it's a very, very expensive way to go to those destinations, and for the RCI resorts, it can sometimes be complicated and difficult to find availability.

What I mean by expensive is that you can buy other, very good, timeshares for a tiny fraction of the cost of DVC that you can use to book the very same RCI resorts that DVC offers access to. And more - DVC only gives you access to a limited number of RCI resorts.

What lots of people do in your situation is to buy two timeshares - DVC for their DVC resort stays, and another for their non-DVC stays. You'll save a LOT of money doing it that way, considering that you'll be buying half the number of DVC points, and that these other timeshares will costs you thousands less than DVC.

 

[Dizny Dad]

Don't worry that you will be childless at Disney. My DH and I are in our mid 60's, and we enjoy 2-3 Disney trips a year. It's our "go to" place to relax, reconnect, and enjoy the fantasy!

EEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAA!

 

[KateB]

My DH and I purchased DVC while we were engaged and I was totally terrified that we were making the wrong decision. We had been to WDW once in August of '08 and had received some info about DVC through the mail. Needless to say it got thrown into a huge stack and NEVER crossed our minds again. Then May of last year we got a random call for our guide and I go to talking and realized that I knew a current DVC member (a co-worker). Well that made our price per point less and so I told my, then fiancee, DH. He said we should look into it more since we had already booked out Honeymoon to WDW for December. THe more we learned the more we were interested and felt that it was a good investment for our future and children. We both agreed that we would love to be able to take our kids to WDW, since neither of us had been until we were in our late 20s. Needless to say we loved our first trip home and already booked our WDW trip for next year. Although we want to go to other places it looks like WDW might be our #1 (and only) DVC vacation spot. We are just addicted!

 

[supersuperwendy]

We tossed around the idea of joining way back in 1997 and finally signed the dotted line in 2008 and so far so good! We love being members!

I hope you get all the pixie dust in the world and always get your consecutive nights!

Welcome Home!

 

[sissy_42]

Thank you all for your kind words and advice. Reading some on the forum and all of this is making me feel better about becoming a member. The thing I keep coming back to is if I hadn't I know I would always regret not doing it when I could!

Are you planning on using DVC to travel to non-DVC destinations every other year? If that's what you meant, I think you need to rethink this.

More so I meant not going to WDW every year. I am looking forward to checking out HHI and VB. And eventually Hawaii. But yes I was also thinking about RCI as well. Thank you for your advice on that, I will do some research in to it.

Don't worry that you will be childless at Disney. My DH and I are in our mid 60's, and we enjoy 2-3 Disney trips a year. It's our "go to" place to relax, reconnect, and enjoy the fantasy!

This is wonderful to hear! We did Disneyland in 2008 and had a great time just the two of us. I am looking in to making ressis for Oct. for the food and wine festival.

sissy_42

Welcome Home!

And, yes, we all thank you for the service and time in your lives that both you and your future Hubby are giving to this country and to each of us!

Now as to your psycological delima:

As with all things, you get out of DVC what you put into it. Plan ahead, dream about, explore to the max, use all of the opportunities. Once you have done all of that, then ask yourself if it was worth it.

All things worth participating in have people involved that find the worst and find a need to tell everyone. DVC has those people, too. But read the DISboards and you will find the overwhelming number of people that have found DVC to be a focus in their lives when it comes to relaxation and fun.

As to being without children and not seeing Disney every year- oh, my, you need to understand that Disney is for adults with children, not children with adults. There are so many things that Disney offers the "older kid" in life. My DW and I just love to be alone with each other in any of the Resorts and parks; visiting the different resorts to see the holiday decorations (many through out the year); sitting on a bench watching the crazy crowd go by in (you name the park); relaxing at any one of the DVC resorts; knowing that we don't have to see it all because we will be back again!

You will love the accomodations. They will set a certain standard for your travel expectations in the future.

Please relax, and don't look back!

And thanks again for your service.

I am a big planner! Which is part of the reason why I fell in love with DVC. That trait of mine just doesn't mesh well with my current occupation! The things you said you like to do sound so much like us! Gives me more to look forward to.

 

[Jason@dvcstore]

I just joined DVC this week, got my fed-ex box today, signed all my papers and sent everything in this afternoon. I knew after the walk through I went on in July I wanted to join, was just waiting for the right time. Well I got a call last Monday from a guide, thought about it for a week and went for it. I am just so scared I am in love with the idea of it all and it wont live up to my expectations. And I don't just mean the resorts. I have this very romantic idea of Disney and travel in general. My fiance and I aren't planing on having children so I don't see us going to Disney every year. Maybe every other year, but I do see us going on vacation at least once every year. Thinking about it tonight I am scared I am overlooking things. We are both military so we have plenty of vacation days, but scheduling them together can be a nightmare. Many of our trips may have to be last minute which means through the roof airline tickets. What if we cant get consecutive nights? And my biggest fear, what if we just end up hating the accommodations? What if we end up deciding we prefer regular hotel stays? I know there is resale and renting possibilities, but I would rather not deal with that. Did anyone else feel like this right after they signed? If so how did you feel after your first DVC trip? Any advice is welcome. If you managed to read all of that thank you!!

I think a lot of people feel anxiety right after purchasing. I think you will enjoy the membership and will be adding on before you know it.

You should feel confident in your decision.

Jason