Old owners

[kid-at-heart]

Any "old" owners here? By old I do not mean age but those who bought into DVC in the beginning years. If so, do you have any photos of the resorts when they were first started? I am mainly thinking of the older resorts such as OKW, WLV, BWV, BCV. Also what changes have you noticed that occurred in the resorts (such as soft goods, hard goods, theme changes, etc) good and bad over the years? I "think", before my time, that OKW had dinnerware of various colors instead of the standard white it now has. Am I correct, or was this just a rumor? I remember when they took out the bedspreads and replaced them with "sheets" and a decorative strip of cloth at the foot of the bed, some folks liked the change, some did not.

Just curious,
Kate

 

[bobbiwoz]

At AKV the cups had cute animal designs. Those are the ones I really miss.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Ah yes, gone are the days of the colored Fiesta Tableware at OKW! I remember the wooden blinds on the door to the outside patio, before this crank and pull (improvement, still debating that) system we have now. We started out with throw pillows, then we lost the pillows, now we’re back with couch throw pillows! Il’l have to check my archives for pictures!

 

[Deb & Bill]

I liked the metal bedframes and headboard at OKW in the 90's. Plus the pickled walls and pink and green paint. And the plaid couches.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

I liked the metal bedframes and headboard at OKW in the 90's. Plus the pickled walls and pink and green paint. And the plaid couches.

None of that darkly repainted/repurposed furniture. Wasn’t the mirror at the entrance of the 1bd light green or am I dreaming?

 

[Chuck S]

OKW had fiestaware dinnerware. There were originally coral colored bath towels, but they got swapped out for white pretty quickly. The placemats for the one bedroom and larger units disappeared pretty quickly, too. Buildings 62, 63 and 64 are built on the site of the original DVC Sales center and parking lot (Commodore House). Where Olivia's outdoor dining patio is now was originally an herb garden used by the chefs to prepare the daily meals. The smallish back dining area was the original outdoor dining area. The Sandcastle slide is new, there was originally no slide at OKW. The interior color of the units were coral and a pastel seafoam green. There was real tile flooring in the kitchen areas of the larger units, and carpet in the living rooms. While still themed, Olivia's originally had two manikins called Miss Vickie up front to great guests and a Sea Captain that would sit in the very back booth. Goods to Go and Olivia's originally shared the kitchen, you could order Olivia's menu items to go at the snack bar. That changed with the addition of the Dining Plans. SInce OKW was originally named the Disney Vacation Club resort, all the clothing merchandise had the DVC logo, you could have the word MEMBER embroidered on the item for $5. While there are still member photos in the entryway and back dining area of Olivia's, they were at one time covering all the walls of the restaurant. WHen they repainted, they were removed, and because of the issues and prep time of removing all those photos, they were not replaced. Of course, the door locks were not electronic...they were keyed originally, that quickly changed to the cards you inserted and removed, and now of course, we have the magic bands.

 

[Chuck S]

None of that darkly repainted/repurposed furniture. Wasn’t the mirror at the entrance of the 1bd light green or am I dreaming?

Yes, the hall mirror was green, and the conch shell above it was either off white or light pink, like an actual conch shell. Oh, and the cloth napkins and napkin rings disappeared pretty quickly, too.

 

[Deb & Bill]

None of that darkly repainted/repurposed furniture. Wasn’t the mirror at the entrance of the 1bd light green or am I dreaming?

Yes. Everything was pastel until somebody's offspring was given the design contract for renovations.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Lots of the photos in Olivia's were moved to the Community Hall.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

And park tickets for half the occupancy max of the room! I miss that more than the other changes combined.

 

[Deb & Bill]

And park tickets for half the occupancy max of the room! I miss that more than the other changes combined.

We just missed out on those. But we got to apply our nine night stay at the Polynesian as our deposit.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

We just missed out on those. But we got to apply our nine night stay at the Polynesian as our deposit.

That was nice! Honestly, I'm a little surprised that I have been a member longer than y'all have. Clearly I haven't studied as well. Back in the day I had one child under 3 (one 3-9) and Southwest was doing $29 each way flights.

And then they had that fabulous Food and Food & Fun card!!!
A soup or salad, an appetizer and entree and dessert for every member of the party plus full use of all the bikes, boats, etc taxes and gratuity included.

OH the good old days

 

[kid-at-heart]

Oh my, reading about your memories makes me miss the "good ole days" and I was not even a member then. We joined about a decade ago. Please keep sharing.

Kate

 

[chalee94]

I'm concerned that I won't like the new renovations to OKW but I'm glad these old days are gone...

 

[Candlelady]

They tried to fill requests by when you made your reservation instead of room ready. Home resort of course, had the advantage.

 

[DenLo]

And park tickets for half the occupancy max of the room! I miss that more than the other changes combined.

I thought the park tickets were for the DVC members only, or those names on the title. So even if you had a room that slept 8 you only got two tickets.

 

[BillPA]

You got 2 tickets for a stay in a studio or 1 BR, 4 tickets for a stay in a 2 BR and 6 tickets for a stay in a GV. It didn't matter if everyone was a member or even if the were not a member, as long as you used points you got the tickets. We got 8 years of those and it really was sticker shock when we had to stay paying for ticket again. Sure would be nice to bring that back!!!

 

[Simba's Mom]

I don't consider ourselves "old" members, since we joined in the 2000's (2002). However, the resorts you listed were the only ones available (not even BCV yet). What I don't like is that it seems as if evey new resort "costs" more and more in terms of points/night. What I always wonder is that OKW is so different from BWV, as far as "hotel-y feel", how did members' react to BWV? Did some really dislike the "direction DVC is going"?

 

[DVC Jen]

I guess that puts us in the old owners category. Bought in back in 2001 - VWL (boulder ridge now). I LOVE LOVE LOVED the old decor. The new stuff - not so much. I really am not happy with how generic the theming is becoming.

 

[Dean]

And park tickets for half the occupancy max of the room! I miss that more than the other changes combined.

I'll have to review my 1992 prospectus but I'm thinking the original stated ticket allotment was less than above but what's above was what actually was followed. The original banking wording only allowed banking of half of a years points IIRC.