Oldest DVC Member

[antnee]

Okay all you DVC posters and lurkers who on these boards is the oldest DVC member(not age) but years in he DVC. That person or persons should be given a special title of True DVC Veteran or something like that.

Come on who is it.

I am in DVC since 2000

 

[dianeschlicht]

not very old here. We joined in 1997.

Disneydiane

 

[Peter Johnson]

We purchased in June 1992, which definitely makes us "DVC senior citizens" . Those were the "good old days"... (leaning on my cane, stroking my long white beard )

When the bridge at Turtle Krawl wasn't open yet, because there wasn't anything finished beyond it...

When you could make a reservation on a week's notice... for a Grand Villa...

When you could walk from Miller's Road to Turtle Krawl and back, and not see anyone else...

When on one visit, there would be a dirt path where everyone was walking, and on the next visit it would be paved...

And of course, when the resort was still called Disney Vacation Club.

But I'm sure there are some "older" members than us lurking around!

Peter and Syl
DVC (OKW) '92, VB '95
Going to OKW May 19-30 and Dec 8-19

[This message was edited by Peter Johnson on 02-08-01 at 01:24 PM.]

 

[dvc_john]

Not the oldest (bought in 1993). But did tour OKW in 1991 before it was opened. Had to wear a hard hat and walk thru a construction zone to view the models. (Not buying then was just about the dumbest thing I ever did!)

 

[Peter Johnson]

Dvc_John,

We did the same at Vero. We toured it a few months before it opened, and bought at one of those informational (i.e. sales) meetings at Community Hall.

Peter and Syl
DVC (OKW) '92, VB '95
Going to OKW May 19-30 and Dec 8-19

 

[spiceycat]

then you could buy the timeshares before the building was completed (for generally a much lower price than was offered later). I looked at it 1992 but brought in 1993 - the 265 points were beyond my budget at the time, so when they made it 190 points I brought. Now I have 450 points, dumbest decision I never made was to wait, could have DVC for a year before I did.

They starting selling in 1991 didn't they?

 

[Anita Williams]

Bought in 1991 before OKW was built. Had our first
visit in spring of 1992. Anita.

 

[JudithM]

We joined in 1993. We usually meet up at WDW with some friends who joined in late 1991 & stayed at OKW for the first time in December 1991.

 

[margaretCT]

Members since November 1993. What I miss about the "old days" is that not only did Disney offer "Food & Fun" but DVD discounted it from $58 to $47 (if I remember correctly). Two meals a day and the first couple of times I used it the "Fun" part included parasailing, Illuminations cruise, fishing excursion, free boat rentals, etc. Glad we did all that back then!

Margaret in CT

 

[Joe T.]

We didn't buy until 1995, so we only got 5 years of the park passes. What a deal! Was that an incentive from the beginning? We had our presentation in 1993, and it was not mentioned.

 

[babylisa4]

We are from Oklahoma and because Disney registered in Oklahoma, they couldn't even talk on the phone to us about it. My secretary's sister lived in Georgia and she had Disney send her the stuff and she sent it to me. Then we went to Disney we were prepared to buy when we got there!

 

[rkington]

We purchased in May, 1993 after having done the tour in 1992. I remember that only Phase I was open at that time (buildings 1 - 29).

We got the free park passes starting in 1993 - what an awesome deal that was for 7 years! I never added up the savings, but it must be huge given that we went every year during those 7 years.

We've since taken our points from our original 230 to 300 last year.

PO '92
DVC Member '93
CBR '93
Contemporary '94 OKW '94
BC '95 OKW '95
YC '96 OKW '96
BC '97 OKW '97
DL '98 OKW '98
DL '99 OKW '99
OKW 2000

 

[PKK/MJK]

We joined in July 1993. We stayed in building 30 and I remember that all the buildings at the end of Turtle Pond had not opened yet. We were sneaking around trying to look through all the barricades to see what that area would be like. We'd ride the boat to Downtown Disney and we'd watch the construction of the buildings which are along Trumbo Canal (45, 46 etc)--stage 3. The frustrating thing is that we had all the DVC information in 1991. My hubby read everything, liked the idea but decided to wait a while. What a mistake that was. Should have bought right away!!

Phil and Mary Jo

WDW--82,83,85,87,89,93,95,96, 97,98,99,00,01
DVC/OKW

 

[Gail Reale]

We are OKW members since 2/95. When I first saw the DVC in the Disney Magazine ad, I knew it was for us, but felt we couldn't afford to spend that money with 2 younger kids still to grow up! I showed it to my brother-in-law and he bought without hesitation in '92. Then one magical day (Oct. 16 '94) I was hired as a CM at TDS. We had already planned a vacation for Thanksgiving '94 and took the DVC tour just to pass some time. I was just about hooked, but still resisted, until our guide (the very best, Bob Connor, now unfortunately deceased) said I was entitled to a discount because I was a CM!!!!!!!! That was the clincher kids - came home, went to bank, signed the papers and enjoyed 5 years of free passes. We were already going to WDW at least 2x a year and did the math - finally - and realized we would actually save money LOL!! So, naturally, we had to add on, and in 10/98 we bought HH. We just love the peace and serenity of that resort. If you want noise, you can find it; if you want quiet, it's all around you. Just wonderful. To all my fellow DVCers, enjoy - it's the best thing we ever did!!

 

[KevinNYC]

My wife & I first bought into DVC in December, 1991. Thats when they were first selling DVC. Although OKW was called the Disney Vacation CLub it was a new idea and although its called a "timeshare" it really is different and is more of a hybrid. Since this was the first experiment some people were skeptical about it since "timeshare" had a bad reputation back then. But we figured that if anyone could do it right then Disney would do it best so we bought even though we were basically looking at plans rather than seeing a completed development. The weekend we bought..I think it was December 8 or so of 1991, they had just opened one building and Olivias for a "trial run" . Cast members were staying in the building and being served in Olivia's to see how it worked and to get the bugs out. They were just finishing and stocking the General Store. After the paperwork went thru they established our "use" year in Feb. 1992. BAck then, only Tutle Crawl, Commodore House and buildings 14 to 16 were open as models. There were giant green walls over the bridge and along Miller Place to hide the construction. If you stood by the pool you could see nothing over the water except a wall and hear construction. We took a chance since the project was just starting but we are more than pleased. Also, I think the points cost about $50. We also bought those nice original DVS jackets..purple/blue & green color. When you see someone wearing one of those then you know they are real veterans.. all of the original clothes, hats, shirts and things had the original DVC logo which is different from the current logo. Olivia's had a much smaller menu but a lot of charm..Those veterans will remember "Miss Vicky" standing at the entrance of Olivia's to greet you and "Captain Wahoo" always sat in the last booth wearing his rain pants & hat drinking his coffee. That side room in Oliva's was not enclosed but was an outside area to eat. Within one year people began putting up their pictures in Olivias. In 1992, the Gurguling Suitcase bar was about one quarter of the size it is now and they always gave out gorgeous glass stirrers with the drinks and the stirrers said " Disney Vacation Club" and had different glass figures on top..turtle, dolphin, whale etc. Those became collector items. The original bus service left DVC and went thru the treehouse area before it went on the the magic kingdom. That was a longer ride and we were glad when they changed that. Back then the only bus stop was Hospitality House before Miller Place opened. There have been many nice changes over the years but it was still fun back then too. We were so excited about buying that we came back and stayed in building 14 for a long weekend in March of 1992 and it was still great even though there was a lot of construction taking place. We had faith that the project would turn out well so we ran across to Commodore House to buy more points. If anyone wants to see pictures of the "first" days at DVC then go into Community Center next to Hanks and look at the old picture albums they have there. You can see pictures of the time the alligator came out of the water near the pool or the original 4th of July BBQs when the members participated ( for 3 years running ) I was the guy sitting in the "dunk TanK' letting the kids throw balls at me to try and dunk me. Of course, when they missed my wife would whisper into the child's ear and they would run up and push the plunger and dunk me anyway. Oh well, it was fun and I didnt mind getting dunked inwter on those hot july days. In the summer there was pool service for food and drinks and "Jerry" the server in Olivias was the first pool server. " Rufus" from Hanks was the original boat operator to the Marketplace 9 now known as DD) and he used to blow a tune from a large shell he kept on the boat. You might be suprised at how many cast members at OKW have been there almost from the beginning. I wonder if anyone else out there got a chance to ride in that old yellow TAXI-BUS that was parked outside of the Commodore House? Those were fun times for all. Obviously Disney had a great idea and its proved itself over and over by expanding to Boardwalk, WL and soon the Beach club. We are happy we bought and have never regretted it.

 

[WDWsnooper]

Thanks KevinNYC for the details--I'd forgotten some of them. Time tends to 'muddy' things these days. We too, viewed DVC when the resort only was known as DVC--it was December '91, at the time they could sell to us there on site, but not send paperwork to Texas where we lived. Hesitant to make a large purchase on impulse, (minimum purchase then was 230pts) we waited until the paperwork could be done via Fed Ex--I think we began the process in Jan '92 and all was said and done, we closed the end of February '92.

Remember when the boat to Marketplace ran even in the cold? They'd wrap us up in warm blankets! My kids loved that ride!
Snoop

[This message was edited by WDWsnooper on 02-10-01 at 01:49 AM.]

 

[Joe T.]

Kevin,
What a great post. Thanks for taking the time.
Joe

 

[milo]

We joined in March of 1993. What a great time that was. Remember when we would get free passes to the parks every time we stayed at OKW? What a great perk that was.

Milo

<font size="4"><font color="purple"><font face="Book Antiqua">
<marquee> Inaugural Member Of the WDW Resort
Cheerleaders!!</marquee></font></font></font>

 

[fl]

Kevin:
You gota be the oldest DVC Member out there who frequent this boards. Thanks for letting us know what happened before we all became members. You have a point indicating that most people were skeptical about the "experiment" that DVC appeared to be in those troubled days of the "timeshare" industry. No wonder DVD was trowing almost everything through the windows while trying to sell DVC. I don't think none of us got the chance to ride the yellow taxi-bus, instead I believe we were driven in the DVC vans from and to our hotels. Let me throw you a nice one: Do you remember that pocket size ad in where Gooffy was asking: "What in the world is the Disney Vacation Club?" or something like that. I applaud the courage you had for buying DVC based on the original plan brochures without having a on-site evaluation and no Internet support (like this wonderful board). Myself, like many other that requested the same information over the mail decided to wait until the next trip to WDW to take the final decision. Unfortunately, the trip got delayed because Hurricane Andrew mess up my house and between relocation, insurance adjuster reviews and reconstruction, the DVC plan to buy took the back seat. I ended up joined DVC in December of 1992. By then just about 5,000 others had joined and the point price had increased twice from the original price, I think to $53 (if I recall correctly).

 

[DisneyMim]

Bought in 1991 site-unseen, did everything through the mail.