We bought 160 pts at BLT while on a cruise this past Spring. We generally go to WDW at least once a year, for a few days, while visiting my parents in Florida (2hr drive from WDW). We were given 160 developers points, as an incentive, to be used by this October. So, we made somewhat quick arrangements to go for a long weekend (Fri-Tue), the first weekend of June. The arrangement of the developer points was such that we could only stay at SSR, for a trip to WDW.
Following are some first impressions. Hopefully, these might be helpful to those sitting on the fence as to whether or not to join DVC.
We arrived in at Orlando airport around 12:45pm on Friday, met by Florida Tours at the baggage claim. I was very impressed with the service of this company. I called them only two days before our trip and talked to Sam. He gathered all our flight information, and promised to have someone meet us at the baggage terminal with our name on a sign (that's kind of fun). Sure enough, we get off the plane, go immediately to baggage, and there's a guy standing there with a sign with our name on it. We collect our baggage, then he takes us to a town car, parked in a pick-up zone, close to baggage. About 20-30 minutes later we arrive at SSR.
For a quick trip, using the car service was a nice touch - I highly recommend Florida Tours. They were very helpful. They called us the day before we left SSR to confirm, then called again about 30 minutes before pick-up to confirm that we were ready to go. They picked us up about 2hrs before our flight, which seems a bit better than ME (seems like it's more like 2-1/2 to 3 hours before flight, if I remember correctly). Round trip is about $120, plus tip. They will make a free 30-minute grocery stop, if you want. We're newbies at this, so didn't make the stop - next time we will!
We arrive at SSR to check in. Our room is not ready, as it's only 1pm; check-in time is 4pm. We got some lunch. Room still not ready, so we went on to Epcot for the afternoon/evening. Got back to SSR from Epcot around 10:00pm.
After seeing the accomodations, I could see how a grocery stop would have been nice. Instead, I went to the little grocery area at SSR and spent $40 for some milk, orange juice, cereal packs, bagels, cinnamon rolls, bread, and peanut butter. Ok, so I probably would have spent 1/2 this much at the grocery stop - lesson learned. It was so convenient to get up each morning, and have a quick breakfast - able to sleep in a little later, and certainly we got our $40 back, saving money by not eating food at SSR counter or the parks. It wasn't really about being cheap, but just a lot more convenient to eat in the room.
We were in the Springs area - convenient to the main pool. Nice accomodations, with a 1BR. Kids slept on sofabed. DW and I took the bedroom.
Main pool at SSR is very nice. We took time each evening for a couple hours at the pool, before going back to a park for night-time activities. Normally we don't come back to the hotel. But the DVC accomodations are inviting enough to get us to come back for a few hours each day for a rest.
I won't go into details here on park touring. Bus stop at SSR was very conveniently located to our room.
So, here's my overall assesment on our decision to join DVC, based on this first experience.
Glad we did it! It just changes the type of experience we had. It felt more like we were on vacation at a resort, and that one of the activities was to go to some theme parks. As opposed to the opposite experience: going to theme parks, with a hotel room to sleep in at night. I'm sure veteran DVCers know this difference.
Somewhat like sitting in 1st class on an airplane - once you do, you feel the difference flying coach. A one BR with kitchen, sure beats a standard hotel room.
We saw the models for BLT and AKV - gorgeous! We can't wait to go to our BLT home for the first time. Nothing wrong with SSR - we'd stay their again, too.
We bought 160 points, the minimum through DVC. I believe this will get us 4-5 nights per year, 1BR, depending on season, day of week etc. This is a good way to try it out. I saw the recent posting about someone not sure about buying 400 points - probably way to many, if one isn't completely sure about it.
Based on this limited experience, here's my advice to those on the fence:
Buy the minimum number of points (160) through Disney , just to try it out to see how it works for you. If that's not comfortable enought, buy one of the resales, at discounted prices, and maybe even less points (100 or so). If that's still a bit uncomfortable, rent points from someone, and stay at a DVC resort for your next trip to WDW. I think if we would have stayed in DVC property a few years ago, we would have done this sooner. I'm guessing this is not new wisdom from those who are veteran DVCers.
Finally, you can analyze the cost justification many ways. I recently got to thinking about how much it costs to join a country club (we don't belong), along with the annual dues, etc. For the number of rounds of golf or tennins most people play in a year, or eating out in a year, it's probably a lot cheaper to play golf on the public courses, and just eat out in your favorite restaurant. It's hard to justify the economics of a country club, yet many people still join. It's a different experience.
I look forward to learning even more from the veterans on this board, so I can make even better use of my membership. Thanks for your help, so far!
Following are some first impressions. Hopefully, these might be helpful to those sitting on the fence as to whether or not to join DVC.
We arrived in at Orlando airport around 12:45pm on Friday, met by Florida Tours at the baggage claim. I was very impressed with the service of this company. I called them only two days before our trip and talked to Sam. He gathered all our flight information, and promised to have someone meet us at the baggage terminal with our name on a sign (that's kind of fun). Sure enough, we get off the plane, go immediately to baggage, and there's a guy standing there with a sign with our name on it. We collect our baggage, then he takes us to a town car, parked in a pick-up zone, close to baggage. About 20-30 minutes later we arrive at SSR.
For a quick trip, using the car service was a nice touch - I highly recommend Florida Tours. They were very helpful. They called us the day before we left SSR to confirm, then called again about 30 minutes before pick-up to confirm that we were ready to go. They picked us up about 2hrs before our flight, which seems a bit better than ME (seems like it's more like 2-1/2 to 3 hours before flight, if I remember correctly). Round trip is about $120, plus tip. They will make a free 30-minute grocery stop, if you want. We're newbies at this, so didn't make the stop - next time we will!
We arrive at SSR to check in. Our room is not ready, as it's only 1pm; check-in time is 4pm. We got some lunch. Room still not ready, so we went on to Epcot for the afternoon/evening. Got back to SSR from Epcot around 10:00pm.
After seeing the accomodations, I could see how a grocery stop would have been nice. Instead, I went to the little grocery area at SSR and spent $40 for some milk, orange juice, cereal packs, bagels, cinnamon rolls, bread, and peanut butter. Ok, so I probably would have spent 1/2 this much at the grocery stop - lesson learned. It was so convenient to get up each morning, and have a quick breakfast - able to sleep in a little later, and certainly we got our $40 back, saving money by not eating food at SSR counter or the parks. It wasn't really about being cheap, but just a lot more convenient to eat in the room.
We were in the Springs area - convenient to the main pool. Nice accomodations, with a 1BR. Kids slept on sofabed. DW and I took the bedroom.
Main pool at SSR is very nice. We took time each evening for a couple hours at the pool, before going back to a park for night-time activities. Normally we don't come back to the hotel. But the DVC accomodations are inviting enough to get us to come back for a few hours each day for a rest.
I won't go into details here on park touring. Bus stop at SSR was very conveniently located to our room.
So, here's my overall assesment on our decision to join DVC, based on this first experience.
Glad we did it! It just changes the type of experience we had. It felt more like we were on vacation at a resort, and that one of the activities was to go to some theme parks. As opposed to the opposite experience: going to theme parks, with a hotel room to sleep in at night. I'm sure veteran DVCers know this difference.
Somewhat like sitting in 1st class on an airplane - once you do, you feel the difference flying coach. A one BR with kitchen, sure beats a standard hotel room.
We saw the models for BLT and AKV - gorgeous! We can't wait to go to our BLT home for the first time. Nothing wrong with SSR - we'd stay their again, too.
We bought 160 points, the minimum through DVC. I believe this will get us 4-5 nights per year, 1BR, depending on season, day of week etc. This is a good way to try it out. I saw the recent posting about someone not sure about buying 400 points - probably way to many, if one isn't completely sure about it.
Based on this limited experience, here's my advice to those on the fence:
Buy the minimum number of points (160) through Disney , just to try it out to see how it works for you. If that's not comfortable enought, buy one of the resales, at discounted prices, and maybe even less points (100 or so). If that's still a bit uncomfortable, rent points from someone, and stay at a DVC resort for your next trip to WDW. I think if we would have stayed in DVC property a few years ago, we would have done this sooner. I'm guessing this is not new wisdom from those who are veteran DVCers.
Finally, you can analyze the cost justification many ways. I recently got to thinking about how much it costs to join a country club (we don't belong), along with the annual dues, etc. For the number of rounds of golf or tennins most people play in a year, or eating out in a year, it's probably a lot cheaper to play golf on the public courses, and just eat out in your favorite restaurant. It's hard to justify the economics of a country club, yet many people still join. It's a different experience.
I look forward to learning even more from the veterans on this board, so I can make even better use of my membership. Thanks for your help, so far!
