Profile of a DVCer ...

[Pinnie]

Great thread and fascinating too!!

We bought into BCVs on our trip down over Easter this year. It is something we always wanted to do ever since we toured OKW way back in the mid 90s. We couldn't buy in then because we had 2 sons who were in high school and we knew that college expenses loomed in the not too distant future. With our oldest son graduating this past May with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from LTU and the youngest DS in his junior year at Michigan State University, the finances finally came together for us to purchase this year.

We have vacationed at WDW too many times to even list, staying off site in those very early marriage years to save money ($9 a night at a place off I 4 in the mid 70s). Last year we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary at Disneyland and DCA with a wonderful group of friends.

DH is a program specialist for Daimler/Chrylser. His current project is weight management for the PT Cruiser convertible. I am a teacher in our local district. My classroom is Disney themed. We are the typical suburban family with a nice house in a great city. We tossed around purchasing a condo in FL, but realized that we could never leave our family ties up here and maintaining 2 places was beyond my scope. That is why the DVC was such a good fit.

In addition, we have a wonderful friend who is also a DVC owner and spoke so highly of the program. After staying in a 2 bedroom at OKW with him, it sealed it for us. When we were down at WDW in April of 2000 to watch our youngest march with his HS marching band at Disney's Magical Music Days, we found out that the BCVs were under construction and decided then and there that would be for us.

We bought 270 points to 'start' and plan on adding on when the new DVC at DD comes on line. We are also thinking about adding on a resale at OKW one of these days.

While some of our family up here considers our DVC a "bad investment" I just smile and nod...realizing that I have made a very GOOD investment in my family and any future grandchildren we may have. What better investment is there ????

I can't wait to see the look on DS's face when we tell him that he can use the BCVs for his honeymoon!!! SHHHHH now don't you all tell him!!!!

My only regret is that we couldn't to it sooner......


Pin
remember the magic

 

[TheWho]

Great thread!!
I'm 38 and my wife is 35 and we have two DD (3 & 7). She's a teacher and I'm the typical middle management guy at a large company in NJ. (I feel like I'm on the wheel of fortune) I guess we're smack in the middle of the middle class. We're blesssed.

I read this board everyday. We joined DVC in 2000. Sometimes I post but always keep up on the news about DVC/WDW. Since going to WDW for the first time in '98, I have become obsessed in not just WDW, but Walt Disney the man himself. I continue to read any book about him and see him more than just a businessman, maybe some sort of visionary. Truely an amazing story and it continues.....

As you can see from my name, I'm also a long time loyal fan of The Who. I saw them play a reflective yet "life goes on" set in NYC last night. Remarkable. Like WDW, they have provided me with incredible memories and continue to be apart of my fabric.

Long Live Rock and WDW!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DVCajun]

LOL, Richyams! I know what you mean-- I see posts from our fellow members in the UK and I sometimes have to say, "huh?" It's pretty funny how our slang differs.

Maistre Gracey, keep your chin up-- your family will come.

We're a couple in our mid-thirties with a 16 month old little monster. I mean DS. We purchased DVC in 1998. Wanted to earlier than that but didn't have the means even *with* financing! I never regret buying in-- it has been such a rewarding experience. I'm such a Disney nut (as are most of you) that just the thought of "owning a piece of the magic" gives me a thrill. I'd pay for that alone! We originally purchased a 150 point contract, and then added another 150 points a year later. I'd like to add on again, but DH insists on paying off our bills first. What can I say, he's an engineer.

It's been great reading my neighbors' stories. We're a nice bunch 'o folks!

 

[TDC Nala]

Guess I'm pretty atypical - single female, no kids, the membership's for my use and nobody else's. That has been a good way for a mid-level federal employee in the DC area to afford DVC.

 

[ceejay13]

We are from Kansas. Not too many of us here in the heartland. We purchased in early 2000 and have added on twice since then. Both my DH and I are respiratory therapists. My DH is 43 and I am the older woman of 45. We have no children together but my DH has a 16 yo from his first marriage. We have been married for 13 years and we live to travel. I have a long love of all things Disney and as Mrs G said so well, there is nothing more special to me in the world as sitting on Main Street at the MK. Our friends give us the strangest looks when we tell them we have such relaxing vacations at WDW. Our only regret, we didn't buy in 1994, when we first looked at DVC.

 

[nydizfan]

hello alll.

.......We became members in 1993. I am a chef. ( I hope by now). My wife is a RN. We love disney and got married in a GV at OKW in 1997. Cant say too much but disney is the greatest thing we have done . We have a 4 year old DS. We are members at OKW. We just love it... I am 38 and my wife is 41. We hope to have years of fun at disney.. one more thing.. 1 more year and its paid off...whooo hooo...............thanks...dave

 

[Deb8821]

I'm the disney nut in our house. We are DH 35, me 41, DS twins 5, DS 2. DH is an operating engineer - construction (no college) and I'm an office manager (college degree) I have been doing Disney way back when I was single. Looked at DVC 2 times closely over the years and finally bought this year. Yeah Yeah I too say I should have done it sooner. DH isn't into disney and doesn't like to fly, so has only gone once in last 5 years. Mom and the boys have gone 10 or 12 times in 5 years. I like to go twice a year - one big trip one quick fix trip (or more if I can find a good airfare deal) Grandma usually comes with on the big trip 10-12 days. that starts to add up so the DVC really made financial sense. We are definately middle income. I did the 50% down and one year financing - it is a tight squeeze this year - but I love the feeling I will have it paid for in one year. Have a small home in a nice neighborhood - we have talked about a bigger place since the youngest was born . . .but . . would rather live in a smaller house and take the vacations I want. I dont think I will have to ever bank points - figure I will still have to watch the codes for at least my short trips!! I love the magic I get at disney and the planning just makes trip all that more great. Its great to meet everyone!

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

I'm 38 have a M.S. in biology and am a molecular laboratory supervisor. DW 42 (goofy4wdw59) has a B.A. in psychology and is stay at home mommy. We have a 3yo ds and 4yo dd, and are expecting our final addition (dd to be named later) in Sept. We totally planned our 3rd addition around our DVC vacations. We are in our starter house which was/is a fixer-upper that will be undergoing a facelift and room addition soon. I plan on doing alot of the fix-up work myself, and paying myself with DVC points (which we already bought). We drive a 4 yo minivan and an 11 yo saturn. We don't eat out very much, and generally live a somewhat frugal lifestyle in order to afford DVC and vacations. We are definitely middle class (although sometimes it feels like we're sitting on the fence of the struggling middle class).

We vacationed at WDW several times pre-children, and stratigically avoided all of the DVC booths as we usually stayed offsite/onsite to cut costs. But after an $8000 DCL/BC vacation in 2000, we toured the VWL. We did not buy then, but bought before our next trip in 2001. With the kids, we decided that we would like to vacation at WDW frequently. DW and I never took consistent family vacations as kids, and it is something we have made a priority for our family!! We have added on 6 times in one year, and own at three resorts VWL, HH, BCV. Many people roll their eyes when they find out you're going to WDW AGAIN.

WDW is such a family friendly place, and provides our kids a very wholesome atmosphere to spend time in. Kids grow up so fast today and get a jaded world view very early I hope our kids recognize the importance of, and enjoy the innocence of WDW their whole growing up years. I can't imagine them not having happy memories from the 3 DVC vacations we've taken so far and the four more we have booked through Nov. 2003.

DVC is allowing us to plan things that would have been impossible to do otherwise. We have booked and GV and a 2br at HH for Thankgiving this year and are having a family vacation there with all immediate families (18 people total).

Let my tombstone read (many many years from now, preferably after 2042).....He REALLY knew how to vacation!!

 

[CarolynK]

Hi! I am 36 and stay at home with our two children, aged (almost) 7 and 5; my 37-yr-old husband is a physician.

Our first trip to WDW was pre-kids in 1995; my husband had passed the boards and wanted to go to WDW. Research for our next trip in '98 was done mostly on the DIS board (I think there was just one board back then!) and that's where I first heard about DVC!

In 1999 we bought 150 points at BWV sight-unseen. After returning from our '99 trip we added on 300 points, also at BWV.

My mother-in-law went along in '99 and we are taking my parents with us in March, but I don't see this as a pattern. Family and friends just don't share our interest in WDW (sounds familiar??).

 

[DVC-Don]

We have been married for 20+ years now. I hit, and broke, the half century mark recently and my wife is 44. Both are college graduates and we have 2 children ages 10 & 11. My wife owns an insurance agency. I have had several "careers" but for the last 9 years I have been a stay-at-home-Dad. I now work part time for my wife as an insurance agent though. Neither of our families had done any vacation traveling when we were raised. Family vacations for us are a priority.

We started our WDW visits in 1990 with a one day visit to Epcot while staying offsite. In 1995 our onsite visits with children started with a stay at the BC. We finally took the "Tour" in December 2000 and bought at VWL then. Good lord I wish we had done it sooner!

 

[Merilyn]

My twin sister and I decided to join after we stayed at OKW on a family vacation. Our mother joined with us along with my daughter. She had just turned 21 and at that time was the minimum age to be an owner. My sister and I are Medical Technologist at the greatest hospitals in Memphis. We live together and now have our handicapped brother with us after our mothers death 2 years ago. We had started taking family vacations several years before buying into DVC. We loved getting the whole family together every year. We stayed at OKW because we liked having a kitchen to save on food and because of our brother. After we got home and talked about the next years plan, we decided in check into what appeared to be a vacation club at OKW. We had not gotten the tour, but thought there was something there. We joined over the phone and have never regreted it. A few fact about our family-my daughter is a vet and going back to school to get her PhD to do research. My son is a computer engineer at a major computer chips company. We still try to get together yearly but it has become harder with the kids jobs and school. We have many more years of trips and lot more family memories to share. It is the greatest!!!! Oh, by the way we are in our 50's and have been members since 94. My son joined on his 21st birthday. Mom gave him her place as a present.

 

[timC]

My turn! Are we the first Canadian's to check in? We bought our BWV contract when we were still living in the Toronto area. Both DW and I are born and raised in southern Ontario in/near Toronto. With the state of the Canadian currency, we paid a major premium to enjoy the DVC life.

We have made a good living in the high-tech industry. Infortuately, DW is recently unemployed from a defunct dot.com company. She'll jump back into the rat-race at the end of the summer. I work for an enormous high-tech company in Houston Texas (can you guess which one?).

We relocated to Texas, 2 years ago. Love the USA, and Texas. WDW is now within driving distance for us, so we feel the pull even more....Sooo... we bought some more! Our second contract is at VWL. This is my favorite place on earth. It so much reminds me of my childhood summers at the cottage.

Our to children DS11, DS8 are creating childhood memories even more magical.

 

[scootersmom]

Very interesting reading about everyone.
We're a pretty typical family, I believe. I'm 47, DH is 41. I have two grown children from my first marriage, DD23 and DS26. We also have a DS9, the only one still at home. Our daughter and her husband presented us with a beautiful granddaughter in January, so add her to the list.
DH is a dept. manager for a machining corp., I work part-time a couple of hours in the evenings cleaning offices. They pay me well for what I do, and that more than covers our DVC expenses. Previously, I was a retail store manager, but first requested a demotion with reduced hours, and then eventually resigned to stay home with our youngest when he was a year old. I just couldn't see having him at the sitter's sometimes up to 12 hours a day.
We live in a small city, summer band concerts at the gazebo, that kind of thing. Bought an almost-century home as a fixer-upper, so we're constantly 'under construction', steaming wallpaper,etc. (Ten layers off the living room, ceiling and walls! OMG!!)
We both had family vacations as kids, mostly camping or visiting relatives. Both come from large families.
Just bought DVC last fall and added on this spring, which was good timing for us. DD graduated college in December last year and DS9 has a way to go, so we're paying off the financing in between. Also started a prepaid college tuition program for the youngest. Live and learn.
We love the fact that DVC will assure we take our vacations, and we can share with our families. We had DD, son-in-law, granddaughter, my parents and one of my sisters with us at HH last month and had a wonderful time. My parents will be joining us at OKW over New Year's week. Since we're scattered all over the country, this is a great way to get us together more often, but also looking forward to going by ourselves at some point.

 

[sloneta]

I am Tara. DH (Kevin) and I bought in to the BCV when I was at a seminar in February. I have been going to Disney all my life (WDW opened Oct. 1971, and that's when I was born), but DH had never been until our honeymoon.

I am an attorney at what is considered a large firm in Detroit, and DH is an underwriter for an HMO. Based on income alone, we are probably lower upperclass, but with student loans and such, I consider us more middle class. We don't have any kids, but we do have nieces and nephews that we love to spoil.

Our first BCV trip will be in September for our 5th anniversary, and we already have the second trip planned for next May.

 

[WDWguru]

DH (WDWguruDH) and I are THINKers (two healthy incomes, no kids) and both 31. I've been going to WDW my whole life (since it opened) while DH grew up with Disneyland. I took him on his first trip back when we were dating and he fell as much in love with it as I always have been. We started going multiple times a year about five years ago and just bought into DVC in December. As everyone says - wish we'd have done it sooner! We are having fun spending our points and have three trips planned with extended family, but enjoy going on our own and staying in a 1 bedroom as often as we can.

I grew up in Missouri and Florida, DH is from all over. Ended up in Salt Lake City about 10 years ago due to a job transfer and just fell in love with the climate and mountains. DH works with 911 computer/dispatch protocol systems and I am a Web designer for a major newspaper (and do freelance work at home).

 

[Muushka]

OK here goes. I am 48 (ouch!) and my husband is a few years younger than I. We celebrated our 10th anniversary this past April with the mouse . I am a burnt out medical technologist. I have done it for 26 years and now work part time for LabCorp. My husband was an aerospace engineer, but became unemployed, so he went back to school for a degree in software engineering. Hoping he does not become unemployed .
Oh yeah, we don't have any children, but we are both just big kids, so who needs little ones ?

We bought into DVC in Dec of 2000 (when VWL began selling).

What is our profile?

Well, we are certainly not rich, but because of pretty careful money management we are able to take at least 2 Disney/USF trips a year. To be honest, I cannot get my husband to travel to any other place in the world but WDW! I guess there could be much worse things to complain about .

 

[jimmytammy]

We are thirtysomethings with two elementary aged children. We( me especially ) became instant WDW fans in 99 on our1st trip. I am a partner with my Dad in construction business but we live by middle class standards. In fact I work extra hrs. cleaning, building and installing cabinets and small carpenter jobs on weekends and nights to pay for DVC.
My DW will soon be homeschooling our son(developmental concerns that public school cant fix) while our DD is smart as a whip. DW worked PT for CPA firm until just a few days ago.
Reason we joined DVC is family time is important and we enjoy each treasured trip so far to WDW so we wanted to guarantee many more in the coming years. In fact we are on a long weekend getaway as I write and I was commenting to DW earlier how much better our kids do at WDW than anyplace else we go.

 

[dvc_bwv]

DH 45 and me 51, married not quite 2 years. We are middle income. I'm a legal secretary and DH is a PC board designer for a telecommunications company. I have 4 grown children from first marriage and 3 grandkids. DH was never married before, no kids. Just the two of us and we purchased DVC while on our honeymoon at WDW in 2000.

We both love WDW as you can see from my signature as to how often we vacation there...it's the best place in the world!! We used to go about every 18 months or so, now we go at least twice a year!! We both wish we'd have done it sooner. DH actually did all the research here on the boards and was convinced it was the right thing but I wasn't sure until we took the tour. He was surprised that I was so easily sold on it, but it just makes so much sense!! Initially we bought 210 at BWV and did a 40 point add on 2 months later before we ever used it. Our first DVC trip was last November and we did a 100 point add on at VWL.

Like so many others, nobody understands why we "keep going back to WDW. You go so often, how can you keep going back?" They just don't get it!! People can go to the beach year after year and nobody thinks anything about that, but when you go to WDW year after year there must be something wrong with you! Those who think that have never been there and I always say "Don't knock it til you try it!"

 

[SueOKW]

Middle class.. I work - a director at a large insurance company, DH doesn't.. our first child (a son, now12) was injured just prior to birth, so he has severe spastic qudrapalegic cerebral palsy. This is why I kept the job with the good insurance, and why we have a stay at home dad. The other two girls (10, 7) are just your average kids. (and frankly, are a lot more trouble than their brother!!!)

We found WDW to be the perfect vacation spot for us in 1997. A travel agent (oh how naive was I???) booked us in to OKW due to our need for space and a kitchen. We fell in love with the place.

Our son loves the rides, loves the Mouse, and as a rule, WDW is very handicap accessible. We realized that as long as Kevin can enjoy this we need to go every year to give him some fun. Then I learned how expensive it was to stay on site in a place with a kitchen, making yearly trips impossible. ($3,000 for a week!!) So, we bought DVC within about 7 months of our first trip, and haven't looked back.

Like many before me, most of my family does not know we've done this - as it implies rolling in dough - when actually, our current present enjoyment is much more important to us all than our future.. we kind of go one day at a time... so we've gone into hock to do this. It was easily the best decision we've made. No regrets that we pamper ourselves once a year!!!

Sue
(depressed Tribe fan, but will never give up!!!)

 

[all4fun]

We're both'32. We joined in October of 1999, with 152 pts. at BWV. We are currently waiting for our add-on of 150 pts at OKW to be recorded.

We've been married for almost ten years and had enjoyed several Disney vacations before deciding to buy at the Boardwalk. We have not been blessed with children.

We stopped to talk to a CM at a DVC kiosk in MK on one of our trips to Disney and spontaneously decided to go see the presentation. If you had asked me at that time, I would have said, it's too expensive, but we were curious.

We were so impressed with the no pressure salesman and when we looked at the figures we decided that (with financing) we could afford it!

Anyway, John workes for the State, and I am a repair technician for a local Telco. We live in the small "starter" home we bought five years ago and have almost got both of our cars paid off (so we can afford the add-on!) We consider ourselves to be normal, middle class folk and that maybe the fact that we don't have children has helped us to have a little extra spending money for vacations. It also blows people's minds that we would want to own at DVC since we don't have any kids of our own, but they just don't understand!

We have enjoyed the "guilty pleasure" of many Disney vacations with no other company, just the two of us, however we have just started "borrowing" our neices and nephews to take with us. It is so wonderful to see them get excited about it. We took one of our nephews last Sept. and are taking his two sisters (twins) in Dec. It is so wonderful to be able to share with them something they wouldn't normally be able to do. We plan on enjoying (and sharing with others) our membership for many years to come.