Purchased before visiting

[december14disney]

We bought into AKV...only exposure to AKL has been eating at Boma and Jiko numerous times. For some reason we rationalized buying into DVC but never rationalized paying 400 bucks a night for a Savanna view AKL room

Either way. Im obsessed with the lodge. Its gorgeous in my opinion. When people say its too dark...I look at it as romantic and elegant. It would not make sense for it to be bright and and sunny and open. Its more "rustic"

I also hate when people say "how far" it is from everything. Seriosuly you can get to anywhere in like 15 minutes. Its funny how 15-20 minutes becomes "far" in Disneyworld but people drive like an hour in traffic to and from work every day

 

[mamaprincess]

We bought SSR when it was in development and all Disney had to show were artist renderings. We hadn't even been to WDW yet, let alone seen a DVC but we fell absolutely in love with the vacation DVD and knew it would be our family vacation for life. When we first went "home", SSR only had Congress Park built. The view was insane. It felt so completely magical. I can't explain the feeling of staying there the first time knowing we had made this amazing investment and it would be a part of our lives for years to come. Seeing WDW for the first time is incredible. We all fell completely in love with both SSR and WDW. It was so nice to have the right size accomodations and all the conveniences of home especially since we are a family of 5 with a baby at the time.

 

[keishashadow]

We bought both WL & BW unseen, figured nothing could be worse than the values over President day weekend

did do the research here (mostly) as to stategies & im happy

Conversely, we did stay @ the AKV last fall as a 'recon' mission & fell in ...were torn between adding on there & BLT; however, the economy convinced us to hold onto our nest egg a little tighter

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Boardwalk, saw resort first. Vero Beach, site unseen. I really wanted a beach resort, so this one was a no brainer.

 

[disneynutz]

You will find that many members buy sight unseen and most will say that they love anything Disney.
You will also notice that a couple of years later they also buy somewhere else.

I always advise prospective buyers to rent first, decide which resort they love the best, then buy.

For some reason, people will spend 15 to 20 thousand dollars buying sight unseen just because it's Disney and they let their emotions get the better of them. That's not the way I roll.

 

[Meishanoel]

I purchased unseen last Dec 07 and stayed this past September in a Savannah View 2BR villa. It was wonderful. I was confident that I would be happy with this DVC property. How could I not? My son is 5 and loves animals.

 

[Fatalbie]

I bought SSR sight unseen. I had rented points for a trip and after doing some research put a deposit on a contract. This allowed us a try before you buy, and locked in the F&F promotion at 86/pt. At the time the prices were going up and you couldnt get a better deal on ssr at relase because through disney the contract was loaded with prior year points and no mf for the first year.
At the time there was some very harsh resort bashing going on and ssr was getting abused. I was nervous, but figure if I hated it I cancelled. I love SSR!! Three stays later I have also stayed at OKW and loved it ther too. I will eventually try the others, but really love it at SSR
Jim

 

[BWV Dreamin]

You will find that many members buy sight unseen and most will say that they love anything Disney.
You will also notice that a couple of years later they also buy somewhere else.

I always advise prospective buyers to rent first, decide which resort they love the best, then buy.

For some reason, people will spend 15 to 20 thousand dollars buying sight unseen just because it's Disney and they let their emotions get the better of them. That's not the way I roll.

Funny! Yes, after we rented at BWI, we knew. I purchased a very small contract at VB, knowing I really wanted a beachfront resort. This was not as important (my inital investment was very, very small). I won't however, purchase anything again without first staying at the property. So far, I have been happy with my purchases. I feel very bad for those who bought site unseen, and are not happy.

 

[thesupersmartguy]

We bought at OKW sight unseen. Went down in Dec and saw it for the first time. Glad we liked it.

 

[Golden Rose]

We knew we loved the Epcot resort area - we'd been staying in it since we "discovered" it staying there for a conference almost 20 years ago. We go to WDW fairly often and we always stay deluxe, so we knew we wanted to buy DVC. We had never stayed at a DVC resort, but because of location alone, we knew we wanted either BCV or BWV. (We had stayed in both BC and BW and liked them both.)

We ended up buying AKV first... We'd never stayed there, but we love to eat at Jiko, we love the theming, and our DS turns out to be a huge animal fan. We are also big fans of Club level, so the fact that AKV had that as an option (even a hard to get option) was a plus. We're really looking forward to those Savannah View rooms, and we will probably try for the occasional Concierge room once DS is a little older and not so totally focused on animals.

We then almost immediately bought BWV resale. So, yes, in a way we bought two contracts site unseen, but we'd been considering DVC for more than a year before we took the double plunge. We have seriously thought about adding on at BLT, but it just doesn't make sense for us this year. We got developer points when we bought AKV and our BWV contract was fully loaded with current and banked points, so we have more points than we can really use this year. More than half of this year's points will end up banked into next year, so we probably shouldn't buy any more points until late next year.

We are almost certainly going to buy Ko Olina points sight unseen, as well. If it ends up not getting built for some reason, we'll probably pick up a different Hawaiian timeshare. We love Hawaii, and we love that with DVC we would be able to use our points easily at WDW if we decide that we don't want to go to Hawaii some third year. (Our current plan is to get enough points for a two bedroom villa, ocean view, for a week every three years in whatever season we decide most appeals to us.)

I'm not the type of person who generally makes big decisions quickly or emotionally, and we thought about buying DVC for more than a year before we bought. We knew we liked the resorts we bought in, even if we hadn't rented points to stay in them. We also didn't just buy them for the look and feel of the rooms; we bought AKV for the animals and we bought BWV for the location. We aren't buying BLT unseen, but we're hoping to at least tour a model while we're there. I'm really tempted by the location, but not the decor( at least in pictures).

 

[BeccaG]

Bought SSR without seeing the actual location from CA. However they did have a model of the rooms in Anaheim and we knew about the location of SSR from aprevious trip from WDW, and had done the DVC tour on our honeymoon five years earlier when I think they were selling BWV. No regrets and happy to have the additional years

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

We bought sight unseen. had never even toured any of the resorts or even stayed in an official disney hotel. we had been twice once off site and once in a DTD hotel (Grosvenor at the time). Just knew we wanted to vacation at disney for a very long time to come and made a promise to ourselves that if we could ever afford it we would buy in. As luck would have it the year we could swing it SSR was in presale and we jumped. (the extra 12 years helped us to decide on SSR)

 

[starbox]

We bought SSR having seen only a very partially-completed resort and added on at AKV sight unseen.

No regrets whatsoever. We've stayed at all the resorts now, and based on the Dream book pictures only, the two resorts that looked the "best" to me in the book are actually my least favorites in real life - and places I probably won't return to.

I loved AKV as soon as I stayed there, and we were happy SSR owners before the announcement of the treehouses - now we are ecstatic. Those treehouses are my ultimate Disney fantasy. I'd atually trade my AKV points for SSR points now, as I've had no trouble reserving AKV at 7-months and I'd rather have more points availiable to secure more treehouse stays - with so many SSR owners, I don't think it will be possible to get them at 7 months.

 

[jgazda]

My husband bought into DVC having never even been to Disney World! I had been many times and he said my eyes lit up every time I talked about it so it had to be good. Took him "home" in November and now he wants to double our contract. BTW we own at AKL and are very pleased with our choice.

 

[CocosMeme]

We also bought, sight unseen, October of '07. DH and I are the parents of 3 and grandparents of 6. We went to Disney for my nephews wedding and all 14 of us were there for 5 days (DH and I stayed an extra 2). We had so much fun! We went on the DVC visit just to see what it was all about and were hooked. After spending such fun, quality time with our family we just couldn't resist. We bought at Animal Kingdom and took our first visit in May of '08. We took our college son for a week in early May right after he finished exams. It was a perfect time to visit. LOW crowds and savannah view room was fabulous. We took the Viva Italia tour from ABD in September with points for our 40th wedding anniversary. It was a trip of a lifetime!! Disney just knows how to do travel. We are going to Hilton Head in May and back to Animal Kingdom in December to see the Christmas dec's. we are planning another family trip with kids and grandkids in '10. We have never regretted or looked back at our decision. Animal Kingdom is the kind of place that you could go and just enjoy the resort. It is peaceful and relaxing. Just a bus ride from the chaos, but relaxing to come back to. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

 

[ACDSNY]

So far we're 2 for 2 purchasing sight unseen at SSR & AKV and are very happy with our DVC. Our add on at GC will be the first one we've seen before purchasing.

I started checking out the info on SSR before it was built, but didn't buy our first contract until Sept 2005. We like the location from when we stayed at the Disney Institute five years earlier.

Our purchase at AKV was more to start a new UY with only 100 points and to get the GC Founding Member buying opportunity. We love AK park so I imagine we'll enjoy our first visit in November.

 

[jimmytammy]

We bought site unseen at VWL. Actually we did see the roof from the monorail, but at the time, we didnt know we were going to purchase. I was like you, a bit nervous. But I walked in that lobby, and all nerves went away. AKL was designed by the same architect and IMO, they did a fantastic job on both. AKL is a relaxing place. And I get the sneaky feeling you wont be dissapointed.

 

[tjcj]

We bought SSR without ever stepping onto the property. Had been looking into DVC for years and when it became a financial reality we just jumped on the best offer out there!
Have never looked back and think DVC is the best thing going out there (not only as the best way to go to WDW but also as the best timeshare out there).

 

[dizzneebabe]

We bought AKV sight unseen and LOVE it.

DITTO! We LOVED it! The resort is beautiful!

 

[discott71]

I am even more excited than before I just know we made the right decision. I can't wait to go "home" in May. We are staying at SSR first on develper points and then AKV for a couple nights . We check in to AKV on Wedsnesday. I'm hoping to check out all the "Welcome Wednesday" activities. Anybody participate in that? Also, I heard there's cookie decorating. I'm sure my kids will love it.