Rookie mistakes

[StacyLovesDisney]

What are some of your most memorable rookie mistakes after purchasing DVC? I’ll go first; already used up all my points and now I don’t have any left to bank or borrow and I have one more trip I need to book this year! I got so excited after first buying I didn’t pay attention to point charts or take care which contract to borrow from etc….

 

[Matty B13]

Biggest mistake we made was buying a UY that was just after most of our school vacations, trying to correct that mistake right now by buying a different UY.

 

[kandlsutton]

Planning trips out for the next 2-3 years, realizing we needed more points (not that we should go less), and then succumbing to addonitis and getting 4 more contracts.

 

[bwvBound]

We decided to leave early once. We weren't particularly having fun that trip ... so we checked out a few days early. The result was that a bundle of points were placed into 'holding' and triggered my instinct to rebook for a return visit.

If the points had just "disappeared" it would have been OK for me. The 'holding' status bugged me ... so we put them to use for a long weekend at the Poly and had to fly all the way back out to WDW. Darn. We actually enjoyed that semi-spontaneous trip! ;-)

 

[Her Dotness]

Not fully realizing how much a fixed week would benefit us in the future.

We have a specific week that DH can easily get vacation for every year, and we like to go every year. Its points cost was among the cheaper weeks of the year when we bought in. Not anymore. A fixed week would have spared us that change. <sigh!>

We love our VGF home passionately and really don't want to stay anywhere else for more than a night or two.

Buying that fixed week (if available as such) would have worked out wonderfully for us. Except--it cost waaaaay more than we could afford.

What really grates is that fixed weeks are still available at VGF. It's possible that we could get our week in a 1br since those are generally more available than studios anyway. We're afraid to ask...

 

[a742246]

My rookie mistake was booking a 2br unit expecting friends to stay, then having them cancel last minute.

 

[808blessing]

#addonitis

 

[BamaGuy44]

#addonitis

Is that a mistake though? More like a disease we all suffer from, that we don't really want to cure....

 

[Her Dotness]

Is that a mistake though? More like a disease we all suffer from, that we don't really want to cure....

The mistake is ignoring current members' advice/warnings about the danger of addonitis.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Most memorable-making our first reservation at only 5 months out, and being shocked that we couldn't get our home resort. Then after our first stay (we did actually get our home resort for some of the days), realizing we didn't like our home resort, but we LOVED where we "had" to stay the other days and trying to change our home resort.

 

[808blessing]

The mistake was to not anticipate it could happen to you at any point in time.

Is that a mistake though? More like a disease we all suffer from, that we don't really want to cure....

 

[Her Dotness]

Then after our first stay (we did actually get our home resort for some of the days), realizing we didn't like our home resort, but we LOVED where we "had" to stay the other days and trying to change our home resort.

Hmmmm, I wouldn't consider that a mistake really. The result of experience, more likely. Even though you've been in a resort, you can't know how you'll react to actually staying there the first time.

For instance, we once stayed in WL which was okay, no more than that. Then, after becoming DVCers, we did 2 nights in BRV--which I really, really liked.

And, it was BRV's lobby, of all things. Most people rave about WL's, which was nice enough, but not that great for me. On the other hand, I found the BRV lobby and adjacent lounging areas with super-cushy chairs totally cozy and homey.

Weird, huh? So, I completely understand your loving the "had to" resort whereas your original home, EH.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I booked our first DVC stay by myself, then found out about the Welcome Home strings they can sometimes pull to get you a better reservation on that first stay. I called to ask and was told no dice.

 

[StacyLovesDisney]

I booked our first DVC stay by myself, then found out about the Welcome Home strings they can sometimes pull to get you a better reservation on that first stay. I called to ask and was told no dice.

I did that too!

 

[RoseGold]

I bought a stripped contract. It was still a good deal in the overall math, but I should have paid a little more and gotten the best deal in DVC with a loaded resale contract.

And I didn't buy the APs in 2019. I was going to wait until Summer 2020 to do it... I should have just bought them and then I would have been able to activate them.

 

[lowlight]

Getting an add on contract at my home resort. I love my home resort, but should have diversified. Know what that means…now I am shopping a 3rd.

 

[KVacc]

Getting an add on contract at my home resort. I love my home resort, but should have diversified. Know what that means…now I am shopping a 3rd.

Why do you feel this way?

 

[lowlight]

Why do you feel this way?

Well now I have more than a week worth of points at one resort instead of a week at one and a few days at another. That second 11 month window would be nice.

 

[Jelly563]

Thinking I could get whatever I wanted as long as I did it before the 7 month mark.

 

[mrsdoubie]

I booked our first DVC stay by myself, then found out about the Welcome Home strings they can sometimes pull to get you a better reservation on that first stay. I called to ask and was told no dice.

I did that too!