Bump
I know above it is recommended to visit for existing owners but for a prospective purchaser who is staying already in a cash room, would you all recommend planning another trip to stay in a DVC room or would a visit suffice as well? Also, I assume it is possible to tour other resorts by calling over in advance?
These decisions are so much driven by what matters most to each person and why you are considering purchasing in the first place. For example, a family who plans on studio only stays might want to avoid BLT because those studios are tiny, whereas a family that lives & breathes MK and wants 2 bedrooms might love BLT.
The first resort I bought was AKV. I’d stayed in cash rooms at AKV, but before I bought I stayed in a 1 br. booked for cash - these days I’d probably rent points to test drive it, that stay confirmed that AKV worked for me and I liked staying in 1 br.s better than staying in 2 deluxe cash rooms - so I bought - resale. The fact that it was buses only was a negative outweighed by my love of animals & at least the bus ride to AK, a favorite park, was really short & it wasn’t the madhouse the MK monorail at closing was when I’d stayed at the Poly & GF, plus every resort is buses only to at least some parks.
My plan was to next get an Epcot resort, most likely BWV - since I’d stayed at YC for cash twice, loved the area & access to Epcot’s back door, but wasn’t crazy about the BCVs. So I split a stay in AKV, BWV, and VGF. I threw VGF into the mix because I’d stayed in a cash room there (as well as a past stay at the Poly) and absolutely loved staying at the GF. Interestingly, although I like visiting the Poly, it wasn’t a favorite to stay at for me.
My thought was that by directly comparing BWV w/ VGF, BWV villas would win due to location and a much cheaper buy in, not to mention needing fewer points for an equivalent stay. I am so glad I did that, turns out BWV despite the choice location, much cheaper buy in, etc. isn’t my cup of tea & I adore the VGF - so I added on at VGF.
I realize now that I was coming from a different perspective than many when I bought into DVC. My history was staying in deluxe resorts and usually getting 2 rooms. I had very strong opinions about which deluxe resorts I liked based on past experience & a strong desire for more space than a hotel room provided. We didn’t technically need two rooms, but I liked the extra space and privacy, so the plan was always to stay in a 1 br. or larger. Even though buying DVC, especially resale at the time, saved me a lot of money given what I was already spending in booking 2 rooms at a deluxe for 10 or so days annually, I wasn’t interested unless my DVC vacations were at least ‘as good as‘ my previous stays had been.
Many who are buying DVC I suspect are far less concerned w/ the ‘intangibles’ that seem to drive my preferences for one resort over another, or care about different things than I focus on, thus for them an actual stay would be far less important than it was to me.
I did visit Riviera, have dinner at Toppolinos, and wander around the grounds, if I had loved it I would have booked a tour to look at the villas w/ the thought of buying there, indeed I’d stashed enough cash in the checking account to do so in case I loved it, but although I liked Toppolinos and loved the Skyliner, I wasn’t a fan of the community spaces, so no ‘impulse’ buy in for me that trip, I haven’t ruled out buying there & who knows, if I stay there & love it I might, but I’ll need to stay there before I commit.
