The Tipping point - of buying in; what was yours?

[DVCconvert]

Inspired by another thread on this board, I've wondered;

What is "it" that tipped your balance into choosing to buy into a membership position?

In my case, after reviewing one year what I'd spent on hotel rooms at WDW for that year, I came to realize I could have purchased almost 300 points at BWV and stayed on site longer!

So what tipped you into buying?

 

[dianeschlicht]

One $5000 stay in a deluxe on-site, and we decided that on site stays were what we wanted, but when we realized we could have put that toward a DVC contract, we decided not to spend that on one trip again.

 

[spiceycat]

my first trip taking my brother's family - it was around half the entire amount I would spend on DVC (just the first contract - no add on).

Of course those wonderful free tickets we got until 12/31/1999 - also added a LOT to my decision.

Plus the resort itself!!! - OKW was DVC then. Mother though it was too much for us. But I was paying for it and I knew I could do it. No regrets - still love it - probably more.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Spicey, we did not buy until after my mother passed away. I so wish she could have been here to enjoy OKW with us! She would have loved it, just as we do!

 

[athenna]

I would have to say the tipping point for me buying in, was thinking of how much money I have spent to stay on-site in the past.
I'll be getting the money taken out of my checking account, instead of just hoping I can save enough money to go. Like most people have car payments, mine's paid off, so I have Disney payments When it's all paid off, all I'll I have to worry about is fun money, and plane fare.
I know the only place I ever travel is WDW, I knew it made sense for me, and it will get me there more.

 

[RumpleMom]

We were traveling to WDW every 3 years for 7-10 days prior to DVC, in between years we went to nearby amusement parks or the beach for a less expensive vacation for 3-5 days. DH would find it hard to take time from work for these vacations. He always had plenty of vacation time for WDW!?

We stayed at All-Stars and moderates and were quite happy until the kids became teenagers. It was becoming crowded and we would be paying the extra adult charge when first child turns 18. Plus college tuition for 2 kids was coming.

So nowhere else measured up to our experiences at WDW, we had been there several times, so we were ready to slow down our commando touring, we did not see us affording a deluxe hotel, kids getting close to 18 and costing more. I figured our WDW days were over or at least every 5-6 years.

When I saw workaholic DH wanted to commit to a real vacation every year(with HHI and VB as options) and our guide explained that points to vacation could not increase yearly only be moved around- I was in! I was going back to work part-time after being a sahm for many years, so we could budget monthly for vacation and college.

But the fact that the point stays would not increase got me( I didn't know anything about the workings of the point system before meeting our guide), and only maintenance fees would increase. We wanted the flexibility of seasons and length of stays. We could stay at a nicer resort with a kitchen and not have to continually be buying more points-wowed me! I didn't know about add-onitis at the time-we have been afflicted twice

 

[bartty]

We were paying for family to come with join us. Well, that was 9 people!! Our Dvc cost the same as if we paid for cash for that one trip only now we have 50 years of it!! Yipee!

 

[smjj]

Our tipping point was a horrible time we had trying to take a Princess cruise. I had a thread on this about one year ago that got many replies and several hundred hits on it. Anyway, this experience helped us decide to purchase into DVC, we just new Disney would not treat us as badly they they did and so far we are right. It was a very good decision on our part..smjj

 

[NMW]

We have 3 kids so we knew we would always be paying for Deluxe resorts. Those dream maker packages with the UPH tickets were costing us a bundle (we were adding the meal plan too, but that was our decision ). Anyway, we have several friends who are DVC members who kept talking about us being "ideal DVC candidates" and we looked into it. After 5 minutes talking to our guide we knew it was right for us. We bagged our Dec 2004 trip at the POLY we had planned and bought a DVC resale (BWV) last summer. We are doing our first DVC stay at BWV Dec 2005.
We looked at DVC as prepaying our resort stays for the next 38 years. We bought PAP's with the DVC discount (which is great)! and plan to use them for 2 trips! We are also getting the DDE card which is also great! We love that we bought DVC, we just wish we had done it sooner!

 

[DBBN]

For us it came down to the flexibility DVC offers that fit our travel/vacation style perfectly.

First - we liked the ability to stay Sunday through Thursday. We prefer to take several 5 day vacations throughout the year and knowing we could take advantage of staying only on the weekdays, avoiding weekends made it work for us. We still favor the weekdays but, have on occassion used points on weekends.

Second - we often travel with friends or family and knowing we could reserve the size villa we needed for the particulars of each vacation fit us perfectly.

The five years of complimentary park passes we enjoyed was icing on the cake.

 

[poohj80]

We had been making several long weekend trips per year to WDW taking advantage of AP discounted rooms. A co-worker who is a DVC member kept talking to us about DVC but we just couldn't justify the initial purchase price as we were both recently out of school and paying on student loans (the co-worker bought into OKW in the beginning so had the passes and was shocked when she heard how much points were selling for now). What tipped the scale for us was when we had reserved a studio room at the BWV for cash and got upgraded to a 1BR. After staying in a 1BR, we were sold. To this day, we wonder if WDW had a note in their system that we had previously requested DVC info so they knew we were interested and they tried to tip the scales for us.

 

[keishashadow]

We had "no problem" with the All Star Resorts in the past, the inexpensive on-site perc outweighed the room quality. My kids liked the gigantic icons. However, this year we got to experience: Cheerleaders, Twirlers, Daytona 500 fans and all the other folks who came down for President's Day. At best, I felt as though we were in a zoo. Perhaps we were fazed because we had come directly from the Hard Rock Hotel?

Anyway, we decided from that point on - moderates or deluxe only. In examining the rates, we re-evaluated the DVC. Although we didn't want to finance or commit the initial $14,000 Disney requires, resale offered us a way to explore whether the system will work for us; if it does, then we'll buy more, if not, we haven't ventured much and can always rent or resale.

Based on all the glowing reports I've read on this board, I and my initially doubting DH look forward to the experience. Anyone else LOL over the plan probably outliving them?

 

[tjkraz]

A few years ago ourselves and another family were taking a joint vacation to WDW. We originally resigned ourselves to getting a couple of rooms at a Moderate.

In our research we discovered the point rental world and stayed in a 2B at OKW for basically the same price.

Ooooh! Ahhh!

The rest, as they say, is history.

 

[rayelias]

Prior to DVC, my DF and I always stayed at a fairly nice "cheap" place outside of WDW. Sometimes we got lucky and got a good place, others, well, I'm sure you've all been there or heard the stories


Last year, when Disney offered that great deal, we stayed at POFQ for $77 a night. As many times as I've heard how different staying on-property is, I never quite grasped the idea until then. There IS such a thing as "magic", and WDW produces is 24 hours a day.


From that point on, it would've been a very hard decision to stay off-property. But, I knew offers like this were few and far between. So, I sat down, crunched the numbers, and found, through DVC, I could be paying roughly the same amount and stay in a very roomy, beautiful studio at OKW. Better yet, I'd be paying that same amount 40 years from now, when the "great deal" to stay at POFQ will be $477 a night. Decision made.


The only regret, so far (and I can already hear the "told you so's"), is that we didn't get more points up front.

 

[Granny]

The "tipping point" for me was when DVC started building at WL. It went from a "not interested in timeshares" mindset to the easiest decision we've ever made!

 

[donmil723]

I wish I could say I was smart enough to realize the cost savings with DVC but for me the tipping point was when they built the BCV. At that time, it was a done deal as we love that resort!

Donna

 

[randytenn]

Tipping point was when they offered the 10 dollar discount per point at SSR.

We had gone to the sales meeting on our DCL cruise, but it just wasn't the right time for us to buy. Then, a year later, we heard from our guide, and thought "This is the time."

We used our points on our next cruise. So, we've actually not seen the resort. Can't wait to see it.

 

[lcsmom]

It was our 4th trip to WDW in 10 months, we were going with relatives again 3 months later. BCV was being built. DH felt we would continue to come back . So he "made" me check out BCV "since its an Epcot resort."
The guide gave us a lovely tour and all sorts of numbers and papers. When he left the room, we were expecting the hard sell when he came back. Instead, he told us DVC was liscensed to sell BCV in Texas, gave us the 1-800 #, told us to call if we had any questions and gave DD some cute little trinkets.
We spent the next week back home trying to figure out if there was any way it didn't make sense to buy.
Our only regret is not buying the # of points our guide originally suggested.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

The "tipping point" for me was when DVC started building at WL. It went from a "not interested in timeshares" mindset to the easiest decision we've ever made!

This holds true for us as well.
We had to have VWL, and we actually bought in the final hour of VWL sales (5:30pm 2/2/02).
BCV was going on sale the following morning, so it was truly the day of reckoning for us.

I should also say that if The Poly or AKL built a DVC, that would have tipped it for us as well.

MG

 

[rocketriter]

Umpteen thousand dollars for a week at WL in a single room with bunk beds. I don't know which was worse: the cost or the cabin fever. We realized that in just a few trips we'd have DVC paid off and the rest would be spacious, well-appointed, inexpensive gravy.