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

[Laurabearz]

What did it for my husband ( I was sure even before our trip) was mearly walking in the front door of our two bedroom villa at OKW. Within 15 minutes he came to me and said lets do it.

For us... it has aways been about the villas. We spend a lot of time in them since our kids are so young, we know that will change, but still they allow us the space we need, and the location cant be beat!

 

[disneyberry]

[SIZE=+0]I was researching booking a huge family reunion trip, and thought about how nice it would be to stay in villas at BWV. We'd rented DVC points twice before for our own stays at BWV, but found the process to be time consuming and a little bit nerve wracking. I kept thinking, "Man, it's going to be a pain to rent DVC points for a large trip requiring so many rooms." I felt like it'd be much better if we actually owned DVC ourselves; then we could be in better control of booking DVC stays. The thing that was holding me back was that 150 points was too many for DBF and I. Researching on this board, I found out you can buy in to DVC at less than the 150pt minimum if you go through the resale market. The rest is history.

Oh, and BTW, the family reunion trip never happened. We've tried twice to set it up, and each time family cancelled. At this rate, it may not ever happen. Ironic, but oh well, more DVC points for ourselves. [/SIZE]

 

[DeeCee735]

Forced vacations & our favorite place to be!

 

[castleri]

After sitting through two HARD SELL presentations for timeshares in Newport and somewhere on the Cape had decided never to do another one. Then just DH and I went for a long weekend 12th anniversary trip to WDW in 1997. While walking on the BW decided to just stop in and ask a couple of questions. First thing DH says to guide is "we don't want a full presentation, no movies etc. just want to ask some questions".. Okay she says = what do you want to know? After a short visit she gave us the literature and we left to have a beer and some nachos at the brewery - Went right back in and said bring on the paperwork - we only have a short time to get to the luau. Bought OKW sight unseen- didn't have time before we left the next day to check it out - What tipped the scale= no pressure from a guide who has since gone out of her way to help with the addtional two contracts at BCV and SSR ( I waited until the last minute on presale and she called me back on her day off and made it happen) and lots of options for using those points.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We were having such a great time on our very first trip to WDW in 1997. My husband, the TV nut, was flipping channels and landed on the DVC channel. He recognized a great deal when he saw it. We bought on that trip at OKW.

Our points at VWL and BCV were like others. As soon as they said they were building in those locations we wanted them. I wanted the VWL and my husband wanted the BCV.

 

[CharlesTD]

Looking at how much we had spent on previous vacations for accomodations and realizing we could have paid for DVC in that time span.

 

[skoi]

I didn't need any tipping. When we took our 3 yo dd the first time (1997) I was ready to buy. Husband, however, required a lot of tipping (more like shoving and pushing over). After two trips in two years (WL and CR) then comparing it to our other vacation options (beach, mountains, Six Flags, etc) he finally gave in when he realized we all really liked Disney and would be spending every year or every other year there anyway.

We finally bought BCV in 2002. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for our finances, we only bought the point amount we could afford to purchase outright. If I had my way, we'd have a lot more.

 

[pbharris4]

We actually knew NOTHING about it until my sister bought in 2001 (after our trip). We just saw something resembling a timeshare & kept walkin'. My sister (who's always trying to "sell" something told us about it. So I reluctantly looked at her member book. Then..was getting closer, but still no. When thinking about vacations for the future and looking at the price of hotels, etc. THAT is was tipped us. We stayed at the Grosvenor (a wing unit) for our 1st trip and the room was NASTY..did I say NASTY? It was SUPER NASTY! We like to stay in nice places and be close to things. So after that 1 experience..we became DVCers. I wish we had known about it sooner..we could've saved some $$! Now we are thinking of adding some more points.

 

[ArRzrbk]

Tipping point, huh. Interesting question. I had several...

1.) I realized that if we didn't "lock" ourselves in to taking vacations, there'd always be an excuse not to go. And I'd always told myself that no matter what, we'd go on vacations.

2.) We had children. Our second son was on the way, and I really wanted to ensure that we put them first. Vacations together as a family in the "happiest place on Earth" seemed perfect. FYI...that is how I told DH I was pregnant. I put that on the DVC proposal I wrote him as the main reason to buy-in. Yep, I put together a proposal. Actually, it was the second one. The first one a few years earlier didn't fly. Long story.

3.) I got some guts. My DH controls most aspects of our life, though I am sure he'd say just the opposite. I just finally decided I was going to make the decision on this and do something for me - though even when I do something for me, it's not usually just for me. Simply my nature.

4.) Gram got on board. After we decided to buy in, I found out DH hadn't been totally honest about our ability to make the purchase. I'd already gotten Gram excited about it all, so she stepped in to temporarily help us with payments and save the day. She loved the idea of us always being able to go away as a family, and even though she personally "hates" taking vacations, she saw this as a good way to get to spend time with her grandchildren. We live 16 hours away - though we're working to fix that!

There you have it. Four tipping points coming together to make DVC a reality for our family. It's a beautiful thing

 

[Simba's Mom]

Tipping point, huh. Interesting question. I had several...

1.) I realized that if we didn't "lock" ourselves in to taking vacations, there'd always be an excuse not to go. And I'd always told myself that no matter what, we'd go on vacations.

That was definitely our big "tipping" point also. I'd returned from another solo vacation to WDW, taken the tour myself, because DH just "couldn't" get the vacation time. He knew he had a problem (it's called "Workaholic") and saw this as the ultimate cure. And I was already going to WDW every chance we/I got. So he bought sight unseen. Although that 2 BR at OKW wasn't a deciding factor, it was key to his assertion that we'd DEFINITELY done the right thing-when he walked into a 2 BR at OKW on our first trip, he was sure!

 

[conciergekelly]

My turning point was when we were getting ready to take the tour of DVC. I had to change my clothes behind the plant while I yelled to the rest of the family " now don't look"( because my daughter was in the bathroom). We had a mini suite and conceirge at BWI, so needles to say we payed big bucks and had no privacy (and 1 tiny bathroom). When we took the tour and saw what I could be getting for my money I was floored. I love my family but that was too much togetherness !

 

[Pa@okw95]

The first point happened when we stayed for cash in 94. I saw the check in for members only, the tons of people working everywhere, for example they had about 5 bell-hops, everyone was cleaning everything all over the place, housekeeping was everywhere, saying hello to you, inside the towel and sheets matched the decor(they were not white), they were changing a large palm tree with this giant claw machine, I got my room right away when I checked-in about 10 am, Olivas served a fruit plate with a Mickey made out of watermellon, it was not crowded, the rooms were the best we had seen at WDW(we stayed in the delux resort Disney Inn that had the largest rooms), the list goes on and on, BUT, I knew you had to be a multi-millionaire to own so I never inquired. Then comes the second, I heard of someone that was a member that did not have a million, so we looked into it. We joined right away, thinking that the place was a real class place, which it was for awhile.

 

[MiaSRN62]

For us, we own at an offsite timeshare (7 nights floating time), but we saw a trend where we would start to add on a day or two.....then worked up to adding on as much as a week in WDW, paying cash. We noticed our vacations were becoming longer and longer, so it only made sense to invest the money into DVC. We had been staying at value/mods/and deluxe and having to rent 2 rooms because we tend to travel with 5 or 6. Got costly and we weren't always guaranteed connecting rooms which was tough with little ones at the time.
Then, in 2000, we started to plan a cruise. My mil was diagnosed shortly thereafter with cancer and was given 3-4 years to live. We knew we wanted to take her on a Disney cruise (this had been a dream of hers) and we knew we had to act quickly before she really fell ill. Once we calculated the cost of the downpayment for the cruise, we figured we'd plunk that amount down on DVC instead and then be able to do the cruise on points PLUS take many more vacations to DVC on top of it. It's like the light bulb just went off.

 

[DisFlan]

Our tipping point was when our favorite place to stay was torn down - the villas/townhouses at the Disney Institute. We'd never really considered any timeshare before that.

Then our son got married...and you know the rest. More great family to travel with, and (we hope) more coming in the future. We rented points at OKW as a trial run. That clinched it!

Now I cringe when I think about what we'd spent on lodging at Disney over 20+ years. Ouch!!

 

[disneyfan551]

This is such a great thread! I'm trying to convince myself (or my dh ) why I should buy DVC. I'm still learning alot about the whole process, and have a ton of questions. I'm just so confused!!

 

[Lora]

As someone else mentioned, I think we realized that this would "force" us to have a fun vacation every year. (Sounds weird, I know.)

Also - the units and their flexibility were a big draw. I knew I didn't want to spend my vacations in the same hotel room with my kids all of the time!

 

[gracelrm]

Easy to answer - Child #3. Once we realized we'd be limited to where we could stay - we took the tour and the plunge. Glad we had one more child and found DVC!

 

[SleepyatDVC]

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?

What tipped me was that I was heavily pregnant with our second child!

We had been married 4 years and had one DD already. DH & I went to WDW once before we got married, once after we got married pre-baby, and our almost 2 year old had gone twice already - we were averaging at least once a year.

After a tiring pregnancy, I was planning another WDW trip for after the baby was born. I knew that THIS TIME I wanted to stay on site for the convenience since we had 2 little ones. It was to be a relaxing vacation no more commando style for us - that was for pre-kids. Just being on-site in the midst of all things Disney was vacation enough.

We knew that with 2 little kids now, we would definitely keep up the once a year avarage and have many more years of Disney trips. So after pricing out my ideal WDW vacation without DVC, the scales definitely tipped in DVC's favor.

So, being the great husband he is, DH bought me an 150 point OKW resale instead of jewelry as a gift for carrying and delivering his second child. I had gotten a diamond bracelet from him for the first child which had cost a lot less then the DVC points. Since those gifts were "suppose to" eventually go to our girls one day, he bought another DVC resale at BWV for DD #1, to make things "even" - LOL!!!

Another way to look at it is that we spent the money we should have put away for the girls' college education and bought DVC instead! Hey, but at least we all get to enjoy it!

 

[senecabeach]

The "tipping point" Hummmmmmmmm

Guess with being a working young married couple (DINKS)..not paying attention to the rising prices of the Poly ($42. in 71 ..and.. over $200. in the 80's), GF (out of sight , POR etc..

Ignoring the opportunity to initially buy OKW..at a "marvelous" price? Oh how with age comes wisdom and ...YES...I'm still kicking myself for that one!!

Own a condo? For 40 yrs? OK..pay mtc fees..a "piece of the Disney Magic" ??

Tell me again about DVC?? Came the light!

Now...I STILL can vacation in "STYLE" at MY affordable DVC resort.....Hee-Hee...till I'm 97 years old!!

 

[DVCIS4ME]

We made our move to join the DVC when we found we were going to WDW twice a year. First we did the cheap route by staying off property. Then we started to stay at the Downtown Disney Resorts and found that to be better. Finally we stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter and we were hooked. The extra benefits of staying on the property spoiled us so the next logical move was to joined the DVC. So far we've been to WDW 10 times in the passed 7 years and Disneyland,CA twice during the same span.