What caused your "first step" to think of DVC?

[Simba's Mom]

I was just wondering what little twist of fate may have prompted you other DVC owners to first consider DVC? Anything that makes you think back and say "if not for..." I'm thinking of it now because of POFQ closing, and all the guests scrambling for last minute change of plans. That's what first pushed me in the DVC direction-I was supposed to stay at POR, then a few weeks before my vacation I found out it was closing. Although I stayed at ASMusic, I wasn't happy and decided "What the heck-take the DVC tour. They don't ever close" [I hope not!] It was a solo trip, so DH agreed, since he had no interest in the tour, just bring back the info. And the rest is history! How often I think "If only POR hadn't been closed for renovations, how much longer [if ever] before we had the push to consider DVC. Anyone else? Love to hear others' stories.

 

[NCRedding]

My push came last year in January when we were on the Magic. I had read a little bit about DVC on these boards, so I went to the meeting on board, got the information book, talked to other owners, and decided to buy.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

We were staying at the VWL and paying cash. We went on the DVC tour and found out that I could switch my reservation over to points and use the cash I was going to pay for the room as a downpayment. It worked out to be quite a deal and we lived at DVC happily ever after.

HBC

 

[spiceycat]

In 1992 I almost brought OKW - but got talk out of it by relatives. the next year I brought my brother and his family to WDW - 6 people in all - we stayed at DL (POR) for what that trip cost I could have paid alot on DVC - anyway my family had fun. My nephew got upset when we were leaving (I missed my cats and I wanted to go home). He says that he wished that he didn't have to leave. Okay!!!

So I knew that for the immediate future WDW was definitely in the picture. A couple of months later I got a letter saying that instead of the 230 points that I could only buy 190 points. I brought that month.

Yes I miss the free tickets!

but I did appreciate it while we had it!!! So did my family

 

[poj7]

We stayed at BCV Sept 2002 and paid cash for a one bedroom($425 + tax, I think). We knew nothing about renting points and had virtually no understanding of DVC. While sitting in the sandy area of SAB as our children were playing, we began talking to a very nice couple who were there with their grand-daughter. They were DVC members and they gave me just enough information about the club to peak my interest. Basically, they said I was crazy to pay cash. After some coaxing, my wife reluctantly agreed to hear the presentation. It was so well presented and obviously made sense for us that we bought on the spot. 211pts at BCV. The more I learned as I started talking to others on this site, we decided we'd enjoy more points, so: Feb'03 59pts at BCV for a total of 270 and March '03 150 Vero Beach points.

Our vacations are lined up through next February and we're having parents brothers, sisters, their husbands and wives, nephews, nieces, join us. For us, bringing family with us is what it's all about. So glad we joined.

 

[anniet]

I gently suggested every year to DBF that we look at DVC, but he had no desire.

Last year we stayed at Ron Jon's or Isle of Bali or whatever they are calling themselves now and took the tour in order to get two nights for $40. It wasn't really planned, we went to Florida without any hotel reservations and when this offer came up DBF thought it sounded like a good idea, although he still had no interest in a timeshare. We ended up on the timeshare tour from hell!

We had to tell them a bazillion times we weren't interested before they let us leave.

But we really liked the accomodations, although I have concerns about the upkeep of timeshares. (my dad used to own one) Knowing that nobody keeps their property up like Disney, somehow I convinced DBF to take the DVC tour. The tour was so lo-pressure and the people were so nice, we kind of felt like it would be rude not to buy!

After 11 years of vacations in Orlando and no end in sight, we bought DVC, and we're happy we did. I honestly believe though that going through that first horrible experience is what pushed us right into Disney's arms!!!!!!!

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Well, as much grief and bashing as the offsite resorts seem to get, our first exposure to DVC was while we were staying at Hilton Head at a condo we rented. We happenned to go by the DVC resort and signed up for the tour. When we saw what they had to offer, we planned a future purchase. We bought in time for our next vacation. I don't think we would have been as attracted if there were not offsite locations also available in addition to the WDW locations. We don't go to WDW every vacation, we also like going to the beach.

 

[Lhargus]

We had toured DVC early in the program but it didn't seem like the right thing to do at the time. We toured again 5 years later and, once again, it didn't seem right. Finally, two years ago, we toured a time share in Ixtapa. It was one of the most horrible experiences you could imagine. After an exruciating ordeal trying to escape the clutches of the evil sales staff, I blurted out that I had decided to by DVC. The experience convinced me that I should have bought DVC years ago.

Twelve days later I was in Orlando on business and purchased our first DVC contract. Five contracts later I've never been happier.

 

[PamOKW]

We heard some talk about this place called "Disney Vacation Club" that appeared to be an on-site resort for the very wealthy to stay at Disney. They had entire condos, not just hotel rooms. Something new that Disney had/was building.

Still being somewhat new to Disney, we went exploring in May of 1993 and found this mythical place. We went to see the models and had a very lovely guide -- Diane Christie. They took our picture and pumped me with a hot fudge sundae. Soon I was thinking that I had to get in on this.

Back in our CBR room, I began calculating how maybe not only millionaires could do a DVC vacation. We had turned our "once in a lifetime" trip to Disney into several first week of May trips over the last few years and I knew we wanted to continue that tradition. Pencil to paper....a call as soon as we got home...and soon I, too, was a DVC member!

 

[mikayla'sMom]

After staying in a 1 bedroom for 9 nights on two trips in 2001 and paying $465.00 p/n, I decided we needed to buy. My husband and I had been to Disney World about 8 times prior to those two trips. We love it! Now we had a daughter and wanted to have our own sleeping quarters. It took me about 3 months to talk my husband into it. And we purchased BCV in March of 2002. We also just did an add on. Now we can go every year!

 

[JimC]

Had a really bad timeshare experience in the Florida Keys in 1980s. Bad product and worse sales experience. Decided the industry was really sleazy.

Got invitation to DVC in 1993. Figured if anyone could do timeshares well it would be Disney. We arranged to take the tour at the start of a Disney family vacation. They made a very good offer and the experience was typical Disney. Almost bought then, but we were saving for new house and could not afford both.

Every trip over the past decade we saw the DVC kiosks and thought about doing it. But did not think it was the right time yet.

In 1998 we got a fabulous offer for hotel and tickets for Hilton timeshare visit. Having stayed at many Hiltons we decided to take the offer and have a short holiday. Big mistake it took all morning to escape the 90 minute presentation (the product was quite nice, but the sales experience was as bad as our first experience with timeshares in the 1980s).

This past summer we got offer for hugely discounted AKL stay to take DVC tour and thought why not. We were impressed with the product and the prior DVC tour. We were also still convinced that Disney would do a proper job (Disney's reputation does set the bar for all others). We signed up, started researching (mostly here and some other sites as well). Now the time was right. Bought before we ever left on the trip - both OKW resale and BCV direct. We were still taking the tour to meet our guide and bought add-on while there.

 

[TIdoublegaER]

We were staying at HH a couple of years ago on cash (rack rates, no less! ) and took the tour just to get the free dolphin cruise tix. We figured that we didn't want a time share and we could sit through the presentation and be strong and say "no thank you we just want our free tickets"! Well...we did sleep on it, but we just looked at each other and knew that this was what we wanted to do. We also changed out our reservation to points and took the cash we paid to put towards the down payment.

Right after we signed, we were speaking with another couple at the pool who said they had 600 POINTS!! I told DH - these people are crazy! Can you imagine what you would do with that many points!! We have joined the crazy and obsessed since we have since added on 50 more points at HH and a 150 pt contract at OKW and BCV.

 

[mikesmom]

Had been to WDW about every other year (always offsite) from when DS was 7 thru 14. On that last trip we walked the Boardwalk and DS said "Mom, couldn't we save up and stay HERE, just ONCE?!" So, I thought we were getting close to DS not wanting to vacation with parents anymore, so we skipped the next year vacation and saved up. Did 5 nites in a 1 bdr at BWV for cash (Yikes!!).

The rest is history. We'd gotten a DVC invitation in the mail before we left home and I kind of blew it off figuring it was too expensive. Five minutes in that room and we were ready for the tour. Signed up 2 weeks later. Ds (now 20) still goes on vacation with us!!

 

[DebbieB]

A friend of mine is a member at OKW & HH, I think her and her husband joined in 1996. I thought she was nuts to spend all that money. In early 1999, she invited me to go along on a "ladies only" weekend with some friends she met in an AOL DVC chat room. There ended up being about 10 or 15 ladies from all over the country that met that weekend. We stayed in an OKW 2 bedroom with 2 other members, renting points from one of them. I was just blown away with the accomodations. About 6 months later I bought at BWV because I loved the Boardwalk area when we stayed at Beach Club in 1998. I love OKW too, we alternate trips, May at OKW and early December at BWV. Next month will be the 7th DVC trip, no regrets.

 

[MinnieGi]

Having DD was our twist of fate into DVC!!

We took DD on her first Disney vacation when she was 14 months old and we stayed at the WL. Well we had such a blast as soon as we got back we knew we'd be taking at least yearly Disney vacation trips. Where else is as kid-friendly with so much to do we thought! So I started researching DVC and other options and mean while we planned for DD's second trip. I decided to rent some points from a DVC member so we could really get the DVC feel. Plus DH needed a little more convincing that this was worth it! Well we walked into our OKW one bedroom villa and DH was ready to take the tour!! We took the tour that trip and previewed all the DVC properties and decided BWV was where we wanted to call home. We bought it resale and are now anticipating our first trip "home!"

 

[Disney Doll]

We had had a difficult year in 1997, with some very sad personal difficulties. We decided to do a last-minute trip to WDW, staying at the WL, just for a long weekend.

Well, we were getting ready to go to dinner, I think, and DH was ready first, so he went to hang out and look around in the lobby, while I was finishing getting ready.

When I got to the lobby, DH was talking to the DVC girl in the kiosk (she was young and cute, God bless her, which may have been the initial draw, but it ultimately got me the DVC, so I love her, whoever she is!!!!). Anyhow, he thought it was something worth looking into, so we made the appointment to get picked up the next day, heard the "spiel" and bought!!!!

 

[gracelrm]

I believe the DVC channel in the room at CBR first got my husband's attention. Two years later, we splurged and stayed at WL - where we passed the information desk almost every time we left the room. My husband would keep it on the DVC channel when we were in the room and try his best to "brainwash" me! He visited with the people at the DVC desk and had them arrange a meeting at BWV on our last day in Florida. As others have mentioned, we had also sat through some very high pressured time share presentations and I was "afraid" of what was ahead. We went and I pondered the whole deal for about three weeks and then we bought in. Two add - ons later, I'm the one who spends countless hours planning how to use the points and how to get more!

 

[NancyDVC]

The year before DVC opened we took a tour of another timeshare in the area. Nice location, lovely units but we hated the pressure. The owners couldn't use many of the recreation facilities for most of the day because the 'tours' were going on. We were raced around the resort on a golf cart and then had to sit in a large room with lots of tables and others getting the same high pressure pitch.
The price kept changing, the pressure kept up but we were firm in our resolve not to buy. As we were leaving to get our tickets the salesman was following us and the price was still going down!
We had heard some vague rumors about Disney doing a timeshare but no information was available.
The following February (1992) we were back in Florida and after some questions found a small brochure about DVC. Basically it just offered a tour. One morning we woke up to pouring rain and decided to take the tour. We called for an appointment and went to meet our guide. Wow! What a difference! After some thought and lots of questions we signed! That was one of the best decisions that I ever made! (I think we drove our poor guide slightly crazy that day.) Several things really impressed me. There was no pressure, they apologized for not giving us a tour of the resort but they did not want to disturb the guests and they answered all our questions with specifics. And what is now OKW only had about 8 or 9 buildings open. There was a gate at the bridge by Turtle Krawl, they were putting finishing touches one buildings 20-22 and there was only 1 pool. The first year we banked all our points and came down with my entire family for Easter the next year! My mother still talks as if we own WDW!
Here we are 2 'mature' women who have loved every minute of the past 11 years as DVC members.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

I thank - or blame <grin> - Deb Wills for us joining DVC.

We experienced Disney for the first time as a family in November of 1999. Our daughter was almost six, and we felt that she was old enough and things had settled down financially well enough for us to take a true family vacation. Through the RADP group I found out about Deb's WDWIG. I must have studied her site daily throughout all of that year. Thanks to her site, there was only one way to describe our first trip :

Magical

In early 2000 I found this board, and the DVC forum here. I studied the dvc info for 2 months before I convinced myself that this was an idea that would work out well for us, and my wife took two more months for here to feel comfortable with it. In early summer of 2000 we purchased an OKW resale sight unseen through Jaki, and haven't looked back since.

So - again - I give my daily thanks to Deb ! I KNOW that the '99 trip would have been a pale shadow of what it ws, if not for her information. We knew when we departed that returning - often - was something we had to do. I look forward to returning each time, to feel the relaxed smile spread across my face as we enter "the World".

 

[imgoingtodisney]

We stayed 9nights at the Wilderness Lodge Oct 01. Bought DVC Nov 01. Still trying to recreate that "magic"