What got you to purchase your DVC, or when did you decide to buy?

[luckyman_apd]

Lots of the same threads going around, and few new ones to peak any interest so I thought I would start one. I always think back to how it started for us as we go on each trip. I was always curious how others got involved in owning their DVC. I sometimes wish I had gotten in when I was younger (although never a possibilty...strictly a hindsight viewpoint). I look at where prices have gone and what people consider when purchasing now. I don't judge anyone, and I'm not necessarily looking for a why you purchased. Just a story of how you came to be DVC.

I've been a Disney fan my whole life, and went a few times as a kid. First time I was 5 and we stayed at the Plaza (I think it was called...had a glass elevator on the exterior of the building). We could see Epcot being build from our room....we were high up and the only thing I really remember was seeing spaceship earth from the balcony. Next trip I was 5th grade with my parents and the only other time was my high school senior trip. I was always jealous of those kids who had family in Florida and said Oh I've been to disney so many times I'm sick of it! (By the way, my wife is one of those people who said that at a kid!)

As an adult, we traveled for the first time in 2009 with our daughter who was 3 at the time, and our son was on the way. We stayed on Disney property for the first time ever in my life. We had such a great time seeing it through our child's eyes. It wasn't long after we got home that we were longing to go again, but obviously it was an expensive trip and we'd need time to save up. We figured it would be 3 years till we were able to afford it again. 22 months later we were introduced to DVC through a family friend, rented points and stayed in a BLT 2 br unit with my inlaws. For the same trip with my Father in laws military discount I could only beat the price by $200 and I believe SSR was what Disney was offering for the price. Well we were star eyed after that, and started looking into DVC. While the decision to buy DVC was strictly a financial decision......that's not the real reason....It became apparent to us that we were GOING to be visiting Disney more often in the future.....we couldn't stay away....and this gave us the opportunity to do Disney more often for a cheaper price. I researched for almost a year before pulling the trigger on a purchase and I haven't regretted it once since.

 

[CMOORE185]

The first time I visited the world was my honeymoon in 1991. We stayed at GF and it was truly magical and I became an instant Disney fan.

We first heard about DVC in 1999 I think while we were staying at Vero Beach on cash. They offered us $50 certificate at their resturant to go through the sales pitch. I was interested but did not buy.

In 2000 we went to Hilton Head through a timeshare offer at $99 for three nights if we just went through their sales pitch. It was a Marriott timeshare I believe.

While there we somehow learned about Disney's Hilton Head resort and headed on over there and listened to their sales pitch again. We were so impressed we bought 240 points on the spot. We bought HHI resort because we loved HHI so much.

We have since bought 100 points direct at SSR and 160 points resale at SSR.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Our purchase was initiated by 9/11-the silver lining in an extremely black cloud. I had a solo trip planned, staying at a resort that closed suddenly due to the downturn in tourism. So I chose to stay at a value, AS Music...never again! Meanwhile, I signed up for the DVC tour, thinking "I bet they'd never close DVC!" After staying at AS Music, boy those DVC villas looked good! Yes, I took the tour solo, then brought home the info for DH. DH was a workaholic who never seemed to "have time" for vacations, and I figured this would force him to vacation ("Hey, we paid for it-might as well go"). Fortunately, DH saw the hopeful smile as I handed him the DVC info, and said "I think it's a great idea" and DVC owners we were!

 

[com_op_2000]

Third generation native Floridian, been living in the Orlando area long before Disney started looking for a place to build.
I have been going to Disney parks since '71.
Was a CM in high school as a band member marching in parades.
When EPCOT opened, I got a year pass the first month, and became visiting famiy's tour guide. Went 13 times that first year.
Continued to visit WDW and have loved everything about the parks and resorts.
DW and I's first date was to a park.
We had been burnt by a previous timeshare purchase. We knew as soon as we heard of DVC that we would buy in, due to the trust we had in the Disney name. We were staying at DL-AB (now PO-RS), when we took the DVC tour. As part of the DVC contract, we required a reservation for the next weekend so that we could verify everything we were told during the tour. We have added on twice since that first contract.
In over, 20 years we have had 140+ DVC reservations. What memories we have from DD graduation in a GV, anniversaries, DW's birthday every year since '93 the second week of Dec, DCLs on points, concierge collection, and RCI exchanges.

 

[CarolynFH]

My first trip was with DSis when SM was brand new. Next was 1994 with DH, DS (9), & DD (5) - first time for all of them. Toward the end of the week I was supposed to attend a conference while they hit the parks, but we were having so much fun I never made it to the conference! Took the DVC tour, were interested but not ready to commit. By Thanksgiving week 1997 we were on our 4th annual trip and kids were getting too big for all of us to squeeze into one regular hotel room - so we bought BWV and have never regretted it. We've brought family and friends, gave our DD and SIL a week for their honeymoon, and enjoyed many trips with just the two of us. I will say that I'm glad we didn't have so many decisions to make - direct vs. resale, which resort, which UY - it's way too complicated now.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

I took my husband on his first Disney trip in 2003. Between 2003 and 2010 when our son was born we went 10 times. Ten visits to Disney without kids! We went to the DVC presentation in 2006 for the first time. We were interested, spent the night doing interest math and such in our Pop Century room. Decided it was a good deal for us, but also decided that it was silly to buy a timeshare before we even bought a house. So that's what we told our guide. We went again in 2009 and again went to the presentation. We now had a house, but we talked ourselves out of it again because "we should save some money up before having a kid". 2010 our son was born and we patiently waited until he could walk before going back to Disney when he was 14 months. It was our longest absence. That trip we rented a house off-site, and while it was luxurious, it just wasn't the same as being onsite. When we started looking into booking our next trip we also happened upon DVC resale. Oh no! We couldn't stomach paying a couple thousand dollars to stay on site and not have that money go to a DVC contract. So we bought 160 AKV resale and haven't looked back since. That first year our contract was loaded and we had 320 points to use. We ended up taking a couples only anniversary trip that summer and were then hooked on that too. So we needed more points. We then made a really dumb decision to buy enough points, so that we could rent half the points to cover our dues. The financial decision was sound (if everything in life went perfectly) with the exception that we have yet to be able to part with any of our 460 points and happily spend them all ourselves. I wouldn't change a thing though. We have been able to take family that would never otherwise have gone to Disney, and I'm happy we have been able to do that, and can continue to do that into the future. Love love love my DVC.

 

[smjj]

We had been on the fence for a couple of years but could just not seem to pull the trigger. We had been going multiple times a year and spending a lot of money. The year we bought we had scheduled a cruise on Princess Cruise line. Due to problems with this cruise which in our opinion was all due to them, we missed our cruise. I will not go into these details as it is just to complicated and long ago. They treated us in our opinion very badly. Anyhow, we both just said Disney would never treat us like that and bought that same year. We have taken since then 5 Disney cruises and loved all them and made about 7 trips to Disney using our DVC points and we have never regretted it at all....smjj

 

[mort1331]

We went in Feb of 2010, at POR with DW,DDjust under 3 and my SIL and her son 2. We stopped by one of the booths and get some info, didn't know anything about it till then. One of the days there was a big rainfall we called up the agent and asked for a tour. I just wanted the $100GC he was offering, had been on other TS tours and knew how to say NO!!!. Well it looked great from the start, but with will power we did say no. But at the same time this was our first Disney trip and was slowly getting sucked into the Disney experience. That fall I saw a great deal with free dining(when it was a deal) so I took my DD solo with my Sister and her son staying at ASM.(DW has no flex with her vacation). By the end of this trip I was hooked. I had now found these boards and had always chatted on TA. Started hearing and seeing about resale, so looked further.
At this time its now the fall of 2011 and I am going again with now my friend and his son.(2 guys and 2kids, everyone including our wives thought we were a great gay couple. No sweat off my back I am in Disney) this time staying at CBR. After getting back from that trip I told my DW that we need to buy. Although we could stay at AS or any Mod, with her only able to come at busy times, and I hate crowds, we could have a great time at the deluxe for the same price as the Mods.
We now are in the fall of 2012 and it is just a solo trip with my DD and I staying at ASM, and she still talks about the piano pool. We go to MNSSHP in a downpour and love every minute of it. We have time to tour some of the DVC resorts this trip and just gets me more excited. As soon as I am back I am online and find a loaded contract for SSR. I low balled an offer and it was accepted, passed ROFR and we were members before 2012xmas.
The next fall 2013 I am staying on our points again with my buddy and his son. Split stay with AKL and SSR and loved every minute.
Now DW gets to come in March of 2014 with a split of BC and AKL. Total of 7nights, bad snow and lost 3 nights with flight cancelations. But even with one night at BC, she knew this was the way to go. Back that fall with now my youngest dd3 solo and 6 nights at SSR and loving this resort. Came home and found another contract and once again lucked out with a very smooth purchase. Now up to 420ssr points and using them all.
In 8 days we leave for a split stay with BLT and BC, 1 bdrms. No plane this time we are driving so we don't have to worry about weather.
All this and never one regret and a great DW that likes the fact that I take our daughters in the fall to have Daddy time.

For a person who his whole life has avoided commercialisms and crowds, traveled around the world and doesn't like repeating countries because there is so much I haven't seen. The Mouse House has me coming home all the time and not enough. That is the Magic and that is one of many reasons there is no regrets to our purchase.

I had to add this in before Dean chimes in about the financial responsibility. BTW I love Deans posts they are very insightful. This isn't about the cost, but why there is no regrets. Sometimes money isn't the only factor, if it was I wouldn't travel the world and see the sites in person but watch a video.

 

[Anal Annie]

We took DS the first time when he was about 6 and stayed at AKL with a package deal (the first year the hotel was open). It was the first time we had stayed on property and we loved the resort. We had a great time and booked another trip the following summer but downgraded to Coronado Springs. Still a great trip but an obvious downgrade in accomodations. When we went to plan a trip again the next year we just had such sticker shock over the package rates and how much they were going up. We thought we would have to go down again to a value resort and seriously thought this might our last trip at these rates… Then we started talking about the fact that we wouldn't want this to be the end of our trips - after all, DS was still young. So instead of booking the value resort we thought maybe we should buy DVC and gave them a call. This was right around the time that they were JUST announcing AKV (it wasn't for sale yet) and SSR was the only resort for sale direct. We bought sight unseen, no tour, nothing other than what we could see online. Back then they used to have these "friend and family" promotions from time to time and we ran into one of those (it was like $5 off per point or something with a referral from another member). DH worked with someone who owned at OKW and we were able to use him and VOILA! We were "in"!!

 

[Hollymom1229]

My first WDW trip was in 1989 and I fell in love. Went again in 1999 with my mom and sister, and knew I would want to go back again. In 2000, went to celebrate my college graduation, my then boyfriend (now DH) was with me. It was his first trip. All of these trips were off site and I desperately wanted to stay on site. I went again in 2001 with my sister and best fried, we stayed at the Best Western in DD, and loved being closer to the magic.

In 2002, fiancee and I planned the first on site trip at Caribbean Beach, but it ended up being closed for renovations and our reservation was moved to AKL. We were both hooked as soon as we walked in the lobby. We toured DVC that trip, but decided to wait until after our wedding and after we bought a home.

In 2004, DH and I went and brought along BIL. We stayed at VWL on rented points. We once again did the DVC tour and ended up buying 160 points at SSR that trip.

We always envisioned taking our future kids and really wanted to invest in our happy place. Eleven years later we still don't have kids, but we have made so many wonderful memories taking trips with family and friends, and just the two of us. We've added on points twice at SSR and AKV, and can't imagine not being able to run away to our happy place when the mood strikes.

 

[bwvBound]

A story? How sweet!

My Mom said her first 'family vacation' was to Disneyland in 1955, the year it first opened. It made a major impression on her. When our family moved to Southern California in the mid 70's, she made it a point to celebrate "everything" at Disneyland as often as possible. And so we did. With great joy.

Visiting Disneyland as often as we did, and surrounded by Disney Music, Books and Movies, couldn't help but influence my life -- including selection of mate. As I dated, the young man needed to pass "the Disneyland test." Many failed that test. My husband of now ~20 years passed -- but I kinda figured he might as he was wearing a Disney character tie on the day we first met. We spent the first week of our honeymoon at WDW and returned to enjoy our first-ever cruise on the Disney Magic when she was just a baby (Sept 1998). Our Land/Sea package started with 3 nights in a BWV Studio and an invitation to take the tour. And that is how it started ...

It took us 6 years before we made the "buy" decision but the stuff in the middle is all work-related and possibly not great material for storytelling. Let's just say it all goes back to that first tour. ;-)

 

[Dawn68PA]

Ever since our first trip in the 90's I've been hooked on WDW. I've made as many trips as I could as my daughters, then with their husbands, as we all got older. It wasn't until I met my boyfriend that the dream of owning came true just last year. He hesitated for the longest time on going to Disney. Thought of it as a typical "park". We finally got him to agree to a trip last year. He was hooked! He loves the weather, the resorts, the golf and constant smiling by all of us. Half way through the trip he said he wanted us to talk to a guide and tour every DVC resort. We did and once we got home, bought resale at OKW and SSR-460 points. Just got back 2 weeks ago from our first stay as owners at SSR and couldn't be happier! Just booked our 2nd stay for VWL in September and have many more planned. To us, it's the best decision we've made. We can't wait to buy more points and take many more trips with our kids and grandkids!

 

[jpeka65844]

DH and I went for the first time in 2005. Loved every minute of it and immediately planned a trip for 2007. We kept seeing kiosks advertising the "Best Kept Secret". DH knew a little about it but said "if you have to ask, it's too much"

We then had a sudden death of a family friend who left behind young children and it made us realize that houses, cars, and possessions weren't what it was all about. Rebooked our 2007 trip on our newly purchased DVC points and after 4 more add-ons, haven't looked back.

 

[graychef]

After a 2009 trip, my whole family (now at 15 and counting) began planning our next trip. We penciled in December 2014. During that time my mom and I started putting away money to pay for the trip. I was saving enough to pay for rooms; she was saving for travel, meals and tickets.

Early 2014 showed up and I began looking at renting from a DVC member (we rented in 2009). I saved enough to rent 3 studios and one 1-BR ~ $7,000. I looked at the situation and figured buying a loaded contract was a better option than renting. I bought a 200 point resale contract at AKV. Used 2013, 2014 and part of 2015 points to cover our resort stay. Took the trip, came back 100% satisfied with the decision.

In ROFR for an additional 160 point contract. Planning another trip in October (gf and I) and many more after that.

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

So I never got to go to WDW when I was a kid -- lived in NY and my parents wouldn't fly and the gas crisis made it too costly to drive. Fast-forward to 1995 and after a lot of emotional turmoil my husband and I had our delayed honeymoon on our 5 year anniversary at the Disney Institute. The following year we went back and stayed at the Wilderness Lodge. WDW was amazing to me - I fell in love. We saw the DVC TOUR for OKW but it was a timeshare = sleazy. So we passed it by. Fast forward to 2003 and we went again, without our 2.5 year old daughter, and realized we wanted to take her there -- again, and again. So in 2005 we bought 200 points at SSR and we have never looked back. And this year, or next, there may be another 100 points in our future.

 

[davidl81]

The wife and I went to WDW on our second anniversary. We stayed at a downtown disney resort. It was okay, but the bus system was very poor. Next trip we stayed at POR and enjoyed truly staying on site. We knew about DVC ahead of time and took the tour on that trip. We bought 160 AKV points after the tour and have really enjoyed them. We were 27 or so at the time and we knew we would come back over and over again. Now 7 years and 12 trips later we are very happy about the purchase. We have added in twice via resale and now have 395 points (maybe would have bought resale the first time, but really did not know about that market at the time). We now have a two year old daughter and this May will be her 4th trip to the world (fifth if you count the time she was in DW's belly). Hopefully we don't burn her out on disney, but if we do and we find ourselves not going as often we could always rent or sell off some points. I'm pretty sure we would be at least at break even value wise if we sold, but hopefully we keep them for a long time to come.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I went to Disney several times as a child, and for my high school graduation. I always loved it. DH and I met my first year in college. Our first real conversation occurred after I found out he had been a WDW cast member through the college program. Fast forward 3 years and we visited WDW together for the first time. DH noticed some advertisements for DVC and asked what it was. Alas, it was for an expensive timeshare. Something two poor college students who were still in the dating stage could only dream about. The following 14 years involved us getting engaged, graduating, getting married, going to law school, getting jobs, buying a condo, selling the condo and buying a house, and of course...going to Disney an additional 6 times (including one Disneyland trip). Every time we'd visit DH would jokingly (but not too jokingly) bring up DVC. As the official family financial planner, I always told him, "No. Not now. Maybe some day." There was always something more important to buy, or pay off, or what have you. DVC is not a cheap option for two young people starting a family.

In 2012, DD was born, and I immediately started planning her super-special first trip to WDW for December of 2015. This included making plans for 3 sets of grandparents to go with us. The logistical difficulties involved in finding rooms that were suitable for everyone (and everyone's variously sized pocketbooks) was almost more than I, as a seasoned Disney travel planner, could handle. I was struggling with this issue last summer when I had a thought: The only sure way to get a whole slew of studio rooms in a deluxe resort for relatively cheap, was to buy into DVC yourself. Also, if I was serious about ever getting into DVC, what better time than when DD is still young and has decades of WDW enjoyment still in front of her? I ran some numbers. I looked at some resale options. And then, I turned to DH and said, "I think it's time we had a serious conversation about DVC."

Ten days later we had made an offer. A month after that we were owners.

 

[brertoad]

We were taking staycations at WDW and paying alot of money OOP after about $2800 or so in hotel money spent and I was curious about DVC. I saw signs everywhere and kiosks, but didn't really know anything about it. I wish I knew about it back when it started, I would have bought points back then and had many years of enjoyment with family and friends... But, long story short... we met a family at 'Ohanas who were DVC members, when I finally got around to checking into purchasing I had asked our 'Ohana friend about how it works, I originally thought we had to pay $95 booking fees! Which wasn't correct, so after she told me that applied to DVC exchanges not regular DVC stays, I did the math, found a resale, and made an offer. We became DVC members within 2.5 months once the contract was processed. It was one of the best things we've ever bought ourselves - if not the best.

 

[Minniesgal]

We first looked at DVC on our first trip as young parents in 1998, I can't remember what they were selling but we were interested but it wasn't a good time for us. We didn't look in 2002 as we had two young children only 1 income and were cash poor. We almost bought in 2006 but hesitated at the last minute and I'm glad we did as we would have bought SSR. We finally bit the bullet in 2012 and bought AKV. Only downside was the kids were grown. We have only had 2 trips with the older two and will have maybe 4 with the little one then we will be enjoying our membership just he two of us.

What made me finally push the button was a funny moment for us. We were on our way back from the Mk to the TTC on the resort monorail in 2012 exhausted and looking forward to getting to our car. My husband and I spotted a couple on the balcony of their room at the poly with their books and a bottle of wine. We both looked at each other and said I can see us coming here after kids and doing just that. Thats when we realised this was where we wanted to come even once the kids were grown.

We started with 220 AKV points, added on 115 VGC and 95 VGF. Our plan is every other year split stays most trips East and West Coast and once we are no longer tied to school holidays a cruse as well.

 

[ToddyLu]

WDW was always too expensive for my parents. My brother and I would ask but as much as they wanted to--they just couldn't do it. We had lots of wonderful family vacations so my parents instilled that love of a relaxing vacation. Fast forward and I would tell DH how much I would enjoy going to WDW some day. So finally my first trip came in 2002 at the age of 34 for our 8th wedding anniversary. I remember seeing the castle for the first time and yanking his arm while I screamed "its the castle, ITS THE CASTLE, THE REAL CASTLE!!!". It was the grin he gave me that sealed the deal for us. He was so pleased that I LOVED it. We stayed at ASMo that trip and did the Platinum Plan or something where we got dining and free gifts, etc. We did it all that trip and even after Katrina still have our photo with Mickey from that trip.

His first and only trip prior was in 1976 for his 12th birthday over July 4th. They stayed at the CR. My MIL says while it was too hot it was a wonderful trip and they talked about going back the following year...but built a camp on a local river here and spent their vacation money doing that for several years.

In 2004 I was working at a hospital in Louisiana. One of the nurses was a DVC member. At that time we had 3 or 4 visits under our belt and it was a yearly trip. She would comment about renting us points but I never really understood the concept. She talked to a co worker who then joined and loved it. In 2009, like a PP mentioned, they had a deal where if you knew a DVC member and they referred you you could get a discount on points. Well I remembered her....used her name and she got a $200 gift certificate ( I had found her email and told her to be expecting it by that point). She had a trip planned and was excited about having the extra money...win-win.

So I asked DH if we could go for it. I was willing to purchase SSR due to the cost...but oh-no...seems we both had been longing to stay at AKV, without telling each other. He would only have AKV(210 points direct). Well who was I to pass on that. We purchase sight unseen never having been on AKV property. That first trip I remember him making me close my eyes while he opened the door to the SV Studio at Kidani. "It is just like the pictures on the internet", I screamed.

So now we treat my Mama and Daddy and his Mom and brother. My brother has 5 kids and just returned Tuesday from a long weekend in a camper at FW. Our next trip is in May and the parents have experienced deluxe Disney several times. So we experience Disney as a family...just a bit older and wiser. We love our DVC!