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

[SaintLouie]

My family went to WDW somewhat regularly growing up, but I didn't stay on property for the first time until I was in my mid-twenties. I'd always loved going to the parks, but staying on property really sealed the deal for me. In the ten years since then, I've been to WDW nine times, Disneyland once, and have done two Disney cruises. I've always been a budget traveler - most of my stays were at the value resorts. During this time, the most I knew about DVC was that their kiosks often had the best pin trading in the parks.

This past summer we planned a big reunion trip to WDW with my brothers and their families. We rented points through David's Vacation Club Rentals and stayed at Kidani Village. This was my first real taste of DVC and how the points and system worked. I decided I would definitely rent points again in the future, but thought nothing more of becoming an owner.

On my most recent cruise, about a month ago, my partner and I decided to go to one of the DVC previews they were having on board (free drinks and flashy light bracelets - we're easy). It was the last night of the cruise and were already feeling a little depressed about about going back home. After the presentation, we scheduled a 9:30pm meeting with one of the DVC guides on board, and an hour and a half later, walked back to our stateroom as members. It was a total impulse purchase, fueled by our end-of-cruise depression, late night exhaustion, and our unwavering love of the Disney experience. We'll be closing on 170 points at Aulani in a few days and we are excited for what the future holds. I'm in my mid thirties now and my partner turns thirty this year. We don't have any children yet, but are hoping to soon. There have been times in the past month where we've questioned our decision, but from hanging out on the DISboards, I've gathered that the main regret many people have is that they didn't do it sooner. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll be glad that we did it when we did. When in doubt, our new mantra is "47 years of vacations." I love the sound of that.

 

[Bookworm62]

I figured this would force him to vacation ("Hey, we paid for it-might as well go").

Yep.. that is our reason; replacing "him" with "us".
Before the Dec trip, I explored DVC more so to learn about it. Been talking with DH and pretty much decided not to do it. We had a fabulous time at DW Christmas week. We started talking again; pro and cons. We have the cash; that was not the issue. "What made you hesitate?" DH asked. Answer: "we would feel we have to take vacation". Almost simultaneously we said-- "is that a bad thing?"

We just booked our second trip since the purchase.

 

[bnk1120]

My first trip to WDW was in 1984 and I have been a fan ever since. I took my DH for his first time in 1998 and my DD in 2005. After staying at the Wilderness Lodge, DH and I started seriously researching DVC. We knew we HAD to be at deluxe properties. We bought in 2009 and have no regrets!! We have stayed at every DVC property at WDW as well as Aulani and Vero Beach. We have made so many amazing memories! I am so happy to be a a DVC member. Looking forward to planning my next trips.

 

[Judique]

We had been researching timeshares for years. BIL who was a financial guy would tell us timeshares are not an investment, and not a good deal

Went on a couple of non DVC timeshare tours and were somewhat impressed with the accommodations and freebies, but not enough to pull the trigger.

Then in 1997 discovered DVC. It took three years of playing with the numbers before I could commit. Finally in 2000, I bought BWV, then in the next few years I also bought points at HH,VB and BCV. I then wished I had kicked all those dollars spent at Poly, CSR, AKL, WL, ASSports,ASM, into the pot back in 1997 to 2000. WDW then became a bargain for me - studios as low as $60 a night at times, depending on season.

Meanwhile BIL bought HGVC and stayed there a few years - offsite. Not sure they still have it but they don't go.

And now when I play with my numbers (and I often do as I like to play with money) I realize I could sell and get more back then I initially paid, and I still would have all those trip memories for the cost of dues. (I realize this moment won't last but it's fun for the moment!)

So I feel I splurged on a somewhat luxury item, but have gotten more than my money's worth.

Now I'm stockpiling tickets.......

 

[saintrob]

We're from the UK and had our first trip to WDW in 2001 as a package trip staying on International Drive. Many more trips followed all on site staying first in the moderates then moving to the deluxe resorts. We'd toyed with the idea of DVC as people had told us how beneficial it would be as we were now taking two trips per year. I'd worked out the Maths and realised it was a no brainer and that we needed to buy. We got a great offer on a Dream cruise and purchased 260 points at AKL. So far we haven't used them at our home resort but use the points for our Christmas trip at BWV. My only regret is not buying into DVC sooner.

 

[Sleepy425]

We had been looking at DVC since about 2010, but never were comfortable pulling the trigger because we knew one day we would adopt (we finally got our foster license after 18 months of paperwork in Oct 2012) and needed to have money set aside in case we needed time off from work or the kids had extensive medical/emotional issues (we got licensed for up to three children to keep a sibling group together).
Thanksgiving of 2013 we finally got chosen as a foster to adopt family for twin newborns. We skipped taking the kids (we also have two bio children ages 2 and 4 now - the twins are now 15 months) to Disney in 2014, and instead had a weekend down there by ourselves while my parents took care of them. As soon as we were back we started planning the 2015 trip. We went through our options, but didn't like the idea of getting two rooms. And value suites seemed so pricey considering there isn't a full kitchen or laundry. We were going to hold off buying DVC, but then the twins got sick and ended up in the hospital a couple of times and required (still require) lots of doctor appointments. It is stressful dealing with sick kids. Add in DCF and we just really needed something exciting. Well unbeknownst to us, when kids are sick like the girls and require more medical care, DCF classifies them as Medically Complex. Since we had already prepared ourselves financially for having to deal with issues that may arise if kids we took in were ill, we didn't have to rely on the extra money DCF gives for medically complex children. So we splurged and finally bought our DVC. So now our family of 6, as well as my parents (who will be a lifesaver - the girls require breathing treatments at least twice a day. Having two extra sets of hands in the morning will make getting to rope drop so much easier) will get to stay comfortably in a 2 bedroom villa at AKV.
While I wish we had bought sooner, I'm glad we waited. We needed to see what our family would ultimately look like before we knew if DVC would be a responsible decision for us.
As a side note, we were hoping this May trip would be a celebration of the girls' adoptions. But things keep getting pushed back with DCF, so I guess that just means we will have to take an extra trip when they are legally ours (which they are now saying could be early 2016).

 

[ziravan]

I was at WDW in 2002, 2003 and 2004. My DW went as a child in the early 90's. Neither of us had been since then.

My DW threw a birthday party for my DD then 6 in 2013. Her birthday is around Thanksgiving. With the holiday and all, 3/20 kids showed and my DW was in tears. Never again, I said. We're going to WDW for her BD next year.

We finalized plans to go in Sept 2014 (a few months early and near my BD) because by then, I was a Disboards member and knew Thanksgiving would be insanely busy.

Also, because of Disboards, I learned about renting points. Because there is no refund, I researched it to make sure renting points (I know some demand to refer to it as renting a reservation) was a smart decision.

So, I rented points but also, came away with a detailed education on the ins and outs of DVC.

At first, we were going to buy resale AKV. I didn't even consider BC or BWV because those seemed like 'boutique' resorts. Then, I read about and read up on Storm-a-long Bay. I found a great resale deal last August and bought 252 BC points for $84/point.

We went in Sept on our rented points and upgraded our passes to annual. We went in Nov on rented distressed points ($6/point and that allowed us to stay at SSR THV), we just got back from staying offsite (Blue Heron), and we have a big family vacation stay planned for June (all our BC points plus transfer points for a 2BR and 3 studios at BC).

And. We are going to buy a 168 point guaranteed week 44 lake view Poly contract next week (420 total points between both contracts). Week 44 for F&W each year and alternates between MNSSHP and MVMCP plus perfect weather.

DVC has turned WDW into a routine experience for us (YOU'RE GOING AGAIN?!! I love it when people say that!)

We plan to do two trips a year going forward. Poly for F&W (it's essentially an EPCOT monorail resort) and BC in May for Storm-a-long Bay. Kids are homeschooled.

Four WDW trips from Texas in one year. That's what DVC means for us.

 

[forloveofdisney]

I have been a Disney and Mickey Mouse fan my entire life. My parents were never able to take us as kids, basically for financial reasons. My first trip was right after high school graduation with my future husband and his family. What an amazing experience after wanting to go for so long! Then, young and poor with a growing family, we did not go back for 12 years. We took our three kids in 2003, along with the in-laws, and stayed at Wilderness Lodge and that's when we knew that this was not a one time thing. We got DVC information from the kiosk and talked about it for a few months but it was such a big investment and then yearly dues so we abandoned the idea. We went back in 2006 and 2009 and each time we talked to DVC reps, got information, and crunched the numbers and each time we just couldn't commit to it.

I have been a 'lurker' on the Dis for years and around the time our 2009 trip I discovered resale. After that trip I really started thinking that we could make it work with a resale and that it made perfect sense to do it before our next trip. We knew we would continue to go to Disney and we knew we always wanted to stay at Disney. Instead of continuing to pay for a reservation (thousands of dollars each time) we could buy resale and within a few trips it would pay for itself (that's purchase price, not dues. And we bought in 2012 when resales were at a low).

I am happy to say that we have had three awesome trips since buying DVC. We are a family of five and got APs. We went for a week in December 2013, 10 days in July 2014, and 5 nights in November 2014. We will skip this year but I am planning on taking several of my family members in Fall 2016. They would otherwise not go to WDW and I am so happy to be able to share the magic with them.

Being a DVC member is a great feeling for me. I love Disney. I love knowing that I have a vested interest in WDW. I love knowing that I will be going back. I would have loved to have bought in sooner but we had to wait until the time was right and we could handle it financially. If I had known about resale earlier, it might have been possible. I don't really have a developed plan as to how to use our DVC. We have already added on once and I hope to end up with three contracts so I can give one to each of the kids later on. I know that we will continue to go and as our family grows up and expands, I know we will be enjoying Disney magic with future generations and that is just awesome!

 

[edk35]

We purchased the end of Jan. 2007. We were at the point of needing two rooms for our family. So I walked up to the kiosk/booth at MK in Tomorrow Land. We went to a presentation in MK that same day and purchased the next day. Prior to this we had ALMOST Purchased back in 92 when it was JUST OKW. Almost bought then and have regretted it ever since.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Yep.. that is our reason; replacing "him" with "us".
Before the Dec trip, I explored DVC more so to learn about it. Been talking with DH and pretty much decided not to do it. We had a fabulous time at DW Christmas week. We started talking again; pro and cons. We have the cash; that was not the issue. "What made you hesitate?" DH asked. Answer: "we would feel we have to take vacation". Almost simultaneously we said-- "is that a bad thing?"

We just booked our second trip since the purchase.

I hope it works as well for you as it has for us. Once we became members, DH never gave back any of his vacation-took it all!

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

I swear my family has been putting the DVC sales team through the ringer..
My sister and I have been looking into to DVC for years!

My sister and I grew up going to Disneyland every summer. As we grew up our love for disney has never died.
In 2007 we planned a huge family 1st visit to WDW.. We used my mother time share which was WAY to far from WDW. Didn't know she could exchange for DVC when avalible.
Anyways this trip was a total bust! Swore we would never stay offsite again!!

2008 "DH,DD 3, me" - stay ASMo. This was one of our best trips!
2010 ". " - Stay ASMu.. Very magical.. DH and I discided to try for another child on this trip also the trip that sealed the deal of coming back every 1-2 years! A coworker of my husband gave us some info on DVC. Called to speak to a sales person. And get some question answered.
DH works in finance and Ran the numbers. We just didnt have the money to do DVC and have a new baby.

2012 large extended family cruise and trip to DL.. On this cruise we saw the DVC spiel. Spoke the sales person for over and hour. Wasn't impressed with location and offer at the time. They were showing us AKL.
I turned to DH and said " if that was GF, I'd be 1st in line to buy!"

2013 we did 3 trips to WDW. - POR,POFQ and pop! 2 with the kids and 1 without..
This opened our eyes to the fact that we can enjoy disney after the kids are grown up and gone
We stopped at one of those little booths With questions. We were told that the VGF was due to open later that year.. I was extremely excited! But my DH still had to run the numbers.. This time we knew we much more about our family and travel style
Our family is complete and we like going to WDW,DL,DCL once a year. (We start getting twitchy after 12mo.)
We were also In a much better financial situation(hince the 3 trips in 2013)

After months of questions,research, and running the number until my brain hurt.
The resale vs. direct question took the longest. We ended up with 150 at VGF. Direct Then bought resale 120 at AKL.



Ps. This last summer us and the extended family went the DL and my sister and BIL who has been looking to DVC wanted to take the tour..We tagged along. The sales person happen to be the SAME lady we had met back in 2012 on the DCL. My sister and BIL got some of their questions answered.. She also gave us some great goodies!
They will be buying in soon but are working on saving a little more.

 

[ludari]

I live in SoCal and visited Disneyland countless times growing up. As an adult those visits continued but I never gave DVC a second thought since I grew up and current live within driving distance of DLR. In 2010 I visited WDW for the first time and stayed at a non-Disney hotel near DTD (I think it was the Marriott) and my visit was great. In February 2011 I visted WDW again and a friend used her DVC points to reserve a room for me. During this visit she explained to me the benefits of DVC and that her and her husband own at three different resorts. I asked her to show me around the various DVC resorts and WDW property (this was second visit to WDW). During our visits to the various resorts she told me that she wanted to check out one of the newer DVC resorts so we signed up for an official DVC tour of BLT. It was during that tour I knew I was sold on DVC and by the following month I was a DVC owner. Of course I gave the referral to my friend and her husband.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

Twenty years ago - Prodigy and the voice on the marketing 'tape'. Everything about the presentation and sale was professionally executed right down to the binders and hollowed oiut book "Where the Magic Never Ends". It was about being a part of something special. Having a reason to take a vacation. Going someplace where it was safe to bring young children. Being able to bring friends and family on vacation with us.

I can remember the excitement of the first stay and the anxiety of the payments all at the same time!

Staying at the villas was magical; my children still refer to OKW as The Vacation Club. It is integral to our trips. See my signature

However, I will always remember a lawyer, father of 4 (twins on #3) from Illinois writing me a private message about not over extending myself for the DVC. He WAS right. I have the MC and Visa bills to prove it. It has worked out this far but it is not perfect and surely not something I would advocate.

Do it if you want but not if the payment or the dues causes stress over the energy bill. It's easy to get caught up in the lifestyle on the boards. Keep in my mind, the boards are populated by a very few in the overall population of the world and, by definition, they are here because they are Disney fans.

 

[John.G]

We planned a 5-day vacation at GF for April, 1993 (where "we" is my wife, two sons and daughter aged 7-14). We had the "Food and Fun Card" which gave us three meals, snacks, water parks, rentals, etc all for the paltry sum of $5000 (I jest, 22 years ago we booked this trip a year out and scrimped and saved).

While there, we took a Vacation Club tour of OKW and decided to buy in. It was $46/pt at the time and fees were $1.8484/pt (we were looking at the paperwork last week -- building 26). This has continued to be one of the best decisions of our lives. We have used it several times a year, stayed at several DVC resorts and exchanged points to stay at other resort hotels. I *really* still like OKW as it has the space and family vibe. When I am getting burned out at the office, knowing that I will soon be in a hot tub under palm trees with a turtle krawl in each hand helps me cope. I have family in the Orlando area and we usually have a BBQ by the pool when they visit. We go to the parks 4-5 days (I get moused out really quick) and do other things ... DTD, mini-golf, water parks, sometimes Old Town, Arabian Nights, Medieval Times, and more.

I wish that there was more space at the bar (there are regulars who I think actually sleep there at night, as the same people seem to be there ALL OF THE TIME in the same seats), and more restaurant choices. At least if Olivia's was open a bit later, that would be nice. The bus service has been problematic through the years but I think that it's running the best right now.

Oh, we hunted down the OKW web page one day and my daughter noticed that the cover picture was our family checking in at the desk. My wife and daughter were so excited to be on the website. (Unfortunately, I was very distracted by how much hair I had lost as seen from behind. Now that the front is looking more like the back, it's no longer a shock.)

This past October, we had a two-week family reunion and we realized that with the grandchildren now, we could use a little more space. Since we now live on the west coast and go to DL every now and then, we decided to buy more points and chose VGC as our second DVC home. We are one week into the ROFR process. I have also been on the lookout for some Aulani points as we'd like to make that our third home.

 

[thebigman65]

When I was a kid, I was being raised by a single mom....My mom worked very hard to support 5 kids, but as you can imagine there was no money for trips. A couple of my friends would go, and I always wanted to but......As I grew up, I didn't think about it much, but when I started to have kids of my own I often wished I could take them.

In 2009, good friends of ours asked us out to brunch one day, and invited us to stay at Disney on their points. My DD was 13 at the time and she had never been anywhere outside the country. We thought this would be a great "Trip of a lifetime!"....so we went for it. our first stay was at AKL and we LOVED IT! We had such a great time, but at that time, we didn't really think about buying.

A couple of months after that trip, those same friends told us about a great cash deal for a Christmas stay and before you knew it we were going back for Christmas 2009!....we knew at that point we were hooked so we made an appointment with the Guide our friends used, and bought 220 points at AKV.....we have since added another 100 points to that and have never looked back!.....we love our DVC!

 

[dwight16]

made my first trip in 1986 when i was 6 years old. since i grew up in a divorced household it was the only vacation spot both my parents would take us to and everyone was happy when we were there. So for the rest of my life when i think happy i think disney.....crazy how things as a child stay with you for the rest of your life.....fast forward to 2009.....i had just made a trip and was staying at Coronado springs and the DVC person was there so i asked questions and he told me it was 17000 to buy 160 points and i was like that is way to much money.......so a few weeks later i was reading an article from the WSJ and it said the resale market for time shares is at rock bottom bc everyone is trying to sell them at once due to the rescission so i started to search found a website made a call.....bought 160 points at SSR for 58 a point so almost 1/2 of the disney asking price at the time....i lied to the bank to get a home equity line of credit to pay the 9,000 bought it and paid it off as fast as i could.....ended up buying two more 30 point contracts and am always looking for more....best investment i have ever made....3 trips used and 2 booked for 2015...the memory's are priceless....

 

[PoohsFan1]

Both my DH and I have been going to WDW since we were kids, he started going when he was 5 and I started going when I was 8, and our families never let up on each of our Disney obsessions (each family are Disney obsessed themselves, well except my family which got out of it when us 4 kids got older). In 2000, DH and I went together as husband and wife for the first time and stayed off property since we did other things than go to Disney parks, but for some reason our obsession kind of cooled off a bit. Then in 2005 we took our then 4 and 2 year old DDs with my DSis and her family (her DD at the time was 3) and that started our obsession again. We went again in 2007 and took my in-laws and spent 3 nights at POR Riverside and then spent 7 nights in an off property condo (again we were doing other non Disney things while staying in the condo), it wasn't until that trip that we decided that we had enough of the non Disney parks and such and the next time we were going to stay on property and do strictly Disney. So in 2009 we started going twice a year, then in 2010 on our second trip that year, I told DH that I wanted to take a tour, not buy, but just tour and talk to a guide. Let's just say, after touring the BLT demos and talking with the guide (who is our guide now), my DH surprised me and said that we would like to buy 100 points at BLT. You should of seen my face, DH said he wished he had the camera because I guess it was priceless . DH did say that the only way he would buy in is if I would agree to have BLT as our home resort, which of course I didn't care where it was just as long as we are members. Now fast forward to November 2011, we were at the Doorway To Dreams Store in Schaumburg, IL, where I thought we were just going to get our Christmas ornament, well, we decided to check out the demos and again talk to the guide (not sure exactly why at the time), and the guide said that we could buy into SSR, which is a resort that we never thought about buying into but then DH thought it was a great idea since BLT price/point got so high, we could use SSR points and add them to our already exsisting BLT points and use them for whatever DVC resort we want. Again I was shocked, of course DH did say in the end that DVC was the best thing that we did and he wishes that we did it sooner.

 

[LCoulter]

DH went to WDW a dozen or so times as a kid but I had never been until our honeymoon in 1994 and I fell in love with the place. We stayed at Caribbean Beach resort but Port Orleans Riverside (Dixie Landings back then) ended up being our favorite resort. We went about once every year to one of the moderates. We heard of DVC and periodically considered taking a tour but we knew that if we took the tour, we would be hooked so we resisted. Now if Disney had upgraded us to a DVC room back then, we would have bought right then and there. We had always dreamed of actually staying at one the deluxe resorts but couldn’t justify the price so we would just visit some of them.

Then in 2007, I was finally able to have a baby. We booked our first trip as a family for early 2009 at POR and then booked another trip for December 2009…booking two rooms at POR to take DH’s mother too. For the early 2009 trip, we finally took the DVC tour, with DD2 in tow and loved it. We loved the extra space and that it was a deluxe resort. BLT was the ideal home for us because it was near the monorail so we bought right then and our guide helped us switch the December trip from POR to BLT two bedroom.

 

[keishashadow]

Two events made us take the leap of faith, buying DVC unseen:

1) the prior year's trip that placed us with 'twirlers'...lots of loosely supervised screaming girls milling about the resort at all hours for a week &

2) the next year while pricing resorts, realized I could buy a loaded resale contract for less $ than the cost a week at the Polyto the DISboard for that information!

It was a no brainer for us to add on slowly via cash, mostly direct thru DVC until they changed the closing cost fees. Other than the often Disney/DVC not giving a straight answer about things (last year's $199 tix eligibility) we are more than pleased with our overall experience.