What made you pull the "trigger"

[3girlsfun]

I have found the contract I want, I have the cash, and I can't seem to "pull the trigger!!!!"

I'm not sure why.... Maybe the large amount if money I'd be parting from, or just the thought if what if?

What made you just do it all ready?

 

[erin.w]

Because we realized that what we were spending in the course of 5-7 trips could actually pay for dvc!

 

[Buckeye Fan]

Dishing out $2,000+ each vacation. No matter how I looked at it, it worked for us and our future plans. We joined back in 2007, and have never regreted it for a minute. We would have never paid the price to stay in the two bedroom units, and now have that option. It has completely changed how we vacation. In fact, we were so pleased, we added on twice since then! With that said, I know it's not for everyone.

Best of luck with your decision!

 

[hollypoast]

My third child was born.

Prior to that I had trouble making the numbers work for us. I began watching the resale boards a lot. People were able to sell their DVC fairly easily and for a decent price. I also watched the transfer/rent board here on the Disboards and saw that people could rent their points, if needed.

For the first 3 years we used our point for trips to Disney and Vero Beach. One trip we were able to bring another family along and it was a blast! (It was nice to have the kitchen and extra space-- we had 4 adults & 5 kiddos.) We are now taking a break from Disney until 2013 so I listed my point on the Rent/Trade board. In a matter of a week almost all of my points, through our use year 2012 (June 2012-May 2013) have been rented. I have 11 points left that I expect I will be able to transfer at least a portion of them to another DVC member, once 2012 rolls around.

Take the leap! I am so happy we did.
If you want to chat off line send me a PM.

 

[kristie03]

We had been debating whether or not to take the tour....then...

I spoke to a couple who was in line behind us in Space Mountain. They were older and told us that they were DVC members, came to the World about twice a year, one time as a couple and one time with family/grandkids, etc.

By the end of the conversation I realized that I wanted to be THAT couple as the years go by. I felt with 100% certainty by the time we got off of the ride that

1) I will want to go to Disney over and over
2) My husband and I will go to Disney when our kids are not with us and not "into" it
3) I want to take my grandbabies one day (and I acknowledge that it is nuts to say that when my kids are 10 and 6)

I marched right from Space Mountain to the kiosk and signed up for a tour!

I say pull the trigger and do it.....my DVC makes me happy and I think it will make you happy too!

 

[Finally DVC]

What made you just do it all ready?

We started looking in the early '90's and didn't pull the trigger until the extra space of DVC accomodations became a "must have". There were a lot of other factors, but that was the bottom line.

 

[mjc2003]

Our contract just went to Disney on 2/24.
We debated for awhile, but our two little girls talk about going back to Disney seemingly once a day. After awhile we found a contract that we loved, and my wife said "no more talking, make an offer".

We suddenly no longer think about "should we" and have started talking about "when we".


If you have the money and the inclination, along with a contract that works for you, go for it.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

Our contract just went to Disney on 2/24...

Congrats on your offer! Wishing you an early welcome home!!!

 

[TLSnell1981]

We had already made up our minds to buy, BEFORE we began looking. So, finding the right contract, made us pull the trigger.

 

[ScottJayhawk]

What made you just do it all ready?

For us it was the math.
It went something like this (it was 6 years ago, I don't remember exactly how I did the math back then):
Disney World every other year for the next 50 years, a week each time would be 175 days divided by total cost over that 50 years equals how much per night??
For us it was a number we liked a lot for accommodations that we absolutely love!

Perhaps that's over simplifying it and certainly I can't predict the future and there are a ton of factors. But the math worked nicely for us at the time.

 

[ToddyLu]

I had been interested in DVC since 2004. I joined the DIS in 2008 and started reading. I saw a post where the incentive was money off per point, then an extra $8 for a member referral...We would have never ever paid OOP to stay at AKV--then to have savanna on top of that !! That is at least $440 a night--on a nurse and fireman's wages--no way. Plus at 40 I was ready for Disney "luxury style"--a mid life crisis I guess. Some people get a Vette, I got DVC. Have loved every minute of it--we get two trips this year.
We got the discount off our AP. So this year the Lodging and tickets are handled.

 

[Phambiton]

I have found the contract I want, I have the cash, and I can't seem to "pull the trigger!!!!"

I'm not sure why.... Maybe the large amount if money I'd be parting from, or just the thought if what if?

What made you just do it all ready?

3girlsfun,

It went like this....

The day after my son's fourth birthday (about 3 weeks ago), I started planning for his fifth birthday. *Instead of wanting to throw him another party, I wanted to take him to WDW. *Now, none of us (DH, me, DS and a toddler) has ever been to WDW. *We've been to DL, but not WDW. *Just to let you know where I was coming from, I knew that WDW is bigger than DL, and that was the extent of my knowledge.

So I had to do some research. *First, on the Disney website, then a general search on what to do, where to eat, how to save money. *Then I stumbled upon Disboards, read every discussion threads I thought to be interesting...and found the DVC tab, and it's discussion threads...and this chance encounter is going to change our lives...

In reading the DVC threads, I got the general impression that these DVC members are a cool bunch. *They are passionate about that little mouse, they seemed generally happy with their lives and their purchase of DVC. *This led me to do more research into DVC...

Also, we learned that husband's boss sends his family and their au pair to WDW about eleven times a year! *I had always wonder how could they do it, now I know...DVC (now I'm beginning to sound like a sales person, but this is a true story)

So I entertained the thoughts of owning points, did more research, coming from every angle I could think of...resale value, renting points, what we can get with the points, how realistically we can actually use the points at least every other year, the other costs of vacations that the points don't cover (flights, food, misc), how the Disboards members used their points, how realistically can I manage the points so that they don't go wasted.

Next I had to convinced my fiscally ultra-conservative, "I want to be financial independent by the time I'm 40" husband. *This, by far was the hardest part of this process, but then again, before I discovered DVC on the Disboards, I would have never given the thought of buying timeshare an inkling of my energy. *I wondered now that if I were to be at WDW first and saw all those DVC booths all over the place, I might have been so turned off....

Anyway, three weeks later, we just sent our executed contract for 170 points at BLT today! *We bought it, sight unseen! *And hopefully it will pass ROFR and if it does, it will be just in time to schedule my son's fifth birthday surprised. *Lastly, if MK is anything like DL...

 

[Phambiton]

Oh yeah, and I did the math... It has to make sense...and it does..

 

[jupers]

We're only in ROFR, contract went 2/24 so we're hoping. This is long so sorry but Anyway, we finally put in an offer because of my Dad.

My Dad died in August. He was 67. He loved WDW even though he never really took us as kids because he was too busy paying for parochial school and college for us, we went once together when I was 3. Anyway, as I grew up I loved WDW, despite only going twice as a kid. DH and I even honeymooned there. Well, once we were all married off Mom and Dad took some time for themselves and got to travel a bit. WDW was their first stop. He was hooked. He wanted to buy into DVC but by his 60s he felt it was too late. He even went through the tour at SSR as it was being built. He was diagnosed with inoperable prostate cancer almost 2 years ago.

Before he was diagnosed DH and I had decided to go to WDW and take the kids. We asked Mom and Dad to come. I had a FD pin we could all use. They were psyched, we hadn't been there together, since I was 3. Well, when we realized how serious his illness was my brothers and their families made the very wise decision to join us. My Dad always wanted to go with all of us. Between my 2 brothers and I, we have 3 spouses and 7 kids, they were all 10 and under. So in Aug 09 all 15 of us went for 8 days and stayed at POR.

I being the Disser planned the whole thing. Made reservations for 15 of us for 1 TS per day and HDD. That was a challenge!!!!!

Well, we had the most amazing time!!!! All of us! The kids had a blast, sure there were meltdowns, but my father loved every second of it. By this point, we didn't know his bones were breaking down and he would be using a walker within weeks of coming home. That trip is a treasure for my whole family and I. Dad died a year to the day we got back from that trip.

I had been thinking DVC but it really is out of our budget a bit. However, priorities have changed. DVC didn't seem like a luxury anymore, but a necessity. Dad didn't die wishing he went to Disney with his family. I don't want to either. The memories seem more important to me than anything. I made an offer on an SSR contract and we're waiting for ROFR.

Thanks for listening.

 

[DVCconvert]

When I first bot my first contract, it was after getting a $8,000 bill from the YC. That was enough for me!

 

[Sandisw]

They built BLT. We debated it for years since we were going almost yearly and staying at deluxe resorts 90% of the time, most often at the CR.

We loved the location and wanted to be there for most of our trips. When BLT was built and we could now buy DVC without giving up our favorite spot, we were in.

We also knew that we would continue to visit Disney for years to come, even though are children are teens and college age. For us, it just made sense. What I loved about it is that it took the stress out of waiting for discounts, pin codes, etc. (have you ever read the frustration from those that never get them?)

Once the money is gone, and you are planning trips, it is so nice to have the flexibility. We rented a 2 bedroom this summer, and it now looks like family is going with us, one who is 6. We are so excited to be able to do this with them. Without DVC, I would have never done this.

Good luck!

 

[dbs1228]

For me it was spending over 35000.00 to stay at the cabins over 15 years! I have to say we do miss the cabins but LOVE the extra space. We always needed/wanted a kitchen. Our daughters are all mid to late teens and all I kept thinking was "what a great way to bribe them to still vacation with us occasionally"! lol I know my DH and it will be a lot easier to travel with DD's and their families, if and when that happends, if our vacations are already prepaid since he would flip to shell out money for their accomadations!

 

[sweetdana]

I thought about it over and over until I came to this conclusion.

... If I hated it and it did not work out, I would have taken 3 trips and can sell it for almost as much as I paid. (I bought resale with almost 3 yrs worth of points.) I was fine with a 10% loss if after trying it.. it didn't work out and would sell. I would have paid 6K easy for the vacations I would have taken with just the current/banked points and the points coming due in 4 months after closing.

.. about 7 trips down, 2 in the planning and LOVE every penny of it. It would take a tsunami to make me sell my points today. I LOVE "making" my DH go on vacation with us and spending time with us. The planning turned into more fun in an on it's own too..

 

[bobbiwoz]

We had already made up our minds to buy, BEFORE we began looking. So, finding the right contract, made us pull the trigger.

This was us. We wanted DVC and then looked, we lost a contract to ROFR (it was '03) and in the end, bought our first 2 contracts direct.

 

[cseca]

The first contract I bought because we paid $2k for a 6night stay at WL. Did the numbers for BWV and realized I could break even after 7-10 stays. Plus we get microwave in the room and free laundry facility to use.

Have to say that subsequent purchases have been more of emotional and future planning purchases. I knew that if God willing I'll have family to take to WDW for many many years so I decided to add on and on and on...

Now we're done, no more adding on. We have more than enough for the rest of our lives