Why did you join DVC?

[lovin'fl]

Became DVC members in 2006 when 3 kids were 7, 7 and 9. We lived in NC at the time and planned on doing 1-2 trips every year. After staying onsite at POR, in 2005, we knew we liked being onsite but didn't like having all 5 in one regular hotel room (and no way could we swing paying for 2 WDW hotel rooms). We heard about DVC and liked that 1/2 BR villas had a separate master bedroom (we could close door between us and kids) and a washer and dryer. We were sold!

 

[Simba's Mom]

1. You mean I can actually OWN part of WDW-even if it is a square inch of that wall over there.(At least that's the way I saw it)
2. DH needed to be forced to take vacations from work, and what better way than to remind him that we were paying for it whether we went or not, so we might as well go.
3. The model rooms looked so much better than anything I'd ever stayed in (always done Moderates or values), especially better than All Star Music, where I was that trip.

 

[michelleiada]

I bought DVC because I fell in love with WDW, wanted to vacation there as much as possible, and love staying in larger accommodations at deluxe resorts. We also love being able to invite friends or family members to come stay with us and experience the magic.

 

[ludari]

I joined DVC because I calculated the cost of ownership verses staying at the resorts and it was clearly the logical choice.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

1. DH had been begging for it for over a decade. I have a policy that DH always gets what he wants....eventually.
2. It made monetary sense for a family that travels to WDW frequently and likes to stay in nice rooms.
3. We had DD.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

1. My husband and I visited WDW 10 times in 7 years, and we didnt even have our son yet. We attended the DVC presentation twice, but it was never the right time. First we were saving for a house, second visit we were trying to start our family. We knew after our first trip when our son was 14 months old that we would still want to go back for years to come. So we started looking at DVC again.
2. We always stayed in values, but we did the math (over and over and over) and found that we could stay in larger deluxe accomodations for about the same price.
3. We were planning our second trip with our son, we wanted our own space while he napped, and it was a no brainer for us to buy into DVC at that time. We bought resale AKV.

Four years in now and we are still very happy DVC owners, and have even added on. If I knew before I bought what I know now, my reasons for buying would be very different:
1. DVC makes Disney vacations relaxing, like a vacation should be. There is no longer any pressure to see and do everything because you know you will be back.
2. It is sooooo wonderful to have your own adult bedroom space on vacation.
3. I did not buy to bring friends and family with us, but getting to share Disney with both our sets of parents and family has been absolutley priceless. Without DVC those trips would have never happened.

 

[disneynutz]

The reason that we joined was to save money and we assumed that DVC was something special, like concierge or a mini VIP experience. We knew what to expect with the deluxe resorts so we assumed that the DVC resorts/room would be the same if not better.

Our reality is that we do save money compared to booking a Disney deluxe room but the DVC rooms and service have fallen short of expectations. Website, worn rooms and long telephone times seem to be the norm today. Sad.

Bill

 

[com_op_2000]

1. Trust of the Disney name.
2. Been burnt by previous timeshare purchase.
3. The attractions/parks around the Orlando area is where DW and I spend our extra/entertainment funds, we even dated going to the parks before we were married. We knew as soon as we heard of DVC that we would purchase.

 

[bwvBound]

I am sure that this has already been done, but for all of those non members that can't decide whether or not to join.....let's help them out:

What are the 3 main reasons you joined DVC?

1. To guarantee us a "reasonable, pleasant" room (1BR with kitchen and laundry) for our work-related conferences at the Dolphin/Swan/Y&B.
2. (see #1)
3. (see #1)

 

[kniquy]

My husband loves Disney. He went many times growing up and has so many fond family memories of those trips. I was not fortunate enough to have my parents take me to Disney so, as a child, I never had the chance to experience the magic. This past Christmas we surprised the kids with a Disney trip for NYE. It was probably the craziest time for me to experience Disney for the first time but it was so magical. Just to see the parks all decorated was truly amazing. Everything in WDW is done to perfection and we enjoyed every minute of our trip. We want to give the kids these magical and memorable trips for many years. Even when the kids are older we can increase the frequency of going down there when/if the kids don't want to join us. I see that even just the Orlando area has a lot to offer so we can even plan some universal/WDW trips. We don't want to go every year (I don't want to lose the magic feel) but bought a contract that would allow us to go every 2-3 years. We figured paying outright for a DVC contract would help us afford going at our frequency, getting to stay at amazing resorts and experiencing a more lavish vacation than we typically do. We are in the middle of closing on our AKV contract, we don't have a trip planned until 2018, but I already can't wait to go back!!!

 

[amcnj]

1)Children were getting to WDW ages
2)Knew we would be making multiple trips there in subsequent years
3)Priced a stay versus the price of DVC (this was over 20 years ago when membership was less expensive and they even included free passes!), and it was no contest!

 

[apple9117]

We love Disney and go on disney related vacations all the time (DL, DCL, WDW). Figured this would be a great way to save money and enjoy the Disney resorts

 

[bobbiwoz]

We bought specifically because my Mom wanted her 85th birthday party to be at WDW. We had looked at DVC in 1996, but didn't buy then. Our late teen age boys told us "don't buy it for us!" Well in the ensuing years, DH and I would go a few times a year, very often with my Mom and sister. So, by 2003, when Mom said that to me, we knew we were doing it for ourselves, and Mom! It was a great party, we had 14 people, a 2 bedroom and 4 studios at BWV. 3 years after that, we had a 4 generation party at VWL. Mom enjoyed the company of her 3 great grandchildren, then 1,2 & 3!

Last month I fell in love with Aulani!

DH and I have enough points to spent a few weeks every winter in FL, and enough to enjoy F&G and Christmas trips as well. I have never ever felt a WDW, HHI, VB or Aulani vacation was too long. We know we'll be back, so leaving does not bring tears, but I always am happy that we took the trip.

Besides my family, I have taken Gals Trips, 2 scheduled for next year, 1 for F&G, and 1 for a Halloween party.

Mom has been unable to travel since she was 88, and she had 3 trips with us that year. She is in a nursing home, but she smiles when she shows us the post card we sent her on our most recent trip. She will be 96 this December.

 

[mickeymom629]

Background - In 1999, we had 4 young children and always needed 2 rooms or stayed offsite. We were on a trip (the 3rd one to WDW w/kids) with Aunt and Uncle, staying at ASM when Aunt saw a sign about DVC and told DH and I to check it out since I was a Disney Store cm and may get a discount. I did! We were able to pay cash, so no financing. DH was more on board than I was at the time and we spent HOURS with our guide. We bought 150 points at HH (only available) and I have totally enjoyed being able to plan our Disney vacations! In 2003, we bought 50 more VB points on a deal and cm discount. Sometimes I wish we had more points but we live in MD, so being able to go roughly once every year is probably best anyway.

3 main reasons we joined DVC:

• Disney is a vacation we all enjoy, and we can keep planning another one
• DVC flexibility with points/booking
• staying onsite with villa accommodations

 

[DougEMG]

We bought DVC to make it more afford to stay at WDW in the resorts that we wanted to stay in. Prior to owning DVC we would normally only do a 2 week trip once a year in a moderate, now we are averaging about 5-6 weeks a year in a DVC resort, so I think it worked out pretty good so far.

Now if only there was some way to avoid all the crowds in the parks.

 

[Tiggerette]

My 2014 logic went something like this:
Whereas...
1) Disney bought Star Wars.
2) We like Star Wars.
3) Disney likes revenue.
4) Therefore*, Disney will make a Star Wars park, and we'll want to go to that year-round Star Wars park. If Celebration** stays at DL/WDW we'll want to go then as well.
5) And therefore.... it's reasonable to predict that we'll have multiple occasions where we'll need a place to stay while we're being galactic fans over the years.
*If Disney is going to make an "Avatar" land.... they were most certainly going to get on the Star Wars RevenueShuttle to/from MosIger.
**Celebration= Star Wars celebration, a convention exclusively related to the Star Wars Universe.

My Husbands 2014 logic went something like this:
1) I LOVE DISNEY!
2) DISNEY!
3) If you feel comfortable with the purchase, I'll support whatever you want to do.
4) TIKITIKITIKI ROOM, DISNEY!

Hehe... I kid. He was always groovy with whatever I wanted in regards to purchase, but he is most certainly the Disney fan in the family, and I'm Disney by Star Wars. (Except for Figment... that dude is super cool... and my nickname.)

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

We rented from a member and loved the resort we rented at (BWV) so we decided to buy a resale contract there. We bought one a few months later, and it was GREAT for the early years that we owned. Inventory seemed much more plentiful then, and we had so many great trips. Unfortunately BWV wasn't well-maintained in the past several years, and we ended up with some awful units when we did stay there. It definitely affected our love of DVC in general. I wish we could go back in time to how it was when we first bought in.

 

[AdamsMum]

I am sure that this has already been done, but for all of those non members that can't decide whether or not to join.....let's help them out:

What are the 3 main reasons you joined DVC?

1. I was going every year anyway
2. I was too cheap to pay deluxe resort prices. I realized that I could stay at a better resort for roughly the same price as I was paying out anyway. I wish I had realized this earlier.
3. My first resort was BWV, and it feels more like a vacation when I can walk back to my resort (Epcot is my favourite place) instead of waiting in bus lines with thousands of other tired, worn out people.

 

[dclpluto]

I use to stay in all star resorts or off property because of the costs of the hotels. Now I'm staying in a 1 bedroom at dianey world Disney land and Disney aulani.

 

[beccasmom]

We had been visiting annually starting in 1981. For many of those years we stayed in one of the Deluxe resorts, but they were becoming too costly. For a few years we did split stays at Deluxe/Moderate resorts then moved over entirely to the Moderates, which were fine but we missed the extra room the Deluxe resorts provided. Once we took a DVC tour, we were highly motivated, but still took our time with decision. As an incentive they were offering free park passes (2/studio; 2/one bedroom/; 4/two bedroom/; 6/GV .....I think that was the breakdown!) until the year 2000. That pretty much did it for us. The minimum point purchase at that time (1991) was 230. That is what we puchased and we still remain there; it works for us. We can take 2 (sometimes 3) trips per year using the points judiciously (avoiding Friday/Saturday stays and traveling in "slower" seasons). No regrets!