Why we joined DVC.

[ScubaD]

The other day I was contemplating the reasons my DW and I decided to join the DVC family. For us we are coming into the "empty nest" phase of our lives and traveling is one thing we both are looking forward to. We are also planning on using points for bringing our daughter and son and their future families to Disney as we enjoy the first trips to the happiest place on earth our grandchildren will experience. Plus we have many years to enjoy the benefits of the DVC program., and so many places to visit.
What are some other reasons why people have joined?

 

[hrsmom]

My DH and I love Disney and we want our children to be able to experience the magic and (hopefully) love it as much as we do. This enables us to visit a couple times a year.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We were just commenting this morning that having DVC points is forcing us to take vacations. We have been married 25 years and have taken more vacations in the last 10 years since we bought our DVC points than before. We only vacationed close to where we lived at the time or went to family outings where the family member lived - you know, weddings, births, graduations, etc. Now we take time out for our family and just have fun. We're making memories so when/if I get Alzheimers (my father had it) I'll always think I am at WDW.

 

[wildernessDad]

We are in a similar empty nest situation, except we still have a full house! My daughter recently got out of the Navy and is an air traffic controller, so she is waiting for a job with that. My other daughter has recently graduated and she is trying to figure out what to do next. My son is special and will be with us for the get-go.

My wife encouraged me to go back to WDW a few years ago. I have always been a disney freak, but had been away from it for a while. She made a mistake. I loved it and thought that the DVC would be the way to go for me and my family.

I too like how I am forced to take a vacation. Before this, I was taking a day off here, another day off there. This is much better for me and I go back to work feeling ready for the grind. There are some who never take vacations; they 'bank' their time to the next year until they have to take one. That is not good for someone to do. Vacations are a way to relax and unwind and what better way to get away than to go to WDW.

 

[Database]

We have an empty nest...because the stork never delivered.

We've been married 20 years and actually honeymooned in Disneyland.

We celebrated the 15th at WDW and joined DVC. Main reason... pure emotional impulse. We'd been married 15 years and with schooling, professional obligations.... our relaxation time was at the bottom of our list. We "justified" the purchase because we'd been planning to do the Alaskan Cruise and it was an option through DVC. (Now THAT is just too funny! But we just needed some sort of excuse!)

The best thing about DVC is that we're taking vacations regularly now. One year we couldn't use all our points. (Professional obligations still get in the way from time to time) We were able to book a vacation at WDW and donated it through a "silent auction" to raise money for an adoption agency. The whole time that family was at WDW, I sat at home.... wishing it was us!
Glad we could help out the agency... but from then on.... no more encroachment from our professional lives. Disney is coming first!

It was an excellent investment for our mental health! We did a DVC cruise for our 20th and will be heading to WDW for our 21st.

 

[DiznyDi]

Hello everyone,
We are almost empty-nesters, too. We've been married 32 years. Daughter is 26 and will graduate next month with her Masters of Divinity degree. Son is 24.. and.. is still trying to find himself and what his life holds.
We did a family Disney trip last September prior to son joining the Navy - unfortunately the Navy didn't work out for him. Trip was planned (and paid for) so we all went anyway.
The last evening of our stay, daughter has some serious health issues. She has Cystic Fibrosis and the hot, humid Florida air in mid-September just was too much. Knowing we needed to keep her in air conditioning as best we could and having to vacate our room and our flight not leaving until 8 PM, we decided to 'take the tour'. The rest is history so to say. We joined and have since added -on to the original contract.
Dear husband and I have already been down - without the 'kids' along. I am thoroughly looking forward to planning our trips and have the next scheduled in mid December with everyone along.
I have no regrets that we didn't do this sooner. We've had some amazing family vacations to Europe, the American Southwest and several Disney trips that we would not have had, had we purchased earlier in our family's life.
The time was right for us in 2006. My husband likes to say, "A happy wife is a happy life." Well, I'm real happy!!

 

[hellerjw]

My DH and I love Disney and we want our children to be able to experience the magic and (hopefully) love it as much as we do. This enables us to visit a couple times a year.

Ditto! Couldn't have said it better myself

 

[DisneyFreaks]

The other day I was contemplating the reasons my DW and I decided to join the DVC family. For us we are coming into the "empty nest" phase of our lives and traveling is one thing we both are looking forward to. We are also planning on using points for bringing our daughter and son and their future families to Disney as we enjoy the first trips to the happiest place on earth our grandchildren will experience. Plus we have many years to enjoy the benefits of the DVC program., and so many places to visit.
What are some other reasons why people have joined?

Our situation is very similar to yours. We are empty nesters as well and loved our trips to WDW while our DS and DD lived at home. When our wonderful DGS came along we decided to rent points thinking a villa would be nice for the baby. We fell in love with DVC and became owners just a few months after returning from that trip. We look forward to sharing many trips with him and any new grandchildren who may arrive in the future. Our family loves WDW and really have no desires to vacation anywhere else.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We too are empty nesters and have been for most of the 10 years we have been members. We will celebrate our 39th anniversary this year, and FINALLY we will be able to take kids along in the form of our son's step children. We will be making a THanksgiving trip next fall with our son, his new wife and her 2 boys. CAN'T WAIT!!

 

[fishermouse]

We are almost emty nesters still one DD 21 years old in college but at home.
Bouoght in to share with DS + DD but the more we go the more I want my points ALL TO MYSELF.......

 

[WendyinNC]

It's great that you empty nesters are enjoying your DVC. We bought for a different reason; the birth of our 4th child and the fact that we could no longer fit into a deluxe room. I'm 40 and DH is 47. I can't imagine ever having an empty nest. It's nice to know that we will still enjoy our DVC when the nest does empty.

 

[Liljam]

My husband and I are both 30 years old. I had been to WDW 20 times from birth to 12 years of age. He had only went one time when he was 16 years old. We decided that it was time for us to go back and just returned about two weeks ago from our trip. Before going I had done plenty of research on the parks and DVC so we took the tour.

Our reason for joining is because we do hope to have a child, maybe 2, in the next few years. We loved our trip so much that we had already started planning our next trip while still in the parks. We figure that we already know we will be going back at least once and maybe twice a year, so it was in our best interest to join. This is especially nice for us if we take family or if we do have our children, DVC membership will allow for us to obtain a larger space and over the years as we see inflation in prices, we'll still have our points... (dues inflation aside lol!) We both work at my family's collision repair center and I manage along with my dad. Owning our business has allowed us to take more time off over the years and I'm finally in a very stable position there. It just seems perfect for us! Plus knowing that we've bought in to this, we WILL never deny ourselves WDW again as long as we own lol!

 

[bwvBound]

What are some other reasons why people have joined?

And now for something entirely different. We joined because of an annual work-related event consuming the Dolphin, Swan and Yacht Club conference facilities. We've been attending the event since 1996 ... but the employer quit paying for "onsite housing" in 2002. Our choice was to pay the hotel out of pocket each year (6 nights at the Yacht Club), accept offsite housing (tried it once, ain't gonna do that again), or find other creative solutions.

Creative solution #1: Exchange into the Yacht Club hotel using RCI Points against our other timeshares. Further study said, "This is quite expensive ((points + fees) => Yacht Club costs for similar stay) and more difficult than it should be." (I did not enjoy dealing with the RCI Points staff.)

Creative solution #2: Trade into Boardwalk Villas, via II, against our other timeshares. We did for 2 years in a row, now 4 exchanges total. It offers reasonable cost ((MF on other timeshare + fees) < DVC Dues for similar stay) -- but consumes a week of my other timeshare and carries a feeling of "uncertainty" ("Will I get the booking this year or not?").

Creative solution #3: Buy DVC. This option offered the "condo" vs "hotel room" experience; annual dues < Yacht Club costs for similar stay; sufficient flexibility for our intentions; and would likely retain a significant resale value.

The attraction of option #3 was strong ... as we are already spoiled by other timeshares and really enjoy having the space, full kitchen, and washer/dryer. (The jetted tub was a bonus.) Decision made.

.....

So far, we are still using DVC exclusively for the annual conference. At some point the conference will end (not too soon, I hope) and we'll re-evaluate owning DVC. We thought we'd sell ... but ... not until one or two stays at Animal Kingdom. (I suspect we might just hang on for a while ...)

 

[fishermouse]

So far, we are still using DVC exclusively for the annual conference. At some point the conference will end (not too soon, I hope) and we'll re-evaluate owning DVC. We thought we'd sell ... but ... not until one or two stays at Animal Kingdom. (I suspect we might just hang on for a while ...)

Just curious are there any tax advantages since this is clearly work related.
Seems you should be able to write off atleast the equivelant of the room anually. I'm sure there is a DIS'r out there that knows the tax laws concerning this.

 

[GoofyDad869]

We're in our late-mid-30s now - our kids are 12 & 8. When we decided to buy, the kids were 8 & 4, and we were taking two WDW trips per year. We were staying for 3 or 4 nights per trip. We knew we would be taking similar-length-of-stay WDW trips for the foreseeable future, if not longer length-of-stay (the plan was to gradually work up to 6 to 7 nights stays over a few years). DVC works better for us for longer-length-of-stay trips, so that dovetailed nicely.

I was a hard-sell. My attitude toward my wife was "Convince me that this will be a good value for us." We ran the numbers many times. One of the benefits as I saw it then was the World Passport Collection - "in case" we ever got bored with Disney-specific trips.

Realistically, it will probably be many many years before we need to use the World Passport Collection options.

 

[tobidisney]

We LOVE disney,

Dh and I have 3 kids ( 2 are young only 4yrs old)

We love to travel and have no choice but to take the kids so our take on it was simple, Do we spend $$$ and go somewhere geared for adults, drag the kids along and listen to the complaining that there is nothing to do...or do we gear our FAMILY vacations around our FAMILY and take the kids to disney..

it was simple, Disney is the only way to vacation as a family and guarentee that everyone young and old will LOVE IT.

Dh's first trip was 9 years ago and he is hoked...we bought DVC 2 years ago and like the saying goes, we wich we had done it sooner.

We go about 2 -3 times a year and look forward to every trip.

 

[3DisneyKids]

OMG, DVC has added SO much to our lives!

We we purchased, our kids were still very little = 3, 4.5, and 6 (yes, we had 3 kids in 3 years! ) We definitely needed more space than a regular hotel room. As it is, no matter where we travel, we will only get a suite.

BUT, the real thing is that when we went to Disney the first time being non-owners with all 3 kids, it cost us about $3000-$3500 for the week (including air fare and rental car). And that was with a lot of codes, cutting corners, etc. Most would agree that this is actually a good price for a family of 5.

Now that we are DVCers though...for just a bit more...about $4000, we can go to Disney THREE TIMES in one year! Magic, magic, magic!

 

[KingOMiami]

As DW & I are looking for our first home to buy, we had come to realize that if we were to buy a house first we would be stuck in the mode of avoiding vacations. I told DW that I want to be able to take at least one vacation per year and since WDW is the one place we can completely agree on, it was a no brainer.

I wish that buying a house would be this easy.

But it is good to know that we are set with a place to go every year for at least a weekend at peak times or 4-5 days during off-peak times

 

[Se7en's Travels]

Me and DG bought in about a year ago. That year we had went twice in one year and spent about $7000 dollars for just two vacations. Me and the GF are a tad on the uppity side and we like moderate to deluxe resorts. So at that point it just made sense. We love Disney and plan to raise a Disney family when the time is right. For now I get to be selfish and have run of the park lol. I dont regret my purchase one bit and i plan on buying more points once that contemporary is up and running {crosses fingers} I am currently going through Disney withdrawl as we speak I havent been back in the past six months. Its been awful lol....

 

[ebenmax]

We had a Disney WEDDING! My DH fell in love w/ Disney (had never been before the wedding planning). I was already in love. We became a blended family w/ three children ages 20, 16 and 4. Now, my BIG kids totally enjoy watching their new sister experience the same excitement they felt as children. Plus it gives them the chance to relive it all and join in the fun. They fight over who gets to ride Dumbo with her.

My DH and I knew that we would be going back regularly for our anniversaries to reminisce about where it all began. So it seemed a natural and lasting fit for us!

Ellen