Your Greatest DVC Surprise?

[a742246]

I think I was most surprised when BLT was announced and also that we bought 250 points there.

VGC are so nice and my favorite rooms of all.

The Grand Villa at BLT is awesome!

I was surprised when a cruise and a one week RCI trade was offered as an incentive to buy.

Some of the "little things" that have surprised me are...
Receiving special fastpasses and balloons at VGC check-in.
My son receiving a gift bag of toys as a birthday present whn we stayed at AKL concierge on his birthday.

Not a nice surprise...
The oceanview room we had at Aulani was VERY far away from the ocean. It was really a loud pool view with an ocean off in the distance. My only disappointment with DVC.

I just looked at your two trip reports. They are amazing, the amount of work you put into them is a work of art in itself.

Good for you!

 

[JWG]

Surprises for us

1- Took my parents on the tour 15 years ago, they bought and I didn't.
2- my wife succumbing to my non-stop badgering and us finally buying
3- Adding on 7 months later
4- AKV being a top 2 for us

And most importantly:
The immense amount of joy I get watching my daughter every single time we go. Someday she'll probably think Mickey is too uncool, but for now what a thrill to see her get excited about everything. Best family vacations ever...

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Biggest surprise so far has been VGC. I've owned at BCV since it opened and have stayed at almost every DVC resort. My least favorite WDW resort is Wilderness Lodge and the villas there. So since VGC and the Grand Californian hotel are similar in theming, I thought I would dislike it. However, I enjoyed it very much.

I am with you on that. We really did not enjoy our stay at WLV at all, but we love VGC and VGC is now my most favorite of all the DVCs.

 

[Missyrose]

I just love this thread! I'm in the process of closing on my first DVC contract, so I can't wait to see what surprises DVC has in store for me!

 

[DenLo]

I think there have been many surprises but that one that still amazes me is that we can stay at WDW so many more nights than when we did a cash stay. I'd say we have doubled our length of stay. Much more relaxing and it's not necessary to do the parks as commandos.

 

[mouseaider]

Our surprises are......

The good.... buying into BWV without ever setting foot on property and loving it. We also love to walk and found it very convenient to Epcot and DHS.

The bad....... We stayed at OKW for two nights last October and while the resort is pretty, we didn't like the studio. I know you all rave about them having two queen beds, but that is the major reason we didn't care for it. We like having the sofa. It's just my DW and I. We were glad to get back to BWV to finish the trip for the last five nights.

The biggest surprise was falling in love with Kidani.

We had won a trip in 2005 and stayed at the Poly. On the last day skipped the parks and toured three different resorts to see where we wanted to stay in the future. We hated POP, fell in love with POFQ and then visited AKL. The smell of manure was very strong.

When we decided to try Kidani this past January, we couldn't believe how wonderful the resort was. It is now our second favorite.

But the best surprise we've had as member is being able to stay for a week or more each time. Before we'd only stay for four or five nights when paying for our room.

Now check back with me in a couple of months and I'll bet our upcoming Aulani stay will rank right up at the top.

 

[supersuperwendy]

My biggest surprise is how I always get the resort I want!!! I thought the 7 month window would be hard..but not yet!!! And I've had great luck at my home resort AKV booking value and concierge!!! Of course at 7 months I've switched them out. Oh and I booked a treehouse too that I switched out for something else! I think resort switching is an addiction of mine!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Two big surprises. One, that these formerly commando visitors would love relaxing vacations at WDW, and two, that we also love OKW. We'd driven thru OKW several years ago and agreed we didn't like it. On our first DVC stay we "forced ourselves" to try one night at OKW just to say we'd been at all the DVC resorts. The next morning, DH anounced that he loved it and would want to stay there on every WDW trip. So we went home, sold the points we'd bought, and bought OKW points.

 

[tammydel]

I was surprised by how much I loved our BLT lakeview 1 bedroom last summer. We chose it because we wanted to try a 1 bedroom with the extra bathroom and my kids are very into the lake activities. But I was very put off by the photos of the modern decor and the high rise building.
Turned out I had nothing to fear - I enjoyed the room very much. While I still like the beachy decor at BCV better, I was very comfortable at BLT. Our lake/pool view was beautiful, the extra bathroom, the pullout chair as well as couch, large laundry room with room to hang clothes, all won me over. It was easy to access the BLT pool area and helped me not feel like I was "sealed in a high rise."

 

[Goofy DVC]

1.) Figuring out that we could have a great WDW vacation without a commando itinerary. What can I say,I'm a little slow so it took us many years to learn this.

2.) Shocked that we have done 3 add ons so far. I would have bet the ranch that it would have been one contract and done. I guess that's a good thing.

3.) Countless memories.

 

[DizBub]

We wanted to take a trip last Nov-Dec but no availability at any DVC resorts. Looked at cash reservations but just couldn't go back to that. Checked out the r/t/t board and found a confirmed reservation for 4 nights at SSR. Now we had long ago decided that we would never need to stay there but thought why not try it? OMG!!! We fell so in love with it we are in ROFR for 150 contract.

Discovered that we adore OKW now too. What a fantastic, charming place!!!

Biggest surprise is the fact that I am seriously considering moving from BLT to SSR for our fall F&W trip with the kids and grandkids.

 

[sweetdana]

Happy
Realizing how much I love planning the perfect trip
LOVING it that my DH wanted to spend out 10 yr anniv there just the 2 of us, when we could have gone anywhere
SSR and everything about it. Bought there 1000% due to price/length of contract resale, and was happy with FQ figured, had to be better.
How much more time I spend with my family because of it. We mostly only went on day/3 day trips once a yr before DVC.. now 8-14 days 1-4 times a yr, and we enjoy every minute.
Renting points/transfering points. I am not ready to say I need 150 more points a yr, but I love going a lot now. The once a yr transfer into my account and renting points, gets me 1) the 11 month window where ever I decide I want to go for just that trip, and 2) no committment at nearly the same price.. 10$ a point most of the time. Maybe buying would be 6 or 8, but it is a SMALLLLL price to pay for 1 time use, at where ever I want to go that yr.
How inexpensive it is to go with great planning. IE APs, DP for part of the trip with a split stay, doing 1/2 in a studio to save points, packing snacks, and using the kitchen.



Dislikes
How much BLT is not what I expected.. it is only close to MK and on a monorail. ... no awesome pools, no spas, no kids club, tiny room, no bathroom door to cover noice , no wow like SSR/BC/BWV. Nothing to make it special.. except location, and TIW views.
How far and a pain in the rear end AKV really is from everything. With standing room only on a 20 mins bus ride home with a kid 4 bags and a stroller.. they should have more busses there, so everyone gets seats. .. I short day or 2, or a rental car makes it okay, but even though the value 2 bedroom is cheaper than a 1 bedroom at SSR... I still pick SSR.
How once my 7 yr old hits 9.. we won't be able to do buffets any more. Prices are just not inline with reasonable for a young Disney "adult". Maybe a new catag is needed.. Disney youth, 9-14 or something.. IDK.. but I am not paying 43$ to take her to Cape May for dinner, or 54 to Cind castle at 9. .. guess a Disney not DVC thing.

 

[rmcildw2m]

Since joining in 2010 I have stayed in 3 different resorts . They were in order okw- bwv-akv jambo,while I have liked them all for different resons akv is my best liked so far .

 

[DizDays]

Most surprising for us is how our priorities have changed and we now LIVE for vacation. My DH and I have always been huge Disney fans, but insane workaholics. We went almost 5 years without a vacation due to the nature of our responsibilities and, unfortunately, vacation benefits were use it or lose.

After a particularly rough work season, we finally made some time to visit WDW for our anniversary. We stayed at AKL. DH and I did the tour and impulse DVC purchase as an anniversary gift and it has revolutionized how we live.

We will never go without vacation again. It's life changing! Everything revolves around those 11 and month timeframes.

 

[DenLo]

How once my 7 yr old hits 9.. we won't be able to do buffets any more. Prices are just not inline with reasonable for a young Disney "adult". Maybe a new catag is needed.. Disney youth, 9-14 or something.. IDK.. but I am not paying 43$ to take her to Cape May for dinner, or 54 to Cind castle at 9. .. guess a Disney not DVC thing.

Even though this isn't anything to do with DVC, I thought I'd let you know that it's age 10 that the prices change, not age 9.

 

[MomofStitchandLewis]

I suppose my biggest "surprise" was that my parents didn't love it as much as we do!

On the positive side...we always seem to have some kind of extra pixie dust magic on our trips - they always feel magical and special. They make us want to add-on and on and on...