Why did you buy DVC?

[DVCerLee]

I had lost all hope of ever buying into DVC. But last year we started thinking of going to WDW. We were going to stay in our RV. Then Mom said that she didn't want to stay in our RV, she wanted "comfortable". OK, but no Value resorts.
Then we realized that, with Mom with us, there would be 5 of us. Too many for 1 room. Two rooms at POFQ, over 200 per night. If we stayed in a deluxe, we could all stay together. Did we all want to stay together? MMMM.......:tsktsk:
DH and I settled on a budget for the trip. Then I discovered the resale sites and discovered that for a few dollars more, :laughing: we could buy DVC!
It took a few months of crying and begging, but he finally agreed. And here we are, still 642 days away from our first DVC vacation, and it seems so close!!!! NOT
Whats your story?

Lee

[DisFlan]

We've been going to WDW since 1977. But now that our son is grown and married, we're looking at grandkids in the near future. And my sister and her DH now have two little girls. We like to vacation with family, so we knew we needed more room. LOTS more room. And when we looked back at what we'd spent over the years at deluxe resorts, we decided it was time for DVC. It's an investment in the future. Not necessarily just an economic investment; an investment for family. We've already had a couple of great family DVC vacations and we couldn't be happier with it. We have another "big" family trip planned for mid-2007.

DisFlan

[DSNY FN]

We purchased because it made sence for the length of time we stay and as often as we go it was more economical than paying cash for our stays.

[Rozzie]

I had been going since 1978, DH only went once when he was a child.

Fast forward, DH and I were spending loads of $$$ on multiple deluxe resort trips. I ran some figures, and figured out that in a couple of years, we would be coming out ahead, plus the committment to take a vacations is just what we needed.

I had been following the development of SSR, and secertly had this fascination with the resort. (being a horsefreak and all) Couple years went by, and we finally said now or never and took the plunge. Have added on in less than a year, as we soon discovered 1br's.....

I just wish we dove a little sooner, could have saved some $$$. But isn't that DVC's theme song???:tongue:

[Simba's Mom]

Unlike a lot of people, when we bought DVC, it had nothing to do with financial considerations (except "Can we afford?" "Yes, we can afford.") For DH it was about knowing he was a workaholic who always found excuses NOT to take vacations, and he knew he had to change. Buying DVC would force him to take vacation ("We already paid, we'd better go!"). For me, it was purely emotional. Own a part of Disney? I'm in! Any vacations we've ever taken have been planned by me and we've always gone to Disney. Doesn't vacation=Disney? Put his need to take vacations together with my Disney-itis and that equals DVC ownership. And it's fullfilled both our dreams.

[PoohsPal]

We were in a high state of withdrawl after our Feb 2004 trip. I needed a piece of the Magic and showed dh numbers that looked good. ;) If it helps, we were almost 2 years from buying to our first trip home. It was worth the wait! As true DVCers, though we plan on going more often from now on! :D

[TW1]

After a coupla trips we found ourselves aching for the next visit to the World. But it was getting pricey. But, we also LOVE a beach vacation.

When we visited HHI it was the best of both worlds. A fabulous beach vacation spont and ownership in DVC! Plus the lower point prices and dues made HHI a great choice.

Now, we get to the world every 18 months or so and HHI once or twice a year.

Its a rough life, but somebody has to live it.

[nono]

I was looking for an addiction that wasn't hazardous to my health, and DVC fit the bill.

:tongue:

[tjkraz]

(Long-winded story alert!!!!)

First trip to Disney for DW and I together was our honeymoon in '97. DW made that decision long before most of the other wedding arrangements and I just went along for the ride. It was OK, but we could have gotten more out of the trip. In 8 days we only spent 1/2 day at Epcot and AK wasn't even open then.

Anyway, we then went about 5 years with no return trip planned or a real sense that we were missing anything.

Around the time our son turned 1 we started making plans to go as a family. There were 5 of us going and we ended up renting points for a 2 bedroom at OKW. Needless to say it was a great accommodation and a great experience.

But most significantly, the trip was great. Being a guy, I have to admit that I often cringe at the word "magical" because it can become a cliche. That said, we really did have a magical Disney experience on the very first day of our trip.

After getting checked-in at OKW we headed to Epcot. It was probably 3-4pm. As we walked up you could see the huge storm clouds as a backdrop to Spaceship Earth. We went into SE and exited to a torrential downpour. We spent an hour or two killing time at Innoventions and the weather cleared. It's important to mention that this was about a year removed from 9/11, so Disney crowds were still quite low. Between that and the rain, Epcot was downright vacant that night.

Fast-forward to the end of the night. Epcot was still running the Tapestry of Dreams parade. When I watch our home videos now, I'm still stunned by the lack of people. We were the only ones within about a 10' strech of road on one side of the parade route, and across the road on our video there are only a dozen or so people in the field of vision.

Throughout the parade, our 18 month old son got personal attention from probably 1/3 of the performers that passed. They would walk up to him with the huge puppet contraptions and do a dance, poke him in the belly, pat him on the head, and so on. Even today it's just so cool to look back and see them (and him) enjoying the parade so much.

That one event really sold us on the Disney experience. My wife loves the characters and animated films of the 90s. Personally, I could live without them. My appreciation lies more in just what it takes to construct and operate an entertainment complex on such a grand scale.

Getting back to DVC, we ended up renting a second time and were content with that process. They were selling points at BCV for $84 each with only 40 years on the contracts. For us, the proverbial kick-in-the-butt was the pre-opening deal at SSR. 50 years of points for $79 each. In other words, 25% more time on the contract for less money.

I honestly don't regret not buying sooner. Another 50-75 points would have been a wise decision, but that's what add-ons are for. :)

[idratherbeinwdw]

We'd been staying at the Poly, and we loved it there. I looked into DVC at one point, right about the time they were building BWV, but was such a poly addict, both for theming and monorail access, that I didn't buy in at that time. I am not sorry, as our "poly years" were wonderful. Being so close to the MK when my kids were small was perfect for us.

FF to 2003. Kids were 13 and 18. It was getting really old with three adult sized women sharing one bathroom. And ummm, well, I snore and they were tired of listening to me, LOL. Additionally, the price of renting points for a DVC 1BR as compared to the AP rate in a room at Poly seemed like a great deal. So I rented points for a 1BR at BWV in May 2004, never in a million years expecting to want to buy in. I had even booked 2 more trips with point rentals prior to going on the first one. But lo and behold it really was love at first stay. Bought my resale contract and by August 2004 I was a full fledged DVC member, home resort BWV. Purchased one add on this past december, and I am happy with the amount of points I have now.

I miss the poly on occasion, and often stop by there to eat or watch the Wishes and or the electrical water pageant. If there was a poly dvc I would buy an add on in a second. But I love BWV just as much, especially the convenience of being able to walk to two parks, as well as the whole atmosphere of the place. No regrets at all! :thumbsup: :bouncingc :cheerlead :woohoodan :dancingba :beaniepro

[AmyBeth68]

We were first introduced to DVC by my inlaws who are original OKW owners....back in the days with the free park passes :). We fell in love with WDW and DVC since they invited us along on many a trip. After a while though our travel times changed and we couldn't enjoy DVC with them anymore. We missed the accomodations....and were spending so much money on deluxes....we did the math and for us it made sense. We are a bunch of Disney nuts and plan to visit at least once a year, haven't gotten sick of it in our 15 years of marriage so we figure we won't any time soon ;). We've created real disney monsters of our kids too LOL! :goodnevil

We know we are blessed to be able to visit WDW yearly (although some think us a bit crazy). :scary: It is one place that we all love equally and have created so many memories with our children. We keep thinking the magic will disappear as our kids age but instead there is new magic and new excitement with each stage of their lives. So it's become a wonderful part of our family "culture" and tradition. :cool:

[DisFlan]

We are a bunch of Disney nuts and plan to visit at least once a year, haven't gotten sick of it in our 15 years of marriage so we figure we won't any time soon . We've created real disney monsters of our kids too LOL!

Don't worry about it. Our son has been a Disney nut since he was tiny. We were afraid he'd outgrow it, but it went WAY the other direction. He came home from college in his junior year and informed us he'd signed up for the WDW College Program. He met his wife there - also a Disney nut.

Right now, he's one of the area recruiters for the College Program, and he's finalizing the sign-up for an Advanced business internship at WDW after he graduates in May. He's very serious about making Disney and WDW his life's work. This is another reason we're glad we bought DVC. He may be running it someday!

DisFlan

[jiggerj]

We have been going as a family every year since the early '90's- I went alot as a kid and when I had my children going to Disney has become a tradition as my children grew- My childrens ages are all over the board here from one in College, to a freshman in high school to just starting kindergarden- obviously they have very different interests at this stage of their lives but the one thing that they have always had in common is the excitement and enthusiasum for our Disney trips-

Disney Vacation Club means to me of continuing family traditions and to be able to continue to make wonderful family memories together. Thats why I purchased. :)

[Colorado Belle]

As I child, I longed to go to DL. I finally took myself as a college freshman. It was as magical as I hoped!

Then, my now X took me to WDW for my first time...and proposed at the Poly. We had a castle facing room and it just couldn't have been more magical. Went on our honeymoon (just for a couple nights before 3 weeks in the Carribean, went when I got pregnat, went when our DD was 11 months old and then yearly thereafter....all without DVC.

After my divorce, I was so sad at having to 'give up' so many memories/friends/special vacations. I decided that Disney wasn't going to be one of the things that I was forced to lose, but that I had to do something different to create NEW memories. DVC was the perfect answer!

Now I OWN part of that magic...or at least that is how it feels. And while it still takes a little 'readjusting' of my thinking (and maybe a few margaritas! HA!), it really has allowed me to continue to think of Disney as magical!.

In retrospect....those of you just starting out....maybe you need to get your DVC ownership into the PRE-Nup!!!!!!

[ripleysmom]

DH had just joined IBM and they had their annual meeting in Orlando. It was 2000 and the kids were young so I pulled DS out of school for the week and we piggybacked onto DH's trip.

One of the things that we did for that trip was book a TS presentation to get cheaper hotel and Universal and Arabian Knights tix. Actually we did want to look at the TS (Silver Lake) because I wanted to start making sure we took family vacations. We toured Silver Lake and the rooms were very nice but it was a little pricey and they did not have good terms for financing. I also wasn't crazy about the grounds or the location. Anyway, we asked if we could have some time to think about it and they were very nice.

The trip itself was the epitome of why people buy TSs. The 4 of us were crammed into this little hotel room. We stayed at the Doubletree and also one of the Holiday Inn funsuites, both of which were not my cup of tea. I missed being onsite at the WDW hotels but wanted something with space to spread out and a kitchen so we didn't have to schlog the kids around for meals if we were tired. Also I was sick so if I wasn't feeling good it wasn't like I could leave him with the kids and hop onto a bus to my room.

Anyway, DH and I talked about it and had kinda decided that we wanted to buy something but not there. While we were talking he mentioned DVC. He had toured it the year before and came home raving about it but I wasn't interested at the time. This time we decided to go see it and man oh man, if only I had known. It was awesome!!

I was sold on the spot. It was less than Silver Lake and the financing was much less as well. We signed right then and there and never looked back.

[jdvm]

We were considering buying a condo in Florida (Longboat Key) for our visits to Florida when we looked at DVC in 1992. We realized we could get everything through a membership in DVC that we couild get through buying a condo (except the beach) for one tenth of the cost.....not a tough decision. So DVC was al alternative to a second home for us.

[withdisneyspirit]

We were planning our first trip to WDW since 1998:bugeyed: We went twice that year (1998), the first trip was our elopement and honeymoon and the second was taking our boys back that Christmas since we went without them:innocent:

I was roaming the internet and landed on Mousesavers and then found out about renting points. That really made sense because the alternative was to get two rooms! The more I read about DVC, the more I thought...why should I pay to rent points when I could use that money to help me buy points:handshake All I had to do was convince DH and that wasn't terribly difficult and he is a Disney nut like me:sunny: We bought our first contract April 2004 and have been thrilled ever since. My mom and dad were so taken with our purchases that they did it too!

[cobbler]

A friend of mine was going to be in Disney the same time we were. Her aunt owns at BCV and we met for lunch on the Boardwalk.

I came back to the room with her to meet her aunt and such and also to check out the BC because at that point we had only stayed at moderate resorts and I like to check them out.

I walked in and I about fell over and how nice and big the room was. I asked if I could move in :)

I ended up telling hubby all about it and how I really wanted to buy this as an anniversary present to ourselves in 2009 for our 10 year anniversary.

Well on our October trip in 05 we were going to go to the F/W in the afternoon and wanted to kill some time in the morning so I signed us up for the tour. Rather reluctanly I might add because I felt there would be this enormous pressure to buy and well you know, sales pitches and me are not on friendly terms.

So dh went - much to his apprehension too - but I wanted to show him what it was all about, find out more information for myself, and have all his questions answered. So we were even up front with our guide and mentioned we would NOT be buying for another 4 years because it was going to be a present for ourselves. Plus frankly we could afford it - with payments - but not to pay for it outright and I didn't want to go into debt for a timeshare type thing.

So our guide was really super nice, no pressure, didn't try to shove us off even though we told him we wouldn't be buying, took his time and it was a great expirence.

Well hubby and I talked about it a lot on the drive back home to MI. I took out the calculator and crunched the numbers - I am all about the math.

We knew starting in 06 we would be moving on to the deluxe resorts as I have this need to try every Disney owned resort on property. Well then the F&F promo came along, did the math, knew how long it would take us to pay it off and being that we were going to spend our $$ going every year anyway we decided to take the plunge and finance. Figured we would come out ahead even with paying interest then waiting 4 more years to see what the price per point would be.

So we called our guide and bought 220 points!

[carolina_yankee]

We made our first visit together to WDW in 2003 (my 3rd, my partner's 1st). I assumed it would be our only trip. After 20 minutes there, Jim asked, "When can we come back?" After 3 more trips, we realized our budget was slipping to the moderate level since AP discounts weren't as great and we didn't want to stay at AKL all the time, even though we love it. We also wanted to stay back in the Epcot area since our fist visit was at the Swan, and we loved the convenience.

At first, I sneered at DVC ("Timeshares are stupid!! - Well, my mother's was, anyway.) Then, I was intrigued but thought we could never afford it. Then, the F&F discount came out in January. We had just rented points for the first time and I knew we'd be hooked. Jim made me run the numbers, but I knew we'd do it if we could afford the payments. So, we toured SSR during our Jan trip and bought 160 points.

It turns out, even with financing, we'll save over the long term comparing DVC to moderates (which is what our trips would actually cost us), and we'll certainly make out like bandits comparing DVCs to Deluxes.

The real reason: Magic! But we decided to make sure it made financial sense, too.

Dirk

[mushu]

I got hooked on DISNEY. Also Southwest moved into Philly (love those $ 49 flights.) I got 19 nights in a studio with points left over this year. That's not a bad time share to me. We have 200 BWV points.

[goofypal]

We had looked at timeshares in Orlando before back in the early/mid 90s, but didn't like the inflexibility of the specific use weeks. I knew people in the past that hadn't used their weeks because they couldn't get the time off. I had seen the DVC kiosks, but figured they were just like other timeshares, and didn't give them a second thought.

We returned to Alabama in 2001, with the plan to retire from the Air Force here. We made visits to WDW in 2002 and 2003, and then All Ears Net ran an article about DVC in Feb 2004. The flexibility of the program made great sense to me, so we requested information and spent about two hours on the phone with our future guide. DVC was running a preopening promotion on SSR, so we drove down on the weekend to tour the model at BWV. We liked what we saw, and bought 210 points.

We have have stayed in 2 bdrms at OKW and BCV, and are looking forward to our 2 bdrm at SSR at Thanksgiving.

Paul Goofypal