How much reseach...

[Boston5602]

I learned about DVC in July of 1996 . I bought BWV in May of 2006. I did do research and talked to two guides before buying . Bought two add ons in the last 7 months paying cash each add on.

 

[Starr W.]

We had been looking at the "fractional" ownership types of timeshares(you get 4-6 weeks per year).

We actually did stay at SSR before we bought. We liked it because DH & I could see ourselves coming down in future yrs(minus the kids) and just hanging out. We like the location of DTD, the dedicated buses to the parks and the resort itself. Plus the fact I have 4 airlines that have direct flights to MCO helped(I won't connect unless I have to).

We payed cash, didn't take out any sort of loan or home equity line to pay for it.

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

We took the tour in Dec. '98 at the Boardwalk, and purchased that day. I didn't know about the DIS. I wasn't interested in the other properties. I wanted to stay at the BW most of the time. We were staying at the WL at the time we took the tour. We added on there later.

I did very little research.

I knew WDW wasn't going anywhere for a few years so I looked at it like a very low risk deal. Since I go every year anyway, it seemed like a great deal the way it was presented.

 

[Fatalbie]

Swinging the monthly payment was not a consideration, although I didn’t pay cash in total. Research consisted of finding out about the R/T board and posting to rent some points, no idea what DVC was or how it worked. I had a great experience with the DVC owner, very smooth. Started to do some heavy reading on the DIS and decided I liked the opportunity. Did some price research and with the F&F promotion the price and timing was right. Put a deposit on a package and had a try b4 you buy with the rented points. Admittedly no comparison of resorts to base this on but with a three year old in tow and no car I had no problem with SSR or access to dining at multiple locations.
SSR will make a great home for us if I never stay elsewhere, although I intend to over the years. OKW, by choice, is next for a golf trip.

One of the “herd” or “masses” maybe but I figure I am the best judge of what I like and what suits my tastes.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Although I voted that we did some research and talked to our guide a few more times, actually we did VERY little financial research. And I never visited these boards until after we joined (BIG mistake-I could have gotten so much info here). DH didn't even take the tour! I took the tour on a solo trip, and our subsequent discussions with our guide were really to clarify for DH some things our guide had said, but I couldn't really remember. To DH, he saw it as a way to force him to take vacations regularly (he'd been more than a bit of a workaholic). For me, it was "Own a piece of Disney? I'm there!"

 

[cpbjgc]

as we had no choice. Where we live, DVD cannot talk to us directly as they aren't registered here for real estate sales. I couldn't get a guide to talk to me or have anything sent to me from DVD (including the dvd!) So it took LOTS of looking on several internet sites over several months (here, AllEars, Magical Mountain, Mouse Planet and, of course the Timeshare Store's site) and lots of number crunching to figure this was right for us, the resort we wanted (OKW ) and the contract size we wanted. We also paid cash, as we did not see this as an investment (its prepaid vacation accomodation) and to minimize exchange rate swings (though the CDN dollar is doing good now, it can fluctuate over years).

 

[jimmacmn]

DW and I would stay at the Deluxe resorts (GF and YC) whenever we went to WDW. We saw the DVC kiosks but thought why would we want to do that when we could stay at the Deluxe resorts. On an outbound day in 1994 we had a bunch of time to kill so we signed up for the tour. DW loved the OKW rooms (especially the GV). What actually clinched it for us was the nice discount availble because my brother was a CM at the time. We have never looked back. It was a wonderful way to prepay our WDW trips in great accomodations. Over the years we have shared our accomodations with family and friends and several of them have also become DVC members. Now 13 years and 2 add ons later, we are still just as happy with our decision and we think we have gotten value for the $ we have spent on DVC.

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

I did much research after our first trip in 1997, however it wasn't financially feasible at that time. so for several years I studied it until i knew how it worked and was comfortable with the system (mostly this was an exercise and dreaming, wishing and just plain driving my wife nuts ) i always said if i could ever afford it I would do it.

Long story short, an unexpected windfall and in 2004 we made the purchase.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Although I voted that we did some research and talked to our guide a few more times, actually we did VERY little financial research. And I never visited these boards until after we joined (BIG mistake-I could have gotten so much info here). DH didn't even take the tour! I took the tour on a solo trip, and our subsequent discussions with our guide were really to clarify for DH some things our guide had said, but I couldn't really remember. To DH, he saw it as a way to force him to take vacations regularly (he'd been more than a bit of a workaholic). For me, it was "Own a piece of Disney? I'm there!"

One of the best things about DVC is... that we take vacations......

 

[DisDaydreamer]

I did much research after our first trip in 1997, however it wasn't financially feasible at that time. so for several years I studied it until i knew how it worked and was comfortable with the system (mostly this was an exercise and dreaming, wishing and just plain driving my wife nuts ) i always said if i could ever afford it I would do it.

Long story short, an unexpected windfall and in 2004 we made the purchase.

Well... you know... these things happen sometimes (windfalls) and what better way to spend it.... I had a co-worker that spent his on a motorcycle.

 

[Deb & Bill]

One of the best things about DVC is... that we take vacations......

Exactly! I don't think we had taken but one or two vacations in the previous five years before we bought DVC. Now we take our vacations, plan them out and have a blast, especially when we can leave our work behind us.

 

[Muushka]

Did I research? Let me think. Started on the boards in 1997 and heard about DVC and started researching.

Visited DVC at BWV a year later (with 1 year more research) and bought a contract there.

Rescinded the contract when we decided we wanted to buy at VWL (more research!).

Bought at the end of 2000, after 3 years of research. Yeah, I would say we researched (ad nauseum).

I think that Jollymon might be confusing DVC owners to the same type of consumers who buy a new car based on the car payments.

 

[lizanne]

I voted No Research, but the monthly payments had nothing to do with the decision.

We bought in 1992, sight unseen. We had a trip planned and a friend of my DH mentioned that he just bought into the new DVC. He gave us a number to call and we purchased immediately. We were able to use the points purchased for the trip we planned anyway and cancelled the ressies for one of the townhouses at the old Disney Vacation Villas (now sight of SSR).

The incentives at that time included park tickets (thru 2000) and since we have 5 kids that really made the decision easy.

Those first points didn't cost us much more that the original plans would have cost.

 

[wildernessDad]

I voted for 'Some research, bought after you talked to a guide a few or more times.'

We knew that we wanted VWL, not SSR. Let me quickly say that I think SSR is a very beautiful resort and we want to stay there in the future. We just fell in love with WL during our stay. I had not planned on talking with a DVC rep, but had some time and thought, 'why not?' I liked what I saw, but wanted VWL. Got it through Disney and have not looked back.

 

[simzac]

I voted for much research. In fact, I researched for over 10 years before I purchased last year.

 

[jarestel]

Did no actual research at all. Nada! We visited the VWL models at the old BW office for a look-see and decided to mull it over for 6 to 8 weeks prior to actually purchasing our initial contract. We asked a few questions of our guide but that's about it. Didn't know about the DIS boards when we purchased either. So we were truly babes in the woods. We ended up buying VWL because that's what DVC was selling at the time and by luck, it turned out to be our favorite resort! (and still is)

Of course my house is filled with stuff I bought on a whim and then decided I had no real use for. Fortunately DVC hasn't become part of the useless clutter.

 

[Parkhopper13]

I, being a finance guy (I have a PhD in Finance), had a major mental block to surmount. I had always been told, "Timeshares are a ripoff". But I loved Disney. One trip, I had some downtime and figured I'd take the tour, get my $50 and blow holes through their entire sales pitch (I am trained in time-value of money and opportunity cost of money). After the sales presentation, I was intrigued, but skeptical. I arrived home after our vacation and developed three spreadsheets. No matter how hard I tried, I could not prove DVC as a bad deal....by the contrary, how could I pass up this opportunity. Still unconvinced, my wife and I rented points and came down to SSR for the weekend. We stayed, enjoyed the ammenities and toured other DVC resorts. By the time the trip was done, we bought 200 points from our original guide with the friends and family discount. We have since added on and are waiting until CRV to add on again.

Let me tell you, I love DVC, never regretted a minute, and truly believe that if you plan on visiting Disney at least every third year, you can save a ton of money. I think the timeshare should never expire......after all, we are paying about $1 million for a studio, but even taking that into account, what a great deal. If you enjoy Disney, would like to visit regularly.......this is the way to do it, hands down.
So, that being said, my brother visited, took the tour and bought immediatly, not having researched at all. He had done the exact same thing I had done, without any research, where I had spent about a year engulfed in numbers. He was all caught up to me in 120 minutes.

The moral of the story is:
- DVC is a great deal, and regardless if you do research or not, you made a good choice if you are a Disney fan.
- You obviously don't need a PhD in Finance to realize that DVC is a remarkable deal. Regardless of its shortcomings.
- I hate my younger brother for riding my coatails, yet again.
- I did a lot of research!!!!

If you'd like my spreadsheets.....PM me and I'd be happy to email them to you.

 

[mello]

We have some friends who bought OKW in the beginning, and we tried to find out about it, but our state didn't allow Disney to send us any info on it due to timeshare solicitation laws. Dumb, since we were actually soliciting Disney for the info, not the other way around, but that's how it was. We quizzed our friends and looked at all their info and bided our time for several years. When we started thinking about our first trip to WDW we planned to look into DVC while there, so we did lots of internet research first. We actually found the Timeshare Store website long before we found the Disboards. The Dis was very helpful to us, both in planning our trip, and in learning all about DVC. We wanted to buy, but weren't sure when we'd do it. Our goal was to see the rooms in person when we did the tour - we already knew all about the points, cost, dues, etc. Well, we fell in love with SSR, and they were offering some good incentives, so we were an extremely easy sale on the day of our tour! We also fell in love with F&W and Epcot, so on our next trip down we did a little add-on at BCV. So far we're very happy with our decisions!

 

[jpolak]

We did a lot of research in regards to how much we could comfortably afford. We wanted to join DVC ever since we first heard about it on our honeymoon in 1998. Fast foward to Sept/Oct 06 and we rented points to stay at BCV and we knew we were hooked. Pair that with the friends and family promotion that they were running at SSR and the time was right.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I didn't answer, because none of those scenarios applies to us. We DID do some research, and took 3+ years from the time we first toured until we purchased. We did NOT however worry about WHICH home resort, since we knew right away it would be DVC (now OKW). We also did not purchase to make payments....We purchased when we could pay in full.