Our DVC Story

I was thinking the other day on the way home from work that I really needed to write down our DVC experience.  Over the years I have posted on various message boards and forums detailing our rather unusual DVC experience, but I will be honest, over the last 10 years things start running together.

Last week I was searching my e-mail and found the e-mail conversations from our original DVC 25 point purchase back in spring 2007.  But our DVC journey didn't really start then, it started a few years earlier.  In 2003 or 2004 (I can't really remember which one), we stayed at Wilderness Lodge for our weddding anniversary as had become a tradition over the years.  While there, there was a post card on the table to take a DVC tour for I think either a $100 or $200 gift card.  Well, that was a no brainer.  I had walked past the kiosks for the two or three previous years, and knew a little bit about it, that it was Disney's version of a timeshare, but there timeshare tours weren't as pushy as the traditional Orlando timeshares, and that it was point based, so I figured what the heck.  Our tour was at Boardwalk, as at this point Saratoga Springs was still under construction.  I can't remember a whole lot about the tour, except the explanation on how DVC works, and I do remember they were selling only SSR at the time for around $83 a point (compared to today's what are we at now $160 a point?).  The minimum buy in at the time was 150-160 points, and we almost did it.  We took the package home with us, and talked about it some more... I was sold on the idea, but in the end we didn't buy in.  It came down to a financial decision at that point, and instead we used the money to buy our first house.  Not a bad decision, but it was one that I would both regret for a few years, but looking back was probably the right decision at the time.

Skip forward a few years and I haven't yet stopped thinking about DVC, its now 2006 and we take a family vacation with Jeff's mom and sister and husband to Disney for Thanksgiving.  While there we spend some time at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge, in the Iron Spike Room.  I always say the Villas at Wilderness Lodge sold me on DVC, and it was this one moment that did it.  I really wanted DVC, but I really wasn't all that interested in SSR, and that was what DVC was selling at the time... That was when I started reading the DVC boards on the disboards and discovered the wonderful world of resale.  Resale opened up a whole new world to me, not only could you buy in at older resorts, you didn't have to buy in for 150 points, which at the time was around $12,000 up front.  I certainly didn't want to take a loan out for a timeshare and I certainly didnt' have $12,000 lying around.

Jeff and I talked about it off and on over the next year, I really wanted between 50-100 points to start, but he kept explaining that we didn't have that kind of money... Then one night I had an idea.  AT&T where I was working at the time was offering just about unlimited overtime, people were working 50-60+ hours a week, one guy I knew had stated he was saving for something (I can't remmeber what specifically).  I realized I could easily do the same thing, and with my salary being what it was at the time I could have $2000 in a matter of one to two months.  Enough for 25 points.

Now I hate working overtime, now, then, always.  However, when I have a goal in sight, it makes working that overtime exponetially easier.  I achieved my goal, contacted a few DVC resellers, explained what I wanted, which was a 25 point contract, really anywhere, (because I already understood the 7-11 month window and realized we would be using our first points at OKW).  and within days I had a contract that was appealing, 25 points OKW September use year.  The whole buying process as some know, and I won't go into detail on, was long and tedious, but a few months after that first offer we signed the documents and were DVC members!  I remember the day I called Member Services the first time, it was in the offices at AT&T, and our made our first DVC reservation, three nights at an OKW studio for 24 points total in January.

A lot of people ask the question why did you join DVC?  After 10 years I can tell you the answer to that question now is a whole lot different than the answer then, but it hasn't really changed, I have only developed a wider respect and appreciation for the deciion I made 10 years previous.  I originally bought because I was honestly, sick and tired of value resorts.  Not that there is anything wrong with Pop Century, but hey its loud, a little messy and very busy and it does sort of feel like you are staying in a Motel 6.  I will be honest I really loved staying at Wilderness Lodge or even the moderates were great, and I wanted to keep staying at resorts of that level.  DVC from how I saw it then, and now allows me a guarantee of that level of accommodations until it ends, probably when I am like 90 years old and dont' care anymore.  (it expires, 2042 for OKW and VWL, 2060 for BLT, and I am not even sure what Poly is).

I don't usually hold grudges but I hasten to mention one I have atleast always remembered.  There are some that still to this day don't believe that owning 25 points, or a small point contract at all, makes you a "real" DVC member.  In fact, instead of being all positive when I posted about my recent purchase of 25 points, I was actually told by a fewer posters on the disboards that I had bought the 25 points not to be a DVC member but for the $100 annual pass discount... I can't figure that one out to this day.  $100 a year, times two people = $200.  It cost me $2500 about to buy the points... assuming the discount existed forever, I would have had to own those points for about twenty years to pay back the investment.  To put it bluntly, I joined DVC pretty much for the same reaosn most join DVC.  Rant over.

We stayed at OKW those three nights in January, and I immediately fell in love.  Not with Old Key West so much, but with DVC.  Over the years we have stayed at OKW maybe 3-4 times, and I have never been a fan, the rooms are old, and need refurbishments badly, we have had a whole host of issues that are to numerous to go into here, however, it is still about a million times better than Pop Century.  I also have to say though many do love OKW, I can atleast appreciate the charm of the resort, the overall exteriors and neighborhood feeling are unduplicated and I though I may not love the resort myself, I can appreciate it, and I can certainly appreciate the low point values of the rooms which is why i continue to own there.

Not long after returning I made the immediate decision that we needed more DVC points, and it wasn't long afterwards that I made the call to my new DVC guide (I can't even remember who it was), and bought another 25 points.  Now here is the interesting thing about DVC, at the time, and I am pretty sure even today, you couldn't become a member direct from DVC for 25 points. (I think you can now for 50?), However, ONCE you were a member you can add on for as little as 25 points.  At the time, when you added on the prices weren't all that different from resale, maybe $5-7 more a point or so, but you received several benifits from buying direct, it was faster, and you received current years points.  Those were more then good enough reasons to buy direct for me.

Now armed with 75 points (25 points from the original OKW contract, and then 25 points, plus the 25 current year points banked), I went and booked for January 2009, 6 nights at OKW in a studio.  Almost our whole vacation with be DVC!  Of course I wasn't done yet, I waitlisted for five nights at my dream resort, the Villas at Wilderness Lodge and waited.  Not to patiently either.  Unlike today where there is a website where you can check availability, and book and change resorts without so much a phone call, back in 2009 if you wanted to make any changes or even check availability you had to call Member Services.  Keeping in mind that OKW wasn't then nor is it now one of my favorite resorts I tried for anything diffferent, and it came through.  I was able to get four nights at Boardwalk Villas (BWV), and two nights at OKW about a month later.  Of course, not long after that my waitlist came through, and every was for naught.  So with five nights at Wilderness Lodge, I'll be honest I can't remember where I made up the rest, maybe Pop Century, that's what we had done the previous year.  The interesting point though is that while staying at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge two things happened, I realized  how much I really wanted to own at the VWL,  and two DVC made its first major change while we were DVC members.  Now for me I had several years to research DVC before making our first (small) purchase, I didn't know everything, but I was familiar with what DVC could and couldn't do.  I knew that DVC had re-aligned points once at OKW in 1996, causing studios to go from 6 points to 8 points.  I also knew most people booked their DVC stays sunday through thursday since weekends where overly point heavy.  So I was not a bit suprised, and infact happy that DVC made the decision to re-align their points starting in 2010.  In fact, this would occur twice, since DVC could only change point values so much in one given year.  The point was to make weekends closer in point value to weekedays.  Law of supply and demand states that if demand exceeds supply then something must be done, and in this case it was, and overall I believe it helped all DVC members.  I stated my point on the disboards, and though most wouldn't expect it from one that only owned 50 points at the time... I expected to own many more over the next few years.  An expectation that came true.  Sooner then even I expected.

SO if you are following along with started with 25 points in April 2007, 25 more points in spring 2008, and we were at a total of 50 OKW points which we used for a reservation at VWL in January 2009.

It was on this trip that Bay Lake Tower went on sale.  Of course all of us knew for the past year that it was coming, the north wing of the garden rooms at the Contemporary had been demolised a new 14 story tower rising in its place.  It was pretty obvious that it was going to be DVC.  The problem for us, and I am sure many others, is that went BLT went on sale to existing owners DVC set a requirement for the minimum buy in of 100 points.  Jeff and I had talked about adding on 50 points there, but there was no way with our savings we could be 100, it was the first time I was rather disappointed in DVC and I certainly let my feelings be known.  I doubt my opinion mattered much but only a few months later, the 100 point minimum buy in for existing members went away...  So why Bay Lake Tower when only a few months earlier I had pledged my undying loyalty to Wilderness Lodge?  No two resorts could be more different.  Well the simple answer was Jeff, he had always loved the monorail, and had wanted to stay at the Contemporary (the hotel the monorail travels through) for years, but had not and still has not, its hard to bit a bullet at almost $400 a night!
Jeff wasn't alone in his love of monorails though I have to say at the time my love wasn't quite as extreme.

I can't remember the exact price per point we paid for BLT several months later (because we had to save some of the money up!), but it was between $93-$98 per point, at the time it seemed slightly excessive... now not so much!  (oh how I wish I could buy more points there at that price!).  Looking back of any contract I had purchased BLT was probably my best decision I made in hindsight.  Over time my love for BLT has grown, its point values for standard rooms are lowish, its location is AMAZING, and the rooms, especially the 1-bedrooms are very well laid out.  Its one of those things if I had to do over again I would do it again exactly the way I did.

Now at 100 points I got to thinking... that maybe that original 25 point buy in was a really good idea, after all in the beginning I had wanted 100 points, and now barely three years later I was there and I certainly wasn't done.  BLT opened in 2010, but since I wanted to make sure I had all 150 points (50 points with banking and borrowing), the plan wasn't to use DVC points for BLT until 2011.  So for January 2010 the plan was instead to use OKW points only, and use them for a 1 bedroom, my choice for five nights was either at OKW or a BWV standard view.  Today, BWV standard views are almost virtually impossible at 7 months, back then it was hard, but not impossible. I remember when I called, it was during Coaster Con 2009, when it was Branson, MO, I got up one very steamy morning to call Member Services.  Back then you still had to call to book reservations, you couldn't book them online.  I got right through, and asked about BWV Standard view 1 bedroom for Sunday through Thursday... it was available!  I booked it, and was thrilled.

At that point the plan was to add Carribbean Beach Resort on for Friday and Saturday nights, to fill out the rest of the week of vacation, but as sometimes happens... it didn't happen.  In fact, now almost a decade later, CBR is STILL the only moderate I have yet to stay at!  However, that was because we decided to upgrade, and instead of CBR we upgraded to Polynesian resort for those two nights, a resort I still love today, but would never pay the cash rates of today!  Then it was already expensive at $225 a  night.  Expensive but only for two nights.  I ended up loving Boardwalk, its location is excellent, a short walk to EPCOT and a walk to Hollywood Studios, the buses to Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney are a nightmare though!  I also found, like a lot of things with DVC, that the things I thought I would love about DVC I did like, but I discovered things I loved even more that I didn't realize.  Like the washer and dryer IN THE ROOM.  That is the bomb right there.  A lot of people I had read said that once you stay in a 1 bedroom you will never go back to a studio, and Im back and forth on that.  I think its all the frame of mind, if you plan your trip for one thing, then you aren't wishing usually for another, if that makes sense.   Last comment on our first stay in a 1 bedroom, I found it rather, empty, they are VERY large rooms (about the size of a good sized apartment), and with just two people, can feel empty.  I would learn how to capitalize on that feature in the future.

At this point I am not entirely sure what year we added on next, I know we added 33 points at Wilderness Lodge one year, and 30 the next, but I can't remember if it was 2010 and 2011, or 2011 and 2012 we did the add on's, I almost want to say it was 2010 and 2011.  But needless to say in a few short years we went from "only" owning 25 points to 163 total points, where we would stay for awhile.  With three home resorts, it was also with our stay in 2011 that we would begin what I call the "resort rotation" program.  Though there was never any PLAN to add on at exactly three resorts, it worked out well, and we ended up having three home resorts for the 11 month window.  It all started when we bought in at BLT in 2009 but didn't actually stay there until 2011, because I was stockpiling the points to have the most I could have there at one time, 150 total.  We booked 9 nights a Magic Kingdom view studio.

The next year, was OKW, and instead of a studio we went and did a 1 bedroom for 6-7 nights there (see I can't even remember that!), but though I can't remember how many nights we spent there I can remember a conversation we had at Olivia's with another family vacationing there at the time.  It was one that would change my vacationing and really... my life for the next several years.  Prior to 2012, Jeff and I had been coming down to Disney at the end of January, we were married Jan 26, 2002 and we always tried to make sure our vacation included our anniversary in it.  In 2012, that had to change.  Both jeff and I had started school (myself nursing, Jeff was in school for a stationary engineering degree), and Jan 26th wasn't going to work anymore.  Instead, we decided to move it to the second week of January.  For anyone that knows Disney, knows that this is the week AFTER Marathon weekend.  We did not realize this at all.  I believe we arrived just as the races were finishing up so that didn't bother us, but it was people, people that didn't a bit like what we thought runners "should" look like (and neither did we), came in to eat at Olivia's wearing half marathon medals.  They had finished the half marathon, and yet... the looked like me.  Now at that time, I was already jogging a bit, 2-3 miles usually, I think I got up to a maximum of 5-6 miles at one point, but I had never thought about entering a race.  I thought those were for the fast people.  You know people that enjoying running the mile you had to run in high school as part of gym class.  Not like me, who complained about it and then walked it. We got into a conversation with these strangers, and found out anyone could run a disney race!  They even told us we probably wouldn't have had a problem with the half marathon!  Crazy thought!


2013 was to be Wilderness Lodge year, and at 11 months I made my reservation for a 1 bedroom.. this time it overlapped Marathon Weekend.  I am not sure if I did that on purpose, or if it just ended up that way because we didn't even register for the 5k until October of 2012.  (yes three months before there were still plenty of openings!).  Little did we know this was going to be the opening act of a melodrama still playing out today, little did we know what we had gotten ourselves into.   Without requesting it we ended up in one of the odd shaped Wilderness Lodge 1 bedrooms, it had a four seat table, and the living room was slightly larger then the normal 1 bedrooms.  I knew this from pictures and also from our previous stay in a Boardwalk 1 bedroom which is laid out almost identically.  Now we had talked online off and on with a guy we had known in Kansas City, who was also a runner, and he was the prototypically runner, tall, skinny, coral A, you get the point.  We had told him that the 5k was to be our first ever race (which it was), and we asked if he wanted to get together for breakfast at Whispering Canyon afterwards.  Now we assumed at this point he was running the 5k.  Not only did he join us for breakfast, he met us at the finish line, went back to our room and then we went for breakfast!  While doing so we found out he had NOT ran the 5k, but instead showed up just because it was our first race.  (Awwww....),  we also found out he was running the Goofy Challenge (the half and full marathons back to back), the next two days.  Now had we known better we would have gone out and cheered him on.  We should have done that.  But we were new to this running/racing thing, and had no idea crowd support was a THING.  The other point though is that Jeff got into his mind... that he too could do the Goofy Challenge.  Not in a few years... but NEXT year.  I thought he was crazy.  Well he is crazy.  It didn't take too long for him to talk me into that.  However, then Disney announced the first ever Dopey Challenge and Jeff was... well we NEED to do that!  That took some further coercing on my part (I don't give in easily), but I finally gave in and agreed to it.

2014 would be the first DVC reservation that I ever made that would be made specifically for Marathon Weekend.  I believe the original plan was to reserve 7 nights at BLT in a studio, and then add on Wednesday and Thursday in a  cash onsite room.  Well... I did reserve BLT at 11 months, but we couldn't decide on the cash room, and I decided to waitlist a few places and see if I could get a room on points.  Turns out I could, and we spent the first two nights in a Beach Club studio.  Overall, with just the two of us the switch was rather painless, I believe we got into BLT around 1-2 pm in the afternoon, it was one of the few times we received the room ready text, though we sign up for it every time!

I won't go into detail on the rooms or stays themselves from this point since I did trip reports for each Dopey Challenge but I'll definitely make commentary on booking and the actual groups that stayed with us since that is such a big part of DVC.

After the first year of doing Dopey we have rather fallen into a tradition, though I am not sure what will happen with next year if we will continue Dopey or not.  In 2015 we had points for OKW to use. Now by this point we had had multiple issues with OKW, broken doors, leaking bathrooms, mold in the showers, you name it.  Even to a point where in the previous stay, in 2012, we had points for one night refunded (which we used for a stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas), and a cash room night refunded (which went back to Disney too...). so we really didn't WANT to stay at Old Key West, to a point I waited until 7 months to book anything.  BAD IDEA.  See I was using my experience from booking Boardwalk Villas at 7 months from a few years previous.  I figured if I could get a standard view at 7 months, I should be able to get something even though it was on Marathon Weekend.  Nope.  I couldn't find anything consecutively except a studio at OKW.  And trust me I tried.  I SHOULD have remembered this experience for this year but I didn't.  We were staying with Jeff, myself and Suzy, Jeff's sister who was running the 5k an 10k, and we spent the first night at Port Orleans Riverside and then switched to Old Key West.  A few things stand out to me from this trip.  First, it took until almost 5 pm for us to get our room at OKW, since I was told I would get a text and never did, finally around 4:30-5 pm I went to the front desk and found out the room had been ready for almost an hour.  That was frustrating and one of the reasons I am concerned over a room change we have coming up this coming January.  Second, we were in building 45, which was a beautiful location, but the only problem being was the painful walk on Sunday after the marathon from the bus to the room.  Overall though it wasn't too bad of an experience, and for that reason I decided to take a chance on Old Key West this coming January again.

Our stay at Old Key West also started another tradition.. that of inviting others to stay with us.  We had Jeff's sister with us at Old Key West.  The next year, we stayed at Polynesian on the points we had just bought there, and had four in the room, which was a stretch but worked out.  Last year, in 2017 (which is actually THIS year, but I call it last year since this year I am thinking about our upcoming reservation... confusing I know).  we stayed in a BLT 1 bedroom for five nights.  Now that we live in Florida we don't need the whole 7-8 night stays, and man do I love owning at BLT and getting a standard view 1 bedroom for Marathon Weekend!  This year it was Mark, Courtney (a friend of Mark's) and Jeff and I.  I really loved having two bathrooms, so we didn't all have to share!

This coming year I have reserved a 2 bedroom.  Why?  Because its the fifth year of Dopey and I wanted to do an amazing room and have several running friends stay together.  Yes, its my points, no I have never asked anyone to pay for the room, because why?  I need a room anyway right?  So right now its two nights (wed and thursday) at OKW in a 2 bedroom lock off and then four nights (Friday-Tuesday) at Wilderness Lodge Copper Creek 2 bedroom.  Now in hindsight, what I SHOULD have done was book the nights I had points for at OKW and the nights I had points for at Wilderness Lodge at 11 months.  But No, I thought for sure I would be able to get a 2 bedroom somewhere at 7 months all together.  Trust me I was watching it leading up to the 7 month booking window.  In fact, at 7 months from Tuesday, 7 nights from Tuesday to Tuesday was available at OKW in a 2 bedroom, I could have booked that and then cancelled tuesday!  But no, I didn't need tuesday and for sure Wednesday through Tuesday would be available the next day right?  NOPE.  In fact the only place that had availability for 6 nights was Copper Creek.  And I HAD IT, on the first booking webpage, but it disappeared on the second one, I was too slow clicking I guess.  But I was able to get Friday-Tuesday there a few days later (I have no idea....), and thankfully on July 1st tons of availability opened up and I got OKW for Wednesday and Thursday night.  Still waitlisted for those two nights at Wilderness Lodge.

So looking back I have learned A LOT.  I thought when I bought DVC I knew a lot about it, I think overall I did, more then the average buyer.  However, what I knew was the basics of how DVC worked, I had yet to learn how it worked... for me.  That may not be the same for everyone but I figured I would share my wisdom, what I have learned, hoping that it will help someone else, and also help me remember in the years to come my experiences that I have had.  Looking back and looking at the prices for rooms these days at Disney, DVC was a wonderful decision, I bought in at the perfect time for us, prices were "high" compared to what they were a decade previous, but compared to day they were almost half of today's prices.  I have my deluxe accommodations, at great resorts, and I can share them with others for no extra cost!  So what have I learned in a nut shell.,,,

LOVE your home resort, make sure you are okay staying there.  We own today at OKW, Polynesian, Wilderness Lodge Boulder Ridge, and Bay Lake Tower, I may not be a huge fan of OKW but I am okay with it.  I bought in back when we lived in Missouri and vacationed at the end of January and it was just the two of us.  Now, we live in Orlando Florida, vacation during Marathon Weekend, and invite friends.  It still works for us.  In fact, the decisions I made 7-8 years ago work great even today.

Realize your opinions of your home resorts will change.  Especially if you haven't stayed there prior to buying in.  I wasn't sure what I was going to think of BLT before buying in, if you take it from an outsiders perspective it does sort of have a cold, sterile feel to it, however, that is its theme, its a FABULOUS location, and the standard view points make this my favorite home resort.  Would have never guessed that.  Wilderness Lodge, which I thought would be my favorite, I still love it, I love having the 11 month booking window for it, but I am not as big a fan as I used to be thanks to the refurb on it about five years ago.  Polynesian, I am back and forth on.  I have said that if I could swap my poly points for more BLT points I would in a heartbeat and that's true.  However, I do still love Polynesian, and with the recent release of rack rates... yeah its definitely a good value owning points there!

Make a good economic decision for you.  If I was to make the same decision today on whether to buy DVC at current prices I wouldn't be buying direct from DVC, regardless of the perks.  NO WAY would I pay $150-$180 per point, I paid half that, and it was direct from DVC.  However, it may make sense to others to pay that much.  Certainly there were those who had bought DVC back when it was $50 a point and though $90 was crazy too at the time.  Looking back,  I will be honest I bought DVC with my heart, I so so so wanted to own DVC, but overall it has been an exemplary economically decision too.  I haven't even really looked at cash rates in at least a few years...

Last thing, and I am guilty of this in a lot of situations.  DO NOT let other's dictate your final decision, or let other's make you feel like you made a bad decision.  The decision of DVC has to be right for one person, and that one person is YOU.  They way we bought DVC was completely different from the way most people do, I started with 25 points, and some tried to make me feel like  I wasn't a real DVC member, if I had listened to what others had said I would still not be a DVC member probably.  I am GLAD I did it the way I did it, I would change very little (see the polynesian point see above), and I would do it again that way if the choice presented itself to me again.

Overall, I am writing this because I look back at all the decisions I made with DVC, and feel happy, thrilled with the decision I made.  I have made some mistakes in life, a lot in some cases, but DVC is not one of them.  I am THRILLED to be able to own DVC and share it with friends and family, and overall have a better experience because of it.