Has DVC ruined any one else's vacations?

[AvidDisReader]

This thread brings back so many memories. First went to WDW in 1975, my wife and I stayed off site. Over the next 25+ years we stayed both off site and in the Disney bubble while contemplating joining DVC. I did a ton of research and there was a lot thought that went into finally buying DVC, but what a difference it makes. Not just the quality of rooms, but the flexability. We can go just ourselves in a studio, with kids/grand kids in a 1 BR or 2 BR. Yes, there are times we run out of points and book non DVC, it just makes us miss "going home" (and caused some addonitis).

 

[Shellyred8]

A few years ago we did a trip to Disneyland. We stayed the first 3 nights off-site and the last 4 nights at VGC (we got super lucky at 7 months out!). I'm glad we did it in that order, or I would've been really disappointed with the off-site hotel. The off-site hotel was fine. But I REALLY liked staying at the VGC!

 

[Shellyred8]

Yes, there are times we run out of points and book non DVC, it just makes us miss "going home" (and caused some addonitis).

I can totally relate to this!!!

 

[Chuck S]

It also comes with growing...ahem...older. When I was young Motel 6 was fine. Even through my 40's, I appreciated a good deal, as long as the room was clean. Then middle age hit, and I decided I needed to upgrade to better accommodations. Now. in my 60's, it is not unusual, as long as I have enough points, to stay in a 1 bedroom at OKW if I make a solo trip.

 

[POOH&PIGLET]

<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/3ohnEIlPb6lcuvdpKM" width="60" height="45" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="

">via GIPHY</a></p>

 

[pmcpmc]

First off, let me give you some history.

My wife and I are fairly frugal. When we were first married, we would find the cheapest hotel, order the cheaper items on menus etc. We would both laugh at how expensive some resorts were at Disneyland and Disney World. "Look at this dear. They want $500 bucks a night for a studio. Who pays this kind of money for a bed?" Long story short, we were gifted a 2 day vacation to Disney World in 2012. While there we learned about the Disney Vacation Club. When the person at the booth learned that we were staying in All-Stars Movies, they were noticeable less interested in talking to us but they pitched DVC as "listen to this presentation for free fastpasses". Free fastpasses to any ride? Done. We'll get an early presentation and get them in time to hit the parks in the morning. We meet up for the presentation and talk to the guide. We walk through the rooms... (AKV was selling at the time) and we both were like...Wow. These are really nice. Then they give us the pitch about points and the price and we were pretty close to signing, but wanted to take some time to think about it.

Enter the DIS Boards. Really invaluable resource here. Long story short, we ended up buying resale at SSR. And we have loved it! We have been able to stay at OKW, SSR, and VGC in the last 6 years. Later we added on another resale contract at VGC because we love the resort and it is a drive for us rather than a flight.

Enter family reunion... So my wife's family wanted to do a Disneyland trip for their first ever family reunion. Okay, cool. My wife and I both love Disney. They want everyone staying at the same hotel so we have a sense of togetherness. Awesome! It is a family reunion after all! My wife works with her mom to find a place close that seems decent. It is basically across the street from the gate. Cool! Looks like a great location!

The vacation arrives and we are excited! Disneyland! Fresh Sourdough (my favorite)! Star Wars Land! Halloween theme! We are super pumped! We have stayed at the VGC a couple times by this point.

We arrive at the hotel, get to the room and... huh. Is this it? ...What is that smell? How much did we pay for this? We were both super disappointed. Knowing that we could have stayed at the VGC instead for less money (but didn't because of family)... Being at the parks was almost depressing knowing what we would have to go back to. Staying off property was not something my wife and I enjoyed.

We noticed many things that we never would have thought of as reason to stay on Disney property. For example, as soon as you leave Disney property, you no longer have the rules and restrictions. There are no designated smoking areas. So as soon as people leave the property, they lite up. You are walking through cigarette smoke almost every time you leave the property to go to your hotel. With a toddler in tow, I was very not happy about it. The rooms that we stayed in had no magic. Zero, zilch, nada. They were substandard, overpriced and disappointing. The pool was a joke and cold. The room came with free breakfast though. So I guess that was nice. But the room and location caused us to go in and out of the magic for the entire vacation. It was hard to feel the full Disney experience when we were so dramatically pulled out of the magic during the middle of the day for naps, and at the end of every day when we went to sleep.

7 years ago, the room would have been great, and we would have been happy just to be there. But once you have tasted the DVC koolaid, you just can't go back.

My wife and I agreed that never again, would we stay off property. DVC has made it so that we can't vacation at Disney any other way. Thank you DVC for ruining my family reunion and helping me realize how much better it could have been.

You think you have had it hard my wife and I used to pay $29/night for a quality inn at the corner of Sand lake Road and international drive always in July and always for 21 nights .Because we were coming each year from Ireland decided to look at buying a villa but heard so many horror stories of villas from a friend who had bought one that we decided to go for timeshare .Bought at Oasis Lakes at end of international drive ,Kissimmee end We were given while we were there 2 nights free .Our 21 year old son asked us the first night we stayed to pick him up at pleasure Island at 2:00am Shock ,horror what had we done !
Next day we were visiting MGM studios(Hollywood studios now)and decided to walk to Epcot .Discovered BWV and went to see pre sale talk .
Extremely impressed but told sales guy we had bought at Oasis Lakes ,no problem he said we will cancel Oasis lakes .Now how many points do you want he asked ,bought 500 and within months had 960 BWV, 300 OKW and 240 SSR total 1500. What a sad time ,1998 cost me $90000 max
Got even more depressed when It paid itself off in five years but
Now had to look forward to years of misery staying in one bedroom 3 weeks in Summer for $0 ,Oooh bother Thanks to Disboards

 

[Heather07438]

You think you have had it hard my wife and I used to pay $29/night for a quality inn at the corner of Sand lake Road and international drive always in July and always for 21 nights .Because we were coming each year from Ireland decided to look at buying a villa but heard so many horror stories of villas from a friend who had bought one that we decided to go for timeshare .Bought at Oasis Lakes at end of international drive ,Kissimmee end We were given while we were there 2 nights free .Our 21 year old son asked us the first night we stayed to pick him up at pleasure Island at 2:00am Shock ,horror what had we done !
Next day we were visiting MGM studios(Hollywood studios now)and decided to walk to Epcot .Discovered BWV and went to see pre sale talk .
Extremely impressed but told sales guy we had bought at Oasis Lakes ,no problem he said we will cancel Oasis lakes .Now how many points do you want he asked ,bought 500 and within months had 960 BWV, 300 OKW and 240 SSR total 1500. What a sad time ,1998 cost me $90000 max
Got even more depressed when It paid itself off in five years but
Now had to look forward to years of misery staying in one bedroom 3 weeks in Summer for $0 ,Oooh bother Thanks to Disboards

WDW must love you

Oof, most of us couldn't afford 10k/yr dues. But you're looking at about $25k/yr street value compared to renting points, or $40k/yr as regular reservations. Well done! I regret not getting in to DVC sooner.

 

[pmcpmc]

WDW must love you

Oof, most of us couldn't afford 10k/yr dues. But you're looking at about $25k/yr street value compared to renting points, or $40k/yr as regular reservations. Well done! I regret not getting in to DVC sooner.

You win some ,you loose some it’s all very sad

 

[pmcpmc]

First off, let me give you some history.

My wife and I are fairly frugal. When we were first married, we would find the cheapest hotel, order the cheaper items on menus etc. We would both laugh at how expensive some resorts were at Disneyland and Disney World. "Look at this dear. They want $500 bucks a night for a studio. Who pays this kind of money for a bed?" Long story short, we were gifted a 2 day vacation to Disney World in 2012. While there we learned about the Disney Vacation Club. When the person at the booth learned that we were staying in All-Stars Movies, they were noticeable less interested in talking to us but they pitched DVC as "listen to this presentation for free fastpasses". Free fastpasses to any ride? Done. We'll get an early presentation and get them in time to hit the parks in the morning. We meet up for the presentation and talk to the guide. We walk through the rooms... (AKV was selling at the time) and we both were like...Wow. These are really nice. Then they give us the pitch about points and the price and we were pretty close to signing, but wanted to take some time to think about it.

Enter the DIS Boards. Really invaluable resource here. Long story short, we ended up buying resale at SSR. And we have loved it! We have been able to stay at OKW, SSR, and VGC in the last 6 years. Later we added on another resale contract at VGC because we love the resort and it is a drive for us rather than a flight.

Enter family reunion... So my wife's family wanted to do a Disneyland trip for their first ever family reunion. Okay, cool. My wife and I both love Disney. They want everyone staying at the same hotel so we have a sense of togetherness. Awesome! It is a family reunion after all! My wife works with her mom to find a place close that seems decent. It is basically across the street from the gate. Cool! Looks like a great location!

The vacation arrives and we are excited! Disneyland! Fresh Sourdough (my favorite)! Star Wars Land! Halloween theme! We are super pumped! We have stayed at the VGC a couple times by this point.

We arrive at the hotel, get to the room and... huh. Is this it? ...What is that smell? How much did we pay for this? We were both super disappointed. Knowing that we could have stayed at the VGC instead for less money (but didn't because of family)... Being at the parks was almost depressing knowing what we would have to go back to. Staying off property was not something my wife and I enjoyed.

We noticed many things that we never would have thought of as reason to stay on Disney property. For example, as soon as you leave Disney property, you no longer have the rules and restrictions. There are no designated smoking areas. So as soon as people leave the property, they lite up. You are walking through cigarette smoke almost every time you leave the property to go to your hotel. With a toddler in tow, I was very not happy about it. The rooms that we stayed in had no magic. Zero, zilch, nada. They were substandard, overpriced and disappointing. The pool was a joke and cold. The room came with free breakfast though. So I guess that was nice. But the room and location caused us to go in and out of the magic for the entire vacation. It was hard to feel the full Disney experience when we were so dramatically pulled out of the magic during the middle of the day for naps, and at the end of every day when we went to sleep.

7 years ago, the room would have been great, and we would have been happy just to be there. But once you have tasted the DVC koolaid, you just can't go back.

My wife and I agreed that never again, would we stay off property. DVC has made it so that we can't vacation at Disney any other way. Thank you DVC for ruining my family reunion and helping me realize how much better it could have been.

Fun post

 

[Dreams&wishes]

Yes and no. DVC has definitely reinforced my preference for a nicer hotel and resort but I travel all over, not just to Disney, and I stay in hotels at varying levels depending on how much time will be spent there. I’ve stayed In a few nice modern artsy hotels with free minibars which I’ve really liked.

I’d say the main thing DVC has ruined me for is the fact that I now really like a nice spacious resort with nice pools and landscaping. While I can get that closer to home in Thailand (live in Australia), I also love the disney bubble of WDW (especially the smoking restrictions meaning that I can enjoy the pools without an asthma attack - the problem we had at nice resorts in Thailand). Overall I’m willing to go all the way to Orlando for that rather than risking being disappointed by cheaper places closer to home.

Hi again Liz!
I didn't realize you were a DVC owner. We were looking into it, but didn't know how it would work from Australia. How often do you go? What accommodation/how many rooms do you generally get? Do you think it's still worthwhile from Australia or would a Gran California Dvc be better for proximity? What stop over do you generally do and how many hours does it take? Sorry soo many questions!

 

[ozliz]

Hi again Liz!
I didn't realize you were a DVC owner. We were looking into it, but didn't know how it would work from Australia. How often do you go? What accommodation/how many rooms do you generally get? Do you think it's still worthwhile from Australia or would a Gran California Dvc be better for proximity? What stop over do you generally do and how many hours does it take? Sorry soo many questions!

No worries about the questions. There are a few Australian DVC owners around and whenever I tell people at WDW that I’m Australian and own they’re surprised. But then I’ve also heard many Americans say they won’t fly to Hawaii due to the length of flight time and Australians are used to long travel (Hawaii is only 9 hours from Sydney which I think is great). You can’t buy direct while physically in Australia but you can buy resale through a broker or wait until you’re next in the US to buy.

I haven’t been an owner for long but have been twice on my own points so far. I rented at WDW and Aulani before buying. I bought a smaller resale contract planning to go every 2-3 years to either Orlando or Aulani. I also know I can rent out points for a year or two if I need a break or the money.

I get studios as have no kids so no reason for the extra space and prefer to have the points go further because it’s such a long flight to Orlando. I’ve only been to California once (long before I had heard of DVC) and would like to go again but don’t plan to be successful with a studio there since there are so few. I’ll waitlist and have a hotel booking as a backup if it doesn’t come through.

Whether it is worth it from Australia will also depend on how many plane fares you have to buy. Orlando used to be a lot more expensive than Los Angeles but recently I’ve seen sale fares for only a few hundred extra which is worth it if you’re only buying one or two tickets but a big consideration if you’re paying for 4+.

I really like WDW as a whole and not just the parks. After visiting the first time I fell in love with the resorts in general. It’s a great place to relax and escape from reality while still having plenty to do for those of us that aren’t good at sitting on a beach of by the pool for more than an hour or two. I love visiting new places but I’m not good at foreign languages, severely allergic to smoke and have complicated dietary requirements. Disney is great with all that.

Finally, I prefer to travel through Dallas as that gives me the longest on an Australian plane - full service! I’ve connected to various places across the US with many of the major airlines and still like the Qantas service best. Also a shorter flight on a smaller domestic sized plane is better than a longer one - but ultimately it does come down to price and which airline has the best sales. I don’t do stopovers much as I usually just want to get there and start my trip. I do sometimes fly into one city then out of another so I can visit more than one part of the country if it’s a longer trip.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

No worries about the questions. There are a few Australian DVC owners around and whenever I tell people at WDW that I’m Australian and own they’re surprised. But then I’ve also heard many Americans say they won’t fly to Hawaii due to the length of flight time and Australians are used to long travel (Hawaii is only 9 hours from Sydney which I think is great). You can’t buy direct while physically in Australia but you can buy resale through a broker or wait until you’re next in the US to buy.

I haven’t been an owner for long but have been twice on my own points so far. I rented at WDW and Aulani before buying. I bought a smaller resale contract planning to go every 2-3 years to either Orlando or Aulani. I also know I can rent out points for a year or two if I need a break or the money.

I get studios as have no kids so no reason for the extra space and prefer to have the points go further because it’s such a long flight to Orlando. I’ve only been to California once (long before I had heard of DVC) and would like to go again but don’t plan to be successful with a studio there since there are so few. I’ll waitlist and have a hotel booking as a backup if it doesn’t come through.

Whether it is worth it from Australia will also depend on how many plane fares you have to buy. Orlando used to be a lot more expensive than Los Angeles but recently I’ve seen sale fares for only a few hundred extra which is worth it if you’re only buying one or two tickets but a big consideration if you’re paying for 4+.

I really like WDW as a whole and not just the parks. After visiting the first time I fell in love with the resorts in general. It’s a great place to relax and escape from reality while still having plenty to do for those of us that aren’t good at sitting on a beach of by the pool for more than an hour or two. I love visiting new places but I’m not good at foreign languages, severely allergic to smoke and have complicated dietary requirements. Disney is great with all that.

Finally, I prefer to travel through Dallas as that gives me the longest on an Australian plane - full service! I’ve connected to various places across the US with many of the major airlines and still like the Qantas service best. Also a shorter flight on a smaller domestic sized plane is better than a longer one - but ultimately it does come down to price and which airline has the best sales. I don’t do stopovers much as I usually just want to get there and start my trip. I do sometimes fly into one city then out of another so I can visit more than one part of the country if it’s a longer trip.

Thanks for your reply. As mentioned before we would be coming from Perth so add an extra 5 hrs + flight there and it would be 6 of us . Add to that I'm originally from Italy and my family still lives there, so I like to go to visit them every year or so. As you said we don't really need to vacation for beaches, as we live 10 mins from an amazing one and neither for relaxation as WA has plenty of nothingness to do . We love DL, but it's really more of a theme park, whereas DW is an amazing resort holiday paired up with the best man made entrainment. We wouldn't be able to go every year, but certainly every 3/4 years that's why I'm unsure with this DVC thing. Also we wouldn't go for 1 week but for 3 weeks so the costs of going without DVC can really creep up. Ah so hard

 

[beccasmom]

I totally agree! Every so often we will mix it up and stay at a monorail resort for a few nights usually at the tail end of a trip, sometimes club level, but not always. We always enjoy it, there is nothing to complain about, the resorts are wonderful, and we stayed there all the time pre-DVC. But I really miss the extra space of DVC. We were early DVC buyers and yes, we’re spoiled.

 

[wdwnut]

My niece’s daughter walked into their room at POR and asked her parents “where’s the rest of it?” We usually stay in GVs when we go.

 

[bumbershoot]

Hub. No, I haven’t had that issue.

For Disneyland I gladly stay offsite. My absolute least favorite onsite resort on either coast is Grand Californian. Just don’t like it. I am perfectly happy to save points for Orlando by staying at any of the fab hotels and even motels down the road from Disneyland. I mean I’d love to stay at paradise pier hotel, but the room rates have gone up too high so I can’t.

Did you do any research on the Dis for the hotel?

But once you have tasted the DVC koolaid, you just can't go back.

FYI, in case you didn’t know, that is a vile and disgusting reference to mass murder and suicide of men, women, and children. Look up jim jones.

and if that isn’t bad enough, it’s a misfire because it was the even cheaper “flavor aid” that he had spiked with poison, not kool aid.

it’s really best to not use that phrase for things you enjoy, given it’s heinous origins.

 

[jimmytammy]

It ruined us for sure, but in a good way! We had taken a few trips bak in the early 2000s and stayed at VWL many times. So we decide its time to branch out and make trip back to Fredericksburg, VA(Im a history nut)after many years of doing nothing but WDW trips. So we stay at a Holiday Inn(I know, I know)that was IMO very nice previous times before. We immediately find ourselves comparing to DVC, and lets say we were looking and bed and breakfasts and more upscale on later trips. So yep, DVC made us "snobs"

 

[pavicich]

When our daughter was 5 we stayed in a very nice hotel room for a race my husband was running the next morning. She had been to Disney many times at that point with DVC. Upon walking in and seeing a normal hotel room setup, she innocently asked “where’s the rest”? We still get a laugh out of that story and are thankful for DVC!

 

[tellingson]

FYI, in case you didn’t know, that is a vile and disgusting reference to mass murder and suicide of men, women, and children. Look up jim jones.

it’s really best to not use that phrase for things you enjoy, given it’s heinous origins.

From Wikipedia "The widespread use of the phrase with its current meaning may have begun in the late 1990s. In some cases it began to take on a neutral or even positive light, implying simply great enthusiasm"

There are many things that are widely said today that have less than ideal origins (for example: most classic nursery rhymes). My usage of them doesn't imply that I am making fun of, or trying to demean, those involved with its origins.

I actually did some research into the phrase usage and found a lot of publishers advocating your position. Unfortunately, those publishers also advocate several other destructive positions that I also don't agree with, so I don't hold their opinions in very high regard.

All of that aside...

I'm surprised that you don't like the Grand Californian, but to each their own. We did do research on the Dis for our hotel, but clearly not enough.

I wish you the best in your future stays at Disneyland. We'll continue to stay at the Grand Californian so you will have less competition for the offsite rooms in the future.

 

[tellingson]

Next day we were visiting MGM studios(Hollywood studios now)and decided to walk to Epcot .Discovered BWV and went to see pre sale talk .
Extremely impressed but told sales guy we had bought at Oasis Lakes ,no problem he said we will cancel Oasis lakes .Now how many points do you want he asked ,bought 500 and within months had 960 BWV, 300 OKW and 240 SSR total 1500. What a sad time ,1998 cost me $90000 max
Got even more depressed when It paid itself off in five years but
Now had to look forward to years of misery staying in one bedroom 3 weeks in Summer for $0 ,Oooh bother Thanks to Disboards

Wow! That is a lot of points. That is the kind of misery that I wouldn't mind a little bit more of.

 

[tellingson]

It also comes with growing...ahem...older. When I was young Motel 6 was fine. Even through my 40's, I appreciated a good deal, as long as the room was clean. Then middle age hit, and I decided I needed to upgrade to better accommodations. Now. in my 60's, it is not unusual, as long as I have enough points, to stay in a 1 bedroom at OKW if I make a solo trip.

And this makes sense. I don't know if we are as far as doing a 1-bedroom on a couple only trip (we usually bring people with us and so we end up with 2-bedrooms). But with having a toddler now, we are definitely going to get 1-bedrooms for our family. There is nothing worse than being stuck in a room, with the lights off at 8PM and about the only thing you can do is watch something on your phone. We like playing board games, and the having the separate room facilitates that at night and nap time in the day.