Bought Sight Unseen

Bought Aulani direct (with some incentives) in 2022 before ever visiting. Now we go almost every year.

We bought our BLT direct contract without having stayed there or even visited first, but I did do a lot research and looked at room tours and all. We knew that the location would be a huge perk, and almost 7 years later, we have no regrets. We didn't have a child at the time that we bought our contract, but BLT is now one of my favorite places to stay with our 3-year-old.

currently in ROFR for copper creek. Never been but love the log cabin theme. Only hesitancy was buying in at a resort that was mostly bus transportation. Originally thought about resale at Riviera or Poly for the skyliner/monorail but the combo of price per pt, lower dues, and long contract life led us to CCV.

We've only stayed at AoA and CBR before and have a weekend stay at Copper Creek in September that would be our first stay in a deluxe resort. We are pretty seriously considering buying a resale before we make it to Disney in September

Bought direct at Riviera site unseen for 150 points.. it was between that and Grand Floridian but we knew we wanted to hold out for Poly as it's more our vibe but we stayed at RIV and then added another 185 a year and a half later

I'd be inclined to buy a 300-350 point HHI island contract without ever going there...

And then using it to stay, and if I liked it, keeping it, and if I didn't either using those points elsewhere or selling the thing again...

Yup, our first two contracts actually. We bought two 150 point OKW contracts during the sale a couple years ago without ever seeing the property. We love staying there, especially the 1 bedrooms for our family of 5… plenty of room. We try to get a lock off as those have two doors To the single bathroom (which itself is the only downside we have found that we actually mind.)

Riviera buyers who had never stepped on site at the property when we bought. Have stayed there post purchase and we loved it!

My husband and I bought SSR sight unseen. We actually hadn’t even been to Disney since we were both kids but we always talked about going. When I heard about DVC and found out we could go yearly we wanted in. It was during Covid and the sales office was closed so we bought resale. We now also own 2 direct contracts at OKW as well.

Guilty. Bought RIV and added on (x2) to it before staying there. Been using points at AUL. finally staying at RIV for first time in July.

My wife and I have stayed at a variety of value and moderate resorts, but never at a deluxe. We did a significant amount of research and purchased a 150 pt SSR resale contract after weighing the value we felt we would get from the different DVC resort options. We will be staying at Saratoga for the first time in 2027 after a few other vacations we already had booked for this year. The way I see it (for us), I wanted the value of the resale contract now and will test the resorts before adding a second contract direct.

If you've been happy at the value resorts, you will most certainly be moreso at the deluxe resorts (in my opinion :) ) and since you're already considering a second contract, be prepared for immediate add-on-itis.

Yes, Bought SSR never having even heard of it, let alone see it:)

VGF - we had an unremarkable dinner at the cafe. a year before we bought there. I didn’t remember anything about the hotel itself and bought during the fire sale. If there were no restrictions I would’ve bought at the Riv.

Yes, we bought our first BLT contract without ever visiting before.

We actually did this for both our resale (OKW) 2023 and our direct (Riviera) 2025 😄 We have no regrets!

I love this thread. My wife and I bought CCV without ever setting foot on Wilderness Lodge property. And now I'm wrestling with myself over buying at Disneyland Hotel....and we've never been to California! At least I know I'm not alone.

Yes. Bought direct - first contract at OKW - had never seen it. They were selling Boardwalk also at the time. Little did we know how popular the Epcot would become when F&W started. F&G, etc.

Also bought direct BCV never seen it.

Yes, we bought BLT without ever having stayed at any Deluxe resort. The only time we saw the Contemporary/BLT was riding the monorail through it.

Was BLT the first place you stayed? And I'm assuming you never toured the properties before?

I can only imagine what you were thinking the first time you stayed there if so, as it's a very impressive property. If it's anything like us, we only stayed at moderates before (never a deluxe) and first time we stepped into an OKW 1 bedroom, which are huge mind you, it was sheer joy that "this was our new vacation life" :)

So I'm certainly not trying to influence any rash decisions, but VDH is my favorite property and, if you can snag a room on the upper floors (we had one of the highest 1 bedrooms on the only night we could get a room), you get this view:

And access to this pool :)

Keep it up! You're giving me the nudge I need. Can't wait to see the summer incentives when they come out tomorrow.

Closed on my first DVC contract back in December at VGF, despite having never stayed there. Growing up, my family would go to WDW resorts every year and we would alternate between resorts. But we never stayed at the Grand or the Poly. My summer internship before my senior year in college had a program where the company would take every intern who received a job offer at the end of the summer down to WDW and stay at the Grand. I was so excited that I had the chance to stay there that I worked my hardest, even working overtime. But sadly I did not get a job offer.

Counting down the days until December 5th, with a little nervous anticipation because I really can't believe it.

Bought 3 BLT contracts over a span of 2 months without having stayed anywhere on Disney property before! A few years later, bought BCV without ever having stayed there. Did not regret any of my purchases.

Location location location..

Technically Yes. We rented points at AKV for a trip and fell in LOVE with AKV and decided to buy AKV DVC. But 2020 was a weird drought for AKV contracts. As we waited for the point and UY AKV contract we wanted, a great SSR contract was available. Despite never seeing SSR. The price was hard to resist, and as we tend to 1BR units, we decided to use our SSR points for 1 Br at AKV. Then we visited Aulani, and bought 100 AKV points so we could use SSR points at Aulani. ADDONTITIS: This is the way.

Not just sight unseen, we bought BLT direct in November 2019 having never stayed at a Disney hotel before! We stayed at the Swan hotel in 2018 which was on property but not a Disney resort though and it convinced us to buy DVC. I just wish I didn't wait until 2019 since the prices went up! Unfortunately due to the shutdown and pandemic, we were unable to use our points until October 2020.

Prior to 2018, when I was younger I had stayed off property.

Similar to Lauren, we did a ton of research around DVC and I even rented points at BCV for a trip in January 2020 but we still bought before we had ever stayed at a Disney owned hotel.

We chose BLT because our kids were just 6 and 3 at the time and it made sense to be within walking distance of Magic Kingdom. My first choice at Boardwalk because I fell in love with the Crescent Lake area after staying there in 2018 but my wife wanted BLT for the kids.

Shortly after staying at BCV we bought resale points at BLT (still sight unseen) and then BCV, which was at least not sight unseen lol.

No. We stayed on the hotel side of the Grand Californian, which then made us want to purchase resale at the villas. So we never actually saw the villas in person. But we did stay at the resort.

We stayed at BRV on our VGC points before purchasing there. But we pretty much knew before staying that we'd want to buy there.

We haven't stayed at VDH yet but did do a tour before deciding to purchase.

Yes, we bought a 200 pt direct contract at Riviera. Afterwards, we decided to make a reservation at Topolino’s & explore the property while we there. We definitely loved everything we saw & even enjoyed a few rides on the skyliner. The following year we had our first DVC stay there and have no regrets! Those beautiful rooms! My goodness!

Not sure if this counts since we ate once at Primo Piatto a little more than a year before we bought at Riviera. So I guess technically we "saw" a bit but it wasn't much beyond outdoor walk from the skyliner to restaurant for dinner. We still haven't stayed at Riviera though even after purchasing (we will next year!), but it made the most sense for our family. Our fav resort pre-DVC was Caribbean Beach. Love the overall location and skyliner access. Riviera gives us all of that since it's right next door which made it the easy choice when listening to the "buy where you want to be" advice.

Also, we have 2 kids (boy & girl) so we need 5th sleeper rooms. That limits our options especially for deluxe studio stays. Riviera is one of the few WDW resorts that gives us that option.

My only contract where I stayed before buying is Polynesian; I also toured there before purchase. I’d stayed at Beach Club’s hotel as well prior to purchasing. Bought VDH sight unseen, though I did stay at Disneyland Hotel in the early 90s one time.

Any regrets with buying VDH? I'm very close to buying sight unseen myself.

Have you been to Disneyland much? Is it a trip you plan to take often?

Oh we've never even been to California. But we live halfway between Anaheim and Orlando. So yes, we'd like to make Disneyland a January or February trip to get out of the North Dakota cold.

In that case, I'd probably try to visit once...staying on the hotel side or renting points to make sure you like it. Personally, I LOVE Disneyland and WDW....with DLR being a bit higher up for me. But I've known of a lot of people who are big WDW fans but then just feel "meh" about Disneyland. (Personally, I don't understand that but to each his own!)

It's a pretty big amount of money to drop on something if there's a chance you aren't thrilled with it.

If you knew you loved Disneyland and just hadn't seen the hotel...then I'd say go for it! But having never been there at all...that is definitely a bit iffy, IMO.

None yet, but ask me in January after my first stay!😅 I bought these points direct so they could be more flexible for us. I also was looking for a winter reprieve, and wanted the option to use in California. My reasoning is that this is a long term purchase, and there are more enjoyable seasons in California than in Florida. VDH is magical looking, and I have such fond memories of my Disneyland Hotel stay as a child. I do wish the dues were lower and that ToT didnt exist, but I don’t pay ToT when using these points elsewhere, and dues just reflect California wages and costs.

This is almost my line of thinking exactly. I'm also visiting in January. 🤣

I am all about January and February visits! So much more pleasant than staying home.🥶

January/February are my favorite months for Florida. Mainly the only months I'll go to WDW.

But they are good in California too (can be rainy sometimes though.) Honestly, the only 'bad weather' time for Disneyland is Fall because it always seems to be a million degrees out.

Almost anywhere is better than where I live in January and February, so I am not too picky.

We were already VGF owners when we bought a BLT contract without staying there first. And we are in the process of selling our two BLT contracts to purchase more BCV. Other than staying at the CCV cabins, we've just found that we really prefer to be at the Floridian when staying around the MK.

I know that we will stay there in the future but I'd rather have more 11-month reservation power at the Beach Club and VGF than at BLT.

We bought SSR sight unseen because the contract fit! After our offer was accepted and we were waiting to get through ROFR, we stopped by, walked around, and ate dinner at the Turf Club. We have two trips planned this year before we will actually stay there for the first time in October.

My wife and I went to WDW and a 4 day Disney Cruize for our honeymoon in 1999. IN 2011 we were in Disneyland and bought AKL sight unseen. We loved WDW so much we wanted our sons to experience it and figured any WDW resort would be great.

Thanks everyone for the responses, my wife and I are currently in the ROFR stage of purchasing a boardwalk resale. We've never been to that resort. Im glad to hear we aren't alone.

Hi @DVCken We bought VDH sight unseen when it first went on sale. We missed out on VGC when it was first offered as kids, life, etc were in the way. Being in Seattle, we can get down to California much easier than Orlando so we took the plunge.

Almost regret it. Dont get me wrong, it is a great resort. It is Beautiful, Bright and Shiny with a great vibe. But there is a downside.

The TOT. The Transient Occupation Tax. It is a tax that you have to pay at checkout. It is based on the number of points you spent on your stay. Can be expensive. VGC has it rolled into the dues. There is a TOT chart on the DVC web site under point charts. Have a look.

Views. Very hit or miss. Can be nice territorial or could be very industrial. One stay we overlooked the loading dock of the convention center. Truck backup beepers started at around 6 AM. Another stay we overlooked the pool and had a partial view of the fireworks.

Walk. We are getting on in years. It is a long winding walk to and from the parks. Especially brutal after a long day in the parks. The Monorail can be a saving grace, but it is not that reliable. It was almost always down in the afternoon due to heat.

Room Condition. Disney really cheaped out on materials. All of our rooms have really shown some rough wear and tear. Given that our first stay was less than a year after opening, it was surprising. The rooms were clean, but shabby around the edges.

Dont get me wrong, we love the resort. But it is not all Rainbows and Unicorns!

Remember YMMV!

We bought our HHI contract three years ago sight unseen with this same mindset and it was a great call. No regrets.

Thanks so much for your feedback! The ToT initially did bother me. But then I realized, if we want to visit Disneyland (we do) then we have to pay it no matter where we stay.

As for the ToT being rolled into the Grand Cal's dues, that actually is a VDH selling point. We plan to use our VDH points at Riviera, or Lakeshore, every 3 years or so. Meaning we'll only be paying the ToT when we actually visit Anaheim.

The cheap materials is actually the only thing that gives me pause in this whole scenario. It's definitely a consideration.

We bought BWV in 2003 never having stayed there (I think we had been to jellyrolls though). We called to buy SSR pre-opening and they offered BWV (this was after they tore down the sales center out back and more points were declared) and we jumped at it.
Also bought BLT in '09 the year it opened before staying (although had a stay booked on bwv pts shortly after).

Boardwalk is a fantastic resort. Easily one of my favorites.

Owned at BWV since 1996! So really love that place!