Staying at a DVC resort for the first time in July and I'm wondering what to expect. Is it awkward for non-DVC members staying there? Do you feel "left out" at all? How is the experience in general different from staying at a "regular" on-property resort?
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Non-member at DVC resort
- Thread starter wizards8507
- Start date
bmarkelon
Well-Known Member
No way, not at all. I have stayed both ways now. Non member and we are now new members, no difference at all. Once you stay in these deluxe resorts it is definitely had to go back to moderate or values, that's my only warning. You are staying at OKW? That was the first DVC resort we tried, very nice. Still stands out as a favorite.
Pioneer Hall
Well-Known Member
You really won't notice any differences. As opposed to members, you are going to receive daily housekeeping. The only real difference between you and a member are the true member benefits. So you won't get to pool hop, you have to pay for the internet, and you won't get any discounts that would be available to a DVC member. However, walking around the resort, no one will know the difference of whether you are part of the club or not.
harryk
Well-Known Member
This is how my family got involved with DVC. We had reservations at Boardwalk and it turned out to be the villas. We enjoyed the facilities so much that we looked into DVC after we concluded the vacation and became members. There was no availability at Boardwalk so we became members at the Wilderness Lodge Villas. We questioned why our rooms were not made up while at the Boardwalk and the housekeeping department had failed to notify the staff that we were not DVC members and they immediately began servicing the rooms on a daily basis. Otherwise nobody knew we were not DVC members.
xdan0920
Think for yourselfer
Do you mean aside from the non-member sandwich board you are required to wear whenever you step foot outside the room? Because other then that, it is decidedly not awkward.
No worries....how would anyone be able to tell whether you're a member or not? 
Seriously, there are a mix of members and non-members at DVC resorts all the time. Disney keeps a small percentage of DVC rooms and rents them out through CRO, members trade out to other destinations and the rooms they would have been using get rented out through CRO, and members rent reservations to non-members if they can't use their points. Nobody knows who's a member and who's not, and no one cares.
If you're staying on a cash reservation through Disney, the experience will be exactly the same as staying at a non-DVC resort. Same keycard, same buses, same EMH, same DME.
If you're staying on a reservation that a member made for you with their points, you'll get full housekeeping once a week, and trash and towel service in the middle of the week. That's the only difference.
Enjoy your stay! :sohappy:
Seriously, there are a mix of members and non-members at DVC resorts all the time. Disney keeps a small percentage of DVC rooms and rents them out through CRO, members trade out to other destinations and the rooms they would have been using get rented out through CRO, and members rent reservations to non-members if they can't use their points. Nobody knows who's a member and who's not, and no one cares.
If you're staying on a cash reservation through Disney, the experience will be exactly the same as staying at a non-DVC resort. Same keycard, same buses, same EMH, same DME.
If you're staying on a reservation that a member made for you with their points, you'll get full housekeeping once a week, and trash and towel service in the middle of the week. That's the only difference.
Enjoy your stay! :sohappy:
puntagordabob
Well-Known Member
Youll be $$$paying$$$ a heck of a lot more for your room than a DVC member is per night!
Nope! Traded HGVC points so the seven nights are costing $179 (total, not each) for the transfer fee and $95 for the check-in fee for a one-bedroom.
Rob562
Well-Known Member
That's about what it's costing my friend and I. We traded in through RCI using a banked week from my parents' timeshare that they weren't going to be able to use before it expired.
Though we're also giving some money to my parents toward their annual maintenance fees/dues. Still, we're getting 7 nights in a 1-bedroom for about what you'd pay in cash for 1 or 2 nights.
-Rob