How has DVC ownership changed/improved your vacations?

[lodgelady]

Hi all! Our closing on VWL is FINALLY happening this week! Please help me celebrate by posting your experience of how being a member has changed your vacations. Thanx and can't wait to hear! :earsgirl:

[Beth]

Welcome Home, LodgeLady!

We live very close, so a big change for us is a lot of 1-2 night "getaways."

But another thing, is we travel with friends/family much more than before, due to the affordability of the larger units.

We bought in April, 1997, but we've still yet to trade (much), yet. We used our points in 1998 to sail on the Disney Magic, and we used them in 1999 to stay at the Grove Park Inn in NC. Other than that - we can't get enought of the DVC resorts! We've stayed in all 5 of them, and love them all!

Enjoy your membership!

[rbuzzotta]

Longer stays, upgraded accomodations and flexibility!!!!

[Minnie*Mouse]

One of the things I like best about being a DVC member is that you hae to plan your vacations year after year no matter what--it's like a forced vacation--which IMO is great!

We vacation at least once a year because of DVC, whereas if we hadn't purchased DVC we'd have to budget for a vacation and I'm almost certain we would skip a year or two.:wave:

[dvc_bwv]

We haven't been DVC members for that long (closed Oct. 2000 at BWV), BUT....

We used to go to WDW about every 18 months or so, but things have really changed for us. The "forced vacations" is a fact and it's so much fun to be able to plan ahead for more frequent trips.

We have planned our first trip "Home" the last week of November 2001 so I can see WDW decorated for Xmas, but we have a "quick" trip in 11 days to stay at the Polynesian for a long weekend on points. Can't wait! DH has always wanted to stay there and we never would have been able to do this without DVC....especially 2 trips in one year!
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Lisa F]

First, it has changed the way we book our vacations. Before I'd call CRO a zillion times trying to find a discounted room. When I finally found a discounted room, there's the anxiety of having to pay for a night up front on your credit card (don't ask me why this causes anxiety but forking over many thousands of $$ to dvc doesn't!). It's just a hassle to me, vs calling MS and just saying "i'll take that room!"

It has also changed the way we tour the parks. We still spend a lot of time in the parks (because we love them) but there has never been anything that we HAVE to do. We have spent whole days in Epcot (from open to close) and not done a single attraction. I think if you are counting off the nights based on how much you paid for THIS trip you have more of a sense of urgency. With dvc it's just part of our monthly bills and we don't think about it. You ALWAYS know you are coming back.

It also changes the way we think about the "affordability" of our vacations. We love deluxe level rooms but who can afford rack rates? Now the MINIMUM we get is a deluxe level room but it has even more amenities (mini fridge and microwave). We can now stay in rooms that I used to have DREAMS about staying in just once in a lifetime... and we can do that every year if we want! (I remember seeing the "home away from home" pictures in the WDW promo stuff and thinking there was no way I could afford to stay in a room that looked like THAT).

There's also a sense of comfort in returning to the same few resorts. You get to know the place and you get to know the people. Because you're not rushing from attraction to attraction you actually stop and notice those around you. There are several CM who know us by name, whom we have long conversations with when we meet and whom we look forward to seeing every time we go to WDW. We truly DO feel like we belong there and like we are one of the family.

Hope that's some of what you're looking for!

Lisa

[dvcdudes]

We used to go to WDW about every other year and stay 8-14 days. We would go into the parks every day and stay opening till closeing. We stayed mostly in All Stars but once in DxL. This was fun and the kids loved the parks all the time but we needed a vacation from our "vacation". My wife was beginning to dred our trek to WDW.
NOW... We go twice a year for shorter vacations. When we go in the winter, we go to the parks most of the days but usually take a break mid day to hit the pools or just rest. When we go in the summer, we will go to a water park one day and Disney Quest another but the rest of the time will be spent poolside and going out to eat. We may take a show in one night.
DVC has given me much less anxiety about our WDW trips. I used to think, We have to get it all in because I don't know when we'll be back. But, now I know we'll be going back in about 6 months so I can "chill out" and enjoy.
Hopefully this will sink into my wife, who is still sceptical and thinks at any moment I might go back into commando mode and drag her through the parks all day (and night) long.
My first trip as a DVC owner was my best ever (besides maybe my childhood trip). There is something about owning a piece of the magic and knowing "we'll be back".

[CaptainMidnight]

Well said Lisa,
our vacations are more relaxed, because we know we'll be back. I'f I don't get to take the kids on an attraction this time, we'll just wait until the next visit, not need to rush, time to enjoy.

There's also this feeling or maybe absence of a previous feeling, not sure how to describe it, I always wanted a little more, maybe even work there or to be a bigger part of all the magic. Now, I'm an owner, who can come back time after time.

No worries are we spending too much on accomodations, did we get the best deal, we get to have first class vacations every time. We get to know our resort, at a place that prides itself on the details. Where else is there anything like hidden Mickeys, or walking into the lobby at Christmas and seeing a tall gingerbread house, made entirely from baked goods that is taller than me.

My only problem is I keep wanting to add more points.....

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Our main things are that we can go more often and stay in better resorts. We are a family of six and getting two rooms at the delux resorts was tough. DVC is the answer we were looking for.:D

[ILuvDVC]

Vacations, Vacations, Vacations!

Wow, what a question! Before DVC I went to Vegas....A lot! It is my second favorite vacation place! But....I am a single parent, and I bought into DVC when my son was 2 years old. Thinking, that this is one place that both he and I could enjoy being on vacation together! I never thought in a million years, I would love it so much!

Owning DVC has changed the way I vacation a lot! Before, we had been to Disney World about 3 times (always stayed off site!).

Our very first trip to WDW, we stayed a hotel about 1 hour away, and drove to WDW....we were nuts!

Then, we came back about 5 years after that, and stayed in Kissimme(spelling?). I can remember being at EPCOT all day long, and sitting on a park bench, so tired, that I could care less if I ever got to see illuminations. But, everyone else wanted to stay, and we only had one car, so I waited. I honestly could not see what the attraction to WDW was...LOL!

Anyhow, after buying Disney Vacation Club, I pulled my first two years worth of points together, and we booked a Grand Villa and invited the entire family to stay with us (Brother, Sisters and their families - 9 in all), and we had our very first family vacation ever!

Now, we have been averaging 3 or 4 trips to WDW a year! I didn't even go on vacation more than 2 times a year before!

And, we usually bring friends and family along with us. But, I think that is soon going to end, since I keep running out of points, and I have been informed, it is because I bring all of Ohio with me...LOL.

I love owning DVC, it's really changed my life a lot! I think it is the single best thing I've ever done, apart from having my son:D

[Gail Reale]

We go more often, relax a lot more, and usually can invite family/friends to come along. Joining DVC was the best thing we could do for ourselves and family. We can bring the grandchildren as a special treat and enjoy the parks, or just friends and relax at the resort. We are members (OKW) since '95 and (HH) '98, and love both resorts.:sunny:

[Peggy Sue]

Congratulations and welcome home!

We joined DVC in 1997. It has totally changed how we vacation! Although we liked WDW, we found we only traveled there every 5 years or so. Since joining DVC, we just can't seem to get enough of the place. We believe that's because DVC has given us the opportunity to stay in beautiful, comfortable villas and we no longer have to be in commando mode when we tour the parks because we know we will be back again.

We have gone to HH and VB, and love these resorts too.

We've used points once to trade for a week in Hawaii. We really enjoyed our Hawaii vacation too!

DVC offers us so much flexibility...we enjoy planning our vacations!

Enjoy your membership!

[dianeschlicht]

We were traveling to WDW every other year. After joining DVC, we started traveling multiple times a year and inviting friends and family. We especially like to invite newbies since we can then see the parks through "new" eyes. We no longer have to be park commandos since we know we will be back again. Last year we took 3 trips to WDW and after returning from our December trip, we realized we forgot to visit the animation studio! That is one of our favorite tours, so we would normally have been very disappointed, but we know we are going back, so no big deal!:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[shelbyjosh]

I would say it has been very beneficial for us to have our DVC. We know we will be staying in a great place and we don't have to worry about coming up with that big chunk of $ for accomodations. On the flip side, it has been an issue for DH. I would like to go several times a year, but a once-a -year trip is sufficient for him. We have the points, so use them! He can only handle so much of Disney. I guess I can never get enough! We do not regret buying, but I would like to use them more. Enough said....

[nickglover]

Just to keep the discussion balanced, we are having second thoughts as to how long we will stay with DVC, mainly because we do not like the limitations it places on travelling around the country. We do not have kids, but even if we did, we would not want to take them to Orlando all the time - there is so much more to see in this country. We love Vero Beach and plan to go there the most. We also plan to try a cruise and to stay at some more concierge properties (we stayed at two in Vermont as out first DVC trip). However, I have learned that the concierge trips are not the best way to use points, as far as value, and we also want to go to places where there are no concierge properties (without having to stay a week in one place through II). We have decided to continue membership for a few years and then re-assess whether it is right for us. Don't get me wrong, we love going to WDW, we are going to Anaheim and DL this Fall and we love VB. We also had a really nice vacation at HH last year.

[Pete W.]

I'm still a commando at heart when it comes to touring the parks but at least now I can consider myself a "selective commando" because I know I don't have to do everything on each trip.

For example, last month we watched Illuminations while eating at the R&C, and next time maybe we'll do the Illuminations cruise instead. This time we skipped HDRR so next time we will be more anxious to see it again. This time we did e-ride night twice in one week, next time we'll utilize ee more and skip e-ride altogether.

We used to run ourselves ragged at WDW thinking "we better do xyz now because who knows when we'll be here again." Now we KNOW we'll be back each year and that's a great feeling!

I also agree with Beth -- DVC makes bringing family/friends an affordable reality rather than a financial impossibility.

[Peter Johnson]

Back before we joined in '92, we used to take long weekends for all of our vacation time, so we never really had a vacation. After joining, we started off taking three 6-day trips each year, and now we've added on and do two 12-day trips.

It makes a huge difference, just to get away from "normal life" for a week and a half instead of frittering vacation away a day at a time :cool:

Best of all, our next 12 days is only 11 days away! Yippee!!

[caveat lector]

It's cool to know that (other than dues, which are a lot less painful than that post trip, non-dvc credit card bill) I have a place to get away with my family for the next 40 years.

Maybe it's a "recon" trip for retirement, but I enjoy being at the happiest place on earth and am constantly finding something new.

[Galahad]

Like Beth, we live close by and can do a lot of short trips that DVC is very good for. (In fact, Beth, we live just east of Valrico road in Brandon so we are practically neighbors).

The biggest changes have to do with the accomodations being pre-paid. Together with the fact that we are PAP holders. Our only Disney budget is restaurants. We are almost never in a hurry to do anything. We don't feel cheated just going to OKW and hanging around there most of the time. It has made the whole experience much more relaxing because it affords us the ability to go often, and therefore we almost never have an agenda.

Welcome Home!! :D

[msdis]

First of all, congratulations and wishing you many years of happy memories.

We were visiting Disney twice a year average and a year and a half ago we decided to join DVC basically for the same reasons as everyone else. We have been very happy with our decision and look forward to mostly our DVC exclusive trips. We did do the 7-day cruise on the fall points special last year and would do it again, but mostly we plan on only using DVC points for Disney vacations.

Like another poster (nickglover) said; we also would like to see other places but don't feel our DVC points would be best used for those vacations. That is why we are sitting on the points that we have and no plans on any more add-ons for a while.

Ironically, it was a decision made to join DVC based on a lot of financial conservative measures. We never rent a car anymore saving about 300/wk. We now bring 1-2 suitcases of food so we can eat in 2 meals a day, even though we always stay in a studio saving us lord knows how much money and we LIKE eating quick meals in our room (not just a money thing). And we buy annual passes so we don't feel like we have to get our money's worth every day we enter a park and we try to get 3 trips of about a week each out of them. We even find ourselves saying "let's go HOME" instead of "let's go back to the RESORT" when we have tired during the day. We are currently talking about taking a trip, any trip, where shall we go kind of trip, and neither one of us can come up with anything except a DVC kind of trip. It's sad, but we're hooked. Based on the circle of people around us we spend a fortune at Disney every year but what most of these people would spend on 1 trip is what we spend on 3 trips per year. We cut corners where most people would go all out and that's ok because we have been there, done that , and just do it different and more often now, that's all.

Hope DVC will live up to all your expectations!

[TwirlerGirl]

Purchasing DVC has definately changed vacations for us. DH hated planning for a vacation, so very often they were spare-of-the-moment affairs. We tried taking turns planning for trips, DH would decide what he wanted to do for his turn but not make hotel reservations. We arrive at a location and he would try to find a room. Not much fun and a lot of stress for me. A few times we had to turn around and come home because there were no rooms available. Since we purchased DVC in '97, we decide together in January, when we will take vacation, if its' WDW or another location and how many trips we will take. I don't mind making all the reservations now, it's so easy.

We are now planning to take #1 DS and family, #2 DS and girlfriend to WDW in 2002. It might turn out to be a wedding trip for #2 DS. They have hinted at it. See what a little Disney Magic can do!

Sandy B. :pinkbounc

[sparkysfriends]

We never used to stay onsight. We always rented a house. While it was lovely and very close, it just wasn't the same. Don't get me wrong. We loved those trips. We still went to WDW once a year , as we do now. But we really needed larger accomodations than a hotel room would afford us. The only ways to do that were to rent the house offsite as we had, or to buy into DVC. I wish we hadn't waited so long. Our first trip to WDW as members was magical. We are thrilled that we made this purchase and have just talked our friends into a purchase as well.

-Alyson:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Disney Doll]

The best part is that we don't have to come up with that big chunk of money to pay for lodging every time we want to go to WDW. We pay a set monthyly cost, and can go to WDW whenever we want. The accomodations are better in a DVC studio than in a deluxe resort, IMHO, and when you start getting into the 2 and 3 bedroom units, it blows everything else away!!! My DH figured it all out, and for us, it makes sense. We are able to take a nice vacation 1 or 2 times/year, and stay in better accomodations than we would oif we were paying cash. He actually figured it out down to if you go to WDW every other year, it makes sense to buy the DVC.

[jcdisneyfan]

First off, Welcome Home. After reading everyone ones post I wanted to add, we don't have to think about budgeting room accomidations into our vations, we are paying for that over time. I have always loved Disney and now my husband is hooked. He has always loved amusment parks but he agrees Disney has the magic. Now we plan 1-2 trips a year to Disney, but plan on usisng the the rest of the options in the future. We want to spend time in Hawaii, New England, Europe and go cruising. Yes, do to the point time line, you are forced to take vacations but at least it is flexable enough to give you a varity of options. Enjoy the next 41 yrs and enjoy the magic.

[Wes]

DVC has made possible what was not even considered a possibility before.

My daughter and her husband would never have considered taking the kids for a week or more to WDW ... on site or off, and certainly not with trying to plan for 3 generations. The expense and the effort would have been too great. So DVC has meant that my grandkids can visit WDW in a pleasant and leisurely way on a trip that includes all three generations.

We go once every 2 years. DVC allows for long-term planning, so that everyone can have what they want on the trip and that we can save up frequent flier miles to pay for as many of the air tickets as possible.

Being on site and centrally located at BWV means we can plan 2 of the 4 parks with a lot of flexibility in our schedule if we have to modify it (such as one of the kids getting sick at WDW).

[mickey7861]

I know this is crazy but with DVC it seems like we're vacationing for free. The monthly payment and dues have become "just another bill" and we don't really notice it anymore. So, when we call MS and book or vacation it's like they're giving us a free stay, no money down! WE also NEVER plan our park days out anymore. We just go where evr we feel like, some days not even into a park. We know we'll be back anyway, why rush? The greatest thing is we don't have to book a moderate then hope for a deal on a deluxe. With DVC it's deluxe + all the way.

[Pooh Bear Dad]

You know that feeling after a great trip, when the white paper is slipped under the door...and you pick it up...$$$$$$ plus HOW much for taxes.....UGH!!

Well, when I finish a trip with DVC, my smile only grows.

:bounce: :bounce: