30 Day or longer stay at DVC Resort

[Ms.Minnie]

Hi has anyone considered a 30-day or longer stay at a DVC resort? Do you think it would become boring? Thinking ahead for retirement, considering a possible 30-day stay, what do others think of this idea? I was thinking of maybe 2 wks at BWV our home resort, maybe a 1 or 2 week stay at OKW or maybe 1 wk OKW and 1 wk SS or BLT. I’m thinking before I buy additional points to accommodate this amount of time at WDW maybe I should rent for at least the first year of retirement. Looking for opinions….

 

[Murron]

I'd have to look to see what the exact amount of days were again, but we are retired and did BWV for a week, Vero Beach for a week and Saratoga for about a week. It wasn't 30 days but more like 20 + something? Can't remember. I do have to say that it was enough. 30 days would definitely be too much for me. Too much going on at home all the time!

 

[Harlemgirl720]

If I could I would. I say if you can, do it. I know there are some who do extended stays for food and wine festival. I'm not sure if its for a month though.

 

[jo-jo]

I could do it easy. Give me a book and I could be happy most anywhere. Now if you're asking about going to parks and whatnot for 30 days, that would be a bit much.

I read one story a couple had a boatload of points and spent about 6 -8 weeks at disney (snowbird type trip). One week in studio, one week in one bedroom, studio, one bedroom, etc. While in studio ate a lot of meals out and did parks. At the one bedroom, stayed in more, cooked and did laundry. Kept switching different resorts. I would love to be able to do that. I would not love to pay the dues on that many points.

 

[disneynutz]

We like to move after 8 nights or so. Our longest stay in the same room was 14 nights and it was losing the magic plus housekeeping really get confused.

An 8 night stay gets you a full cleaning on day 4.

Bill

 

[Simba's Mom]

We'd consider doing it, but I didn't think you could stay at one resort for more than 30 days. I remember a couple who'd spend a month at HHI, then go to WDW for a few weeks, then come back to HHI for another month. I thought that was because they had to. It seems that I had a CM at check in one time remind me that my stay couldn't exceed 30 days.

 

[DenLo]

Hi has anyone considered a 30-day or longer stay at a DVC resort? Do you think it would become boring? Thinking ahead for retirement, considering a possible 30-day stay, what do others think of this idea? I was thinking of maybe 2 wks at BWV our home resort, maybe a 1 or 2 week stay at OKW or maybe 1 wk OKW and 1 wk SS or BLT. I’m thinking before I buy additional points to accommodate this amount of time at WDW maybe I should rent for at least the first year of retirement. Looking for opinions….

DH and I could easily do it. I would even consider doing two weeks at WDW, take a cruise and then come back to WDW for 2 weeks. Not sure I would want to do it yearly as since we retired we like to travel to other places and will continue to do so until our health or finances stop it. So for now we do around 24 days at WDW split between two trips each year, a week or 8 days at Aulani every other year and then do cruises with added nights on land before after the cruise around the world or even in the Caribbean.

Have you thought of what size of villa you would reserve?

 

[dclpluto]

There was a couple who spent over a year it might of been 2 years in timeshares and cruises. They did spend a week I think it was helping their son move. They were everywhere not just at dvc. They own dvc but also had a lot of points in other timeshares.

 

[GrumpyInPhilly]

And here's that couple's story:

http://www.dis.disboards.com/threads/one-year-living-in-our-timeshares-2-1-2-year-update.3121140/

 

[CinderBelleDVC]

@GrumpyInPhilly thanks for the link to such a great read!

 

[RossK]

We're from the UK, so we typically aim to do a 21 night vacation in the same place, so not that far off a 30 day stay! We stayed at the poly in a standard club level room last October for 21 nights and didn't get bored for a minute - nor did we find the room too small etc (but it was just the two of us)! There's just so much to do on property, I'm not sure it would be possible to get bored. We found that the dining plan also helped us to get out and about and fill our time (it was funny when the servers came over and said 'oh wow, you have over 120 dining credits left between just the two of you'!). We do every signature restaurant on property, which gets us out and about to the other resorts - we tend to also explore those other resorts, have a drink in each lounge, etc (we could just go on Romantic walks around Wilderness Lodge at night, or watch the fireworks on the beach at the Poly with a Lapu Lapu in hand, or go to the marina and take a boat out on to the lake, etc). We also go during food and wine, which provides soooo many things to do, with all the culinary seminars and events. I think when you have a smaller vacation, sometimes its easy to miss all these little activities you can do. We'll be doing the same again October next year.

 

[wdwlver]

That

We're from the UK, so we typically aim to do a 21 night vacation in the same place, so not that far off a 30 day stay! We stayed at the poly in a standard club level room last October for 21 nights and didn't get bored for a minute - nor did we find the room too small etc (but it was just the two of us)! There's just so much to do on property, I'm not sure it would be possible to get bored. We found that the dining plan also helped us to get out and about and fill our time (it was funny when the servers came over and said 'oh wow, you have over 120 dining credits left between just the two of you'!). We do every signature restaurant on property, which gets us out and about to the other resorts - we tend to also explore those other resorts, have a drink in each lounge, etc (we could just go on Romantic walks around Wilderness Lodge at night, or watch the fireworks on the beach at the Poly with a Lapu Lapu in hand, or go to the marina and take a boat out on to the lake, etc). We also go during food and wine, which provides soooo many things to do, with all the culinary seminars and events. I think when you have a smaller vacation, sometimes its easy to miss all these little activities you can do. We'll be doing the same again October next year.

That sounds like perfection if you ask me!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I also don't think it would be boring at all! Another couple from the UK so we like to get that flight price worth it for us! Cost the same in flight money to stay for 1 week, 2 weeks or longer. Got an AP. I think doing split stays wpuld be great. We often do that as well. It's like a vacation in a vacation. We also like DCL and going down to Vero beach.

 

[mj2vacation]

Disney will not allow a 30 day stay in the same room.

At that point, a short term transient renter becomes a tenant, and laws change. There were hotels in the Orlando area that allowed people to move in during the recession, only to find out that they had to then go through an eviction process instead of a simple call to the police.

I confirmed this when I had a family member who wanted to essentially live at Ft Wilderness. They were told that they would have to check out and check back in, including moving their RV off the property and back.

 

[Ms.Minnie]

Hi thanks for all the responses. I like the idea of staying one week to 8 days in a studio and one week to 8 days in a one bedroom alternating between a one bedroom and studio for 30 days. That would be a good way to conserve on points and still get a 30-day stay. My plan was to drive to FL from NJ bring some frozen meals for the first week of our stay so a one bedroom during the first week would work best. We could do our laundry at the end of the first week, move to a studio for the next week. When we move back to a one bedroom we could do laundry again at the beginning of that stay and we wouldn’t have to worry about how carefully we packed during that move. I really hate packing!

I did call member services and confirmed with them that the longest stay that can be booked at one time is 30 days. That works well with my plan.

I know there are a lot of things to do and see besides going to the parks. My husband and I like to resort hope, take the different boats to resorts from various locations and just relax by the pool with a good book. I still have time to think on this and I think that for the first year at least it might be a good idea to rent rather then buy additional points.

Again thanks for all the responses.

 

[BillPA]

We like to through in a visit to Vero to break up the trip.

 

[DougEMG]

Our last few trips have all been for 5 weeks at a time. Typically we'll do about 5-6 nights at. Universal resort, about 1 week in a monorail resort (VGF, BLT or POLY) and then the rest of the time at BWV.

I don't get bored at all. I actually end up feeling like it is normal being at WDW and feels strange when I do get home.

I sleep in most days since we are from the west coast and have a 3 hour time difference, so I normally don't get to a park till noon or later. We end up doing FP, anything with short lines and stuff like parades. Very rarely spend more than 4-6 hours in the park. Will hope around to resorts wandering around, go for walks through Epcot, read a book, go swimming, go to a water park. Basically take things slow and not worry about what we are doing. Very relaxing...oh and shopping, have a family that loves shopping.

So no boredom for me.

 

[Nanajo1]

We stayed 21 days at BWV 1 br. We had APs. We would go to the parks later than we normally would. We ate at EPCOT and DTD a lot.( pre DS ) Cooked in our villa. We met some great people and CMs. We were truly on vacation. We never got bored but we did up missing the DGKs

 

[kniquy]

If i had the option to stay at DVC for 30 days I would probably want to split it up into 3 different seasons - maybe be plan to go for early December for holiday decorations, April or May for Flower and Garden and then September for food and wine. You can avoid the summer hot weather and get to experience a variety of things at WDW. I really can't see any benefit to such an extended stay besides saving on airfare. You could still get your annual pass so park tickets would not be an issue. You could choose to do the dining plan for just one of your trips if that was a benefit or get the tables in wonderland card. And splitting it up would give you time to plan each trip individually and do different things each time. I could see how it could lose the magic for such a long stay.

I did see that you are driving from NJ so another option would be to stay a few days at hilton head at the beginning and/or end of the trip.

I guess you could always try it once and then do something different the next year.

 

[gmboy95]

I one of those folks who after a 10 day stay at Disney, i am ready to go home....I would think that long of a stay would kind of take the shine off it a little bit.....Its why when i retire to Florida, the last place i would lay roots down would be Central Florida. You will find me in the Keys, and Disney will still be a place we go for "vacation"....just a few more each year