Any local FL DVC owners?

[SkampyOne]

I'm curious about local DVC owners and whether this changed how you approach your trips, size of your contract, etc? I'm about 90 minutes away and make frequent day trips with my FL Resident AP (don't hate me) but I hate having to leave early to drive home, not being able to catch evening entertainment, and showing up essentially as lines start getting really bad mid-late morning. I recently started spending a night or two in the area and LOVE IT and would like to get closer to the action! Am thinking of DVC primarily for shorter stays, and can probably be flexible to grab whatever is available, and then maybe longer stays with the fam at VB or HHI (they aren't really Disney people, not sure where I went wrong). I'm curious if there are other local-ish owners and if that makes a difference to how/when you use your DVC. I could see myself coming and spending time at the resort, just to be in the bubble. Or even working remotely and then popping in to a park for a few hours at the end of the work day. Is this nuts? Any other locals care to share their experience?

 

[lexxus379]

I am local-ish, live about 3 hours away. We usually stay the 3 day weekends along with shorter weekend stays. We also have APs and go about every month except for summer unless family comes into town. Our schedule is very flexible as we don’t have kids but I still usually plan 7-11 months out knowing the long holiday weekends. I actually love it because I don’t feel rushed in the parks and take time to enjoy the resorts more. We have used DVC for Aulani and are going to try Vero this year as well. You can always start off with a small contract to test the waters then add more later if it suits you.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

I’m a local now, but wasn’t when I bought. We used to come out for two to four weeks a year. First bought in 2009 and moved here in 2019. After renting out points for a year or two, we sold two contracts at WDW but kept one and one at Grand Californian. We usually go out to either Vero Beach or Hilton Head once a year. And we’ve used points for short stays and rented to friends. Next year we’ll probably use some at Aulani.

 

[Cfabar1]

I live about 2 hours away.

We go to WDW a few times a year. Maybe let’s say 6-10 visits a year. We have Annual Passes. We stay 1-3 nights anytime we go, usually on the lower end of that.

DVC makes sense for us - but in different ways than other people. I want the 11 month guaranteed availability at a few different resorts, and want contracts on the smaller size. A kitchen has a minimal benefit to us for now - as the family grows, we might want to have 1-2 bedroom points more for the kids privacy than anything.

Because we are local, we can be more flexible with our trips. I only consider resorts that we can walk to and from at least one park. Animal Kingdom Lodge is the exception. We love the beach resorts as well, but wouldn’t want to be tied down to those properties year after year for our few precious vacation days. Aulani is tempting, but too far away, and when you live this close to WDW, committing to Disneyland doesn’t seem to be in the cards for us.

 

[SkampyOne]

I’m a local now, but wasn’t when I bought. We used to come out for two to four weeks a year. First bought in 2009 and moved here in 2019. After renting out points for a year or two, we sold two contracts at WDW but kept one and one at Grand Californian. We usually go out to either Vero Beach or Hilton Head once a year. And we’ve used points for short stays and rented to friends. Next year we’ll probably use some at Aulani.

Hmmm... do you primarily do day trips now, aside from leveraging your two remaining contracts? How many points remaining? I had been thinking of two smaller contracts to please my head & heart picks and wondering if I'm just being a brat

 

[SkampyOne]

I live about 2 hours away.

We go to WDW a few times a year. Maybe let’s say 6-10 visits a year. We have Annual Passes. We stay 1-3 nights anytime we go, usually on the lower end of that.

DVC makes sense for us - but in different ways than other people. I want the 11 month guaranteed availability at a few different resorts, and want contracts on the smaller size. A kitchen has a minimal benefit to us for now - as the family grows, we might want to have 1-2 bedroom points more for the kids privacy than anything.

Because we are local, we can be more flexible with our trips. I only consider resorts that we can walk to and from at least one park. Animal Kingdom Lodge is the exception. We love the beach resorts as well, but wouldn’t want to be tied down to those properties year after year for our few precious vacation days. Aulani is tempting, but too far away, and when you live this close to WDW, committing to Disneyland doesn’t seem to be in the cards for us.

Super helpful, thanks! I would primarily be travelling solo, booking studios so agree 11 month availability is important and totally get where you're coming from on walkability! I'm tempted to follow your suit with 2 smaller contracts. I assume you have the same use year for yours?

 

[Douglas Dubh]

Hmmm... do you primarily do day trips now, aside from leveraging your two remaining contracts? How many points remaining? I had been thinking of two smaller contracts to please my head & heart picks and wondering if I'm just being a brat

Yes we only live about 20 minutes from the parks so we mostly only go for four to six hours at a time. Sometimes we’ll stay overnight; early on we did that for Moonlight Magic events but haven’t lately.

 

[jlovesee]

We are about 25 mins from WDW but bought in 2007 when we lived in Missouri. I’ve kept all my points and actually added on a little. We use our points for staycations and marathon weekend mostly. We also went to Aulani last year too. There is something special about going to Disney and staying on property as opposed to being a day guest.

Jennifer

 

[SkampyOne]

We are about 25 mins from WDW but bought in 2007 when we lived in Missouri. I’ve kept all my points and actually added on a little. We use our points for staycations and marathon weekend mostly. We also went to Aulani last year too. There is something special about going to Disney and staying on property as opposed to being a day guest.

Jennifer

THIS!!! I have out of town friends who are owners and even though I can come anytime vs. their 1 or 2 times/year, I feel like they have a better "experience". Helpful to know you've actually found even more use for your points as a local.

 

[Disneykate605]

We live 2 hours away now but lived 9 hours away when we bought. We also have annual passes. We currently still go for about a week at Thanksgiving and added on going 3-4 nights at Easter. We also average about once a month for at least one night but usually two. We book a room for a night or two when we have friends going to Disney to meet up with them. Most of the time we can find a studio but a couple of times we had to get a room at swan/dolphin.
Most of the rooms we book are done well in advance but a few are done only a couple of months ( sometimes a couple of weeks) in advance.

 

[Sharene0724]

We are just over an hour from WDW and we absolutely use all of our points every year and I still want more lol, we have 3 contracts total of 360 points. We have FL AP's plus water parks and go over a long weekend and use water parks on the blocked out days or hang at the resort pool. I hope to upgrade the AP's at renewal to a higher tier if that's still available. We go to be able to stay in the bubble and have early access hours. We also just go for a weekend resort stay and hit Disney Springs for food, shopping, seeing the holiday stuff and they also have some events there. If you like to stay at Disney, have the on site benefits, and you like DVC resorts, I'd say DVC points are a good way to go!

 

[croissant de triomphe]

Hi! We are newly localish, 2 Hours, and we have been using our DVC like crazy, actually buying a 3rd contract. Did nights for each of the holidays. So nice to browse last minute room openings at all the resorts as you mentioned, even snagged an AKV value for new years. In a way the 2 night trips are so much more fulfilling than when we did the week long trip traveling from Chicago. Not rushed to get home in a day but don't feel pressured if a ride goes down or the crowds are larger than expected. Hope that helps!

 

[SkampyOne]

Hi! We are newly localish, 2 Hours, and we have been using our DVC like crazy, actually buying a 3rd contract. Did nights for each of the holidays. So nice to browse last minute room openings at all the resorts as you mentioned, even snagged an AKV value for new years. In a way the 2 night trips are so much more fulfilling than when we did the week long trip traveling from Chicago. Not rushed to get home in a day but don't feel pressured if a ride goes down or the crowds are larger than expected. Hope that helps!

Definitely helpful! Was worried I was just being a spoiled brat but so good to know that locals see the value and I 100% agree it could be easier to book last minute since we don't have to also worry about finding (affordable) airfare. Put in an offer and waiting to see what happens

 

[pkrieger2287]

We definitely do a lot more single night stays since the move, but we also are still planning strategically for bigger weekends like birthdays, anniversaries, runDisney, etc. so that we ensure we have the room we want at 11 months.

 

[DVC Doctor]

You should also know that DVC often sells out of studios 2-3 months in advance, so getting last minute reservations for a week or two away is more challenging than if you can plan a few months out.

 

[lovin'fl]

We bought DVC in 2006 and lived up north. We kept adding smaller contracts (had several home resorts) with thoughts of snowbirding with our DVC. Had 650 points (we've bought 776 total over 5 resorts and sold some before and even added some after). FF to covid times...we're empty nest and DH's job goes to permanent WFR. So we buy a vacation townhouse in FL to snowbird (DH can work from anywhere now) and rent out the place when we are back north. So we sell off some more DVC, no need for 650 points and no need to pay the annual dues on those when we have a place to stay. But we did want to keep some because our place was a good 35+ mins to WDW and it was nice to stay overnight and have some drinks and not drive.

We owned the townhouse for 1 year. It was in a STR resort community and we didn't like all the hassles that came from renting our place (so much hassle...could be another thread on that, LOL). So we debated pulling it from renting to just use for ourselves. But we also didn't like the party vibe with renters in/out that came from this STR resort. Also didn't like the location for various reasons but one was the drive to WDW. Was a little too long and could be a ton of traffic to make it really long. When we did go for just the day, it would take forever to get to/from and we have an old (17) blind doggo we can only be away from for about 3.5 hours. So we'd have very little time at the park. It got to be that I'd go solo during the week and DH could only do weekends with me if we used the DVC and kenneled the dog.

So we decided to sell the townhouse after 1 year. And sell our big house up north too. Made nice profits on them both. Used that to put chunk down on a new single family home in a 55+ community that is 15 mins closer to WDW. In fact we can get to AK in less than 15 mins and most everything else is within 25. We keep an apartment up north to still go there but we've flipped our original intentions and do 3 visits north for 4-6 weeks each and the rest we live down in FL. We originally planned 3 long visits to FL and live the rest up north.

Anyway, we are down to 301 DVC points (don't ask about that odd number). Could probably live with less but will keep them to take the grandkids we hope to have someday. We moved into the new house last July. We've been booking DVC 1 night a month that we're in FL. And we change it up all the time as things pop open. Or plans change. We still aren't in a regular pattern of when we go up north. We wanted to go Nov-Dec for holidays....July-Aug to get out of heat...and (maybe, would be happy with just 2 visits) 1 other time for 3 visits north. However, DH's sisters' 2 kids have planned weddings that busted those dates apart. One was last Sept and the next is in Feb. We have to drive because of the old doggo and I don't want to drive that drive (14+ hours) back and forth umpteen times a year and in quick succession. Need big breaks between drives and need long stays when we do go up (but not too long, LOL). Still sorting that all out.

But, I did start to book 2 night DVC stays recently. So then we'd not go as often. Easier to take doggo to kennel (vet actually) less often and just leave him for 2 nights. Though he is about to turn 17 and I don't think he'll be here too much longer, sadly. Then we'll definitely do 2-3 night stays. And maybe fly north here and there and not stick to the 3 big trips north plans and just go whenever and for shorter periods.

I really deviated from this thread topic. But, we live here and have DVC. We should keep a thread to chit chat. Have our own little group.

Edit to add...our point totals have changed since moving to FL (less points now) as well as our stay length (did mostly 5-9 night stays when we lived up morth) as well as unit size (always did 1-2BR when we came down, even if just DH and I because he'd have to work sometimes....now we mostly do studios).

 

[brinkley07]

I have a friend who bought in when DVC first opened, and then added on several more contracts from there. She originally lived elsewhere, but now lives right outside the gates. However, she uses her points for VB and stays with her family when they want to visit the parks. She has also used her points for cruises and Adventures by Disney.