As DVC members do you vacation differently?

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

Now that we have a contract in the works DH and I got to talking about how our future WDW trips will differ than before the membership. How have you changed your vacation style, if at all?

For us- We plan on getting APs and with that comes park hoppers- we haven't used them before on our three previous trips. I think we will travel more often to WDW and spend less time being so commando (rope drop, no break, stay till fireworks end) and more time taking in the resort.

 

[Desnik]

We've had DVC for about 9 years. We use to go to the parks everyday of our vacation and stay mostly in studios. Now we hardly go to the parks on our trips. Sometimes we skip them entirely. We also always stay in a 1 bedroom now.

 

[DougEMG]

We go for a lot more days in a year now, so we buy annual passes. I find I don't get up tight if the lines are long as I know I'll be back, so I can relax and take it easy.

 

[a742246]

When I go to WDW now it feels like a second home!

 

[Nanajo1]

We've been DVC for 16 years. Our trips are longer now. It is more of a vacation than a theme park trip. We value our surroundings more. We love to just sit around and people watch, eat nice meals, occasionally go to the parks.

 

[com_op_2000]

As you go along, as PP have stated, you will do less commando, and find that your vacations are more relaxing. You will find things to do within the parks you will return for speciality items (IE: Night of Joy, F&G, MNSSHP, ect), outside the parks, and around the Orlando area. The HH and VB options will come into play as you can go to the beach instead of the Orlando area, for a change a scenery. Then for a longer vacation/anniversary trip you can do the GCV and Aulani.
We have taken trips to all the east coast resorts for over 20 years, totaling over 140 vacations, plus DCL, RCI, and Concierge Collection exchanges, and will continue to do so. These are vacation that we never would of paid OOP for, never would of taken except for DVC, having along time ago recovered our investment in DVC, and consider outselves very luckly to have the options we have.

 

[crisi]

We still commando. There isn't anything I want to do in Orlando other than the parks - if I want to hang around a resort I want something different than Florida. So as our park needs have diminished because we really don't need to ride Jungle Cruise this trip and stand in that line - we go for fewer days. This leaves extra points - so last trip there were four of us in a Grand Villa to use points.

This year our points took us to Hilton Head, and I might rent my points out for a few years while the kids are in high school. They'd both rather spend their limited and hard to schedule vacation time somewhere other than Disney. Once they are gone, we are currently thinking about spending a few weeks in the Winter at HHI. It isn't hot there, but its less cold than Minnesota.

 

[catherines_mama]

Definetely! I am looking at planning a not so Disney vacation. Doing some other local activities dusted in with some Disney. Our kids are older so we don't have to do everything, and can do some oddball things here and there. Relax more, enjoy the resort, DTD, this trip I'm daydreaming about we'll do Discovery Cove.

 

[DaisyNY]

We enjoy more down time at resorts and love the extra room to spread out...we usually book a two-bedroom villa for our family! Definitely enjoy the resort at a more relaxed pace.

 

[bwvBound]

For the first few years we felt a strong intention to "always use our timeshare" when planning vacations. That intention was fueled by "use it or lose it" policies with respect to points, "if you have it - use it" mentality, and the strong desire to explore every nook and cranny of our new toy.

So yes, we vacationed differently! Very differently!

• Before timeshare ...
  • We mostly traveled as a couple.
  • We chose our destination first -- then the accommodations.
  • We planned for "value": affordable won over size/luxury. (We thought about the finances of each component of the trip planning!)
  • We came home with lots of dirty laundry which needed immediate attention on unpacking.
• With timeshare ...
  • We started traveling with family. ("Hey folks, we snagged a 3BR unit in Branson. Do you want to meet us there??")
  • The planning order reversed! We started by stumbling upon some available accommodation (the 3BR in Branson via RCI; the 1BR in Cabo on Bonus Time; the 3BR at DVC SSR during F&W) and then building the trip around it.
  • We upscaled our room expectations. We now look for and expect a 1BR rather than studio! We enjoy the living room, the kitchen, the balcony, the jetted tubs, etc.
  • We come home with CLEAN clothes to unpack! No urgent need to run laundry on return.

DVC was, for us, our first glimpse at timeshare but our 5th purchase. By the time we bought into DVC, we had already explored lots of ways to use our various timeshares and were far more relaxed again. Over the years we've returned to including other forms of vacation (not involving the timeshares) and are happy blending the various vacation tools when/where it makes sense.

Our first timeshare, which we love, drove us a bit nutty at first. We were driven to visit every location. Somewhere after 40 different resorts we began to mellow. (I think we also stopped counting??)

Wishing you the very best fun, adventure, relaxation and contentment from your choices!

 

[AirGoofy]

Now that we have a contract in the works DH and I got to talking about how our future WDW trips will differ than before the membership. How have you changed your vacation style, if at all?

For us- We plan on getting APs and with that comes park hoppers- we haven't used them before on our three previous trips. I think we will travel more often to WDW and spend less time being so commando (rope drop, no break, stay till fireworks end) and more time taking in the resort.

We've only been DVC for 6 years. Before, we stayed in value/moderate resorts and went commando everyday to the parks. We did "free dining", tried to keep up with credits, and went home with 30 rice Kristie treats.

After DVC, we went on two trips some years, or one trip to WDW and one to one of the beach DVC resorts. We still do a park day from RD to close, but now, we take the following day off to enjoy the resort. The DVC resorts have so much fun stuff to do - pools, games, community hall, activities, etc. - so be sure to enjoy them. We also bought the TiW card with the discount on dining.

Enjoy your future vacations.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We've been members for 12 years, and the one thing I've noticed is that we no longer panic if an attraction we love is closed for refurbishment or we can't get ADRs where we want (unless we're bringing "first-timers") Now we just shrug our shoulders and say "Oh, well- next time!" Before DVC, I didn't know for sure if there'd be a "next time". Also, there is definitely the feeling of living at WDW, instead of just visiting in a hotel room.

 

[TagsMissy]

We definitely take it slower and if we don't get something done or miss some show or ride then so be it, we know we'll be back soon. Our vacations are much more relaxed with DVC and the fact we go more often.

Sometimes we spend hours just relaxing on our balcony, chatting and overlooking the Boardwalk or whatever else view we have at any given resort. It's our catch up and relax time. Home life is hectic, it's nice that it's not always go-go-go for the parks.

 

[dsneygirl]

We've been members for 12 years, and the one thing I've noticed is that we no longer panic if an attraction we love is closed for refurbishment or we can't get ADRs where we want (unless we're bringing "first-timers") Now we just shrug our shoulders and say "Oh, well- next time!" Before DVC, I didn't know for sure if there'd be a "next time". Also, there is definitely the feeling of living at WDW, instead of just visiting in a hotel room.

Completely. We have been 26x to WDW as members and we don't get worked up about too much. No longer dining plan, no longer every character meal going. There's always next time. We spend a lot more time at the resort, doing kids activities and just wandering the parks. More time for the over looked attractions, entertainment etc. Last trip my DS took 2 full days to earn every single Wilderness Explorer badge at AK. The rest of us just enjoyed the ride. Spent another afternoon at the GF splashpad for hours while the kids had the place to themselves and the adults had a few cocktails.

We don't "cook" on vacation but really enjoy breakfast and snacks (bagels, cheese, crackers, fresh fruit etc).

Sometimes we go to the bus stop and just hop on whichever us comes first. We love it.

 

[zavandor]

I've recently purchased DVC and I've stayed on points only once a WDW and once at DLR. SO I still go commando to the parks, but I already changed my mindset:
- I know I'll be back soon enough. Visiting from Europe, my previous trips to WDW were full of anxiety trying to do everything because I didn't know when I could be back. Now if an attraction is down or I'm tired or I'd like to go to the pool, I know I can skip something that I'll catch next trip
- I'm already planning my vacations for years in advance! My current plan is 2015 WDW, 2016 Tokio (and rent my points) 2017 WDW, 2018 DLR.
That's crazy, but I found DVC quite addictive. Is there a support group for that?

 

[skier_pete]

We just purchased, but I think that we will be spending more time at the resorts. Since before purchasing we almost always went with Free Dining, we will also be spending less time at Table Service restaurants. So, less Dining, more resorts. Someone else mentioned APs, which we plan on taking advantage of as well, so we could start hopping...but even the last time we got APs, we did very little hopping, so I am not sure if that will change.

Me personally, I don't think we will be taking the structure out of the trip. I am too much an OCD planner for us not to plan out the park days. It's just simply a case that we will give in to more resort time.

The more you go though, I think your trips morph anyways. We travel a lot different now than we did 7 years ago when we started going with DD. When you go frequently there's a lot more of a "we'll just catch that next time" attitude. So in a way, our trips were already mellowing out.

 

[Micca]

Definitely less commando for us. We have OL, so we are able to travel lighter, and we like to stock the room with goodies for breakfast, beer, wine & snacks for later in the day. The money we spend on bagels & breakfast bars for our entire trip wouldn't cover the cost of one "big' breakfast from Disney.

We still hit the parks most days we are there, but we sure don't spend the entire day doing rides.

 

[Rest&Relax]

We definitely take it slower and if we don't get something done or miss some show or ride then so be it, we know we'll be back soon. Our vacations are much more relaxed with DVC and the fact we go more often.

Sometimes we spend hours just relaxing on our balcony, chatting and overlooking the Boardwalk or whatever else view we have at any given resort. It's our catch up and relax time. Home life is hectic, it's nice that it's not always go-go-go for the parks.

Couldn't have said it any better! With 21 years of DVC, I don't need to rush anywhere. Love my relaxation time at OKW balcony or pool or a nice stroll through the parks during special events. FP+ has even made it easier to catch a ride in the evening now instead of rushing to the park to get a FP if I want to do a ride or show.

 

[SamSam]

Definitely less commando for us. We have OL, so we are able to travel lighter, and we like to stock the room with goodies for breakfast, beer, wine & snacks for later in the day. The money we spend on bagels & breakfast bars for our entire trip wouldn't cover the cost of one "big' breakfast from Disney.

We still hit the parks most days we are there, but we sure don't spend the entire day doing rides.

Describes Dh and I too a T. We love our DVC, our OL, and taking more laid back, take it easy trips. We actually work half days while we're there, so we have 2 OL's. One with the usual stuff, one that is our office to go with printer, etc. in it. And, no, we don't mind working half days because we're able to stay longer periods because we do that. We're just thankful it works for us.

 

[DVC Jen]

I think the more trips you take, and with the knowledge that you are a DVC member, you start to relax more.

We know we were be there and do that again so if we miss it during one trip we don't mind so much.