Do you have a long term plan on how you use your points?

[Husurdady]

I'm just curious - do most people have a long term plan on how they use their points or does it change year to year?


Does anyone else have any long term plans as to how you plan on using your points? Now all this would change of course if DD29 would surprise us by finding a boy friend, getting married and giving us some grandchildren . Then we'd have to go to WDW every year.

Sounds like a good plan to me.That plan has worked for us for sometime now. We have all our eggs [400pts.] in the same basket[ resort].Last year,[may-into-june] stayed at OKW for 12-days and in Sept., DW and I went on a 4-day cruise,came back to OkW for 3 more days. This year[june] we went on a 7-day w-cruise ,came back to OKW for 8 days.And next month [Sept-20th],going on a 4 day Disney cruise then coming back to OKW an just "HANG" out there.

 

[SamSam]

Just curious - how many points is that?

It varies depending on which resort and the type of room. For instance, with 664 points you can stay 3 weeks in an AKV Studio in October, and 4 weeks in January at OKW in a studio.

I have had to re-think and am re-evaluating everything since we now are fairly certain that we would be much happier in a 1-bedroom, especially for extended stays.
Still if you figure buying a home (that you would actually be happy with), then figure in the costs of up keep and having a property manager for the time periods you aren't 'in residence', DVC still makes sense.

 

[Pootle]

I'm just curious - do most people have a long term plan on how they use their points or does it change year to year?

Does anyone else have any long term plans as to how you plan on using your points? Now all this would change of course if DD29 would surprise us by finding a boy friend, getting married and giving us some grandchildren . Then we'd have to go to WDW every year.

I'm currently wrestling with the 'should I add on?' because of possible future plans.

We too have a 29-year old (son) who is providing our first grandchild in November and I've already planned a 12-night stay in a 2 bedroom at OKW next year which has made a serious dent in my points!

I'm see-sawing though, and the reasons have already been touched upon by previous posters:

Like SamSam visits to Florida are part of my retirement plans and I see DVC as a simpler way to do this rather than pay for the upkeep of home purchase that I would never use in the summer months ....... but like eliza61, I am a bit displeased with some of Disney's cost-cutting measures.

So far, I've used reams of paper trying to work out future plans

 

[Tink&PirateMama]

We are new to DVC... but here are our plans so far!

Take trips every winter with our two children, of ideally 10 or more days Get away with a split stay between one bedrooms and studios as long as we can. We'd like to spend 2 weeks, and because we go in January, we can get that, if we do studios. If we do larger the whole way, we only have a week (or less!), but our thought was as the kids get older, we might not stay as long and would prefer a treehouse for a week or so instead. But then when they are grown and it's just us we want to 'snowbird' it a bit more. We intend to only go once a year in winter, as we do have a cabin we use about 9 months a year, and we drive down and don't want to do that drive too often! I think one year we'll maybe make an exception to that, though!

Our longterm goal is to have the month of January... or atleast 3 weeks like we are doing this year. So eventually we need more points! But we will wait a few years on that, and see if they open another resort- we are in love with the idea of a GF or Poly DVC, so we're holding out for awhile. Plus, we haven't tried all the resorts, so maybe we'll fall in love with another resort anyway! And, we don't really know yet how many points we'll need- I think we'll know more when the kids are a little older.

We are using over a hundred extra points this year for our January trip (had extras on our contract), and I think we'll get a good idea of what 100 extra points is like... and we'll fall in love with AKV, OKW, VB or VWL... and I'm afraid we might want that add on sooner!!

 

[WolfpackFan]

OP back - I've noticed several have posted that they hope to do the snowbird thing and spend parts of January and February at WDW. Initially this had been my big plan. I absolutely hate cold weather. But we're concerned about frozen pipes, etc. in those cold months. We could have DD come by and check our house occasionally but still there is that worry. Anyone else who has considered doing this have a similar concern?

 

[eliza61]

OP back - I've noticed several have posted that they hope to do the snowbird thing and spend parts of January and February at WDW. Initially this had been my big plan. I absolutely hate cold weather. But we're concerned about frozen pipes, etc. in those cold months. We could have DD come by and check our house occasionally but still there is that worry. Anyone else who has considered doing this have a similar concern?

The older I get, the more I hate cold weather wolfpack, my dh and I are a little different in that we are city folks (we were born and raised in NYC & Philly) who live in the suburbs now. Once we retire we hope to move back to a condiminum (sp) in a city (Charleston, SC or Savannah Ga are our top contenders) so maintence thankfully will be keep up by others.

Of course that may all change depending on whether or not my teenage sons can find some sweet girl to take pity on them enough to marry them and give me grandbabies.

 

[WolfpackFan]

You know it's funny, we had thought also that we might would consider moving somewhere else once we retired. I would love to move to Bluffton, SC right outside HHI. But the problem is I don't know that DD29 and DS34 could survive if we left town . They seem to have so many "issues" and it's a full time job it seems to do things for them. I keep hoping one or the other will find someone and get married but the way things are going I don't know that is ever going to happen .

 

[bwvBound]

OP back - I've noticed several have posted that they hope to do the snowbird thing and spend parts of January and February at WDW. Initially this had been my big plan. I absolutely hate cold weather. But we're concerned about frozen pipes, etc. in those cold months. We could have DD come by and check our house occasionally but still there is that worry. Anyone else who has considered doing this have a similar concern?

We have a weekend cottage in the San Diego mountains. First freeze generally hits in Oct and we can expect overnight lows in the 20's through March. To prevent pipe freezing we keep inside temps in the mid-50s when we are not there and we leave a "drip" running at the end of each water line (inside water pipes at faucet and the far extremes of our irrigation systems). Seems to generally work ... although we did a minor burst this spring over the house at our swamp cooler. Thankfully damage was minimal and after repairs our swamp runs better than ever! (Sure needed it this summer!)

 

[dreamlinda]

We bank points and work out 2 trips in one 12 month period so we can get annual passes and the TIW dining card. Then we can go or not go to the parks as we chose, and save on the resturants/meals we choose. It's working for us. We occasionally take 23 DS, which ups the cost, but we still think it works out well in terms of park passes and meals.

 

[starbox]

Our long term plans are really different as we will eventually relocate to Florida. We've been moving towards spending longer and longer periods in Florida each summer - we did three weeks this past year.

We're going to rent a place in Vero for a month this year (all of June) and hop back and forth from Disney. Right now, the plan is to do 2, 3, and 4 night mid-week stays at different Disney DVCs as well as 4 single nights stays at the VB resort - using the rental as our "home base".

This is probably what we'll do until we permenantly move to Vero - at which point we'll likely do lots of one or two night stays throughout the year.

Long, long term plans? When our kids have their own lives, DH and I will use points to exchange and travel internationally. Once grandkids are in the picture - I'm sure we'll go back to being with the family at Disney.

 

[Pixieflip]

OP back - I've noticed several have posted that they hope to do the snowbird thing and spend parts of January and February at WDW. Initially this had been my big plan. I absolutely hate cold weather. But we're concerned about frozen pipes, etc. in those cold months. We could have DD come by and check our house occasionally but still there is that worry. Anyone else who has considered doing this have a similar concern?

We are about 9 years from the soonest we could be empty nesters and our dream would be to spend 4 or 5 weeks at BCV or even OKW. We'll figure out the logistics when the time comes. It's hard to imagine what reality will be by then, will any of the kids be married? grandkids? where will they be living? I look forward to that so much I have to watch myself and make sure I enjoy today's trips, too!

I do love the logic of DVC vs. a home somewhere. My inlaws bought a 4 bedroom house for over $300,000 outside of Disney and are constantly dealing with a new management company, decorating, landscaping, upkeep, etc. How many points could you get at BLT for $300,000??!! Seriously, when you look at it that way, you could spend a fraction of what a house would cost and live on a luxurious amount of points for you and your family. I like your thinking!

 

[toniosmom]

Well....I have planned out vacations for the next three years so far. My son is only 4-1/2 and will be entering kindergarten in 2010. After he hits first grade, our vacations will be governed by the school calendar. I adopted my son at the age of 45, so I will be 63 when he turns 18 and (God willing) goes off to college. I plan for us to have annual vacations for many years to come. I own 260 AKV points, so I can get a weeklong trip every year during peak seasons. I also own a 60 point BCV contract, so with banking and borrowing, I can use 180 points for a 5 day spring break trip every 3 years in addition to our annual AKV trip.

This coming March 2010, I have invited my parents and my niece (18) plus her BFF for a 2BR stay at AKV Kidani. While my son is still in kindergarten, I plan to take him out of school for two more trips -- a week in Dec 2010 at BLT (if I can get it at 7 months) and a week at AKV or BWV (if I can get that at 7 months). Of course, AKV is my home resort, so I am happy to stay there if I can't get my other two choices at 7 months. I want to experience all of the other resorts as well.

Once DS hits 1st grade, we may do a week in November (first week -- Jersey week -- school is closed most/all of the week) each year. We will get a lot for our points during a less-busy time of year. And then a BCV spring break trip (5 days) every 3rd year. Somewhere in there I'd like to do a DCL cruise -- but I'm waiting for the new ships in 2011/2012 before planning anything.

I am a single mom, so the thought of being a snowbird is just so far out of my reality at this point. Unless my personal life changes, I doubt that will happen, although I hope to have added on more points so that I could go more often.

Sorry this is so long winded.....but you asked!