Does DVC allow you to vacation differently than your friends?

[HookdonWDW]

I was responding to a thread about "how can you afford to go to WDW so often", when I noticed that a lot of the respondents were DVCers. It made me wonder if the difference in vacation habits were a result of socioeconomics, DVC or other factors...

We vacationed before DVC, but probably not as much. DVC allows us to have a lot of our vacation time prepaid, and I think we value our downtime more as a result. Since we enjoy other places, don't live near family, and want to broaden our childrens' worlds, we also vacation outside of WDW.

We take 3-4 trips to WDW/year, and usually 1-2 other trips, and various weekend trips. We are probably in the mid-upper range of amount of vacations compared to our friends. We do go to WDW more than most of them.

 

[AZKathy]

Most of our friends' big vacation for the year is a road trip to California to visit San Diego or maybe a day or two at Disneyland or up to northern California. Very few of our friends vacation like we do. Maybe some take a week to go to Hawaii and that is real expensive but they don't do this yearly.<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/5/5_1_101.gif' border=0></a>

I do have one friend who has DVC and three other timeshares, so she vacations once every three months for a week on her timeshares. She is now planning a Mediterranian cruise over and above her timeshare vacations. <a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/7/7_2_117.gif' border=0></a> She is a single person who puts in tons of overtime, so she needs to vacation like this for rest!!!!!!

 

[dcfromva]

HookdonWDW,
Are you using points for all your vacations? (If so, cool).

My friends are the trend setters and where I get a lot of my good ideas My extended family generally goes with us, so they are pretty much the same...


-DC

 

[Cruelladeville]

I think DVC might be socioeconomically-based, perhaps more than all of our vacation habits. I live in Michigan, and most people here vacation in-state due to all the water We call our state "the water wonderland", most people figure why go anywhere else? I live on one of those lakes, so I'm used to them, it's no vacation to me to see them. In our town we (and our kids) grew up spending the afternoons at the beach in the summer.

Once you go up the economic scale a bit to professional people, they all tend to vacation more often. Nevertheless, DVC is a step above that. We vacation 3 times a year, which is a big deal inMichigan, even in this group. Once you add in ski weekends, shopping weekends, theatre weekends, etc. that's a lot of travelling. DVC lets you pay for your accommodations in advance, so you can go as often as you want--if you can afford the other expenses!

 

[Doug Wolfe]

Most of our friends vacation in and around Illinois, which is fine.

Some of our other friends who have timeshares are locked into certain time periods each year. Not so with DVC. I go when it suits me and my family.

 

[rsschneck]

We started vacationing at least 3 times per year a few year's back. We found out about DVC 9/02 and it was definatley for us. We are using points for most vacations with DVC for now since it is all really new to us still.

Most folks we know don't vacation as much as we do (kids and finances) and they especially don't fly to the East Coast/WDW 3 times per year. The airfare isn't bad, it just takes all day flying back and forth.

I would assume we will take longer trips to WDW and then take other trips to see other places as soon as the newness wears off a bit.

We were fortunate to pay off 300 points within 1 year and added on another 100 points that need to be paid off. So, after all is paid in full and we feel we have enough points for us we will go back to Cruising, etc. to break up our travel destinations.

So, far I am having fun booking DVC stays and learning about WDW!

 

[DebbieB]

I vacation more often than most of my friends and co-workers. Some of my co-workers spend all their vacation time cleaning house and sitting out in their backyard. Not for me! Financially it's alot easier, I mainly have to worry about airfare and spending money, the hotel part is taken care of. I'm used to the ~$85 per month in dues so it doesn't even seem like an expense. I don't need as much spending money because we usually have breakfast in the room (bagels, toast, frozen waffles, juice) so that saves money. We split meals or bring part back to the room (like half sandwiches) for later. I cringe when I think of the $2,000 bill I used to get at checkout (remaining room nights plus charges to the room). Now my checkout bill averages around $300. We get annual passes and schedule our trips to get maximum use, so that is less of an expense.

 

[brandip22]

We just joined and before we always went to Gulf Shores for a week, as does everone from here. It will be nice to go to WDW now and it will cost the same, if not less

 

[Disney Downunder]

For sure! DVC will allow us to have an overseas trip every 2-3 years. Admittedly, we don't travel as much within our own state or country as our friends. Mostly our friends tend to go down south for a short break a few times a year. However, for us the ability to go to WDW every 2 years more than makes up for the lack of short trips in-between.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We also live in a state where few people travel outside of the state during the summer. Minnesota is, after all, the "Land of 10,000 Lakes". On the other hand, Minnesotans travel a LOT during the cold winter months. Buying DVC gives us the ability to travel to WDW multiple times a year and still do other vacations as well. We have generally taken 3 traveling vacations a year since joining DVC in 1997.

 

[JimC]

We are taking more trips, spending more time per trip, spending less per day and staying in better lodgings.

 

[mom2rb]

DH and I had only taken two vacations since our twins were born. Five days each to Las Vegas. Now that we have DVC we have the next 3-4 years planed out and we will go on a vacation every year. Until we pay off DVC we will be limiting our trips to one a year but after that I think we will do one no-kid trip ( not DVC) a year and one family trip.

 

[DVCPal]

DH and I returned yesterday from a cruise to French Polynesia. In May we go to Abaco (a Bahamian island) with DFs (they own the timeshare). In June we're staying at BWV with DSs, DDILs, and 4 DGK in a 2 bedroom and 1 bedroom villa. In SEptember we will be on a houseboat with friends. And finally in December we'll be back at BWV with our DFs with the ABaco timeshare. So this year it'll be five weeks of vacation with 2 of them at DVC.

 

[Boo]

When I met my husband 10 years ago- (gee! has it already been that long!!!)- we were both studying abroad in Rome, Italy. We spent the next six months traveling together and have been ever since. Needless to say we have been bitten by the travel bug WAY more than our other friends. We love visiting Morocco at Epcot because that was one of our more memorable backpacking experiences.

Buying into DVC after a trip to WDW when we were first married seemed like a no-brainer. Some people like to spend their extra money on electronics, new cars every few years... we would rather spend it all on travel.

DVC helps us budget for all the trips we take, and is a factor in letting us enjoy traveling without my having to give up staying home with my little ones to pay for it. We go to WDW every other year (rotating with an international trip) and we do a lot of exchanges/ concierge collection. We take 1 to 2 major trips a year and a bunch of weekenders. We'd probably still travel just as much without DVC, but this way it helps us "prepay" for a lot of our vacations in much better accomodations. Then again- almost anything is better than a 2 star hotel in Marrakesh with no hot water.

We look forward to using our DVC points for the African Safari just as soon as the kids are old enough. I don't think anyone we know is even CONSIDERING such a trip. Without DVC it just wouldn't be possible for us.