DVC Members: How often do you go to the park during your trips?

[keishashadow]

We go every day,not all day but about half a day . Gotta get use of the three fast passes .LOL.

Seems like many go with half a day, us included. Could never do a resort only day, the siren call of the parks is too loud

If in BW area, one of the few instances we bother to park hop, especially if an event at Ep for evening fun

If kids are along, all bets are off unless we can tempt them with pool time.

 

[Dano1182]

This will be our third trip with no parks planned.
We really enjoy the pools and restaurants.
We go to Disney Springs at night.
I wish that they would offer a evening pass to Epcot for DVC members.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Seems like many go with half a day, us included. Could never do a resort only day, the siren call of the parks is too loud

If in BW area, one of the few instances we bother to park hop, especially if an event at Ep for evening fun

If kids are along, all bets are off unless we can tempt them with pool time.

If I skip a Disney park on a day it probably means I've gone to Universal or Sea World. There's been Gatorland and Kennedy Space Ctr thrown in too.

 

[Donna M]

We don't have annual passes, but do have non-expiring tickets. We are saving them for when the grandkids get older. We spent 5 days there in April and just enjoyed the resort and mini golf.

We have been there done that at this point and will wait for crowds to settle before we head to the brand new rides.

 

[Blueslegend]

As DVC fairly spoilt. Pretty manyana about parks these days. Will get my fastpasses but tend to do back to back then just mooch around then back to the resort. Hit the bar and pool. Seems to be more about the evening these days. Love bringing friends who have never been. Allows me to relive my first time through their eyes.

 

[skippytx]

We go to the parks when we use our DVC. We're still newer members so the shine hasn't worn off yet.

Honestly though the whole point of us buying DVC was to go to the parks. We vacation other places, or go on a cruise when we want to relax or enjoy a resort. If I wasn't going to go to the parks I'd just rent my points out and use the cash to do something else. The resorts are nice, but I'd never stay there without going to the parks. There are so much better destinations for the vacation dollar available.

 

[Drewferin]

If your family goes the around the same time every year then you can always shift 1 week later the first year and then use the AP for 2 longer trips.

Year 1 - June 5 to 12 - 7 nights
Year 2 - May 30 to 5 - 7 nights

Simply doing the above week shift for a 2 years in a row you can use 1 AP. If you fit in a RunDisney or short W&D trip in between year 1 and 2 you get even more savings. Obviously family size also matters for recouping the direct costs vs resale.

 

[sgtdisney]

We used to go 4-7 days on 6-10 night trips. However with the most recent ticket price increases, and also the fact that they limit the days you can use them, it will be substantially less in future visits. Sometimes we'd go to Disney, leave for a few days and go visit family in Florida, and them come back for a few days. It worked very well for us, before, as we have 14 days to use the tickets. Now you have to pay a premium to get 14 days or pay for 8-9 day tickets and just not use some of them. Neither is a good option for us. So the trips will be changing in future trips. We've been wanting to spend more time away from the parks, so I guess I can thank Disney's ticket pricing for keeping us out of the parks. We will explore other things within Disney World, but more so, we'll start going out into Orlando and see other sights and save some money that way too.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Usually one park each trip. First time well be there in December. Will visit MK and Epcot this trip.

 

[kboo]

We have had annual passes since 2015, before we bought DVC. Having APs definitely reduces the pressure to get the most out of your ticket by being a park commando every day. Also, we still have young kids who can be pretty random, and their desires and needs change as they are getting older. We used to be very regimented about the afternoon break and we'd all take a nap at the resort, so we had to have PHs. Now that we've gotten to resort hop and park hop more, we are discovering resort restaurants that we all like, savoring pool time, and are much more relaxed about what we do each day, and how we do it. I still book FPs for every day, but if we are not feeling it that day, or decide we want to quit early, I don't stress about missing a FP. On our last couple of trips we also tried to take in more shows and parades and not have the whole day uber-planned-out. On our upcoming trip (9 days!!) we are talking about theoretically taking a day off from the parks, but looking at our plans, we can't seem to find a day (and FP) we are willing to "give up"! So, we will play it by ear.

(Also, we got the PAP+ which has water parks on it and have yet to visit a water park...)

 

[DduzDis]

On our upcoming trip (9 days!!) we are talking about theoretically taking a day off from the parks, but looking at our plans, we can't seem to find a day (and FP) we are willing to "give up"! So, we will play it by ear.

Have a great trip!!

 

[DVC92]

Every day, but we don't get to the parks until about 3 in the afternoon. We eat breakfast/lunch in the room, then get to the parks to use our FPs and other activities before dinner.

 

[DduzDis]

We go to a park everyday with the exception of a pool/ Disney Springs day in the middle of our week. We do rope drop and then leave for naps after an early lunch. And then we'll return to a park between 4 and 5 depending on dinner plans and we'll stay as along as the kids are hanging in there and happy. We have 6 and 3 yo DDs. The 3 yo still can't quite hang through fireworks, but I'll keep the 6 yo with me until after the fireworks while DW takes the 3yo to the resort for an earlier bedtime. We try to let the 3 yo see HEA once on our trip if we are staying at BLT and can just walk back afterwards.

The girls know if we can't get to something on 'this' trip, we'll be back. It makes it so much easier to bob and weave our plans if an attraction breaks down or we just decide we would rather do something else. It certainly has caused us to slow down and take in some of the smaller details. We feel like we can just sit and watch the world go by at a park rather than feel like we have to get everything in on a given trip. This is by far probably one the best perks of DVC for us. Even going all day (if we do) just seems more relaxed.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I recently noticed a fair amount of members talking about how they 'rarely' or even 'never' go to the parks during their DVC stays at WDW. I was curious about how most people are using their DVC membership.

In the beginning we’d go every day, all day & park hop. Now we like to plan at least one resort/pool day. My husband & I had a long discussion about how we will spend our time on future vacations. Don’t think we will go to parks as much & probably won’t park hop either.

 

[Pootle]

When our adult son was young, we went in most days. Now it's mostly just the 2 of us we often don't bother with the parks at all. This changes when the grandchildren are with us. As retirees, we are fortunate to spend most of January in Florida escaping the UK winters, and include a cruise (or two!). We sometimes plan a park day, as we have plenty of non-expiring tickets, but if the weather is not favourable, we don't go in, as was the case January just gone. I think that's down to not wishing to 'waste' a valuable ticket as much as anything.

 

[kboo]

We go to a park everyday with the exception of a pool/ Disney Springs day in the middle of our week. We do rope drop and then leave for naps after an early lunch. And then we'll return to a park between 4 and 5 depending on dinner plans and we'll stay as along as the kids are hanging in there and happy. We have 6 and 3 yo DDs. The 3 yo still can't quite hang through fireworks, but I'll keep the 6 yo with me until after the fireworks while DW takes the 3yo to the resort for an earlier bedtime. We try to let the 3 yo see HEA once on our trip if we are staying at BLT and can just walk back afterwards.

The girls know if we can't get to something on 'this' trip, we'll be back. It makes it so much easier to bob and weave our plans if an attraction breaks down or we just decide we would rather do something else. It certainly has caused us to slow down and take in some of the smaller details. We feel like we can just sit and watch the world go by at a park rather than feel like we have to get everything in on a given trip. This is by far probably one the best perks of DVC for us. Even going all day (if we do) just seems more relaxed.

This is generally us as well. We've taken our 7yo to TOTWL to watch fireworks, or we've had them near the entrance (at the base of Main St.) and then had them in bed in PJs, teeth brushed, half an hour later. The 3yo has given up naps, but unlike the 7yo does not see the benefit of napping during the afternoon so she can stay up later at night. The FOMO is strong with that one. We also now try to do at least a few new-to-us things, as well as some old favorites, on each trip.

 

[com_op_2000]

My choice:
Something else.
We go to the parks for two days, take a day off, go for two days, take a day off, etc - no matter the length of the trip.
Even with that said, we have done some trips (14 days of Disney) and never set foot in a park.

 

[DVCjj]

Don't spend all day anymore but because we purposely bought at BCV and Poly (and many times stay at BLT) specifically because of walking (monorail for Poly) ability, it would be silly of us not to go into the parks. Especially with AP's always.

 

[WRLeGrand]

We tend to take a single day off. There are just are just so many things to do in four world-class theme parks to stay at the hotel for us. We do have younger kids so maybe that makes a difference.

 

[vakamalua]

We've been DVC members since 1995. As empty nesters now, we rarely go into the parks when at the World. Will be there in May and will only go to the Moonlight Magic evening at EPCOT. So very much has changed in the last 20+ years--the elbow to elbow crowds, the long lines, the exorbinant prices, the lack of spontaneity (who knows where and when they want to eat six months out!) , the lack of DVC availability, etc.--we miss the more laid back way we were able to visit the World and do the parks.