DVC Retirement

[GrumpyInPhilly]

Recently retired, I have contemplated doing this as well. Would need a 1BR for the space, however. After 45 years of marriage, we're not honeymooners anymore.

 

[Pinnochio]

Hi Everyone.

I was talking to my wife about how neat it would be to get enough points to stay a whole month on property when we retire. Does anyone else do this?

I just thought thought it would be great to get away from the cold and spend time just hanging out and enjoying the parks and atmosphere.

we do February at BWV....gets us out of the NEngland cold....

 

[patm95]

Recently retired, I have contemplated doing this as well. Would need a 1BR for the space, however. After 45 years of marriage, we're not honeymooners anymore.

I can only imagine!

 

[JulieBeeRN]

We are thinking about going for longer stays (2-3 weeks) more often when we retire, but I don’t think that we would go for an entire month at Disney, mainly bc of our dog. If we were going to stay anywhere for 4 weeks or longer, we would probably get an AirBnB that was dog friendly.

 

[jo-jo]

Some years ago I read someone here spent a few months at disney. One week studio, one week one bedroom. Studio, eat out more, do parks whatever. One bedrooms , cook, stay in more , laundry.

 

[tx911]

Recently retired, I have contemplated doing this as well. Would need a 1BR for the space, however. After 45 years of marriage, we're not honeymooners anymore.

Come on, live dangerously. Go for the Tower Duo at Riv! For a solid month!

 

[RuntheMouse]

Hi Everyone.

I was talking to my wife about how neat it would be to get enough points to stay a whole month on property when we retire. Does anyone else do this?

I just thought thought it would be great to get away from the cold and spend time just hanging out and enjoying the parks and atmosphere.

We just did this! We arrived on NYE and stayed through the end of January. We did a mega split stay to keep things fresh. Started at Saratoga, spent marathon weekend at Boulder Ridge, went up to Hilton Head to recover for a few days, then to Kidani, then to Boardwalk for FotA and then back to Boulder Ridge. We had so much fun and will definitely do it again in the future.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

This is my goal as well. I'm still a while off from retirement but that's the plan! Originally I was thinking one month but now I'm leaning towards two 2.5-ish week trips to break up the winter...but that's the beauty of DVC. I can wait and decide, and/or alternate!

 

[tx911]

I've been married a while. I'll need a 3BR Grand Villa so we can obtain adequate separation

 

[mousehouse23]

We just did this! We arrived on NYE and stayed through the end of January. We did a mega split stay to keep things fresh. Started at Saratoga, spent marathon weekend at Boulder Ridge, went up to Hilton Head to recover for a few days, then to Kidani, then to Boardwalk for FotA and then back to Boulder Ridge. We had so much fun and will definitely do it again in the future.

That sounds amazing! Did you stick with studios or mix in some 1-bedrooms, too?

 

[MICKIMINI]

We spent several years thinking about this possibility. Our last trip was a three week stay and that was more Disney than we wanted. Though we've been DVC since 1996, AP at the time and had purchased quite a few contracts anticipating this situation we decided against it.

We'd have to drive (even bought a car for this) 24+ hours from NH. DH is sick of heavy traffic and road rage and I agree. We would have to stop twice (once was to be HHI) both ways. Gas/hotels/tolls etc was not a factor.

Prices have gone sky high at WDW and quality has gone way down. 10K a week doesn't seem worth it to us anymore...40K not happening. Our son and DIL are factored into that amount at 10 nights a year.

Instead, we decided to build a new home where we can relax and vacation year round. It is exactly what we want, we don't have to fight traffic and that 40K, well we can find other ways to spend that. We sold most of our DVC contracts and have pretty much moved on.

I would spend 3-4 weeks at WDW to test drive the concept. We were the WDW poster children for decades so our decision surprised even us. Good luck!

 

[tom1944]

This was my original plan. Arrive after MLK Day and leave prior to Presidents Day. Life changed and we cannot leave NJ during that period due to a family commitment. We now travel in August with my daughter and granddaughter.

That was a drastic change in plans but one I have enjoyed.

 

[houseofduck]

There was a poster on here a few years ago that posted about spending two years going from timeshare to timeshare. He had other timeshares in addition to DVC. It was an interesting read!

Here is one of his threads: https://www.disboards.com/threads/one-year-living-in-our-timeshares-2-1-2-year-update.3121140/

 

[jo-jo]

I've been married a while. I'll need a 3BR Grand Villa so we can obtain adequate separation

Save points, just stay at different resorts.

 

[tom1944]

Save points, just stay at different resorts.

I know a husband-and-wife duo that have different houses. I can see the benefit.

 

[tx911]

Save points, just stay at different resorts.

Like VGC and VGF?

 

[RuntheMouse]

That sounds amazing! Did you stick with studios or mix in some 1-bedrooms, too?

We had 1 bedrooms for our first BRV stay and DHHIR but studios for the rest.

 

[DisTravels]

We have enough points at Aulani to do this when we retire and the kids are out of the house. We also met a few older couples at aulani who stay 3-4 weeks every year.

Given time and cost involved in flying to HI (especially if coming from the east), going multiple weeks is definitely preferable.

Pre-COVID my then boss wouldn't let me take 2 consecutive weeks (or more) of vacation so we agreed I would work every-other day from HI over a 3 week period.

5pm ET is 11:00 AM in Oahu, so even on work days I had a good amount of daylight to be outside (although 8am ET is 2:00am in Oahu)

 

[CarolynFH]

There was an old thread here posted by someone who spent several weeks at DVC in studios - they had a number of imaginative food options using only the kitchenette.... need to find ....

Oh would be very interested in that if you find it!

It’s such a remarkable thread that I bookmarked it - https://www.disboards.com/threads/four-weeks-in-a-studio-using-the-kitchenette-and-survived.3703922/

 

[Cfabar1]

I wonder if a better way to go would be using your DVC membership to book Interval Getaways via cash for some of the time ... I love Disney but so much of the premium is based on staying on property for the parks.... I wouldn't imagine myself going into them every day.

OKW or a Treehouse Villa I could make work... If it was just us and a dog, and if the cabins had put in W/D, I could make that work easily too... So silly that they did not put W/Ds in the units!