DVC usage before/after kids

[AuntMinnie12]

We joined DVC in '93 and DB/DSIL joined in '95.

DS born in '94 and went to WDW first time when 6 months old.

DNephew born in '96 and went to WDW first time when 8 months old.

DD born in "97 and went to WDW first time when 9 months old.

Kids are 14 x 2 and 17 and still ask to go. We don't go as often as when they were younger due to activities and school....but still love it.

It's great when they are babies....you have frig, microwave, DVD player, full time Disney Channel on the TV, pack-n-play, high chair and plenty of options for eating out and for grocery shopping. You don't have to "power" thru the parks. And you get a nap when the baby naps....we used to fight over who went back for naptime.

One year, we even bought an ExerSaucer and brought it back home as checked baggage (way before baggage fees).

For toddlers, you have lots of options for craft time at the Hospitality Houses, and we used the Kid's Club babysitting service a few times. They loved it. And the pool at the Beach Club is divine for the kids....sand bottomed and not too deep! They even went fishing with Grampy at OKW a couple of times...oh and did a fishing camp at VB. So many options!

Friends used to ask "why are you taking your babies to WDW, they won't remember anything?" My answer.....I'm not going for them, I'm going for me! They just get to have fun too!

 

[DVC Grandpa]

We purchased at the Beach Club prior to opening during one of or Disney visits. In those days we were staying at “Dixie Landings” now known as Port Orleans Riverside. Those days everyone was in school and vacations schedules had to work around the school vacation days therefore any trip had to be planned accordingly.
The biggest change we have had is that now we can go to Disney whenever. Don’t have to work trips out around school schedules. We can now go any month throughout the year for whatever Disney activity you want to attend. Were not up at the crack of dawn and we rarely stay out until the parks close but we enjoy just doing “our thing” depending the season or the celebration or activity offered. Just wish Disney offered a better TV selection for those nights we return to the room prior to the parks closing. There TV selection leaves something to be desired!

 

[lenshanem]

Nah, I went to WDW when I was pregnant with both my girls and took them when they were babies. Now they're 13 and 10 and I'm getting sad thinking I only have five more years before my oldest will be off to college! The older you get the more you realize how short five years really is. Enjoy being a young family, some of our most favorite memories are when they were little and all wide eyed at everything! Trust me, it's not long before they start commenting on Cinderella's makeup not looking right.

 

[quandrea]

Vacationing with a young child is more work. So is staying at home.
If I'm doing more work, it might as well be at Disney!

This is what my dh and I say whenever people ask why we travel with our kids! We can parent at home or we can parent on holiday. Having kids has not impacted our travelling at all. We do have to slow down a bit, but having DvC just means we don't have to do it all in one trip. We enjoy the smaller details more now--gardens, quiet snacks, people watching, walking. We have enough points that we can stay in a 2BR now. Our plans when the kids are grown is to spend Jan and Feb down at WDW. We have 700 points. Started with 200 when we had one child, added on so we could have a 1Br all the time. Had twins and added on again and we just added another 200 to bring us to 700--the number we need for the two months at retirement. We figure the points will get used in different ways as our family grows. The children may start going down alone at some point. We love it. Disney is our home just as much as our real home. We use it like a cottage.

Oh and we started taking the babies when they were three months old. They love it as do we. They have been four or five times in the past 22 months. We are headed down again in Sept and Dec. Didn't go when I was pg--high risk multiple pregnancy, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to stop me!

 

[adminjedi]

We went to WDW prior to buying DVC in 2006. We are in the "1000 pt club" and have 1 family (5 adult kids) vacation every summer. The rest of the points we use for just the two of us! We plan to continue to do so when we retire!

 

[eporter66]

My wife & I had taken a few trips to Disney prior to joining DVC, and we always loved it. We knew we wanted a family, and we joined DVC prior to having our daughter figuring it will provide us great family vacations for years to come.

Before: We loved the parks, and we are ride people, so I think my wife & I had hit every ride in every park we wanted to do. Even when we went as a couple, I think we always hit all 4 parks on every trip, and even a water park a few times. We also played golf, and ate out often

After Daughter was born : We have been very fortunate that our daughter travels well, is a good sleeper, and pretty laid back. Our first trip to Disney with her was when she was 2 1/2. Our trips changed, but we had a blast as a family. Here are the differences :
1. We ate more meals in our room. (Another big DVC advantage). Our DD would be up around 6:00, so we would have breakfast in the room, get ready and hit the parks early.
2. No commando!! We would go at her pace, do a few rides, and go back to the room for her nap (we rented a car). Then, one of us would stay with her, and the other would go do something (pool, back to the park etc..) Also ate lunch in the room. We never pushed her, once we noticed she got tired - we would just head back to relax.
3. As she has gotten older, we can now do a whole day in the park.

It gives you a whole new appreciation for Disney - doing it with your children is such a great experience. Honestly - it did not diminish our enjoyment of Disney - there were times where we did not do everything, but that's fine, we knew with the membership we would be back. Now we do all the rides together, go to the fireworks, I think we eat out a little bit more, but the vacations have been an absolute joy.

 

[BaldEmu]

Our experience is pretty similar to many above. We bought points two years before having our (now) 2-year old, and have actually found we're using DVC more than we did before and so have added on points. Three main reasons:

1) For young kids, Disney is one of the places which is really well designed to work well for them. There are things for them to watch/play with, the restaurants/restrooms are designed to accomodate them, and everyone is very conscious of trying to assist families with young children. We've traveled pretty extensively over a long period of time and the only place anyone has recommended to us or we've seen so far as equivalent in terms of family support is Atlantis.
2) DVC lets you have more space. We originally bought enough points for us to use with a studio each year, but with the little one have found a one-bedroom is much easier/relaxing than trying to share a room and be on her sleep schedule.
3) Along the same theme - we have a bunch of family who travel from the other side of the world, and it's super convenient for everyone to hang out together at Disney where we don't have to plan like we normally would if we were hosting at home. We weren't nearly as focused on this before we had a baby who follows a set schedule - DVC lets the rest of the family easily ignore the set schedule.

We really enjoyed Disney before the baby and have gone basically at least once a year for 11 years, but DVC in particular has made it only more attractive as our desire for more space has increased.