DVC Vacation Evolution

[PetePanMan]

I would HIGHLY recommend Aulani. I think the issue people are making is comparing the cost of Aulani to some non-Disney vacation. Of course Aulani will price out higher in that situation…it is Hawaii!! I think the better comparison is Aulani to other similar Hawaiian resorts.

My oldest daughter’s dream was to visit Hawaii. When we bought into DVC, it didn’t even dawn on us that we could use those points in Hawaii. For her senior graduation trip, we were looking into doing a 10 day Hawaiian vacation. Then my wife said “wait, we are DVC members…we can go to Aulani!”. We ended up staying at Aulani for a week and a full Hilton resort for 4 days. Aulani was absolutely gorgeous and made it so we could actually afford the Hawaiian trip. Having $0 for room fees on the bill at check out was pretty sweet. So, yes, going to Hawaii is expensive…but using your DVC points at Aulani makes it a LOT less expensive! IMO, that’s the comparison to consider.

Agree …Aulani is an absolutely gorgeous beach front resort. Very special

 

[kgou]

Lo and behold activation email and club id came today and guide is working on our welcome home stay, where we want to stay, before I commit to purchasing direct.

not to hijack this thread, but they are still booking you a Welcome Home stay for your first trip on points even though it's resale?

 

[Girlstar30]

not to hijack this thread, but they are still booking you a Welcome Home stay for your first trip on points even though it's resale?

I'm buying direct from them, bought resale first for discount, they are booking welcome home stay on the direct points only

 

[kgou]

I'm buying direct from them, bought resale first for discount, they are booking welcome home stay on the direct points only

ahh, I misunderstood one of your earlier posts! I thought you were saying that you had decided to hold off on buying direct points for now!

 

[Girlstar30]

ahh, I misunderstood one of your earlier posts! I thought you were saying that you had decided to hold off on buying direct points for now!

I did say that it was a whole thing where they i wanted to buy direct now and they wanted me to buy but they didnt want to expedite my resale contract so that i could buy at that moment so i told them forget it, but because I told them i was out and didn't want to buy direct anymore then all of a sudden the resale went thru immediately and now I am buying again when my guide returns if they can fulfill my welcome home stay requests, that was part of the conditions for me buying that i gave them aside from the resale pushing through now, i know I am extra

 

[Genie+]

i know I am extra

You put in the elbow grease! Took the effort learning all the nuances of how DVC direct and resale work. Brought that to the table when discussing the potential direct purchase. DVC had the choice to take it or leave it, just like we do. I say well done!

 

[kgou]

I did say that it was a whole thing where they i wanted to buy direct now and they wanted me to buy but they didnt want to expedite my resale contract so that i could buy at that moment so i told them forget it, but because I told them i was out and didn't want to buy direct anymore then all of a sudden the resale went thru immediately and now I am buying again when my guide returns if they can fulfill my welcome home stay requests, that was part of the conditions for me buying that i gave them aside from the resale pushing through now, i know I am extra

oooooh ok that makes sense! Yeah I would feel the same way as you did - with two pending resale contracts it's silly they wouldn't get the deal done with new member pricing. you're buying at RIV right? hopefully your welcome home stay will get taken care of quickly so you can get the deal done! you'll be amazed at how fast the process is for direct vs resale!!

 

[Girlstar30]

You put in the elbow grease! Took the effort learning all the nuances of how DVC direct and resale work. Brought that to the table when discussing the potential direct purchase. DVC had the choice to take it or leave it, just like we do. I say well done!

Thank you! I agree, I've been on these disboards every day sucking in info like a sponge and bought my two resales and I dont need the direct points, I'd like them for the membership extras, but really I am good for now were doing Aulani next year which doesn't require direct and the remaining hotels we're booking this year dont have restricted hotels either.

I needed the points to load ASAP so I can get this September trip going so I used purchasing the direct as a bargaining tool and it worked, but I didn't want to just take advantage like a jerk and back out, but at the same time there has to be something in it for me to want to purchase other than getting points two weeks early, so I thought points early, membership extras and a welcome home stay wherever we wanted would do the trick and I was clear about that before they pushed my resale through.

I got that down, but they're not budging on booking me at Villas Disneyland hotel for my wife's birthday or Polynesian island tower for September so I'm not budging on buying yet until that's done. And yes they can take it or leave it and so far seems like they're edging towards taking it so I am proud of sticking to my guns on it!

 

[Girlstar30]

oooooh ok that makes sense! Yeah I would feel the same way as you did - with two pending resale contracts it's silly they wouldn't get the deal done with new member pricing. you're buying at RIV right? hopefully your welcome home stay will get taken care of quickly so you can get the deal done! you'll be amazed at how fast the process is for direct vs resale!!

Yes my hope is to buy at Riv! If it doesnt happen I'll be okay though, probably would actually be better for me to wait it out with all this ecomonic uncertainty in the world I'm hoping for some better incentives!

It's up to them at this point, i told them what i want. Either way I definetely plan to buy Riv before it sells out within the next year and a half! I told them i was a disboarder, they were impressed with me asking to waive title insurance, d23 and chase discounts, wanting to match later use year to take advantage of magical beginnings etc This group has taught me a lot!

 

[broncofan]

I would HIGHLY recommend Aulani. I think the issue people are making is comparing the cost of Aulani to some non-Disney vacation. Of course Aulani will price out higher in that situation…it is Hawaii!! I think the better comparison is Aulani to other similar Hawaiian resorts.

My oldest daughter’s dream was to visit Hawaii. When we bought into DVC, it didn’t even dawn on us that we could use those points in Hawaii. For her senior graduation trip, we were looking into doing a 10 day Hawaiian vacation. Then my wife said “wait, we are DVC members…we can go to Aulani!”. We ended up staying at Aulani for a week and a full Hilton resort for 4 days. Aulani was absolutely gorgeous and made it so we could actually afford the Hawaiian trip. Having $0 for room fees on the bill at check out was pretty sweet. So, yes, going to Hawaii is expensive…but using your DVC points at Aulani makes it a LOT less expensive! IMO, that’s the comparison to consider.

We are taking our first trip to Aulani this year. We are closing in on 20 years of DVC, kids are getting older and we're at a bit of a low point on wanting to go to the Disney parks. It's a really great feature of the program that there are some non park options - we may not be back to Disney until they start to deliver some of the new investments they are making - Monsters coaster, Cars, Villains, etc.

DVC is great in that we've had many years of fantastic Disney World trips - now we can use it at Aulani, try Hilton Head, Vero Beach... even try out Universal - bit of a drive but you can use the hotel savings to buy express passes! That's plenty of years of great trips while we wait for the parks magic to come back for our family, as it surely will!

 

[DVCSunDevil]

DVC is great in that we've had many years of fantastic Disney World trips - now we can use it at Aulani, try Hilton Head, Vero Beach... even try out Universal - bit of a drive but you can use the hotel savings to buy express passes! That's plenty of years of great trips while we wait for the parks magic to come back for our family, as it surely will!

My wife and I were just saying this same thing yesterday. We haven’t been to Universal in years. We may Uber over there during our 3 night BCV stay in October. Universal also offers great deals if you are staying at their resort. You can get their “Express Pass” if you stay at one of their deluxe hotels. It’s worth it. We may end up converting some upcoming WDW trips to Universal trips.

 

[McCrae]

We've been members 5 years. We went about once a year and did park focused trips every time. Rope drop every day with park hopping and hitting all 4 parks in one day each trip. The last trip, by the time we got to day 6 no one wanted to go to the parks anymore so we mostly relaxed. We've basically reached the point now that excessively grinding the rides isn't a priority.

This trip and our next trip we are only doing after hours events(AP discount is decent on HS and epcots), water park(check in days) and relaxing at the resort. We are also doing a couple character dinings because that is a great way to see characters outside the park.

However after being away almost a year we realized we really missed Disney and wanted to go more so we got more points and direct points so we can get the sorcerer pass when it makes sense. Thats why we booked the 2nd trip this year with several after hours events.

Next year we are planning on getting an annual pass and staying for an extended period in summer and doing the parks in a more relaxing fashion.

The following year we will likely do christmas week again. There is a ton to do and the changing festivals and seasonal offerings have made it so we want to rotate what we can do within our schedule which is currently school restricted.

I'm really curious how we feel after doing this relaxing trip next week which isn't park focused. I'm expecting we will be bored somewhat, but I'm also looking forward to exploring some resorts and taking it slower.

We bought in 2006 and we have been doing pretty relaxed trips every year. Typically we rope drop a park and head back to the resorts before 12pm…. Spend the afternoon enjoying the resort and depending on how we feel go back to the parks after dinner to watch the fireworks and have an ice cream. We always head home feeling that we have had a great break.

 

[tomandrobin]

We have been owners since 2006, so 19 years now. We bought DVC for two reasons. First was to go to Disney yearly as cost effective means Second to be able to book 2-bedroom rooms for our family. We started with a 230 point direct SSR contract, thinking that would be enough.....ha! We currently have 16 contracts and go 8-10 times a year. Most of the trips are just the wife and I, but the whole family usually goes at Christmas-NYE each year. In a few years we will retire and look forward to even more time to be spent in WDW.

 

[netsirk007]

Is it a fair assumption to say that the majority of people bought DVC because they wanted to visit the parks more frequently in a cost effective way? I know that was my family's reason. For those who have owned DVC for a while, when did you stop making the focus of your trips about the parks? And what do your trips focus on now? How has owning DVC evolved your vacations?

We purchased 2 resale contracts early in 2023 and then again 1 resale in 2024. We bought exclusively for the use of the resorts. We are Gen X, raised to work the grind day in and out, save all you can and enjoy your non existent "best life" with staycations like true midwesterners. It took us 18 years to realize that this way of life wasn't for us anymore. We hadn't taken a vacation in the whole time (18 years) we had been a couple/ married. Enter child. Vacations seemed like too much work. The hotels that were one room where putting the baby to sleep at a "reasonable kid bedtime" meant the adults had to be quiet and might as well go to bed too. Tried "suites" that had an extra room. The upkeep was cringeworthy. Not to mention no real "vacation vibe". You had to make more plans to go offsite to "do" something on your vacation. With a toddler, all of that planning was too much. So we didn't. After researching timeshares in general, we bought DVC to force us to take a break for a vacation every year at a "known quantity" where the quality and room layouts were mostly consistent and the resorts seemed like you didn't need to leave them to relax and have that "resort" and "vacation" vibe.

The first year (bought loaded contracts) we stayed for several weeks over two stays at different resorts using points until my 5 year old realized that "Disney" was actually a theme park when people asked her when she got back if she had fun in the parks. Pools to her were the attraction and we let that reality exist as long as we could. We have since been to Magic Kingdom once and she had a great time. But hasn't made a big deal to beg to go back. We have stayed 2 more times for several weeks at a time in 2024 and so far this year. We spend our days at the pool, cook either in the room or at the grills and eat meals at the pool, explore the resort, go to Disney Springs, ride the monorail or skyliner if our resort is near. We have a stress free and relaxing vacation every time now. I know what to expect, I know what to pack, how to bring/buy food that works to cook or warm up. We love DVC for all of these reasons beyond getting close to the parks. She treats the resorts and her "vacations" as one big playground to meet friends at the pool, spend the whole day swimming and eating mickey bars every day. We have our daughters whole "kidhood" to do the parks as we find the interest, no rush.

 

[Micken]

Is it a fair assumption to say that the majority of people bought DVC because they wanted to visit the parks more frequently in a cost effective way? I know that was my family's reason. For those who have owned DVC for a while, when did you stop making the focus of your trips about the parks? And what do your trips focus on now? How has owning DVC evolved your vacations?

Our kids are older now and they still love the parks. We are thinking about splitting up our vacation between WDW and vero beach. We haven’t tried it yet so I guess we will see.