Dvc vs non-Dvc vacation

[spruce]

We just spent 8 days in a beach house on Holden Beach NC. It was beautiful, relaxing and boring. I guess I've become spoiled. I discovered that I prefer a resort stay with amenities like close restaurants, the action being minutes away by bus or just walking out onto the boardwalk, plus the parks. Not driving an hour for Myrtle Beach attractions, 40 minutes to a restaurant that serves what every other place serves.
At WDW, I'm in the middle of the action but can quickly be poolside if I so desire. Vero is awesome in that it has activities, restaurants, a bar, spa, pool and beach... A self contained resort where all you need is there, a microcosm(sp-?) of WDW.
When we went to Paris and Rome, we stayed in the cities, took cabs, walked or mass transit for full days of touring these wonderful cities. Very little down time.
As I said Holden beach was nice but was too laid back for me and driving to places stank.
Anyone else feel that resort stays or city touring by far exceeds a beach house vacation?

 

[bookwormde]

We enjoy both, outer banks and Disney.

We do a lot of extended family vacations, so the beach allows us to get more of use together than we can do at Disney even with DVC.

One thing about WDW is that you come back as or more tired than when you left (and we are not commando park people). At the beach it is all about relaxation.

Just very different vacations, and that is why we like doing both.

 

[quandrea]

I'm with you. We don't do beach holidays for that very reason. We like coming home from holiday tired. We find dvc lets us be busy or idle, as we choose.

 

[a742246]

When I lived in the city, my vacations would be at remote locations. Now that I live in the remote locations my vacations are cities and WDW. Go figure!

 

[DenLo]

I really think it depends on how tired you are before you go on vacation. If you are completely worn out from work then maybe you need a more relaxing vacation. But some folks don't feel alive or young unless they are on the go all of the time. Personality differences I guess. But I expect the person that also has to have a very active vacation also is sleep deprived because their daily life has to be lived to the fullest too. Burning the candle at both ends is pretty common these days. It not only for the young adults. Maybe it has something to do with the fact everyone multitasks now a days.

 

[JimMIA]

I think the real question here is WDW or non-WDW, not so much DVC. We find ourselves going to WDW much less often nowadays than we used to.

DD12 is a competitive figure skater, so we take 4-5 short trips a year for skating competitions or camps. We enjoy visiting relatives occasionally, and we also like to explore some of the fantastic places in the US -- so recent vacations have been to Cape Cod/Boston (relatives), Washington DC/Shenandoah NP, Gatlinburg TN/Great Smokys NP, and of course WDW.

I'm currently tinkering with a vague plan to go out to the Southwest next summer. I'm tentatively thinking about a few days at the Wyndham in Durango, CO for visits to Mesa Verde, Arches, and Canyonlands NPs, then Monument Valley, then several days at Wyndhams in either Flagstaff or Sedona to visit Grand Canyon and other areas of interest in those locales. That would obviously be more of a nature-oriented vacation with lots of outdoor stuff.

 

[JimC]

Each year we spend a week or more in either Arizona or Southern California. We supplement that with other non-WDW, but Disney (DCL, VB, DL) and other non-Disney trips. We have not tried ABD because they do not appear to be oriented to accessible venues / activities. Some trips we schedule a great deal and others not much beyond arrival and departure.

 

[Murron]

We bought into DVC many many (can you say OKW) years ago and then added and added on again. WDW was our main vacation place. Buying into DVC forced a couple of workaholics to actually go on vacation. Well...we retired this year and did our first Viking Grand European River Tour. Just wonderful. We stopped counting our trips to WDW after 50, and frankly the theme parks, the crowds are just getting old. Now we spend our points on Vero or Hilton Head and keep looking for those Viking River Cruise deals that we retiree's can jump on in a heartbeat!!

 

[Sammie]

I love the beach area of the Florida Panhandle especially 30-A. Fabulous restaurants, local shops and peace and quiet.

When you live in a large city, sometime, slowing down is exactly what you want. I never go to the beach during the summer though, Fall and late Spring are my favorite times. Much quieter then.

We love our Disney vacations but we take a couple of 4 or 5 day trips to other areas in addition to Disney. We love the mountains of TN and NC and I love New Orleans, where I spent 5 days in early May.

 

[bwvBound]

Anyone else feel that resort stays or city touring by far exceeds a beach house vacation?

Nah. I like different types of vacations for different times. I love the deeply quiet, unplug-from-the-universe, vacations.

However, I hear you on the driving. In my book, a perfect vacation has very little time behind the wheel. I'd prefer walking, horseback riding, sitting on a private balcony on a cruise ship, etc.

 

[Dean]

We just spent 8 days in a beach house on Holden Beach NC. It was beautiful, relaxing and boring. I guess I've become spoiled. I discovered that I prefer a resort stay with amenities like close restaurants, the action being minutes away by bus or just walking out onto the boardwalk, plus the parks. Not driving an hour for Myrtle Beach attractions, 40 minutes to a restaurant that serves what every other place serves.
At WDW, I'm in the middle of the action but can quickly be poolside if I so desire. Vero is awesome in that it has activities, restaurants, a bar, spa, pool and beach... A self contained resort where all you need is there, a microcosm(sp-?) of WDW.
When we went to Paris and Rome, we stayed in the cities, took cabs, walked or mass transit for full days of touring these wonderful cities. Very little down time.
As I said Holden beach was nice but was too laid back for me and driving to places stank.
Anyone else feel that resort stays or city touring by far exceeds a beach house vacation?

We purposefully alternate busier and quieter vacations as well as known and new locations. Orlando (both DVC and non DVC) and HH (Marriott's) are our main stays of known locations. We just returned from a 2 week trip where we spent a week on HHI with 37 total family and friends and a week in Savannah. We didn't do a lot in HH other than hang out and eat, it was fabulous. In Savannah we did more touristy things but even at Disney we don't do Commando any more.

 

[Disney On The Bayou]

Having 3 little ones its hard to beat going to WDW. As you said, I don't know of many places you can do so much just outside your door. We horseback ride, fish, swim, boating, bowling, hang out at community hall, billiards, ping-pong, scavenger hunt, golf, miniature golf, shop, paint, color, crafts, watch movies and go flying over the parks (when we fly into and out of Kissimmee). Oh and the parks too! It's just amazing with so many things to do we hardly ever get bored, I feel so blessed that I'm able to enjoy all of this with my family and friends. We travel to WDW 3-5 each year, other than everyone else thinking we're crazy, its been fantastic! No doubt without DVC we wouldn't be able to afford or even have the idea to do all of this. The amenities are really awesome when you come to think of it. I know as owners we tend to be critical and we should, we deserve a 1st class product, but we do have access to many fine resorts. We just returned from a 3 night impromptu trip, and even in the summer with all the heat, we just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Friday was a great example of how DVC made the trip, not so much for accommodations, but amenities. We did MK at RP had a blast, as it got crowded, we jumped on the boat and headed over to VWL quiet pool, we used the lockers in the spa to store our stuff and jumped right in. After our swim we showered at the spa, ate our favorite chili at Roaring Forks and we were ready to go again at MK. It was perfect and really made for a fun filled day! There are many timeshares that seemed to better than DVC, but for us that type of convenience is just hard to beat. We also make our way down to Vero Beach once year after a WDW visit and visit HHI every 2 or 3 years. In general we are having hard time beating those trips. Sure, when the kids get older we will venture out, but for now, DVC only is working almost perfectly.

 

[MinnieGi]

Hmmm...I've actually never have taken a beach house vacation where there is nothing around. I don't think I'd like that.

We go to DE and NJ for local beach vacations but they are not remote and always easy to eat our and entertain ourselves or just sit on the beach. The same with HHI - lots to do but also can easily unplug on the beach for a few hours each day.

And of course we like our WDW vacations for all the fun there is to do!

We also like to ski and take vacations at different mountain resorts - lots to do there too all within close proximity!

 

[staceymay00]

I have really enjoyed our beach vacations, in some ways more than our WDW vacations, although we have always chosen locations not far from restaurants and a grocery store. Two of my favorites are Anna Maria Island in FL and Hilton Head Island (vrbo rental, not the HHI DVC).

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