My 18 yo is off to college and for awhile won't travel with us. We do already own Poly and don't mind studios. However, we travel often for our childrens' competitive sports and I am not sure whether in the future we aren't going to change our minds about our needs. I am just trying to see how vacationing has changed for those that have had their DVC for awhile. I know the resorts, point amounts needed and UY that would best suit our needs now.
Just trying to get a gage on how others vacationing needs have evolved. Thank you for your reply
Alright. Here's out tale.
We made our first purchase (very small contract at AKV) with the anticipation of using it every 2-3 years for a "couples" vacation in a studio for 5 nights (our average length of stay). The kids were in middle and high school (ages 16, 14 & 13) and we were already taking long weekends away without them, so we started out as DVC owners a little later in life than a lot of people. I figured that it was a good way to dip my toe in the DVC waters and get accustomed to how it works without too large of an outlay of cash, nor a large annual commitment in the form of MFs.
After just a couple of years, we realized that it wasn't enough points and we also wanted home resort advantage at another resort. At that point, we had one in college and one getting ready to go while the third was right on his heels. So, it's not like we were flush with cash at the time. I bought another small contract at BWV and had a total number of points to stay in a studio every year. That was a loaded contract with the previous UY's points banked. And I did what some would consider to be a rookie mistake - I booked a stay that spanned my UY and used almost 4 years worth of points to take my sister and brother-in-law to F&W, staying in a 2-bedroom standard view villa for 6 nights. I fell in love with the larger accommodations and having the full kitchen.
The following year, there I was, without points and suffering Disney withdrawal. I bought another small loaded BWV contract and planned another trip with just my sister for the following fall. Awesome trip and I would rather go to Disney with my sister than anyone else in the world! She gets it in a way that my husband doesn't.
Last summer, after some serious saving, I purchased a 150-point, loaded BWV contract and I booked a GV for F&W this coming fall, using all but a handful of my banked/borrowed points (but NOT spanning a UY!) . All 3 kids have now finished college and have begun their adult lives. I have randomly gifted them trips, using my points for studios for them and their friends over the last couple of years. I have also run into a situation where I had more points than I had time off (went on a Mediterranean cruise last year instead) and had to rent out some banked points in order to avoid losing them. The kids rarely vacation with us anymore because their schedules and ours rarely jive. So, we will be traveling with my sister, my brother-in-law, my brother and his girlfriend on this next trip.
Meanwhile, our daughter (who is now in her late 20's) has made it known that she and her boyfriend will be getting married within the next couple of years and will start their family right afterwards. So, we are now in the process of purchasing enough VGF points to be able to take them and any future grandkids every couple of years. When all is done, we will have over 600 points spread out over 3 resorts with a plan to bank/borrow at each in order to vacation every year at either BWV for F&W or VGF for early December and using the AKV points for short stays here and there.
So there's our story. Every purchase was made with cash, which is why some of the contracts are only 25-50 points. Every time that I thought we had enough points, I suffered from addonitis and went looking for more. I rarely book a studio for myself because I've become spoiled by the extra space, although I'll do it for a short stay with just my husband or sister.
Bill
