For those DVC'ers that travel with school age children.....

[edk35]

When do you go?

How often do you go? Ex. every year, every other year, 2 or more times a year?

Which resort/resorts do you try and stay at and why?

For how long?

Do you always go into the parks? How often?

How old are your children?


THANKS!!!

 

[photobob]

When do you go?

How often do you go? Ex. every year, every other year, 2 or more times a year?

Which resort/resorts do you try and stay at and why?

For how long?

Do you always go into the parks? How often?


THANKS!!!

We go every year. My children are older, 16 and 22. We generally do a trip for 5 nights in early June with my daughter. We are planning to go during fall break in 2010. We have done a short trip in February without the kids.

We have stayed at BWV twice because of the proximity to Epcot and DHS. We have stayed at VWL because it is beautiful and going to Vero Beach this year because we want a WDW break and give us a year that we don't have to pay for passes!

We always go to the parks. Usually early morning until after lunch and then go back to the resort for nap and/or swimming and then go somewhere in the evening.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

When do you go?

Spring break (mostly, but occassionally over Christmas break), and July or August.

How often do you go? Ex. every year, every other year, 2 or more times a year?

We seem to be falling into a pattern of twice a year (spring, and summer).

Which resort/resorts do you try and stay at and why?

All of them, because I love all of them! I eventually want to try HHI, GCV and Hawaii.

For how long?

Usually 6-7 days.

Do you always go into the parks? How often?

Yes. Of a 7 day trip, we usually plan 3 days in the parks. We ALWAYS go to MK, and a water park. We tend to alternate the other day with AK, Epcot or DHS. If time permits, we'll sometimes hop between 2 parks on that last park day.

How old are your children?

Andrew - 13
Alyssa - 6

 

[edk35]

Spring break (mostly, but occassionally over Christmas break), and July or August.


We seem to be falling into a pattern of twice a year (spring, and summer).


All of them, because I love all of them! I eventually want to try HHI, GCV and Hawaii.


Usually 6-7 days.


Yes. Of a 7 day trip, we usually plan 3 days in the parks. We ALWAYS go to MK, and a water park. We tend to alternate the other day with AK, Epcot or DHS. If time permits, we'll sometimes hop between 2 parks on that last park day.


Andrew - 13
Alyssa - 6

SO I am assuming you buy magic your ways with water parks/more then??

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Living in Florida makes it easier for us to go more frequently. Our vacation patterns center around DS(12) time off from school!

Always the 1st week of June following his last day of school for 5 days!
Always the 2nd to last week of the end of his summer vacation in August for 3 days!
and typically around his birthday in October/November for 3 days!

Spring breaks and the rest of the time we travel away from Florida!

 

[cogero]

We are new DVC members but we do happen to travel to other places too. So this is what we are starting

When do you go? We generally travel spring break, Thanksgiving and Summer

How often do you go? Ex. every year, every other year, 2 or more times a year?
We are traveling Twice to Disney this year Spring Break & Thanksgiving

Which resort/resorts do you try and stay at and why?
This trip it is SSR, next it is AKV-Kidani and next summer we want either Boardwalk or BCV

For how long? Minimum of 5 Days

Do you always go into the parks? How often?

How old are your children? Our daughter is 7 and our son is 1

 

[minnierealtor]

We always go for spring break (late April) to HHI. We have only broken this rule once when we went to WDW. When DD now 15 was in elementary/middle school we had more flexibility about times to go. We especially love October at WDW. We try to do at least one WDW and one HHI trip a year. DH and I went to VB in May and loved it but didn't know if DD would enjoy as much as HHI. We buy annual passes so we have the option to pick and choose when we go to the parks. I feel very spoiled by the vacations at DVC.

 

[stopher1]

• When do you go?
• How often do you go? Ex. every year, every other year, 2 or more times a year?
• Which resort/resorts do you try and stay at and why?
• For how long?
• Do you always go into the parks? How often?
• How old are your children?

THANKS!!!

• Our kids are home-educated, so timing is not critical for us - but we do prefer to AVOID the typically busy times when schools are on a break (Spring or Fall breaks, etc) and avoid the heat of summer - as a family we prefer to enjoy our visit than be frustrated by crowds and heat - and DW gets pretty miserable and vocal about her misery when it's really crowded and really hot - so to keep the trip enjoyable for all, she gets a great BIG say in travel time dates for our family trips. Living in the midwest, DW was happy to end the Free Dining trips in September when it can still be warm and humid, so we tend to be snowbirds for WDW and travel during the winter - which has made us primarily Adventure Season folks. Personally I travel to FL for work about once per quarter, and have experienced WDW with both crowds and heat. I'll take FL pretty much anytime except July or August.
  
• In our pre-DVC days we would either go when I had points available via my frequent traveler programs for my work travel or when the promos were (i.e. free dining), but we didn't really let the lack of a promo keep us from going. But like stated above, DW was happy to give up those September FD trips! Now being DVC'ers - all of those frequent traveler points are directed specifically to air miles, instead of both hotel nights and miles, so that we can continue to fly instead of drive.
  
• We've gone once or twice per year since 2002.
  
• We've stayed both onsite and off, DTD Hotel Plaza hotels and Disney resorts in all categories from Value to DVC. We always like trying something new, but are happy that AKV is our primary WDW home now. Last fall we did a split stay between BWV and AKV. In May my sons & I are going to be at OKW for Star Wars Weekends. 2 weeks ago I stayed at All Star Music. This fall we're looking to stay at VWL for an adults only getaway, and next winter we'll be bringing the folks along and doing a split-stay between THV and AKV in the new Kidani Village. (So far, between family trips and my solo visits while in FL on business I've stayed at 12 of the 22 WDW resorts, and 5 of the 7 Hotel Plaza hotels, plus 4 nearby off-site hotels, not to mention the other Orlando based hotels that aren't very close by).
  
• Our stays range from a weekend getaway (3 nights) to 10 nights (longest since we started bringing the kids), but our longest stay was 15 nights for our honeymoon back in '94 when we stayed at the Grand Flo.
  
• So far we have always done the parks every trip. We love to do the water parks too, but have had trips with no water park visits. We can see doing that for a long time to come, but do enjoy those no park days as well. We've talked about doing a no kids/no parks trip several times now. We have used a variety of ticket options, but currently have AP's and probably will for a couple of years - it just depends. We'll see how to best maximize them. We do have some left-over days of non-expiring MYW tix that we'll use after the AP's stop.
  
• 13 / 10 / and 5 in 2 more weeks.

 

[Crisgw]

When do you go?
This past year we went Sept 2008, Jan 2009 are going in May 2009 and Sept 2009 (first year buying DVC)- we pull the kids from school to go at low crowd times

How often do you go? We'll probably settle into a once or twice per year pattern after this crazy year!

Which resort/resorts do you try and stay at and why?
Our home resort is AKV but we've also stayed at SSR and we loved it. We could only get SSR this May because I called with just over a month to go and am lucky to have gotten anything!!!

For how long?
For the long trip 10-12 days, in May it's 7 days.

Do you always go into the parks? How often?
Yes, we have AP's this year and like to Park Hop and do things like hang at the pool during the day then go to the parks later on.

How old are your children?
DS #1 is 6 (7 in July)
DS #2 is 4 (just turned 4 in Jan)

 

[Deb & Bill]

We go as soon as school gets out towards the end of May.

 

[edk35]

When do you go?

How often do you go? Ex. every year, every other year, 2 or more times a year?

Which resort/resorts do you try and stay at and why?

For how long?

Do you always go into the parks? How often?

How old are your children?


THANKS!!!

I guess I should answer my own questions.

We have been on a Jan.and Nov. pattern for a while now..... until we purchased DVC points. Then we started adding a summer trip in there too. The past two years we went in Jan. July or Aug. and Nov. This year just Jan. and July. We will not be going in Nov. I repeat....NOT GOING.


We will probably be cutting down our trips to once a year. The high school thing seems to get in the way anymore for those Nov. and Jan. trips.
Plus we have our oldest starting college this fall.....MEGA BUCKS..flying out the window so .....we need to watch our trips/moola from here on out.

We are SSR and AKV owners. We love SSR and have stayed there 3 times. Love being close to DTD and love the theming. Haven't stayed at AKV yet...but are booked for a couple of nights this summer. We have stayed at OKW two times (enjoyed OKW a lot), BWV (least fave right now but would stay there again) and BCV (LOVE LOVE LOVE BCV) last July and again this July. Our longest stay altogether was 14 nights split between OKW and BCV last summer. Usually we stay for 7 or 8 nights. This summer we are staying for 9.

We have pretty much always gone to a park each day for some amt. of time even before we got our first AP's. However.....we have ventured to the dark side a few times. We went to Sea World once in Nov. 07 and this past Jan. we went to US/IOA two days. Last summer we actually took a couple of days that we didn't go to EC/AK/MK or HS but hit a water park or just DTD. As a rule though.....we go to the parks. This summer we only have 4 days left on park passes so we plan on sleeping in, chillin at the resort, more pool time, mini golf, DTD, stuff like that on our non park days. It will be a first for us to go for 9 days with only 4 park days. Hopefully we will love it.


Our dd is 18, ds 15 and ds 10.

 

[hbsprite]

We go almost every year, the last 2 weeks in August. We live in CA, and most schools on the East Coast are back in school by then, so the crowds are noticeably reduced. The weather still stinks, but we take it easy and go back to our hotel during the afternoon heat.

When do you go?

How often do you go? Ex. every year, every other year, 2 or more times a year?

Which resort/resorts do you try and stay at and why?

For how long?

Do you always go into the parks? How often?

How old are your children?


THANKS!!!

 

[arthur06]

I have always traveled when we want to travel, regardless of school. If we are traveling with other people then we travel at Spring Break Summer Break. 2 years ago, Washington DC at spring breaks, last year at first week of Summer Break to South Dakota- Black Hills. 3 years ago, no other families so Disney in first week of Dec. This year WDW in April (end).

I have always believed that if my kids are doing well in school, then reward them. In Iowa, you have 180 day school years. So they will go to school over 2000 days in there life (HS only). If I want to pull them out for a family trip, I will.

Now, if and when the day comes that they are not doing well in school, now that's a different story!

 

[PrincessV]

When do you go?
Nothing's set in stone, but we seem to have a pattern going for last year and this year:
long week in late summer
long weekend in fall (Halloween both these years)
long weekend in early-mid Dec.
day trips whenever time affords it

How often do you go? Ex. every year, every other year, 2 or more times a year?
Lots more than 2 times per year - we live 1.5 hours away.

Which resort/resorts do you try and stay at and why?
I switch it up, but I prefer anything recently renovated or new.

For how long?
It varies form a week to a single night

Do you always go into the parks? How often?
Usually, though we didn't at all over July 4th last summer.
The summer norm is parks in the early morning, pools in teh afternoon and dinner at parks or resorts in the evenings.

How old are your children?
Just one child and he'll be 7 in May.

 

[Starr W.]

When do you go?
Thanksgiving(09 will be our 4th time), MLK weekend(we get a 4 day weekend) and early May. Vero Beach for Spring Break(08,09).
In the summer we go other places(Park City, Ut last yr, this yr Myrtle Beach in July, then up to Northern Michigan in Aug.)

How often do you go? We go at least 2x per yr, though will probably only do Thanksgiving trip in 2010, since we will be doing 2 weeks in HI during the summer. DH would rather give up VB at Spring Break than WDW in November!

Which resort/resorts do you try and stay at and why?
Thanksgiving we stick with SSR(doing a Grand Villa this yr), but the other trips we go to other resorts. VWL, BCV, and BWV(had a great 5th floor BW view room). Pretty happy with our 7 month luck.

For how long?
Thanksgiving is for a full week, as are the VB trips. Other trips are 4 nighters

Do you always go into the parks? How often?
Yep we always do the parks, on our 2nd set of AP's

How old are your children?
2 Boys 12 and soon to be 8.

 

[Mickeyfollowers]

When do you go?

We go in Jan., just my DH and me, then we take the kids in Sept. It is so worth taking my oldest out of school for week to go when it is less crowded and not as hot.


How often do you go? Ex. every year, every other year, 2 or more times a year?

We go every year, twice a year.


Which resort/resorts do you try and stay at and why?

We have stayed at DWL, AKL, SSR, BCV, and BWV. We like the BWV because it is in walking distance of Epcot and DHS. Also uses less points.

For how long?

Sat to Sat

Do you always go into the parks? How often?

Yes. We go to DHS, MK, Epcot twice a week, and AK once a week. We go to the water park for half a day then go to Epcot. Since AK closes at 5 we go to DTD afterwards.


How old are your children?

DS 8, DS 16 months (has been once, well if you count when I was 7 mts prego then he has been twice.)

 

[dopeygirl76]

We have been in a twice yearly pattern since buying in to DVC - usually late April and Oct-Dec (I try to plan on when there will be a few days off school to minimize missing but avoid the big break crowds). We are resort hoppers - we want to try them all (except BWV- no offense DD can't even look at pictures of the clown pool!! We usually go 6-8 days depending on DHs work schedule. We always do parks although we never go crazy and we are AP people. Our DDs are almost 5 (April 25) and 2 (just turned yesterday).

 

[FOTM_Ring_Bearer]

When do you go?
We usually go in the summer. We have gone at Thanksgiving and between Christmas and New Years. Thanksgiving is not an option anymore because the colleges are not closed all week.

How often do you go? Ex. every year, every other year, 2 or more times a year?

The whole family goes once a year. If there is special occasion, like DD18 bday, than we book a shorter trip. So, it's a mother-daughter trip for the bday girl.

Which resort/resorts do you try and stay at and why?

BWV - we love our home. It's close to Epcot and DHS. We also like OKW.

For how long?

6 or 7 nights. The special trips are 4 nights.

Do you always go into the parks? How often?

We always go to the parks. Everyday.

How old are your children?

Our daughters are 20, 17 and 14.

 

[daisyduck123]

Hi Denise!
You already know my answers to your questions, but for everyone else...

I have a DD14 & DS11.

We go to WDW usually twice a year...once in the summer, & once during school. Our summer trips have been for about 11 nights each time, & our school year trips 7 or 8 nights.

BCV is our favorite & that's where we love to stay in the summer, lately doing a split stay at AKV at that time.

We always have APs...during the summer, there have been times that we don't venture into parks at all...preferring just to hang out at SAB.

We have no desire to BWV.
We would love to try VWL sometime.
My signature lists where we have stayed.

 

[londonderrydisneyfan]

We go once a year and stagger the trips slightly so we can get two vacations with one AP. This year we'll go during the kid's April vacation and next year we'll go during their February vacation.

Because we only go once a year we tend to stay 8 - 10 days per trip.

So far we've stayed at VWL and BCV, this year we'll be staying at BWV for the first time. Our kids are young and they love Epcot so try to stay at the Epcot DVC's.

We go to the parks almost every day, but we take at least one day off in the middle so the kids can have a day to sleep in and relax.

Our kids are: DD 8, DD 6 and DS 3.