Obviously, as DVC members, we all spend much more time at WDW than most. I am interested in how you vacation at WDW.
We knew we loved WDW, and once we had our DD, we knew it would be a place we would go back to many times. Our vacation experiences have changed over the years, here is where we are at
97-2003
My wife and I vacationed to WDW a few times during this period. It was the first time I had been back since a family trip in the 80's as a teen; I was overwhelmed and blown away. At the time, we did not have our DD, so our first experiences were varied.
We loved DTD AND Pleasure Island. I remember we spent multiple nights in the Pleasure Island Jazz club. We played golf on multiple occasions and when we went to the parks, we WENT to the parks. Open to close - park hopper etc.... we didn’t stop. It was a vacation that you needed another vacation once you got home
2003 - DVC Members
On our trip in November of 2003, we decided to join DVC after staying at Wilderness lodge. We were impressed with everything, and felt the package was reasonable. We were also in the process of adopting, so we knew we would have multiple trips down.
2004 - 2009
During this time, we began using our membership in various ways. We sent my parents down for an anniversary trip, had family and friends stay with us on our membership. When we did the parks, we made sure to go slow, and go back to the room, as taking a young child for a full day was out of the question. One of the fun things that came out of this time was my wife and I would switch days staying in the room while DD napped. When it was my day to go back out alone for afternoons (our DD was typically down for 3-4 hours for naps - yes we were lucky), I would explore resorts or other things "outside" of the parks. My wife would spend her afternoons at the pool.
We discovered all the other things to do such as the mini-golf, renting bikes, fishing, or just exploring and enjoying what a great job Disney does with theming, landscaping, and creating an atmosphere of magic.
2010 – 2014 – The School Years
Yes, to the horror of school teachers everywhere, we have pulled our DD out of elementary school for a week each year for our vacations. For the most part, we have gone down every October for many years. We love this time of year, it gives us the opportunity to extend our summer by enjoying the perfect Florida weather this time of year, while our weather in NY begins turning cold and dark.
We never had a problem with this, as our DD has always been a good student, maintained her grades, and the teachers were always more than willing to give us her homework assignments. The flights down and back provided the perfect time to get the work done.
As our DD got older, we spent more time in the parks, but still took things a little slower. We always had at least one "day off" during our vacations just to hang at the resort, swim, ride bikes, have a nice dinner somewhere different each time, watch the movie, roast marshmallows, just take it easy. Even our DD enjoyed these days. Each resort has so much to offer. Also, we stopped doing the park hopper, we didnt need to do multiple parks each day. Rather, we would do a single park, spend as much time as we wanted exploring. And, we might go back to the hotel for a swim, or if everyone was on board, we would just stay, it all depended. One of the best things is the extra magic hours, when we could get those, it gave us more time to relax. When MK would do the late hours (or the halloween party), you could basically walk on the rides late. So, for those days, we might not even go to the park until 4-5 in the afternoon, and then just walk on the rides.
Needless to say, we loved going in October, it was the perfect time for us in all areas. My work really ramps up from November-January, so it was also a nice relaxing time before things got crazy!
2015 – The New Way
This year we found ourselves in a dilemma. I was not comfortable with pulling our DD out of middle school, especially her first year. We discussed what to do, and came up with ideas ranging from rolling our points and not going, to maybe doing a long weekend. I am not a fan of going during school breaks, we have always gone during “non-peak” times and the thought of trudging through the parks to wait 45-60 minutes of more for rides that we often walk right on was not appealing.
Our school district does not start until September 9th, and knowing most of the southern (and northern for that matter) would have already started school, we decided to go the week before labor day (booked Sun 8/30 – Fri 9/4) so we would still have the long weekend, and hoped the parks would be slow.
The Pro’s – We got our Disney vacation, and the parks were slow. We had no long waits and didn’t really need FP except for Toy Story Mania and Seven Dwarves Roller Coaster. The only time a park seemed somewhat crowded was Thursday at MK – and I figured people would get an early start to the holiday weekend. It ended up being a great time to go.
Con’s – I really enjoy getting that extended summer from the Florida weather in October, and I will miss not going to the Food and Wine Festival along with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party.
All in all – we had a great vacation, I am writing a trip report to post. I did not mind the heat/humidity at all; we did take a break in the afternoons and hung out at the pool which made a huge difference.
As usual, a great vacation, and for us, this may be the way we do WDW for the next few years!
We knew we loved WDW, and once we had our DD, we knew it would be a place we would go back to many times. Our vacation experiences have changed over the years, here is where we are at
97-2003
My wife and I vacationed to WDW a few times during this period. It was the first time I had been back since a family trip in the 80's as a teen; I was overwhelmed and blown away. At the time, we did not have our DD, so our first experiences were varied.
We loved DTD AND Pleasure Island. I remember we spent multiple nights in the Pleasure Island Jazz club. We played golf on multiple occasions and when we went to the parks, we WENT to the parks. Open to close - park hopper etc.... we didn’t stop. It was a vacation that you needed another vacation once you got home
2003 - DVC Members
On our trip in November of 2003, we decided to join DVC after staying at Wilderness lodge. We were impressed with everything, and felt the package was reasonable. We were also in the process of adopting, so we knew we would have multiple trips down.
2004 - 2009
During this time, we began using our membership in various ways. We sent my parents down for an anniversary trip, had family and friends stay with us on our membership. When we did the parks, we made sure to go slow, and go back to the room, as taking a young child for a full day was out of the question. One of the fun things that came out of this time was my wife and I would switch days staying in the room while DD napped. When it was my day to go back out alone for afternoons (our DD was typically down for 3-4 hours for naps - yes we were lucky), I would explore resorts or other things "outside" of the parks. My wife would spend her afternoons at the pool.
We discovered all the other things to do such as the mini-golf, renting bikes, fishing, or just exploring and enjoying what a great job Disney does with theming, landscaping, and creating an atmosphere of magic.
2010 – 2014 – The School Years
Yes, to the horror of school teachers everywhere, we have pulled our DD out of elementary school for a week each year for our vacations. For the most part, we have gone down every October for many years. We love this time of year, it gives us the opportunity to extend our summer by enjoying the perfect Florida weather this time of year, while our weather in NY begins turning cold and dark.
We never had a problem with this, as our DD has always been a good student, maintained her grades, and the teachers were always more than willing to give us her homework assignments. The flights down and back provided the perfect time to get the work done.
As our DD got older, we spent more time in the parks, but still took things a little slower. We always had at least one "day off" during our vacations just to hang at the resort, swim, ride bikes, have a nice dinner somewhere different each time, watch the movie, roast marshmallows, just take it easy. Even our DD enjoyed these days. Each resort has so much to offer. Also, we stopped doing the park hopper, we didnt need to do multiple parks each day. Rather, we would do a single park, spend as much time as we wanted exploring. And, we might go back to the hotel for a swim, or if everyone was on board, we would just stay, it all depended. One of the best things is the extra magic hours, when we could get those, it gave us more time to relax. When MK would do the late hours (or the halloween party), you could basically walk on the rides late. So, for those days, we might not even go to the park until 4-5 in the afternoon, and then just walk on the rides.
Needless to say, we loved going in October, it was the perfect time for us in all areas. My work really ramps up from November-January, so it was also a nice relaxing time before things got crazy!
2015 – The New Way
This year we found ourselves in a dilemma. I was not comfortable with pulling our DD out of middle school, especially her first year. We discussed what to do, and came up with ideas ranging from rolling our points and not going, to maybe doing a long weekend. I am not a fan of going during school breaks, we have always gone during “non-peak” times and the thought of trudging through the parks to wait 45-60 minutes of more for rides that we often walk right on was not appealing.
Our school district does not start until September 9th, and knowing most of the southern (and northern for that matter) would have already started school, we decided to go the week before labor day (booked Sun 8/30 – Fri 9/4) so we would still have the long weekend, and hoped the parks would be slow.
The Pro’s – We got our Disney vacation, and the parks were slow. We had no long waits and didn’t really need FP except for Toy Story Mania and Seven Dwarves Roller Coaster. The only time a park seemed somewhat crowded was Thursday at MK – and I figured people would get an early start to the holiday weekend. It ended up being a great time to go.
Con’s – I really enjoy getting that extended summer from the Florida weather in October, and I will miss not going to the Food and Wine Festival along with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party.
All in all – we had a great vacation, I am writing a trip report to post. I did not mind the heat/humidity at all; we did take a break in the afternoons and hung out at the pool which made a huge difference.
As usual, a great vacation, and for us, this may be the way we do WDW for the next few years!
