Here now.....some thoughts about our trip...

[edk35]

Just thought I would pop in and give a little trip report and some thoughts about this trip so far.

We arrived last Sunday night around 9:45 after driving from MD. We thought the drive was easy and would do it again. That was no big deal. The kids did great. (Big kids.... that is dd 19, ds 16 and ds 11). Having a vehicle here is wonderful. We have flown for years and years...this was easier than I ever imagined.

We have enjoyed the parks... yes it is HOT, but we leave by 12 or 1:00 and go back at night if we go back at all. The new fireworks show is GREAT..loved it. We enjoyed it best .....in front of the castle. The MSEP was cute and brought back memories.

This trip plan came about right before Easter. WE WERE going to HHI and today would have been our first night there. Instead we changed our minds and I had to plan a trip that also included beach time. SO I was able to grab some nights at Vero and we built the rest of the trip around that. Do I have any regrets for not doing HHI??? NO I don't. One day we will try HHI..maybe next summer.

I love our trips to WDW..... however I do wish that I had planned this trip differently, but because we booked it 4 months in advance we were limited to what was available at Vero and at WDW as far as accommodations go....I booked what I could. The problem...adding days to this trip to EXTEND OUR STAY SO WE COULD STAY AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. I now wish I had just been able to rearrange our days so that we were at SSR for 7 or 8 days. SPLIT stays are FINALLY OFF MY RADAR for a while.

I think I have finally learned my lesson about changing my mind TOO MUCH with these DVC trips. I also need to STOP THE CRAZINESS of wanting to stretch our trips out with extra nights on cash or staying at other resorts when we have used up our points!!! I think this trip is curing me of that....


Now I know hindsight is 20/20, and we learn from our mistakes.. so I will go ahead and say this... I have learned many things from this trip thus far and we are not even home yet.

I wish we had limited our WDW trip to 7/8 nights instead of 9 and I wish I HAD NOT GOTTEN THE WILD IDEA TO EXTEND OUR TRIP BY STAYING AT SHADES OF GREEN which bumped us to 9 days. We love that resort and have stayed there many times, but I am tired of SPLIT STAYS. We stayed at Buena Vista Suites the Sunday night we arrived because it was so late. Then the next morning we checked into two rooms at SOG for 2 days. THEN we checked into SSR on Wed. for a week. Oh and we went to MK that morning and evening so it was a hectic day to move from one place to another. I got so caught up in the fact that we were going to WDW when we were going to SKIP this summer.... that I just wanted to go and stay as long as possible.

WELL.... we have decided that WE ARE ENJOYING LESS PARK TIME NOW THAN IN YEARS PAST and EVEN THE KIDS WANT MORE TIME AT THE DVC RESORTS SWIMMING, TAKING IN WHAT EACH RESORT OFFERS AND GOING TO THE WATER PARKS. The beginning of this trip was TOO HECTIC and it took away from our vacation. My youngest son said on our 2nd night at SSR "Mom we have not had a chance to relax yet". That made me sad. Even at his age....he wants to CHILL AND NOT BE on the GO GO GO. When it comes down to it....kids just want to have fun with their family and friends while on vacation.

Our older two kids still have fun just being at the resort with us/friends hanging at the pool, going out to eat or watching tv together in the villa. That is what really matters on these vacations..not making it to every rope drop, riding all the rides we can before noon or staying up late every night to close down a park.

SO as we were sitting at Artist Palette on Thursday.... NIGHT 2 of our stay at SSR...we laughed and talked about our crazy ROAD TRIP and realized we had an EPIPHANY..... DVC DOES NOT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE ALL ABOUT THE PARKS, EMH's and Fast Passes...... it is important to ALSO R E L A X with your family and friends on these trips. The past few summers have been a mix of both, but we have decided that this trip got off to a ROUGH START and we fixed that on NIGHT 2 of our DVC stay. We have agreed to NO MORE CRAZY SPLIT STAY SUMMER VACATIONS AT WDW. We will PLAN OUR TRIPS BETTER too. The kids don't care where we eat and what or if there are ADR's. They really don't. They don't want to go to a park every day either. I have been planning/doing these trips for a long time and as they got older...the things that I thought were important on these trips....the MUST DO's are not as important.

Don't get me wrong we love the parks..but we have been so many times.... that now we don't have to SEE AND DO EVERYTHING because we will be back eventually. I think that I lost site of that this trip..... and maybe it is because we went an entire year before coming back. We were used to 2 or 3 trips a year. Maybe that is why ....... but from now on...these DVC resorts are JUST too nice not to enjoy. Our kids love the resorts. We went to mini golf on Friday night at Fantasia and our ds 16 liked it so much he and dh went back last night.

Just thought I would share this with others that might be planning these crazy GO GO GO SCHEDULED PARK DAYS.... S L O W D O W N and smell the roses.......

Oh and might I add that we hung out at the pool at SSR on Friday for several hours. We played Disney trivia and WON THE GRAND PRIZE.... we only missed 1 question out of 20 but we got the bonus so we did great. The two runner ups got 16 questions correct. All 5 of us... were BUSTING IT OUT WITH THE DISNEY TRIVIA ANSWERS.

We have 2 more days here and then we check out on Wed. and head to Vero for 4 nights. We are all very excited about this part of our trip. It is something new for us all of us.

 

[MinnieGi]

Glad you are seeing the real value in owning DVC - slow down and relax time b/c yes another trip is on the horizon!!!

I think you and your kids will really like Vero, complete relaxation and hanging out fun with fun DIsney activities.

 

[Sammie]

Yep, I have to agree. We learned that lesson a few years ago and last summer we actually used a ticket to go to the MK for only about 4 hours, and did not regret it one bit.

I agree about split trips too. We have decided we either stay in one place or we go home.

Glad to hear you are having good time in spite of the heat. Be sure to go to Capt Hirams to eat while at Vero.

 

[edk35]

You know I thought we were DVC Vets... We joined in Jan. 07 but truly we are NOT. I lost focus this trip. We used to go to WDW in Nov. and Jan. and we were commandos PRE DVC. I think part because the weather was sooooooo much cooler. Then we bought DVC and we have NOW done 4 summer trips in addition to 2 Nov. and 1 Jan. trip. Our best DVC trip was probably in 2008..... we stayed at OKW and BCV. When we were at OKW...we truly relaxed and did some off the beaten path stuff. While at BCV we enjoyed that area and pool and didn't put so much emphasis on parks. That was one of my fave trips. Of course we were there 2 full weeks so we had the time to really SLOW down.

I am sooooo OVER split trips. I will only do them from now on..if I can stay like 5 or more nights at each place and ONLY one move. We have done splits every summer for the past 4 summers and the past two have been 3 and 4 way splits. MAN...did I truly LOSE MY MIND by planning those.

 

[Cee]

I agree completely. Sometimes we go to WDW and never enter a single park. We love the resorts and love relaxing even more. I will never do a split stay. It just doesn't make sense to me. I will get to all these resorts eventually.

 

[eliza61]

that's one of those "intangibles" that makes dvc worth while. No stress of having to "do everything" in one visit.

Glad your trip was good.

 

[edk35]

that's one of those "intangibles" that makes dvc worth while. No stress of having to "do everything" in one visit.

Glad your trip was good.

AMEN!!! We could have easily just gone to a park for 1/2 a day every other day this trip.

 

[toniosmom]

I completely agree. My DS5 and I don't go to the parks every day and when we do, we go in the morning and spend the rest of the day at the pool (he loves to swim.) We eat 95% of our meals in the villa, so that is also relaxing -- no ADRs to rush to. There is no reason to go commando in the parks, rushing to see every thing. We see whatever we see in the time we are there and that's it. We will be back -- whether it be later that week, or a future trip.

Starting in December, I will be activating annual passes that I purchased last year. I have 3 trips scheduled where we can use those passes. I'm hoping that I don't feel the need to go to the parks often in order to "get my money's worth". Just because the park pass is available, doesn't mean we have to go. Right?

 

[dianeschlicht]

We do still go to the parks almost every day of our trips, but it's no longer a full day thing or "see the whole park" thing. Now we head out early to do specific things and then head back to the resort for a chill. Then we often either go back to a park or to a resort for dinner and maybe catch one of the night time shows. My favorite time to tour world showcase is in the evening prior to Illuminations. We find visiting the other resorts to be as much fun as the parks too. Both Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge could be destinations on themselves anyway.

 

[DenLo]

I think that knowing we didn't have do the parks commando style is one of the reasons we bought into the DVC. Before the DVC we would come to WDW sporadically, so since who knew when we'd be back, we'd have to go, go, go and see everything. Now we know we'll be back such and such a date so we can catch it then.

Now if I can just make my DSIL realize that it's okay to relax while at WDW. She bought into the DVC after we did. They have always done WDW commando style and still have plans to continue to so. And her DH loses vacation time each year as they don't use it. I think they think a relaxing vacation means boring.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I'm so glad that you are enjoying this trip and getting new insights!

Our DGC are young still, and the family doesn't have AP's so there is still more of an emphasis on getting the most out of a park day. However, we only went to theme parks on 2 of the 5 possible days earlier this month, and I think their first 2 days ever at a water park, BB, really were great hits!

That family is thinking they just may skip WDW next year and go to HHI instead. Here's hoping that I can get them in at 7 months. They have a stay at VB just in case, but HHI is closer to home and next year, they want it to be "easy."

Bobbi

 

[Tiger926]

Interesting posts...

We have also loved doing split stays - just check out my signature! We have enjoyed them because kids love swimming in different pools (pool hopping is a pain with young kids), and we love being closer to parks. In the past, it's been rare that our rooms have not been ready at check-in, this trip though, that was not the case, and it made us very crabby and cost us precious time as we had to go back and grocery shop.

We love going to the parks everyday, but we are far from commando. We sometimes have walked into Epcot for 1 hour, or gone to MK for 2 hours, and then back to rest/swim. Having APs is great for this type of touring. For us, the problem has been with my hubby the past few years wanting to make our trips bigger and better! This has caused issues because he has switched resorts, added nights, upgrades, etc. that were not necessary. This trip we had several issues with some of his bright ideas, and it caused friction between us all.

We had a heart to heart talk last night about why we joined DVC, and he is finally realizing that he has to slow down. If we have 50 years of WDW vacations ahead of us, why do we have to do it all each trip? We have stayed almost everywhere on property, so now, it's time to chill out at 1 or at most 2 resorts, and be done with it!

We do go for 11-13 days each summer as we drive from Canada, and I'm a teacher, so we find that limiting to 1 vacation is more financially sound, and easier on us. We always have our own car, so we can drive as well. Hubby hasn't wanted to drive much the past few years, so we've been split staying based on what parks we are visiting. Worked for a time, but not anymore.

It's interesting to read all of the replies about this subject. For us, we can't imagine doing Disney without the parks (our kids are still young), but since we joined DVC, we limit our hours there, and this works splendidly in the stifling heat as it keeps us rested and refreshed, plus, we like to park hop, and this makes it easier for us as well.

There are so many ways for families to enjoy DVC! Tiger

 

[Alexander]

We don't do split stays anymore either. The whole idea of saving points or cash and staying somewhere the first night has gotten really old. We just want to get settled in and begin our vacation. In December we have a 14 night stay planned, and we will be splitting that first week is in a BCV studio and the second week is in a 2 Bedroom at Bonnet Creek. I think this is doable. We'll move to Bonnet Creek on Christmas Eve and spend the afternoon evening decorating for Christmas (Santa).

Since we own a home in Fort Pierce, we have FL residency ID and are able to get FL resident park passes. We bought the weekday seasonal pass this past February and it is great. It is only good M-F which means we can't go to the parks on Sat and Sun. Those days have to be relaxation days! Having any type of AP frees you up to come and go as you please without feeling like you've "wasted" a day on your MYW ticket by only staying at the park for a few hours.

My kids live to swim so spending many hours or even a whole day at the pool is not a choice, it's mandatory. We love to just hang out at the resort playing games (we keep a bunch of board games in our OL). My little one (4) is such a people watcher. In April he stood on our BW view balcony for hours just watching everyone, so entertaining my kids is pretty easy.

 

[Tiger926]

We don't do split stays anymore either. The whole idea of saving points or cash and staying somewhere the first night has gotten really old. We just want to get settled in and begin our vacation. In December we have a 14 night stay planned, and we will be splitting that first week is in a BCV studio and the second week is in a 2 Bedroom at Bonnet Creek. I think this is doable. We'll move to Bonnet Creek on Christmas Eve and spend the afternoon evening decorating for Christmas (Santa).
Since we own a home in Fort Pierce, we have FL residency ID and are able to get FL resident park passes. We bought the weekday seasonal pass this past February and it is great. It is only good M-F which means we can't go to the parks on Sat and Sun. Those days have to be relaxation days! Having any type of AP frees you up to come and go as you please without feeling like you've "wasted" a day on your MYW ticket by only staying at the park for a few hours.

My kids live to swim so spending many hours or even a whole day at the pool is not a choice, it's mandatory. We love to just hang out at the resort playing games (we keep a bunch of board games in our OL). My little one (4) is such a people watcher. In April he stood on our BW view balcony for hours just watching everyone, so entertaining my kids is pretty easy.

This! I forgot to mention it in my response above. We only have 360 points (just added on 7 months ago, so we only had 300 for the last few years), so hubby wanted to conserve points and stay elsewhere for 1st night too. We've stayed off-site @ Marriotts, Hiltons or Downtown Disney, or on-site @ cash Disney resorts. It just doesn't make sense to me, as we've spent $40,000 on DVC - why give Disney anymore cash?

This trip, he insisted I cancel SSR for 1st night, and we found a good deal @ Downtown Disney Regal Sun Resort, and we hated it. Crazy $16.00/day resort fee for stuff we didn't use, and the resort is deceiving. We were in some outside tower room, that was dark, lack of security and so convoluted that you couldn't find your room! Never again...

We drive, so we can leave at such a time that we get in by 4:00 or 5:00 the 1st night, and begin our stay. We need to get settled in, or we feel all discombobulated.

It's amazing how we have been DVC members for 6 years now, but we are still learning too!

Tiger

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

I can't imagine that we would ever go to WDW and not go to the parks. We just have too much fun at the parks. But we never spend the whole day there and its pretty rare that we bother to get there for the rope drop.

But the split stays can be an issue especially if your stays are less than 2 days at any one place. Its just too much packing/unpacking. Its much easier to just stay put than to move around. We just got back from Vero and thoroughly enjoyed SPENDING 6 NIGHTS IN ONE ROOM.

 

[wildernessDad]

I do agree with what you say, but for me, right now, I need to hit some attractions! Gosh, Muppets in 3D comes to mind for some reason.

We skipped our usual May vacation and loaded up for December with a 12 night stay. Don't like waiting this long in between much needed vacations.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

When it comes down to it....kids just want to have fun with their family and friends while on vacation.

Our older two kids still have fun just being at the resort with us/friends hanging at the pool, going out to eat or watching tv together in the villa. That is what really matters on these vacations..not making it to every rope drop, riding all the rides we can before noon or staying up late every night to close down a park.

This is exactly how we vacation, and why DVC works so well for us. The best vacations are the ones where we, with family and friends, share down time playing games, enjoying the resort, in summer the water parks and in winter, just doing what we like in the theme parks! Gone are the "commando" days, now it's about relaxation and sharing quality time together!

P.S. Having a car, helps a great deal!

So, edk35, what off-site restaurants have you tried so far?

 

[mamaprincess]

I have learned something new with each trip. Our last trip's issue was prioritizing extended family's desires over our own. Wow we had some stressful times on that trip. People don't know how organized you have to be to really maximize your enjoyment and minimize your stress. You just can't be all willy nilly, especially during Christmas break. We felt like the kids got short changed and DH was stressed out. This time we are doing things our way and they will have to go along with our program. The days of letting others high jack our trips are over. It was our first and last time.

Another thing we learned was that if we are going to have family along, we all have to be in the same resort. To much traveling involved when folks are other places and there's only one car.

Like you, we have always flown but are driving this trip. We are actually looking forward to it! I love road trips. I have our various hand held devices, lap tops, car chargers and back up batteries ready for battle. We are driving from Illinois so we are going to break the drive up by staying over night at a hotel in Georgia then finishing up the drive the next day.

We are doing a split stay but only two resorts and 5 days at each which is a minimum amount of days at each resort IMHOP if you are going to do split stays. We love SSR and AKL (visited every trip never stayed plus it is home), so I look forward to doing our two loves this trip. We will probably do it this way for a while. If you really love two resorts and plan on a stay of 10 or more days and only plan on doing 2 resorts, I don't see it being to much of a problem.

We definitely hit the parks hard because we only go once a year. We don't do more than two parks in a row. I'm going to try on this trip to go in the morning, take a break and come back in the evening and see how that works for us.

 

[edk35]

This is exactly how we vacation, and why DVC works so well for us. The best vacations are the ones where we, with family and friends, share down time playing games, enjoying the resort, in summer the water parks and in winter, just doing what we like in the theme parks! Gone are the "commando" days, now it's about relaxation and sharing quality time together!

P.S. Having a car, helps a great deal!

So, edk35, what off-site restaurants have you tried so far?

We went to El Patron and enjoyed it a lot. It was on the restaurant.com site. We had lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings yesterday..kinda neat place. A sport grill type place. We just ate at Bahama Breeze today for lunch. It was nicely themed/decorated and the food was good. There are many we will try next time too. We are avoiding places that we have in MD. We also at at House of Blues for dinner one night..have eaten there before. They changed their menu...not as much offered now.

 

[edk35]

I have learned something new with each trip. Our last trip's issue was prioritizing extended family's desires over our own. Wow we had some stressful times on that trip. People don't know how organized you have to be to really maximize your enjoyment and minimize your stress. You just can't be all willy nilly, especially during Christmas break. We felt like the kids got short changed and DH was stressed out. This time we are doing things our way and they will have to go along with our program. The days of letting others high jack our trips are over. It was our first and last time.

Another thing we learned was that if we are going to have family along, we all have to be in the same resort. To much traveling involved when folks are other places and there's only one car.

Like you, we have always flown but are driving this trip. We are actually looking forward to it! I love road trips. I have our various hand held devices, lap tops, car chargers and back up batteries ready for battle. We are driving from Illinois so we are going to break the drive up by staying over night at a hotel in Georgia then finishing up the drive the next day.

We are doing a split stay but only two resorts and 5 days at each which is a minimum amount of days at each resort IMHOP if you are going to do split stays. We love SSR and AKL (visited every trip never stayed plus it is home), so I look forward to doing our two loves this trip. We will probably do it this way for a while. If you really love two resorts and plan on a stay of 10 or more days and only plan on doing 2 resorts, I don't see it being to much of a problem.

We definitely hit the parks hard because we only go once a year. We don't do more than two parks in a row. I'm going to try on this trip to go in the morning, take a break and come back in the evening and see how that works for us.

My kids said they would like to come for a long 10 day trip but NOT go to a park every day. They said two park days in a row and then ONE day off or every other day park days. We are doing the go in the morning plan, stay until lunch time and then we sometimes go back in the evening...sometimes we don't. I just think we got off on a busy busy beginning and that kind of set the tone for the first few days.