How Much Time do you really spend in the Room

[crisi]

I think it is more a personality thing. We bought DVC last year and had our first trip in February and already spent a lot less park time. We return in August and have cut back our park plans significantly

I suspect it is. If we want a "sit on our butt" vacation, we pick a beach, not Disney - there is nothing appealing to me about Disney World as a sit on your butt vacation.

(Aulani, if it weren't on Oahu, might be an appealing sit on your butt vacation).

 

[Minniesgal]

I suspect it is. If we want a "sit on our butt" vacation, we pick a beach, not Disney - there is nothing appealing to me about Disney World as a sit on your butt vacation.

(Aulani, if it weren't on Oahu, might be an appealing sit on your butt vacation).

We don't sit on our butts we use the pool, eat out about favorite restaurants, we golf, we go to the cinema and we have so e park time. We love Disney for holidays with or without the parks.

We hate the beach absolutely hate it sand gets in all sorts of places...

 

[DougEMG]

I don't spend much time in the room at all, while my wife probably spends at least half the day at the resort or in the room. I don't think either one of us worries overly much about the decor of the room, there is always something at each resort that we like.

 

[ImagineerTHAT]

Funny thread! I bought DVC for the specific reason of making my vacations more relaxing.

I've worked in the parks and played in the parks, but every time we go now we are rope drop crazy and spend all of our time in the parks (to make the cost worth it).

We are excited to cook meals in the room, use the pool on nice days, play golf, and visit DD and shop. Longer trips, less days in the park, and more resort time!

 

[Goofy DVC]

I agree with most. The longer you own, the more time you spend in the room/resort. We have also found that the longer we own the more we may "split up" so to speak. We may spend a few hours in the park together and then my DW may want to read, relax, and nap while I hit the pool and tip a few. It is especially nice returning to the 1 BR room and not disturbing her. So time in the room and accommodations have come to matter more the longer we own.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We will spend an entire day in the villa. We'll watch television, take a nap, eat a little lunch. We might hit the park for a few hours in the morning and in the evening and the rest in the villa (maybe a hour or two at the pool).

Once you get an AP or PAP, you don't mind just spending the day in the resort and villa. When you are paying by the day, you want to get your money's worth out of that ticket.

Our trips are usually seven to ten nights.

I could have written this. Part of the charm of DVC is that you have a whole home sized villa instead of just a room. If your intent is to always stay in studio rooms, then your theory might hold true, but I see no reason to pay the money for a timeshare if you aren't going to take advantage of the REAL part of owning one (which is having a home away from home). I love having laundry and a Jacuzzi in the unit like I have at home. I avoid studios at all costs, and if I had to spend a trip in a studio, I'd rather stay home and wait until I had enough points to stay in at least a 1 bedroom.

That all being said, we do still spend plenty of time in the parks. We use our APs to do the park things when the crowds are low. We also have learned which days are best to do each park. That means we often will go into a park for a couple hours in the morning, then back to the villa for the middle part of the day. Often we will head to another resort for dinner and maybe back to a park. We consider our villa our home so we vacation a bit more relaxed than we did before DVC. Of course, since we have owned DVC for more than 16 years, it's become our normal way to vacation. Now when I have to stay in a hotel room somewhere, I go crazy!

 

[crisi]

We don't sit on our butts we use the pool, eat out about favorite restaurants, we golf, we go to the cinema and we have so e park time. We love Disney for holidays with or without the parks.

We hate the beach absolutely hate it sand gets in all sorts of places...

Yeah, the pools aren't what I'm looking for for a sit on my butt vacation (more kids, less swim up pool bar than I want), the golf is expensive, there are cinemas other places and we think the food is WAY better in a lot of other vacation destinations.

But if I'm at the pool, on the golf course, in restaurants, or at the movies, I'm not in my room.

 

[Pirate Granny]

With just hubby and I it's studios...I have no issues and love, love love sitting on the balconies while he golfs in the mornings...most fun when at OKW and watching men swear when they miss the putts....I find that we no longer close the parks down...we are home at a reasonable hour!

 

[Buzzandthemermaid]

Sorry, accidental post.



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[DenLo]

I think it depends on your personality and whether you really can relax while on vacation. I know many members of our family don't want to relax. If they are not go, go, go on vacation it's not worth going. But DH and I have always been more type C personalities. Sometimes we like a busy vacation with lots of activities and other times we don't. What we like about Disney it lets us combine the two. And despite what others say we can relax and enjoy the room even though we stay in a studio that way we can spend more days on vacation.

 

[bakerworld]

We sit a lot at the pool, bar, outside eatery - just not the room. Love the balcony for early morning because I'm usually up an hour or more before DH. By the time's he's had his coffee and gotten dressed, I've neatened up the room, made the bed, washed the dishes and am ready to find another place to perch. During the afternoon we'll relax around the pool, where I'll take a lounger nap, until dinner. So the room - no, we don't spend time there except to sleep, change and store the beverage of choice.

 

[DisneynBison]

One of the main reasons we have been considering DVC for the last year is that it offers quite a few different options. To many times I have vacationed and get bored sitting on a beach. I enjoy sitting out on the balcony in the morning and evening. I can also hit the parks for a while or have the options of many different restaurants that we can set up a reservation for or we can go and spend hours upon hours in the parks or doing other activities around the area. Options, options options. Heck last year in January there were maybe 15 of us in storm along bay, I guess it was "cold" by most peoples standards but was still 105 degrees warmer than at home so we were enjoying the pool. Just love the suite option as when we travel we get suites most of the time anyway.

 

[Judique]

Our room is home base. When we have annual passes like this year, we are spending time in the parks. We vary our trips between villa sizes.

I've got a one bedroom booked over New Year's. I'm wait listed for a studio. Had a studio first and changed it to the one bedroom. Our numbers dropped and we're dining out a lot. That trip all I need is somewhere to store the leftovers and a toaster and coffee pot.

Food and wine festival is a studio. We'll spend a lot of time doing stuff, so not in the room that much.

With no annual passes we cook more and travel around the area more doing other stuff. We'll sit on our balcony or out on the porch overlooking Village Green and the boardwalk and read the disboards while enjoying the disney atmosphere. We'll be one of those 'here now' posters, acting just as we do at home, cause that's where we are.

 

[Cbowman]

When we are staying in Villa's, we tend to spend more time in the rooms. I think it feels more like an apartment than a hotel room. We have two small girls so we do like to go back to the room for an afternoon break. If we had a smaller space, that's not so appealing. The decor of the room really doesn't matter to me, it's the overall space.

 

[dsneygirl]

We spend more time in our villa and at the resort in general than we did when we first started going to Disney. As you're making a decision about where to buy, I'd think about when the time comes that you'd like to spend more time at the resort and use that to help you choose.

We spend a lot of time at the resort, the pool, food options and kids activities are really important. Decor not so much. We have stayed everywhere on property and not been repulsed by anything

 

[taaren]

It really depends on the trip/resort.

There are some trips we plan for just a quick weekend, book a studio, and barely see the room except to nap/sleep/grab a quick breakfast because we're riding rides nonstop.

Other times we stay for a week and spend a lot of time chilling in a 2 bedroom catching up with friends and relaxing and not rushing through the parks.

This year we're kind of doing the opposite since we'll be staying in a 2 bedroom at BCV and want to hit the parks and pool a lot with, Epcot, DHS, and Stormalong Bay so close, and then will be moving over to a AKV studio and during that portion I'll want to spend more time animal viewing on my balcony ...

It changes according to your priorities for that trip. One of the great things about the points system is that it is soooo flexible, and whether you want several short trips or one long trip, or a big room or a small one, you can change your mind from year to year depending on how much time you want to spend and who you want to bring. Mainly I think the mantra of "Buy where you want to stay" or "Buy where you woulnd't mind staying a majority of the time" is important to keep in mind ... even if you're not in your room much at the beginning of your ownership, you may want to change later.

 

[DreamerWDW]

For us, we seem to spend more and more time in the room or at the resort each year since we started staying DVC. I'd say this is largely due to the location (either close to MK or EP) and the amenities/activities at the resort.

I'm not too fond of the bus system either and staying close to a park(s) has made a HUGE difference in the way we vacation. The location of BLT/VWL and BCV/BWV make those resorts more appealing to my family.

 

[LSchrow]

for us, a stay at some resorts means more room/resort time, at others it is more of a base for park visits. since we've been/go rather frequently, the room & resort have become most important, & the parks just a secondary attraction.
what governs our stays (in order of importance):
- view from balcony (looooove BW view, AKV savanna view, SSR view of DTD. we really dislike any view of cars, parking lots, etc). sipping coffee as the sun rises, sitting outside during the day and absorbing the atmosphere, having some wine and good conversation before bed help make our vacations real vacations. we especially like BW view as it changes during the varying times of day.
- activities at the resort: community hall (ping-pong, crafts, books, etc), nighttime activities. we find the CMs at AKV fascinating, shopping at DTD (SSR), and BW nighttime street performers, carny games, etc lots of fun. we enjoy informal, but good restaurants (turf club, boma, BRG), and places to have a drink & chat with strangers. pleasant places to run/walk around the resort are a wonderful bonus. dorky. i know, but mini-golf is a favorite tradition of ours (walking distance from EPCOT resorts).
- walking distance to a park - we often decide on a whim to go on a ride (on occasion, we've enjoyed the BWV/DHS walk so much, we just turn around and enjoy the walk back rather than ever entering the park). if we are relegated to taking a bus/boat or drive to every park, we spend more time offsite eating, shopping, etc.
- lobby/rooms - we're not fans of bustling, loud interiors (lobbies, hallways), and love the "wow factor" of stunning architecture/decor. i do enjoy the little touches in room: prints and decor that reflect the resort's theme, little touches (3-ring mickey cut-outs on lampshades, etc) that remind us where we are.
in the same ilk, a beautifully landscaped quiet pool is more important to us than a pool with slides and lots of activities going on. love finding quiet nooks around the resort to read & relax.

we usually go as 2 people (DD or DH and myself), and stay in a studio. we don't care about a full kitchen (we're not big eaters, & rarely cook at home), or the Jacuzzi (yuk ). any more than 2 people, and we get a larger villa.

our preferences are based on our stays at almost all DVCs, deluxes, and mods, but they are still our preferences. they suit us & you might prefer the total opposite - it's fun finding what makes your vacation a true vacation

 

[BEASLYBOO]

My observation is that the more you vacation, the less important it becomes to visit the parks.

We select park days based on crowd projections, spend more time at the resort and in our room. We don't rush anywhere, we are on vacation, we sleep in if we feel like it. When we get home we are relaxed and realize that anything that we missed, we will do next time.

DVC owners tend to vacation more often and for longer stays.

Bill

Yup!

The only difference for us is we do more, short stays! We love early and late EMH, we're never at the parks 1-4pm, to hot and crowded .We're always in 2bd's, love to cook/grill and eat in the villa, rent movies, play UNO, so we enjoy the living space. Plus we really like all of the other things to do and see in Orlando!

Sure some resort themes I prefer over others, but I like them all, each have their own charms and would take any available to book my stay!

 

[k3chantal]

My research has swayed me in the ways of purchasing into DVC resale.

I have always done shorter trips, 5 days maximum and always rush and am constantly going. Now that I will be working with a significant income, we have decided, while we can fiscally afford it, and have savings for an emergency, to watch the market for a ~50pt BLT offer. BWV is another option, but we are thinking a smaller contract at first and go every 3 years. If we want to go more often we can buy more points later...


Now that I am convinced to buy in, and will hopefully be making longer trips 7-8 days with possible non-park spa/golf days, I am wondering how often do people spend in the hotel rooms?

As stated I normally have not spend much time in the room with the shorter trips, and therefore would not mind the relatively "sterile" look of BLT that we saw as we walked through it as compared to the more "homey" feel that the SSR resort had. The hotel room is a place to sleep at night for us, and at first we do not plan to cook much. I used to always stay at the CR and must say the walking distance to the MK and the Monorail are amazing attributes when combined with the dining options amongst those three resorts.

Do those who spend less time in the room really notice the decor that much, and does the decor both those who spend more time in the rooms?

Just a question which popped up as I look at the option of location.

BTW by DGF and I are not too fond of the bus system, especially as it was when we visited in May.



Sorry for the long post! and Thank you for your responses, I look forward to reading them all

We do spend more time in the rooms. We eat breakfasts there instead of immediately getting ready and going to eat and when we stay in a 1 bedroom or larger villa, we also do our laundry so there's some time invested there. Because we know we are going back, we don't commando style it at the parks anymore thus making our stays more relaxing. When we stay at Kidani Village, we tend to spend even more time in our villa since we always get a Savanna view room and spend time on the balcony.