How Much Time do you really spend in the Room

[tb1972]

The pool, kid activities and community hall crafts are all reasons we stick around the resort. Also, the kids like to rent DVDs some nights or watch the pool movies, we do that 2-3 nights during a week long trip. Although at Vero we watched a lot of movies at night because there were less options than WDW.

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[OneMoreTry]

We spend lots of time in the room.

At our one BLT stay -- 6 nights -- we were fortunate to get a great lake view. We spent hours hanging out together in the room. It did not feel sterile. I'm not sure what it would have felt like if we didn't have such a great view, though.

 

[Sammie]

Including sleeping we spent more time in our room than out of it. We don't hit the parks anymore when the open. We also spend more time at the resort.

 

[mistergq]

It depends, but we have no problem spending time in the room. We do breakfast in the room and would often bring food back to the room for dinner. I personally like getting out and about. That is why I liked SSR because we can go over to downtown disney. Even if it is just walking around, get a nice boat ride.

 

[Anal Annie]

We are the run, run, run, go, go, go, do, do, do types! We enjoy the parks and rarely spend much time in the rooms. We hit all the EMH's we can drag our bodies out of bed for and often probably only get about 5 hours of sleep a night between the evening and morning ones.

We don't sit still very well. We try to hit the pool every day too if we can - often tho we're there in the summer and those pesky t-storms chase us indoors. Then we're watching the weather channel trying to decide if we should wait out the storm or go on back to the parks.

I guess we feel like we've spent a pretty penny to buy in, to get there and to buy our AP's so we're gonna make the most of our time while we're there.

 

[darkwing818]

We find we spend probably half the day in our room. That's counting sleeping, breakfast in the unit, and a mid-day break.

Sounds like us, as well....

 

[snackyx]

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

If Aulani was on Maui, would the "sit on your butt" vacation be OK? If you are really going to SOYB, who cares what island--just give me a nice beach, palm trees, weather and a MaiTai or two...or three.

We have been DVC members since 1991 and have done countless Orlando trips. We have recently been using points to go to Aulani, and find it a great Hawaiian vacation...even if it is on Oahu. Want to get out and explore the island? That's not sitting on your butt.

 

[seelyt2]

Because I cook in the villa every day for the vast majority of our meals, we spend about 3 - 3 1/2 hours there a day while I prepare meals and the kids and DH unwind in front of the tv. Outside of that we're either in the park or in the pool.

 

[wdwfan1]

Since we DVC we take more trips so we don't spend as much time in the parks as we used to. We love the parks but we also spend time enjoying the resorts.

 

[lah3hh]

That is the beauty of DVC...we don't have to do the park commando style...we will be coming back! We spend a fair amount of time enjoying the villas and the resort amenities as well as being out and about. We don't approach our WDW vacations as a once in a lifetime but rather...a lifetime of enjoyment! Hey, that sounds like a DVC commercial or something...LOL!

 

[LPnerd]

older now, we rarely are in the parks before noon, and then depending on the park, we may close them. we on ly go off season so, crowds are not an issue.
cooking... lets use breakfast example, you figure 15 bucks, cheapest, now timesthat by at least4 for us, 40 bucks, now times the 4 days at least... 120 bucks... that's another days ticket. even if we cook eggs or pancakes, or breakfast burritos, the most is about 5 bucks a person. and its money we would have spent if at home anyway... so it doesn't come out of vacation budget, it's just the reg grocery budget.
we go to the parks and I have a purse full of cereal bars, protein bars and water additives. we buy ice cream... popcorn, maybe a burger or turkey leg, and dinner is waiting in the crock pot back at the hotel. so instead of spending 100 bucks for some food no one really likes, we spend about 25 and feed everyone well and maybe gout for desert, maybe we make sundaes in the room.
the park tickets are so expensive now, we have to watch other things. we go to one character meal, and the rest I spend on toys to spoil which grandchild I have with us, rofl... my daughter says I am a professional spoiler. I feel proud. ( hahahaha)
we spend time in the room, enough that it matters. our favs are in order BLT , BWV, and BCV... because of the after hours stuff at hand. downtown dis is just to crowded for us after hours, except mid week off season.
also we are game players, so we rent games form community hall, and sit around at night doing that as well. sometimes down by the pool, but mostly in the room. so after all this, the answer is YES the place you choose will matter. esp a few years down the road. Its very nice to sit in the lounge and watch te fireworks at the castle and listen to the same music...

 

[LSchrow]

..lets use breakfast example, you figure 15 bucks, cheapest, now timesthat by at least4 for us, 40 bucks, now times the 4 days at least... 120 bucks... that's another days ticket. even if we cook eggs or pancakes, or breakfast burritos, the most is about 5 bucks a person. and its money we would have spent if at home anyway... so it doesn't come out of vacation budget, it's just the reg grocery budget.
.

you may be saving more: $15 for 4 ppl is $60, times 4 days is actually $240 even at $10 pp per b'fast, it would be a total of $160.
(not being snarky - i just really enjoy math )

compared to $5 pp for the same 4 ppl, 4 days, at $80. basically, that money saved (between $80 - $160) would feed your family b'fast for the 4 days after you get home
AND you get to eat while wearing jammies & have private family time. i can't imagine vacation being better than that.

 

[LPnerd]

rofl... OMG I really must stay off the boards when I am gorked on cold meds! thanks math dude!

 

[Brian Noble]

how often do people spend in the hotel rooms?

First, we never stay in "hotel rooms". We consider a 2BR to be the minimum acceptable size for our family of four---we did a 1BR once when the kids were quite a bit younger, but it really did not work well. For the two of us, we tend to prefer 1BRs.

We typically stay for a week. All of our days are one of: tour in the morning, take a break at the villa, return in the evening; rope-drop to late afternoon with a quiet dinner "home" (or very close by); or sleep in, brunch somewhere, and then early afternoon-through-evening park visits. I can't remember the last time we tried to open-close a park.

I don't care too much about "room decor" as much as I do room layout, functionality, overall resort "vibe", and location.

Edited to add: we did just get back from a trip to France, and did two connecting rooms at Sequoia Lodge while at DLRP. That was okay, but not as pleasant as a genuine 2BR.

 

[lisaviolet]

& have private family time. i can't imagine vacation being better than that.

Me too Laurie.

OP, lots of time as I LOVE to hang out!

 

[LSchrow]

Me too Laurie.

lisa girl, you are always welcome to come for breakfast!
(tho i would change out of jammies )

any chance you're going in oct?

rofl... OMG I really must stay off the boards when I am gorked on cold meds! thanks math dude!

ummm, actually dudette
hope you're feeling better!

 

[gibbow]

rofl... OMG I really must stay off the boards when I am gorked on cold meds! thanks math dude!

Hope you're feeling better!!

The more I read the more I appreciate everyone's input! I want to thank everyone for their responces and look forward to those still to come

 

[Tara]

I think the question is less "how much time do you spend in your room?" but instead "what are you using your room for?" With a hotel room, the answer is "sleeping, showering, watching TV while in bed, sitting at desk." With a DVC villa, it could be "relaxing in the whirlpool tub" or "enjoying a simple meal we cooked ourselves" or "sitting comfortably on the couch watching a dvd while we wait out a thunderstorm." The time you DO spend in your room will be higher in quality, even if the quantity doesn't increase. (But I betcha you will spend more time in your room!)

 

[LSchrow]

..we cooked ourselves.....

ouch
easier to do in villas with full kitchen tho (speed reading is not always a good thing btw).

 

[roumic]

We definitely spend more time in our rooms on average. We have 100 point at BLT and stay one a year for about a week in a studio always in the off season since it is only two of us (no kids). We want to stay at all of the resorts and select the resort based on our plans for the trip. There have been several trips that we did not even step foot into the parks because there is so much other stuff to do on-site. As one poster previously said, WDW is familiar in a good way, so we go back there even for our relaxing trips. Since it is so familiar to me, it is easy/no stress trip planning for me.