How much time do you spend at your Resort?

[eporter66]

This will be our first trip as DVC members. Do you find that you spend more time at the resorts as a DVC member than prior to your ownership?

I figure that DVC members have obviously spent a lot of time at Disney, so they have seen the parks a number of times. This would allow you to relax more, not rush around to see everything - and take more time to enjoy your surroundings.

We plan on doing some different things on this vacation like golfing, maybe trying the spa, an afternoon at the pool, and just checking out the resort itself.

Just wondering - cant wait to report back to you all on SSR

 

[bom_noite]

Welcome home friend! One of the great benefits DVC provides (at least for now) is the pool hopping!

With 2 young kids, they love to try out the different pools. If you are traveling with adults who have not seen all the WDW resorts they love the theming and architecture.

Thus, I would encourage pool-hopping (check the rules). Also, as a member you get valet parking free at all DVC resorts (not OKW and probably not SSR!).

Our rule to the kids is this: "You have 45 minutes to an hour, then, we are leaving and no complaints!" Then, we pick up and move to a new resort.

That alone can fill an entire day without using a pass! The kids love it, the adults love it. Schedule lunch (and / or dinner) at one of the resorts!

In the beiginning of this post I said "at least for now". Some on this board (and me among them) believe that the addition of a slide at OKW may spell the ultimate demise of pool-hopping.

Is this an accurate assessment? Only time and DVC management will tell for certain. If you are new to DVC, then, assume it is an accurate assessment and take advantage of the rules as they exist today!

 

[jcanary]

We have been owners now for over 10 years and we tend to stay at the resort more. We have gotten older and our two daughters are 23 and 16 so they do their own thing. This past July we went down for 2 weeks for my daughters 16th birthday and my hubby and I probably spent about 10 hours in the parks.

 

[WDWLVR]

I would definately say we spend more time at the resort than when we would have just gotten a hotel room.

We still go the parks every day, but we don't do commando at all. I love coming back for a mid-day break. Breakfast is usually in the room so we aren't rushing out for that.

I can definately say that since we bought into DVC (early 2000) that we've taken a much more relaxed look at vacationing!

 

[OneMoreTry]

We spend a lot of time outside parks, but would anyway.

 

[Disney Doll]

I think as DVC members, you do tend to spend more time enjoying your resort, because there's not that push to "commando tour". You know you'll be back.

Also, having a kitchen or even a kitchenette affords most people the opportunity to be able to at least have breakfast in their room, so they don't have to rush to get up, get dressed, get to breakfast by a certain time, and then head right to the parks.

 

[dsmith]

Before DVC "the room" was just some place to take a shower and sleep. I always felt sort of displaced.

Now I find myself sitting on the balcony reading the paper, coming back HOME for a mid-day nap, and having small meals there. The kids also enjoy taking a break and watching their favorite movies then running off to the pool.

Yeah, we spend lots more time at the resort now.

 

[SSRex]

Our family trip this July will be my first ever and hopefully only trip there without a single day spend in a Disney theme park or water park. We will be going to Universal for a few days of 5 day trip. I do want to slow down and relax more. Note: I did the "Do you let your kids sleep in" poll. I want to, but I'm not sure my wife is going to willingly let that happen. I hope this trip changes things.

There are so many fun and less expensive things to do outside the parks. I love just exploring the resorts and eating in new restaurants that I have never been to before. I want to feel like we don't have to do it all because we will be back again sooner than later. It's an attitude that I think I now have, but can I do it when the time comes. My wife is the voice in my head saying that we have to get our money's worth & we can do that at home.

She really needs the break also and should relax more. I hope that once she sees the DVC villas for the first time, that she will start to feel the same way I have and that we can take it easier.

I am planning to do some limited pool hopping this trip just in case the benefit does go away, but also to let the kids see the other DVC resorts and ask them where they might want to stay next. I am really hoping that SSR makes a great first impression.

 

[Granny]

Originally posted by eporter66


I figure that DVC members have obviously spent a lot of time at Disney, so they have seen the parks a number of times. This would allow you to relax more, not rush around to see everything - and take more time to enjoy your surroundings.

We plan on doing some different things on this vacation like golfing, maybe trying the spa, an afternoon at the pool, and just checking out the resort itself.

You worded this well...it describes us perfectly. Our vacations are much more relaxing, commando touring is a thing of the past, and we do enjoy some down time at the resort since the accommodations are not cramped.

Also, we find ourselves exploring those hidden gems of WDW such as the bike & boat plans. Prior to DVC we would never have "wasted money" on things outside the four parks!

 

[dianeschlicht]

We have been members for nearly 8 years now, and we still go to a park each day, of each trip, but we definitely don't do commando any more, and we DO spend a lot more time at the resort. We don't pool hop or even use our own resort pool much, but we like to just hang out at the villa or walk or go to DTD, or meet with DIS friends. We like to fully immerse in the Disney magic, so we rarely go off site at all except to grocery shop or go up to Sanford to visit friends.

 

[Pa@okw95]

I spend about 4 to 6 hours a day away from resort, most of that time is eating lunch and dinner, plus we usually spend about 2 hours at the parks or DD, so, about 18 to 20 hours per day is at the resort.

 

[WolfpackFan]

For our trip a couple of weeks ago, we were more commando style than I had planned; but it was because the parks were so crowded, I was concerned about doing/seeing everything we wanted to do. In fact we ended up purchasing a single day pass to AK because we decided to turn our non-park day into a park day because we were running out of time.

Next trip though I plan for it to be much more relaxing. I could see us spending alot of time at the resort just resting and relaxing and enjoying the resort itself. My wife loves to lay out in the sun by the pool and I plan on giving her plenty of time to do that next time. Plus I plan on us sleeping late each day. But having said that I plan on getting UPH's because when we do want to go to a park I want to be able to do it when we want to. I am hoping to stay at BWV and then perhaps just spending some afternoon/evenings at Epcot. I doubt we will go to MK very much if at all and maybe just a single visit to AK and MGM. The rest of the time would be just Epcot. In fact with us being at BWV, I could see me wandering over to Epcot some times leaving DW back laying around the pool.

 

[MAC3]

Our 1st family trip (pre-DVC) we did 7 days. Realizing it wasn't enough we started going for 10 days. We always took days off but it was more like 2 days park, 1 day hotel.

Once we bought DVC we don't want to go for less than 2 weeks so we have time to sppend at the resort. They are so beautiful. It's a shame to miss them!

Lisa

 

[carone0318]

We go to the park everyday and our room is still considered just a place to sleep, get clean and to grab a quick bite in the morning. I do have small children and I think that that factors into what we do. Would go on further to say that as the kids get older, we will still probably go to the parks because I am a go, go go, do, do, do type of person. But when the kids are older, Dumbo won't be the most important thing and I will at least be able to sleep in .

 

[niks81]

I think after many visits you do spend more time at the resort. I know my uncle, who is also a DVC member, spends a ton of time at OKW because they've gone to WDW every year for at least ten years.

We can't really say "yes" to this yet because my husband's first trip to Disney was in 2002 so the parks are still very new for him....and we spend a lot of time there. But on both of the previous trips we took, we did set aside one day to just hang around the resort

 

[donmil723]

We bought DVC in 2002 when BCV opened but we had already been spending the majority of our time at the resort. One of the reasons we bought DVC rather than a timeshare at the beach is because at WDW we know there is always something fun to do even if the weather isn't nice enough to spend at the pool/beach. So, on most of our trips, we spend the majority of our time relaxing at the pool and going out to eat at a nice restaurant in the evening both on Disney or off-site followed by shopping, miniature golf, PI, or resort hopping. We usually only go into the theme parks one or two days on a 5 night trip. Of course, our kids are young adults so that does make a difference in that they aren't always bugging us to go see Mickey Mouse or do the rides all the time. Thank goodness!

Donna

 

[BWVDee]

We have been going to WDW on a very regular basis since there was only the MK, so we stopped doing commando many years ago. We have always been big WDW resort fans and have always stayed at a large variety of resorts. We have throroughly enjoyed our resorts and spent a lot of time each trip enjoying our resort and it's amenities. So that did not change at all when we became DVC members. What did change was the DVC accomendations are much more spacious and provide many more in room amenities.

 

[JimC]

Yes, we spend more time at the resort now that we own at DVC. We generally spend one third (morning, afternoon or evening) of the day at the resort each day.

It also helps when you have APs and are less concerned about getting every hour of park time in.

 

[Sammy]

Our first trip "home" was this past February for a 5-day "warm up and chill out" winter break. We had just done the commando thing 5 months previous (afterwhich we bought into DVC). The February trip was so relaxing! We still did Epcot and MK, but took it at a much slower pace and did things we had never done before, like spent over an hour on Tom Sawyer island just feeding the ducks, playing on the playground, etc. We sat more....did some of the slower activities, rides and exhibits that we never seemed to have time for in the past.

We also spent some part of every day just relaxing around OKW...playing in the pool....walking around. The kids actually spent a few hours playing shuffleboard! It was an awesome way to vacation and I'm sooo glad we bought into DVC!!

Sammy

 

[MDonley]

Each time we go "home" to OKW, we seem to spend much more time at the resort than the previous time. We seem to just go to the parks to see what's new and hit our favorites.
The one time we really spent a lot of time in the resort was the time we had a 2 bedroom for 3 people (2 adults/1 child) ... quite a waste of points, but we had a blast and got our money's worth!