Is it still a "vacation" if you have to clean?

[cathyz]

I guess this is a silly question, but...do you mind cleaning your villa while you're there on vacation? Part of vacation for me is leaving unmade beds and all, and coming back to a sparkling clean room.

I'm still trying to justify this whole DVC thing to my family, and this is one thing that I'm having trouble with. Granted, it's not my house - so, atleast that makes it a little bit more fun!

Just curious.

 

[Disneyaholic]

Your personal preferences are what will have to make your decisions.

For us, the "at home" feeling far overrides having to pick up after ourselves each day. We make our beds and clean up the kitchen before leaving for the day -- but for us, that's probably something we would do even if we did have daily housekeeping. (Well, maybe not the making the beds part, but you know what I mean! )

If vacation to you means not having to do all that for yourselves, then maybe DVC is not for you.

Maybe you could try renting some points and staying at a DVC resort without daily housekeeping to see how well your family likes that...

 

[Basser]

We have no problem with keeping the room clean. Lets face it your at Disney World, how much time are you in the room?

 

[Regina]

It's really not much. You only have a couple of suitcases worth of stuff with you that goes into closets and drawers.

It's a snap to make the beds. They're not shoved against the walls, and you don't have mounds of stuffed animals to contend with.

I don't mind at all. I wish it was as easy to straighten up here as it is at the resort.

 

[CarolMN]

Well, if it really bugs you, you can always request daily housekeeping. The charge for that varies by the size of your room.

Personally, it never bothers me to make the bed. (That's probably because DH does it most of the time, LOL). It really only takes a minute or two. Don't do any other "cleaning" while were there except maybe load the dishwasher if we use the dishes. We do take the trash out if it builds up, though. People have said that the rooms have vacuum cleaners in the closet, but I can't say I ever noticed one. About the only thing we do for the bathroom is hang up towels after we use them.

Anyway, I actually reallly like not having a housekeeper in my room every day. Feels more private and I don't have to worry about when housekeeping is coming - we can sleep in, take a nap or just hang out and not worry about getting out for the maid.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[DeeP]

I am also someone that likes having daily maid service when I am at any other WDW resort but when I stay at a DVC resort it does not bother me at all not to have daily maid service. The only thing I ever do is make the beds and do the very few dishes we have because we eat out every meal but breakfast. The extra room the beautiful DVC villas provides is well worth not having daily maid service to me.

 

[Corinne]

We just returned from our first trip as DVC members. We have been going to WDW for years, and I thought it would bother me to not have daily maid service & only 4 bath towels! I can honestly say, it did not bother us at all. Having the washer & dryer in the room made it easy to wash the towels and when the maid came in on the 4th day, she left a new set, so we had plenty. As another poster mentioned, we enjoyed the privacy, and not having to worry about people in the room daily.

 

[PamOKW]

Corinne's response is pretty typical. To many of us, it seemed shocking to think we wouldn't have daily maid service on vacation. But, once you try it, you don't miss it. As others have said, you also have the freedom of not having anyone standing outside your door waiting to clean every day or returning to the room to find it hasn't been made up yet. It's not like taking care of your house. All you really need to do is make the bed....or not.

 

[Peggy Sue]

our first dvc trip, we stayed in a 2 bedroom and brought along BIL and SIL....We were worried about the lack of maid service and decided to purchase the service daily. After a couple of days we all agreed that it was totally unnecessary. It's easy to quickly make the bed and the washer/dryer gave us the opportunity to have fresh towels every day. The places are spacious and easy to keep clean. We like not thinking about when housekeeping might be coming in. Try it...I think you'll like it!

Good luck with your decision

 

[Doctor P]

I actually found I did less room cleaning with the DVC set up. I didn't leave towels laying around, and I made the bed, but I didn't have to repack my CPAP machine or other things that I like to keep out or by my bed (things I would clean up and repack every day with maid service). I actually liked it better overall.

 

[robinb]

I stayed at CR in July because I couldn't pass up an $89 Shades of Green rate that my mom got for our annual family trip. We had daily maid service but I actually missed having a vacuum cleaner when my 2 year old crushed cookies all over the floor. I had to wait until morning for the maid to clean it up .

 

[IleneF]

I am sort of worried about this as well. Your posts have made me feel better
though. Mostly I worry about the towels in the studio with no washer/dryer
option. Four towels would never last us 4 days....and where do you hang them to dry from day to day. We are so spoiled and used to leaving them in a pile and coming back to fresh ones. The beds being unmade won't bother me but having the maid leave cute animals made of towels is part of the Disney magic/fun. I guess we'll find other "magic" things traveling this new way. BTW, finally bought at BCV yesterday...YAY!

 

[Richyams]

Because DVC savings are so dramatic, you could factor in paying for daily maid service, it is available, and still come out way ahead.

 

[Poohjan]

Like everyone says, the lack of maid service is not a problems at all. I love not having to make sure things are "hidden" away, and the room does not really get dirty in a week. Just a little tidying does the trick. The towels we wash.

We often stay in condo type accomodations when we go away, and in most cases they treat it like a "home" you are on your own as far as cleaning for the week. I love the feeling of rest and relaxation that provides.

Jan

 

[lsutigger2]

IleneF - I was also concerned about towels last year when we stayed in a stuidio at VWL. It was really no problem. I washed the towels and other dirty items in the laundry located on the bottom floor. It was free and we were spending an afternoon at the resort anyway.
You can "purchase" (rent?) extra sets of towels for about $6 from Mousekeeping.

We had a mini-magical moment. I had gone into to the hall to ask the Mousekeeper a ? about trash/towel day and she gave me several sets of extra towels. It was nice to have the extras.

We didn't miss the daily housekeeping.

 

[EROS]

I'm available as a LIVE-IN maid at DVC if you'll simply provide me a bed to sleep on . I have excellent references, love children and will throw in free medical care...........such a deal ......

 

[RweTHEREyet]

I have to where I actually prefer someone not coming into the room at all. Even when staying in a studio, we just hang the towels up on the towel rods provided and they are dry before next use. We are not ones to use a clean towel every day at home anyway, so this is not a big adjustment.


I find that when we stay in a regular resort now, it is a nuisance to have to worry about what to put away before housekeeping gets there.

You will adjust very quickly. The nice accommodations will make the towel thing seem very minor.

 

[DeeP]

Four towels would never last us 4 days....and where do you hang them to dry from day to day. We are so spoiled and used to leaving them in a pile and coming back to fresh ones. QUOTE]
There are several towel bars in the bathroom and also an extendable cord over the tub where you can hang the towels to dry. All WDW resorts do ask their guests to please conserve energy and use the towels more than one day, so even when we stay in a non dvc resort we still hang up our towels.
We always seem to end up with too many extra towels because the kids wrap them around themselves coming back from the pool and I have to take them back the next day.
You won't get daily cute washcloth animals at a dvc resort but they are not a guarantee at any WDW resort. I have and have not gotten them at all the resorts, including a dvc resort. I am sure you will find plenty of Disney magic at the dvc resorts. Have a great trip!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Each of the DVC resorts have washer and dryers located around the resort or in a single laundry room for the studio folks who don't have a washer and dryer.

We just stayed in a BCV studio (wow, was it ever neat!!!! - our newest HAFH) and there were plenty of towel bars, plus the clothes line in the tub to hang up towels and wet clothing to dry. We only had three of us, but I used the 4th towel since I have long hair.

I make our bed every day and am getting our 9 yr old son in the practice of making his bed everyday, so it's no big deal to make i while we are on vacation. The vacation part of it is that I don't get calls from work at all hours of the day, I don't have to attend meetings, I don't have to supervise employees, I don't have to respond to request for information from our regional office. Making the bed? It's a breeze.

 

[Cruelladeville]

I refused to join DVC in 1992 because I thought I HAD to have daily maid service. DH kept at me until 1998, when we joined, and I still thought it was a bad idea. When we went back to our room to look over our DVC materials, I was horrified to realize that I had forgotten to pick up my dirty underwear before we left that morning I could have died! It was then that I began to see some advantages to not having daily maid service. Now I only straighten up for the maid once every 4th day. When I spent 4 days this summer at AKL ($127 a night--WOW!) I was offended with the maid because she knocked on the door to clean between 8-8:30 every morning, and we enjoy sleeping in. Once the maid brought us extra towels (she was just being nice--being DVC members we're used to one!), and she used her pass key. She got an eyeful, and now knows that people over 50 still enjoy sex! With that and the underwear, I know now that DVC is a good choice for us.