Jack Kerouac
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2022
- Messages
- 872
My wife and I just bought our first DVC contract. We actually received the points in our account today. It was a long but quiet journey. For the past few years, I would periodically check the Disney DVC website only to be turned away at the $50k+ price tag they suggested I needed to pay. I even have a key that Disney sent me to check out their promo video.
My parents treated me and my family to what I now call the most expensive free trip ever in April. We stayed at OKW and outside of the transportation, we loved it. I realized I would never stay off-grounds again. I just remember thinking, we cannot afford a vacation like this. Everything seemed expensive and I felt weird having my parents pay for a lot of things I wouldn’t have wanted to pay for at the time.
Looking back, I have changed my mind on some of those things. First, I’m paying a lot for kids meals. And that is to be expected. It’s Disney. My boys are happy and I’m happy they are happy. Second, we save our money and we are saving for Disney. It’s not going on the credit cards.
But there were a couple of catalysts for our decision to buy DVC. In our family, you have the option of a family party, a friend party, or a family trip for your birthday. My middle son chose a trip and he wanted to go to the Wisconsin Dells for a weekend in September. Being off-season, the accommodations were cheaper than normal. But three days and two nights in this tourist trap cost me $1,500. And I did not enjoy much of it beyond my kids being happy to swim.
The second was when my wife and I began to look at trip ideas for our 10 year anniversary. We started looking at a lodge in Door County, WI. A week would cost us more than $1,700. We then looked at the Smokey Mountains. Cabins were about $400+ per night. I then suggested Disney and my wife loved that idea. We booked a week at AoA and invited my parents along. They didn’t seem thrilled with the idea of AoA and told us that we might want to look at DVC instead.
Sure enough, they were right. We now get to stay at better resorts for less.
Sure, Disney is expensive. But so are most places. And my kids cannot wait to go back.
That’s enough for me.
My parents treated me and my family to what I now call the most expensive free trip ever in April. We stayed at OKW and outside of the transportation, we loved it. I realized I would never stay off-grounds again. I just remember thinking, we cannot afford a vacation like this. Everything seemed expensive and I felt weird having my parents pay for a lot of things I wouldn’t have wanted to pay for at the time.
Looking back, I have changed my mind on some of those things. First, I’m paying a lot for kids meals. And that is to be expected. It’s Disney. My boys are happy and I’m happy they are happy. Second, we save our money and we are saving for Disney. It’s not going on the credit cards.
But there were a couple of catalysts for our decision to buy DVC. In our family, you have the option of a family party, a friend party, or a family trip for your birthday. My middle son chose a trip and he wanted to go to the Wisconsin Dells for a weekend in September. Being off-season, the accommodations were cheaper than normal. But three days and two nights in this tourist trap cost me $1,500. And I did not enjoy much of it beyond my kids being happy to swim.
The second was when my wife and I began to look at trip ideas for our 10 year anniversary. We started looking at a lodge in Door County, WI. A week would cost us more than $1,700. We then looked at the Smokey Mountains. Cabins were about $400+ per night. I then suggested Disney and my wife loved that idea. We booked a week at AoA and invited my parents along. They didn’t seem thrilled with the idea of AoA and told us that we might want to look at DVC instead.
Sure enough, they were right. We now get to stay at better resorts for less.
Sure, Disney is expensive. But so are most places. And my kids cannot wait to go back.
That’s enough for me.
