long term DVC "residents'

[tjcj]

There have been a few threads talking about long term stays at DVC after retirement.
I would love to hear from anyone that is currently doing this. How many points you have, how long you stay, what type of unit you stay in, and if you mix up your trips with stays at other locations (such as FW, other time shares, or other places)

I would also like to hear from anyone that is not doing this yet but is making plans to do so (like we are).

We are thinking that we would want to stay in a 1 bedroom unit, thinking that a studio would start to get too small. Also we were thinking that proximity to the parks would not be a big deal (since we would more than likely be going to the parks less and less on these trips). What do other think?

 

[Nanajo1]

Right now we go for approx 3 weeks twice a year, in Nov for W+F and Feb to miss some cold. We hope to change it to a longer winter stay once DH retires. We currently have a little over 1500 pts split between OKW and BWV. We use a lot of points taking the DKs and DGKs(13) but as the DGKS get older we will probably cut back on the big trips. We've recently started in a studio for the first few days to save points then switch to a 1BR.
We like to go to Epcot and people watch while DH samples his favorite brews. So we probably will stick with BWVs for our longer stays. But we do enjoy taking the boat from OKW to DTD and the more laid back atmoshere. Sooo it is still a toss up!

 

[dianeschlicht]

We would love to do that, but unfortunately, I don't see us ever having enough points to really do it long term.

 

[JimC]

No, but we live 40 minutes from WDW so our situation is a bit different.

 

[DisFlan]

We have two dogs. We've always had dogs and probably always will - which rules out extended DVC stays. We board them or call in a sitter for up to a week or maybe two, but that's it. If we go to Orlando for longer periods, we'll rent a house off site that allows pets.

DisFlan

 

[gobofraggle]

We have two dogs. We've always had dogs and probably always will - which rules out extended DVC stays. We board them or call in a sitter for up to a week or maybe two, but that's it. If we go to Orlando for longer periods, we'll rent a house off site that allows pets.

DisFlan

I love dogs too - but I couldn't have them stop me travelling in future - so I raise and train puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Just over a year each time and - it's tough to say goodbye, but we keep in touch and it's for a great cause. They love their work. Then: free to travel etc. until I do another one.

Also, a free dog for a year! (not that there isn't a lot of work involved)

We plan, when retired in years to come, to spend at least a month a year in a studio. The way to really extend stays is to stay out at a good/cheap hotel at weekends, but I think we'd just go for a solid month in a studio. We couldn't stay more than a few months even if we had the points due to coming from Europe - visa-waiver limit is 3 months.

 

[DisFlan]

I love dogs too - but I couldn't have them stop me travelling in future - so I raise and train puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Just over a year each time and - it's tough to say goodbye, but we keep in touch and it's for a great cause. They love their work. Then: free to travel etc. until I do another one.

We travel quite a bit, and our dogs travel everywhere else with us except Disney - these are well-traveled dogs. In the past, I've worked with and found homes for many rescued dogs, so I understand the "get and release" routine. We're already retired and we've pared it back to just two smaller dogs for now. These are our "keepers", and they're part of the family. We take our dogs with us because we don't want to leave them behind. We LOVE our DVC, but it's limited to a week or so at a time. We'd love to spend months there, but our dogs are a trade-off we're glad to accept.

DisFlan

 

[lah3hh]

This is exactly the reason DH and I have been adding on is in planning for our retirement years. At first we were going to have a second home somewhere warmer than Ohio and still keep our other home here. But if we added to our DVC points then we could choose to vacation wherever we wanted to whether it is WDW, DL or even some DCL cruises. As long as I can get out of the cold 4 or 5 times a year when I retire I will be a happy person. Then I don't have the cost and worry of two homes.

That's our plan for now unless something changes but it sure is fun adding on the points and enjoying some of those retirement benefits even now!!

 

[Sully]

I have posted this in the past. The last two years we have stayed in a studio at SSR for the entire month of February. We follow that up with a week in an inn room at VB. Other short trips are taken to HHI and WDW during the year. We stay in studios to maximize our points. During the long trips we do most of our cooking-eating in our room. We have 935 points.

 

[ITGirl50]

We would like to stay a long time, but I voted no. We are 42 (me) and 44 (dh), we still have a while to retirement (even though we think about it now). I don't see us staying for more than two weeks, even during retirement. Maybe we will go more often.

 

[OKW91]

We have stayed for 9 weeks in a studio, the studio is fine for us because we don't spend a lot of our time in the room! We spend the weekends at my sister in laws house which is an hour away to conserve on points, this may change with the cost of gas, but for the past several years we have spent January, Feburary and part of March at OKW. We do a lot of people watching and it sure beats shoveling snow!!

 

[jekjones1558]

We're already retired but so far have continued our pattern of stays about a week long and bringing guests. We still enjoy having others, we like the fun of anticipating multiple trips a year, have just discovered the magic of HHI as a spring getaway, and family responsibilities make long absences from home a problem. Perhaps one day we'll stay for longer (we have 1150 points to work with), but not for now.

 

[tjcj]

We're already retired but so far have continued our pattern of stays about a week long and bringing guests. We still enjoy having others, we like the fun of anticipating multiple trips a year, have just discovered the magic of HHI as a spring getaway, and family responsibilities make long absences from home a problem. Perhaps one day we'll stay for longer (we have 1150 points to work with), but not for now.

1150 pts wow, and good for you. So you do big family trips vice longer smaller trips?
Do you get GVs or multiple smaller units (like 2brms)?

 

[jekjones1558]

We have only done 2 big family trips for 1 week each time, once with a GV and a 2 bedroom, once with 3-2 bedrooms. While the GV is fabulous and provides a large room for the whole group to gather for dinner a couple of times, I think I actually like multiple 2 bedrooms better when there are kids. It allows for a little more "down" time during naps when each family unit can close the door and have its own unit. While these big gatherings are fun, it is really hard to get everyone's schedule to match 11 months ahead of time. Mostly we bring one other family along and get 2-1 bedrooms for a week. This actually eats up the points pretty fast. In fact, next May we are paying cash at HHI because our points will be gone for this year!

 

[tjcj]

We have only done 2 big family trips for 1 week each time, once with a GV and a 2 bedroom, once with 3-2 bedrooms. While the GV is fabulous and provides a large room for the whole group to gather for dinner a couple of times, I think I actually like multiple 2 bedrooms better when there are kids. It allows for a little more "down" time during naps when each family unit can close the door and have its own unit. While these big gatherings are fun, it is really hard to get everyone's schedule to match 11 months ahead of time. Mostly we bring one other family along and get 2-1 bedrooms for a week. This actually eats up the points pretty fast. In fact, next May we are paying cash at HHI because our points will be gone for this year!

Thanks for the info, we have a huge family trip set for June 09. Right now I have 2brms booked (at our home resort at SSR), and have been going back and forth about trying to change to a GV and 2brms (or studios) at OKW. Good to hear your thoughts on this!

 

[lbdpw1285]

wife & i are plannning to do jan, feb, part of march on OKW studio & 1 bedroom. studio on weekends to save pts, 1 b-room for laundry & cooking during the week.
it beats the full responsibility of a second home. OKW is better than many other fla gated golf communities.
we think it will work for us.

 

[CarolA]

I am hoping to retire someplace in the area and work as a seasonal or part time CM at Disney (Women in my family tend to live a long time so I figure I better work at least part time when I retire to keep myself entertained!)

 

[tjcj]

Does anyone bring a camper down and mix in stays with long term DVC stays?
I have also been thinking about this, staying at FW at the start or finish of a longer stay or keeping the camper at FW parking lot during the week and doing a few weekends during long term stays.

 

[Donna]

Does anyone bring a camper down and mix in stays with long term DVC stays?
I have also been thinking about this, staying at FW at the start or finish of a longer stay or keeping the camper at FW parking lot during the week and doing a few weekends during long term stays.

The last two years, we have been staying at the fort for two weeks, some on points, some on cash. My husband is already retired and we do bring our dog with us. We do have a 13 yr old though, so we can only do this in the summer.

we sold off a good bit of our points to buy the RV but still have enough for a couple weeks of stays at the fort; we will combine with cash to stay longer eventually. I know it's not a good way to use points, but fort point stays are relatively cheap and i like that they don't charge that $95 fee now. I really don't want to combine a fort stay with DVC cause i do not want to put my dog in the kennel down there; she enjoys her vacation too, lol. Especially the dog park at the fort!