Planning DVC Retirement

[CPTJAK]

Has anyone tried to figure out how to spend retirement (winters 2 months) staying at DVC? Is anyne doing that now?

Plan would be to spend Jan-March possibly in a 1 bedroom (for the kitchen/living room)

It takes 1476 points to stay Jan 15 to Feb 28 in a 1 bedroom at Beach Club Villas.

Only 741 points in a studio (heck with banking/borrowing you would only need apx 250 point contract to do this every 3 years)

Cost 741 x 4.5 maint fee= $3300

$75 a day (heat/cleaning/no shoveling snow etc..)

I like it

Just had a thought could you imagine concierge at AKL (include breakfast/lunch/dinner no cooking........)

 

[bobbiwoz]

We have crunched the numbers. We would probably settle for a 6 week stay. DH would like OKW, I lean toward AKV and VB. We would be mixing accomodations between studio and 1 bedroom. My huge objection is my DPups. I've gotten an OK from DSis to keep them for whatever time we would be gone, but I am not sure it's "worth it" for me. How sad to say that, but it's true.

So, once again, we are thinking of a move that would make us snowbirds, winters in Florida and summers in Cape May. I think real estate in Florida may become affordable, I hope so.

I hope you are better at planning than we are. We have been making the decision over a period of 3 years so far. DH and I, hopefully, have 3 years of work to go, and the decision will have to be made within this period of time. We have decided to keep working until DH is 66, so that's something at least.

Bobbi

 

[lbdpw1285]

i have been trying to find out myself if this is a popular thing to do. i would like to stay maybe 8-10 weeks using studio & 1 bdrm at OKW. (least points, longer stay)
by the time you figure cost vs. a house/condo with utilities, insurance, taxes and maint fees etc. this isn't way out of range for cost.
when you leave, close the door and no worries.

 

[Lynne M]

Oh, man, would I love to do something like this!

Disney's really missing an opportunity here....something like DVC, but meant for snowbirds or retirees who want to live there year round. On-property condos and small homes. Can you imagine how quickly it'd sell out?

 

[SamSam]

Dh and I are definitely working towards spending 8 weeks during the winter months. The cost of buying a house in Florida (that you would want to stay in), plus maintaining that home each year, makes 8 weeks DVC look pretty good.

 

[Granny]

anyone tried to figure out how to spend retirement (winters 2 months) staying at DVC? Is anyne doing that now?

Plan would be to spend Jan-March possibly in a 1 bedroom (for the kitchen/living room)

It takes 1476 points to stay Jan 15 to Feb 28 in a 1 bedroom at Beach Club Villas.

And only 1,242 points for a 1BR at OKW for that time period. If you're staying that long, I would think the extra room would be welcome. And proximity to the parks wouldn't be that big of a deal since you'd have ample time to "do everything".

Only 741 points in a studio (heck with banking/borrowing you would only need apx 250 point contract to do this every 3 years)

And only 621 for that same time frame in an OKW studio. Gets you under $65 a day!

 

[Cee]

I love the idea of this. Oh, man. I just LOVE IT.

 

[PEANUT1]

this is such a cool idea...i hope i can do this when i retire.

 

[paults]

we retire this yr. would love to do 30 days at BWV

 

[Crispy21]

I would suggest you take the funds needed to buy 1200+ pts and invest that $.

Every year take 5% from the account, and add in the cost of the taxes/dues.

The 5% plus the taxes dues should equal more then enough money to rent a very nice home in Orlando for more then 2 mths. and leave you with the account that has the cost of the dvc points intact.

 

[DonnaL]

I would love to mix it up a bit......stay at a DVC resort for several weeks and then maybe rent a condo elsewhere in FL (maybe the Gulf coast somewhere) for another month or so. Anyway, all of January, February and probably most of March. We have 270 points now, so, my goal is to add another 130/230 before retirement.........have about 8 years to do so.........

 

[ranthony]

all of 2 weeks! Our kids are only 6, 2 and 2 so we have a bit of time to plan.

When I mentioned this to DH I was surprised he was all for it right away. I think the main reason is that he sees what his father is going through now. DFIL purchased a 'snowbird' home about 7 years ago near Tampa. Since then, he has seen his property taxes TRIPLE due to changes in the FL tax laws that work against the snowbirds. (I'm not saying I'm for or against the laws, only that what was once affordable to him now is not).

Also, the price of the original OKW contracts with 2042 exp. should be very reaonable to buy resale in about 20 years.

DH even mentioned buying a very small RV or conversion van and camping on the weekends once in a while to stretch the points. I love the idea now but I'm not sure how I would feel 20 years from now. We'll see...the great thing is, is that we know it's an option...and it sure if fun to dream!

 

[tomandrobin]

Our current plans have us using a mix of DVC and other timeshares to spend alot of time in Florida in the winter.

 

[ldo]

not "full-time" DVC for 8 weeks, but we are planning to do 12 days Sun-Fri (using only 1 set of "weekend" points) in a studio 1/2 time and 1 BR the other 1/2, then cruise for 1 week, then 2 other timeshare weeks, then back for 12 more days in a studio/1BR. We are 12 years out from this plan--and enjoying those 12 years at DVC with the kids!

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

I just met a couple who does this. They own at OKW. They only have 400 points and usually stay in a studio during the winter months. I think he stays between 6-8 weeks.

I also met another retiree who rents a condo nearby and works at the AK-- He said he loves it and with the discounts into the parks it was worth it.

I also know a couple who spend the whole summer at either the BCV or BW. She stays in a studio Sunday -Friday and then goes over to the Swan or Dolphin during the weekends--- I'm not sure how many points she owns because she didn't answer me when I asked.

For myself & DH-- I would love to do it too. Even though we haven't worked the numbers yet, I would probably get enough for at least 1 month. OKW is only 8 pt per night in a studio S-F and 20 weekends. So its 80 points per week or about 256 for the month of January. If you move on weekend you can stay 7 weeks Sunday thru Friday on 280 points. Not a bad thing!!! For a estimated $1400 for MF for 280 for 7 weeks in Florida plus the cost of a hotel for 14 weeknights at $1400. $2800 plus the cost of food for 7 weeks. Not bad!!

And to tell you the truth, I really didn't mind the studio rooms. For the past 3 trips we stayed in a 1 bedroom Dh, me and 2 DD's. But this time we had to stay in a Studio and I was very pleasantly surprised that I didn't really miss the 1 bedroom, although I did miss the wash machine!!!

 

[Inkmahm]

Oh, man, would I love to do something like this!

Disney's really missing an opportunity here....something like DVC, but meant for snowbirds or retirees who want to live there year round. On-property condos and small homes. Can you imagine how quickly it'd sell out?

I'd love it even more if pets were allowed. That's our issue with spending winter during retirement using DVC points. We'd miss the pets too much. Now if Disney did something that wasn't necessarily year round, but DID allow pets inside homes, I'd be in heaven.

 

[DBBN]

This has been part of our retirement plan since we purchased OKW way back in 1995. In just a few more months we'll both be retired. We currently have enough points to stay in a 1 bedroom villa for the months of January, February and the first week of March. If we stop at HH for a few days to take a break from driving when southbound and stay a few more days when we head back up north we'll be able to stretch our stay a bit. The expectation is that we'll start our extended stays in either 2010 or 2011. Waiting until then will give us the time we need to remodel and sell our current house and build our next house without rushing to get things done.

I'd love it even more if pets were allowed. That's our issue with spending winter during retirement using DVC points. We'd miss the pets too much. Now if Disney did something that wasn't necessarily year round, but DID allow pets inside homes, I'd be in heaven.

This was a concern for us as well. Luckily we have family members in Orlando who volunteered to care for our German Shepherd while we're at OKW. Have you looked into a pet sitting service that provides trusted families who can take your pet(s) into their Orlando area home? You may be able to bring your pets with you to Orlando and visit with them as often as you like.

 

[Dizz42]

This came up for us, as well, since DH can retire next year. Just this January, we visited an Aunt & Uncle who snowbird in a mobile home park in Zephyrhills. We loved the community there but want to be closer to Disney. We also talked of using our DVC but DH feels that after a month, he might get bored. So in April, we are making a trip to Disney to check out areas with the possibility of buying a snowbird home. Want to see types of homes and prices. We hope then to have a better idea of how we'll use points in our retirement.

 

[PatsMom]

DH is already retired and he has it figured out that when I retire we can sell our house to my brother (who is dying to own it) and have a written agreement that we can park a motor home in the yard and use the guesthouse in the summer. Then he figured out we could buy the motorhome (very high end) with the money from the house. And using our existing DVC points we could spend about three months at Fort Wilderness in the RV (if they allow us to occupy a site that long - I think there might be some limits). No housekeeping but a good motor home is at least as roomy as a studio and we can keep our cat with us.

 

[Donna]

I'd love it even more if pets were allowed. That's our issue with spending winter during retirement using DVC points. We'd miss the pets too much. Now if Disney did something that wasn't necessarily year round, but DID allow pets inside homes, I'd be in heaven.

We are retired now (work part time for something to do) but still have a son in 7th grade. Once he's off on his own, we will be staying longer periods of time in our RV at Ft. Wilderness, mostly on cash. With what points we have left (at HH), we may just use at HH for a period of time and keep our colder months further south. This way, we can have our dog with us, won't go anywhere without her. When she sees the RV parked out front, she is excited, that means Disney World to her, lol. Probably have to take the cats along too, hate to get someone to check in on them THAT long. I am going to see what it cost for cash for the winter months, i know it was about $2,000 a month in the summer!