What does your typical trip look like?

[IsDVCForMe?]

Hi DVC owners. During our last trip to Disney, prior to looking into DVC, we went to 4 parks over 6 nights. Staying at AKL made it nice that we didn’t have to be at the parks and we could utilize what the resort had to offer.

It feels like we could have a resort day for every park day staying at a deluxe.

Now that you’re DVC owners and staying in deluxe resorts, what does your typical trip look like? Do you go to the parks more or less? Or the same? Anything else you like to do on your trips? Any other changes?

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

I'm new but so far less parks. The kids want lots of pool and pool slide time

 

[IsDVCForMe?]

I'm new but so far less parks. The kids want lots of pool and pool slide time

This is what I was thinking too. Save a few bucks on one less ticket. They really liked AKL’s community center, Simba’s Cubhouse, too.

 

[disney212]

We are 2 empty nesters and we love the parks. We go to the parks more now than when the kids were little. We do all of the rides and lots of shows. The only thing that really changed is how we eat. We tend to share appetizers at the bars and not have full meals as our appetites have shrunk as we have gotten older.

 

[ShablamE]

After getting DVC which coincided timeframe wise with having kids we have opted for a lot more "down days" where we will spend time at the resort using the pool or checking out other activities. This happens to work well with everyone else in my family that is not a morning person that we mix in a down day for usually every 2 park days.

We realized at a certain point that we just weren't making the most out of our hotel days just sleeping and waking up to go to the parks. They have so much more to offer and if you just slow down a bit you can really find some amazing people and things.

 

[Wedgeout]

DVC has gotten us to travel there more often. Now we seem to rush less. Take more time to enjoy the property. Finding more fun touring resorts and trying more out of park meal spots. Enjoy the current extra hours for deluxe/DVC guests on those Monday & Wednesdays.

 

[reddog21]

Nothing has changed for us other than we have a bigger room to stay in.
If I told my wife and kids we were staying at the resort for the day I would be disowned/divorced in no time.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

This is what I was thinking too. Save a few bucks on one less ticket. They really liked AKL’s community center, Simba’s Cubhouse, too.

Oh definitely spend a lot of time in the community halls. So far our favorites are the one at Kidani and the one at SSR. Kidani has a balcony where you can see the animals plus it's just really homey. SSR has a lot more crafts than the others. Like if you paint something they even have a kiln to finish it. And it is so cheap compared to that kind of thing at home. Plus we are a board game family so we have a lot of fun with all the board games at the halls

 

[WDWLODGE]

Up until a couple of years ago we would typically do 10-14 night trips. For the longest time we were rope droppers using our annual passes to the max. We became DVC Members in 2013 and our touring style continued for a while. Probably around 2020 we began to slow down and spend more time at the resorts, etc. Our last couple of trips have been closer to a week long, no annual passes, spending 5 days in the park. We still rope drop the parks but we take time in between days to relax now.

 

[beccasmom]

We have gradually moved away from park centric visits. We might visit 1-2 parks, but we also enjoy hanging at the resort too. However, if we’re traveling with our grandkids, we’ll be heading to the parks on many days. They also love pool time too, so it somewhat evens out.

We like to visit or stay at different resorts and it’s fun exploring what they offer. I love spending time at DS and DH enjoys his golfing. I do some basic cooking (mostly breakfast), but we do enjoy eating out. We love the parks, but WDW has so much more to see and do. We find that we feel much more relaxed this way and we all get an opportunity to explore our own interests (DH could never handle a day shopping at DS and I don’t golf, although I enjoy watching it).

 

[zackiedawg]

My family has been going to Disney parks since WDW opened in 1971 - originally driving down from NJ, before moving to Florida where we went multiple times a year. Since the early 80s when my mother married my stepfather, he had his own tradition of going to Disney 3 times a year, twice for conventions and once for renting a cabin at Fort Wilderness - so those became regular family trips. Because we went so often, we were never into the rope-drop, hit-every-ride-every-trip tempo.

When I bought into DVC in 1996, I didn't change my family's traditional style - if anything, it allowed me to add in more relax time and more evening time outside of the parks to enjoy. I never do breakfasts at restaurants or parks - I cook breakfast in the villa. First day up and checking in, I usually do a couple of hours at DHS, or just do Disney Springs. Then the next 3 days are park days - one each for MK, AK, and Epcot. I'll typically hit the parks between 11am and 1pm...and tend to take the longer routes to get there - rather than bussing direct to the park, I'll often go to another nearby resort, do a little wandering, then walk into the resort from there (or take a boat). I often leave parks before they close since I've seen all the parades and firework shows a thousand times - instead, I can beat the rush for the exits by walking to a nearby resort and taking that bus to Disney Springs where I may hit a bar or two, listen to some live music, etc. before heading back to my villa.

I don't do Lightning Lanes or pay for any priority access, special member access, etc - I just check out the standby lines - if they're reasonable, I will hit that ride, and if they're not, I'll skip it for another time. I'll enjoy walk-through exhibits, educational exhibits, nature exhibits, etc and take my time. I'll stop to listen to street performers and shows. I tend to just snack for lunches - or maybe a quick serve - and splurge on dinners at moderate or signature table-service restaurants, with cocktails, coffee after, etc.

 

[IsDVCForMe?]

Oh definitely spend a lot of time in the community halls. So far our favorites are the one at Kidani and the one at SSR. Kidani has a balcony where you can see the animals plus it's just really homey. SSR has a lot more crafts than the others. Like if you paint something they even have a kiln to finish it. And it is so cheap compared to that kind of thing at home. Plus we are a board game family so we have a lot of fun with all the board games at the halls

Had no idea Kidani had a community center. Wonder what else they have lol. This is great to know since we are buying into AKV and were going to stick with Jambo because of the community center. Now, we don’t have to!

Also going to SSR at the end of the year and my kids love art, so this is great to hear as well! Thank you!

 

[KPeterso]

Not much has really changed for us. We were never rope drop to close kind of people. We get to the parks late-ish morning (coming from the west coast and not totally changing to the time zone) and then typically are done for the day around dinner time. Maybe up to 7 PM. Very rarely in the parks for nighttime shows. Those are not a big pull for us at all. We typically do breakfast in the room. And then a big meal for either lunch or dinner. If dining in the park, it will be a 2-3 PM lunch reservation. If dining at a resort, it will be a 5-5:30 dinner reservation. And I try to book those dining reservations to be near the park we will be in that day. I would say we are usually in our room by 7-8 PM for the night. Sometimes on solo trips, it might be more like 8-9 PM returning to the room.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Had no idea Kidani had a community center. Wonder what else they have lol. This is great to know since we are buying into AKV and were going to stick with Jambo because of the community center. Now, we don’t have to!

Also going to SSR at the end of the year and my kids love art, so this is great to hear as well! Thank you!

Kidanis pool is also really really nice. It has a really long water slide and a water playground (pictures below). Plus Kidani has an arcade too. I like Kidani more than jambo. Its a more relaxed feel.

 

[KrzyAsian]

Still pretty new to DVC, but our DLR visits are now rope drop to close with a nap midday when we are staying on property. (We are locals, so we are used to going for just a few hours at a time.) It's nice to stay until closing when sleep is only a few steps away.

Our WDW trip was a lot of theme parking, but we did come back for a rest during the hottest part of the day. Not sure if we could've survived the FL weather if we didn't. We carved out two resort days during an 8 night stay, which was great. I think we'll aim for 50/50 park/resort days in the future.

Our next FL trip will be 3 days of theme parking before a 4 day cruise, so no plans for a resort day that trip, but figure the cruise will be the relaxing/decompression part of the trip.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

Getting DVC has allowed us to have more trips and stay in nicer/bigger places. We also got annual passes which did change how we go to the parks. We were never rope droppers, but would spend a decent part of the day in the park when we bought a day ticket. Now we can go in at our leisure. Sometimes just to get a coffee or to ride one ride. So it's definitely a lot more relaxed since DVC.

We also have a lot more resort days than park days, as we get older too.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I’ve been a DVC member since childhood (parents bought in when it was first available) so all of my trips have pretty much been DVC. I still have to visit a park each day of our trip. Lots of members trips become resort heavy over time, but not ours.

Our trips are the same every time. We go once a year for 2 weeks (will go more often when we’re retired and child free), usually staying in one of our home resorts (Poly, BWV, OKW). We visit parks every day of the trip except one. And on that one off day I’m wishing we were in the parks lol. Our off day is usually resort hopping, pool and Disney springs.

We do mostly late start days in the parks so we still get time to enjoy our resort. We do each park multiple times, the only hopping we do though is to whatever park has extended evening hours.

We eat breakfast in room (cereal and such) and do lunch and dinner out, one quick service and one table service a day. I refuse to cook on vacation.

 

[Genie+]

DVC definitely changed our habits. Less hours spent in the parks. More time spent in our room and resort.

We’re less concerned about hitting every park attraction and more interested in resort time and trying new experiences.

It’s been 4 years since we first bought DVC. The other big change is wanting 1BRs now. This caught me by surprise and changed our original strategy. We thought we’d mostly book studios which can be competitive, and that makes home priority very useful. 7 month availability is much easier to book 1BRs than studios so home priority has become less important to us. I’m still deciding whether to add-on at one of my existing resorts (BWV/VGF) or just buy the lowest cost points instead. I really did not expect it to happen this way