When did you know you wanted DVC?

[Girlstar30]

If I win the lottery, there will be signs! Golden Oak is #1 and Club 33 is #2 on my list

Same with a rental in Cotino lol

 

[Girlstar30]

Nope, never needed to add on - although every time a new resort opened, I’ve wanted to own a bit of it! We’ve made liberal use of borrowing, very seldom banking except when “saving up” for a big family trip. We also have access to other timeshares near WDW, which helps us stretch our DVC points.

Our travel pattern has changed a lot, though, as kids grew up and we became empty nesters. Thanksgiving 1998 was the last time we came for that week. We mostly came during early March for our kids’ Spring Break with occasional trips at other times for conferences or to suit our guests. After it became just the two of us, our usual time became mid-October into early March. And now there are grandchildren, so our pattern is changing again!

Edit - pesky typos!

Im sure it would be tempting not to own something new and exciting through the years! Seems like you're really doing things right!

 

[Girlstar30]

Cool kids club today, Comma club tomorrow!

Its in the 10 year plan, im a little over halfway there in less than a year tho im scared

 

[Girlstar30]

We decided to take the kids in Feb 2010 when they were 4yo and 20mths. It was during the 2008-09 recession fallout that Disney offered something like "buy 4 nights, get 3 nights free" in a deluxe villa. We stayed at SSR in a 1BR and we were immediately hooked. We bought BLT points sight unseen on that trip. I have attempted to abandon Disney once or twice and do other travels, and I always come back. It is the best trip for our family because DH and I are busy bees and aren't interested in sitting around on vacations. I love getting 30k steps a day

Im having this issue now, my wife wants to travel somewhere else internationally and I have no interest. I am hooked on this Disney life (I said yes to Paris, China, and Tokyo, you can guess why )

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Im having this issue now, my wife wants to travel somewhere else internationally and I have no interest. I am hooked on this Disney life (I said yes to Paris, China, and Tokyo, you can guess why )

I feel you! We did do Italy/Greece this past summer and it was awesome. There is always something interesting to see and something great to eat which is part of my Disney draw! (something to do every moment and always new foods to try)

 

[Cfabar1]

After doing a bit of foreign travel, I've come to realize I don't really love foreign travel. I find not knowing the language to be very stressful, and even if I do know it, I'm not "light on my feet" with communicating in those languages.

Now with kids, I'd be even more leery to travel internationally, unless it was part of a cruise ship or perhaps an ABD or NatGeo Expedition (but have you seen those prices for a family of four!). I've never done a tour group travel, and I don't think I would necessarily love it - but for those far flung places, I think it would give me comfort.

There are a few things I'd love to see still - The Northern lights, the Pyramids, The Great Wall of China, Taj Mahal, but in the meantime I'll just love our Disney trips and Cruises. I can honestly say, I find our Disney trips much more enjoyable, if you know where to go the food is nearly as good or better. We also balance our Disney trips with off-property stays which give me the pools and break from Disney I am looking for.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

After doing a bit of foreign travel, I've come to realize I don't really love foreign travel. I find not knowing the language to be very stressful, and even if I do know it, I'm not "light on my feet" with communicating in those languages.

Now with kids, I'd be even more leery to travel internationally, unless it was part of a cruise ship or perhaps an ABD or NatGeo Expedition (but have you seen those prices for a family of four!). I've never done a tour group travel, and I don't think I would necessarily love it - but for those far flung places, I think it would give me comfort.

There are a few things I'd love to see still - The Northern lights, the Pyramids, The Great Wall of China, Taj Mahal, but in the meantime I'll just love our Disney trips and Cruises. I can honestly say, I find our Disney trips much more enjoyable, if you know where to go the food is nearly as good or better. We also balance our Disney trips with off-property stays which give me the pools and break from Disney I am looking for.

I agree with you, overseas trips are a lot. We did part land and then 7 night RCCL cruise which was nice for the stress aspect (no driving around a foreign country). It’s a once every 5-10 years thing for us based on cost and planning that goes into it. I’d LOVE to do ABD too the cost is way too much though and I think our kids are still at ages they’d be sad if we went without them

 

[Cfabar1]

I’d LOVE to do ABD too the cost is way too much though and I think our kids are still at ages they’d be sad if we went without them

Yeah, and in my case I'm not spending that much money on my kids who won't even remember it when they're older...

 

[PrincessKL]

When I discovered DVC resale! It doesn’t make sense price-wise for us to buy direct back then when I was happy to stay at a moderate resort.

And then when you can get a huge discount buying direct, we jumped in so quickly for a direct contract.

It’s all about numbers to me.

 

[tjkraz]

When my wife told me I wanted DVC...

 

[Cfabar1]

When my wife told me I wanted DVC...

And now look at you! I hope you have told her thank you!

It is so funny how family psychology and desires ends up factoring into Disney/DVC in a huge way... If not for my family, I doubt we would own DVC...

 

[robinb]

We knew on our very first visit. We went home and bought a DVC resale contract at OKW within a month.

 

[atthebeachclub]

I'd be even more leery to travel internationally, unless it was part of a cruise ship or perhaps an ABD or NatGeo Expedition (but have you seen those prices for a family of four!). I've never done a tour group travel, and I don't think I would necessarily love it - but for those far flung places, I think it would give me comfort.

Off topic, but I can’t recommend Rick Steves’ Best of Europe tour enough. It’s so fantastic. I think you would enjoy it based on what you mention here. It’s really fun, small group tours on a bus. The guides focus on culture, food, history, and art and meeting locals for tours. I would do it again in a heartbeat if it wasn’t so expensive. But it’s worth it.

 

[Girlstar30]

I feel you! We did do Italy/Greece this past summer and it was awesome. There is always something interesting to see and something great to eat which is part of my Disney draw! (something to do every moment and always new foods to try)

Yes thats another reason that really convinced me. Every year there's new merchandise, new singers at the festivals, new resorts being built or refurbished, new foods, building new rides, etc. Its never the same thing.

We havent been to WDW for Xmas yet and I know we would enjoy that for many years. Its constant entertainment. They make everything so easy with the transportation and luggage service.

When im on vacation, I want things to go smooth and free of hassle and Disney does provide that. In other countries they aren't so accomodating (or friendly )

 

[Girlstar30]

After doing a bit of foreign travel, I've come to realize I don't really love foreign travel. I find not knowing the language to be very stressful, and even if I do know it, I'm not "light on my feet" with communicating in those languages.

Now with kids, I'd be even more leery to travel internationally, unless it was part of a cruise ship or perhaps an ABD or NatGeo Expedition (but have you seen those prices for a family of four!). I've never done a tour group travel, and I don't think I would necessarily love it - but for those far flung places, I think it would give me comfort.

There are a few things I'd love to see still - The Northern lights, the Pyramids, The Great Wall of China, Taj Mahal, but in the meantime I'll just love our Disney trips and Cruises. I can honestly say, I find our Disney trips much more enjoyable, if you know where to go the food is nearly as good or better. We also balance our Disney trips with off-property stays which give me the pools and break from Disney I am looking for.

I did enjoy traveling internationally and felt like ive seen many places in my 20's (India, Most of Europe, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, Etc) but now im more about comfort and stress free.

Long train/plane/bus rides from point A to point B dont seem appealing to me, I am fine with my world showcase

I wish Disney cruise would go to more places, that is my number one complaint with them, id happily travel to foreign countries like that as well.

Group travel is nice because they already have the best places down for you to visit, but ive done those bus tours and its a lot of time on the bus wasted, having to come back before your ready and not a lot of trying local foods or really being immersed in the country.

I do want to see the pyramids one day as well, but I dont like all the pressure of the locals for $$ which ive heard there's a lot of there, not to mention worrying about the pickpocketers in Europe, etc. I just love my Disney lol.

 

[Girlstar30]

I agree with you, overseas trips are a lot. We did part land and then 7 night RCCL cruise which was nice for the stress aspect (no driving around a foreign country). It’s a once every 5-10 years thing for us based on cost and planning that goes into it. I’d LOVE to do ABD too the cost is way too much though and I think our kids are still at ages they’d be sad if we went without them

ABD is on the bucket list but I can never get over the cost

They just sent me some brochure in the mail, i believe it was for National Geographic, that had private jet travel vacation and it was over $100,000 a person

 

[Girlstar30]

When I discovered DVC resale! It doesn’t make sense price-wise for us to buy direct back then when I was happy to stay at a moderate resort.

And then when you can get a huge discount buying direct, we jumped in so quickly for a direct contract.

It’s all about numbers to me.

I am counting down the days I can buy direct with a low interest rate guaranteed, im at 5 more months to go and its been really HARD not to pull the trigger especially during the last round of incentives!

If something REALLY good for poly comes up before March, I might not be able to resist, but lucky for me I feel that wont happen

I also think that if I pull the trigger before my December UY ill have access to three years of points instead of two, which I convince myself may be worth it

 

[Girlstar30]

Off topic, but I can’t recommend Rick Steves’ Best of Europe tour enough. It’s so fantastic. I think you would enjoy it based on what you mention here. It’s really fun, small group tours on a bus. The guides focus on culture, food, history, and art and meeting locals for tours. I would do it again in a heartbeat if it wasn’t so expensive. But it’s worth it.

I'll have to look into this as well!

 

[cruisehopeful]

ABD is on the bucket list but I can never get over the cost

I seriously keep checking and there's literally none that I can make work, no matter how much Mickey Math I do. I need to figure out a similar touring company that is about half the price to make it realistic.

They just sent me some brochure in the mail, i believe it was for National Geographic, that had private jet travel vacation and it was over $100,000 a person

I guess I won't look at National Geographic tours.

 

[Girlstar30]

I seriously keep checking and there's literally none that I can make work, no matter how much Mickey Math I do. I need to figure out a similar touring company that is about half the price to make it realistic.

I guess I won't look at National Geographic tours.

Haha theyre not all that crazy expensive, for some reason they sent me one that had travel thru a private jet! I was like did I maybe, accidentally put in one of those Disney surveys that we made over 250k a year or something