With the current economy will you "DVC" differently now??

[edk35]

Just curious if the economy has affected your DVC vacations. Or maybe you are the type "vacationer" that has a wonderful vacation yet budgets so to speak while at WDW or at home before you go on a trip. Would love to hear your ideas. I have decided that we will be more thrifty while vacationing than on past trips. I feel that sometimes we SPEND way too much at WDW and it doesn't necessarily have to be that way to still enjoy our trips there. Plus a biggie is DD just got accepted into her number 1 college choice and she will be starting college in the fall. So we need to prioritize more so to speak. So.....here we go and I have answered too.


1. Will you continue to go the same amt. of times per year or for as many days?? No we are going to cut back to 1 time a year and if the planets are in alignment just perfectly...maybe a bonus 2nd trip thrown in there some years. Our plan is to go for at least 8 nights but no more than 10 once a year.

2. Will you spend less money while there and if so what changes will you make so that you are spending less money than previoius trips? For ex. Will you eat out less in the parks? Maybe less table service meals? Less shopping? Maybe even not buying park passes or AP's?Yes we plan on spending less than previous trips on certain things. We will probably cut back table service meals. We don't find it necessary to eat at one daily. We also like to have our big meal at lunch which saves us money too. Less shopping and less pin buying. I have to put a stop to the pin obsession that my kids have. As far as park passes or AP's the jury is still out on that one.

3. Have you become more thrify/mindful of what you spend while vacationing? Not really but started thinking this past year when we went 3 times that maybe we needed to have a plan for future trips. I am going to test this out in a week on our first 2009 trip.

4. Do you cut back at home...so that you can REALLY enjoy your vacation? Not really. Matter of fact we fell miserably at this. We still eat out way too much so that is another thing I am trying to be more mindful of especially when a trip is coming up. We know we eat out out a lot at WDW so maybe we can scale back the weeks leading up to the trip.

 

[jgus]

Good conversation.... It's kind of interesting, because here in Michigan we have been in a recesion for about 3 years now. We have already made any "adjustments" that we are going to make. That being said, we bought DVC 2 years ago to save money, and added on this year... We are still going to go on vacation, and DVC will force us to. Vacations are such an important part of family.

1. We will not cut back.
2. No. My idea of a vacation is to do everything better than I would do at home every other day.
3. Yes. That's why we are DVC members now....
4. We have been trying to, but every time we do "something" comes up. This weekend it was a new washer & dryer.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We already started cutting back about two years ago and sold two of our contracts. We hated spending nearly $2500 a year just on DVC dues, not to mention PAPs, dining and just getting there.

So instead of two or three times a year, we now just go once a year.

 

[edk35]

Good conversation.... It's kind of interesting, because here in Michigan we have been in a recesion for about 3 years now. We have already made any "adjustments" that we are going to make. That being said, we bought DVC 2 years ago to save money, and added on this year... We are still going to go on vacation, and DVC will force us to. Vacations are such an important part of family.

1. We will not cut back.
2. No. My idea of a vacation is to do everything better than I would do at home every other day.
3. Yes. That's why we are DVC members now....
4. We have been trying to, but every time we do "something" comes up. This weekend it was a new washer & dryer.

You sound like us...we bought exactly 2 years ago Jan. 31st and added on 100 points this past year.

 

[BostonDisneyKid]

1. Will you continue to go the same amt. of times per year or for as many days??
We will continue with the same pattern 2-3 times annually for the foreseeable future.

2. Will you spend less money while there and if so what changes will you make so that you are spending less money than previoius trips? For ex. Will you eat out less in the parks?
We will be more conscious of spending but dont see much changing as we are long over the shopping sprees, impusle buys, impulse shows/events, etc.

3. Have you become more thrify/mindful of what you spend while vacationing?
Not really no.
We plan our vacations out enough to have the funds available to do what we wish. If we couldn't, we would probably cut back on the frequency rather then reducing the budget per trip.

4. Do you cut back at home...so that you can REALLY enjoy your vacation? We make certain consessions (always have) in order to have the style vacations we enjoy.

 

[DVC Mike]

1. Will you continue to go the same amt. of times per year or for as many days??

We will continue to go 3-4 times per year, for at least 8 nights per trip. We have the points, so there isn't any reason to change our plans.

2. Will you spend less money while there and if so what changes will you make so that you are spending less money than previoius trips? For ex. Will you eat out less in the parks? Maybe less table service meals? Less shopping? Maybe even not buying park passes or AP's?

My DW wants me to cut down on our Signature Dining TS. She's suggesting we actually eat in the room, or even offsite. I'm not so sure we'll end up doing that. We'll probably spend less on souveniers.

3. Have you become more thrify/mindful of what you spend while vacationing?

Not yet.

4. Do you cut back at home...so that you can REALLY enjoy your vacation?

While we probably won't cut back on our vacations, we have "battened down the hatches" at home by watching how and where we spend our money. We've cut back our spending and are saving more -- just in case.

 

[Disneypirate85]

Just curious if the economy has affected your DVC vacations. Or maybe you are the type "vacationer" that has a wonderful vacation yet budgets so to speak while at WDW or at home before you go on a trip. Would love to hear your ideas. I have decided that we will be more thrifty while vacationing than on past trips. I feel that sometimes we SPEND way too much at WDW and it doesn't necessarily have to be that way to still enjoy our trips there. Plus a biggie is DD just got accepted into her number 1 college choice and she will be starting college in the fall. So we need to prioritize more so to speak. So.....here we go and I have answered too.


1. Will you continue to go the same amt. of times per year or for as many days??

Yes. We may add a day during our Christmas trip but we stay flexible because of airfare.

2. Will you spend less money while there and if so what changes will you make so that you are spending less money than previoius trips? For ex. Will you eat out less in the parks? Maybe less table service meals? Less shopping? Maybe even not buying park passes or AP's

Yes we have already started spending less on our last trip not as many souviners as we used too. We do use DDP tho it still seems to save us some $$. Our Jury is still out on AP's as well.

3. Have you become more thrify/mindful of what you spend while vacationing?

Yes we spent ALOT less on our Dec trip.

4. Do you cut back at home...so that you can REALLY enjoy your vacation
Yes we have cut back on what we do at home we eat out less often and don't rent as many movies and such. We are ever mindfull of our Disney Trips, we are always in a planning phase for the next one.

 

[edk35]

We will continue to go 3-4 times per year, for at least 8 nights per trip. We have the points, so there isn't any reason to change our plans.



My DW wants me to cut down on our Signature Dining TS. She's suggesting we actually eat in the room, or even offsite. I'm not so sure we'll end up doing that. We'll probably spend less on souveniers.



Not yet.



While we probably won't cut back on our vacations, we have "battened down the hatches" at home by watching how and where we spend our money. We've cut back our spending and are saving more -- just in case.

Hey Mike...haven't seen you on here in a while.

 

[MommaX03]

We will be skipping Disney this year because we used all our points on an awesome December 2008 DCL trip! Historically, we try to do two trips on an AP. Starting in 2010, that will be reduced to one trip every 11 months on an AP because of the economy as well as a stricter adherence to the children's school schedules. They are getting older, so it will be harder to pull them out of school.

On the DCL trip, we consciously tried to eat out less on the day before the trip, shopped around for the best price for our transfers to the cruise, and had our little kids (7, 6,and 4) save for several months any change they came across and birthday money. They put the money into a plastic container and then we went to a bank for bills the week of the trip. They then used their fund for their souveniors, which worked extremely well. They really thought about whether something was worth their money. Their mom (me) should have done the same because I bought a lot of DCL merchandise because I won't be going on another DCL for a long while as I accumulate points/cash. The sales on Castaway Cay were great. So I am set on beach towels!

We tried last summer to do a staycation. Our local pool, where we anticipated doing our daily relaxing, was closed for the rest of the season due to flooding from the week before. When this happened, the DH called a favorite beach place in DE and we drove down for an impromptu trip. Given the economy, there was availability. Lesson learned: Always plan for a vacation, just budget for it. We all need something to look forward to even as we economize. (Sorta an economic diet, gotta have one day off the diet a week). We try to cut out at home by eating in more. At Disney, we did the DDP, which we found had value. The one time we did not do the DDP, we kept swearing that we should have done it during our trip.

Excellent question, OP. Congrats to your DD on her college acceptance!

 

[edk35]

We will be skipping Disney this year because we used all our points on an awesome December 2008 DCL trip! Historically, we try to do two trips on an AP. Starting in 2010, that will be reduced to one trip every 11 months on an AP because of the economy as well as a stricter adherence to the children's school schedules. They are getting older, so it will be harder to pull them out of school.

On the DCL trip, we consciously tried to eat out less on the day before the trip, shopped around for the best price for our transfers to the cruise, and had our little kids (7, 6,and 4) save for several months any change they came across and birthday money. They put the money into a plastic container and then we went to a bank for bills the week of the trip. They then used their fund for their souveniors, which worked extremely well. They really thought about whether something was worth their money. Their mom (me) should have done the same because I bought a lot of DCL merchandise because I won't be going on another DCL for a long while as I accumulate points/cash. The sales on Castaway Cay were great. So I am set on beach towels!

We tried last summer to do a staycation. Our local pool, where we anticipated doing our daily relaxing, was closed for the rest of the season due to flooding from the week before. When this happened, the DH called a favorite beach place in DE and we drove down for an impromptu trip. Given the economy, there was availability. Lesson learned: Always plan for a vacation, just budget for it. We all need something to look forward to even as we economize. (Sorta an economic diet, gotta have one day off the diet a week). We try to cut out at home by eating in more. At Disney, we did the DDP, which we found had value. The one time we did not do the DDP, we kept swearing that we should have done it during our trip.

Excellent question, OP. Congrats to your DD on her college acceptance!

Thanks yes we are very happy for her and I have been saying all school year "change is coming ...change is coming" not just for our country but for this obsessed Disney family too with her starting college and another one 3 years behind her. It is all good though.....we always make it work out.

 

[keishashadow]

Just curious if the economy has affected your DVC vacations. Or maybe you are the type "vacationer" that has a wonderful vacation yet budgets so to speak while at WDW or at home before you go on a trip.

even peeps i know that r loaded have vacation 'budgets' whether it be $ or time wise

1. Will you continue to go the same amt. of times per year or for as many days??

we've been broadening our horizons the past few years & have spent more time staying offsite (Universal, cruises, DL, etc.); economy may cut that back in 2010, hope not

2. Will you spend less money while there and if so what changes will you make so that you are spending less money than previoius trips? For ex. Will you eat out less in the parks? Maybe less table service meals? Less shopping? Maybe even not buying park passes or AP's?

haven't bought an AP in 2 years, mostly because of travel elsewhere & the BOGO year deal in '06 on Universal PAPs, was going to get APs this year, on fence though as im not confident of getting 3 trips out of them.

Other than the DP, really don't spend much on souvies etc. @ Disney

3. Have you become more thrify/mindful of what you spend while vacationing?

i work hard to get the best value for my vacation $ & never did try any of the more deluxe offerings (tours, dinner shows, cirque).

conversely, this year; since i wasn't able to save enough $ to buy addon @ BLT , i may just dip into my DVC stash & buy the platinum plan for a few days this summer

4. Do you cut back at home...so that you can REALLY enjoy your vacation?
my DH works a long work week/OT, not by choice; we're glad he is employed. His schedule doesn't leave much time or energy for activities other than dinner & a movie now & again, so we both look forward to his 4 weeks of vacation when he can truly relax.

 

[PADisFam2]

1. If I have a job were going....no change
2. If I have a job were spending the same...no change
3. I would like to spend less on food. I would rather do the counter service plan vs. the dining plan w/ one sit down and one counter service. Not because it cost less, but because sit downs take too much time from other things.
4. We bought DVC in 12/07 and the one thing that I insisted on was that DVC and our vacations to Disney would not change our families life style and so far so good. I sped less on things that don't really matter like new golf clubs or pet project around the house that I don't really need to do, but that just means more family time....a win win I guess.

 

[jamstew]

1. Will you continue to go the same amt. of times per year or for as many days?? Since I have three trips scheduled in 2009, I'm considering cancelling my October trip and using the points to extend my May trip (I'd still have December, so two trips). I have a traditional timeshare on the beach in October that I can easily drive to, so I'd be saving the airfare to Orlando.

2. Will you spend less money while there and if so what changes will you make so that you are spending less money than previoius trips? For ex. Will you eat out less in the parks? Maybe less table service meals? Less shopping? Maybe even not buying park passes or AP's? I don't eat a lot of TS or do a lot of shopping, so "no" on those. As long as I'm going twice a year and getting the discount on my AP, I'll continue to buy one.

3. Have you become more thrify/mindful of what you spend while vacationing? I've always been thrifty about vacation spending, so that won't change. I don't decorate my house with Disney stuff, and my grandchildren have all they need. I might forego buying a new Steiff teddybear every year.

4. Do you cut back at home...so that you can REALLY enjoy your vacation? Although I'm pretty frugal anyway, I started curtailing my discretionary spending several months ago and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

 

[Jets fan]

1. Will you continue to go the same amt. of times per year or for as many days??
No, unfortunately because of the way air travel from the UK has gone up in price, we are only able to visit once every other year for 14 nights, instead of every year. We own at OKW and love it there. It does mean that everyother year we holiday in Europe as flights are cheaper.

2. Will you spend less money while there and if so what changes will you make so that you are spending less money than previoius trips?
The biggest change for us is that we will not do the DDP anymore as it's not a very good deal for 14 nights. We will also eat off-Disney a few times and not having the dining plan will enable us to do this more.

3. Have you become more thrify/mindful of what you spend while vacationing?
Unfortunately not. With the current economic climate holidays are one thing to really look forward to so I can never imagine me being thrifty - which is probably a bad thing

4. Do you cut back at home...so that you can REALLY enjoy your vacation?
Not really. The only thing I do is save money to shop, shop and then shop some more as your shops are brilliant to us Brits

The recession is definitely making me think more about what I spend. A year ago I really didn't have a clue about the cost of food as I just shopped for what I needed without looking at prices. Now I look at prices and shop around.

I think the brilliant thing about owning DVC points is that you always have something to look forward to and really the planning begins at the 11 month window so you can be excited for a long time.

 

[cogero]

1. Will you continue to go the same amt. of times per year or for as many days?? This is our first year and we are going twice. Once on developer points and once on ours. We generally vacation 2 x per year no matter what just one of those trips being disney.

2. Will you spend less money while there and if so what changes will you make so that you are spending less money than previoius trips? For ex. Will you eat out less in the parks? Maybe less table service meals? Less shopping?
Nope we are finding our lives much more stable and even keel. So we don't really need to change.
3. Have you become more thrify/mindful of what you spend while vacationing? Nope. Thankfully we are at a stage where we can spend as we like. Though we don't over spend.

4. Do you cut back at home...so that you can REALLY enjoy your vacation? Nope. We had too many years in the beginning scrimping and saving that we no longer do that. WE eat out maybe 2times per month and don't really shop for anything that isn't a necessity.

 

[DVC Mike]

Hey Mike...haven't seen you on here in a while.

Let's just say it's been very busy at Bank of America lately. I haven't been able to spend much time on the boards unless it's the weekend.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Let's just say it's been very busy at Bank of America lately. I haven't been able to spend much time on the boards unless it's the weekend.

Hope all is well at BOA Mike!

 

[dizney4us]

We are in the same boat, our first heads off to college this fall, our second next fall. We are trying to be extra smart with money so we can help our girls with the cost of college. We also realize they are getting older and may not always be available to join us do to their own schedules, so we plan on really enjoying our 9 nights at BWV next month! And any other trip we can take with our girls, money is important, but not nearly as important as time
Congrats on your daughter!

 

[MommaX03]

Thanks yes we are very happy for her and I have been saying all school year "change is coming ...change is coming" not just for our country but for this obsessed Disney family too with her starting college and another one 3 years behind her. It is all good though.....we always make it work out.

My DH and I have the same attitude. If all goes well, our three little critters will be in college at the same time. As they are 7, 6 and 4, we are hopeful that all will work out and we have some time on our side. Congrats again!

 

[photobob]

1. Will you continue to go the same amt. of times per year or for as many days??

We'll take it on a year by year basis. This year we are going to VB and sending our son on a honeymoon to HHI if the waitlist comes through.

2. Will you spend less money while there and if so what changes will you make so that you are spending less money than previous trips? For ex. Will you eat out less in the parks?

We had a blowout trip in June 2008, staying in a 2 BDR and taking my DD and my DS and his fiance and we footed the bill for everything. Normally we travel as frugally as possible. We usually have a TS meal for lunch and in room or a cheap meal for the others.


3. Have you become more thrifty/mindful of what you spend while vacationing?

I think my spending on future trips depends on how my sideline photography business is doing, not the economy as a whole.

4. Do you cut back at home...so that you can REALLY enjoy your vacation?

We live pretty frugally anyway, we may get a little more so in months leading up to a trip to have more spending money.