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View Full Version : A question about vacation forcasting & DVC



jenfriend
01-02-2008, 09:02 PM
My family took it's first trip to Disney 2 years ago & will return for our 2nd trip this month. DH and I absolutely loved WDW and the vacation atmostphere. We've discussed DVC ownership & may purchase in the next year or so. We were discussing this with my parents. My dad asked a question that I wasn't sure about, so I'll ask it here and see how the owners figure this into their vacation forcasting.

When you purchase your points, how do you kow you'll want to spend your vacation dollar in this manner for the next x years? Do you find that because of the ownership, you go more often, stay longer, enjoy the deluxe accomodations? What about the years when your kids are teens/young adults are don't want to go (does that happen) because of jobs or need to bring friends? Do you just bring friends because now you have the space? Do you go without your kids? And if so, as much as we loved Disney, will we want to go without kids? What are those vacations like (I know people do go w/o kids, but it's hard to imagine right now)?

Do you usually get the dinning plan or do you cook in your home?

How feasible is it to use points for staying elsewhere like Disneyland, going to Vero Beach or Hilton Head, or Cruise?

Thanks for your input.

Donald A
01-02-2008, 09:52 PM
I may not be the best to answer this, but I am a DVC member and can give you my thinking on all this.


When you purchase your points, how do you know you'll want to spend your vacation dollar in this manner for the next x years?

I guess you just have to look at the situation personally. When my wife and I bought in at Saratoga Springs we were on our third trip in the period of 4 years. We were staying at a deluxe resort each time. As you can see, we enjoyed WDW and planned to go back so DVC made sense.


Do you find that because of the ownership, you go more often, stay longer, enjoy the deluxe accomodations?

We probably will go just as often but do have the ability to take more people. One thing we get to do next week is take a total of 8 people for a week-long trip. This is something I always wanted to do. We are getting two 2-bedroom villas at the Beach Club. DVC lets us do this and we would not be able to spend the $7000 for 5 nights in these 2 villas. Points let us do this.


What about the years when your kids are teens/young adults are don't want to go (does that happen) because of jobs or need to bring friends? Do you just bring friends because now you have the space? Do you go without your kids? And if so, as much as we loved Disney, will we want to go without kids? What are those vacations like (I know people do go w/o kids, but it's hard to imagine right now)?

We are a young couple yet to have kids so I can tell you that people enjoy Disney without kids. My membership will expire when I am 78 years old. We will get to experience Disney in many different ways. Romantic trips to someday taking grandchildren.


Do you usually get the dinning plan or do you cook in your home?

Next trip we will do neither. Dining plan not worth it to us and we have no desire to cook on vacation. We are just paying out of pocket


How feasible is it to use points for staying elsewhere like Disneyland, going to Vero Beach or Hilton Head, or Cruise?

Anytime you use points it is a decent deal and Disneyland is building a Vacation Club Resort.

Horizon93
01-02-2008, 10:41 PM
I can address some of your questions.

My wife and I were already frequent WDW visitors so we know that we will be going at least once a year maybe twice.

We have only had one DVC stay so far, but it has forever changed our experience for the better. We are looking forward to many more vacations in deluxe accommodations that really do feel like home.

Our kids are grown. They will come down with us on occasion, but we know that most of our trips will just be the two of us. We absolutely love being at WDW as a couple. WE have a great time in our favorite place.

We will bring down some family and friends on occasion, but the DVC purchase we made is really for us. We love it!

DVC Mike
01-03-2008, 07:17 AM
When you purchase your points, how do you kow you'll want to spend your vacation dollar in this manner for the next x years?


You can always buy the minimum number of points from Disney (160) and see how it works for you. You can bank/borrow to go every other year, or every 3 years. You can always add-on more points if you discover you'd like to go more often.



Do you find that because of the ownership, you go more often, stay longer, enjoy the deluxe accomodations?


Yes. We now go 3-4 times per year! We love DVC.



What about the years when your kids are teens/young adults are don't want to go (does that happen) because of jobs or need to bring friends? Do you just bring friends because now you have the space? Do you go without your kids? And if so, as much as we loved Disney, will we want to go without kids? What are those vacations like (I know people do go w/o kids, but it's hard to imagine right now)?


Our kids are grown up. We enjoy going to WDW more without kids than with kids! We got used to the spacious 1-BR units so we no longer stay in Studios, even though there are only 2 of us.



Do you usually get the dinning plan or do you cook in your home?


We don't use the DDP. For us, it is simply too much food. Plus, we prefer to dine at the higher end / signature restaurants and enjoy a glass of wine. We are Annual Passholders and purchased the DDE card to get 20% off our meals.



How feasible is it to use points for staying elsewhere like Disneyland, going to Vero Beach or Hilton Head, or Cruise?


It's easy to stay at any of the existing DVC resorts, and two more have been announced (DLR in California and Hawaii).

The important part to DVC is being able to plan and book your vacations in advance -- ideally at the 11-mo window for your home resort and the 7-mo window for all other DVC resorts.

wendy*darling
01-03-2008, 01:12 PM
You have already had some good responses, and I have a few more for you.


When you purchase your points, how do you kow you'll want to spend your vacation dollar in this manner for the next x years? We didn't know that for sure. One of the things that appealed to us was the ability to use our points all over the world- even at non-Disney locations. So far, we only stayed at the (former) Plaza Hotel in New York City- which was an "expensive" use of our points- but totally worth it for a special anniversary. We've played with the idea of traveling to the UK- there are some nice places to stay there as well. And of course, we would love to be able to visit every Disney park location around the world. Knowing we could use points for our lodging is terrific!

What about the years when your kids are teens/young adults are don't want to go (does that happen) because of jobs or need to bring friends? Do you just bring friends because now you have the space?
Our kids are now 17 & 20. They have not yet tired of WDW trips.:D Our older son is not a Disney geek by any means, but he does still love our family vacations to WDW.
I know of some families that have given points to their college kids for spring break trips. Ours hasn't wanted to do that (he heads to AZ for Cubs Spring Training ;)) but I would allow that in a minute. He is very responsible.

Do you go without your kids? And if so, as much as we loved Disney, will we want to go without kids? What are those vacations like (I know people do go w/o kids, but it's hard to imagine right now)?
We LOVE to go without our kids! :mickey: We are about 50-50 right now. Every other trip is the family. The others are just DH & I or with another couple (also no kids). Those are wonderful trips in a different way. Our DVC points has allowed us to "gift" their room to them- they are WDW newbies. We go at a slower pace, spending hours on a nice dinner. :cloud9: We enjoy the shows. We still ride the thrill rides, etc., but it's different.

Do you usually get the dinning plan or do you cook in your home?
We do not cook. We may make a breakfast or 2, but all of our other meals are in the parks/resorts. Sometimes we do the DDP, other times we do not. We have had the DDE (when we have had APs) and that is a good deal too.

How feasible is it to use points for staying elsewhere like Disneyland, going to Vero Beach or Hilton Head, or Cruise?
We did use points at Disneyland, and hope to again. We are very interested in seeing Hawaii when it gets built too! Probably will try an Adventures by Disney trip sometime as well. Not sure if we would use points or no though.
We are doing the Cruise next winter, but paying cash. We felt it was better for use to do it that way.