How has DVC changed your vacatioin style and perceptions????

[DISNEY FIX]

We just got back from our first trip home to BCV. I have never spent so much time at a resort instead of the parks.
I think DVC has changed our vacationing forever. We spent so much time (fun) at SAB that it took away at least half of our park time, I am still not sure how to feel about that?!?!?!?!?! Have any of you guys had this happen to you? Very confused.
This will be our last September trip, too friggin hot and humid for our little bunch, and throw in pm thunderstorms on top of that. We hit an alltime low in seeing fireworks and parades on this trip. Wich is a little bit of a downer but we have to go by the weather and kids schedules. (Got drowned out by deluge night of MNSSHP )
We will be visiting the VWL for our first stay there the week after Thanksgiving. Should I be prepared for more of the same as far as the amount of time at the resorts? Sorry for the ramble.
Chris

 

[Tiger926]

What a great question! Our vacation style has changed as well. When my hubby and I first went in our 20s (approx. 8 years ago), we were so excited to be there together, that we went commando style through the parks. I am a planner, and so we had everything planned as not to miss anything. We always had to do everything, because we weren't sure when we would be back! Yeah, right! We knew, we'd be back, but we had that frenetic pace going on anyway - that was mostly me as I am a supreme multi-tasker. Plus, I am a teacher, and can only go during holidays or breaks, so parks were usually pretty busy (although not as busy in the summer, so we always go for 2 weeks each July).

Eating was usually counter service, so as not to miss anything - this was problematic though as I have allergies/sensitivities and low blood sugar, so, I had to bring snacks or buy fruit. There weren't as many healthy choices either, so we would eat off-site as well, where I could eat soups and salads instead of burgers as we don't eat fast food at all.

Tickets were just regular tickets and not APs as they were too expensive, and so we couldn't really park hop as we would feel as though we were wasting our days.

Fast forward to today - we have owned DVC since May '04 (SSR bought for our baby daughter) and just added-on at Animal Kingdom for our newborn son last month. We now go to WDW more often, stay only on-site (stayed at Marriotts & Hiltons before), tour parks slowly, only eat table service, swim at resort, take part in activities and recreation, walk around Downtown Disney and resort hop all of the time. In essence, we enjoy the magic much more now!! We didn't really do much of this before DVC as we were worried about missing stuff, even though it was only he and I. Now, with our babies, life is much slower for us at WDW. We always have our own car, or a rental car, and don't mind hopping to Epcot for just dinner, or, going to MK for 1 hour to ride Dumbo if that's what our daughter wants to do. It's all about enjoying that moment, no matter how simple it may be.

As I type this, my newborn son, is smiling at me, while wearing his Pooh and friends onesie that we purchased for him while at Disney this past January. DVC for us, is one of the best purchases we have made as it's all about family. We truly feel lucky to be able to have such awesome vacations at the 'castle' with our little family. It is truly our 2nd home!

Tiger

 

[TCPluto]

We've become lazy tourists since DVC. But we like it this way.

2-4 hours in the morning, big afternoon break, then 3-5 hours in the evening usually. A typical day probably only sees us in the parks about 5 hours a day.

The DVC properties make it so easy, we just enjoy the atmosphere at the resorts so much.

 

[Caskbill]

I agree on all the above.

With DVC and AP's, the 'commando days' of the past are long gone. We now take our time for everything. Knowing that we'll be coming back again is what makes a world of difference.

 

[NYMomof4]

DVC has totally changed the way we enjoy Disney. We have become resort people who love each of the DVC resorts for different reasons and plan at least half, if not more of our time enjoying the amenities. I think that getting an AP added to our enjoyment too, since we no longer feel pushed to stay at the parks all day and can wander in for a few hours, grab dinner at Epcot, or just go to pin trade.

The quality of our vacations has increased as a result

 

[DISNEY FIX]

So this is a learned behavior???? We were never a park commando bunch, but I have to get over the fact that we will probably spend even less time at the parks. Boy it feels weird already.
I know the kids loved being in the pool and such, I guess I couldn't have anticipated the impact the resort was going to have on our stay. Any of you VWL groupies want to give me a heads up on what we won't be able to drag the kids away from? Living and learning.

 

[WDWLVR]

We've definately changed our style since DVC. Now things are much more relaxed. We are usually at the parks early as always (after having breakfast in the room), but then think nothing of leaving around noon or so. We then relax in our home. Maybe a nap, maybe some pool time. We truly make it a vacation and not go go go. In the evening we'll go out for a nice meal and then hit the parks again.

The other thing is that while we always try to do something new each trip if we don't make it to each and every park it is no big deal because we know we'll be back.

 

["Got Disney"]

yes I agree much more relaxed. I even take my girl friends and we stay for 3 days at DL/GCH no kids or husbands at the end of the school year using my pts. That would be a lot of cash to put out because we go on the weekends. They love it and i love treating them.

We are already planning our trip for the end of this school year.

We have done Disney alot as most everyone on this board but once we became DVC members we felt like we went up a step. We have always done the Deluxe rooms but know even though we are still paying for DVC we feel as if the room is free. Guess because thats just less $$$ to come up with to add on to the vacation...make sence

We also plan differently...food, clothing(can bring less due to villa machines), stay longer so no need to cram in park time and so on.

Yes DVC is a lot of $$$ but it is $$$$ well spent in my book

 

[pcparamedics01]

We will be there in Nov to Vero and SSR. While we are in SSR we may never even see a park! No rush for anything here either. Maybe Blizzard Beach but no stress and my children are still little!

 

[AKV707]

We are new members and haven't even taken our first trip home yet. But we know our next trip will be very different from all of the others. We see ourselves spending more time at the resort, relaxing more. We both have APs and know that we will be back frequently, so there will be no pressure to visit the parks at the usual crazy pace.

We can't wait for this new experience!

 

[Mr Man]

We are new members also and will likely not take our first trip until March 2008, thus I can only speculate (which I will now do).

I am looking forward to NOT doing the DDP. We have done it every time we have visited WDW so far. Don't get me wrong, DDP is a great way to sample the different restaurants; however, we spend a good bit of our time planning around our ADPs. It will be nice to eat when I am hungry and spend more time hitting rides, resort activities (Pool bar), quality family time etc. More "unstructured play-time" for me and mine.

I am looking forward to cooking up a mean B-fast in the room before we hit the parks. Room service or CS is not the same to me. DW likes her eggs cooked a certain way. I have 18 yrs experience at it...... hard to cook eggs in a standard hotel room.

Extra room to stretch out will definitely make a resort day (no parks) a must.

Then again, we will probably get the DDP and eat like horses like we always do..........

I also think that having this timeshare will give us great opportunities to share time with loved ones by including them in our travel plans (and sucker them into buying into DVC also) Mwah-ha-ha

 

[DeeCee735]

Our vacation style has changed for sure, but we look at this as a good thing. We are much more relaxed and don't feel like we need to do commando park touring. Now we'll hit a couple of things in maybe two parks on the same day, and spend more time around the pools, resorts and restaurants, and shopping. One reason why we knew we'd love WDW while the kids were little and now that they are older. They too, like hanging at ESPN, Beaches and Cream and the quiet pool/hot tub with their friends and the other kids they meet there. It's a great vacation, in the parks or not! Have fun planning future trips!

 

[Demosthenes]

I have always been a resort person (growing up on a steady diet of Fort Wilderness will do that to you), so as far as the amount of down-time at the resort, that hasn't really changed. What has changed is how much more I enjoy that down-time in a villa instead of a hotel room. I don't think I can go back to a hotel room again unless it is just DW and me (even that sounds unappealing). I am bidding a new church about 2 miles from cast member parking for the MK. Since we had the long weekend, and I had some work to do, we did a last minute trip with the family to my favorite deluxe resort (CR) for labor day. We had a nice time, and as usual enjoyed lots of resort time; still, I longed for the villa accommodations just across the lake at VWL. I told DW that from now on, when we travel, we stay in a villa. It just makes it that much easier to relax and unwind.

 

[jimmytammy]

We have slowed down. Dont get into the parks til late in the day. We still pretty much see all we want to see and do. It is a bit of mixed feeling knowing we have tickets and dont take full advantage of them. But knowing we will return makes us relax more.

I for one love my DVC!!

 

[anabelle]

I am a reformed Disney commando. But I don't think it is all because of DVC. I think it has more to do with we have now been there several times and don't feel like we want to see everything. We get there early and hit our favorites, but if we miss Jungle Cruise or Tiki room, no big deal. I know that if we did not have DVC we would still go just as often, but it would be offsite. So DVC has affected where we stay more than how we tour.

 

[senator74]

We just took our first trip home August 12th-18th at BCV. This was about my seventh trip since 2000. We have 4 children between the ages of 8 and 12. We easily spent less than half the time in the parks as we normally have on past trips. Like you, Disney Fix, we spent a ton of time at SAB. The kids loved it. But we talked about this exact topic after we came home. I think part of it is DVC and part was the heat and crowds.

As for the heat and crowds part, this was our first and last trip to WDW in August. We usually go in September and Jan-Feb timeframe. By 11:00 am the lines were 30-60 minute wait times, and the heat was beginning to swelter. Yes, I did know this going in. But still was not prepared for just how busy WDW has gotten especially in the summer. So we got to the parks right at opening and got out of them by noon, then headed back to SAB for the afternoon, as I have no patience for waiting in line.

As to the DVC playing a part in less time in the parks, I think it has forever changed our vacation style. We now have AP's, so we did not feel like we needed to see "everything" to get the most out of our pass. My first trip in 2000 was just like yours Tiger926, I had everything mapped out and saw anything and everything I could. Was in good shape by the end of that trip.

We know that we will be going down more often, as we are already going back in January. I think we are a little scared of getting the "Disney burnout" that I have heard people mention before on here. So I think we have a more laid back mentality towards spending time in the parks.

The most important thing to us about DVC is that no matter what, whether we are in the parks or at the resort, we will be enjoying ourselves as a family. It is allowing us to take more vacations and relaxation time.

 

[Lady V]

well, our style has changed soooooooooooooo much! Our first trip as a family was very commando..we were there for 7 days and did all 4 parks, universal, Islands of adventure...you get the picture...we were exhausted!!! Then we bought DVC and it all changed. Since summer of 2006 (yes-one year ago) I have gone four times and stayed a total of around 35 days. In those days i probably only went to the parks maybe 15 days? It is just so relaxing. We buy annual passes so if we want to head over just for dinner or to ride Soarin then that is all we do. We do a lot of pool hopping and relaxing. It is wonderful. This NYE we will be there for 9 days and four of the days we are planning to do parks and even that seems like a lot to me now. Next June we will be there for 19 days and I doubt we will visit the parks for even half of that time. Who knows? That is the great thing...you know you will be back so you can just relax and go with the flow...

 

[OlderMan]

Since buying into DVC in 1997, we have adopted two daughters (1998 and 2000).

The last time we visited the parks was about 6 years ago--my DW had a birthday with both a 0 and a 5 in in--when we had a GV at OKW with extended family with us. One day, the 4 of us visited AK and another day, BIL and his family and ours did MK

On our 8 - 12 trips since then, we haven't visited any park at all. Both daughters--now 9 & 10--haven't shown much interest in going.

I guess WDW is so close that the parks have little (or no) mystique for us.

On the other hand, the pool at OKW, Downtown Disney, the outlets, etc appeal to my wife and daughters.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Like everyone else here, DVC has made us lots less "comando". Also, now that we own DVC, we know we'll be coming back, so we're much more relaxed about not getting to see/do something. Spaceship Earth was closed last trip? Pre-DVC, that would have been cause for panic and grumbling anger. Now, we just shrug and say "Hopefully, next time." Something gets rained out? Hopefully, it won't be rained out next time. I love being able to say confidently, "Next time", not just hoping for a next time.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Our vacation style has changed for sure, but we look at this as a good thing. We are much more relaxed and don't feel like we need to do commando park touring. Now we'll hit a couple of things in maybe two parks on the same day, and spend more time around the pools, resorts and restaurants, and shopping. One reason why we knew we'd love WDW while the kids were little and now that they are older. They too, like hanging at ESPN, Beaches and Cream and the quiet pool/hot tub with their friends and the other kids they meet there. It's a great vacation, in the parks or not! Have fun planning future trips!

Hey, Diane..... we're right there with you... Ditto... It is much easier to enjoy the simple things. And planning is very much of the fun.