DVC with no park days

CanadaDisney05

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 20, 2017
I am a prospective DVC owner, but I have been reading a lot about DVC owners who come regularly quickly reducing the amount of park days per trip, and even many who never go to the parks anymore unless there is a special event.

My question is, if your not utilizing DVC as a place to stay close to the Disney parks, why pay the inflated price of staying on property at all? There are plenty of nice resorts around the country for a fraction of the costs of ownership. You can even take regular trips down to the Caribbean and stay at lovely all-inclusives for much less. What am I missing?

Edit: I probably should have mentioned this was geared more towards people who don't live a short drive away from Orlando. If your close by and can make short weekend trips, and don't have to pay for airfare, well that changes everything.
 
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because we love disney resorts as much as we love the parks. we're taking a long weekend without the kids and are between AP purchases. we'll sit our balcony at the poly and watch boats on the seven seas lagoon, and catch the fireworks at night. we'll have brunch at california grill. we'll hit up trader sam's. we'll swim and visit other resorts.

MCO's an easy flight for us. we have no interest in going to the ocean to relax, and none at all in an all-inclusive. this works for what we want, and having DVC points makes it easy to justify.
 
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because we love disney resorts as much as we love the parks. we're taking a long weekend without the kids are are between AP purchases. we'll sit our balcony at the poly and watch boats on the seven seas lagoon, and catch the fireworks at night. we'll have brunch at california grill. we'll hit up trader sam's. we'll swim and visit other resorts.

MCO's an easy flight for us. we have no interest in going to the ocean to relax, and none at all in an all-inclusive. this works for what we want, and having DVC points makes it easy to justify.
Ditto. I loathe the Caribbean. So dull to my family. Disney offers so much to do and we love the resorts. With dd’s allergies, it is a safe place to vacation food wise. I’d never trust an all inclusive in the Caribbean with her allergies.
 
My question is, if your not utilizing DVC as a place to stay close to the Disney parks, why pay the inflated price of staying on property at all? There are plenty of nice resorts around the country for a fraction of the costs of ownership. You can even take regular trips down to the Caribbean and stay at lovely all-inclusives for much less. What am I missing?

It's been paid off for some years now. So it's just dues. And I do rundisney events. So why NOT be closeby?

Plus, there's a lot to do and see without spending a dime to get into the parks. Why not do those things?

Don't get me wrong. I'd like to hit the parks. But it's not in my rundisney companion's budget, so we don't do it.
 


We always hit the parks. I’ve owned DVC for a long time and I don’t think that I have ever spent an entire day at the resort and not spent a few hours in a park. Factor in an annual pass lol!
 
We're not at the point where we'd completely skip the parks, but the way we visit the parks has completely changed with DVC and APs. We don't have to worry about "wasting" a park ticket if we arrive in the afternoon and want to have dinner in one of the parks. We can make a quick trip into the parks on a departure day. If we planned to go to the parks one morning, but decide to sleep in, spend the day at the pool, relax in the room, explore the resort, etc., it doesn't matter. We no longer feel as though we have to rush around and do everything. If we don't get a coveted fastpass and the wait time is too long, we'll catch it on another trip. If we decide to take a day break from the parks, we're still enjoying Disney in a different way!
 
I live a mile and a half from the Gulf of Mexico and gorgeous beaches. Sometimes I just like to get away from home and relax.
 


We love the resorts. Really other resorts just dont have the magic to me. When we get to disney property I just feel so good. I really do not feel this way at other resorts. They pretty much ruined other resorts for us lol.
 
A couple of quick thoughts...

We have stayed at DVC and never went to WDW but did visit Universal. It’s a cheap Lyft or Uber ride.

We’ve done split stays - DVC and the beach. It really breaks up the vacation.

It’s fun just to relax at the resort, and visit other resorts and fun things to do ( eg ride the monorail, water parks, visit other areas, etc)

Pre-DVC we worked like dogs and rarely took a vacation. Now we take vacations all the time and every few years we save points and have a big family get together in a 3 bedroom villa. We have a 3 br at AKL in Dec and are expecting to have 10 people who we rarely get to see since we all live around the country.

You can exchange points for non DVC property pretty much anywhere in the world.
 
What am I missing?
You also have the ability to book the grand Californian, Vero Beach, Hiton Head and Aulani. So with DVC you can do other trips aside from just WDW. There is also the ability to stay at mostly all the various properties on WDW property for a fraction of what it would cost to book direct. Over all it does save you money. In a few years when my twins graduate high school we are planning an Aulani trip for 9-10 days --which for a 1 BR would cost over $10K - would I ever want to pay that out of pocket for a hotel room - I think not. So there is considerable savings in the DVC system.

I think the more you visit WDW the less park intense the trips are. You can go to the parks but there are many other things which can make you still be in the magic (yes even WDW resorts make you feel the magic more so than the Hilton down the street). There are also many things in the Orlando area to see and do.

The DVC system does have some flexibility in how and where you use it. If none of the locations entice you then obviously the DVC system is not for you. But if you would frequent every other year there it is helpful in saving some money.
 
I live a mile and a half from the Gulf of Mexico and gorgeous beaches. Sometimes I just like to get away from home and relax.

That’s my family too. We live near some of the best beaches in the US here in the Sarasota area. My wife and I like to take weekend trips to Disney just to relax. We are more likely to spend the day at the pool and Disney Springs with a signature dinner at a resort than to go to a park.
 
New DVC owner - closing date is 6.6.19. i cant wait ! We have rented points many times. A couple of weeks ago we did a DVC tour and to my surprise- My husband was all in. We only bought 100 points at AKV but I plan to purchase the same use year and at least 100 more points withing the next 2 years. That being said when we rented points this past December there were a couple of very cold rainy days. We spent those 2 days at the resort with our grandchildren (ages 2,4,5,6) (oh i forgot to mention there were 11 of us spread out in a 2BR and studio at Jambo House) Anyway, those 2 days at the resort were the BEST days we had on that trip. This was our grandchildren's first trip and i think they had a great visit and being at the resort doing all the activites at Jambo House and Simba's ClubHouse were great. The enjoyed the parks (Slinky Dog, BTMR, SDMT and TOT) but the relaxed atmosphere at Jambo could not have been better.

We are using our new points in May of 2020 and the rack rate would be close to $9000 for the room we are getting. But it is costing us 300 points plus dues - but i call that a WIN.
 
It's been paid off for some years now. So it's just dues.
This is part of our reason, also. We've owned the contract for 15+ years, it is fully grandfathered and offers more to me, as the original owner prior to restrictions, than it will to the next person. We travel opportunistically with other timeshare, cruises, road trips, etc. Much of our travel is conference or event-based as was our original DVC purchase. Having DVC as part of our travel portfolio works well with our other products.
 
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We live in Maine and have done a no-park trip. My husband was in Orlando on business and I flew down when he was done and we spent four nights at SSR. It was a fantastic trip. We went to Typhoon Lagoon, Disney Springs for restaurants, shopping, and bowling, spent time on the Boardwalk, including Jellyrolls, rented bikes and a SeaRaycer, and had some excellent meals. We certainly weren't bored. As others have said, it's paid for so it's only the cost of dues. Without buying park tickets, it's really a budget trip. Even when we do the parks, we spend a lot less time there than we did when the kids were little.
 
We've been to Disney World (from Ohio--flying each time) 8 times in 5 years. One of those trips was a 4 night at SSR on rented points where we did not do the parks. It was November, and we just wanted to get out of the crap Ohio weather. My son enojyed the pools, we visited Disney Springs frequently, bowled at Splitsville, took him mini golfing at Winter Summerland, never set an alarm, etc.

We just purchased 100 points direct for OKW (2057), and we are seriously contemplating no parks next year (yet to be determined) so we can put that money towards any loan amount still due for our DVC purchase. He is now 10, and my other son will be just shy of 4 next May. We love the feeling of the Disney bubble and the fact that we can do so many things while on property with them.

We routinely travel monthly from September to March for hockey travel as well---all cold destinations and busy whirlwind weekends. We need the break of Disney once a year whether it is the parks or not. It is our happy place!
 
I am a prospective DVC owner, but I have been reading a lot about DVC owners who come regularly quickly reducing the amount of park days per trip, and even many who never go to the parks anymore unless there is a special event.

My question is, if your not utilizing DVC as a place to stay close to the Disney parks, why pay the inflated price of staying on property at all? There are plenty of nice resorts around the country for a fraction of the costs of ownership. You can even take regular trips down to the Caribbean and stay at lovely all-inclusives for much less. What am I missing?

Edit: I probably should have mentioned this was geared more towards people who don't live a short drive away from Orlando. If your close by and can make short weekend trips, and don't have to pay for airfare, well that changes everything.

As others have said, we still visit the parks but not as much. As owners for 20+ years, our DVC stays allow us lovely accommodations for far less than we’d have to pay otherwise.
 
We do relaxed park days rather than no park days, but I could see how a no park day trip could be appealing, especially if you've been going for a long time and DVC has more than paid for itself already. With all there is to see and do at the resorts, Disney Springs, mini golf / golf, restaurants, fireworks you can see from outside the parks, character meals, spas, etc. there really is no shortage of entertainment even without going into the parks. I love that you can relax however much you want at the resorts like you would on a beach vacation, but there are so many possible options of things to do if you feel so inclined.
 
It's paid off and feels like home. I love that "Disney" vibe, getting away from cold NH winters, n/s flights there, bringing friends and family, and the price of park tickets is too high. We don't go down enough to get an AP, and we have old non expiring ones that we are saving to use when the grandkids get bigger.

There is also the "been there, done that." When you have owned for awhile, you don't need to go into the parks unless there is something new.

We will do other non-Disney trips too, Banff, Canada was fantastic.

We bought when the direct price was $89. I wouldn't buy in today. The price is crazy along with tickets.
 
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We do relaxed park days rather than no park days, but I could see how a no park day trip could be appealing, especially if you've been going for a long time and DVC has more than paid for itself already. With all there is to see and do at the resorts, Disney Springs, mini golf / golf, restaurants, fireworks you can see from outside the parks, character meals, spas, etc. there really is no shortage of entertainment even without going into the parks. I love that you can relax however much you want at the resorts like you would on a beach vacation, but there are so many possible options of things to do if you feel so inclined.
Exactly!!!
 

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