How do you use your ownership?

[BaybeeYoda]

I think we're #4, the flip-flopper, but with a strong lean toward #1.
We have 1 contract, fairly large, bought in that recession time when points were crazy low, have never considered adding more points.
We bought where we wanted to stay, and have used the points there, BWV, the majority of trips, but also sometimes do split stays elsewhere, and had a few trips where complete stays were elsewhere. I do like trying out other resorts.....
We've never rented out, and don't plan to. We just use up our points every year, or sometimes bank/borrow.

Same with us. We own BWV (13 yrs now) and always stay at bwv with our bwv points. We have BLT for split stays (and we only split with bcv, blt, and poly. Curious about the love for VGF and RIV, but haven’t been curious enough yet….).

 

[Duane]

I guess I would have to create my own category.... We are "The Benevolent Innkeepers"... We have, and use often our 40 ft motorhome to stay at Ft. Wilderness. We have owned at SSR since 2006 and have enjoyed staying primarily there and a few other DVC properties over the years as well... But over the past several years, we have gifted stays to various friends and family to be able to travel down with us to enjoy WDW. We are often the "tour guides" for the trips, and have enjoyed this set up immensely.

Technically, on paper, our RV sleeps 6, but in my reality, it only sleeps 2, not including our dog who travels with us as well. This arrangement allows everyone to have their "own space" (back at whatever DVC property we stashed them at) at the end of the day, where we can continue to be friends for years to come!

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Is it possible to be a combination of #1 and #2? We stay at BCV every trip because it’s our home resort and we use that 11 month window, but we also like to do split stays and experience somewhere new each trip. So we do 4 nights at BCV and 3 nights somewhere else. It’s our “Best of Both Worlds” strategy.

And Foodland Poke!!! Unbelievable. Especially the Foodland in Waikiki…it is on a different level (there is a bar IN the store!!).

 

[crickee]

Definately #2. We've stayed at AK, both Kindani & Jambo House, BWV, BCV, Boulder Ridge, BLT, Poly, OKW, SSR, VGC, RR, HHI & Vero Beach(hmm, have I missed any?). Only places we haven't stayed are VGF, new Disneyland Villas & VFW. We're hoping to do a west coast trip next year & possibly stay at the new villas. No real desire to stay at the other 2 but may do so to check them off the list. There's something to love about all of these resorts but I'd say are favorites are VBR, RR, VBC & Animal Kingdom..

 

[pianomanzano]

A mix of 2, 3, and 6 for us, although after our first stay at Aulani earlier this month I can see 7 in the cards (nothing better than driving to Kapolei for some foodland poke and some island vintage coffee and eating/drinking poolside! We said afterwards that we should give up our APs every 3 or 4 years and blow all our points at Aulani!

Also, after getting off the Disney Magic yesterday, I think there's one more category to add after speaking to a couple fellow owners at some of the DVC events on board. I'd call them the "Seasoned Carefree" owners. These are folks who purchased 15-20 years ago and feel like they've gotten enough value from their membership that they're fine using their points for non-DVC things like cruises or ABD. They may or may not be aware of the poor value or renting out points and paying cash instead, but they're okay with it because they bought at $70/point long ago, have a ton of direct/eligible points to book the collection, and want something different besides the resorts.

 

[BL2020]

My goal is to be 2, but am really a 3 with Sun-Thur stays mostly early May or September, though now my husband discovered 1 bedrooms it has been harder! While my contracts are at BLT/VGF, I try to get split stay in with at least one Epcot resort. So I think it will take me years to hit them all! I'm still missing 5 at WDW and all the others.

 

[tidefan]

A mix of 2, 3, and 6 for us, although after our first stay at Aulani earlier this month I can see 7 in the cards (nothing better than driving to Kapolei for some foodland poke and some island vintage coffee and eating/drinking poolside! We said afterwards that we should give up our APs every 3 or 4 years and blow all our points at Aulani!

Also, after getting off the Disney Magic yesterday, I think there's one more category to add after speaking to a couple fellow owners at some of the DVC events on board. I'd call them the "Seasoned Carefree" owners. These are folks who purchased 15-20 years ago and feel like they've gotten enough value from their membership that they're fine using their points for non-DVC things like cruises or ABD. They may or may not be aware of the poor value or renting out points and paying cash instead, but they're okay with it because they bought at $70/point long ago, have a ton of direct/eligible points to book the collection, and want something different besides the resorts.

Great post!

First off, I am glad others have found Foodland poke! I do have to say that as to coffee, my first stop every trip is to the Kapolei Costco to get the 2.5 lb bag of Royal Kona Vanilla Macadamia Nut coffee, which I then proceed to drink on my Ewa wing balcony, often as I watch the luau for free. I also agree with you about how your perspective can change once you visit. It was the pandemic for us, when they stopped selling APs, that we realized that it was actually cheaper to fly out to Hawaii for a week (thanks Southwest!) than it was to get a 7-day park hopper for each of us.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Also, after getting off the Disney Magic yesterday, I think there's one more category to add after speaking to a couple fellow owners at some of the DVC events on board. I'd call them the "Seasoned Carefree" owners. These are folks who purchased 15-20 years ago and feel like they've gotten enough value from their membership that they're fine using their points for non-DVC things like cruises or ABD. They may or may not be aware of the poor value or renting out points and paying cash instead, but they're okay with it because they bought at $70/point long ago, have a ton of direct/eligible points to book the collection, and want something different besides the resorts.

I know exactly what you're saying here, and we ALMOST got to this point! We bought over 30 years ago, and considered using points for ABD, and even the Asian parks. But when we sat down and did the math, it just didn't work! A terrible use of points, for us (I know folks who love using their points for cruising and ABD!). We have not done it yet, but for us a rental of our points would come before a cruise or ABD! In the meantime, we just keep using them for WDW and DL stays!!

 

[bbn1122]

We are definitely #2, with a little bit of #3. We bought BLT in 2010 and only 200 points, so we am alway banking and borrowin, plus stretching. We love the 5 day Sunday thru Thursday, avoid weekend crowds.

We have stayed at BLT only three times, VGF 2, AKL 1, Poly 1 (as owners), SSR 5 times (point value and always available), OKW 1, RIV 2 (my favorite), HHI 3 and VB 4.
Aulani in September for the 1st time.

We would love to be a #8 with ownership at HHI.

We do a lot of DCL cruises, so we have stayed a few time pre or post a VB or SSR, short stays.

 

[CarolynFH]

I’ve been contemplating my answer ever since this thread began, because of course when we bought DVC, OKW and BWV were the only WDW DVC resorts. So when we bought in, we didn’t really fit any of the categories, because we didn’t rule out staying at OKW, VB or HHI. However, as time went on and DVC opened more resorts, we made mental notes that we’d like to stay in each one, and we’ve stayed at most over the years. So I guess we fit into category #2!

 

[BilLisa]

We're a mix of #2 and #6. We live an hour from Disney and some years we do one big stay, banking and or borrowing, but most years do multiple short stays at a number of different resorts. We've gotten the 1 bedroom villa bug, and don't stay in studios unless we can't find a 1 bedroom somewhere we want to stay that trip. Ultimately want to stay at all the locations, adding CFW later this year to the list. Can't wait, we'll be bringing our dog with us for her first stay at Disney!

 

[mort1331]

May I add #10 The Planner.
We book based upon which parks we are visiting...spit stays a pleanty....MK DVC for MK....Cresent lake for Epcot and HS...AKL for AK.
We have done this for many trips...I know lots who dont like splits but we dont mind.
Because of this we have almost stayed in all resorts, but not because we wanted to..just because it fit in.
Missi ng GF, DLH,VB.
Would have had VB,,wife planned it..wanted just a beach vaca...but I suprised them with a cruise instead...lol..still got some beach time.

 

[Snookies]

After 15 years of ownership and staying at different places, we are now the Flip Flopper in that we pretty much do RIV or RIv and VGF every trip.

We do sometimes include a different one if plans change…or based on our point situation but find that those two meet are needs so well that it just doesn’t make sense to go other places!!

We’ve also settled in as flip-floppers after 19 years. In the early years, we were diversifiers - stayed at BLT, BRV, Poly, VGF, BWV, BCV, OKW, SSR, Treehouses, and Aulani. Now, we mostly stay at BLT. If BLT isn’t available, we’ll try for BRV. When the Poly tower opens, though, we’ll just have to try that