Working from WDW?

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

Hi all -

I’m curious - for those of you who work remotely, have you ever worked from WDW and if so, for how long? I should clarify to say I don’t mean working from the parks themselves. I know a ton of influencers do this and while I’ve had to take calls from within the parks they’re the exception…

Debating going down for a week in early summer with the intention of spending the days working from the resort - room or other quiet area - and then hitting the parks/pools at night. I’m torn on whether it would be glorious or torturous…

 

[FreeTime]

I work from the resorts every time I go and have been doing so for years. I have also taken video calls from within a park and worked on my laptop (had an AP) from within a park.

Decide ahead of time if you are working/on vacation/working part time. If you say to your co-workers I am working 8-12 and out the remainder of the day, make sure they really understand this. Too many times I have had the best of intentions to work the morning only and then someone insists I must do something in the afternoon.

 

[zavandor]

I haven't done it while in a DVC Resort, my points cost too much for that, I want to fully enjoy them. But I have booked another timeshare in Orlando using the II getaways, working during the day and going to Universal evenings and weekend. I had a Rush of Fear pass for Halloween Horron Nights, so it was IT work during the day and zombies at night, I'll let you decide what's scarier . For under $400 for a week in a 1BR, it was easier to justify working while in Orlando.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

I work from the resorts every time I go and have been doing so for years. I have also taken video calls from within a park and worked on my laptop (had an AP) from within a park.

Decide ahead of time if you are working/on vacation/working part time. If you say to your co-workers I am working 8-12 and out the remainder of the day, make sure they really understand this. Too many times I have had the best of intentions to work the morning only and then someone insists I must do something in the afternoon.

Great advice!

 

[davidhr]

I have multiple times. Sometimes we have extra points and have used all our vacation days, so we book a room and work the during the day. We're perfectly happy spending the evening at a park or at Disney Springs. We flight back Sunday, so we have a full Saturday.

If it's a week I'm going to be working anyways, why not do it from Disney?

If it's a proper vacation, then no, we don't work.

It's one of the things I love about DVC. We'd never be able to do that without it.

Edit to add that the last time I did this, it was from BLT and I struggled with the wifi. Had to use my phone hotspot most of the time. Hopefully they upgrade it with the refurb.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

I haven't done it while in a DVC Resort, my points cost too much for that, I want to fully enjoy them. But I have booked another timeshare in Orlando using the II getaways, working during the day and going to Universal evenings and weekend. I had a Rush of Fear pass for Halloween Horron Nights, so it was IT work during the day and zombies at night, I'll let you decide what's scarier . For under $400 for a week in a 1BR, it was easier to justify working while in Orlando.

I hear you - I unexpectedly have extra points this year due to a loaded resale contract - probably would not have considered otherwise. Those points are too precious!

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

I have multiple times. Sometimes we have extra points and have used all our vacation days, so we book a room and work the during the day. We're perfectly happy spending the evening at a park or at Disney Springs. We flight back Sunday, so we have a full Saturday.

If it's a week I'm going to be working anyways, why not do it from Disney?

If it's a proper vacation, then no, we don't work.

It's one of the things I love about DVC. We'd never be able to do that without it.

Edit to add that the last time I did this, it was from BLT and I struggled with the wifi. Had to use my phone hotspot most of the time. Hopefully they upgrade it with the refurb.

Good call with the wifi - hopefully Beach Club and Poly are ok!

 

[muppets3d]

My wife does some trips, last trip actually I spent vacation time and she worked that week. It seemed to work for her. She worked from the room at Boulder Ridge, in the train room, and the DVC sales center at Springs. There are great places at every resort to work.

 

[Fangorn]

We've done this twice this year. My wife and I both work remotely. We live in Oregon.

In February, we went down for some friend's daughter's wedding. Wedding was on a Saturday. With the distance and the timing, flying down and right back made no sense. Instead, we booked a 1 br at OKW (ended up in a 2BR though) and spent the week before the wedding working from the room. It was fabulous. Even though we worked everyday, it still felt like a vacation. Every evening we had dinner somewhere on property (mostly Disney Springs). The only park we went to was Epcot for an After Hours event on Friday.
We really enjoyed it. Never would have done it without DVC.

In May, we had a trip planned already, but added a couple extra days to the front and worked those days. Enjoyed doing that too. The cross country trip felt more like just a business trip, and our vacation began magically at 6pm without having to finish packing, get up at 3am to get to the airport, stress about the flight, etc. Nice to just close the laptop, grab the boat to DS (stayed at OKW then too) and be at Jock Lindsey's for cocktails.

Steve

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

We did it for a couple of days in August— we work in Pacific Time and have a lot of flexibility, so we would go from about 9-11:30AM and hit some short lines or LL, then head back to the room for a few hours of work, visit a pool or squeeze in a quick ride (you need to be really close to a park) for a midday lunch break, and then worked until about 7:00PM, at which point we’d get dinner and do a couple of evening rides. After the kids went to bed we would work another hour or two— it was a bit grueling and I don’t recommend it for more than a couple of days (and it kind of assumes you have APs or don’t mind buying a full day ticket for 4-6 hours in the park max). Half days would actually work much better, if you have a job that will allow it. That’s what we are planning to do on our upcoming trip, basically alternating half-days and days off while on property.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

We did it for a couple of days in August— we work in Pacific Time and have a lot of flexibility, so we would go from about 9-11:30AM and hit some short lines or LL, then head back to the room for a few hours of work, visit a pool or squeeze in a quick ride (you need to be really close to a park) for a midday lunch break, and then worked until about 7:00PM, at which point we’d get dinner and do a couple of evening rides. After the kids went to bed we would work another hour or two— it was a bit grueling and I don’t recommend it for more than a couple of days (and it kind of assumes you have APs or don’t mind buying a full day ticket for 4-6 hours in the park max). Half days would actually work much better, if you have a job that will allow it. That’s what we are planning to do on our upcoming trip, basically alternating half-days and days off while on property.

This is helpful, thanks! Yes, we have APs and will be staying at BC/BW. Will give some thought to alternating 1/2 and full days!

 

[crisi]

I've done a little "I'll bring my laptop in case" as has my husband. And the in case happens. But it isn't really working from WDW as much as its "putting out fires" in WDW. We've both worked from HHI.

Note that DVC units aren't set up to be working hotels, unlike, say the hotels near the Convention Center where you can reasonable work from the room. WiFi isn't awesome. Desk space is often non existent and you are working from a kitchen table with horrible ergonomics on a laptop screen. You can do it, but I wouldn't do it for eight hours a day unless the majority of that time was on Zoom and not on a keyboard.

 

[beccasmom]

Edit to add that the last time I did this, it was from BLT and I struggled with the wifi. Had to use my phone hotspot most of the time. Hopefully they upgrade it with the refurb.

I agree with this statement. Of all the DVC properties we’ve stayed at, BLT has been the most troublesome with regard to WIFI. We’ve not experienced any issues to speak of anywhere else.

 

[zackiedawg]

I haven't had any problems with wifi in the last few years, at Saratoga, Boardwalk, Boulder Ridge, or OKW. That used to be a big issue going back - but Disney does seem to have worked hard to improve wifi speeds and reception. Haven't tried it at BLT though.

I do some remote work a few days each trip - usually for a designated time such as 8:30am to noon for reaching co-workers or clients, and then some later hours 8-11pm for catching up on e-mails or document work. I remote to my office desktop, take zoom calls, etc. I always let coworkers and clients know my limited hours so I can spend the rest of the time enjoying my vacation.

 

[muppets3d]

If i knew I was doing heavy remote work for more than a day, I'd book a 1 bedroom villa at most resorts, or maybe a resort studio at Grand Floridian, because you get a desk.