Staying DVC but not using wdw parks

[Midges17]

Hi
Anyone stayed with DVC points but not used wdw parks?
I have an OKW contract that I’m trying to sell it, (unsuccessfully at the moment!) if it doesn’t sell before next year I would use the points to stay on site but we want a break from Disney parks! Anyone done this?

[PoohBears#1fan]

Yep!

We’ve had several non WDW trips where we’ve done the Universal parks & off site things instead, usually when we’ve Holiday’d elsewhere so it’s an extra trip where we’re trying not to overspend.

We prefer any of the hotels that aren’t right next to a park, OKW / AKV are perfect 😊

[Shooby doo]

Have done it the other way & only done Disney but seriously considering it for next May.Our Universal AP has been "frozen" & will restart once we use them again but with current restrictions & "closures", we're not sure that we want to pay the additional hefty price just to do Disney.IYKWIM
SD

[KarenG]

Sure have, but only for short stays en route somewhere else. Nowadays I’d rent the points (assuming I could get a better price than the ‘fire sale’ numbers and stay somewhere else cheaper / nicer.

[Midges17]

Thanks for the replies, it would be for almost our full fortnight stay, we do have a one day non expiry left on a ticket from years ago or wondered if they were doing any ticketed evening events we might do a day/night at MK but the rest of the time we would be at universal, sea world etc! Would probably just stay at our home resort as nice & close to DTD & we have water parks left on tickets too.

[PoohBears#1fan]

Originally Posted by Midges17

Thanks for the replies, it would be for almost our full fortnight stay, we do have a one day non expiry left on a ticket from years ago or wondered if they were doing any ticketed evening events we might do a day/night at MK but the rest of the time we would be at universal, sea world etc! Would probably just stay at our home resort as nice & close to DTD & we have water parks left on tickets too.

See more...

This is what we've done, we've done it twice in October and bought MNSSHP tickets, which have given us an afternoon and night in MK plus the party of course, as DVC members we can get into MK at 2pm on a MNSSHP day so gives us plenty of time to do everything.

We worried at first that we'd pine for the parks but we really didn't, I think if we'd been staying at BCV or BLT practically over looking one of them then it may have been different, but being at AKL was 'far away' enough for it to not be in our face, and very to get offsite to eat, OKW would be the same with the advantage of Springs close to hand as well.

Enjoy

[Midges17]

Originally Posted by PoohBears#1fan

This is what we've done, we've done it twice in October and bought MNSSHP tickets, which have given us an afternoon and night in MK plus the party of course, as DVC members we can get into MK at 2pm on a MNSSHP day so gives us plenty of time to do everything.

We worried at first that we'd pine for the parks but we really didn't, I think if we'd been staying at BCV or BLT practically over looking one of them then it may have been different, but being at AKL was 'far away' enough for it to not be in our face, and very to get offsite to eat, OKW would be the same with the advantage of Springs close to hand as well.

Enjoy

See more...

Ooh didn’t realise we got in at 2pm! We just went at 4pm last time we did MNSSP.
Would probably need to be school summer holidays but wondered if they would do a summer evening like they’ve done previously.

[Br'er Bear]

Yes, since the children stopped coming annually we've stayed many times without going into any parks.

Consider a few days down at Vero, take the boat and monorail transportation to get to the other WDW resorts to eat or pool hop and see if you can bagged a club level studio at Jambo for a night or two.

Also, we seem to enjoy the parks even more when going back after a break of a few years.

Happy planning for a non-park stay.

[onion2803]

Yep, we do this every year! We go for 3-4 weeks, stay in DVC and usually bookend the stay with two offsite hotels (usually something cheap like Rosen Inn @ Pointe or Clarion LBV) which we use to do our shopping etc.

As we tend to travel in Aug/Sept, we usually splash out on MNSSHP or HHN tickets but could easily do without...I thought I’d really miss the parks but I don’t. We love a day at discovery cove too.

We do a lot of resort hopping though, I think we stayed in 8 DVC hotels last year (I did attempt a trip report but never managed to finish it!). It’s not for everyone but we love it, we get our luggage collected and dropped off by bell services and we just spend the day by the pool or at Disney Springs. MDE send you your room number on the app so no need for check in/out either. We don’t have kids though and my husband packs lightly 😂 I use packing cubes so it’s all very straightforward!

Just planning for next August this morning!

[Feebee2]

We had 14 days at SSR with just two park days. We enjoyed it as I really love exploring the resort's so no hardship.