Retirement changes everything.

[Nickylv]

Congratulations! My situation is similar in many respects in that we are from New Jersey, my wife just retired and I plan to in the next year so. One big difference is that we just became DVC members (CCV) this year but we plan to use our DVC membership to build some great memories for my kids and grand children. Our first big family trip is coming up in January and I'm really looking forward to "watching the smiles on the kids faces" as you enjoyed over the years.

My wife and I originally had some second thoughts about buying into DVC in our mid-60s but those thoughts have vanished. Your post and remembrances just reinforced our decision.

ENJOY!

The memories are priceless. I hope you have the best time in January and please let us know how it all goes….don’t forget to take lots of pictures.

 

[Sandisw]

Congratulations! Visiting Disney monthly during the winter months now that I am retired has been wonderful!

 

[BamaGuy44]

Just want to say OP you are literally living my dream, thanks for sharing. To be retired, financially stable and going on great vacations with extended family, I would feel like I had truly won the game of life.

I have about 10 years to go but DW and I already talk about the trips we will do together and with our family. We already do some extended family trips but time is obviously a big limitation, what with these pesky jobs and all

With unlimited time and money (don’t we all wish) I would travel almost non stop as long as I was physically able. So much world to see. I won’t have unlimited money so I’ll have to settle for more time

 

[E2ME2]

As you get older, you start to think things differently. I retired in April and my wife will retire some time next year. We have been DVC owners for many years and our family has enjoyed the many,many, many trips we have taken and all the fun and memories we have made over the years. Our kids, our Grandson, our step Grandkids (along with extended family members) and now our Great Grandson who is 23 months have all been introduced to Disney. It was time for us to rethink the points we have and also take into consideration the year they expire.

One of my wife’s favorite things is to have a family vacation where everyone is together. This means everything to her. We have one every year, either at Disney World, Hawaii in a Grand Villa (and we have had our share of some awesome Grand Villas) or a large beach house in southern California or New Jersey where we are from, or even a large mountain home in the winter for sking.

Now as retirement comes into play points mean everything. As retirees we will be able to get away anytime we choose, so we need points for that and still wanting to take the whole clan on a fun family vacation to Disney.

Selling a large amount of points at Boardwalk which expires in 2042 (who knew that its right around the corner) and getting points in a resort that will go much further makes sense to us now. Old Key West has the cheapest Grand Villas and could be used for the family vacation every so many years. Our thoughts are on some other contracts that don’t expire until 2057 or later. While my wife and I know we will most likely not be around at that time, our great grandchilden will. We would like them to experience the joy past generations of their family have had.

Looking back many years ago when we purchased our first DVC contract, it was alot of money for what people called a time share. We were concerned whether we were doing the right thing. Well now years, and a few DVC contracts later we know we would never have been able to do the things we’ve done if not for those purchases. This was one of the best investments ever.

While we love the Boardwalk, it makes much more sense for us to be able to purchase more points at a resort that not only uses less points but also expires in a much later year. We do own Animal Kingdom and that expires 2057.

At the age of 18 months, we treated our Great Grandson along with his parents to a 4 day trip in Disneyland (4 hour drive) and he still talks about meeting Mickey and Donald Duck. Can’t put a price on that. So we now have a 4 day trip back to Disneyland in September for his 2nd birthday party.

What’s so special is enjoying the fun and excitement we experience watching the smiles on our kids faces. Same for our grandsons face and now not only do we get to see the joy in our Great Grandson’s face, but we get to see the excitement in his father’s face when he sees his son enjoying the things he had when he was a kid. Nothing better than that!

We took our Grandson to Disney World so many times that one time when he was about 9 years old we said to him “guess where we are going” he said “where?” We said “we’re going to Disney World” his response was “AGAIN?” We still laugh about that.

Changes happen, whether its just the way life goes or ones you make. Disney is not the same as it was 20 years ago. But neither is this world. Those at retirement age can attest to that.

There have been many changes in the parks some good and some not so…but it is still the Happiest Place On Earth when you look thru the eyes of your loved ones. Keeping the investment that we had made many years ago going for as long as we can is important to us. So in closing, here’s to many more years to come as we plan our next chapter of Disney experiences. Enjoy the times you have, it goes quicker than you think. My wife and I were in our 20’s yesterday, we just have to stop blinking. Thanks for reading.

This is an awesome read, and it's encouraging to others. Thanks for posting it. DVC is, and had been for >10 years, a key part of my retirement plan. We bought Direct in 2010, with enough points to stay 7-10 nights per year, and by banking/borrowing, we actually had a couple family vacations between 2010 & 2020, one of which we brought all 3 granddaughters to WDW for the first time, and stayed in a Grand Villa. Would not have been able to do that without DVC! The bonus is that we continued to add on, so that by the time I retired in 2020, we had accumulated enough points to spend 6-8 weeks in WDW each winter (in Studios). That had always been our retirement strategy for avoiding winter in the mid-atlantic and, again, made possible through DVC. In 2023 we're staying for a total of 50 Nights, between AKL & SSR !! & We plan to do another Whole-Family Vacation in 2024. Yes, Disney has changed quite a bit in the the last decade, and not all for the better, but we still derive great value in how we use our DVC points.

 

[Nickylv]

Congratulations! Visiting Disney monthly during the winter months now that I am retired has been wonderful!

Even though my wife is still working, she works from home so we still have the flexability to travel when we want. We do have a few trips to WDW before the year ends. spring, fall and winter are great months to be at Disney. even though we can travel in the summer we pretty much don’t. Too hot and too crowded. Enjoy your winter trips.

 

[Nickylv]

Just want to say OP you are literally living my dream, thanks for sharing. To be retired, financially stable and going on great vacations with extended family, I would feel like I had truly won the game of life.

I have about 10 years to go but DW and I already talk about the trips we will do together and with our family. We already do some extended family trips but time is obviously a big limitation, what with these pesky jobs and all

With unlimited time and money (don’t we all wish) I would travel almost non stop as long as I was physically able. So much world to see. I won’t have unlimited money so I’ll have to settle for more time

Save what ever you can, time goes so fast 10 years will be here before you know it. It took my wife and I a long time to realize that. But when the market crashed in 08-09 we learned a hard lesson. So since then when ever we wanted to buy something we asked ourselves “do we want it? Or do we need it.” We had lost so much in that crash but we knew we had to do what ever it took to be able to retire comfortably. If you look in your closet and see clothes still with their tags on, shoes never worn, a new car just because you needed tires on the old one…all those expences means less for retirement. We have season passes at DL and WDW, We have a credit card that affords us a free companion pass for airfare. So the rest was learning 12 years ago if we don’t need it we don’t get it. We now get to savor the fruits of our labor and we never had to suffer doing it.

 

[BamaGuy44]

Save what ever you can, time goes so fast 10 years will be here before you know it. It took my wife and I a long time to realize that. But when the market crashed in 08-09 we learned a hard lesson. So since then when ever we wanted to buy something we asked ourselves “do we want it? Or do we need it.” We had lost so much in that crash but we knew we had to do what ever it took to be able to retire comfortably. If you look in your closet and see clothes still with their tags on, shoes never worn, a new car just because you needed tires on the old one…all those expences means less for retirement. We have season passes at DL and WDW, We have a credit card that affords us a free companion pass for airfare. So the rest was learning 12 years ago if we don’t need it we don’t get it. We now get to savor the fruits of our labor and we never had to suffer doing it.

Oh we're saving all we can, trust me Should have gotten serious about it earlier, but we're making up lost time fairly well. I wouldn't call us super frugal, but we don't have expensive tastes, so the only thing we really splurge on is travel. So it's a balance between saving and buying experiences and memories. Kids and grandkids are only young once, I don't regret a single penny of what we've spent on vacations.

We had a similar realization as you around the same time. We decided to limit the lifestyle creep and save up to buy our freedom earlier

 

[RunDisney Matriarch]

Congratulations on your retirement and your wife's upcoming retirement! This is such a beautiful post. Like other readers, it brought tears to my eyes. I especially liked the part about enjoying Disney by sharing it with others. So true. Disney gives families an oasis to focus on enjoying time together and building memories to sustain you when you're apart. We're hoping to buy into DVC this spring as we retire -- a little different plan than most folks, but one that's meant for us to enjoy for awhile and for our family to enjoy after us.

 

[fumanchu2488]

As someone on the other side of the hill with 2 small children and a retirement towards 2065 this is a perfect post. Any questions on this board asking “should I buy DVC?” Should be directed here.

Now that my kids are growing up they are proving to be the ultimate measuring stick of time. And to your point it is going by way too fast.

We work every day and the rhythm of life can lull you into autopilot. DVC is one of our outlets to take a break from “life” and enjoy quality time making memories with our families. Right now our trips are the 4 of us. This makes me look forward to years of memories and the legacy that this will create in our family.

 

[Nickylv]

Congratulations on your retirement and your wife's upcoming retirement! This is such a beautiful post. Like other readers, it brought tears to my eyes. I especially liked the part about enjoying Disney by sharing it with others. So true. Disney gives families an oasis to focus on enjoying time together and building memories to sustain you when you're apart. We're hoping to buy into DVC this spring as we retire -- a little different plan than most folks, but one that's meant for us to enjoy for awhile and for our family to enjoy after us.

Owning DVC has given us the opportunity to keep the cost of the rooms in cheque. There is no better feeling than to stay at a Disney owned property. Congratulations on your soon to retire. I just don’t know how I fit work in, there just is not enough hours in a day even without working. Hope your DVC ownership plans happen please do your homework on the difference between buying on the secondary market vs buying right from Disney. There are differences.

 

[Nickylv]

Still waiting on the ROFR

 

[Nickylv]

It took three weeks but we passed the ROFR for the purchase of Old Key west. Disney did not buy it out from under us. Now we can use these points for a Grand Villa for a family get together.

 

[Nickylv]

It took three weeks but we passed the ROFR for the purchase of Old Key west. Disney did not buy it out from under us. Now we can use these points for a Grand Villa for a family get together.

The doc’s just arrived.

 

[Nickylv]

The Doc’s are signed, sealed and delivered. Now we just build up the points at OKW for a family vacation. We have a time share in Big Bear California that we bank in Interval International and use those weeks for two weeks in St Augustine Florida, our favorite place next to disney. We also have a quarter share investment in a condo in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. We own April, September and December. We enjoyed staying at DHHI last year so much that we wanted to be able to stay for longer periods of time and not use up our points, so we now plan to stay in HHI for a month, drive to St Augustine, stay for two weeks, drive to WDW and stay for a few weeks there and head down to DVB for a week, then drive back to WDW for a day or two to be close to Orlando Airport and fly back to Henderson (Las Vegas) where our home is. We are in HHI as I write this, planning to leave 3 days early since a hurricane is heading our way and do not want to be stuck with canceled flights when we are heading back home.

 

[Nickylv]

The Doc’s are signed, sealed and delivered. Now we just build up the points at OKW for a family vacation. We have a time share in Big Bear California that we bank in Interval International and use those weeks for two weeks in St Augustine Florida, our favorite place next to disney. We also have a quarter share investment in a condo in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. We own April, September and December. We enjoyed staying at DHHI last year so much that we wanted to be able to stay for longer periods of time and not use up our points, so we now plan to stay in HHI for a month, drive to St Augustine, stay for two weeks, drive to WDW and stay for a few weeks there and head down to DVB for a week, then drive back to WDW for a day or two to be close to Orlando Airport and fly back to Henderson (Las Vegas) where our home is. We are in HHI as I write this, planning to leave 3 days early since a hurricane is heading our way and do not want to be stuck with canceled flights when we are heading back home.

We put our grandson on the contract so when we are gone it will just go right to him.

 

[geargrinder]

My wife and I both retire in about two years. We put our oldest daughter on our contract and plan to add our youngest daughter as soon as she turns 18.

We plan to have both of them on the contract when we buy into DLH.

Looking forward to small vacations with the wife after retirement and some bigger trips with our kids. Next trip planned is a week at AKL the day after the youngest graduates HS.

 

[Nickylv]

Update:
We have since had two more trips to Disneyland. In September we took our Grandsons family, Daughters family and a few of our Grand Daughter-in-laws family members(which we are all very close) for our Great Grandsons 2nd birthday, which we had a big birthday party at the Breakfast with the charactors. It was such a great time and he will have the memories and pictures of his Great Grand parents, His Grand Parents (both sides) Parents along with some of his Aunts and Uncles and close friends who all love him. We spent 4 days celebrating his birthday and had a blast.
In December we rented a three bedroom Grand Villa at the Grand Californian for 4 nights 5 days and took our grandson and his family and our daughter and her family as part of their christmas present. We again had a great time. I did write about our trip on the forum Disneyland Trip Report if you would like to read about it.
Now as for selling the Boardwalk contract, we are having a very hard time letting it go…we did just purchase points at Old Key West to save for a Grand Villa every few years to take the family. We have our eyes on a few other purchases and then maybe it will be easier to let the Boardwalk contract go. We do enjoy Food and Wine in the fall and its just a short walk to Epcot so we are thinking of a smaller point contract at the Boardwalk or The Yacht or Beach Club just for that.
In February my wife and I rented a 1 bedroom at Old Key West to see how we like it. The rooms were large and nice. The view out on the large porch was just beautiful. It is a very quiet and peaceful place to be. As for a car, we did have one so on a few occasions we did drive to our destination such as Fort Wilderness to the Hoop Dee Doo instead of taking a bus. We also had a reservation one night for dinner at the Boat House in Disney Springs and we drove there. All in all it was a great trip and we are glad we purchased points at Old Key West. I’ll let you know what contract will be next….Oh yeah, this week we were happily informed that we are expecting our second Great Grandchild…My wife and I are so blessed to be alive and healthy to experience generations of family and happily they enjoy being around us.

 

[tom1944]

Congratulations! My situation is similar in many respects in that we are from New Jersey, my wife just retired and I plan to in the next year so. One big difference is that we just became DVC members (CCV) this year but we plan to use our DVC membership to build some great memories for my kids and grand children. Our first big family trip is coming up in January and I'm really looking forward to "watching the smiles on the kids faces" as you enjoyed over the years.

My wife and I originally had some second thoughts about buying into DVC in our mid-60s but those thoughts have vanished. Your post and remembrances just reinforced our decision.

ENJOY!

We are also mid 60s, just retired and from NJ and just purchased DVC

 

[Nickylv]

LOL I’m from Jackson, by Great Adventure and my wife is from Somers Point and Ocean City

 

[Nickylv]

This is an awesome read, and it's encouraging to others. Thanks for posting it. DVC is, and had been for >10 years, a key part of my retirement plan. We bought Direct in 2010, with enough points to stay 7-10 nights per year, and by banking/borrowing, we actually had a couple family vacations between 2010 & 2020, one of which we brought all 3 granddaughters to WDW for the first time, and stayed in a Grand Villa. Would not have been able to do that without DVC! The bonus is that we continued to add on, so that by the time I retired in 2020, we had accumulated enough points to spend 6-8 weeks in WDW each winter (in Studios). That had always been our retirement strategy for avoiding winter in the mid-atlantic and, again, made possible through DVC. In 2023 we're staying for a total of 50 Nights, between AKL & SSR !! & We plan to do another Whole-Family Vacation in 2024. Yes, Disney has changed quite a bit in the the last decade, and not all for the better, but we still derive great value in how we use our DVC points.

My wife will retire the begining of next year, so we will be using our points for trips to Disney World, Disneyland, Hilton Head Island, Aulani, and Vero Beach. After DW retires we are free to go and do whatever we want, when we want. We are thinking Tokyo and Paris.