DVC stays - special ideas, traditions, etc.

[SecondEventuality]

Hey All,

The countdown is killing me so I should distract myself with more effective ways to celebrate our very first DVC stay next month. As Petty said, "The waiting is the hardest part."

Do you and your family do anything special for your stays since becoming a member, especially the first one? I'd love to hear ideas of how you made it more magical and level it up, whether that's with pictures, events, etc, to start new traditions!

Thanks!

 

[CraigInPA]

In the past, we'd go buy a resort pin for whatever resort we were staying at. Unfortunately, Disney hasn't been creating new pins fast enough to allow us to get different pins than ones we have, so we stopped doing it a few years ago.

As DVC members, we try to do something different every trip. For a while, we were taking a different tour on each trip. This is the first year in a while we haven't booked one, and Disney Destinations noticed and mailed us a glossy brochure outlining some of the more expensive options.

 

[Yensid67]

Go to the Top of the World Lounge at Bay Lake Tower. It is, in my opinion, one of the best perks made available to DVC members.

 

[mousestruck]

We just make sure that we do something new each trip, whether it's a special tour, a new restaurant, or another experience. We really enjoyed the "Caring for Giants" tour at AK last trip and will be doing the new rhino tour next month. One of our favorite experiences was renting a pontoon boat (with another family) to see the MK fireworks... really magical! And we also want to try Painting with a View at the Contemporary!

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

We eat at Narcoosies the last night of every trip. (our home is VGF)

 

[MICKIMINI]

We always try a new restaurant, take a different tour and this year - finally, started wearing (gasp!) coordinating (not matching) tee shirts. I had a blast ordering iron on's from Etsy and supima cotton tee shirts from Land's End that were on clearance...decisions, decisions to figure out which designs looks best on which shirt. Several were Halloween, but we tend to go every year at that time and some more generic which we can wear in May. We're staying at the Poly so I'm working on shirts for that trip. My husband actually thought it was fun when people complimented his "I'm just here to pay for everything" tee shirt so he's finally bought into it. Have fun!

 

[ElizabethG]

We have different traditions depending upon which resort we are staying at. We also try to do something different on each trip. (I recently got a glossy VIP tour brochure too)!

The only thing we have done on every trip is finding time to relax and watch Lilo and Stitch from our room. That has been the only thing we have done on every trip. Ohana!

 

[sleepydog25]

We almost always drive, and when we do, we have certain music queued to play during various parts of our trip. For the majority of the trip, we play classic Disney tunes from various collections my wife had before we married. When hit Florida, we begin interspersing those with a soundtrack I made that consists of western-themed music (our home is VWL): "The Magnificent Seven," "Silverado" theme, arrangements from Aaron Copland, et. al. Once we hit Disney property, we switch solely to the western themes, in particular, songs we love to hear while staying at the Lodge. Finally, once we turn onto Timberline Drive, I play what for some reason has become my ode to the Lodge--the closing credits theme to the movie Quigley Down Under. Tradition! On a side note, every time we'd pull up to the Lodge to unload our luggage at the main entrance, the voice on our old GPS would say, "You've arrived. The destination is on your left." We always got a kick out of that since the actual building was always on our right. Newer GPS is smarter. . .sadly.

 

[kboo]

We usually stay, or start our stay, in the MK area, so dinner is often 1900 Park Fare on our arrival day.
Because my girls like princesses, we usually try to do 1 castle/princess meal (Akershus or CRT).
We also try to do one "new" thing on each trip.

Now that my girls have their own preferences, I ask them to pick 1 thing they really want to do, and 1 restaurant they really want to visit, and add those into our plans. Often this = 1 castle/princess meal. And FOP.