One year living in our timeshares: 2 1/2 year update

[scottb8888]

thanks for the update. Looking for more HHI Points!

 

[dclpluto]

Thanks for the update. You really do have a very nice life. Thanks for serving our great country for 33 years.

 

[lisaviolet]

Our retirement, so far, has been amazing.

How lovely.

We've settled in Sarasota, FL. (Oct 2015) in the Palmer Ranch area. We built a home in a new Divosta subdivision called Sandhill Preserve. We picked this area because of weather, access to beaches, recreation and entertainment. We have the Legacy Trail Bike Path 1 mile from our home. My triathlon athlete wife spends many an hour riding and running on the trail. I enjoy riding my bike 10 miles down the trail to Venice for breakfast or lunch. We enjoy tennis, pickle-ball, swimming, boating, beach and of course, traveling.

I guess we found a place to live like we are at a resort.

That's wonderful. Congratulations on your new home.

I sold some of my DVC points, from a high of 2,900 down to 2,075. I will NEVER sell my DVC points again!

Why? Curious. Missed them? Hated the process?

Disney should take note. Using DVC points for the meal plan.

Yes please take note!

Only one new purchase, Longboat Bay Club on Lido Key, just North of Siesta Key beach and close to St Armand's Circle. Very popular.

I've heard it's just gorgeous. Enjoy.

It was great seeing Disney through the eyes of a 4 year old.

I smiled on that one. So true.

Thank you for the update.

Love reading such a positive outlook and on all riches in your life.

 

[bankr63]

Fantastic thread! I'm glad it got bumped up. So nice to see someone living their dream!

For those who are really into this idea, also check out the posts from RonAndJoan on TUG BBS; another couple doing full time timesharing.

We own Sheraton and Silver Lake (smaller independent Orlando resort), both bought resale. With prudent trading we have been able to leverage this into many more vacations than the base 3-weeks would suggest. Would love to extend that out to many more weeks, but alas my retirement does not appear too imminent.

Have to agree with your assessment of Wyndham. Have traded into a few of their properties and have generally been unimpressed. But then I think that many of us always hold our own resorts up to a high standard, since they tend to be in the places we really like to go. Smuggs was pretty good for a Wyndbag, your DS would like that one for the skiing in the area.

Tried HHI for the first time this March at Waterside, unusually cold, but we managed to make lots of fun - will certainly be back (hopefully warmer weather). Not a golfer, but the riding was great (did lots of trails, and spent a good afternoon riding Pinkney). Long walks on the beach, but with the winter jackets on. Dining options were terrific. I can see why you like that one!

HI is still on our bucket list for when retirement rolls around. DW is a teacher; break is too short to fly that far, and we spend summers enjoying camping in the great outdoors. I'll make note of your recommendations for when we finally get there. We are both hikers and bikers, so your suggestions of Diamond Head and the volcano sound great.

Thanks for posting your experiences; you are an inspiration. (And if you are reading this, I'm sorry it's raining outside).

 

[dcfromva]

This thread was recently referenced, so I decided to give it a bump.

(edited to add: I can't believe this was so many years ago!)

 

[tomandrobin]

Love this thread.....Been a long time since I posted on it or the Dis for that matter. OP is living the retirement dream we had mapped out years ago, with modifications.

Our timeshare/extended vacations have changed because of several reasons. 1) We had a grandson 2) My wife was involved in a life altering accident 3) We had a second grandson 4) Club 33. We have paired down our timeshares and DVC. We bought a beach house close to home, which will become our retirement home. We plan on buying another home in the WDW area for snow birding and long 1-2 month stays. We still love to travel. But we need to be of the impact of physical travel on my wife.

 

[AnnaS]

FINALLY AN UPDATE!!!!

Sorry for taking so long for an update. For no particular reason I became less enchanted with the DisBoards.

We've settled in Sarasota, FL. (Oct 2015) in the Palmer Ranch area. We built a home in a new Divosta subdivision called Sandhill Preserve. We picked this area because of weather, access to beaches, recreation and entertainment. We have the Legacy Trail Bike Path 1 mile from our home. My triathlon athlete wife spends many an hour riding and running on the trail. I enjoy riding my bike 10 miles down the trail to Venice for breakfast or lunch. We enjoy tennis, pickle-ball, swimming, boating, beach and of course, traveling.

I guess we found a place to live like we are at a resort.

Now timeshares....

We travel 20+ weeks a year, mostly out of our timeshares plus cruises. We have limited ourselves to our favorite places - Hawaii, Disney World, Disney Land, Caribbean, Hilton Head Island and Sandestin, FL (panhandle) and Mexico - Los Cabos, Cancun, Cozumel, Zihuatannejo and Playa Del Carmen.

We are currently shuffling our inventory. I'm putting up 6-8 weeks of timeshare on Hilton Head Island for sale and then will buy 3-4 weeks down on the Southwest coast of Florida - Sanibel Island, Ft Myers Beach and Marco Island.

I sold some of my DVC points, from a high of 2,900 down to 2,075. I will NEVER sell my DVC points again!

My maintenance fees are down from about $42,000 a year to about $25,000 per year. More manageable, but still big part of the budget.

Plans for the future... Besides the usual for us, we are looking at river boat cruises in Europe and Alaskan cruises. Also, I think we will reduce our travels to 15 to 18 weeks a year and plan on keeping that up into our 70's - currently 59/58.

Best new timeshare idea I've seen....Fiesta Americana Vacation Club (FAVC) has some of their timeshares co-located with their hotels - just like DVC at Wilderness Lodge. FAVC now allows members to pay for the all inclusive fee with points instead of cash. Normally the all-inclusive fee is about $75 per day, using points comes out to $39 per day - only counting mx fees. So it is a really good deal. Now when we go on vacation, my wife does have to cook on those trips using FAVC points. Disney should take note. Using DVC points for the meal plan.

Only one new purchase, Longboat Bay Club on Lido Key, just North of Siesta Key beach and close to St Armand's Circle. Very popular.

Our favorite resort is Aulani with Live Aqua - Cancun a very close second.

Our dream vacation is Tahiti.

And NO, we are not getting tired of traveling. I can pack a suitcase in around 15 minutes and be ready to go.

Most recent trip was 8 nights at Old Key West starting March 31, '17. We took our daughter for her spring break (teacher). She brought along a teacher friend of hers and her 4 year old. It was great seeing Disney through the eyes of a 4 year old.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my entries. DVC has really made an impact on our lives - for the positive. I never would have imagined traveling so much or being able to afford it without timeshares. Our retirement, so far, has been amazing. I didn't think it could be this good. I still miss my time in the Air Force, but 33 years was enough to give to my country. Serving and flying for me was a passion, not a job. I did not work one day in 33 years. It was all fun, almost.


Upcoming plans for the next 6 months:

Hyatt, Coconut Plantation - 4 nights - beach vacation
Saratoga Springs with mother in law for EPCOT flower show
Disneyland for 4 nights
Hilton Hawaiian Village for 4 nights - downtown Honolulu
(favorite activity - riding my bike up to Diamond Head through Honolulu city traffic and then hiking DH.)
Aulani for 12 nights
Sandestin Florida for 6 nights over the 4th
OKW for 4 nights starting on July 5th for the water-parks
Hilton Head Island for a week - meet the new boy friend
Coconut Plantation for a weekend
Coconut Plantation for another weekend
Longboat Key, FL for a week - beach trip
Labor Day weekend, 5 nights, at Old Key West with the kids
Coconut Plantation for 4 nights
One week oceanfront at Ft Myers Beach with mother in law - boy I'm nice to her!
Grand Floridian for 5 nights for Food and Wine Festival with our daughter and mother in law
That is our schedule for 6 months

Best Wishes for happy, healthy and fun vacationing!!

TIMESHARES ROCK!!!!

Thank you for that update - it has been a while. We are due for another one

Congratulations on your home.

 

[BaybeeYoda]

Update, please? Love your story!

 

[Disneykate605]

I would also love an update! Loved reading the story!