In August of 2006 I took my family (wife & 4 teen age kids) to Walt Disney World (WDW) in Florida. Normally, I would not have thought of doing this , but my sister is a Disney fanatic. She purchased a Disney Vacation Club (DVC) time share. And, being the frugal person that I am , my sister’s offer of staying at a first rate Disney Hotel at no expense to me, worked. I had not considered myself a amusement park kinda of person, but as it turns out I loved it! Disney is a great place for a family vacation. So this got me to think about my Lakefront Property experiences and expenses. I would like to write a side by side comparison.

Disney has to it’s credit a 100 times the activity of a Lakefront Property. Some of these activities are dramatic in scale, such as roller coasters, water parks, and so much variety that I doubt you could experience it all in 10 years of going 2 weeks a year.

Lakefront property is also dramatic in terms of a wide variety of activity. Waterskiing, tubing, swimming, fishing, camping, hiking, walking, sunsets, and kyaking to name a few. But this still pales in comparison to the activities at WDW. You have 4 theme parks and two water parks. Universal Studios amusement park is a short drive away as well as other Florida attractions.

Disney wins hands down in terms of sheer activity. But lets compare time frames:

As this site is tailored towared the working Americans, it is unlikely that people with a full time job could get away to WDW for more then 2-3 weeks (Perhaps only 1 week). The cost of that 2-3 weeks would be phenominal. But we will look at that comparison later. You can go to your lake front property anytime, for any reason. The DVC salesman said to me “How often do you go vacation” I cheerfully replied “every weekend!”. He looked a bit quisical as to say, How do you do that? I explained that I have a lakefront property that the kids and I go to three seasons of the year. That I take regular weekends, long weekends, and week long vacations there. His reply was “that was good because to own a DVC time share you are locking yourself into taking a DVC vacation at least every 2 years”. I could’nt imagine that! You only get to vacation once every two years! I like going every weekend!

In the DVC catalogue, they “brag” about their point system being very flexible. Take your vacation any time of the year, go to any of the disney resorts, and stay in first class lodging. Ok.. that’s great! But only 2 weeks a year! And if you pick a popular season such as summer, your accomdations use more points so you have to stay less time or use more of your points, or come on a less popular time, such as during the School season (pull the kids out of school). I would recommend that if you go to WDW, that you do go during the school year, as the crowds in the summer, during school breaks, or at Christmas and Easter, are so overwelming that WDW has closed the park at times. This is the worst part of Disney. The crowds!!!Yikes!! You cannot walk without bumping into wall to wall people. Average wait times in August were 40 minutes to 2 hours for 1 ride. My sister purchased a book entitled the “Unofficial Guide to WDW”. This book is necessary if you want to have a good experience at WDW. It encourages you to get up early (At the park gates by 8:30am, which means you are up about 7am at your hotel room) rush through the parks to ride the most popular rides early, get “fast Passes”. I believe that this is all necessary. If you want a good experience at WDW, you need to avoids crowds and wait times of hours. If you go, buy that book. So what’s my point?

Your lakefront property has no lines. No wait times. Probably no people to contend with (neighbors or traffic at the worst). The only book that you need is the one you plan to read while sitting on your deck in the sun with a view of the kids swimming. Your boat and waterskis are waiting, as is your fishpole and the fish stories (Not to mention smores and campfires).

While I was staying at WDW, we stayed at Saratoga Springs resort. I thought to myself, I could just stay at the resort and skip the WDW parks (Crowds and wait lines). The resort has it’s own pool with water that is maintained at tempatures that are always inviting (lakes change in tempature, so swimming can be a chilling-refreshing experience!) . The resort has a SPA, health club, and amenities for a top notch time!

My lake front also has the amenities, but not as consistently. The water temp. may be cold, it may rain, or it might be windy. But over the many months of weekends that I spend there, I can guarantee you that I will get more than two weeks worth of sunshine, warm water, walking trails , and water sports. Again, my lakefront does not have the sheer number of activities that WDW does.

I will say that if you gone tubing behind a speed boat at 40 mph, the water park rides and some of the roller coaster rides lose some of there excitement. Tubing has some serious G-Forces!
So here is what we have so Far: Disney far outpaces your Lake front property in terms of shear activity and crowds of people. You can only go (unless you are local in Florida or close by) about once a year for 2 weeks (depends on how much vacation time you get off from work). Your lakefront property you can go to every weekend for three seasons (9 months). So in short, at WDW you get 2 weeks of high intesity activity, or the equivilant of several months of vacation with less avaible activities at your lake front property.

Social aspects of vacations: The one item that Disney lacked for me was a social aspect. I did not know anybody at WDW. There is a good chance that I would never make friends or develop relationships at WDW. People come for a week or two every year and are so focused in the activities that there is no time to develop relationships. WDW has a single vacation purpose: Enagage in intense activities and spend money. Yes, no doubt about it, this was fun. Your lake front property has a social aspect that WDW does not. We have barbacues with our neighbors, I am on the property owners board, my children have winter friends and summer friends! Some of the friendships are quite rewarding. You become friends with people who vacation on the weekend and have a whole other life somewhere else. But when you get together with these neighbors and friends it is a high quality time, as you always meet them on vacation! I feel invovled in a second community. That second community has a purpose: Continued enjoyment of our lakefront property.
Cost: My lakefront property will pay me to enjoy it! that’s right. Many years ago I purchased my lakefront for 35,000 dollars. It is now valued at 200,000 dollars. While it costs me $500 per month right now, If I were to sell it, I will get it all back plus a sizeable profit! Now, I may not sell it, I may not get the profit, but my kids and grand kids will profit in numerous ways, forever!(Profit is not just money, but quality time as a family) A DVC time share is for about 50 years. Then your time share has ended. still not bad. It is unlikely that you will make profit on that vacation. I estimated that if I used 175 points every year for 50 years, that the lodging cost would be $85 a night. Of course you can sell a time share, but they last 40 to 50 years or less then they end, period! (From my research, because Disney sets the price on timeshares by having right of first refusal, you will not make profit and more then likely loose money). My great, great, grandkids could be visiting my lakefront property!

You must also ask yourself what you want out of a family vacation. If you want Sheer activity, WDW is the place to go. And while you could go to WDW to just stay at the resort, you could do that in any city in any resort. So I am goint to think that you are coming to Disney for the “whole” experience. Is it worth the experience? Yes! Is it worth locking yourself into a DVC timeshare, I’m not so sure. It’s fun but:

The crowds at Disney can unbareable! The wait lines are almost unbareable! The expense is high (5 days of park hopper with waterparks and options was $2,000 for 6 people) (Food was nearly $700 {we ate at restraunts 4x for 1 meal each day!} transportation costs. Easily $5,000 for all (Cheaper for me as I had free lodging). No social aspects as described above. Limited to as many points as you have (2 weeks?) Always being the target of marketing! I would hate to come with young kids, they tire easy, want you to carry them, changing diapers, strollers, and the rush-rush of getting around the park to avoid lines and crowds. Plus, with young kids, you can’t ride some of the rides unless you swap off with your spouse or have a sitter.

At your private waterfront property. Much of the above is a miss. You can do nothing all day, or hit the lake with water sports. No lines. No waiting. Cherishable memories. Cost of ownership over the long term? It pays you! I’d like to see WDW pay you back! Convienence and flexibility? Whenever you want, as long as you want (Assumes a 2 hour drive to your lakefront property or 100 miles, which is the statistical average of second home ownership)

In closing, My sister will still think Disney is better then my Lakefront Property. And, if sheer activity is all you want, then she my be right. But WDW will never pay you back!

Buy your Lakefront Propert while it is still affordable!

The Lake Front Nut