West Coast DVC Owners thread

[Disney-Kim]

I thought us left Coasters deserved a thread too...

I am an Arizona DVC'er

We travel to WDW more often than Disneyland:thumbsup2

mainly due to crowds at Dland and costs...but now that DVC is opening...will definately go more often

[drag n' fly]

Hi we live in Calgary, Alberta. Our home resort is AKV. We are adding on at GCV when they open up for purchase:cool1:

[50 years Too!]

Suburb of Portland.
Going to the World on Tuesday!
We have a direct flight now, so its not so bad.
Just wish there wasn't a 3 hour time difference.

Deb

[drag n' fly]

Suburb of Portland.
Going to the World on Tuesday!
We have a direct flight now, so its not so bad.
Just wish there wasn't a 3 hour time difference.

Deb

We are headed there on Tuesday too! Rope drop almost kills me with the time difference.:eek: We can go all night tho! How long is your flight direct? Ours is five hours direct from Calgary.

[harpetj]

We are from Spokane, WA and just recently bought at SSR and will buy in at GCV also. We are going to GCH in May and SSR/BWV in Oct....DD's 1st WDW trip!!!! She loved DL in December.

[#1DisneylandFan]

We're Southern Cal DVCers. Just returned from WDW trip and are still recovering from the 3 hour time difference. The flight over was just under 4 hours and the flight back 7 hours with one stop; that was a killer. What a fantastic trip though - can't wait to go back in November! Also looking forward to the opening of GCV. :yay:

[biolabetty]

Another socal DVC person. I'm going to the Grand Californian Hotel this week using my points, and boy they sure are a lot more than things are at WDW. I asked the DVC reservation person when I called, but she wasn't really sure of the answer to this question-- does anyone know if at the Disneyland resorts you still have to pay the resort fee, or is that included in your points? She hadn't even known that DL made people pay resort fees, but I've done it every time and this is my first time using DVC. Just want to have an idea what to expect.

[lisah0711]

Hello fellow West Coast DVC'rs, especially my neighbor in Spokane.

Went to WDW in January -- the flight is a killer but worth it once you get there. Getting to DL is much easier thanks to a nonstop flight to LAX -- leave home at 5:30 a.m. and be walking through the gates around 11:30 a.m.

Can't wait to buy some GC DVC points soon! :goodvibes

[ACDSNY]

We're south of Sacramento, CA. We still make more trips to DL than WDW so I'm impatiently waiting for GCV to go on sale. Our next WDW trip will be in Nov 2009 with quite a bit of our extended family.

We just found out this morning our exchange to Kauai went through for the end of Oct 2008.:cool1:

[disneymom8589]

We're from Western Washington. Just got back from our 1st stay at our newest home resort - AKV. We loved it!!! Everything about it was better than I had dreamed! :cloud9:

[Snoopygirl]

:wave:

We're in AZ too! We have lived here for 13 years and have only been to DL once and that was last year. We used our pts. and stayed at GCH and it was awesome. But I am partial to WDW since we've been there a lot. We're actually going again the end of next month....YEAH!!!

[50 years Too!]

We are headed there on Tuesday too! Rope drop almost kills me with the time difference.:eek: We can go all night tho! How long is your flight direct? Ours is five hours direct from Calgary.

RedEye there--leaves at 10:25 arrives at 6:45 --5hrs. 20 min.

Wish I could sleep, but I can't. We usually get a dayrate at the Hyatt in the airport and try to sleep for four or five hours and take a shower. Really helps.

Which DVC are you staying at this next week? I'll be at the Beach Club Villas.

Deb

[Califgirl]

Another socal DVC person. I'm going to the Grand Californian Hotel this week using my points, and boy they sure are a lot more than things are at WDW. I asked the DVC reservation person when I called, but she wasn't really sure of the answer to this question-- does anyone know if at the Disneyland resorts you still have to pay the resort fee, or is that included in your points? She hadn't even known that DL made people pay resort fees, but I've done it every time and this is my first time using DVC. Just want to have an idea what to expect.

I'm a So.Cal DVCer that's stayed at the GCH many times on points. You don't have to pay the resort fee. :) And there is free self parking available. However, if you valet park, there will be a charge, but I'm not sure how much it is per night.

Have a great trip! Can't wait for the Grand Californian to finally open their Villas!

[mello]

I agree on the flight/time difference to Orlando - it's not easy, but it's sure worth it! We love both DL and WDW, for different reasons, and can't wait for GCV!

[ToodlesRN]

We are located in Seattle, Wa
Were planning a few trips GCH in Sept, then in Feb 2009 4 night Disney cruise followed by our 1st visit to our new home AKV for 4 nights. We used to fly to Hawaii every year, I am not that worried about the flight since it's a non stop. The only thing now is our 2 year old we need to keep happy! I am so looking forward to GCV opening as we are going to add on there to make more frequent trips to DL!

[Disney-Kim]

We have been to Dland 12-13 times in that last 15 yrs.....but have not been in a couple years.
We prefer WDW as a vacation destination. Dland is a weekender for us.

the flights for us are 4hr 24min nonstop there, about 20 mins longer home. 3 hrs is a big adjustment on that first morning:scared:

We have paid less than $250 pp for air the last 10 trips until last year. We were HAPPY to get $360 on sale:eek:

and we have flown to Florida 2x a year for the last 2 yrs for WDW adn our Cruises...We will fly to MCO twice this year...the $$$ is a killer

[disneydenisel]

We are BCV owners, in the Bay Area. We love WDW!

But I could use advice from you West Coast DVCers...

We are currently planning on going to WDW over Thanksgiving this year. However, I've been tracking airfare for our preferred UA flight times, and the price is $752/pp (down from $900). For our family of 4, that's $3008. I am very sad :(. How do you guys find reasonable airfare these days? When we went in 2005 and 2006, we paid about $450/pp, which was doable. I'm having a hard time justifying the price of airfare. Will there be a real "sale," or with the rising cost of fuel, is this the best I am going to get? It was $705/pp about 10 days ago, but we were on vacation and I didn't check my alerts :(. Even at $705, that's still $2820. I'm having airfare sticker shock.

Any ideas, suggestions?

[La2kw]

We are BCV owners, in the Bay Area. We love WDW!

But I could use advice from you West Coast DVCers...

We are currently planning on going to WDW over Thanksgiving this year. However, I've been tracking airfare for our preferred UA flight times, and the price is $752/pp (down from $900). For our family of 4, that's $3008. I am very sad :(. How do you guys find reasonable airfare these days? When we went in 2005 and 2006, we paid about $450/pp, which was doable. I'm having a hard time justifying the price of airfare. Will there be a real "sale," or with the rising cost of fuel, is this the best I am going to get? It was $705/pp about 10 days ago, but we were on vacation and I didn't check my alerts :(. Even at $705, that's still $2820. I'm having airfare sticker shock.

Any ideas, suggestions?

We fly JetBlue, which isn't booking yet for November. It's not always the cheapest, but we have a JB Credit Card which earns us free flights. We've never paid more than $400 each RT, for the cash tickets from Long Beach or Burbank.

[disneydenisel]

We fly JetBlue, which isn't booking yet for November. It's not always the cheapest, but we have a JB Credit Card which earns us free flights. We've never paid more than $400 each RT, for the cash tickets from Long Beach or Burbank.

Thanks for your reply. Do you like JetBlue? Is there more legroom than your typical cramped United flight? I might consider JetBlue and flying through Austin or New York, since those would be the connections. Is the service good, do all the seats have those little video screens? Sorry for the questions, but I can't seem to find out much on the JetBlue website.

Thanks!

[ACDSNY]

I feel your pain Disneydenisel...I'm looking at the cost of flights to Kauai for Oct since our II exchange went through over the weekend.:scared1:

[mopee3]

We are currently planning on going to WDW over Thanksgiving this year. However, I've been tracking airfare for our preferred UA flight times, and the price is $752/pp (down from $900). For our family of 4, that's $3008. I am very sad :(. How do you guys find reasonable airfare these days?

Any ideas, suggestions?

We have a Alaska Airlines "Signature" credit card, you receive a "companion ticket" each year, which allows a "companion" to fly on the same flight. It gives you the same ticket for $50 + taxes, draw back, card costs $75/year.
We live in Walla Walla, wa and fly out of Portland, we are going the 22nd of this month:banana: :banana: . Using the Alaska A points the round trip cost $10, but it's the redeye going east. We are going first class with a couple of friends in November, :cool1: :cool1: the total round trip ticket cost $1250 for my bride :love: and I using the companion ticket. It costs our friends $1800 for the same flight and lists for $2300 :scared1: on the Alaska Airlines website.

Mo