3 reports + links to more- 8 days since May + conversations galore

[bumbershoot]

You can PM, but you could also ask it here if you want. I've never rented points (as the renter or rentee), but I've read a lot about it over on the DVC rent/trade forum. They have quite a bit of great info to read through before doing it.

We heavily considered renting before buying, but jumped the gun on that, LOL.

 

[Hawleys]

Wow, you are fast! I didn't want to hijack your thread but since you don't mind, I'll ask my questions here.

Any idea why the VGC units cost so many points compared to units at WDW? What are the advantages of staying at VGC vs. staying at a Disney hotel?

And finally, when is your first stay?!

 

[bumbershoot]

We don't yet know when our first stay is. We had planned to do a big thing at WDW in October, but then the layoff happened. Therefore, the vacation time isn't there right now.

The Grand Cal villas have very few units compared to the ones at WDW.

But I just pulled out my '09 and '10 planners to really look at points. Choosing a vacation time of Jan 10-20 (checking out the 20th) next year, staying in a studio.....

During that stay, the nights of the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th are going to cost 15 points each. The 15th and 16th are Fri and Sat and so would cost 27 points each (yowza). Then 17th, 18th, 19th, are back to 15 points each night.

Compared to the Wilderness Lodge Villas...Sun through Thursday are 13 points, Fri and Sat 20 points each. So each night isn't *that* far off, but when you start adding it up, with the extra 2 points per Sun-Thurs nights, and the extra 7 the other nights...the difference gets large.

SSR the same time is 12 points per night Sun-thurs, and only 18 points Fri and Saturdays...

Vero Beach during that time frame is Dream Season, and so it's 12/night Sun-thurs, and 21 per night fr and Sat.


etc etc, and I"m sure you already know all of that.


Now if you want to hear expensive....I don't have the info for 2010 right now, but the points chart for 2009 shows that during that same time THIS year, using points to stay at the Disneyland Hotel would have been considered PEAK season, and it would have been 30 points per night during the "cheap" nights, and 49 per night Fri and Sat. ouch.


Staying at the hotels, you get housekeeping each day. Staying in the villas, you don't. Staying in the villas you get some sort of kitchen (tiny, simple for the studio, bigger for the 1/2 bedrooms/grand villa). And that's about the limit of my knowledge of differences.

Once the Villas open, you'll hear more about what it's like there.


Anyway, for whatever reason, Disneyland tends to be more expensive than Disneyworld. Taxes, hotel fees, food, etc, all more expensive. And given the tiny size of the GCVillas, it just follows that they would be on the higher side too.

 

[toocherie]

Anyway, for whatever reason, Disneyland tends to be more expensive than Disneyworld. Taxes, hotel fees, food, etc, all more expensive. And given the tiny size of the GCVillas, it just follows that they would be on the higher side too.

Molly--when I questioned once why popcorn was considerably less expensive at WDW than DLR I was told it was the difference in employee costs.

 

[bumbershoot]

That makes sense, too.

Cheryl, you're going to have to come back here to really help out with the difference between staying at the Villa vs the Hotel in a month or so!

 

[Hawleys]

We don't yet know when our first stay is. We had planned to do a big thing at WDW in October, but then the layoff happened. Therefore, the vacation time isn't there right now.

The Grand Cal villas have very few units compared to the ones at WDW.

But I just pulled out my '09 and '10 planners to really look at points. Choosing a vacation time of Jan 10-20 (checking out the 20th) next year, staying in a studio.....

During that stay, the nights of the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th are going to cost 15 points each. The 15th and 16th are Fri and Sat and so would cost 27 points each (yowza). Then 17th, 18th, 19th, are back to 15 points each night.

Compared to the Wilderness Lodge Villas...Sun through Thursday are 13 points, Fri and Sat 20 points each. So each night isn't *that* far off, but when you start adding it up, with the extra 2 points per Sun-Thurs nights, and the extra 7 the other nights...the difference gets large.

SSR the same time is 12 points per night Sun-thurs, and only 18 points Fri and Saturdays...

Vero Beach during that time frame is Dream Season, and so it's 12/night Sun-thurs, and 21 per night fr and Sat.


etc etc, and I"m sure you already know all of that.


Now if you want to hear expensive....I don't have the info for 2010 right now, but the points chart for 2009 shows that during that same time THIS year, using points to stay at the Disneyland Hotel would have been considered PEAK season, and it would have been 30 points per night during the "cheap" nights, and 49 per night Fri and Sat. ouch.


Staying at the hotels, you get housekeeping each day. Staying in the villas, you don't. Staying in the villas you get some sort of kitchen (tiny, simple for the studio, bigger for the 1/2 bedrooms/grand villa). And that's about the limit of my knowledge of differences.

Once the Villas open, you'll hear more about what it's like there.


Anyway, for whatever reason, Disneyland tends to be more expensive than Disneyworld. Taxes, hotel fees, food, etc, all more expensive. And given the tiny size of the GCVillas, it just follows that they would be on the higher side too.

Hi Bumbershoot. Thanks for doing the side-by-side comparison. It is only a few more points a night at VGC but it DOES add up. The number of points that you quoted as needed to stay at the hotels is just insane.

From the posts on the DVC forums it sounds as though there is reasonable availability so I may be able to pick something up close to our travel dates (Jan/Feb, fingers crossed). I'm really hoping to stay onsite and renting points gives me another option for doing this, although it may not turn out to be at all cost effective compared to renting a room at one of the hotels.

OT, as a former Seattle-ite, it's nice to hear from someone in the Pacific NW. Love CA but miss that certain mindset.

Now that your husband is full time again (right?), I hope you can start planning your big WDW trip.

 

[QueenDoOver]

So when is your birthday Molly?

 

[kaoden39]

Molly, I am glad to hear that the rest of R's traveling went well. There is nothing worse than someone like that to ruin a trip.

 

[bumbershoot]

So when is your birthday Molly?

About a month after yours, if I'm remembering correctly that you're taking a day trip next month halfway through. It's on the true Columbus Day (the actual day, not usually when it's celebrated, if, indeed, we celebrate that day anymore, LOL).

 

[bumbershoot]

Dang! What is going on with the companies we're dealing with recently?

I've noticed this a little bit the last (also first) time I went to this place, but today it just really bugged me. Robert bought a new belt a few months ago. He didn't want the emotional pain of measuring for it, so he bought it bigger than he should have, and needed new holes punched in it before he could even think of wearing it.

I found a shoe repair place that has a belt hole puncher, and said they would do it for free (the dry cleaners said they could, but they charge a few bucks).

Now...y'all know of Robert's struggles. Adding to that, he's never been the type to just put the belt lower and lower on his hips, like my dad does, and pretend he hasn't changed "waist" sizes. I've actually had to convince him to lower it a little bit, b/c he was kind of treading into Urkel waters, relatively, at one point, LOL. So, unlike what seems to be most men, his belt size is actually his waist size, as are his pants.

So the belt isn't tiny.

Well, even though these guys said it was a "quality" belt, it has a backing that is coming off (didn't even know it had a backing, we thought it was a big thing of leather, ew icky ew). So we need to fix it.

I brought it in today. I had the belt in my hand, coiled, and I'm trying to find the spot where the backing is unsticking, while the counter-guy finishes up with other customers. And some dude sitting in chairs starts *making jokes* about the size of the belt. I have my child with me. I am a woman, and this is a man's belt, and even though I'm not happy with my size, I'm not the size of the belt...I don't know who he thought it belonged to, but surely he couldn't have realized it was very likely my husband's, before making fun of the size of the belt?

He said something like "need us to make that longer?" in a sarcastic tone. I just looked at him. He said something about needing more holes punched (but from his tone I could tell he was thinking of more holes at the end of it, to make it so a person *gaining* could wear it). I stared at him. Showed him the backing. Silently.

He said "oh".

Got up off the chair...and went into the back...he was an employee.

Making fun of a man's belt in the hands of a woman-with-wedding-ring, who has a child with her.

What the????? What on earth?


Then I get to the counter, and the guy there isn't letting me tell him what he wants, he starts assuming we need more holes at the end too (not to make it "smaller"). Then when I told him he was wrong, and that it was purchased way too big and we needed all these holes and they were so kind to do it (for free), and he'll soon need more punched...he commented on how my husband must be stretching it out so yeah he'll need new holes! WHAT?????

I icily replied that no, he's LOSING weight (said in an astonished at the behaviour voice). The guy shut up.

I asked him how to glue it, when he said he'd glue it and it would take a week. He told me. I bought the same contact cement the guy said he would use. We'll do it ourselves.

I won't be going back. After I find a new shoe/belt repair place, I'll be writing the owner a letter.

You don't make fun of the belt size of people. You don't make fun of the belt size when the belt owner isn't there. And you do NOT make fun of the father of a small child in front of the small child, damnit!


********
By the way, interesting info from the Transportation forum...while the rudeness and all of that remains inexcusable, and while the flight attendant did something she really really shouldn't have, it turns out that you can't sit in an exit row seat if you need a seat belt extender. Something to do with it possibly tangling people as they go into the row in an emergency or something like that. So that is good to know.

Of course, seating an 11 year old (turns out Air Canada has no firm age for that row) along with her mother, isn't a good idea. Not b/c of the kid...but b/c you're not supposed to sit there if you are responsible for someone else!

So all of that remains inexcusable...but the belt extender/exit row thing is good info.

 

[kaoden39]

Molly, you are a saint. I would have totally lost. I would have regretted it later but it would have happened. What a creep. Let the owner know what a jerk they have in their employ.

 

[bumbershoot]

What's crazy is that it was two separate people, and on the time I went in before, it was a third person.

If they'd start charging for hole-punching, maybe they would appreciate their customers more and stop making fun of them? After all, weight loss or gain would mean more money for them.

I have a really thin skin for teasing to begin with, and my lifelong reaction to it is to go quiet and feel hurt instead of lashing out, which is likely why I didn't flip out on them... But thin skin aside, I'm just mystified how these guys (all relatively trim) think it's even an option to make fun of a person's belt size.

Harumph.


And today Robert was told he's going to another foreign country from late Monday to Friday afternoon. Turns out...I'm not, so much, cut out for being a business traveler's wife! Whoopsie!

(but I'm good at researching, and this trip I get to book R's hotel on his business card, so we get rewards website rewards on the hotel stay, yay)

 

[kaoden39]

Maybe, but you are a customer anyway right? Or you were. I would be the same way if Scotty were traveling like that. How nice that you are able to do the planning, that way you know everything and don't have to worry.

 

[Hawleys]

That makes sense, too.

Cheryl, you're going to have to come back here to really help out with the difference between staying at the Villa vs the Hotel in a month or so!

Yes, I am looking forward to hearing about the Villas.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm having extremely conflicting thoughts of....put that last bit of severance money towards the car payment! vs dude, it's my only 40th birthday and I rarely celebrate my birthday anyway, I really ought to do it up a bit.

I mean, my good friend is planning on going to Wales for her 40th! I just wanna go to Anaheim...


I stayed up until probably 5am reading Total Money Makeover, and I know the proper answer, but it really seems that travel is important to us. It was one of the foundations of our relationship; we had both somehow dated people who didn't want to travel anywhere...maybe to Vegas but not anywhere else...we get really antsy if we don't go somewhere every so often.

Of course, now R is getting his travel bug taken care of by his job, harumph.

The what I should do is butting up against this big birthday of mine, and I'm at an impasse about it. (Oh, and Robert is on the side of Disneyland, in that they both want me to Celebrate!)

 

[kaoden39]

I say go for it. I am going to enable and say do this for yourself. You will never have another 40th birthday. Do it up big. Enjoy yourself.

 

[bumbershoot]

I knew that would be the answer here.

Wonder what the budget board or community board answer would be?

Or worse, the livinglikenooneelse board (dave ramsey peeps)?





Hubby is coming home early today b/c he gets to get on a plane at almost midnight tonight! Gone until evening on Friday. What on earth are E and I going to do????



Speaking of the whole Ramsey thing, I need a huge pep talk on selling stuff! Or even just donating stuff. We have SO much that needs to leave this condo, and I just get chicken or weird about it. I'm afraid of selling on ebay...I'm afraid (truly) of selling on craigslist. And the last time we tried to sell stuff at a pawnshop, after waiting half an hour, they looked at what hubby was holding and said "oh we aren't buying those". It's an all in one printer that we got from MIL after FIL died. We want to replace it with a smaller, sleeker one, so we can downsize the desk, but I REFUSE to replace until we are rid of it first. We just replaced the shredder with one that destroys cards (credit-type cards) b/c it was a bargain with a rebate, but that was against my better senses (though I've really appreciated the shredder), and the old one is still around.

But wait...the old was was also from my MIL. Maybe I should not try to make any money off of these gifts?

I also have E's clothes, I have some of our clothes that I just want to donate, etc etc, they've been in piles and stacks and bags in my closet that I should be able to walk into, but I can't walk into it b/c it's filled with bags and stacks of old clothes! Augh.

 

[Brady's Mom]

I'm going with kaoden on this one, too. I am not much of a birthday celebrater either. My birthday is on Weds. and I am sort of ehhh about it. My hubby is funny and always remembers dates and important stuff like that and wants to pin me down on what he's making for dinner this weekend and all that - I'm still sort of ehhh.

We did go to DLR for my 40th birthday and just in July, his 50th birthday and it was a great way to celebrate a milestone. Can you feel the enabling vibes coming your way??? Now, whenever I think about being 40+ there is such a happy, sweet feeling, not any sort of stigma or oldness or anything.

I know for my hubby going to DLR for his 50th b-day was a big thing, too. We have had a lot of heartache with death and incurable cancer and close family member almost dying this summer, so going and making those great memories was a very GOOD thing for us. It helps us remember to enjoy the moments and cherish the memories that we make with each other and our families.

You could always remember Suze Orman's saying - People first, money second, things third. Maybe that will put a good spin on it for you.

 

[kaoden39]

The clothes I can be a great support on, I have hard time parting with books. I always want to reread so I don't want to part with them. Now the clothes are a good one to give away. Take them to a local church or homeless shelter. I am not Catholic but I always think to take the kids outgrown clothes to a Catholic church or any church because they will reach someone who needs them. Children's clothes are always needed somewhere.

I always feel like I don't want to part with things because they still work. I don't want to sell on ebay because I am afraid I will need then again. And as far as selling on Craigslist forget it. My husband trades and gives away things on freecycle. That scares me to death too but there has never been a bad experience here.

Sorry if I am not any help here.

 

[bumbershoot]

Ooh, more enabling.

It IS a once in a lifetime birthday, after all. And it would make my guys veyr happy, since I'm really not much of a celebrator for "my day". Not age-related, I just don't much like people singing to me, never have. We were at DL back in '06 around my b'day so I got a button, and I took it off a couple hours into the day b/c I was so bugged by all the well wishes.

And it's amazing how having a 5 year old keeps me from feeling old! Oh don't get me wrong, I can have my moments. But now we belong to the Y and I'm starting slowly to get back to exercise (better to do that for me than to blast into something then drop off when I hurt myself), and I am feeling better about that, etc. I know for sure that while I might not look as amazing as a couple of my college/HS friends who turned this age before me, I don't feel anywhere near as old as most of them did. So that's good.


For unrelated reasons I was looking up a boutique online, b/c I thought it had closed but then I saw their vehicle at the store the other day, and while looking at "street view" on googlemaps, I saw a readerboard on another business's sign...it said "sometimes a good scare is better than good advice". And wowie, isn't that the truth????? Sure matches our money experience since April 2nd!

I still can't believe we put 3K towards principal on our car loan. We could sell it right now and come out even (would get more than just even if we fixed some paint rub/scratches). It's just amazing. (considering how high the stupid interest is, and how much we've paid on it for 2 years, to JUST now get even, AFTER paying so much in principal)



I wonder if there are any Villa studios available around the time of my b'day? We're approaching the use-or-bank time, and we were going to bank the DVC points for use for a big family blow-out trip next year, with banked points, 2010 points, and borrowed points...but maybe we don't have to bank All of those points. That would eliminate the cash cost for a place to stay...

Of course there's still food to worry about! (airfare would be covered by the rest of severance)