Hi all:
This morning I booked my first DVC trip.
We are staying in a 2BR at OKW 3/8-3/11. This ressie is a good example of what DVC allows someone to do that they might otherwise not even consider.
So we're flying into Ft. Myers earlier in our trip to see family. Normally we would then drive up and see family / friends in Tampa. The problem with the Tampa leg is that we have hotel and rental for that whole side of the trip. My wife asked if my mom and step-dad would be willing to come over from Tampa if we got a 2BR. I asked, they said yes, I got on the phone thinking there wouldn't be a 2BR available anywhere, but lo and behold - SSR and OKW were both available.
Before DVC we would have never even considered this, but with DVC we end up having more of a vacation, stay in a nicer place, and end up saving the money we would have otherwise spent on hotel and rental car in Tampa. The other benefit to this is that we use up some of our DPs (which had to be used by 12/4/08). We knew we wouldn't be able to get to WDW until Nov or Dec and really wanted the 11-month booking window w/ our UY points for that trip. We still have 27 DPs left, so we're thinking we may book a trip in Nov / early Dec w/ banked 2007 UY points (and probably some 2008 UY points, but bank the rest) and then add on a day on the front end at 7 mo w/ the left over DPs.
Anyway, I think I may be getting the hang of this. It has been 3 big DVC days for the wife and me. First we get our pins Monday night and promptly spend 15 mins trying to think of User Names and Passwords, 2 hours looking at the DVC website, and another hour planning vacations over the next 25 UYs
Then this idea comes up for March, we crunch a bazillion different type of point combos, think we have it all figured out, and when the CM (who was great) says there was both SSR and OKW available - I totally froze. "Uh, uh, I don't know." 
And now that I'm thinking about it, my parents will probably go back on the 10th, which means maybe if the 2BR is a lockoff, or if I could get a lockoff, then I could do a 2BR on the first 2 nights and then a 1BR on the last night. So many darn variables....
So we're planning on this March trip to be w/o parks (another advantage to DVC - we know we'll come back later in the year). We figure we'll just kick back and let the kids play in the sand and the water, and head over to DTD to spend the money we saved by not staying in Tampa.
Take care, and happy holidays all.
Adam
This morning I booked my first DVC trip.
We are staying in a 2BR at OKW 3/8-3/11. This ressie is a good example of what DVC allows someone to do that they might otherwise not even consider.So we're flying into Ft. Myers earlier in our trip to see family. Normally we would then drive up and see family / friends in Tampa. The problem with the Tampa leg is that we have hotel and rental for that whole side of the trip. My wife asked if my mom and step-dad would be willing to come over from Tampa if we got a 2BR. I asked, they said yes, I got on the phone thinking there wouldn't be a 2BR available anywhere, but lo and behold - SSR and OKW were both available.
Before DVC we would have never even considered this, but with DVC we end up having more of a vacation, stay in a nicer place, and end up saving the money we would have otherwise spent on hotel and rental car in Tampa. The other benefit to this is that we use up some of our DPs (which had to be used by 12/4/08). We knew we wouldn't be able to get to WDW until Nov or Dec and really wanted the 11-month booking window w/ our UY points for that trip. We still have 27 DPs left, so we're thinking we may book a trip in Nov / early Dec w/ banked 2007 UY points (and probably some 2008 UY points, but bank the rest) and then add on a day on the front end at 7 mo w/ the left over DPs.
Anyway, I think I may be getting the hang of this. It has been 3 big DVC days for the wife and me. First we get our pins Monday night and promptly spend 15 mins trying to think of User Names and Passwords, 2 hours looking at the DVC website, and another hour planning vacations over the next 25 UYs
Then this idea comes up for March, we crunch a bazillion different type of point combos, think we have it all figured out, and when the CM (who was great) says there was both SSR and OKW available - I totally froze. "Uh, uh, I don't know." And now that I'm thinking about it, my parents will probably go back on the 10th, which means maybe if the 2BR is a lockoff, or if I could get a lockoff, then I could do a 2BR on the first 2 nights and then a 1BR on the last night. So many darn variables....
So we're planning on this March trip to be w/o parks (another advantage to DVC - we know we'll come back later in the year). We figure we'll just kick back and let the kids play in the sand and the water, and head over to DTD to spend the money we saved by not staying in Tampa.
Take care, and happy holidays all.
Adam
