Anyone NEED an OKW, BWV, or VWL fix right now?

[dianeschlicht]

DH and I have been itching to use our DVC since the events of the past month. We can hardly wait to get to the "World" and forget some of this for awhile.

I realize most are frieghtened to travel, but we really NEED to have some fantasy right now!

 

[Luv2Dream]

Yes, so I leave Monday. Can't wait to see Tiger Woods at the PGA tournament and eat some of that fine food at the Food and Wine Festival.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Unfortunately, we aren't booked until the last 11 days of January, so we have nearly 3 months to wait. Even DH has started playing Disney music and drooling over the new Official Guide. You would think after a couple dozen trips we wouldn't get this way any more!

 

[Laurajean1014]

Your soooo lucky.

We leave in 18 days and are looking forward in going!

Heard the crowds are way down and could use so rest and relaxation.

 

[DiznEeyore]

Oh, yes. My dh talks about going almost daily. Even my 8yo ds said the other day, "Mom, I can hardly wait 'til we go to the Lodge in December." We are so in love with the place, and we've only toured it -- haven't even stayed there yet!

 

[loribell]

It's making me crazy!!! I was there in July for our big vacation, went back in August for a short trip with my mother to join DVC, used her birthday as an excuse. Then less than a month later all of my magic was stollen from me with this awful tragedy. I just keep trying to find a way to go back. The only way with my DS's football probably going in to the first week of December, we plan on winning state this year, would be to go right before Christmas so we wouldn't be able to stay on points. I'm still trying to figure out if we can get away for a few days. I would love to be there to see the Christmas decorations.

 

[ceejay13]

We leave two weeks from tomorrow for a 12 day visit, and can't wait. Like my DH said, if they attack us I'd rather be in the happiest place in the world and die doing what I like the most, vacationing at WDW. It is actually our first stay at BWV and we aren't worried at all.

 

[Regina]

We're going back at the end of November/beginning of December.

We're splitting our stay between OKW and our new addition, the VWL.

I can't wait to walk into the WL lobby and see that huge Christmas tree and the fireplace glowing in the corner. It's going to be fantastic to stay there.

 

[Lisa F]

We already have a great trip planned... dec 25-jan 1 at the contemporary on a great AP rate and then jan 1-jan 11 at the BWV. My husband and I recently decided to use some points to take a cruise as part of that trip as well. We have a cruise booked for Jan 2003, but the recent events have left me not wanting to put things off forever but rather live life to the fullest now. I know that the cruise is not the best use of our points but we have the points and I am really excited to be doing the 4 day wonder.

Lisa

 

[dianeschlicht]

Lisa, sounds like you have lots of points. WE used some for a Hawaii exchange, so we feel like our points are limited for awhile now. We like to take multiple trips a year, but there will only be one in January and then not another until the following January. I am already regretting that!

 

[Lisa F]

We really don't have THAT many points (certainly not compared to a lot of people around here) but we have a number that is just perfect for us (350). Right now they let us go to WDW 3-4 times a year in a standard studio (though occasionally we add a little time with a really good AP rate). I can afford to do that time-wise because I'm in grad school so I pretty much tend to alternate between 70-100 hour work weeks punctuated by WDW trips.

I'm assuming that when I graduate in 14 months that I will have 1-2 weeks of vacation a year and then it will be more difficult to use the 350 points up (we will take guests and get 1 or 2 br's on a regular basis) so I had no problem borrowing a little bit in order to do the cruise. The cruise is costing 162 points, but we got back 45 by canceling some BWV reservations for the same few days as the cruise (hope I made someone on the wait list very happy!) so it's really costing us only 117 more. The reason I had to borrow a few points (17) is that I already have all of my trips booked for 2002!

I just know you wanted to hear all of that! But the other thread about having 900 points made me think, I'm not sure I COULD spend that many points. I really feel like the amount we have right now is perfect for us!

Lisa

 

[dianeschlicht]

WOW! I thought maybe you had 500 points or something, but you actually have less than we do. We have 380 points. The difference is that we NEVER stay in a studio and always go for longer trips. I guess we bought DVC to get away from the hotel type stay.

 

[Lisa F]

We generally go for longer trips also... we do around 2 weeks for NYE/early January, spring break (late march, but that's only 6 nights or so since I generally have work to get back to), and a week in late summer. When we first added on we had points to burn so we did a weekend at the food and wine festival in October.

Last year to stretch our points a little we booked cash nights at the beach club for the holiday nights and then switched to BWV. This year we wanted to stay at the contemporary (so we can walk home from the MK and not have to deal with disney transportation on NYE). When the AP rates came out they were SUCH a good deal that we had to spend a week there (to get the rate checking in on dec 25 and checking out jan 1). The one thing I am a little nervous about is that I have grown to love the amenities of DVC and I'm not sure I can deal without my fridge and microwave for a week!

We bought into DVC because we snagged some AP rates at the boardwalk and fell in love with the area and decided that we didn't want to have to rely on the "AP rate" scramble in order to be able to stay there (or not be able to stay there if we couldn't get the AP rates!). We live in a 1000 sq ft apartment so I have never felt like I need more sq. footage than that in order to be comfortable on vacation . The studios are perfect for us... plenty of room and spacious, with a nice couch and a microwave and fridge (all the cooking I do is heating up leftovers!). I think even the studios are a cut above a "regular hotel room"... at least in our stay at the beach club we couldn't wait to get "home" so that we could really settle in and live the way we like to live on vacation! I'm sure once we have kids that 1 and 2 br will be very much appreciated, but right now they definately seem like a splurge for just the two of us (one that we take now and again but I think I really prefer the studios right now).

Lisa

 

[dianeschlicht]

LIsa,
That's the beauty of DVC. I suspect we will do a studio at BWV sometime when it is just the 2 of us, but we usually have loads of guests, and the next 3 years vacations at WDW are planned with guests, so it will be hard for us to sneak a BWV studio soon. I am hoping to get a night or two prior to guests next year. I know we will love BWV location, but I am not crazy about hotel living, so I doubt we would do it for a whole trip.

I would love it if they could plop down OKW in the middle of the magic somewhere! I suppose it wouldn't be the same though!

 

[OKW91]

My wife and I can hardly wait to visit OKW the 2nd week of December, it will be so nice to have something else to think about! My wife wanted to cancel the visit but I said that I would go myself!! I am not going to let a group of thugs stop me from enjoying something that I really love!! She has since agreed to make the trip. I hope nothing else happens in the mean time to mess up our trip!!!

 

[JonHM]

Maybe we'll run into you - we'll be staying in a BWV 2-bedroom for the last 5 days of January.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Sounds good! We will have some older retired guests with us the last 5 days, so our schedule should be nice and relaxed then. We learned last year not to have first timers or high energy visitors the last part of the trip. I need to relax before I go home!