Bad Economy=More Banking or Renting out Pts?

[Golden Rose]

We've already been to WDW once this year and we're still planning on a second trip in October during F&W. Between DVC and our annual passes, WDW is just about the cheapest vacation we can take right now. (We were joking about that just the other day... our friends were talking about how it was too expensive to go to WDW, and we laughed and said, "Not for us!")

We're trying to adopt, so we might have to move or cancel our October trip if we happen to get the magical call right then, but otherwise, we're planning on that second trip.

 

[mom2rb]

I rented 3/4 of my points to pay for my airfare, tickets, and spending money. I will use my Developer's Points for my trip in Sept. Then I will use the other 1/4 of my points for my trip in May 2010.

 

[KirstenB]

Our trips are very low cost, so no changes here. DH and I do 3 days in a studio in HH in March, and then we all go to WDW as a family and stay in a 2br for Sun-Thurs. We have 200 pts, and this pretty much uses them up each year. We're not foodies, so counter service works for us. We have Busch Gardens platinum passes, so BG in Tampa, and Sea World are free. Last year we bought the Universal Studios 7 day tix and were hooked. We had no idea there was so much for the entire family, so we'll likely skip WDW parks again this year. Finally we drive down, so no airfare. I can't add up exact totals but I bet we do both trips for easily under $2000.00

Thank goodness, our family hasn't been hit with layoffs (yet), so there's not been much change in our finances, except for retirement/emergency funds.

 

[HayGan]

We are still forging ahead with our plans. We our sitting on a ton of points from our initial buy-in so we will be staying 10 days at DVC resorts in June. Even after those points we still have 100 points to bank into next year!

I feel for those of you who are struggling this year. Luckily our family has not been negatively affected yet. If anything, the struggles of the economy and in particular the travel industry are helping us with our travel plans as things just keep getting cheaper and cheaper (not to mention the bonus of freebies like the Universal ticket offer.)

 

[CHOPR]

I reserved SSR for 6/24- 7/1 and all other resorts other than OKW were filled. Sounds to me like vacations are still a go
We usually go on off times and i'm a little nervous of what the crowds will be like. Maybe i'll start another post on that for info

 

[HayGan]

I reserved SSR for 6/24- 7/1 and all other resorts other than OKW were filled. Sounds to me like vacations are still a go
We usually go on off times and i'm a little nervous of what the crowds will be like. Maybe i'll start another post on that for info

Our dates for DVC (Jun 1 - 11) are all booked up for 2-BRs. I have been on the waitlist for months for an AKV 2-BR for June 6 - 11 and still no luck. I'm wondering if we will start to see more cancellations as the year goes on.

 

[kerickson]

Yes and no. We live on the West Coast and are shortening our WDW trips due to $$ and other unforseen circumstances. Instead, we will activate our free with DVC purchase APs at DLR this year and will make more trips there as we can justify a short hop down to Anaheim. We are cancelling a planned WDW stop before our Oct 09 7 night cruise. Instead we'll tack those onto our free 3 night cruise in '10 that we are getting free for adding on a VGC!

So net, we'll be vacationing more than ever, but are trying to find smart ways to cut costs...

 

[helenk]

For this year, I am not cutting back, I was in WDW in Jan, going to Disneyland in May, WDW in June and again in December. I was lucky enough to have enough rapid rewards for a free flight in May and in June for myself and I had a lot of credits to apply to the airfare for my son and his family so were cool there. I should have enough rewards for a free flight in December but if not I'll pay for my airfare.
I may cut back in 2010, if things continue to look bleak with the economy. I would take 1 long trip instead of my usual 2 to save on airfare.
I can always drive if airfare get too dear, at least that's an option. But as other posters have indicated, my accomodations are paid for, so I want to use my points for my vacations.
The nice thing about having the kitchenettes or full kitchens is if you need to cut back on meals you can. For our June trip I want to eat breakfasts (except for our character breakfasts) in the room and lunches in the room. That will save alot right there. Having the villas really gives us more options than those staying in a regular resort room.

 

[Anal Annie]

Times like this are when we are really grateful to HAVE our DVC. We are disappointed with DVC with the recent changes they've made but still feel fortunate that our accomodations are "paid for" so we're gonna use them! I have been laid off for just almost 1 year and things have been tight for DH at his job but he works his posterior side off and still accrues a good bit of leave that he deserves to take. We found SUPER GOOD airfare a couple weeks ago on Air Tran ($130 RT pp) plus we had a $112 credit coming to us with them so we snagged flights for a total of $311 for the 3 of us for mid-late August. Can't beat that.

Since our last vacation was last July it will be just over a year for us to really go anywhere. But this is why we have DVC - so the annual vacation fund won't be hit as hard. We're crossing our fingers for a good tax refund in which we will use some toward our AP's and I will hopefully be able to stash a few hundred for spending money this summer too. Probably not doing PAP's, just reg. AP's. But still, we had plenty of points to book a studio at BCV for 7 nights + add 3 nights at Vero Beach and still have points left. I'm actually quite stoked about how LITTLE it will cost us compared to the rack rates. I priced our accomodations on the Disney website and the going rate for the 10 nights would've been $3,304. Our annual dues are only $1,098 so we're "saving" $2,206. Sure, there will be meals to pay for too, but we know how to be thrifty and not go overboard. I doubt we'll have more than 3 TS meals over the whole 10 days. We will also not go wild on souvies etc. so I do not anticipate breaking the bank while we're there.

Are we foolish? Maybe. But what good would banking the points do for us? Not really so much. THIS is why we bought a timeshare - to guarantee a vacation.

 

[DVC Mike]

We're still doing our four trips this year.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Both maybe. We're keeping our vacation plans at VB for May, but we're also considering transferring/renting some points to help with things.

 

[Nikisha421]

3x in 2009!!!!

 

[edk35]

In July for 9 nights split between BCV and Vero however.....we won't be going in Nov. like the past two Nov. and I bet we don't go in Jan. 2010 like the past few Jan. either. Ours is mainly due to dd starting college in the fall and the fact that I really can't justify going that often when we have been sooooo much lately. Sure I love going...but with kids in school..even those during school year trips....missing a day or two is getting harder and harder on them. I think ONE DAY....when all the birds are out of the next....I see dh and myself popping down there for a long weekend or two each year.

 

[treeface]

We are still going this summer, bought AP's over Christmas so that and the room are taken care of. Not sure yet if we'll do dining plan or not. I still have a SW credit for DSD as her fare at Christmas decreased after the original booking so we'll use that towards this summer's fare. We will drive again, I just buy an extra $50 gas card each month so that is covered.

We are fortunate that both of us have very secure jobs in a county where the unemployment rate is above 15% and growing almost daily. We have cut back on other things, but I feel that for my own mental well being, I need the vacation and besides, that's why we bought DVC.

We have borrowed points for this summer's trip as the Christmas trip was 2 years worth of points (took the whole family), but we are not planning another Disney vacation until at least Dec 2010. DSD graduates HS in 2010 and wants to do a Carnival Cruise to the Caribbean so that will be next years trip.

 

[Sammie]

Since our cars will be paid off soon, the economy probably will have litttle effect on our travel plans for this year or next year. However, we did cancel a trip last June because it was just too expensive for us to travel at that time. While I do usually bank a few points every year, I banked a LOT ( for us) last year, and so will also be banking about 250 this year. On a positive note, it give me an opportunity to plan a couple of years into the future to take friends and family (if everything stays about the same), and to have enough points for about 2 weeks in a GV. Never stayed in one before. Woo Hoo!

Your plans sound very similar to ours, however the month after we got our car paid off and the warranty expired the heater went out and it was a new motherboard for it, $1000. So seems we just can not get ahead.

Even though our DVC is paid for travel expenses there, tickets, food and such can really add up. I will not ever charge anything for vacations, never have and never will. So until we feel we can take a vacation and not worry about financial emergencies we will cut back.

I have so many friends and family that have lost jobs, there is also a guilt factor too. I am not sure I can go and have a great time when they are suffering and worrying about losing their homes.

 

[Disneypirate85]

I have 1 of those jobs that if we DO NOT LEAVE the State they will track me down and pester the heck outa me! So we have not altered any of our plans yet, with exception, if gas stays lower, then we may drive vs. flying....

 

[twinklebug]

Unless something horrible happens, My plans remain intact with a possible slight alteration: Drive vs fly. But being a single parent and the only driver, that means more money spent on the road down with staying overnight and food... seems to be a wash.

 

[christianweecare]

We will be staying home this year and banking points. DH already knows that he will be losing his job some time this year. The plant where he works is closing down. Many of the employees have already received their notice. We canceled our May Vero Beach/WDW trip and our Sept. DCL cruise on the Magic.

No matter the outcome, we have promised the family a 2010 Christmas trip to WDW. We will have enough points for four studios by then.

We are praying for all those across our nation that are affected by this economic down turn.

 

[teacher2525]

We are still going. We bought annual passes over a year ago and want to make good use of them. We borrowed every last point we could and spent 5 days in December and will spend 16 gays this summer Then we will take a break because the while our jobs seem relatively secure the rest of the economy is killng us

 

[Pakey]

We just returned a few days ago from our Jan stay-we paid for all of our adult kids/spouses to stay DVC and then go on a Disney cruise. I'm still doing my girlfriend trip in May and my husband and I are still going to Costa Rica this fall. These trips have been planned and paid for. Going forward, we think that we may do one longer DVC trip a year rather than 2 and just take the adult kids once every other year instead of every year. For us, airfare is a huge expense so making longer trips spreads the airfare costs out more. We have so many points as they were purchased with the intent of our kids using them; we may have to rethink that after next year.