Book it. Buy it. BELIEVE it! - TR is started! link posted 8/11

[eandesmom]

Yes! It has actually grown alot since we were there - I first saw it on GMA. The county came after them for codes on a B&B So they sell T-shirts for a Treeservation and then you are their friend. They can let their friends stay in the treehouse "free." So there you have it. Very laid back - VERRRRRRY casual and almost bohemian, but such a fun experience for the boys. They now have zip lines too. I went trail riding on horseback with the boys and Jim went ona bike ride with a hippie girl
http://www.treehouses.com/ The treehouses and the family home are beautiful handmade craftmanship!

I am definitely bookmarking that, it looks wonderful and right up our alley! Long drive but doable.

I know, we were thinking the kids are small so they could double up in the bunks or something, but I'm a little worried about the close quarters for the DDILs mostly, and Papa might need to get away for some peace and quiet so we don't have to name him Grumpy Gramps

How small? 2 in a bunk is tough with wiggly ones, and increases the chance for someone rolling out. I'm not sure I'd have tried 2 in a bunk at any age with my two, but Eric is a wiggler!

That's definitely a consideration for us as well. I am thinking from that standpoint we might be better off with a mix of villa types, probably 2 2 bedroom lockoffs would work best if we can get everyone close to each other. I do worry about room assignments far out. I just doubt at 11 months we will be firm enough on dates and attendees to figure it out but...if I give up the idea of the 4th and we firm up between 11 and 7, it might be feasible. I need to map out who might stay where if we did 2 tree houses.

so we rented a car for the next trip. There are several stops within the resort, and depending on ECV traffic, you have to plan for an hour to get to any ADRs - we waited for 10 hours for buses over the space of a week - that's a whole day of vacation wasted! It is just worth the money for us to have a car and be less stressed. Of course when there are 10 of us, we might have to just do the buses, but we won't do ADRs - too much planning around how to get to restaurants and too much stress.

I think Jeff will be very happy with the peacefulness there!

The car thing is a drawback, we love not having one. Realistically though for that trip, it may end up being a requirement but I'm not going to worry about it now!

 

[englishrose47]

Just checking in Cynthia !!!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Cynthia, yes it's a Dec UY on 50 AK points. We won't do anything with them until we have closed on the new contract. Honestly I don't think we are in a rush to sell them but they are a different UY than our other points so they will go. It's better to keep everything together.

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Yay for buying at SSR. I think it would be lots of fun to stay in a Treehouse. We own at BLT so not sure we will ever get to unless I add on at SSR. I would like to add on but DH doesn't want to right now. We will hold out until we see what GF costs.

Love the pie charts!

 

[eandesmom]

Finally here and caught up! I missed the first quiz, but hope to be present for any future ones!

Hi Brook! with the volume of TR's you are trying to catch up on very impressive!

I'm sure there will be other opportunities for slushie credits!

Congratulations on buying DVC! Those Treehouses look AMAZING!

Thanks! Even though it will be quite a while before we actually stay in one, conceptually it is very exciting!

Just checking in Cynthia !!!

Hi Rosie!!!! Missed you on the quiz

Cynthia, yes it's a Dec UY on 50 AK points. We won't do anything with them until we have closed on the new contract. Honestly I don't think we are in a rush to sell them but they are a different UY than our other points so they will go. It's better to keep everything together.

Absolutely, I would get so confused with different use years. I'm sure different contracts will be confusing enough!

Yay for buying at SSR. I think it would be lots of fun to stay in a Treehouse. We own at BLT so not sure we will ever get to unless I add on at SSR. I would like to add on but DH doesn't want to right now. We will hold out until we see what GF costs.

Love the pie charts!

GF will be frightening I am sure. We went into it deliberately not buying as much as we will ultimately need, for a few different reasons. If you've got enough to cover your needs than I can definitely see waiting! I'm excited about the treehouses, even if it is likely a trip or 2 (or 3) away. BLT looks fabulous, I'd love to stay there someday. I wish the points were a little lower on the lake view so I don't think it's anytime soon but it is, other than the treehouses, Eric's dream resort. Someday I'm sure we will make it there!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I am definitely bookmarking that, it looks wonderful and right up our alley! Long drive but doable.



How small? 2 in a bunk is tough with wiggly ones, and increases the chance for someone rolling out. I'm not sure I'd have tried 2 in a bunk at any age with my two, but Eric is a wiggler!

That's definitely a consideration for us as well. I am thinking from that standpoint we might be better off with a mix of villa types, probably 2 2 bedroom lockoffs would work best if we can get everyone close to each other. I do worry about room assignments far out. I just doubt at 11 months we will be firm enough on dates and attendees to figure it out but...if I give up the idea of the 4th and we firm up between 11 and 7, it might be feasible. I need to map out who might stay where if we did 2 tree houses.



The car thing is a drawback, we love not having one. Realistically though for that trip, it may end up being a requirement but I'm not going to worry about it now!

Hmmm, You have a point there - I'm thinking of the ages they are now, but there's alot of growing for them to do. Myles will be 8 - a tall and thin. Londynn and Mason will be 6 and Evan will be 2. I'm thinking Mason is small for his age and so is Evan so they could probablly sleep head to foot in the bottom bunk, or Mason and Londynn could and Evan could sleep in the Pack N Play - there is still plenty of room in ours for him! Now that I think of it, Mason is quite grumpy sometimes so it would be better to get a sleeping pad for someone - OR get the 2 bedroom and a studio,

I think you can just make the bus system work, and they do have a shuttle to the main part of the resort from the THV, so it's not necesssarily like you can't get around. Still so excited for you! One perk - you get lots of Mickey Mail from DVC!!!!

 

[eandesmom]

Hmmm, You have a point there - I'm thinking of the ages they are now, but there's alot of growing for them to do. Myles will be 8 - a tall and thin. Londynn and Mason will be 6 and Evan will be 2. I'm thinking Mason is small for his age and so is Evan so they could probablly sleep head to foot in the bottom bunk, or Mason and Londynn could and Evan could sleep in the Pack N Play - there is still plenty of room in ours for him! Now that I think of it, Mason is quite grumpy sometimes so it would be better to get a sleeping pad for someone - OR get the 2 bedroom and a studio,

Yes, you've got almost 18 months, that's a lot in kid growing time. I'd think the older two are too big to share a single head to foot...the E's at that age would have been kicking each other for sure! If the 2 year old will still fit in a pack and play though, that would work. I can't recall what ages we outgrew them but it was around them, however each kid is very different in that area. Sleeping pad could work, they could take turns (6 and 8) so no one feels "penalized" by being on the pad instead of the bunk. Or have the 2 year old on the pad. Realistically I'd probably only put the 8 year old up top anyways, I have falling out paranoia but that's me. If the 6 year old was used to an upper bunk, no biggie though.

I think you can just make the bus system work, and they do have a shuttle to the main part of the resort from the THV, so it's not necesssarily like you can't get around. Still so excited for you! One perk - you get lots of Mickey Mail from DVC!!!!

In looking at it, if you had the right THV placement, you could walk to the main resort fairly easily. Or at least most of us could, not so sure about my mom. Still, if bus transport from the main resort takes that long, that's a pretty huge drawback to me. Who knows, it's so far away and really up in the air in a lot of ways...but it is fun to think about!

 

[eandesmom]

I had my sinus surgery on the 4th of January.

I thought I’d only be out for the remainder of that week, and the weekend. Unfortunately I didn’t relaly think about the fact that I couldn’t sneeze or blow my nose for 2 weeks. I mean I knew, but didn’t really realize how that would actually work. What it meant in reality was really loud sneezing, a lot of it. Given that my office is across the hall from our main conference room and the entire building could hear me, it meant working at home and a couple more sick days than planned.

Tuesday the 10th was one of those days. I was supposed to be at 2 different client meetings. No way could I meet with clients like that…it was not only noisy, it was unprofessional and embarrassing! As I laid in bed, sneezing away and scaring the cats and yes…using some of those post surgery painkillers, I got online. Just putzing originally, looking at options around the cruise and then remembering about the price increase email I had. I emailed the guide that day.

I pulled the trigger on January 11th with the deposit.

“I’ll call back with your member numbers; do you want me to put a hold on anything for you in the meantime?”

That’s how easy buying direct is.

And fast.

Not for everyone but wow, it was fast.

I was so surprised at how fast it was, I had to scramble on the guide hold. The cruise was August 1-5 so we had her hold the 5th-8th in a 1 bedroom at Vero. 3 nights after sounded perfect.

Of course, we hadn’t even discussed this trip with Kendall’s mom yet. Jeff and I needed to decide if this was going to be it, and we’d just force the issue. At this point all could be cancelled/rescheduled if needed, both the cruise and any DVC reservation so we decided to go for it. The next night, Jeff and I sat down with the calendar and really mapped it out. I had a an all day work event on the 25th. The 26th became our earliest "leave" date. I had another one, this one out of town starting on the 9th so I really needed to be in the office on the 8th to pack up.

All of a sudden, coming back the 8th really wasn’t ideal after all. If we did those dates we’d have to fly in on the 31st and spend one night somewhere. With west coast flights and possible delays, a red eye arriving on the 1st just wasn’t practical plus we’d be wiped for day 1 of a very short cruise, didn’t make sense. After really looking at the best and least expensive flight options, all the various scheduling conflicts we changed the overall trip around, and decided to do Vero first and hope for a red eye on the 26th so we didn't have to pay for 6 nights prior to the cruise or waste a full day flying. This would be it, we would force the issue with K's mom. There was flexibility with the dates if needed, we could arrive anytime after that and just have less beach days but we at least had a summer plan!

I emailed our guide back to change the dates to 7/28-8/1, adding a night.
I received this.

“I’ve got your member numbers”

And

“I had your reservation on hold but there are some issues with availability for the new dates”

AACK!

I called her, apparently on her end it appeared there might not be full availability for all 4 nights with a 1 bedroom but I’d need to just call member services. There were inn rooms, but we wanted a kitchen. There were studios, but we were 5. AACK!



Member number in hand, I made my very first call to member services. Without having flights yet and airfare going insane it was a little nerve wracking to book. I didn’t know for sure when we’d really end up going down and decided to hedge my bets. Thankfully my dates WERE available after all. We booked 7/27-8/1. Thanks to the DIS I did ask about the DVC cash rate, realy just for kicks. The points for the Friday/Sat were really high and I wanted to preserve some points in case we needed them for stays after the cruise. Our plan was to book flights and then, if needed, add nights for that. I didn’t know when that would be. My agenda of course was for one night at WDW after…but Jeff didn’t know that yet. One night at WDW was a much better value points compared to rack rate or dvc discount than the points compared to the rack rate for Vero on a weekend night. Much to my surprise, and honestly I think to the CM at member services that I even knew to ask, the cash rate was available for the weekend nights making them a much better deal (in my opinion for point stretching at that moment lol) then using points. For anyone who is curious, the weekend points for a 1b is 37 (compared to 29 for a weeknight), the cash rate was $345 including tax. To me that is a much better deal when you consider for the same points, the cash rate on a 1b at WDW would be around $680 at rack rate, maybe $510 with the DVC discount if it was available. It seemed prudent in this case to pay cash for the weekend nights and save the points.

And so I booked it! My first DVC reservation. Technically 2 linked reservations. A cash one for Friday/Sat, which would be easy to drop a night or both if flights dictated I should, and then 3 nights on points.

I will be looking to Anita and Glenn (who are both going before we do, this summer) and Jennifer (Happydog) for tips, tricks and insights! I know many of you have seen these pictures before and none of them are mine (thank you public domain and Mary Ellen and Glenn’s TR lol) but…here’s our home for 5 nights prior to the cruise!

I love this new look for Vero and am hoping that the new merchandise (whatever is is) that shows this, has arrived by our trip! Supposedly items sporting this new artwork (SSR, OKW and HH also got new art) are arriving at resorts this spring!

ok I admit, every time I look at the living room pictures I think it really needs an update but maybe it will look less dated and worn live. LOL!

I’m hoping we have a balcony, not a terrace…and a view but the chances appear to be about 22%. I have made our room request accordingly though!

Ah the beach, I can’t wait!

If we are really lucky we will see

and maybe do a day trip to see

We’ve got beaches and boats booked, pretty committed now! Guess it’s time to find out what kind of battle we are in for with Kendall’s mom. Is bribing a 15 year old with the Bahamas fair? Probably not. Is it our time to take? Yes. Did we feel guilty about forcing the issue, informing after booking. Not at all. Were we worried?

Yes.

Everytime.

It shouldn’t be a battle but….it is what it is.

Would beaches and boats be enough to ward of any teen disinterest? We thought so, assumed so, but didn’t KNOW.

Yet.

We booked Vero on the 13th of January. The 14th would start what we call a "kid" weekend. Or as of this year really, a "Kendall" weekend as we have her every other weekend. She had a soccer tournament all weekend, full of really crummy start times, not nearby. A perfect opportunity for a solo chat about our plans with no E's eavesdropping!

And guess what? Buying and booking DVC made me feel just as much better as did those post surgery painkillers! I don't think I had any after that. Coincidence? I think not!

 

[Poolrat]

I pulled the trigger on January 11th with the deposit.

“I’ll call back with your member numbers; do you want me to put a hold on anything for you in the meantime?”

That’s how easy buying direct is.

And fast.

No long ROFR wait? -- No long waitig for documents wait!!!
Sounds like a great experience.

[
And guess what? Buying and booking DVC made me feel just as much better as did those post surgery painkillers! I don't think I had any after that. Coincidence? I think not!

I had the same feeling when I pulled the trigger on buying DVC. I was also on a high when I got GCV reservations yesterday. Jumping around like a little kid.

 

[MEK]

Yeah for Vero! There is nothing better than walking from the room to the pool to the beach to the pool and repeat!

I hope you get a great room location and I hope everything works out with Kendall. She is probably getting to that age that Nick is at where he really doesn't want to vacation with us anymore. I think December did him in and he's not too thrilled about June. Oh well - last Disney trip for him.

 

[MEK]

P.S. Watch that slide - It's dangerous!

 

[marciemouse]

My family lived near Vero when I was little, and once we moved away, it became our annual family vacation spot. Love the sea turtles and manatees!

 

[tinacaplan]

Ouch! I hadn't realized how crummy and painful your surgery was or for how long...but look...viola! Buy DVC and all your pain magically disappears! Vero looks stunning. That beach is going to be amazing and one of the great things about beach time is that it is truly relaxing in a way that time at Disney just isn't.

Now, just hoping things go well with Kendall's mom.

 

[jenjolt]

How did I miss this??? Congrats on DVC so happy for you!!!! Vero is amazing you are so going to love staying there!!!!!!!

 

[glennbo123]

Yay, you made your first reservation! I know I said it before, but I sooo wish that we'd be there at the same time....the E's and James would hit it off, playing in the surf.

I agree with you that the rooms look a little dated. Maybe with low expectations we'll really be wow'd when we walk in?

How funny that you didn't need any more pain killers after buying into DC.

 

[MaryAz]

I was behind and missed the contest. I would have got a few right I totally agree with you on buying direct. We bought resale BEFORE all the restrictions. Hurray for your first call to MS. A tip-if the first person you talk to does not give you the answer you want call back!!!

I remember reading about AKV Club level a few pages back. I was able to snag it for 4 nights in Oct by calling in Jan so 9mo in advance. I guess it just depends on time of year etc. We are doing the Sunrise Safari-I wanted to do the special one with dinner at Jiko for Hubby's bday but my younger DD is not old enough. I said-leave em at Simba's Club House but hubby wants to wait until we can all go-nice Daddy

 

[marciemouse]

Not like I need to be looking but can you direct me to where I can learn more about resale DVC?

 

[MaryAz]

Not like I need to be looking but can you direct me to where I can learn more about resale DVC?

We bought thru the timeshare store

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Not like I need to be looking but can you direct me to where I can learn more about resale DVC?

Check out Fidelity for a huge selection of listings.
http://www.fidelityresales.com/dvc-resales.php

if my link doesn't show up, google fidelity resales dvc

Cynthia, you are going to have a great time at Vero, I have a feeling that you might be there at a time to see the sea turtles hatching! We had thought about coming back down then for a few days just to see that happen...
At this point it will depend on airfare. I have a feeling with the cost of fuel going up it won't be pretty...

 

[Chilly]

Vero looks so beautiful.