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

[that's nice]

Yes - Because IT works!

Do you know this first hand?

Tim can have partial credit on that one.

 

[Poolrat]

Answers in. Looking for those slushie credits.

 

[Chilly]

1. sex

That's what I nearly put as well but decided this is a family board

 

[eandesmom]

Do you know this first hand?

Apparently!

Answers in. Looking for those slushie credits.

Got em!

That's what I nearly put as well but decided this is a family board

 

[Charleston Princess]

Wow! I have been missing a lot over here, but then, as I was reading, I was thinking, "Whew! I won't have to wait to hear the answers to everything."

Not so lucky.

So cool that you bought DVC! I can't even begin to fathom the answers, but I will look forward to reading them.

I am c-r-a-c-k-i-n-g up over Mary Ellen's answer to number one. Let's face it -- it can be a great bargaining tool.

 

[eandesmom]

Wow! I have been missing a lot over here, but then, as I was reading, I was thinking, "Whew! I won't have to wait to hear the answers to everything."

Not so lucky.

So cool that you bought DVC! I can't even begin to fathom the answers, but I will look forward to reading them.

I am c-r-a-c-k-i-n-g up over Mary Ellen's answer to number one. Let's face it -- it can be a great bargaining tool.

I am very excited about dvc! Mary Ellen's response was a popular one lol

Still time to play, some of the guesses are very fun!

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Wow 12 pages, how did I miss this PTR?

 

[Native NYer]

Congrats on purchasing DVC!
Going to PM my answers to your quiz now.

 

[Misskitty3]

I read your cruise trip report and really enjoyed it! I especially liked the title because that is exactly how DH and I feel about cruising!. Although, reading all of these wonderful TR might change my mind about cruising!

I am intrigued with your DVC research! I won't be submitting any answers to your questions as of now but am interested to learn what you decide! Also looking forward to more on your upcoming trip!

P.S. I also live in Seattle and have taken my kids to Lincoln City several times. And.....we stay at the Sand Piper because we have family that has a time share there!! Plus it is an easy walk down to the beach!

Our favorite place to eat is the Pig and the Pancake (for breakfast, obviously). We always do lunch and dinner at the condo. I think the McMinnimans is across from Safeway (if I remember correctly). Love the Oregon coast!!

 

[MRYPPNS]

Thank you for the disclaimer! Glad to see all that number crunching is going to pay off

 

[eandesmom]

Wow 12 pages, how did I miss this PTR?

Glad you found it!

Congrats on purchasing DVC!
Going to PM my answers to your quiz now.

Thanks!

Got your answers

I read your cruise trip report and really enjoyed it! I especially liked the title because that is exactly how DH and I feel about cruising!. Although, reading all of these wonderful TR might change my mind about cruising!

It might, I do think it can really depend on the cruise, the line and so many other things!

I am intrigued with your DVC research! I won't be submitting any answers to your questions as of now but am interested to learn what you decide! Also looking forward to more on your upcoming trip!

It was fun to crunch the numbers

P.S. I also live in Seattle and have taken my kids to Lincoln City several times. And.....we stay at the Sand Piper because we have family that has a time share there!! Plus it is an easy walk down to the beach!

We always stayed at the Sand Piper when I was a kid as well! We are at Surftides right now! I'll post some pictures later

Our favorite place to eat is the Pig and the Pancake (for breakfast, obviously). We always do lunch and dinner at the condo. I think the McMinnimans is across from Safeway (if I remember correctly). Love the Oregon coast!!

We ate there last night, it was good but I think we'll be looking for seafood tonight in Ocean Shores.

Thank you for the disclaimer! Glad to see all that number crunching is going to pay off

Yes, FDM isn't always the same as "real" math, is it?

 

[eandesmom]

Slushie credit quiz #1! The results are in. Some of the answers were a riot! For the record, I am NOT copying Glenn with my pie charts, I’d already started them when he posted his results.

1. How did I get Jeff on board with this?

A number of you agreed with Mary Ellen’s answer but those who said it had something to do with a seaplane won this round. Yep, turnabout is fair play. Jeff gets to build a plane in the garage and I get DVC. The truth is I did it, then told him, to which his response was “ok”. And when I seemed a bit (pleasantly) surprised, he commented that turnabout is fair play. We had talked about it in the past so it wasn’t exactly a shock, more of a “when” not an “if”.

2. Where did we buy?

A few of you had insider knowledge here but I still gave you points. Heck, no one said it was a FAIR quiz! That said, AKV is still a viable contender at some point so it was a very good guess!

3. Why?

Because life is too short to never sleep in a treehouse! A few of you remembered Yes, for a direct purchase it was also the best deal but it really was about 11 month advantage on the treehouses. SSR, in and of itself is not a draw for me. The treehouses, a very different story. My kids are OBSESSED with staying in a treehouse and it’s up there for both Jeff and I as well. I at least wanted it as a feasible option for part of a trip. With a possible fourth of July 2013 trip, that 11 month advantage could make or break it. I love the idea of a bbq on the 4th, at a treehouse! I am intrigued by the fact that as of 2/21 SSR is now “sold out”. It will be interesting to see if that impacts the resale pricing at all.

4. How many points?

Most of you predicted quite a bit more than we actually bought. For now. We are dipping our toe in the water, especially with the first contract being direct. It’s enough to more than meet our needs for this summer and potentially next depending on how all that plays out. It is a wee bit more than 100 but that’s the closest guess so they win! Of course they reallocated points on the darn treehouses after we purchased but oh well, it’s still enough for what we’d want. Ultimately I think we want 2-4 smaller contracts to eventually hand down to kids, versus 1-2 bigger ones. I say 2-4 as we aren’t sure all 4 kids would want them but ultimately I can see us with 4 contracts of about the same size, at 4 different resorts, one basically selected for each kid. But who knows! Smaller seems better for resale, should we ever need to do that. Not planning on it of course but the smaller ones go quickly and since we could dictate the number of points, we did.

5. How did we figure out how many points?

A week in a treehouse. That assumes banking and borrowing so it’s really only a trip every 3 years. So..no one got any points on this one! It was pretty simple math so I didn't use a spreadsheet on that one. For a starter contract, that was enough and that said, I personally probably only want 3-5 nights in a treehouse and then would move anyway. While I love the idea of the treehouse, after 5 nights I think being that far away and a bit car dependent or longer travel times will bug me and I'll want a more traditional resort to balance it out. It does mean I see split stays in our future but that's ok. This way kids get a treehouse but we aren't locked into just that. I didn’t want all our points at SSR, just enough for the treehouse to be a reality for some of a trip, be it in 2013 or at another time.

We will be buying more as I mentioned above, but since I can’t decide where yet, whether it will be resale or not, whether we will see what kind of incentives if any are on the cruise, etc..it made sense to start small and not get locked in. GFV is another wild card that is likely out of our price range but it did factor in to the starting small factor. We will likely be buying another contract between now and next December, that’s about all I know for sure so will be closer to that 200 +/- mark for the tentative big family trip in 2013. Which may or may not happen that summer so again, reason to start small.

Bonus question

6&7. What use year did I pick? Why?

This was probably one of the more interesting sets of results to me. Though we have traveled in the summer the past couple of years, it isn’t necessarily our preference and so traveling then really wasn’t the driver. Once K is in college we do have more freedom on dates and will not be as locked in as we are today. I do however, plan our travel on a calendar year basis, really getting into gear in Jan and plotting out the next 8-9 months. For that reason the banking date was more important to me than the travel date. I wanted a banking date that made sense, where I felt like I’d never get in a jam and for me…that meant a December use year and a July bank date. The other great thing about December was that if I ever were to try for New Years (much more likely than actual xmas) I’d have nice new points for it. I do love the idea of decorating a treehouse for the holidays! There are few peak times of the year I worry about travel at and have seen most folks get what they want at 7 months so even though a December use year may not seem ideal to some for summer travel it is great for President’s week, spring break and even summer gives me an 8-9 month window depending on travel dates. Other banking dates really stressed me out! July I am confident will never be an issue, I will always know what we are doing by then, I always do! No one really got the banking as being the primary driver on the “why” so no points there.

I’ll have the slushie credit tallies shortly…along with my first DVC reservation details!

And second

And third



Do I have any points left?

 

[glennbo123]

Dang, I didn't do all that well....and I should have known most of those -- the seaplane trade-off, in order to stay in a treehouse....sheesh!

 

[MEK]

The best part of your quiz is other than knowing where you bought and why, I have no idea what the rest of my answers were.

You know - your PTR started out as a reading comprehension test and now it has turned in a math lesson. Go figure!

 

[MEK]

1. How did I get Jeff on board with this?

Who answered that Jeff shared your painkillers? Was that Tracy?

 

[Chilly]

D'oh I put SSR and treehouses then changed my mind.

 

[natebenma]

Love the presentation of your answers!!! Yes, some of the responses were hilarious! The contest was very fun, even though I am so out of the running for slushie credits.

And I am also a day late, but:

 

[Native NYer]

Ahh so smart to buy at SSR for the 11 month advantage for a THV.
Since SSR is sold out, does that mean they're going to start selling Grand Floridian points soon?

 

[DisMomAmy]

I got the seaplane right... but that was it I think!

Yay for treehouses!! I didn't even think of that.

 

[eandesmom]

Dang, I didn't do all that well....and I should have known most of those -- the seaplane trade-off, in order to stay in a treehouse....sheesh!

I was impressed some folks made the seaplane connection!

The best part of your quiz is other than knowing where you bought and why, I have no idea what the rest of my answers were.

You know - your PTR started out as a reading comprehension test and now it has turned in a math lesson. Go figure!

Hmnn...may have to make the next one multiple choice.

Who answered that Jeff shared your painkillers? Was that Tracy?

Nope! I totally cracked up at it though, great answer! I was accused of terrorizing him with the spreadsheet and or making him dizzy with beer as well. Very fun answers!

For the record, he didn't even see the spreadsheet.

D'oh I put SSR and treehouses then changed my mind.

I think you get a pass on the treehouse Claire, unlike some of the others who were around for that PTR.

Love the presentation of your answers!!! Yes, some of the responses were hilarious! The contest was very fun, even though I am so out of the running for slushie credits.

Not out of the running and we are just getting started anyway!

And I am also a day late, but:

I can't believe I didn't know about this! That's just wrong. Not that I could have celebrated, I was out of town on a work trip.