Booking Xmas this a.m. Quick question?

[BabsBunny]

Help!

I have an October use year.

I have 88 points left from 2012. I don't think we'll use them this use year. Do I need to bank them before I book for December 21, 2013 if I want to use the for the Christmas trip?

And if I decided to take a quick summer trip then I would just borrow from the October 2013 points?

Thanks so much.

 

[antree]

Yes, you'll have to book the points if they are not going to be used before then end of your use year. I have done that before too, and when I took a last minute trip I just borrowed from my points. But, I verify with MS before I do anything with my points, I have to be certain on what I am doing. LOL, that's just me.

 

[erionm]

I have 88 points left from 2012. I don't think we'll use them this use year. Do I need to bank them before I book for December 21, 2013 if I want to use the for the Christmas trip?

If you want to use them for a reservation, yes you have to bank them first. You would bank them under 'My Membership' > 'Vacation Points'.

While making a reservation, if you need additional points the system will allow you to borrow points from your next UY (if available) during the on-line reservation process.

 

[BabsBunny]

Thanks, guys.

Booked a two bedroom Kidani Std for 12/22 to 12/27/13 with the 88 banked points and 133 of our 2013 points.

We've never been at Christmas before. Now I have to hope and pray we won't go bankrupt on flights when that time comes. lol.

 

[sleepydog25]

Thanks, guys.

Booked a two bedroom Kidani Std for 12/22 to 12/27/13 with the 88 banked points and 133 of our 2013 points.

We've never been at Christmas before. Now I have to hope and pray we won't go bankrupt on flights when that time comes. lol.

Congrats! You'll love it at Christmas--be sure to get around to as many resorts as possible to see their decorations among the many other things to enjoy then!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks, guys.

Booked a two bedroom Kidani Std for 12/22 to 12/27/13 with the 88 banked points and 133 of our 2013 points.

We've never been at Christmas before. Now I have to hope and pray we won't go bankrupt on flights when that time comes. lol.

We have decided we are driving, and then if we find good airfares at some point, we'll book them and forget about the driving. I figure if we THINK we are driving, we'll be prepared for it when we have to. We have done it several times, and it's a long haul from Minnesota, but no impossible.

 

[BabsBunny]

Thanks Sleepydog. I'm a little worried about crowds, but then again we aren't park commandos anyway.

Diane, is it you that posted you are doing a GV for Christmas? Nice!

The boys will be 20 and almost 18 for this trip. I know there are wrenches that can be thrown into this trip, so I hesitate to book flights too early. We usually fly direct on JB as they are the only airline that flies direct from here, but I know their prices will be crazy for the holidays. So, we can either book early on another airline and change planes or drive it. I dread driving. Last time we did it was towing a camper in 2005. Because we got stuck in traffic jams both ways, it ended up being two 12 hour days. How long is the drive for you?

 

[thepops]

you could always look into driving as far as Northern VA and then taking the Auto train the rest of the way down. (same for the ride back).

 

[BabsBunny]

That's an idea, pops. I took a look on Amtrak (throwing in Thanksgiving week as my dates aren't up yet), but it would be $1,150 for the four us with AAA rate. That's a seven hour drive followed by 17 hours on a train. Hopefully I can find round trip flights for $400 pp which would be $1600. I'd even pay $2000 if I got the JB directs. Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

 

[sleepydog25]

Thanks Sleepydog. I'm a little worried about crowds, but then again we aren't park commandos anyway.

Diane, is it you that posted you are doing a GV for Christmas? Nice!

The boys will be 20 and almost 18 for this trip. I know there are wrenches that can be thrown into this trip, so I hesitate to book flights too early. We usually fly direct on JB as they are the only airline that flies direct from here, but I know their prices will be crazy for the holidays. So, we can either book early on another airline and change planes or drive it. I dread driving. Last time we did it was towing a camper in 2005. Because we got stuck in traffic jams both ways, it ended up being two 12 hour days. How long is the drive for you?

Crowds are manageable, especially if you are willing to do the EMH (morning ones are our favorites). That's the nice thing about getting to each resort to check out decorations--you don't have to fight park crowds. Some of the best decorations are the personal ones that RVers put up at FW. We enjoy heading over there to see them, plus don't miss the Osborne Lights at DHS. It's as joyous a place as you will find in the World.

 

[hmillerbarilla]

We just did Christmas at Saratoga last month and the crowds were very very manageable with good planning, and we drove from Chicago.

Driving was FINE. We didn't even hit a lot of traffic, just a bit here and there, but it sure beat the airline prices. I did book our overnights ahead online so we had a place to stay when we got tired. We did it in a full day and a half.

Christmas at the World is fantastic. Yay!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks Sleepydog. I'm a little worried about crowds, but then again we aren't park commandos anyway.

Diane, is it you that posted you are doing a GV for Christmas? Nice!

The boys will be 20 and almost 18 for this trip. I know there are wrenches that can be thrown into this trip, so I hesitate to book flights too early. We usually fly direct on JB as they are the only airline that flies direct from here, but I know their prices will be crazy for the holidays. So, we can either book early on another airline and change planes or drive it. I dread driving. Last time we did it was towing a camper in 2005. Because we got stuck in traffic jams both ways, it ended up being two 12 hour days. How long is the drive for you?

We usually plan on about 26-28 hours of actual in the car driving time not counting any stops for sleep. We usually try to do it with one overnight, which means one short day and one really long day, or two kind of long days. It's 1600 miles for us, and think it might be a bit less for you. We used to live in upstate NY, and the part I hated was that to drive anywhere, you always had to go through a major metropolitan area and encounter traffic. We usually try to go around most of that on our way down from Minnesota. We take beltways etc, unless we are going through a city at a non-peak time. Atlanta is the worst one we have going down, and we usually can avoid time issues there.

 

[BabsBunny]

It's about 1250 for us--a little longer if we have DC and go through horse country (I think it's routes 17 and 66?) Thankfully we don't have to deal with Atlanta. Route 81 through PA is tough. You have to watch out for fog through the mountains.

Yeah. I think I want to fly.