California DVC Owners Group

[SherylLC]

"The Wait is Almost Over"....I want to stay positive but this is clearly not the truth

 

[bwvBound]

Update: I caved and purchased tickets (2-day, Single Park) for two people. Now remaining in the long queue for reservations ...

Edited to add, as I watch reservation availability beginning to disappear:
I s'pose I can always upgrade these tickets, at some later point, to the new membership/AP when it is announced ... right? (Hanging onto hope ... fighting back my disappointment regarding 4/30!)

 

[taaren]

I'm feeling like a sheeple.

So much this. We ended up buying 2 day 1 park tickets for DL for Memorial Day weekend. I was wavering towards renting the reservation, but my friend who is my primary Disney companion did not, and was excited enough to be the one to go through the stress of buying the tickets today (it was her day off, I was at work, so we'd planned on her being the reservation person all day today but she got lucky and had the tickets by 8:36am).

I may just try to use all my banked points up in July and consider cancelling November before my banking deadline which is late July. Ugh - I need details on the memberships and when we might see them. I really am not wanting to spend a lot buying general tickets when APs should come back. Although based on WDW, I am not expecting soon. They are only renewing APs and not selling new. I was only able to get one because I had a Premier Pass.

The banking deadlines have been killing me when I don't know how I want to use my points until I knew when things opened/what ticket prices would be/AP options or lack thereof. As of right now I'd like to cancel everything other than the sweet 16 trip in September, and move every point I can into 2022, rent the rest out, but ... I know I'll probably just keep booking trips for late winter and spring of 2022 hoping they'll bring the memberships/multiday options out until I hit those banking deadlines next Feb/May. For my group, WDW isn't really an option, and neither is Aulani for a lot of reasons (mostly having to do with flight cost and aligning school/work schedules amongst 2 essential workers and 3 teens).

At least with the ridiculous Grand prices, if I do rent one of my fall reservations out, it'll be a bargain for my renter and still fetch a high per-point-price for me.

 

[UrsulaWantsYourSoul]

FYI: Grand Cal is Unpaused...

 

[KPeterso]

I finally got tickets! Will be there 5/11 and 5/22. Will worry about July tickets in a couple weeks.

 

[bwvBound]

Success. Sweet, sweet, sweet, success!

• DL for 4/30
• DCA for 5/8
• 2-day, Single-park tickets purchased much earlier in the day through Tickets at Work and linked to my account while waiting to book Park Reservations.
• Gladly, our DVC Grand Cal reservation allowed me to book from the "Hotel Reservation" pool of park reservations. Phew!

Edited to add: 11 hours in the Waiting Room!

 

[Castillo Mom]

Thanks for starting a thread for us CA DVCers!

1. When did you become a member?
2019

2. Did you buy direct or resale?
Direct,

3. Where do you own?
CCV

4. Do you vacation in DLR, WDW, Hilton Head, Vero or Aulani? If so, how often?
Multiple day trips to DLR with our first VGC stay in a month (5/13), haven't been to HH, Vero, or Aulani or the DVC side of WDW yet. Plan to go to Aulani for our eventual Hawaii trip and possibly a 2 week cross country road trip to WDW this summer/early fall.

5. Are you a DLR AP holder and/or WDW AP holder?
Legacy AP for DLR after being Premier the past 2 years. Currently don't have a valid AP for either side but awaiting "membership" announcement and could renew on the WDW side.

6. What is your favorite airline when traveling to WDW and why?
I flew Jetblue for my solo trips to WDW because of price and they had the best redeye. Thinking of changing to southwest for future trips because the baggage policy is pretty enticing with what other airlines are starting to charge for luggage.

7. When is your next trip to WDW?
Nothing scheduled yet but the beginnings of a road trip is being planned.

8. What is your average length of stay when visiting WDW?
Both my solo trips were 9-days/8-nights but staying on points means we can do 7-days/6-nights.

9. Favorite WDW park?
Animal Kingdom!

10. Favorite DVC resort?
Haven't stayed on the DVC side yet but I think it will be AKL. Although I've resort hopped to WL and have to say I love my home resort too.

11. What do you find to be your biggest frustration planning a WDW trip?
The fact that I have to do all the planning. Even requests for input from the family are met with "idk you're the one who knows everything just pick what's best". The before 4am alarm on fastpass day was annoying but it's only 1.5-2 less hours of sleep than a normal work day so I can justify it in my head.

Hello and welcome to the thread!

Oh my goodness, I feel your pain regarding APs! We too had Premier passes in the past then switched to bicoastal APs once they raised the price. Our last Gold AP expired in late fall of ‘18 amd since we were planning on Aulani the following year and Japan in ‘20, we didn’t renew. Then you-know-what happened, so here we are waiting too.

Ah yes, the 4:00 a.m. FP+ booking, not a fan!

 

[Castillo Mom]

Came by to see if any if my DVC neighbors had been trying to score DLR park reservations. I jumped in the queue first thing this morning, waited a couple hours then ended up buying tickets through an authorized 3rd party reseller. Hopped back in the queue but my friend ended up being to get reservations for me after I texted her my tickets. We’re all set for DL on 5/22 and DCA on 6/4!

Congrats to those who were able to get in!

 

[Evita_W]

Update: I caved and purchased tickets (2-day, Single Park) for two people. Now remaining in the long queue for reservations ...

Edited to add, as I watch reservation availability beginning to disappear:
I s'pose I can always upgrade these tickets, at some later point, to the new membership/AP when it is announced ... right? (Hanging onto hope ... fighting back my disappointment regarding 4/30!)

I just checked and every day seems to still have availability for DCA as the starting park.

 

[Gaugersaurus]

I was able to get 2-day PH and reservations for our stay 5/13-5/16. Right now we have 5/14 & 5/15 but we might be switching Saturday's reservation to Thursday since dgf has online class all morning that Saturday.

 

[KPeterso]

Came by to see if any if my DVC neighbors had been trying to score DLR park reservations. I jumped in the queue first thing this morning, waited a couple hours then ended up buying tickets through an authorized 3rd party reseller. Hopped back in the queue but my friend ended up being to get reservations for me after I texted her my tickets. We’re all set for DL on 5/22 and DCA on 6/4!

Congrats to those who were able to get in!

We will be there on 5/22 too starting at DL. And then also on 5/11. Very excited.

 

[bwvBound]

I just checked and every day seems to still have availability for DCA as the starting park.

See update in post #226 above.

 

[Castillo Mom]

With all of the excitement of the parks reopening, I decided to waitlist at VGC. I know odds are extremely slim for it to come through, especially since its for a studio, but I have nothing to lose. We'll be at DCA on 6/4 and it would be nice to enjoy the resort for a long weekend. We shall see!

 

[bwvBound]

Well this thread has been surprisingly quiet! Last post 4/19, pre-re-opening? What?

Here is our update on visiting since the Grand Re-Open event:

• 4/30, Re-Opening Day! We stayed off-site and were in DL all day. Rode every position of Smuggler's Run and loved having the cockpit to ourselves. The day was spectacular except for difficulty finding snacks foods w/out a 2-hour Mobile Ordering wait. Gladly, we had a reservation for table-service dining at 1:30p. Phew.
• 5/8, DCA while staying at VGC.
  VGC was a.w.e.s.o.m.e. Nothing short of perfect.
  Downtown Disney: Great!
  DCA? Meh. It felt crowded and lacking any touch of magic. It felt like "any other theme park."
  • Lunch at Carthay: 'just ok' but far overpriced.
  • Dinner at the Lamplight Lounge: poor menu with too few selections; 100% recovery by an excellent waiter; great tasting foods.

Now that the itch has been scratched, we can wait a long time before returning. We'll take a "wait and see" approach on replacement APs but don't plan to purchase day-by-day tickets. The day at DCA confirmed the idea that 2020 was the year we outgrew Disney Parks.

We have a couple VGC reservations on the books for later this year. We'll likely stay just to enjoy the hotel and Downtown Disney restaurants. Not feeling any call to return to the parks ... except ... maybe just maybe ... to keep riding Smuggler's Run without other guests.

 

[andersonsc]

how do you see the park reservation calendar for the resort guests. I've linked a DVC stay but it doesn't show the calendar to see for resort guest. Do I have to buy the tickets first?

 

[Gaugersaurus]

how do you see the park reservation calendar for the resort guests. I've linked a DVC stay but it doesn't show the calendar to see for resort guest. Do I have to buy the tickets first?

You'll need to have tickets linked to view the calendar. You go to the my hotel reservations under your account tab and there should be a button to make park reservations. At some point people had posted the "unofficial" link that had the resort reservations on the Disneyland side of the forums but it's been buried in posts by now, you might be able to find it if you search.

 

[andersonsc]

But you can’t get tickets unless you have days on calendar but the days I want are only available on resort calendar- but I can’t get to that u til I have tickets?

 

[bwvBound]

how do you see the park reservation calendar for the resort guests. I've linked a DVC stay but it doesn't show the calendar to see for resort guest. Do I have to buy the tickets first?

This link might help:
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/av...gments=ticket,ph,resort&defaultSegment=resort

However, I thought I'd read that (recently) Disneyland's Ticket site had been updated to make [Ticket Purchase + Park Reservation] a single step?

 

[andersonsc]

This helps. Thank you

 

[Castillo Mom]

Well this thread has been surprisingly quiet! Last post 4/19, pre-re-opening? What?

Here is our update on visiting since the Grand Re-Open event:

• 4/30, Re-Opening Day! We stayed off-site and were in DL all day. Rode every position of Smuggler's Run and loved having the cockpit to ourselves. The day was spectacular except for difficulty finding snacks foods w/out a 2-hour Mobile Ordering wait. Gladly, we had a reservation for table-service dining at 1:30p. Phew.
• 5/8, DCA while staying at VGC.
  VGC was a.w.e.s.o.m.e. Nothing short of perfect.
  Downtown Disney: Great!
  DCA? Meh. It felt crowded and lacking any touch of magic. It felt like "any other theme park."
  • Lunch at Carthay: 'just ok' but far overpriced.
  • Dinner at the Lamplight Lounge: poor menu with too few selections; 100% recovery by an excellent waiter; great tasting foods.

Now that the itch has been scratched, we can wait a long time before returning. We'll take a "wait and see" approach on replacement APs but don't plan to purchase day-by-day tickets. The day at DCA confirmed the idea that 2020 was the year we outgrew Disney Parks.

We have a couple VGC reservations on the books for later this year. We'll likely stay just to enjoy the hotel and Downtown Disney restaurants. Not feeling any call to return to the parks ... except ... maybe just maybe ... to keep riding Smuggler's Run without other guests.

Same here! Went to Touch of Disney twice, the cast member preview of DLR reopening, used day one of our two-day PH at DL last Saturday and will use day two for Avenger’s Campus debut on 6/4. I do still have an active waitlist for that weekend at VGC which is highly unlikely to come through. I’d love to laze around by the pool at Craftsman Bar, but either way, the itch has been scratched!

Like everyone else, we‘ll be watching and waiting to see what transpires with whatever replaces the former AP program. In the meantime, we have our trip to WDW coming up soon to celebrate the 50th, followed by another visit next February for our first winter trip and Festival of the Arts.