Do you ever pay cash?

[DVC-Don]

Only once since 2000 when we joined DVC. For 1 night at ASMo before a Disney cruise in 2003. We do stay 2 or 3 times per year on points though.

 

[TravelingJen24]

When you went to Tokyo Disney did your child go? How was it on the plane ride? Thats what I am really worried about. We have never been out of the country except on cruises, and a little skeptical. I want to spend my money on something that we would remember forever as a trip of a lifetime. What would be a good age for those parks? Thanks in advance for all the info.

 

[JimC]

Congrats on your 30th...ours is a few months later in september

Thank you and congratulations right back at you!

 

[robinb]

When you went to Tokyo Disney did your child go? How was it on the plane ride? Thats what I am really worried about. We have never been out of the country except on cruises, and a little skeptical. I want to spend my money on something that we would remember forever as a trip of a lifetime. What would be a good age for those parks? Thanks in advance for all the info.

Yes, she did. We flew from WI to Hong Kong (spent 4 days there), HK to Beijing (another 5 days), Beijing to Osaka (another 5 days) and then took the train to Yokohama (4 days for a convention) and then the train to DL-Tokyo for 5 more days. My DD turned 8-years old in Hong Kong and we celebrated it at Disneyland. We flew on airline miles and used hotel points for most of the hotels. We stayed at the TDL Sheraton on points and it was great!

The plane ride is quite long. I want to say ... 22 hours or so. It's really all a blur. They feed you 3 meals and keep you entertained with endless movies. My DD watched movies, colored, read and slept. Once you get there the jet lag is murder. We were awake at 3:00 AM for the first couple of days!

Asia is a wonderful place. The Japanese and Chinese are all very friendly. We didn't know either language and managed to get around fine as plenty of people speak English. Japan is very, very, very expensive so be prepared. Tokyo is the most expensive city I have ever visited ... more expensive than New York, San Francisco, London or Paris.

I guess if you want to chat more about this, you should probably PM me as this is totally off-topic. Other than ... I would not recommend that you use your DVC points in Japan. It's not worth it. The Hilton and the Sheraton are very close to the monorail station and I don't see much of an advantage to staying at an official Disney Hotel.

 

[ariel & eric]

What if you want to do a last minute trip and there's no DVC availability?

QUOTE]

In the 10 years we've had our DVC we have never had a problem with availibility. We always go as a family (or just me and DH) and plan accordingly. Heck I just extended our April trip a couple of days with no problem and I was less than 3 months out. Now we do own at OKW and only stay there. I'm sure if we wanted to stay at some of the smaller resorts it could be a problem, but we're not.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

We went to HHI over Thanksgiving weekend 2006 and paid oop with 25% discount for Saturday night, and used points for Friday and Sunday night.

It was our 1st DVC trip, and our 1st taste of the magic of DVC. We had 4 wonderful days at HHI/Savannah.

It was really easy to forget the purchase price and the maintenance fees, and say..."I just went on a great vacation for $81!"

We will be returning to HH in November, and will be conserving points by staying points and oop. (We never anticipated bi-annual trips to HH when we bought DVC so we've got to conserve somehow.)

 

[tomandrobin]

We paid cash once, then we bought DVC. We were young and inexperienced. Since then we have bought DVC and have not paid cash since. We have also stayed at the Swan and Dolphin on points from our Starwood points.

 

[goofeydec]

Yes, for some fridays and saturdays and when i run out of points.

 

[antree]

When we didn't have enough points for the weekends, we paid cash for a room either at Port Orleans French Quarters{LOVE IT} or POP{Not Bad. better then All Stars} and Animal Kingdom when there are discounts. We were actually talking about staying at AKL again and paying for it until they turned DVC. So Yes we have paid for other Hotels.