Does anyone see any other options (canceled cruise, booked pre-departure DVC night and borrowed points to do it)

[indyannamom]

Hello DVC friends! This post is not to solicit offers, any direct messages with offers will be ignored, I'm simply trying to make sure there isn't an option out there that I am not aware of!

Background:
We've been DVC members for 4 years and love our home resorts (Animal Kingdom and Bay Lake Tower). We've enjoyed using our points and have never rented them out...none left to rent
My family of 5 had our first Disney Cruise planned for this coming October. It's the kids Fall Break and their school break schedule is tight. I've had the cruise booked since the itineraries were available to book, well over a year ago. I also booked a DVC room for the night before the departure. We live in Indiana so are flying in and I didn't want to fly in the morning we set sail in case there were flight delays etc. I splurged on points and got lucky and was able to book a 1br concierge at Jambo...but to do it, I had to borrow the points, which are now locked into our 2018 Dec. use year and need to be used by Nov. 31st of this year. No big deal at the time. I was over the moon with the trip we had planned.

Then the wrinkle...the out of nowhere, my soon-to-be high-school freshman, who's been refusing to consider this activity at all, decides she's going to join the marching band at the high school this coming year. Wait, what? That's the single biggest time commitment activity at the high school. The band is nationally ranked and they practice more than the sports teams do. It's all good , this will be a great community for her to get to know others in our very large high school, it will teach her discipline and community purpose. All good...right up until I look at the schedule and they have an intensive during fall break...2 all-day practices and an invitational performance on Saturday. Which means, I have to cancel our cruise and we can no longer use the one night DVC I have booked either.

For reference, the only other trip we have planned before Nov.31st is one for DH & I to DLR in September, but there's no availability at VGC, waitlist is in place, but doubtful. We can't schedule anything else in 2019.

I do need to get the points back to use, or money to cover them and I'm confident I can do that.
What I'm most uneasy about is renting this particular reservation. If they weren't borrowed points, I'd much rather cancel it and let another DVC member get some pixie dust than rent it out to a non member. I was so excited to get this reservation, I'd like to pay it forward and put some pixie dust back out there, but I can't take a loss on it.

Here's my question: Does anyone else have any ideas for options?

• I could hope the waitlist for the VGC in September comes through, and use those 2018 points if it does, but that could leave me with the expiring points
• I could cancel the reservation and rent the points, but with the limited availability for open rentals, that could be hard to do
• I could rent out the existing reservation with 2 options?
  • Go through one of the brokers and get whatever their going rate is
  • Wait until the reservation date is within 30 days and post in the rental forum on Dis
    • (I know I could purchase the premium plan for $195 to rent it early, but I'm not planning on renting anything else, so it's not worth it for this one 41point rental)

Are there any other options anyone can think of?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[bwvBound]

Would you consider leaving the teen behind ... with another band family ... while the rest of the family completes their trip? FWIW, I was left behind a few times in life. It didn't kill me and my parents were awesome Band-Aids.

 

[MickyLynn]

Would you consider leaving the teen behind ...

This was my first thought.

 

[indyannamom]

We’re not ok leaving her behind. This is likely our only cruise when they’re still living at home, and we want her with us for the experience. If this was something we did more often, then maybe we’d consider, but not an option this time.

 

[CarolMN]

If your points were purchased direct you could use the borrowed points to extend your September stay by using them to book a hotel room at the DLH, the Grand Californian or the Paradise Pier (subject to availability).

Hope you find a way to use them.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

What about skipping the band deal? I realize the band tells you that you can’t skip but in reality you can. We have a high schooler at a large public school and understand the pressure. But people do skip “required” events and practices now and again.

 

[MeridaMonkey]

Before you do anything irrevocable, give Member Services a call and talk it through with them. It's highly unlikely but you could luck into some MS Pixie Dust and have those borrowed points put back in their original use year. Nothing to lose, if they say No then you're no worse off, but if they say Yes you're good to go

 

[jlb727]

I would say to skip the practices and the performance as long it doesn’t impact the grade. Don’t ask the band director—just tell him/her you’ve had this planned for awhile. Family time is more important, imo. I’m a teacher and I’ve been a coach. From that perspective, when you schedule things over a school break, you have to expect there will be some people who can’t make it.