DONE 7/28!! My Life on the DVC Blacklist - an August '09 Pre-Trip.

[2xcited2sleep]

Of course I'm willing to come along!! Yippee!!

I like what you said about hoping that your little monkey and maybe his little monkeys would read your TRs and remember all the fun you had. Do you "save" your TRs anywhere other than DIS-land? I was thinking the other day that I'd be sad if my TRs disappeared and I wanted to try to save them somehow if I could. Just a thought.

Looking forward to following along with you!!

 

[PrincessV]

You knew you couldn't stay away!!!!

SO true!

New(ish) around here, and subbing for the first time on a pre/trip report. You may be taking a year off from school, but your writing style's sure not on sabbatical.

So, please count me in.

Hi there and welcome! Thanks so much - I really do love the written word.

I'm here too, V! Can't wait to read all about it!

Yay!

I can't get too far behind on this one since you're only on the first page, or can I?

Well, that and the fact that it might take a year for me to finish, if the last one was any indication, lol! Glad to have you along!

Lucky us!

Lucky ME!

I'm here - how could we stay away?

OK...I lied. I was able to sqeeze this in before my dinner dings. Can't wait to read more!

Yay - welcome back!

Whether recounting rides or reliving memories, you ALWAYS hold my attention and keep my coming back for more. Cant wait to read all about everything..

You are so sweet T2 Thank you!

Do you "save" your TRs anywhere other than DIS-land?

I do! I write them out as Word docs and save as I go; after losing my ENTIRE senior thesis in high school, I never write anything without continual saving. But, once my TRs are complete, I go into the DIS pages and copy and paste each installment into a fresh Word doc - it preserves all the pics and smilies.

 

[bawsmom]

mega lurker here... but notta stalker...
i do love they way you write... and all the adventures you have...

looking forward to all the details...and living vicariously through your trips...

 

[daze]

If you write it they will come. so i'm here. woohooo!!!

 

[carrieannie]

I`m here! woo hooo!!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Put me down for a case of the good stuff. Looking forward to reading about the blacklist.

 

[Trentmom]

I know this is going to be a good one, so I am in

 

[PrincessV]

mega lurker here... but notta stalker...

Nah - I see you just often enough to pull out of the Lurker category! Thanks for coming back for more - don't be a stranger!

If you write it they will come.

Ooo, I like the ring of that! Welcome aboard!

I`m here! woo hooo!!

Thanks Carrie!

Put me down for a case of the good stuff. Looking forward to reading about the blacklist.

Hey GB - thanks for joining in!

I know this is going to be a good one, so I am in

Hiya - I haven't seen you in a while!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Woo Hoo I am so happy I found this. I can't wait to read the story behind the title.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

I think I'm addicted to PTRs....and this one sounds very interesting! Looking forward to more!

 

[Hedy]

I'm in. I really liked getting to know you, Leo and Grandma during the last TR.

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Hi V,

I have read several of your reports, and I am coming out of lurkdom to say, Im IN!

 

[PrincessV]

Woo Hoo I am so happy I found this. I can't wait to read the story behind the title.

Thanks, and it's coming right up!

I think I'm addicted to PTRs....and this one sounds very interesting! Looking forward to more!

Dangerous addiction, these reports are. Thanks for adding me to your reading list!

I'm in. I really liked getting to know you, Leo and Grandma during the last TR.

Hi V,

I have read several of your reports, and I am coming out of lurkdom to say, Im IN!

Hi guys - thanks for coming back for more!

 

[PrincessV]

First, let me say that I’m THRILLED to hear some of you say my title drew you in! Honest – you absolutely made my day.

Because, while I take great pride in being able to take three bullet points about a company and turn them into an inviting business story, I’m no good at all with exciting-yet-pithy titles. At least once a month I’ll have a story complete and ready to roll… but wind up down to the wire, staring my deadline in the face as sweat drips from my brow and I hyperventilate over a flipping title. I’ve managed to pull one or two good ones off over the years, but let’s just say I’ll never be hired into my dream job: writing headlines for CNN.com.



Anyway. Back to the story. And the title of this TR, which requires some explanation.


I suppose it’s only fair to admit at the outset…

There is no DVC Blacklist.


But. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear that one is in the works. I’d be even less surprised if the idea for it originated with ME. That’s ME as in PrincessV, by the way, not Magical Express. Although, every time I make a reservation, I am, in fact, offered ME, as in Magical Express. And every time – every time – I say “Yes, I’d love to sign up for Magical Express! I’m only 1.5 hours away – think they could fit me in between airport runs?!”

Really, they know the dates of each and every trip I’ve made over 38 years, but they can’t look and see that I live down the road?!


Oops, I strayed.


So, the Blacklist. I suspect a Blacklist may someday be created to deal with DVC members like me. And just what is it about me that’s so vile? You’ll need a little history to understand.

Fifteen years ago, when I first moved to FL and started going to WDW regularly, the idea of a trip report, let alone a Pre Trip Report, would have been unthinkable. Because, generally, the kind of people who take the time to write these things have some sort of plan in place for their Disney vacations.

Fifteen years ago, there was NO planning involved with my WDW excursions. When my then-husband and I switched from shelling out cash for one-day tickets each time we visited to annual passes - THAT was the most planning in which we engaged. (The “plan” being to go to WDW… a whole lot. Heh heh.) Typically, our “advanced planning” went something like this:

“What time is it?”
“About 10:30am. Why?”
“Want to go to Epcot today?”
“Sure.”

This pre-trip strategizing was completely unscientific, based not on Unofficial Guides or Tour Guide Mikes, but on whim and impulse. And it was sometimes augmented by later deliberations…

“Wow, those fireworks are always so good.”
“Yeah, but that last yard of Bass Ale did me in. Can you drive home?”
“I don’t know, I’m pretty wiped from that margarita.”
“Let’s just grab a hotel room.”
“Sounds good – where?”
And we’d drive up to a Disney resort and check in for a night.


Please, take a moment or two to ponder that.

With NO preparation at all, we found ourselves staying on property on a fairly regular basis.


I know; it’s a lot to take in. But it’s 100% true. And I strongly suspect it’s still possible, though the Disney Marketing Machine, as well as the DIS, might have us believe otherwise.

Things have a changed a lot since then. I found the Unofficial Guide and saw first-hand how much more we could experience by utilizing their touring plans. I developed a taste for sit down meals and resort swimming pools. And I had a son, which made those fly-by-the-seats-of-our-pants Disney days difficult, if not impossible, to sustain.



Nowadays, I’m a Disney planning fool. I leave precious little to chance, though I’m always willing to divert from the touring plans as desire may dictate. But when it comes to resorts… well, the choice of resort is big – BIG! – in my list of Things I Want to Get Just Right. I have a long history of making reservations at, say, Port Orleans Riverside, only to read that their housekeeping’s been pretty iffy as of late, resulting in a switch to Caribbean Beach. Followed by a switch to the Polynesian because a really good discount came out… but that price starts looking way too scary and I switch again to a Contemporary Garden Wing. Which goes under the knife for renovations, and who wants to be around all those saws and hammers? So I switch to Coronado Springs, saving some pennies in the process.

Add in date changes/additions/deletions, room location requests, and the application of various discount codes, and, well, you get the picture.


I thought I resolved all that by buying into the Disney Vacation Club. With far fewer resorts from which to choose, and limited availability at at least half of those, I thought DVC would easily curb my dangerous case of Resortus Changeus Itus.



Little did I know.




This June trip began as an August trip. Because that’s when some very dear friends are going and we really enjoy our Disney time with them. We’ve done this the past two summers, staying at Saratoga Springs (SSR) both times. So when my 11-month booking window opened up, I put us down for a studio at SSR in Aug.

Only… this year, I wanted a change in scenery. The opening of the new Kidani section of Animal Kingdom Villas was most enticing, and when the 7-month window for booking at other DVC resorts opened (SSR is my Home resort), I got right on it, booking a one bedroom villa at AKV.

Which pretty near used up all my points. I thought it would be okay, because I’m not planning on so many little trips this year as I did last year; we’d make Aug. 2009 something of a blowout.




Only, it kept nagging at me, all those points for a one bedroom. I don’t have a lot of DVC points, but I can work them to get quite a few trips into a year, if I’m careful. A one bedroom in Aug. isn’t careful. At all.

Which is how I wound up calling to switch to a studio at the Beach Club Villas. Because we really, really like it there and the fancy-schmancy pool would be so much fun on those blistering-hot summer days. I also used the points I saved to book Old Key West for Memorial Day Weekend.




I think this lasted about a month. Maybe less. Because the summer camp schedule came out. And I found that I’ll have to take vacation time to cover two weeks – one at the beginning of June and one at the end of Aug. – to cover those times when there is neither summer camp nor school. Brilliant scheduling by the camp folks, by the way.

Sadly, that week in Aug. is NOT when my dear friends are going. I’m still planning to get over there for a day or two to see them, but our WDW vacation had to be changed. I switched to the last week of Aug., booking at the Wilderness Lodge Villas.


(If you’re keeping count, you’ll see that I’d now been booked and re-booked at five DVC resorts. FYI – there were a total of six DVC resorts at the time this was occurring. I’d managed to book at 83.33% of them. That Blacklist idea’s looking pretty likely right about now, huh? Keep reading.)


The very next day after booking at the Wilderness Lodge, I had second thoughts. Not about the resort – I love that place! But about the time. If we’re not going to meet up with friends, why on earth would I go in Aug.??? I have to take a week off in June anyway, and June is a lot more tolerable than Aug. It’s not really cooler, but it is a bit less humid and, frankly, I’m just not sick of summer yet in June. By Aug., I hate living in FL.

So I called back. The next day. Apologizing for making yet another change. The nice lady on the other end of the line laughed and said, “no apologies necessary”…. then became very quiet as she pulled up my file. If DVC is anything like CRO, she must have seen each and every phone call I’d made over the preceding few months. :


Still no Blacklist that I know of, but I’m now booked for five nights in a studio at AKV, Jambo House.

Also, I canceled OKW over Memorial Day Wknd. Then re-booked it. And canceled it again.

I may have booked 2 nights in Dec. at SSR, too.





I don’t intend to make any more changes to my DVC stay in June. But I just might add a night or two at a non-DVC resort. Anything’s possible with four months left before show time.





That Blacklist is looking imminent.



Next: Who’s going?

 

[sharkB8HooHaHa]

Really, they know the dates of each and every trip I’ve made over 38 years, but they can’t look and see that I live down the road?!

This is kind of like me getting a code for a value room...or that new sweepstakes they have that is good for a family of 4. Don't they know???

This pre-trip strategizing was completely unscientific, based not on Unofficial Guides or Tour Guide Mikes, but on whim and impulse. And it was sometimes augmented by later deliberations…

“Wow, those fireworks are always so good.”
“Yeah, but that last yard of Bass Ale did me in. Can you drive home?”
“I don’t know, I’m pretty wiped from that margarita.”
“Let’s just grab a hotel room.”
“Sounds good – where?”
And we’d drive up to a Disney resort and check in for a night.


Please, take a moment or two to ponder that.

With NO preparation at all, we found ourselves staying on property on a fairly regular basis.

My in-laws did this very thing back in October. Well, I'm sure the conversation was a little bit different, but the results were the same. Walked up and checked in.

Only, it kept nagging at me, all those points for a one bedroom. I don’t have a lot of DVC points, but I can work them to get quite a few trips into a year, if I’m careful. A one bedroom in Aug. isn’t careful. At all.

Always listen to the voice.

Which is how I wound up calling to switch to a studio at the Beach Club Villas. Because we really, really like it there and the fancy-schmancy pool would be so much fun on those blistering-hot summer days. I also used the points I saved to book Old Key West for Memorial Day Weekend.

I knew you'd listen

(If you’re keeping count, you’ll see that I’d now been booked and re-booked at five DVC resorts. FYI – there were a total of six DVC resorts at the time this was occurring. I’d managed to book at 83.33% of them. That Blacklist idea’s looking pretty likely right about now, huh? Keep reading.)

And there's still so much time!

I may have booked 2 nights in Dec. at SSR, too.

Ooh, when?

I don’t intend to make any more changes to my DVC stay in June. But I just might add a night or two at a non-DVC resort. Anything’s possible with four months left before show time.

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

LY!

 

[jewels1916]

I'll admit, your title pulled me in, but your post about all the DVC/date switching has me subbing!! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[carrieannie]

Whew!! I`m mentally exausted just reading all that!

Great Job s`plaining things V! does Leo know about the trip yet?

 

[mommytothreeboys]

All those changes made me dizzy!! WOW! I do the same thing...constantly second-guessing and looking for the best deal. My DH, however, always reigns me in and stops me from making that phone call! (unless of course I can really save us money!)

Looking forward to more!

 

[lisalonglash]

Excellent start! I'm always in for a V trippie!

 

[jcc0621]

Brilliant scheduling by the camp folks, by the way.

Don't you just love these summer schedules

I switched to the last week of Aug., booking at the Wilderness Lodge Villas.

why on earth would I go in Aug.???

If DVC is anything like CRO, she must have seen each and every phone call I’d made over the preceding few months. :

I may have booked 2 nights in Dec. at SSR, too.

But, what about girls weekend over Columbus day

I don’t intend to make any more changes to my DVC stay in June.