DVC Planning Disease?

[RoyalCanadian]

Could someone please tell me how normal this is? Utilizing both Caskbill's DVC Planner and David Frederickson's DVC Point Manager I have just planned my family's DVC visits until January 4, 2008. OK -- so this is only 3 visits for us, but these tools are great for the mildly obsessive compulsive DVC member. Use one to sort out the points charts, vacation times, and booking windows while the other will keep track of the banking and borrowing of points and a running tally of the points available.
Now, if only I could cross-reference these trips to future earnings, payroll deductions and expected tax refunds the life of a DVC planner would be perfect.

 

[Pa@okw95]

You said in your last sentence, cross reference to future earnings, payroll deductions, etc. That put you over the top. And then there is that word "perfect" at the end. If you do this in your whole life than that could be a problem, if not, you are just a Disney Nut and you are among friends here.

 

[dsmith]

You sound completely normal to me!

I use these tools at least a couple times a month going through a lot of 'what if' scenarios. My vacation time accumulates with each pay period so I also have a spread sheet calculating that so I know if I’ll really be able to go.

I hope you also have your Disney guidebooks, vacation planning folders handy and the Member Services phone number on speed dial. If not, then there might be something wrong with you!

 

[barb45]

Where do you get these tools? I love planning our trips and I find that the ones you get in the member guidebooks aren't great. I have borrowed points every year and this year I added on so I thought it would be very straight forward finally. Well it turns out that an exchange came through in March for November. My use year is September (perfect) but because my add on is Saratoga Springs and it hasn't closed yet, they borrowed some of the points from 2005 even though I will get my points in September. Now its back to confusion ville! Even though I am a bookkeeper - this stuff should come easy to me - I am always worried about points expiring or missing banking deadlines etc. Would these tools help me to figure all of this out? I wish there were some sort of online points statements that we could look at.

 

[lenshanem]

You had me until your last sentence RoyalCanadian.

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Originally posted by barb45
Where do you get these tools? I love planning our trips and I find that the ones you get in the member guidebooks aren't great.

Below are both links to Caskbill's and Dave Fredricks planners. I use both quite often.

http://web.nalu.net/~wneth/dvcplanner.htm

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/dmfredrick/Download.html

 

[Caskbill]

Besides my planner, already mentioned, I'm working on a new DVC Point Tracking program, but that's still going to be awhile.

Meanwhile, just for fun, I just finished a new DVC Point Chart program that covers all current DVC resorts for the years 2001 through 2054.

Now you can really plan

I'm going to see if anybody wants to test it first, get any suggestions, then release it, probably within the next 2-weeks.

I'll make a post soon.

Bill

 

[barb45]

Nick and Caskbill: I love this site. I have gotten so many hints and this planning program is better than sliced bread! I can't wait for the new point tracking planner. Thanks for the help.

 

[JimC]

Both of those tools are first rate. The folks who created and maintain them are first rate as well!

It seems very normal to me to plan many trips in advance.

The only problem is that I run out of points before I run out of plans

 

[bobbiwoz]

We were recently on a weekend trip in El Paso TX, and I brought copies of pages from the planning guide so we could talk about how to spend the points from the upcoming possible purchase of VB points. Well, the planning helped, the purchase is close to closing and we're all set to spend the points!

We have always planned vacations way ahead of time, but this DVC planning has really taken us to a new level!

Bobbi

 

[WolfpackFan]

I do the very same thing. I have our DVC trips planned out for the next 4 years. Right now I'm actively planning/researching 4 different trips - an Alaskan cruise this coming June, a DVC visit to HHI this Christmas, a trip to Europe next Summer and a cruise/resort stay in Hawaii Summer after next. I've also penciled in another WDW DVC visit in 2006 and also hopefully 2007. And somewhere along the way we want to do a DCL cruise.

 

[WolfpackFan]

Oh one more thing - does anyone have an Excel spreadsheet that keeps track of points? I use Caskbill's great program to plan my DVC stays and I had used the other program to keep track of points, but it's printing function is not real great. What I'd really like is just a simple Excel spreadsheet to do the job. I developed something on my own, but would like to see if anyone else has a similar spreadsheet to see if it improves upon mine.

 

[mtdewhead]

Whenever I feel that need for DVC, which is often, I love to "fall into" the planning programs for an hour or so. It makes me feel like the next trip is that much closer! To all the creators of the programs, Thanks!

 

[TigerLaw]

those are awesome tools-thanks for the links!

 

[doc hog]

I just wanted to say THANKS to Bill and David for all the work for these programs!!! I love to plan and see how to make those points go a long way.

Love these programs!!!!!!!!!

 

[BostonDisneyKid]

Just wanted to throw in my two cents ...

Bill & Dave - Thanks for sharing your work with us all. The programs are nice. Keep up the good work!!!

If either of you are looking for future beta/QA testers, I would be willing to assist (sr. desktop eng.). If so, let me know...

 

[Skip Wiley]

We haven't even passed through ROFR yet and we're already using both programs to plan add-ons and trips through 2009. Thanks to both Bill and Dave for all the hard work, and for making planning so easy!