Family finally cancelled~ Updated pg 3 #33

[pickles]

I use to live near the grovepark....I was inside once not to stay, but I can tell you it is very nice and you will enjoy.

if you are there during the holidays visit the Biltmore House, my mom was nuts for that place saw it a ton of times. also drive the blue ridge up to Mckinney MT and if it is warm weather, visit sliding rock in Pisgah Forest

My hubby proposed to me at looking glass falls 13 years ago this aug 30th

visit their trout farm at the park, really cool to feed the fish

lots to see around there, asheville is a city, drive towards brevard etc.. and see some sights. For a toy store go to downtown brevard and visit Op Taylors..you have NEVER seen anything like it!! old and young will like that


see good thing the sister backed out, now you can go have some fun elsewhere!! and if you get stuck in that big old 2 bedroom, I am happy to be your sister for the week and I guarantee I will show up!!

 

[TonyTigger]

Michelle,

We also live in the Greensboro area (Oak Ridge) and have a situation similar to yours building for next year. My wife wants to take her family with us in July so I have two rooms booked but they are already saying that their health might not be good enough to go. I have told them not to wait until the last minute but I will worry until the get into the van.

Tony

 

[Tiger926]

I've explained DVC in emails, I've sent them links to DVC primers (I really like DVCnews.com for basics), I've explained on the telephone, I sent them point charts... it just doesn't seem to sink in. And both sisters are intelligent, articulate people who are normally very quick on the uptake- I just don't get it .

Actually, I did have forwarning. They couldn't understand the dining plan If the concept of QS and TS confused them- they probably weren't grasping DVC at all either. Both sisters own timeshares, which may be part of the problem. One sister thought it was fine to arrive Monday afternoon since the reservation was for Sun to Thurs. The fact that I "paid" for the studio nightly and I didn't want to waste points or rooms that would be unoccuppied didn't make much sense apparently.

I sent them Passporter Guide Books so the whole Disney experience wouldn't be a complete shock...

Dare I mention that our 2009 trip is with friends? 2 of the 3 friends are Disney fanatics like ourselves; I have no worries about them, only a family emergency would stop them from coming. Last friend I think may be a bit more iffy but he has contributing to the Disney fund just as regularly as the rest of us and says he's looking forward to it. So I'm not borrowing trouble til Nov 2008. I refused to worry about that trip until then


Hubby says to go for the 2 nights at Grove Park Inn, so provided it's still available, it looks like I'll be making someone on the waitlist very happy; which, surprisingly, feels really good to know

Thanks for the well wishes!
Night All!

Michelle

Wow! You did prepare them - perhaps information overload? Especially if they also own traditional timeshares, of which DVC is not. They probably just glanced at all of the stuff you sent and really didn't pay much mind to it as they thought it was like their other timeshares. You make a good point too - if they couldn't figure out the Dining Plan, then you know there are going to be issues as the DP is very simple to understand.

I am sorry this happened to you - it sounds like you did everything possible to educate them on DVC, how they interepreted this info was perhaps out of your control and now you know for if and when there will be a next time.

As a teacher, I have a saying about sharing knowledge, but students have to want to come through the door in order to gain that knowledge. In this case, you provided the info, but I'm not sure that they did their due diligence in informing themselves of just what was involved. It may have been a case of them knowing that you were going to do all of the work, and therefore, you would take care of any issues that crept up. This is how our siblings work, which is why as I stated, we would lie about cancellation deadlines, if and that is a big if, we invite them. You have unfortunately learned a valuable lesson about family, as well as vacation planning.

I hope you have a wonderful mini-trip to Grove Park Inn, Tiger

 

[JimMIA]

And I can't try and rent out the reservation until 30 days out on the DIS boards right? The one thing I have never wanted to do with my DVC is rent the darn thing out but almost all the points were banked from 2007 so I'm in a use or lose situation

That's correct -- you cannot list an existing reservation until 30 days out.

However...you can list the points associated with that reservation now. So you could just say you have X number of points to rent, make arrangements with a renter, cancel your existing ressie and make the renter's ressie.

Or, you could just look over the reservation requested ads and respond to those folks by PM.

 

[DeeCee735]

THere are several of us on this board who have a simple policy for inviting friends and relatives. We'll invite you once. If you accept and show up and carry outyour end of the bargain with dates etc, you'll likely be invited back again and again. If you drag your feet, say yes and then change it to no late in the game, or cancel last minute....you blew it. You will get NO OTHER CHANCE for free accommodations from us again. End of story. WE have our list of invitees down to a nice comfortable 4-5. One family has come twice and one has come three times. A third also owns DVC, and we occationally vacation at the same time. It's a great way to "share".

Oh, and I forgot one other little detail. If you accept our invitation and neglect to acknowledge or thank us at the end of the trip, you too will not be invited back. Only had this happen once, but I must say I was a bit miffed that I gave tehm a free room for a week, cooked breakfasts for them and purchased snacks and never got so much as a "thank you" or dinner out. I actually don't care if guests don't offer to take us to dinner (although most do), but I'd at least like the voiced thank you and even a written one would be nice.

AGREED

I would LOVE to take my 8 year old neice - absolutely love it! (My kids are 19 now, no more little ones). But......my sister simply cannot and will not commit. She'll say again and again how she would love to come to WDW with me, but the one time I invited her, I got the "oh well ya know, I don't know if I can go, I don't think my son would like it ! (he was 13 at the time! and a MAJOR Star Wars fan, and Pirate fan!!). That was it, the one and only time I attempted it. I love her, but I also know her, and I will make all the arrangements, even put the airline tics on my CC, and she'll cancel and MAYBE pay me back within a year, maybe! So I stick with friends most of the time, and a couple of cousins I am close with. I would really love to just open the door and invite everyone, but I know the heartache and disappointment would be mine, and mine alone.

Since DVC/WDW is my happy place......I'm not willing to jeopardize that for heartache

Good luck.....

 

[DeeCee735]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I have a two bedroom booked for January, thinking it would be my husband, myself, both kids and two friends = 6.
I'm already down to three of us. My daughter is absolutely going and bringing DBF, my son is complaining that he doesn't have a friend he wants to ask (???? what's with that?), and my husband won't get on the plane (again). Ya know what?? I'm keeping my 2 bedroom, buying a ticket for myself, my DD, her DBF, AND my son (cause I know he'll change his mind), and I'll invite a couple of different people - see who shows up. But heck, I'm going, going, going baby

 

[JimMIA]

So far, we've only had one trip where we took guests. That was three years ago, and it was Grandma and Great Aunt. Our best trip ever! They were absolutely wonderful, although we were worried about their medical conditions during the planning stages.

One of my daughters took friends to VB once, but that was a fairly last-minute trip and it went fine.

So we don't have a "Never Again" list.

We do, however have a list!

That's the small group of people we would never invite in the first place.

 

[Tiger926]

So far, we've only had one trip where we took guests. That was three years ago, and it was Grandma and Great Aunt. Our best trip ever! They were absolutely wonderful, although we were worried about their medical conditions during the planning stages.

One of my daughters took friends to VB once, but that was a fairly last-minute trip and it went fine.

So we don't have a "Never Again" list.

We do, however have a list!

That's the small group of people we would never invite in the first place.

This is so true. We have travelled with friends to WDW before we became DVC members and it was very problematic, so never again, especially now that we are DVC members. We take our membership very seriously. Much of our family is flaky and can't commit to things that aren't 5 mins. away, so we will enjoy our magical place for the next 50 years with our little family, and then hopefully, one day with our children's families.

We honestly never had the desire that some members seem to have when purchasing DVC to bring everyone and their brother. We know how flaky and non committal most people are, and this isn't how we work. We do everything for them, but we continually get burned, so despite being close to them, we are starting to distance ourselves a bit as life is difficult enough with most of them here at home, and so being on vacation would be a nightmare - from planning all the way to the actual vacation itself. No thanks!

Here's to magical pixie dust to all of you bringing friends/family to WDW, BTDT, and don't really want to go there again!

Tiger

 

[ktbugsmom]

Chuck S -

I have to know - what did the 4 do to get on the "never again" list?

I have a "friend" that I traveled with once on a ski vacation. That was a HORRIBLE experience for me and my family. They became "never again" family. To keep this brief - our families very opposite travelers - we were on time, prepared etc. they were late, unorganized, their kids were extremely whiney, our ski levels were completely different - yet they insisted on following us down harder hills etc - worst ski weekend ever! I made my husband get up early on our last day so we could leave before them!

So - when we plan our Disney trips, I always keep them a secret. I am very vague about the details - but they know we go every year at the same time and always say "We would love to go to Disney with you!". No way!

Well - it had been 3 years since that fiasco trip, so when this friend asked when we were going, I forgot about keeping it vague, and I mentioned "I already have everything booked for X." This friend then replied "Great. Do you mind if we join you? We have a time share now in Orlando." (Luckily not DVC).

What could I do? So - they came - they tried to meet up with us. I tried to make some group meal reservations - they never made it to one. they were late for everything. They had sick, whiney kids. We would plan to meet, we would be at the spot, they wouldn't show or call and say "We will be another 45 minutes..." I refused to wait and we would go do our thing. We met up with them twice in 7 days and that was WAY more than I wanted.

So - this year, I have two trips planned, and I am keeping both very very vague! But - at least they paid for their own rooms!

 

[flechette]

Well, we're in the home stretch! Grove Park Inn has 3 business days to approve the reservation, which is for Dec 12th and 13th, primetime for the Asheville Area and Biltmore House. All I can do at this point is wait and pray

JimMIA - thanks for clarifying the rental process. If Grove Park doesn't pan out I'll hit those boards.

Tiger926- FWIW, I spread out the information process over a period of 2 years, since we got interested in DVC. OTOH - I couldn't tell you what their timeshares are, they never actually stay there just trade with it..

TonyTigger - we're on the other end of Gso - not too far from Emerald Pointe. There seems to be a bunch of is in GSO - we really should try to do a meet one of these days


Thank you all for the conversation - it's been enlightening!

MIchelle

 

[tecodis]

I'm so sorry.
(The teacups is not the place to have a marital spat that includes the names of lawyers.) I'm just saying.

Actually, my one and only "extended family" trip wasn't bad but I wouldn't want to necessarily do WDW again with them. Too much "what are you doing today, let's meet here, let's eat there" schedules for me!

In fact, I paid for their 4 MVMCP tickets and never got a "thank you" that evening!


Fortunately, they paid for their own accommodations. I got the last laugh though because I got a free upgrade to BC concierge level that week trip while they were at POFQ. Nothing against POFQ...I'm just saying!

 

[Merilyn]

I didn't read the whole post. Did you get your Grove Park Inn reservations? My family is going there on Dec 20 and 21. We had extra points and decided to do that instead of Christmas presents. They say it is beautiful at Christmas. Maybe we will see you there.
Merilyn

 

[flechette]

WOOT!



We've got the Grove Park Reservation! I just logged onto the members website and had a scare cause it said no point left to bank. Clicked on over to vacation details and I now show 1 resv for Oct ( 2 bdrm OKW ) and a Grove Park Inn for Dec 12-13

I've been wanting to visit the Biltmore House at Christmas for oh say a decade now, but we've never been able to work out the timing before. Man - I may have to thank my sis for cancelling


Many thanks to Stuart at Member Services who took particular care to make sure my Oct 2 bdrm res didn't get cancelled too, just the studio part and was extremely patient since I was all over the place on this.

okay main disaster averted now I just need to know whether my eldest sister will be staying in the villas w/ us or doing day trips sometime before the trip actually starts.... she does have legitimate reasons for being uncertain; she is the full time caretaker of our mother and she's having trouble finding a reputable place to take care of mom for a week~

Thank you all here at the DIS for being my anchor for a couple of days!

Michelle

 

[DisDaydreamer]

I've been wanting to visit the Biltmore House
Michelle

What, this old house? That's' our summer cottage. Sorry, we won't be there to greet you in December. Glad things worked out for you.

 

[snyderla]

I have the opposite problem. My sister just let me know (August 4th) for sure she CAN go on our Oct 26- Oct 31 trip. We had ressies for everyone else at OKW already. It's a family reunion trip with 18 people. Now I am on a waitlist for her OKW studio for Oct 26 check in through Nov 1 departure. If I had $ for it, I would offer to rent your ressie. But I have to hold out hope for the waitlist to come through. She has backed out before, so even though she has purchased her tickets, I'm not 100% sure she will be in the caravan/carpool when we take off! Family...gotta love. ?