First Christmas Trip advice needed

[LucyD]

Hi! I am new here and hope that I am posting in the right place. I hope you can give me some help. I want to book a family Christmas trip for 2005 for either 12/22-12/26 or 12/23-12/27 for six adults, with one of them being my mother who is 78. She has never been to WDW, and the rest of us haven't been since July 96 where we stayed at Port Orleans.

First, I think we want to book a 2 bedroom Home Away from Home. What are the chances of us getting this as we're not DVC members? I was thinking of BWV, BCV or WLV. We don't want our mother to have to wait in long bus lines or ride for too long. I've looked into some junior suites and suites at deluxe resorts and don't think they would be for us. Mother will want to be comfortable, have some privacy and have access to a kitchen. I think we will feel more like we are staying together in a villa rather than a suite or an adjoining room situation.

We are primarily interested in the holiday attractions and events at the theme parks-- CP, Osborne Lights, resort decorations, parades etc. Since we won't have kids with us, rides etc. are not of interest.

Second, there is no way we can pay rack rates for this. After doing research and reading these boards, I am so overwhelmed. I think I've been at this computer for at least 20 hours the past two days. I don't think I can manage watching for discount codes and deals etc. I've read that it might be a good idea to book through a WDW trained travel agent like DU or Small World Vacations. And with this new Make you own Magic ticket packages, I'm really confused.

Am I crazy to think this trip is doable? Any advice you could give will be tremendously appreciated! Thanks so much! Lucy

 

[debbiedoo]

As a dvc member I recommend this

We can book out 11 months for these resorts to the day. So I would jump over to the dvc rent trade board and post something like this:

Would like to rent a 2BD at the following resorts: BCV, BWV, VWL during the following dates:

Over them to pm you or email you, the majority of us rent 10-13 per point.

I would try to help you but with my vacation this year and next year I transfer to Hawaii

If you have any more questions just ask or pm me!!

 

[Misti]

If you can, check in on 12/19 or earlier. Value Season ends on 12/19 and Holiday Season begins on 12/20. The rates will sky rocket on 12/20. So, if you are at all flexible, try to make your trip a little earlier. By checking in on 12/19, you will have a Value Season rate for the duration of your stay.

DVC properties are typically released to Disney's booking systems about 7 or 8 months out. If you don't feel like watching for discounts yourself, going with a discount-saavy travel agency is a good idea. Dreams Unlimited Travel sponsors the DIS.

 

[rkmassa]

Choose your first set of dates. Every day after the 25th will be absolutely insane as far as crowds and lines. We went this year the 18th to 23rd and had a great time. No long lines, no long bus lines, etc. We went last year and stayed through the 28th. All the days after the 25th were crazy. We were glad we had done so much before the 25th. I would also recommend looking into renting points from a DVC member. There are some on eBay too that have good feedback that sell by the week. Either would be worth checking into.

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

I agree w/ Debbiedoo about renting points from a DVC member.

However, there are a few caveats one must remember if one is staying on DVC points.

1) No maid service. On the third day of your stay, housekeeping will remove your trash and bring fresh towels. On the 7th day of your stay (if you stay that long), you get full service. Frankly, we don't mind lack of maid service; it means we don't have to worry about housekeeping knocking on the door at 8am wondering when we're leaving the room. Since y'all aren't going to be park crawling all day, that might be a good thing for you, too. You can pay for daily maid service if you wish. The price goes up depending on the size room you have, and I just can't remember how much it is for a 2br atm.

2) Well. Um. That's really the main caveat. Just the lack of maid service bothers a whole lot of people, so I thought I'd point it out. You would most likely get a 2br villa much cheaper renting points from a DVC member than trying to find a package. Also, you can start booking at the end of January when the 11 month window opens.

Just to be a little more precise on how it works, as debbiedoo said, you would post on the DVC rental board here what you're interested in renting. Someone would contact you w/ their information (how many points they have available, where, etc). You want to make sure the points they have are for the resort you want so that you can book w/in the 11 month window, ok? That's important. The person you rent from will then make the reservation in *your* name using *their* points, and you pay them, not Disney. There are about 100000 posts about this on the DVC boards, so that's just a quick run-down to get you started.

I would recommend either BCV or BWV b/c there's so much to do right there at the Boardwalk w/o having to go into the parks. Plus you can take the boat or walk (not sure how your mother would feel about walking, though!) to Epcot and take the boat to MGM.

The Epcot boat from BC and BW lands at the back side of the park, so it's a much closer walk to, say, the CP than if you took the monorail, which stops at the *front* of Epcot. Of course, I'm just partial to my Epcot resorts.

 

[disney4us2002]

If your main interest is the Christmas theme - seeing decorations, exploring the special Christmas things like the Candlelight Proc, Osborne, etc. and you're not taking kids, are you still restricted to the time close to Christmas/New Year's? All of the Christmas things begin after Thanksgiving and will be much more enjoyable w/ way less crowds at the beginning to middle of December. We just returned from Disney (12/19-12/27) and it was crowded and the weather frankly stunk (luck of the draw of course)! With a high schooler and middle schooler we were stuck w/school closing dates, but wouldn't recommend that timeframe if another is possible.