HELP: My sister thinks I'm ripping her off, am I?

[dvc_bwv]

If you want to save the link to this thread just add it to your favorites list and you can pull it up whenever you want without having to print it out. I'm sure this post will be added to much more and if you want the whole thread you will miss out on those posts if you just print it out now.

BTW I certainly hope you can work things out wiht your sis, but as
many have said before, go with your family and enjoy!! You are far from ripping her off!!

 

[donald@home]

Do you mean the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area at MGM? I am drawing a blank on a jungle gym at Epcot.

By the way, there is a hedge maze at the UK pavilion that the kids might like running through. It is about knee high to an adult and is located in front of the gazebo where the Beatle type group plays.

Please keep us posted as to what happens with your sister.

 

[betterlatethannever]

The honeycomb structure is in what is called the "Kid's Garden". It is located to the left of Germany right where the first half of the ToD parade ends and the second half begins. We were taping the parade and the honeycomb structure is the background of most of the taping.

Ed

 

[Lesley]

kidzrus,
in your position, I think I'd take ds out for lunch by yourselves and let her know how you're feeling....that you are hurt that she'd think you are trying to rip her off when all you are trying to do is make this trip the best it can be for everyone. Let her know (if this is the case) that you plan to rent your neighbor's accomodations regardless of whether or not she and her kids will be joining you.....but that you'd love to have her there. Perhaps in a relaxed atmosphere her real reasons for jumping all over you will be revealed. I would tend to think this may be a dh/budget issue...seems logical from what I've seen of many families.

Also let her know she is welcome to either stay with you at BCV and pay whatever she feels is fair (stress that she is your guest and welcome just to come along without any payment...no "you owe me" involved) or that you will help her find other accomodations that suit her better. But be warned...if she wants MK/on the monorail she will be paying about $200 a night even with the best rates available....and that's without any kitchen facilities!

BWV/BCV is an excellent location with young kids!

 

[castleri]

Maybe your sister's friend is just plain jealous and isn't really a friend at all. Have you showed her any of the pix available on this website - As another poster said it sounds like something else is going on. Good luck and hope things will work for you. Maybe you should forget this trip and put the money townards a downpayment so you can have your own piece of DVC and a trip later when things are smoothed out.

 

[mb168]

I spent $2200 for 3 nights in July at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. This was the same size 2 BR that you would have at BCV but for a Thur-Fri-Sat night only. It is closer to MK but like a lot of previous posts, my kids enjoyed the pool as much as the park. The 3,5, and 6 year olds actually like Animal kingdom more than Mk.

 

[Desperado]

Hopefully, you can use this website to find wonderful pictures of the BCV resort to show her and you can print off this thread to show her the advice of many here who I would consider experts.

Pehaps showing her the kitchen, WASHER AND DRYER, whirlpool tub, SAB, will help show her the value of what you boath are getting. Give her copies so she can show her amature friends.

Good luck.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I really wish people could SEE the rooms when they start talking like this! My dad couldn't believe we "bought a timeshare"--but after 5 days with us at BWV in July he's a believer, and is giving Disney "tips" to his friends at the Elks!!
Good luck with your sister. I'm sure she'll see the light whatever you decide. Just wonder what Disney qualifications those "friends" of hers have.
Robin M.

 

[raidermatt]

There are plenty of things at both parks that little kids usually love, though its hard to tell with a 2 year old... some don't like the dark rides in Fantasyland becaue they are, well, dark, and somewhat loud...

The kids probably will like MK better, but they'll still like Epcot and MGM. Your getting much more for you money at the BC than you will at any of the MK resorts. Certainly not a swindle.

 

[Jen D]

The sticker shock is hard to handle if you have never planned a WDW vacation. That's the problem with putting all the planning in the hands of one person. My extended family has been vaguely talking about a WDW vacation, but wants me to "find good deals on the internet since I'm so good at that" I'm sure I will run into this situation-- although I certainly hope no one will think I am dishonest or ripping them off! But if you have done a lot of homework, you know the different prices and you know what is a good deal.

$1400 for one half of a BCV 2 bedroom for a week is a perfectly good deal, but if you can't really afford that and were hoping to spend $800 on accomodations, that's not much consolation. Sounds like she just needs some hard-core analysis of pros and cons of locations, resort luxury levels, and so forth and she needs to be upfront about what she wants to pay.

As far as the Magic Kingdom argument, well, it's not exactly a hardship to be at the BCV even if you spend every day at the MK. It's still on-property and quickly acessible by bus.

I'm glad I read this thread because now I am aware of the various land mines involved in being the official trip planner. The first thing I'm going to do is send everyone a copy of the Unofficial Guide; and after that is digested, maybe I'll print out the FAQ here on renting points, along with some sample prices. Once they have digested all that, I'll just put it point blank-- how much do you feel comfortable paying for accomodations-- what's your limit-- what features are worth paying more for (refrigerator or monorail access?) From these boards, I know everyone vacations differently and has different priorities. But a lot of people I know who are planning their first trip to the World go into WDW planning with a lot of preconceived notions-- they definitely want offsite to save money, or want the cheapest resort-- but change their minds and decide to splurge more when reading up on Disney's unique resorts. Others go in knowing they HAVE to be on the monorail, and quickly realize it is out of their price range and have to plan something different. But you have to do the homework, whether it be guidebooks or the internet, to even understand what the differences are. I don't want to be the only person deciding for someone else how they are going to spend their vacation money-- we're talking about thousands of bucks!

It sounds like a very hard situation; I hope you are able to work it out. I'm not sure what the solution is-- since you committed to your neighbors it would be hard to pull out-- but if it weren't for that, I'd say go back to the drawing board, and try to get better information from your sister about what she wants in accomodations-- price, location, and amenity-wise. I think splitting up in two locations-- you in the lap of luxury and she at a budget hotel-- is a pretty bad option that will probably only exacerbate the problem, but I guess if you are committed to your neighbors there isn't much choice. Good luck, let us know how it turns out!

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Some people associate Disney timeshares with timeshares OUTSIDE of Disney. And there are certainly timeshares galore that you can get for a song outside of Disney property.

Many people have never heard of DVC but have heard of off-property timeshare. Even the really nice ones (Marriott Vacation Club) have specials and deals. For those who have never heard of DVC, "you paid WHAT for a rental TIMESHARE?!!!" I can certainly see this happening. In addition, some people can never see the value of staying on-site and paying a premium, so $200 for anything is too much. She may be getting an earful.

There's been excellent advice here. I would also explain to her the difference in $$$ between on-site and off-site. Ask your ds what her proirities are. Is she even willing to pay a premium to stay on-site? Maybe she's hearing comments that if she paying so much "just to stay on-site then she better be getting the moon," and thus the monorail comments? Maybe she (her dh) would rather have value (cheap off-site) over convenience & Disney magic?

You might want to ask her what her expectations are in terms of cost and "level of accomodations." You might find that they differ from yours drastically. And that may be part of the problem.

Maybe what she considers reasonable are spacious accomodations off-site OR cheap (a relative term) accomodations on-site. If you find that this is the case, find the exact accomodations that would suit her, whether it be on-site or off, at a price that she agrees on. Then have her pay her portion of those costs (on-site value hotel or 1/2 off-site timeshare) and offer to pay the difference for staying at the BCV since "you're the one who really wants to stay at BCV and pay premium for location AND accomodations." This is assuming that you even want to pay more.

No matter what, I hope you work things out with your ds, no trip is worth your relationship.

Good luck.

 

[jmminarik]

Originally posted by Caskbill
Send her to one of those $29/night flea-traps on hwy 192.

Calling these places flea-traps is an insult to flea-traps everywhere.

Not quite useful advice for the topic of this thread, but we recently stayed in Calvert County Maryland for my nephew's regional baseball playoffs at one of the few motels in the county. During the non-game times, we decided to check out the area, and after finding out that the word 'beach' in a town name does not denote 'publicly accessible beach', we wound up spending much of our free time in the room.

It was during this time that I truely came to realize the beauty and importance of a kitchen area and having a real sofa to lie on to watch TV. After a DVC room, little else compares.

-Joe
who pre-empted this whole 'it costs too much' thing by being lucky enough to suck up the cost of his in-laws rooms and park tickets.

 

[RUDisney]

You didn't mention if your sister is in the same economic class as you. I'm assuming so since you wouldn't have suggested a $200 per night room when you know she can afford $50.

Your comments made me think of a problem that my sister's inlaws had last year. All of her DH's family decided to send his Mom and Dad to the Toronto, where they had spent their honeymoon. They gave the responsibility to plan the trip to one of her BILs. Not thinking about the way that he lives and how he travels, they were shocked when he came back and told them that it would be $1,000 per sibling for a long weekend trip. There are 7 siblings. They had been prepared for about $400 per sibling. The cost difference came in the first class airfare and accommodations at the Four Seasons. He had all of their meals taken care of at ritzy restaurants and had gotten them theater tickets. He was shocked that they had a problem coming up with this money. Two of his brothers had new babies and the new expenses that come with that, others had just purchased homes, etc. He finally told them that they should all pay what they could and he would cover the rest. No one got mad at him because, had they thought about it before, it IS how he lives and it was in his character to want to be that generous. Of course, that's when all of the other siblings started joking that they could only afford to give him $20 a piece. ha ha Her inlaws had a wonderful time on their "first class" vacation.

Even if you think she can afford the vacation, it may not be a priority that should cost her so much. I know that I can never go to Disney with my parents. My father would prefer to stay offsite for very little money and complains about how much everything costs on property. I'm not going to have to listen to that and he would keep reminding me that whole time about how lucky that we are that we're "rich." Again, it's just the priority that we put on vacations vs. his travel style. I go to relax and enjoy, he goes with the competitive attitude to see how much money he can save over what we might spend. The only thing that could be wrong with this is if we weren't smart enough to realize that our vacation styles are different and we thought either could change the other. He is happy with his and we are happy with ours.

BTW, if your sister decides to only spend a couple of days and wants to go to MK for both of them, she shouldn't feel bad about taking you out to dinner to thank you for sharing your accommodations with her. Then, no one "owes" the other anything.

 

[thepoohbear]

I like Grace's idea if you can afford it and she's not too stubborn to accept it. You'll still get all that BCV has to offer, not go back on your deal with your neighbor, be together as one big happy family, and (sorry, this isn't nice but since it happened to me I can't help but still harbor some unspoken resentment) show her by how wonderful it is that you were not ripping her off and had everyone's best interest at heart. I guess if we had done this (found out what our friends wanted to pay first) it would have avoided the issue. And don't forget to tack on the room tax for whatever place she decides is affordable. I forget what it is, but I remember from way back before we did DVC that it is shockingly high. I will also say that if somebody has to hate you forever, it should be your neighbor and not your sister. I hope you can work it out so everyone is happy but some things are just not worth it.

 

[invalid_char]

Hi everyone,

Could someone please provide pictures of the Beach Club Villas. As others have mentioned, a picture speaks a thousand words.

I found these http://dvc.disney.go.com/disneyvacationclub/resorts/virtualtourindex?id=BeachClubVirtualTour

Any other links to pictures of the resorts would be helpful.

 

[kem330]

http://www.wdwig.com/g_bcv.htm
Hope this helps!

 

[sgtdisney]

Tell your sister with friends like that, who needs enemies...

Seriously, your sister is probably being overly influenced by people who don't have any real knowledge or expertise in regard to vacationing at Disney World. Many people just assume that Disney World is a big theme park with overpriced hotel rooms, and how wrong they are. The entire DVC concept and the size and appeal of the DVC rooms are hard to grasp without some knowledge about them before hand. If it were me, I would explain how you researched the deal on an impartial forum and the price you were quoted was a fair price as confirmed by many DVC owners. Offer to have her call your neighbors who are selling you the points if she thinks you are trying to make a profit off of her. Explain to her that you are only passing along the fair market value of the room and splitting it with her. Explain that what you are getting, in essence is a large suite and not a hotel room. But like I said, some people have a lot of difficulty grasping that without seeing the rooms.

If she still thinks the price is too high, so be it. Some people are content to stay in a 30 or 50 per room night and don't see any added value in a premier on property location. I would really explain to her that you are only passing along a cost which 'YOU' think is fair and you understand if she doesn't see the value in renting and staying onsite. At that point, I would tell her that you won't be offended if she wants to make her own plans and I sure someone here can recommend a 'nice', 'cheap' dump, er hotel on 192 that she will be happier in.

Bottom line, don't let this effect your relationship with your sister (if you can help it) or YOUR vacation.

 

[DaveH]

I have no advice. I am just sending pixie dust your way and good luck.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

I have to go with those who say sit down with your sister and find out what the real deal is. However since the purpose is to mend some fences I would also print out rates for some options...package rates for monorail resorts...you could get these from AAA. Rack rates for Wilderness, Port Orleans and All stars.

Then...maybe a rate for some offsite timeshares that are just gorgeous....Marriot, Westgate, Embassy Suites... also some hotels by Downtown Disney...the grosvenor looks great.

I wouldn't offer to book anything other than what you've booked already for yourself...that's just asking for her and her family to blame you for everything that might go wrong with the vacation.
But show her the options to put what you've told her into perspective. If she chooses to stay with you...great...if she doesn't...enjoy your vacation anyway.

In any case you don't list where you are from...if there are timeshares or resorts with condos nearby....take her and show her one...even a Residence Inn (explaining that its a lot smaller than what Disney will give).

 

[jimmytammy]

I have watched this post with mixed feelings about posting. I feel like you have been given some great answers so I wont go into the financial end of it ( honestly, we bought more on gut feeling than looking so hard at the finance part ).

What I do want to say is try to work out the emotional side of things with your sister 1st then hopefully the trip will fall into place and help to create an even better relationship.

FAMILY IS IMPORTANT! That is #1 priority. WDW will still be there, after all the smoke clears. Best of luck to you.