How do you do your DVC planning?

[Missyrose]

Hi all, as a DVC noob I was wondering how you do your planning for future trips. I created a Google Docs spreadsheet that shows my current UY points, banked and borrowed points, and each trip I plan to take. But I wanted to know if any of you had stumbled on a better way (or even a different kind of spreadsheet)?

Thanks!

 

[luckyman_apd]

Hi all, as a DVC noob I was wondering how you do your planning for future trips. I created a Google Docs spreadsheet that shows my current UY points, banked and borrowed points, and each trip I plan to take. But I wanted to know if any of you had stumbled on a better way (or even a different kind of spreadsheet)?

Thanks!

Wow, that sounds complicated. We are set to close on 125 pts on Monday. I'm planning 2 trips every 3 years. 5 nights in Nov, and a week (or whatever points we have left will get us 6-8 days) in the summer skipping a year in between. The only tricky part for us is the year we are going to take the Nov trip, we have to us all our points, as we won't be going the next year. Banking won't help as we won't use them the following year. Ex. 2012 will go in Nov, and skip 2013. We can borrow 2013 pts, but we can't bank 2012 into 2013 as we will skip that year. We are planning on borrowing 10 pts from 2013 to get the 2 br (we have 2011 pts banked on the contract we are buying) for this trip. 2013 will get banked to 2014 and we will spend a week or more in the summer of 2014. If we need more pts, we can always borrow from 2015 as that is the year we need to use up all pts as we will skip 2016.

Confused yet? This is the current plan, but I'm sure we will change in the future. We went last summer and are itching to go back already so a little birdy tells me depending on future "itches" we may be renting some points to transfer in if we need to

 

[dianeschlicht]

When we first became members some 15 + years ago, I had spread sheets and trips planned out for 3 years in advance! Now I mostly just plan a year in advance, and my spread sheet is simplified. Well, as simplified as it can be with three contracts and two resorts. I actually had to go to a more complicated one for this coming year when I have to do a fair amount of borrowing to do Aulani.

 

[alanapapa]

Hi all, as a DVC noob I was wondering how you do your planning for future trips. I created a Google Docs spreadsheet that shows my current UY points, banked and borrowed points, and each trip I plan to take. But I wanted to know if any of you had stumbled on a better way (or even a different kind of spreadsheet)?

Thanks!

Planning, what is that

I look online to see what points we have left and figure out from there what I can use. We did have to do some planning for our Xmas 2010 trip since we were staying at a GV (AKL Kidani) and the THV. We had friends from Philly drive down to stay with us since they had had a bad year. One of our best vacations ever.

 

[Muhlenberg]

I only plan a couple years ahead. In recent years we've had a lot of life-changing things going on, so it's harder to plan WAY ahead. We try to go with all the grown kids about every 2 years (and the grown family is...growing), and just go by ourselves in alternating years. Even that has changed a bit, as I used to take my parents by myself, but my dad passed on and my mom lives with us, so when we go by ourselves, we take her (so far). And after "experiencing" a BLT studio with three adults, taking Mom is now a 1 BR experience. When she can no longer go, we may try studios.

See? Can't really plan more than a couple years out. Life goes on...unless you're in the middle of "not much changes."

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

If you've got an iPhone, there is a great and cheap app called D Point that maintains point values/contract and personal point info for you. It's great for modeling some "what if" scenarios. The only limitations I've found with it are a) it only keeps pace with what Disney has released in points, for example the 2013 year became available when Disney released the points charts in January, it didn't let me fiddle around before then, and b) it tracks our separate contracts, but wouldn't send you an error message if, say, you were trying to plan something at 11 months that wasn't at your home resort - to it, points are generic. That said, it keeps us from having to maintain spreadsheets!

 

[Meriweather]

I will soon need help with the organization of points.....we are in the process of buying two more contracts in addition to the 3 we already have......they cover 3 resorts. All with different use years..............so I think I need to work on a spread sheet of some kind.

As for the actually planning...........always at least a year, usually 2 in advance.

 

[crisi]

Mostly in my head. We go every other year, so we plan trips to use all our banked points and as many current point as we need. Bank the rest. If I know I'm planning on company three years out, i use as few current year points as possible and may end up borrowing when we take that trip. If we have lots of points banked, we see if we want to invite people or stay longer.

 

[DenLo]

We have MacBooks and DH set up a Numbers spreadsheet similar to the one the OP mentioned. Except he has added color coding for trips taken, trip reservations made and future trips we want to book at the 11 month or 7 month mark. And he has it broken out by each of our two home resorts. He's always playing with it. And all I have to do is ask him a what if and he updates everything for me. LOL

 

[mikron]

We are self employed and live 80 miles North of Disney. When we feel like going to Disney we call and take what they have. We have a motor coach also so the Fort is also on our list.

 

[sarahk0204]

We are self employed and live 80 miles North of Disney. When we feel like going to Disney we call and take what they have. We have a motor coach also so the Fort is also on our list.

Oh, that sounds so nice!

For the OP, I mostly plan in my head. I have 1 or 2 trips planned at a time, but I have been flexible. A a result, we have gone to WDW in December for 2 years in a row. Both trips were planned about 4 months out. Right now the DLR trip in my signature may not happen as planned due to some work situations. If it doesn't, I already have a backup plan for the borrowed points. I just ran some what-if scenarios on the DVC website to come up with that plan.

 

[arthur06]

We just plan in our head. We don't really have exact times that we go, my vacation time is done on seniority and I am pretty low on the list. We just figure how many we have to use before we lose them and how many we can borrow and then just get something in between.

 

[bwvBound]

LOL! When we were "new" to timeshares -- we relied heavily on timeshares and calendars to make sure we understood and remembered Use Years, Banking/Borrowing, etc. Once one member of the household had committed the strategies and constraints to memory -- it was no longer recorded. The key for many: trust the family lead to simply "take care of it." ;-)

 

[kerickson]

When I first joined in 2008 I downloaded a Tracking program by Caskbill on the boards. He unexpectedly passed away in 2009 , but I believe some folks have gotten together and released an updated verson last month. The previous application was wonderful, stored contracts, handled banking, borrowing, etc. Since then I've used my spreadsheet which, similar to others, is hardcoded with some basic formulas built in to easily debit/credit points and show banking or borrowing needs.

I'm going to check up the latest Caskbill app to see what it's like and might start using it again. If you are interested, google 'caskbill dvc' and you'll see the link.

 

[dianeschlicht]

The one thing I also add to my spread sheet is our AP expiration dates. I keep that list off to the side of the other spread sheet. Each time I make a reservation, I record it on the sheet and track my points by use year. I even have in there when the banking deadlines are etc. and the dates I banked.

 

[wildernessDad]

DVC Planner iOS app has an excellent points tracker. Type DVC in the iTunes search bar.

 

[DisneyMama21]

If you've got an iPhone, there is a great and cheap app called D Point that maintains point values/contract and personal point info for you. It's great for modeling some "what if" scenarios. The only limitations I've found with it are a) it only keeps pace with what Disney has released in points, for example the 2013 year became available when Disney released the points charts in January, it didn't let me fiddle around before then, and b) it tracks our separate contracts, but wouldn't send you an error message if, say, you were trying to plan something at 11 months that wasn't at your home resort - to it, points are generic. That said, it keeps us from having to maintain spreadsheets!

This is how I plan!! So easy to use and play with your point totals and different reservation combinations. It's a planner's dream!

 

[RoutemanDan]

DVC iPlanner app.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dvc-planner/id330703403?mt=8

 

[Cyndibear]

How do I do my DVC planning?

Isn't that what Husbands are for????

DVC is his baby, we have the usual times we go, January, September, & December one year just ourselves the next year we invite friends/family and add an October visit for F&W. Not sure how he does it but he is constantly working on the point scenarios. He doesn't use a spreadsheet but he does have point scenarios printed out and has it managed like that. He takes care of calling member services to make the reservations, we haven't had the opportunity to use online booking yet. I have it pretty easy with that part but I take care of all the other "stuff", dining, magical express, flights, Owners Locker.....so it kinda works out that way.

Cyndi

 

[Missyrose]

Thanks to everyone for all your different ways and suggestions, everything is very helpful! I bought both iPad apps so I can play with them and see which I like better. Though I may also keep my Google spreadsheet around so I can plan a bit easier at work.

How do I do my DVC planning?

Isn't that what Husbands are for????

DVC is his baby, we have the usual times we go, January, September, & December one year just ourselves the next year we invite friends/family and add an October visit for F&W. Not sure how he does it but he is constantly working on the point scenarios. He doesn't use a spreadsheet but he does have point scenarios printed out and has it managed like that. He takes care of calling member services to make the reservations, we haven't had the opportunity to use online booking yet. I have it pretty easy with that part but I take care of all the other "stuff", dining, magical express, flights, Owners Locker.....so it kinda works out that way.

Cyndi

Hahahaha, no, I'm definitely the Disney planner in my couple. He plans where we're going to stand for fireworks and parades (so he has the angle he wants for his photographs -- which turn out AMAZING!). But he's laughed about how buying into DVC has played into my worst Type-A planner tendencies. I mean, booking vacations 11 months out?!?!? This is awesome!