How many days have you gone to WDW for??? Need advice please??

[edk35]

Our longest I think has been 9/10 nights a long time ago. We are planning on a 2 week vacation this summer. Of course I don't have enough points to cover that. So we are going to St. Pete for 4 nights and we have 6 nights at BCV and I want to add nights to that portion of our trip because I CAN NEVER GET ENOUGH DISNEY. SO we will either get two rooms at Shades of Green for 4/5 nights or maybe try getting two rooms at a moderate or Dolphin maybe. Any suggestions??? I am still trying to figure out how to break it up too. We have BCV starting on July 26th for 6 nights and we want that to end our vacation. So do we go to St. Pete first, followed by a Disney resort befor BCV....or do we start out at Disney for 4 or 5 nights then go to St. Pete and back to BCV??? We are renting a van for this trip. We have three kids...17, 14 and 9. Any tips, suggestion, advice. Please feel free to give me your honest opinion. The days at St. Pete can be changed too. Right now I have them book preceeding BCV. We are flying in from Baltimore.

Might I also add that we were very fortunate to be able to go to WDW three times this past year and have already been for a short trip last month but we are pretty much going to be locked into summer trips from now on because of high school schedules/sports and such. So I really want to make my once a year DVC/FL trip a nice long one with lots of wonderful memories for mr kids who are growing up so fast. We want to branch outside of WDW some too but spend most of our time there. We plan on going for at least 10-14 days each summer to FL from now on. No more Nov. and Jan. trips for us. BOOHOOOO. Anyway....thanks again.

 

[edk35]

Yikes not sure how I posted this again. I went back to edit it ...add that last paragraph and now I have reposted??? Sorry.

 

[wildernessDad]

We went 3 times last year with the longest stay being 8 nights.

We're going 3 times this year with the longest stay being 8 nights. Our total length of stay for this year will be 19 nights. That's probably a bit long, so we're going to try to go only once in 2009. Eventually, I see us going twice a year staying 8 or 7 nights each time.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

Can you swing a transfer? Bank whatever you don't use.
Instead of moving all over.

 

[tomandrobin]

We are like you, just can't seem to get enough Disney. This year we are going 23 days, plus 3 at Vero Beach. Its still not enough. When we take the kids, we still have to adhere to the school schedule too. But the DW and I usually go at least twice a year for a short trip.....alone!

I see you are a fellow Marylander. FYI-School is out Oct 31-Nov 4th in the fall, at least in Harford. You can hit MNSSHP and F&W Festival.

Looks like you might be heading towards an add-on soon. I think we are, our use year is October and we only have 5 points left. We don't get any new points until Oct 2009!!!! We hav 625 points, plus had an additional 160 points transferred into our account and still only have 5 points.

Its funny, originally we were going to buy 200 points. We ended up buying 220 points with our first contract, just to give ourselves a little extra points. Boy were we off on our estimates!

 

[spiceycat]

when staying more than 5 days - either I get an II exchange to a DVC resort or use my RCI and go offsite.

that is generally the first week - second week use my dvc points.

make sure that st peterburg or disney resort is your fri/sat stay.

 

[edk35]

Can you swing a transfer? Bank whatever you don't use.
Instead of moving all over.

What exactly do you mean? Borrow from our next year's points? I have yet to borrow any points. I guess it makes me sad to know that the next year we would have hardly any.

 

[tomandrobin]

when staying more than 5 days - either I get an II exchange to a DVC resort or use my RCI and go offsite.

that is generally the first week - second week use my dvc points.

make sure that st peterburg or disney resort is your fri/sat stay.

I have a few more years to go before I can start exploiting the II trades for our stays. Can't wait.

 

[edk35]

when staying more than 5 days - either I get an II exchange to a DVC resort or use my RCI and go offsite.

that is generally the first week - second week use my dvc points.

make sure that st peterburg or disney resort is your fri/sat stay.

What is a II exchange and RCI??

 

[tomandrobin]

What is a II exchange and RCI??

Trade via Interval Iternational (II) into DVC. You need to own another timeshare that is affiliated with II, like DVC is, to trade into Disney. I used my Westin Kierland last year for a trade into DVC.

 

[edk35]

Trade via Interval Iternational (II) into DVC. You need to own another timeshare that is affiliated with II, like DVC is, to trade into Disney. I used my Westin Kierland last year for a trade into DVC.

Okay I gotcha. Thanks

 

[PinkTink63]

I think that I have responded to a similar thread, but here goes...
We come from the West Coast and only get one trip per year, so we like to make it a long one! We started out with a 6 day trip to WDW, 1 day at US, and 4 days at friends in St. Augustine. That was clearly not enough Disney time! The following stay was 9-10 days at WDW, then 12 days and this year we will get 13 nights at WDW with a total of 3 weeks in Florida!

We love Florida, because there is so much to do there! The great thing about our DVC is that we are able to take a longer vacation there. We get our Disney fix and then go do other things. We sometimes do Universal Studios, Sea World and Discovery Cove. One year we went to the Gulf side and that was beautiful! Can't wait to go back! Last year we did The Keys. I used to have friends that lived in St. Augustine and we would go stay with them. They used to take us spring hopping. That is really fun and there are so many natural springs in Florida. They are amazing and it is something that is not expensive to do. Great family activity!

We always do Disney first. Then we go elsewhere and come back to Disney. This year it will be BWV July 29-Aug 9, 5 nights? (working on a cruise), Aug.14-16 AKV, Aug. 16-18 VB. My husband has been wanting to go to The Kennedy Space Center for years!

Now I just need to figure out a way to get more points!

 

[macosx]

1) ...Of course I don't have enough points to cover that.
2) ...SO we will either get two rooms at Shades of Green for 4/5 nights or maybe try getting two rooms at a moderate or Dolphin maybe.
3) ...We have BCV starting on July 26th for 6 nights and we want that to end our vacation.
4) ...So do we go to St. Pete first, followed by a Disney resort befor BCV....or do we start out at Disney for 4 or 5 nights then go to St. Pete and back to BCV??? We are renting a van for this trip.

1) Someone else already mentioned borrowing points, and that's a sensible idea. How many points do you have each year? You can borrow a few each year (and keep borrowing until they run out), and buy a transfer down the road (or consider the transfer for this trip if you're borrowing most of next years points - costwise will probably be similar to your other alternatives).

2) Notice you've listed a lot of visits since 1982. How do you compare Dixie Landings (POR) to SOG? CS versus SOG? How about SOG vs. SSR/BWV vs. Poly/CR? How about a list in favorite order? Ever stayed at Dolphin/Swan or recent Sheraton/Westin (with Heavenly Bed)? I would expect D/S is more like S/W than a Disney resort. I would go SOG first for the cheapest room, then D/S for the niceties if not too much more than moderate prices, and use moderates as backup plan if all fails. But you have more experience that I hope you'll share.

3) If you're really trying to stretch points and are willing to give up the weekend day, you can probably get 2 weekdays for similar, and if you do a couple of studios instead of a 2BR, would only have to borrow a few points for a 3 day. After that, borrowing for a 4th or 5th day isn't too much more...

4) Are you flying in and out of MCO? If that's the case, you'll have to do the round trip drive, so you might as well split the trip (and again if you can spend the weekend in St. P, less points used). If you can fly out of St. P, then I would want to save the extra drive.

 

[tomandrobin]

Our longest I think has been 9/10 nights a long time ago. We are planning on a 2 week vacation this summer. Of course I don't have enough points to cover that. So we are going to St. Pete for 4 nights and we have 6 nights at BCV and I want to add nights to that portion of our trip because I CAN NEVER GET ENOUGH DISNEY. SO we will either get two rooms at Shades of Green for 4/5 nights or maybe try getting two rooms at a moderate or Dolphin maybe. Any suggestions??? I am still trying to figure out how to break it up too. We have BCV starting on July 26th for 6 nights and we want that to end our vacation. So do we go to St. Pete first, followed by a Disney resort befor BCV....or do we start out at Disney for 4 or 5 nights then go to St. Pete and back to BCV??? The days at St. Pete can be changed too. Right now I have them book preceeding BCV. We are flying in from Baltimore.

First, Have you looked into paying cash for your weekend nights, see if thier is a DVC, AAA, etc discount? You can get alot more use out of your points if you can get away from the weekends. Maybe even one night cash will help. You can link the ressie so you won't have to move.

We love the Swan and Dolphon too. They always seem to have discounts on rooms, esp for teachers and such. But then you end up with a hotel room, two beds.

We have gone to St. Pete before Disney. It seems so anti-climatic going to St. Pete after Disney. We are a family of Disney nuts, so going to St. Pete first just builds to our trip to the World.

Got to love those non-stop flights from Baltimore! Two hour flight and you are in Orlando. Just enough time to watch a Disney Movie on out portable DVD player.

 

[BroganMc]

Hello from another Marylander (Howard County, specifically). We started going down to Orlando for two weeks at a time back in '05. We never looked back since.

But we stay so long with a mixture of offsite Marriott and onsite stays. This April we're doing two weeks at Marriott then a week at SSR. We'll pay cash for the weekends because we have a 14 day trip planned for October and 3-day New Year's trip.

I prefer to end my trip at Disney. At Marriott I feel more like a local Orlando-er driving back and forth, stopping at the grocery store, getting stuck in traffic, listening to local news, etc. At Disney, I'm immersed in the resort life.

We drive down so often do short sightseeing trips on the way back. It helps slowly get us back to reality. Reduces the culture shock. We've been to Clearwater/Tampa, St. Augustine, HiltonHead, Savannah, Fayetteville, Rocky Mount/Wilson. I want to head over to Coco Beach next.

I don't think I'd break up my Disney trip with a side trip to St. Pete though. It's too hard to leave the magic then get back into it.

 

[edk35]

Hello from another Marylander (Howard County, specifically). We started going down to Orlando for two weeks at a time back in '05. We never looked back since.

But we stay so long with a mixture of offsite Marriott and onsite stays. This April we're doing two weeks at Marriott then a week at SSR. We'll pay cash for the weekends because we have a 14 day trip planned for October and 3-day New Year's trip.

I prefer to end my trip at Disney. At Marriott I feel more like a local Orlando-er driving back and forth, stopping at the grocery store, getting stuck in traffic, listening to local news, etc. At Disney, I'm immersed in the resort life.

We drive down so often do short sightseeing trips on the way back. It helps slowly get us back to reality. Reduces the culture shock. We've been to Clearwater/Tampa, St. Augustine, HiltonHead, Savannah, Fayetteville, Rocky Mount/Wilson. I want to head over to Coco Beach next.

I don't think I'd break up my Disney trip with a side trip to St. Pete though. It's too hard to leave the magic then get back into it.

I wish we could go down that much. I am sooo jealous. I think....(subject to change again probably LOL) We are going to St. Pete first for about 4/5 nights then BCV. I am waitlisted for an extra day at BCV so that would give us 8 nights.

 

[canwegosoon]

I think timing the trip so that you maximumize the points is key(we usually do 2-3 trips a year for 8-9 days)
Starting on a Sunday and minimizing the W/E's really makes the points go further. Also staying in Stuidos does too.

I have met many people staying a month or more(and I am on my way to securing my DVC winter home )...but for right now if DH takes more than 8-9 days off work the price is too high to pay.KWIM?

2 weeks sounds great breaking it up with trips to StP, Tampa, or even other costal cities is great...I hope you and your family enjoy it.

 

[edk35]

1) Someone else already mentioned borrowing points, and that's a sensible idea. How many points do you have each year? You can borrow a few each year (and keep borrowing until they run out), and buy a transfer down the road (or consider the transfer for this trip if you're borrowing most of next years points - costwise will probably be similar to your other alternatives).

2) Notice you've listed a lot of visits since 1982. How do you compare Dixie Landings (POR) to SOG? CS versus SOG? How about SOG vs. SSR/BWV vs. Poly/CR? How about a list in favorite order? Ever stayed at Dolphin/Swan or recent Sheraton/Westin (with Heavenly Bed)? I would expect D/S is more like S/W than a Disney resort. I would go SOG first for the cheapest room, then D/S for the niceties if not too much more than moderate prices, and use moderates as backup plan if all fails. But you have more experience that I hope you'll share.

3) If you're really trying to stretch points and are willing to give up the weekend day, you can probably get 2 weekdays for similar, and if you do a couple of studios instead of a 2BR, would only have to borrow a few points for a 3 day. After that, borrowing for a 4th or 5th day isn't too much more...

4) Are you flying in and out of MCO? If that's the case, you'll have to do the round trip drive, so you might as well split the trip (and again if you can spend the weekend in St. P, less points used). If you can fly out of St. P, then I would want to save the extra drive.

WOW.....okay let's see if I can answer these too SOG is very nice and nicer than any of the moderates for sure. Matter of fact their rooms are bigger than any other deluxe resorts on Disney Property. We can stay there for 119 a night per room. No tax either. It is close to Poly so you can walk there, hop on the monorail. They have their own busses so that works out nicely too. Each room does sleep 5 but now that our kids are older....and we have experienced that 2br DVC living...we would always get 2 rooms when we stay there.


I don't think I would want to stay in separate studios either. I love the 2br living. I am guessing you are talking about me renting points from someone to extend a stay?? IS that what you mean when you talk about transfers?

I am starting to realize that borrowing is okay too....because I am sure there will come a time when maybe we won't need a 2br each trip and maybe not even make it one year. I KNOW...BITE MY TONGUE. Right????

Right now I have 229 coming on Oct. 1st..we have an Oct. UY. If I get my waitlist...then that goes down to 189. We get 300 each year.


Thanks....

 

[edk35]

First, Have you looked into paying cash for your weekend nights, see if thier is a DVC, AAA, etc discount? You can get alot more use out of your points if you can get away from the weekends. Maybe even one night cash will help. You can link the ressie so you won't have to move.

We love the Swan and Dolphon too. They always seem to have discounts on rooms, esp for teachers and such. But then you end up with a hotel room, two beds.

We have gone to St. Pete before Disney. It seems so anti-climatic going to St. Pete after Disney. We are a family of Disney nuts, so going to St. Pete first just builds to our trip to the World.

Got to love those non-stop flights from Baltimore! Two hour flight and you are in Orlando. Just enough time to watch a Disney Movie on out portable DVD player.

Well according to people on here you can't get a cash ressie in a dedicated 2br at BCV. I called MS twice in the past few weeks (before I knew this) and nothing was available. I even asked for a 2 br lockoff and nothing was available. I think we will go to St. Pete first and then Disney.

 

[edk35]

Can you swing a transfer? Bank whatever you don't use.
Instead of moving all over.

Okay I am totally So can you rent points from someone else...into your current UY and then bank them??????