No kids; AKV/BWV split stay; V&A; BM Tour; Lots of pics & video

[LSchrow]

i just linked over here from your post in a resort thread....
GREAT TR!!
you gave a few great, and new-to-me, tidbits (and we go 2-3x a year), plus love all the wonderful photos.
it's easy to see you put a lot of time and effort into this, and i thoroughly enjoyed it.
glad you had a good time and hope to see other TRs from you in the futire - especially now that addonitis has struck

 

[saintstickets]

i just linked over here from your post in a resort thread....
GREAT TR!!
you gave a few great, and new-to-me, tidbits (and we go 2-3x a year), plus love all the wonderful photos.
it's easy to see you put a lot of time and effort into this, and i thoroughly enjoyed it.
glad you had a good time and hope to see other TRs from you in the futire - especially now that addonitis has struck

Thanks Laurie! I am so glad you enjoyed the TR and discovered a thing or two. IMO, that is the whole purpose of a TR and I have enjoyed others for the same reasons. Still waiting to hear from the seller on our offer...

 

[silmarg]

To top it off, I have contacted that dreaded "addonitis" disease again!
We are waiting to see if the seller will accept our offer.

oh my! where u buying this time?

 

[saintstickets]

oh my! where u buying this time?

We found a small contract at OKW with our Aug UY. The sellers have been unresponsive (or maybe it is the broker having larger fish to fry instead of our small deal? ). I don't know which but if they do not accept our offer, I can go direct to Disney, not pay any commission and get the extended contract until 2057 to boot for only $175 more than what the seller originally asked. There aren't any banked points in this contract so it doesn't make sense to pay their original asking price. That's the advantage on a small point contract of going direct to Disney and not having to pay the broker commission.

 

[silmarg]

We found a small contract at OKW with our Aug UY. The sellers have been unresponsive (or maybe it is the broker having larger fish to fry instead of our small deal? ). I don't know which but if they do not accept our offer, I can go direct to Disney, not pay any commission and get the extended contract until 2057 to boot for only $175 more than what the seller originally asked. There aren't any banked points in this contract so it doesn't make sense to pay their original asking price. That's the advantage on a small point contract of going direct to Disney and not having to pay the broker commission.

when buying thru disney, dont they give you fully banked points? if so it may be worth the $175 (that wont buy one day in any DVC resort)

 

[saintstickets]

when buying thru disney, dont they give you fully banked points? if so it may be worth the $175 (that wont buy one day in any DVC resort)

I would get Aug2010 points buying this time of the year from Disney but since we are not planning on visiting WDW before the new UY rolls over 8/01/2011, we would bank those points for the Aug11-Jul12 year which in effect gives us double points for that time period. With an Aug UY, if you buy August or later from Disney, I think I've read on the DISboards that you probably would receive banked points from the previous year as well. This resale contract has all the Aug2010 points, so it is the same as buying direct from Disney regarding points. Their original asking price combined with the commission equates to $83/pt. Since Disney direct is $90/pt with no commission, the seller's asking price is not low enough to justify purchasing resale - especially when you consider the Disney contract has the extended time period to 2057. I have made an offer that equates to $75/pt (commission included) which is enough of a difference to justify the resale purchase. That is slightly lower than our original purchase back in Sep, 2009 and prices have dropped since then. It all depends on how badly the seller wishes/needs to sell. If they do not respond within a week to 10 days, I will rescind the offer and contact Disney. I'm sure the seller will be able to eventually sell the small contract as they do not come up very often. Time will tell....

 

[saintstickets]

Just in case anyone missed the video links scattered throughout this TR, here they are in one spot. Don't forget to turn on your speakers...

Fireworks @ MK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seW_o4Sqt34 (#1-3 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqZZONbDySE (#2-1 minute)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QLEcRKjssg (#3-1 minute)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOHAPCcdsuI (#4-25 seconds)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ2hEpaCAEY (#5-1.5 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU-nFl_NmOU (#6-1.5 minutes)

Christmas Parade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpJ5NvVczy4 (#1-48 seconds)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVnuIJ9dFX8 (#2-1 minute)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVQgITfJQhU (#3-40 seconds)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcLvNmTud7E (#4-20 seconds)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn1fyoeH8Ss (#5-1 minute)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzHFU7EcCrk (#6-1.50 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGvGnARNsRk (#7-1.30 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjHkV72MSLk (#8-54 seconds)

Snow on Main Street
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNUhgj8uam4 (40 seconds)

AK Parade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pPmEw3cnS8 (1.02 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDRIPLpSZFg (11.14 minutes)

Osborne Family Lights @ DHS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPZ7Q_LkRIE

 

[saintstickets]

Bumping this thread after I changed the first post to include links to specific parts within the thread. This is a fairly long trip report and some might not want to scroll through it all but would rather go right to a specific post. Hope y'all enjoy.

 

[nutz2notz]

Hi Bill

Just found both of your reports and finished reading them both. Just loved both of them as well. Thanks for sharing so many details. On this trip, you guys arrived on my 50th birthday!

I'm getting ready to go on my first solo trip in March and was planning on taking a tour. I enjoyed reading the details about your tour and it will help me decide which tour I choose.

Your pictures are great as well and I enjoyed them very much. Thanks for sharing.

 

[saintstickets]

Hi Bill

Just found both of your reports and finished reading them both. Just loved both of them as well. Thanks for sharing so many details. On this trip, you guys arrived on my 50th birthday!

I'm getting ready to go on my first solo trip in March and was planning on taking a tour. I enjoyed reading the details about your tour and it will help me decide which tour I choose.

Your pictures are great as well and I enjoyed them very much. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the kind remarks. It is definately a labor of love to do a TR but I have learned so much from the ones that I have read, I consider the effort as "paying it forward". Have fun on your trip in March and post a TR of your own for all to share!

 

[momtotanmanandraerae]

I just read your whole TR tonight. My dh and I are going to the world together in three days! I have thoroughly enjoyed your trip report. Thanks for all the wonderful pictures and videos! I know want to eat at Bistro De Paris!

 

[podsnel]

Hi Bill!
I just read through your TR today- aren't trips without the kids so much fun? DH & I have done two, but are skipping it this year for other plans- but we will do it again in 2012 or 2013! Thanks so much for all of the photos- and all of the details- great choices in restaurants, by the way! We ate at V&A's in 2009, it is just spectacular there! I think next time we need to go to Bistro- I have been there with a girlfriend (again, without kids) but DH has not and I think he would love it.

Great TR, BTW...did you end up adding on?

 

[saintstickets]

I just read your whole TR tonight. My dh and I are going to the world together in three days! I have thoroughly enjoyed your trip report. Thanks for all the wonderful pictures and videos! I know want to eat at Bistro De Paris!

Thanks for the kind words. I hope your time at Bistro was as great as ours. I kept thinking the entire time that this is just like a movie! I hope you and your DH have a fantastic trip. Write a TR and let us know.

Hi Bill!
I just read through your TR today- aren't trips without the kids so much fun? DH & I have done two, but are skipping it this year for other plans- but we will do it again in 2012 or 2013! Thanks so much for all of the photos- and all of the details- great choices in restaurants, by the way! We ate at V&A's in 2009, it is just spectacular there! I think next time we need to go to Bistro- I have been there with a girlfriend (again, without kids) but DH has not and I think he would love it.

Great TR, BTW...did you end up adding on?

DW and I had been once before in 1985 without children but we were still in the park commando role then. With DVC it is much more relaxed knowing we'll be back soon. We are skipping 2011 but have two trips planned in 2012. In May we'll do the family thing again and then in September, DW and I are headed to Aulani for our 30th anniversary. And yes, we are in the ROFR process to add a small contract at VWL. This will give us 3 small contracts at OKW, BWV and VWL. With banking and borrowing the points, we can get at least one trip each year and rotate where we stay every 3 years. I calculate that in 2013, after 5 or 6 trips using DVC, we will break even when comparing the DVC purchase price + annual fees vs what we would have paid OOP for our trips. Then it's just annual maintenance fees of about $750. Can't beat that price for 1 week stay each year at a deluxe resort! Thanks for your kind response.

 

[scottny]

Hi,
Just finished reading your tr and it was great. We are staying at AKL in October for the first time in October and your pics made me more excited.

V&A sounded so great i Think i might do it even though bringing a jacket on vacation is not something I will like.

The tour sounded like fun.

Thanks for sharing many new things I have to consider doing now.

 

[saintstickets]

Hi,
Just finished reading your tr and it was great. We are staying at AKL in October for the first time in October and your pics made me more excited.

V&A sounded so great i Think i might do it even though bringing a jacket on vacation is not something I will like.

The tour sounded like fun.

Thanks for sharing many new things I have to consider doing now.

Thanks scottny for the nice response. We've seen so many things that we never knew existed at WDW from reading other DISboard member's trip reports. We hope we have been able to "pay it forward" in our trip reports. Thanks again.

 

[Niki in NJ]

Hi Bill - Just found your trip report. I loved reading through it! It sounds like you and your wife had an amazing time. My fiance and I have thought about doing the tour you guys across the 4 parks ... would you suggest it? Did you think it was worth the time/money? We did the MK tour (it was about 4 hours I think) and it was fun.

 

[saintstickets]

Hi Bill - Just found your trip report. I loved reading through it! It sounds like you and your wife had an amazing time. My fiance and I have thought about doing the tour you guys across the 4 parks ... would you suggest it? Did you think it was worth the time/money? We did the MK tour (it was about 4 hours I think) and it was fun.

Thanks for the kind words about the TR. As you probably know, the Backstage Magic Tour is an all day tour (about 7 hours) and is fairly expensive. I think it now runs about $244/person before tax but there are 20% discounts with DVC, AP, AAA or Disney VISA). We really enjoyed the tour and are glad we took it. I am sure that Disney could vary the tour each time to make it interesting enough to get repeat business. However, at that price, once is enough for us. Don't get me wrong, it was worth it one time but it would have to be less expensive for us to do it again. Now if we are talking about dinner at Victoria & Albert's...it wasn't quite as expensive as the tour but we would do it again in a heartbeat!