Not Sure We Will Go; Should we Book?

[SuzanneSLO]

A little background.

We just came back from a great 12 night stay in early December. Even with a few cold days, we loved visting at that time. However, next year we are taking a long trip to Maui in October, so a long trip in December is out of the question.

But, we took a great, last minute long weekend trip to WDW in Oct. As a result, I have now started thinking about a long weekend trip for next Dec.

We have enough current points and we even have park tickets, but air transportation could be a real problem this year for such a short stay.

On our weekend trip in Oct, we flew from our home airport and the schedule was great. Our preferred airline no longer flies into our home airport and we are not seeing any other options (other airports/airlines) that seem very convenient. When we go for more than a week, we usually drive 4 hours to LAX, but this adds 2 days to the vacation.

On the other hand, it is more than 11 months away and things can change a lot with airlines in that time.

So, should we book a room with DVC when reservations open in January to give us the option in case we can book a decent flight? WWYD? Thanks for any thoughts. As you can tell, I am stuck in a quandry of neurotic indecision! -- Suzanne

 

[BillPA]

If you think you could some how make a trip, I would book it, but keep cancelation dates and banking deadlines in mind. So if you can't get a good airfare, you can cancel. To me it's better to have to cancel with DVC than to later on get a great deal on air, and no place to stay at WDW.

 

[MinnieVanMom]

Right there with ya! We drive 4 hours to SLC and never get any good airfares other than a SW ding now and then. We plan a trip and then add two days for flying on top of the trip. It is all day to get to Disney from the west.

I have a DVC booked but will end up cancelling. When I made the reservation I was hoping to go but it ends up I can't. It doesn't hurt to cancel the DVC. If I had been able to go, It would have been great.

Make the reservation but as soon as you know you won't be making the trip, Cancel.

 

[thesupersmartguy]

If it were me, I would take the trip.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I think I will book and see if I can sprinkle any pixie dust on the airlines to get them to tweak their schedules to be more accomodating to those of us on the West Coast who NEED a WDW fix! -- Suzanne

 

[kristenrice]

You sound like me about 2 months ago! I got back from WDW after taking the DD's sans DH. (We went on rented points since we just became members in September) I fell in love with AKV and was so anxious to get him to stay there. I knew that we had a trip planned in 2010 with my parents, but I started playing with the points anyways. I figured out that we would have about 95 points to use if we stayed standard instead of savanna view in 2010. Well, I looked at the calendar and figured that we could go that first week of June, right after the kids get out of school. We'd need a value studio for the first night and a value 1BR for the next 4 nights....poof! 95 points exactly! I didn't figure there would be any availability since it was about 7 months and 3 days out, but I gave it a try. To my surprise, I got the reservation. Then, I got nervous. DH had said that since I took 2 trips in 2008 and we're planning another in 2010, there is NO WAY we are going in 2009. I told him that I got a "near-impossible" reservation (that we could cancel) and that our vacation fund would have enough in it to cover the vacation if we could get great airfare. By "great" I mean a total cost under $700 for 4 people...from Michigan. I figured we weren't going, but I was able to get airfare for about $625! I am so glad I didn't cancel the trip. Now, DH is actually getting a little bit excited about seeing the AKV. Our DD's love animals (especially big game....dad's an avid hunter) and they can't wait to show off "their home" to daddy.

I say book the trip and keep your fingers crossed for the airfare! In our case, we have a FEB UY so we'd still be within our banking window if we had to cancel 31 days out. It was a risk-free reservation. Go for it!