Poll: West Coasters - How often do you go to FL?

[JoshF]

Hi All,

I am in ROFR for Aulani and just booked a trip paying retail at Poly. I have never been yet but want to take the little guy to WDW for a few days before a trip on Disney Dream. After paying over $1k per night for a studio at Poly after taxes I am considering adding on a FL property and considering Poly or BLT contract. The flight to FL is 3.5-4 hours longer than flying to DLR and my little guy doesn't mind flying.

I was curious how many people live on the West Coast (I'm in Northern CA) and make regular trips to WDW. Should I listen to the inner addonitis voice in my head or should I mostly go to Disneyland in CA?

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I'm in Washington State and curiously, the flight times to Disneyland are not much shorter than the flights to Florida when layovers are taken into account.

Either way, I'm usually looking at 7+ hours travel time, and Florida is better for being "in the bubble," so I go there more often than Disneyland.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Hi All,

I am in ROFR for Aulani and just booked a trip paying retail at Poly. I have never been yet but want to take the little guy to WDW for a few days before a trip on Disney Dream. After paying over $1k per night for a studio at Poly after taxes I am considering adding on a FL property and considering Poly or BLT contract. The flight to FL is 3.5-4 hours longer than flying to DLR and my little guy doesn't mind flying.

I was curious how many people live on the West Coast (I'm in Northern CA) and make regular trips to WDW. Should I listen to the inner addonitis voice in my head or should I mostly go to Disneyland in CA?

If you don't have plans earmarked for all of your new Aulani points, maybe you could use some of them to stay at Poly.

Otherwise, both Poly and BLT are great options. Poly studios are larger, but BLT has more room configuration options.

 

[cherylmc]

I live in LA, and I purchased a VERY small (25 pt) DVC resale contract in 2009 at Wilderness Lodge (Boulder Ridge). I bank & borrow and buy OTU points to go for approximately a week in a studio every 3 years. Here's my history:

2910 it was WDW​

2013 it was WDW (no parks on that visit - bicycle riding, Segway tours, horseback riding, signature dining, etc.)​

2016 Aulani​

2019 Disneyland 1 bedroom for 2 nights to experience Star Wars Land opening with reservation (got SUPER lucky with my 7 month out prediction on mid-June opening)​

2021 -??? (with the new borrowing restriction and the ongoing potential of the virus, I have no idea...)​

I go to Disneyland about once every three years, also.

 

[limace]

That is an insane rate for the Poly. Stay somewhere else!

Oregonians here. Disneyland every other year-just did WDW last year, 9 years after our last trip there. I can’t imagine how it could take the same amount t of time to get to Florida as to California as a previous poster mentioned-California is so much closer and cheaper for us (plus we preferDL to WDW to be honest).

 

[limace]

And didn’t answer poll-no option for “WDW is awesome but only go every once in awhile”

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

That is an insane rate for the Poly. Stay somewhere else!

Oregonians here. Disneyland every other year-just did WDW last year, 9 years after our last trip there. I can’t imagine how it could take the same amount t of time to get to Florida as to California as a previous poster mentioned-California is so much closer and cheaper for us (plus we preferDL to WDW to be honest).

It's because I have to have a layover. I can pretty much only fly direct to Seattle, Salt Lake, or Minneapolis.

We had a short-lived direct flight to LAX, but that's gone. I think we might also be able to fly to San Francisco, but still....layover.

The costs are often really similar too. Actually, my last flight to Florida was cheaper than what I was able to book for California. I think that was more due to the time of year, but still, they're not wildly different.

ETA: I don't want to derail this thread too much, but I went back and looked at my flights for this year to double-check things. The 7 hours to Disneyland is correct, although a short layover on the way back put me at less than 5 hours travel time. Disney World is consistently around 7 hours for me.

April 2020 Disneyland (in the end, the entire trip was cancelled):
Original flight: United's relatively new non-stop to LAX - $335
4:27p PT - 6:58p PT (2:31 travel time there)
12:55p PT - 3:51p PT (2:56 travel time back)

United discontinued that flight, so I rebooked on Delta to SNA. I had layovers both ways. $563
11:14a PT - 6:18p PT (7:04 travel time there);
5:40p PT - 9:18p PT (4:28 travel time back)

August 2020 Disney World (still scheduled, but tentative)
Delta to MCO $435
6:13a PT - 4:27p ET (7:14 travel time there)
5:59p ET - 9:56p PT (6:57 travel time back)

 

[JoshF]

If you don't have plans earmarked for all of your new Aulani points, maybe you could use some of them to stay at Poly.

I'm hoping I can. Don't know if there will be availability in April by the time my points clear the ROFR black hole. Things are moving sloooooowly in resales .

 

[pineapplepalms]

All of our points are at WDW home resorts even though we're in California. We like to go to WDW for longer trips of at least 10 days, and are planning for once or twice a year. When the kids are younger, we were planning to go more often although the pandemic has thrown a wrench in that plan. Our rationale was that it mattered more to us to stay on property at WDW than at DLR, since at DLR we usually go for shorter trips and there are a lot of hotel options nearby. However, since buying DVC we've had good luck using our points to stay at VGC and have become a bit spoiled by staying there. DLR and WDW each offer unique experiences and we love both for different reasons. Ideally we'd love to keep going to both every year multiple times a year, sometimes with Aulani thrown into the mix.

 

[linzjane88]

It's because I have to have a layover. I can pretty much only fly direct to Seattle, Salt Lake, or Minneapolis.

We had a short-lived direct flight to LAX, but that's gone. I think we might also be able to fly to San Francisco, but still....layover.

The costs are often really similar too. Actually, my last flight to Florida was cheaper than what I was able to book for California. I think that was more due to the time of year, but still, they're not wildly different.

Do you use PDX? There is that one amazing Alaska Air direct flight that is great. It's like 8A to 4P or something like that. Just over 5 hours. Unfortunately it's usually more $ so unless you have miles to cover it it might not make sense. We have a perfect location here being right in between Hawaii and Florida-5 to 6 hour direct flight either way!

We are about an hour from Portland and we do WDW annual passes (DVC Gold) and get 2-4 trips out of them and then let them expire for a few months before we restart the cycle. We have started doing Disneyland and Hawaii more and WDW a little less. I am homeschooling my girls this year and my husband is close to getting 4 weeks vacation so after the Corona dust settles it's GAME ON.

 

[starry_solo]

Once every five years. DLR is much more convenient in CA

 

[coasternut22]

Family of four here in NorCal with kids 6 & 8. Have gone to WDW in 17, 18, & 19 for 9-10 days each. Was a Passholders during that time. We rented points each of those trips. Didn’t go this year, instead decided to be flexpass holders at DLR.

Had a VGC rental for June that got cancelled. I was so mad. It was my birthday. This is what pushed me over the edge to want to buy DVC. I no longer want to be at the mercy of a rental with all of the unknowns and lack of flexibility. I plan on buying 100 points direct because I want to bite the bullet and pay for the ability to buy gold passes at WDW. I figure I will save $1600 in passes per year and be able to use them for two trips. I will have recouped that additional $5000 investment in less than four purchases/renewals. Our plan is to go 2 out of 3 years for the foreseeable future. We will plan an Aulani trip somewhere in there as well.

As far as flights go, southwest generally has good deals and flight times to get us to MCO as well as SNA with proper planning. For SNA, we have it down to fly in on a cheap Saturday afternoon flight, Uber to the hotel, then fly out Tuesday evening on a cheap flight. This gives us two full days and two partial days. Plenty of time for five or so trips per year. For MCO, we usually take a 7am to 4:30pm flight out and an afternoon flight back. I actually watched the entire Super Bowl (Pats vs Rams) on southwest last year lol!

 

[CaliAdventurer]

PNW here and we go to DL 2-3xs per year, Aulani once, WDW 2-3xs. Have used our Aulani points everywhere. You’ll love it! And yes, you’ll have addonitis just make peace with it now.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Do you use PDX? There is that one amazing Alaska Air direct flight that is great. It's like 8A to 4P or something like that. Just over 5 hours. Unfortunately it's usually more $ so unless you have miles to cover it it might not make sense. We have a perfect location here being right in between Hawaii and Florida-5 to 6 hour direct flight either way!

We are about an hour from Portland and we do WDW annual passes (DVC Gold) and get 2-4 trips out of them and then let them expire for a few months before we restart the cycle. We have started doing Disneyland and Hawaii more and WDW a little less. I am homeschooling my girls this year and my husband is close to getting 4 weeks vacation so after the Corona dust settles it's GAME ON.

My home airport is Pasco (PSC). I'm about 3.5ish hour drive to PDX, and I did drive to PDX to fly Southwest last spring break since I had a credit. I don't intend to do that again unless it's a substantial savings. My flight was so late getting in that I needed to pay for a hotel in Portland before driving back, so I didn't save time OR money!

My only options at PSC are Alaska, Delta, United, and (sometimes) Allegiant. I will not fly Allegiant because of their poor maintenance record. They also don't have daily flights, so if you have an issue, good luck! I dislike United and will only fly them if the route/cost time/savings are substantially better than Delta or Alaska. Alaska is my favorite!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Had a VGC rental for June that got cancelled. I was so mad. It was my birthday. This is what pushed me over the edge to want to buy DVC. I no longer want to be at the mercy of a rental with all of the unknowns and lack of flexibility. I plan on buying 100 points direct because I want to bite the bullet and pay for the ability to buy gold passes at WDW. I figure I will save $1600 in passes per year and be able to use them for two trips. I will have recouped that additional $5000 investment in less than four purchases/renewals. Our plan is to go 2 out of 3 years for the foreseeable future. We will plan an Aulani trip somewhere in there as well.

I actually watched the entire Super Bowl (Pats vs Rams) on southwest last year lol!

I had VGC booked in April, along with Blue Bayou Fantasmic Dining and a Storytellers World of Color meal. VGC is not my home, so I'm not sure if/when I'll be able to get in again. Sorry your birthday trip was cancelled.

At which resort are you planning to buy your 100 direct points? I have resale points at both Poly and BLT, but I don't have any direct points. I do want that blue card though.

The WiFi was down on my Southwest flight last year.

 

[Maddysdaddy]

100 times out of 100 we’d choose DL over WDW, even though our home resort is AKL.

Really, really don’t like WDW and we like Florida even less (I know, I know... we bought on a cruise without any research and having never been to WDW).

It’s easy to combine a DL visit with a longer relaxing beach vacation in SoCal, as opposed to FL, given that we don’t want to spend our vacation avoiding hurricanes, crazy Florida Men, gators and meth. Sorry Floridians...

It’s hard to use our points for anything other than hotel rooms at the DL resort since our daughter’s school moved to a traditional calendar a few years ago (I know that it’s a bad use of points), but once she’s off to university in a couple of years, we’ll have more scheduling flexibility if she still wants to travel with us - and if she doesn’t, my wife and I will just start using our points at Aulani.

 

[linzjane88]

My home airport is Pasco (PSC). I'm about 3.5ish hour drive to PDX, and I did drive to PDX to fly Southwest last spring break since I had a credit. I don't intend to do that again unless it's a substantial savings. My flight was so late getting in that I needed to pay for a hotel in Portland before driving back, so I didn't save time OR money!

My only options at PSC are Alaska, Delta, United, and (sometimes) Allegiant. I will not fly Allegiant because of their poor maintenance record. They also don't have daily flights, so if you have an issue, good luck! I dislike United and will only fly them if the route/cost time/savings are substantially better than Delta or Alaska. Alaska is my favorite!

Holy moly, I didn't even know there was an airport in Pasco! That's quite a trek. When we first started traveling I would book red-eye flights, budget airlines (Frontier? Never again!), or out of Seattle (90+ minutes vs 45 at PDX) and finally came to the realization I was willing to pay a little more to not be miserable. I had to learn the hard way though .

 

[linzjane88]

crazy Florida Men

I need more back story for this

I will say my first trip to DL as an adult I was less than impressed with the hobo's on the corner by the entrance. It actually really turned me off of DL for years. I like the bubble of WDW. I guess I learned to embrace it because we've been going more.

 

[Maddysdaddy]

I need more back story for this

There are innumerable news stories, websites and a Twitter accounts dedicated to the crazy antics of ‘Florida Man’.

There was even a viral game a year or two ago where you googled ‘Florida Man’ and your birthday, and you saw what came up as your Florida Man story. Most likely you’d find a story involving a fast food restaurant, an alligator, and some form of nudity.

The Daily Show did a segment on Florida Man a year(?) ago.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Holy moly, I didn't even know there was an airport in Pasco! That's quite a trek. When we first started traveling I would book red-eye flights, budget airlines (Frontier? Never again!), or out of Seattle (90+ minutes vs 45 at PDX) and finally came to the realization I was willing to pay a little more to not be miserable. I had to learn the hard way though .

Yup! It has 5 gates.

I remember a story my dad was telling me. He and my brother went down to Disneyland on a guy's trip one time. They drove to Portland (Seattle?) the night before, and flew out on the first direct flight in the morning to SNA. They were able to make rope drop and be in the first car of the day on Tower of Terror!

I can make rope drop in Florida if I take the red eye!