Resale shopping again.. my heart wants one thing but my head says another. Give your opinions.

[atthebeachclub]

I wish I would have gotten a totem pole as a souvenir, but my wife chided me that we can only buy souvenirs from our home resorts….

Tell her your new CCV contract is being sent to ROFR as you speak!

 

[AstroBlasters]

Tell her your new CCV contract is being sent to ROFR as you speak!

Oh man… that would not go well…. The only approved resorts are Grand Floridian, Boardwalk, and Grand Californian…. but there was a recent loaded 50pt BW that came up in our UY and her response was… the only DVC papers I am signing from now on are selling papers…

I later reminded her that we need 53 more direct VGC points to make that membership “special”…. and there wasn’t a huge amount of pushback….

So… we’ll see how the bonus shakes out in December…. but $17,500 for 53 points… plus closing costs…. eh… I’d say we are probably done….

 

[ClaraOswald]

The weather now is my style. A sprinkle here and there, cool breeze no sun.

Popping into MK from BLT is less enjoyable than popping into Epcot from BWV.

Headed to the Tiki Room

Interesting. I thought the walk from BWV to Epcot looked kind of long. But I suppose the vibe is definitely better than walking through parking lots, basically.

Earlier I was leaning heavy team BWV. But now I am a little bit torn.

We left the end of Main St near Casey’s at 8:34 and were at the Contemporary via Monorail at 8:48. Pretty impressive. The fireworks and views around the area at night is

We ended up seeing the water pageant from our balcony so I may change our plans for tomorrow evening. We were going to watch the water pageant from Wilderness Lodge. I may see how I feel about Poly during fireworks time. Even though I was originally here for a BLT, CCV, BWV showdown.

Checking into CCV tomorrow and it’s gonna be a tough sell going from a newly refurbed 1 bed to a studio in need of a refurb.

Too bad you aren't going to BRV instead of CCV. We love their rooms. We considered buying CCV, and probably could have used those points at BRV now that we're staying in rooms that aren't hard to get at 7-months. But the CCV rooms just look so 'blah' and beige too me. Hopefully the refurb will liven it up a bit. The resort, itself, is great though.

Catching up and happy to hear that your day turned around and appears to be quite enchanting. Apologies in advance for the lengthy post, here goes:

I actually think it was me who strongly urged you to book a cheap airport hotel and crash for a few hours…but I would have put the odds at about 10:1 of not getting a check in before 2PM.

Rope drop is so brutal, especially coming from the west coast—if you aren’t there an hour before early entry by the gate closest to the ride you want, you’re torturing yourself for very little benefit. Also, if you don’t add in time for things to go wrong with transit and long security lines, you can miss EE entirely.

The last trip we did it (2020 pre-COVID) we had a long delay on the friendship boat (BCV to DHS with a double stroller), hit a long security line, and missed it entirely…the next morning we were sprinting across Epcot with said double stroller at EE rope drop, only to arrive at test track about 5 minutes later with the line stretching back out of the building all the way to the central spine.

We used to love stacking LLs with Genie + and lazy mornings letting the kids sleep in, still working out a strategy with LLMP, but for now we just visit less often.

Absolutely, but we need more Extended Evenings back— there used to be 4 a week!


In addition to the exhaustion not being worth the 1-2 short waits at rope drop, it can be brutally cold at rope drop during the winter.

People Mover is probably my favorite too. I grew up going to DL, but also it’s relaxing, the line is short, and our family of 4 sits together and chats, so it feels like quality time. Since it reopened, Country Bear Jamboree has been giving it some competition.


I would have bet so much money against this, and an upgrade to boot! Maybe DVC is following these boards and knows you are thinking about buying more.

I don’t know why but I actually really love the 70s tiki vibe at Poly— like it’s clearly going for the commercialized fantasy and not authentic Polynesian — very much like Adventureland. The reason we bought VGF over Poly was that Poly feels crowded and chaotic much of the time, especially the pool. We like to visit (and occasionally do short stays there) but it was crowded before they opened the tower and I imagine it’s worse now. Also, I feel that the architecture of the new tower takes away from the unapologetic and immersive tiki vibe.

I always hear about how the Polynesian is crowded and chaotic compared to a lot of the other resorts. Because of that, it's dropped very low on my list of resorts to stay at home day.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Oh man… that would not go well…. The only approved resorts are Grand Floridian, Boardwalk, and Grand Californian…. but there was a recent loaded 50pt BW that came up in our UY and her response was… the only DVC papers I am signing from now on are selling papers…

I later reminded her that we need 53 more direct VGC points to make that membership “special”…. and there wasn’t a huge amount of pushback….

So… we’ll see how the bonus shakes out in December…. but $17,500 for 53 points… plus closing costs…. eh… I’d say we are probably done….

What do you mean to make it special?

Do you guys own at VDH? I thought you did for some reason but maybe I imagined that.

 

[NVDISFamily]

we can only buy souvenirs from our home resorts….

You own there.... WL is Grand Cal East. Problem solved

We've only stayed at the Poly twice and used the pool only on one of those visits. I didn't find it exceptionally crowded. I wonder if it varies by time of year, when we went it was March.

The Poly is a good base from a transportation standpoint regardless of the pool. But we all have different priorities...

We also never found the pool situation at the Poly to be insane during our visit in late April.

 

[NVDISFamily]

Enjoying catching up on this thread. Awesome that you got upgraded at BLT to the larger room.

Also love hearing about the benefits of FL humidity. @MrsNVDISFamily always loves what it does for her hair when we visit.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Interesting. I thought the walk from BWV to Epcot looked kind of long. But I suppose the vibe is definitely better than walking through parking lots, basically.



Too bad you aren't going to BRV instead of CCV. We love their rooms. We considered buying CCV, and probably could have used those points at BRV now that we're staying in rooms that aren't hard to get at 7-months. But the CCV rooms just look so 'blah' and beige too me. Hopefully the refurb will liven it up a bit. The resort, itself, is great though.



I always hear about how the Polynesian is crowded and chaotic compared to a lot of the other resorts. Because of that, it's dropped very low on my list of resorts to stay at home day.

I would recommend trying some of the resorts in person as I have found they have all been better in real life than described by their detractors online.

 

[AstroBlasters]

What do you mean to make it special?

Do you guys own at VDH? I thought you did for some reason but maybe I imagined that.

Special: DVC-Y

As in, would could sell everything but Grand Cal points in the future and still have a DVC-Y.

We have a situationship with VDH at the moment which will hopefully lead to ownership.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Yeah I have never been an early go getter and this time we arrived at 7:15 thinking oh wow this is great. Once we were allowed in the park it just didn’t play out well. We would’ve waited 70 min for Tron.

Oof, that is horrible. I had a long layover at HKG last year and paid to do early entry at HKDL — made it in time to rope drop and actually did fine in the Frozen expansion land, but then the next two rides on my agenda didn’t even open even at regular park rope drop and I was basically just wandering around waiting for Grizzly Gulch to open. So frustrating.

I am used to the DLR days where I can stay until 12am and then stroll down Main St until 1am shopping. I really think I would love WDW more if things were open later.

Great point. We don’t make it out until midnight at DL much anymore with elementary school aged kids but we were the last weekend and the whole park became calm and waits plummeted as Paint the Night started. I would really love to see at least MK and Epcot regularly open closer to midnight— you’d think it would pay for itself with the extra LLMP and LLSP they could sell (to say nothing of F&B). Epcot is frustrating because all the dining reservations have to start fairly early with park closing, but also walking the pavilions after dark is enchanting.

think the tower feels completely different than the main part of poly. You are right and now that I have been to the TiKi Room I get it. I am admitting that yesterday was my 1st time at the Tiki Room I have also never been at DLR either.

Haha, the tiki room is charming in its own way— great for 5-10m of sitting in a dark air conditioned room on a hot day, but my kids love it.

Tell her your new CCV contract is being sent to ROFR as you speak!

lol, if my husband told me no souvenirs where we don’t own I would absolutely reply “you understand the incentive structure you’re setting up here…instead of buying mug now I need to by mug and $10k worth of points?”

I am actually on my own pretty disciplined about only buying souvenirs where we own or are presently staying.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Late start this morning but that’s okay since we aren’t committed to rides.

We took the Monorail to the TTC to Epcot. I have never arrived to Epcot this way and I loved it. Seeing all of Epcot on the way in very special. We went this way to see if using the walk through Epcot to get to HS was a good option to avoid a bus. Verdict.. nope. The walk from the Monorail to Skyliner was 3/4 mile. I can see this a great way to return to BLT though. So that is a big plus. As I was in line for the Skyliner I had an overwhelming urge to turnaround due to fear of getting stuck. Once in the Skyliner I realized that if we got stuck in this heat I may have called 911. So you all would’ve heard about me on the news.

As we approached the Skyliner I felt a pull towards the Boardwalk.

While on the Skyliner we talked about how if we had taken that trip we had originally planned in August of 2024 with our 1st new CCV contract instead of switching our plans to Aulani we would we have a fatter bank account today because I wouldn’t have fallen in love with DVC.

We toured RIV. We really liked the room a lot. Although I still didn’t feel like punching my husband with excitement like I felt at Boardwalk. He was anti RIV before but now he really likes it. Not buy but to stay at. I really liked the many coffee options at RIV as someone who sends her husband for coffee in the morning while I get ready that would be nice.

We are headed off back to Epcot

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Late start this morning but that’s okay since we aren’t committed to rides.

We took the Monorail to the TTC to Epcot. I have never arrived to Epcot this way and I loved it. Seeing all of Epcot on the way in very special. We went this way to see if using the walk through Epcot to get to HS was a good option to avoid a bus. Verdict.. nope. The walk from the Monorail to Skyliner was 3/4 mile. I can see this a great way to return to BLT though. So that is a big plus. As I was in line for the Skyliner I had an overwhelming urge to turnaround due to fear of getting stuck. Once in the Skyliner I realized that if we got stuck in this heat I may have called 911. So you all would’ve heard about me on the news.

As we approached the Skyliner I felt a pull towards the Boardwalk.

While on the Skyliner we talked about how if we had taken that trip we had originally planned in August of 2024 with our 1st new CCV contract instead of switching our plans to Aulani we would we have a fatter bank account today because I wouldn’t have fallen in love with DVC.

We toured RIV. We really liked the room a lot. Although I still didn’t feel like punching my husband with excitement like I felt at Boardwalk. He was anti RIV before but now he really likes it. Not buy but to stay at. I really liked the many coffee options at RIV as someone who sends her husband for coffee in the morning while I get ready that would be nice.

We are headed off back to Epcot

Tell me more about these many coffee options…

I personally am not that particular about coffee, it’s just a vehicle for caffeine (except DVC machines, I draw the line at coffee flavored water), but my husband’s big gripe about DVC properties is that there’s no coffee bar in the lobby (like you find at many luxury resorts) and that most of the actual coffee options are limited, have long lines, or aren’t very good. Of course there’s a machine right there in the room but he refuses to pack his own coffee from home.

 

[Girlstar30]

Oof, that is horrible. I had a long layover at HKG last year and paid to do early entry at HKDL — made it in time to rope drop and actually did fine in the Frozen expansion land, but then the next two rides on my agenda didn’t even open even at regular park rope drop and I was basically just wandering around waiting for Grizzly Gulch to open. So frustrating.

Great point. We don’t make it out until midnight at DL much anymore with elementary school aged kids but we were the last weekend and the whole park became calm and waits plummeted as Paint the Night started. I would really love to see at least MK and Epcot regularly open closer to midnight— you’d think it would pay for itself with the extra LLMP and LLSP they could sell (to say nothing of F&B). Epcot is frustrating because all the dining reservations have to start fairly early with park closing, but also walking the pavilions after dark is enchanting.

Haha, the tiki room is charming in its own way— great for 5-10m of sitting in a dark air conditioned room on a hot day, but my kids love it.

lol, if my husband told me no souvenirs where we don’t own I would absolutely reply “you understand the incentive structure you’re setting up here…instead of buying mug now I need to by mug and $10k worth of points?”

I am actually on my own pretty disciplined about only buying souvenirs where we own or are presently staying.

I buy all the souvenirs at all the resorts, my logic is that we are Disney vacation club owners and can stay at all of them so why not.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Getting close to checkout…. time to move over to WL!

I wish I would have gotten a totem pole as a souvenir, but my wife chided me that we can only buy souvenirs from our home resorts….

Next time we are at WDW…. a WL
totem pole will be coming home with me…. only buy from home resorts… what nonsense…

I won’t buy stuff with the logos that’s not my home resort either. I’m telling you I’m sure I could be good friends with your wife she is super smart.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

I’m excited to hear your thoughts on CCV - I was unprepared for how much we loved it the first time we stayed!!

 

[VGCgroupie]

Enjoying catching up on this thread. Awesome that you got upgraded at BLT to the larger room.

Also love hearing about the benefits of FL humidity. @MrsNVDISFamily always loves what it does for her hair when we visit.

My hair has so much bounce in it today!

Interesting. I thought the walk from BWV to Epcot looked kind of long. But I suppose the vibe is definitely better than walking through parking lots, basically.



Too bad you aren't going to BRV instead of CCV. We love their rooms. We considered buying CCV, and probably could have used those points at BRV now that we're staying in rooms that aren't hard to get at 7-months. But the CCV rooms just look so 'blah' and beige too me. Hopefully the refurb will liven it up a bit. The resort, itself, is great though.



I always hear about how the Polynesian is crowded and chaotic compared to a lot of the other resorts. Because of that, it's dropped very low on my list of resorts to stay at home day.

I’m hoping that seeing CCV and then watching a you tube of BRV will help me decide on future BRV stays.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Oof, that is horrible. I had a long layover at HKG last year and paid to do early entry at HKDL — made it in time to rope drop and actually did fine in the Frozen expansion land, but then the next two rides on my agenda didn’t even open even at regular park rope drop and I was basically just wandering around waiting for Grizzly Gulch to open. So frustrating.

Great point. We don’t make it out until midnight at DL much anymore with elementary school aged kids but we were the last weekend and the whole park became calm and waits plummeted as Paint the Night started. I would really love to see at least MK and Epcot regularly open closer to midnight— you’d think it would pay for itself with the extra LLMP and LLSP they could sell (to say nothing of F&B). Epcot is frustrating because all the dining reservations have to start fairly early with park closing, but also walking the pavilions after dark is enchanting.

Haha, the tiki room is charming in its own way— great for 5-10m of sitting in a dark air conditioned room on a hot day, but my kids love it.

lol, if my husband told me no souvenirs where we don’t own I would absolutely reply “you understand the incentive structure you’re setting up here…instead of buying mug now I need to by mug and $10k worth of points?”

I am actually on my own pretty disciplined about only buying souvenirs where we own or are presently staying.

All my surveys they send after parks visits I’m going to say later hours are needed.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Tell me more about these many coffee options…

I personally am not that particular about coffee, it’s just a vehicle for caffeine (except DVC machines, I draw the line at coffee flavored water), but my husband’s big gripe about DVC properties is that there’s no coffee bar in the lobby (like you find at many luxury resorts) and that most of the actual coffee options are limited, have long lines, or aren’t very good. Of course there’s a machine right there in the room but he refuses to pack his own coffee from home.

This is what I liked. 3 different coffee shops I saw and none seemed like a far walk from the rooms. Boardwalk getting decent coffee wasn’t easy. AKV is a total joke for good coffee in the am unless a mile round trip is your thing that early. Even VDH can be hard especially when the coffee shop was closed. BLT you have to go to Contemporary which isn’t far so that why when RIV had 3 places I was like

 

[CarolynFH]

We took the Monorail to the TTC to Epcot. I have never arrived to Epcot this way and I loved it. Seeing all of Epcot on the way in very special.

Oh man, you reminded me of our very first visit, long ago when guests could ride with the monorail driver. My very first view of Spaceship Earth was from the front of the monorail, and that "tour" of Epcot as you swing around was amazing. That trip was never duplicated for me.

I won’t buy stuff with the logos that’s not my home resort either. I’m telling you I’m sure I could be good friends with your wife she is super smart.

Wait, so you don't buy souvenirs from places you visited and loved, just because you don't own property there? Wow.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I would recommend trying some of the resorts in person as I have found they have all been better in real life than described by their detractors online.

I'd love to try to visit some of the other DVC resorts sometime. Hopefully that will happen. High on our list of places to try at the 7 month mark are Beach Club and Grand Floridian. I also love the looks of the new BLT rooms but my husband has little desire to stay there.

Special: DVC-Y

As in, would could sell everything but Grand Cal points in the future and still have a DVC-Y.

We have a situationship with VDH at the moment which will hopefully lead to ownership.

I'm really excited to check out VDH during our next VGC visit. If my husband loves it (and doesn't hate the extra walking), I could see him wanting to buy there...but only if it's easy to get a 1-BR.

Late start this morning but that’s okay since we aren’t committed to rides.

We took the Monorail to the TTC to Epcot. I have never arrived to Epcot this way and I loved it. Seeing all of Epcot on the way in very special. We went this way to see if using the walk through Epcot to get to HS was a good option to avoid a bus. Verdict.. nope. The walk from the Monorail to Skyliner was 3/4 mile. I can see this a great way to return to BLT though. So that is a big plus. As I was in line for the Skyliner I had an overwhelming urge to turnaround due to fear of getting stuck. Once in the Skyliner I realized that if we got stuck in this heat I may have called 911. So you all would’ve heard about me on the news.

As we approached the Skyliner I felt a pull towards the Boardwalk.

While on the Skyliner we talked about how if we had taken that trip we had originally planned in August of 2024 with our 1st new CCV contract instead of switching our plans to Aulani we would we have a fatter bank account today because I wouldn’t have fallen in love with DVC.

We toured RIV. We really liked the room a lot. Although I still didn’t feel like punching my husband with excitement like I felt at Boardwalk. He was anti RIV before but now he really likes it. Not buy but to stay at. I really liked the many coffee options at RIV as someone who sends her husband for coffee in the morning while I get ready that would be nice.

We are headed off back to Epcot

Would your dislike of the Skyliner keep you from staying at RIV?

Take a ride on Spaceship Earth for me! I miss it.

This is what I liked. 3 different coffee shops I saw and none seemed like a far walk from the rooms. Boardwalk getting decent coffee wasn’t easy. AKV is a total joke for good coffee in the am unless a mile round trip is your thing that early. Even VDH can be hard especially when the coffee shop was closed. BLT you have to go to Contemporary which isn’t far so that why when RIV had 3 places I was like

What do you prefer for coffee when you stay at VGC?

 

[VGCgroupie]

Oh man, you reminded me of our very first visit, long ago when guests could ride with the monorail driver. My very first view of Spaceship Earth was from the front of the monorail, and that "tour" of Epcot as you swing around was amazing. That trip was never duplicated for me.

Wait, so you don't buy souvenirs from places you visited and loved, just because you don't own property there? Wow.

It’s so special I’d love to see it arriving at night.

So far I have not. But I have boughten from Pop Century. I guess I should say I don’t buy the stuff that has the Vaction Club emblem plus the resort like this hoodie I saw at RIV today I liked. But general branding yes