When we first bought
DVC in 2004 we kept it a secret! Why? Well we are a little more successful than most of DH's family and given how they perceive things, we didn't want them to feel that we "so much better" etc...as they have in the past.
Plus, it really is nobody's business how we afford our vacations etc...
We were all supposed to go on a family trip in September 2005. His side was going to stay at POFQ and we were going to stay at the BCV. All was going well until Christmas 2004 when DH's brother backed out and since he was treating the others to their lodging, they weren't going either.
Well we still wanted at least DH's Mom to go, so we decided to ask DH's sister if she thought that her Mom would like to go to WDW with us for a surprise 60th Birthday present. I also inferred her that there would be room in the studio if she wanted to go with her daughter too. Well, of course she said yes, MIL would be greatly surprised and she'd try to swing it too.
Of course DSIL told the other DSIL (DH's brother's wife) and she called me, as expected!
Well, their business was doing very well now (February 05), better than expected, so they can now go to WDW too. Throughout the course of the conversation I had to divulge that we had a time share and that we had a certain number of points etc...I told her though, that we didn't have enough points (60) to treat them to a studio as well, however I could find them some points to rent at $10/pt or $600. This was much less than what they had budgeted for POFQ so they quickly and gladly agreed.
When all was said and done, DH's Mom paid for nothing for her birthday as we provided her room, DH's brother paid for her airfare and we paid for her park ticket (and she was going to pay us back as was DSIL and DNiece). DSIL and niece had to pay for their own airfare and stayed with DMIL, but DH's brother helped with her spending money.
My Mom also went and we provided her room too. My sister always tags along because we love her the best
and we of course provided her a room too but she only stayed a couple of nights.
All 14 of us had a great time!! There were a few ups and downs as with any family, but overall it was a great trip.
Now we are all going to Vero Beach next summer as a thank you to them for helping us paint and clean our home before we had to move across the country!
We truly could not have done it without them so we came up with a relaxing beach vacation to show our appreciation.
We are treating them to the lodging and they are on for the rest. My Mom just passed away and my sister lives in Florida close to VB so we will see her on the weekend before and after VB.
I've taken many trips with my sister and I always provide the room. She feels bad and totally appreciates it but I insist that we take care of it as that is the reason we bought into DVC in the first place!!
Of course my sister jokes and tells everyone that her company must be paid for if we want her to join us!!!
We'd love to take just his Mom or just his brother's family or even just his niece and maybe DSIL(none of us are not too crazy about his sister) but we just haven't had the chance yet!! We are only worried about the sister's hurt feelings if we took the brother's family first, so we'll probably just take my MIL first and see how things go....
HTH!!
