Thank you Caskbill DVC planner!

[cinderminnie]

I almost made a mistake in making my day to day reservations and thanks to your planner I found out in time before I made myself look silly. We are planning a trip in December. Checking in the 18th and checking out the 23rd of this year. I thought I could start my day to day reservations on Jan 18th, but according to the planner I have to call on Jan 19th instead! Ouch! I did not think of the check out day when doing the day to day ressies. I had it all planned to start calling tomorrow. Boy the CM on the other end would have thought I was nutso! Ok, so is this right info? I would start calling Jan 19th to schedule for Dec 18 - 23? Any other tips I need to know when making day to day ressies so that I know what I am doing?!?!
Thank you so much!!!
I have learned so much on the planner! I love it! Fun to plan ahead and see what we can do! :thewave:
Thanks again!

 

[DrBond007]

It is a wonderful gift, thank you Caskbill for your efforts and contribution to DVC vacation planning.

 

[CarolynFH]

I wanted to add my thanks also! It's a wonderful tool, and the instructions and training module are some of the best I've ever seen for any software. You deserve a big thank you!

 

[DVC-Don]

Funny you started this thread. I spent about 2 hours of "quality" time playing with different ways to spend points just yesterday on the DVC Planner. Love it.

 

[Granny]

Ok, so is this right info? I would start calling Jan 19th to schedule for Dec 18 - 23? Any other tips I need to know when making day to day ressies so that I know what I am doing?!?!

Just let them know when you call the first day what you are doing, and the length of your planned stay. Also, give them any requests you have at that time (non smoking, etc). Then each subsequent day you will only spend 30 seconds talking to MS (after a bit of a hold, I'm sure).


And yes, the Caskbill planner is awesome, for newbies and veterans alike!

 

[kristen0147]

Sorry I'm a DVC newbie (I just purchased this week), but where can I get the planning program?

 

[cinderminnie]

Look under the thread posted recently (Dumb Newbie Question) and you will find on the post by Caskbill and his amazing planner! They have directions how to download and then a tutorial on how to use it once you can open it. I tried to copy and paste here but could not.
You can go to search above and type in (planner) to find the thread too.
Good Luck and have fun!

 

[Caskbill]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

To verify the OP's question, yes, if checking in on the 18th you would call on this 19th to reserve the 1st day. Think of it as if you were making a single day's reservation where you would truly be checking out on the 19th. Or you can think of it as another way: You want five nights, the 18th thru 22nd, checking out on the 23rd. You already know if you make the entire reservation at one time, you would call this 23rd, Right?

Well, for your five nights vacation making the reservation day-by-day, (temporarily ignoring the existance of weekends when MS is closed), you would make five calls, which would be the 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd. Again, your last call is on the 23rd just as it would have been had you not called day-by-day.


As Granny said, be sure to let them know on the first call that you are doing a day-by-day reservation. This tells them ahead of time that when you call next all they have to do is reserve the next day and link it to the previous day(s) already reserved. No need to get further information about your traveling party, etc.

Anyone else interested in downloading the planner, just follow the link in the signature below.

Bill

 

[chrisd596]

There other great computer program is the DVC Point Manager program by Fredricks.
Thanks to both you guys!


You can find it here:


hometown.aol.com/dmfredrick/Download.html

 

[chrisd596]

That program is by Fredrickson!

 

[SimbaNoodle]

I love Caskbill's program. Use it almost daily playing with different point plans.

 

[crzy4dals]

The planner ROCKS!



Cinderminnie -

We will be there the same week - 12/18 - 12/23. I cannot wait.
BWV at Christmas again!

 

[MickeyBabe]

Thanks in advance Caskbill!!! Granny has told me great things about your program.

I will be looking into downloading it soon. We recieved our closing documents today and hope to close very soon.

<---- Me waiting patiently to become a real official member of the DVC family.

 

[DaveT1]

First, yes thank you Bill, great great program.

Second, just curious if you have an update on the Points Tracker or ETA. Very much looking forward to it.

Third thank you in advance!

 

[Caskbill]

First, yes thank you Bill, great great program.

Second, just curious if you have an update on the Points Tracker or ETA. Very much looking forward to it.

Third thank you in advance!

Thanks for asking. As many of you know I started work on program #3, a point tracking program, a long, long, long time ago. But we did a ton of traveling in 2004, plus I got a few outside consulting contracts that kept me busy (I know, excuses-excuses) and just didn't get time to work on it.

As you all know also, Dave Frederickson has had a fine point tracking program out there for quite some time now, so I knew everybody had that tool available to them so I didn't feel any need to hurry. Finally it doesn't make sense for my program to simply do the same things Dave's does, so I am trying to put in a lot more new features and capabilities so my program would be different enough from his. This also results in my program development being considerably more involved than his was.

The two programs would be different enough for everyone to decide which would be best for themselves. I'm not trying to compete with Dave, but simply offer another alternative for those members who might have a use for some of the additional features my version will have.

The good news is that I'm now working on it again, and since we don't have any trips planned until June, I hope to get a lot done. At this point I'm not certain if I'm going to create a tutorial like I did for the DVC-Planner, or the extensive help file that went with it (By pressing the F1 key or clicking Help). Those two features alone take considerable programming. I may save those features for a later upgrade and just release it originally with a ReadMe.txt file with basic instructions.

Can't make any promises on a completion date though....but hopefully (fingers crossed), it'll be ready for beta tests by Springtime.

 

[DaveT1]

At this point I'm not certain if I'm going to create a tutorial like I did for the DVC-Planner, or the extensive help file that went with it (By pressing the F1 key or clicking Help). Those two features alone take considerable programming. I may save those features for a later upgrade and just release it originally with a ReadMe.txt file with basic instructions.

I for one would rather have something to play with than the F1 help. If it can handle multiple contracts, Use Years, resorts, transfers, banking etc..i'd be in heaven.

To be honest, if it comes close to the polish of your planner, you don't even need a "help" file. An hour of playing tops and i had it.

Thank you!!

Oh, and yes i have tried Dave's along with my own Excel.

 

[PatsMom]

I just bought DVC in November and just found out about Bill's planner today. I downloaded it and I absolutely love it. Maybe now all the use years and banking stuff will start to gel in my brain. Thanks a lot!!!

 

[wtpclc]

Woo Hoo! DH and I finally made plans for our first DVC trip!!!! Planner is downloading now! Off to go get my countdown timer!!!

This calls for the banana!



Thanks for the program Caskbill!!!

Edited to say WOW!!!!!! Love the first install screeen. Love teh opening screen! Love teh tutorial (didn't finish, but I got what I needed).

Thanks!!!!!!

 

[debloco]

I want to add my thanks as well. We downloaded it just over a week ago and I had no idea how detailed and awesome it would be! My DH initially balked at the tutorial (engineers...never want to read the directions) cause it was 92 steps or something, but I said I wanted to do it so we worked our way through it, what a hoot! I would love to have 1000 DVC points! So again...THANKS CASKBILL!

P.S. How are those lime green polo shirts coming?

CLC Tiger Pom Mom
Deb

 

[rayelias]

You know, this is something I should've done a long time ago, since I've been using Caskbills' Planner for about 4 months now. I feel like a big jerk for not acknowledging you sooner, but...


THANK YOU!!!

for providing this extremely valuable tool. I, for one, very much appreciate it!





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