Thanksgiving vs. Christmas?

[madelyn]

Helping my sister plan her first trip "Home" with our extended family (our parents and 6 additional adults and grandkids from college age to 2 years old)....total of 13. She only has 150 Dec use points for AK so will have to use 2-3 years worth for this trip. Considered a couple of scenarios and it looks like our best options are for 5 nights, Mon, Nov 23, 2009-Fri, Nov 27th which is checking in the Monday before Thanksgiving, checking out Saturday after Thanksgiving and using 309 points in Kidani in a 2 bedroom Savannah View and a standard studio (she would have to get 9 additional points transferred from another member) since she would only have access to 2008 and 2009 points, correct? Or another option is Christmas time: check-in Sunday, Dec 20, 2009, check-out Sat, Dec 26, 2009, usage of 438 points in a standard 1 bedroom/savannah 2 bedroom, or shorten the stay by one night (check-out Christmas day) and use 412 points for 5 nights in a Grand Villa (if available). Or if a Grand Villa is available at OKW 7 months out, we would consider that as well. We see a couple of advantages to staying at both times. Thanksgiving MIGHT be less crowded at the parks (but maybe not since we are going before Christmas). She won't have to use 3 years worth of points and will have points to use for another trip sooner. The temperatures are slightly warmer (warm enough to swim?) at Thanksgiving and more agreeable to our elderly parents. My daughter turns 3 Nov 29 so if we go during Thanksgiving she will enter the parks and buffets for free. Our kids only get out 3 days the week of Thanksgiving so we will have to pull them out for 2 days that week. My college aged nephew probably will not be able to join us for the full time during Thanksgiving but my sister and her husband will only have to pay for his way to/from FL rather than during Christmas they will have to get him to/from FL and also to/from college to home. Thanksgiving airfare will probably be higher. If we go during Thanksgiving we only have one full day to see the Christmas decorations (they go up the day after Thanksgiving, right?) although all the adults and older grandkids have seen the decorations before on trips taken in early January. Is there anything else we should consider or any advice about visiting during Thanksgiving or Christmas and also is there a time when availability at the DVC resorts will be greater? Sis is prepared to call 11 months out.

 

[madelyn]

Wanted to update Sis has 160/pts a year, not 150 like I wrote above, so no need to transfer points from another member for a Thanksgiving stay. I did the initial points calculations a few weeks ago....

 

[CraftyMouse]

Helping my sister plan her first trip "Home" with our extended family (our parents and 6 additional adults and grandkids from college age to 2 years old)....total of 13.

She only has 150 Dec use points for AK so will have to use 2-3 years worth for this trip. Considered a couple of scenarios and it looks like our best options are for 5 nights, Mon, Nov 23, 2009-Fri, Nov 27th which is checking in the Monday before Thanksgiving, checking out Saturday after Thanksgiving and using 309 points in Kidani in a 2 bedroom Savannah View and a standard studio (she would have to get 9 additional points transferred from another member) since she would only have access to 2008 and 2009 points, correct?

Unless she has a December Use Year she will also have access to her 2010 points so she won't need those 9 points from another member. She should bank her 2008 points into 2009. Then she'll have those available, along with the 2009 points. She can then borrow 9 2010 points to give her all that she needs. (Edited to add: I now see that she has 160 points a year so you'll be all set.)

Or another option is Christmas time: check-in Sunday, Dec 20, 2009, check-out Sat, Dec 26, 2009, usage of 438 points in a standard 1 bedroom/savannah 2 bedroom, or shorten the stay by one night (check-out Christmas day) and use 412 points for 5 nights in a Grand Villa (if available). Or if a Grand Villa is available at OKW 7 months out, we would consider that as well.

Is there some reason she wouldn't be doing the 2br/studio combination with this scenario?

The GV at OKW is going to be difficult to get for Christmas week if you don't own there. It's always a possibility, but it is unlikely. In addition, she would want to book at her home resort at the 11-month mark, just to ensure she gets something. If she owns at AKV then she would have to borrow points forward to give her enough for the AKV GV. If she switched to OKW it would be less points but she wouldn't be able to "un-borrow" those points and would have to use them before her 2009 Use Year ended. Or she could extend the reservation and stay more nights with those extra points.

We see a couple of advantages to staying at both times. Thanksgiving MIGHT be less crowded at the parks (but maybe not since we are going before Christmas). She won't have to use 3 years worth of points and will have points to use for another trip sooner. The temperatures are slightly warmer (warm enough to swim?) at Thanksgiving and more agreeable to our elderly parents. My daughter turns 3 Nov 29 so if we go during Thanksgiving she will enter the parks and buffets for free. Our kids only get out 3 days the week of Thanksgiving so we will have to pull them out for 2 days that week. My college aged nephew probably will not be able to join us for the full time during Thanksgiving but my sister and her husband will only have to pay for his way to/from FL rather than during Christmas they will have to get him to/from FL and also to/from college to home. Thanksgiving airfare will probably be higher. If we go during Thanksgiving we only have one full day to see the Christmas decorations (they go up the day after Thanksgiving, right?) although all the adults and older grandkids have seen the decorations before on trips taken in early January. Is there anything else we should consider or any advice about visiting during Thanksgiving or Christmas and also is there a time when availability at the DVC resorts will be greater? Sis is prepared to call 11 months out.

Holiday decorations start going up in early November. You should be able to see most of them before the day after Thanksgiving.

I really think this is 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Both weeks will be crowded with similar demand by members. Personally, I'd go with the Thanksgiving trip. It will cost less points, be warmer and you'll still get to see the decorations.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[madelyn]

Thanks! She does have Dec year use so if we go at Thanksgiving, we only have 2008/2009 points available and at Christmas she will have 2008/2009/2010 to use. Sis was originally wanting to go all out and get a Grand Villa but that would mean only 4 nights during Thanksgiving or 5 nights during Christmas. I think we would rather have the extra night and not stay in a GV. So in the mindset of going for luxury w/ the GV, I was thinking of trying for concierge, then two 2 bedroom units and finally settled on the 1 bedroom plus the 2 bedroom. Then I thought of Thanksgiving time and due to points restrictions, we had to go with the studio/2 bedroom. Sis might want to go w/ studio/2 bedroom for Christmas as well to conserve points. I also would prefer to go at Thanksgiving but the other family members don't seem to have an opinion and my mom thought that Christmas would be better even after we mentioned it would be colder (and she is sensitive to cold weather). Good to know that most of the holiday decorations will be up! So I thought I would try to gather some more facts/opinions and see if the additional info will encourage the others to have more of an opinion. Hmmmm...what to do, what to do?

 

[hakepb]

It sounds like WDW is slowing their Christmas decorating. Parks and resorts used to be 100% decorated by the weekend before Thanksgiving.
This year MK will have to be 100% for the MVMCP Friday before Thanksgiving, but others may be slower. For instance, Osborne lights at DHS is not supposed to start until after Thanksgiving, I believe.