Why I will NEVER ask anyone to go with us on points!

[3DisneyKids]

We have never vacationed with family members from either side, and I have always wanted to. However, there seem to be sooooo many threads like this one, that if we ever do a trip with extended family members, we will not use points (or at least not for them). I have read too many of these stories here on the DIS....

 

[DisneyMomJen]

We have never vacationed with family members from either side, and I have always wanted to. However, there seem to be sooooo many threads like this one, that if we ever do a trip with extended family members, we will not use points (or at least not for them). I have read too many of these stories here on the DIS....

I have learned my lesson and will NOT use my DVC points for anyone else. These points are just too valuable. I think Non-DVC members just don't get it and what you can lose.

 

[jodifla]

We have never vacationed with family members from either side, and I have always wanted to. However, there seem to be sooooo many threads like this one, that if we ever do a trip with extended family members, we will not use points (or at least not for them). I have read too many of these stories here on the DIS....

We vacation with friends and family all the time. I just make the rules clear upfront, and I don't feel bad about enforcing them. I've never had a bad experience. A lot of it is just making the rules clear to peopel

My dad did cancel once. I didn't flip out about it....I just put DS in the second bedroom, and we enjoyed the space.

A lot of it is your approach and attitude.

 

[Antonia]

This is the reason we have learned to NEVER say when or where we are going on vacation in front of DH's sister.
One year she found out when we were going to Universal and took it upon herself to book a package in the same hotel as us. She demanded that the front desk put us in rooms side by side. We covertly asked them not to and to keep our room a secret. She has an alcoholic husband and 2 obnoxious kids. We did spend a little park time with them to keep the peace. After that trip, we keep our vacation plans secret or wait until the last minute to say where we are going. It sounds mean, but a vacation's not a vacation with too much stress.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We have never vacationed with family members from either side, and I have always wanted to. However, there seem to be sooooo many threads like this one, that if we ever do a trip with extended family members, we will not use points (or at least not for them). I have read too many of these stories here on the DIS....

So much depends on the people you are and the ones you invite...we bought our points with the specific reason to have a birthday gathering of family and friends for my DM's 85th birthday. This party coming up was planned 11 months in advance, and DCuz's family has paid for their room, a 2 bedroom over the weekend nights, we've used points for their next 2. We've had lots of absolutely great times sharing DVC with family and friends.


Bobbi

 

[dianeschlicht]

As far as DSIL, I did 'politically correctly' mention to her nicely last week that things got so bad in Disney I was going to leave a few days early. Also, that I have told her years prior that 2 days together always worked well. She started to talk about next years vacation already. I am beginning to think we have to vacation somewhere else!!!

No, it doesn't mean you can't vacation in Disney, it just means you can't let her know WHEN you will be vacationing in Disney. The best policy in this case is honesty. Unless you are honest with her (and I too think it is DH's responsibility, since it is his sister) about the problems her group causes for you, you can never be free of those problems. It looks to me like you are allowing her to "hold your vacation hostage" in a sense, and that is up to the two of you to stop.

We have a group of friends who are like extended family to me. I have no family, so they are kind of my adopted siblings. They have gone to WDW with us on our points several times, and they are always very mindful of our banking and planning deadlines, and have never stood us up. I have even had them join us last minute without issue. Now, my SIL is another matter. I KNOW she would be one to cancel last minute, so we don't invite her. BIL and his family have been with us, and they too respect what we have told them. It's all a matter of knowing whom you can trust or not.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I bet MIL is worried that she will slow the entire group down. When we took my mother, she said she didn't want to use a wheelchair. She probably would not have been able to operate an ECV. But we insisted on the wheelchair and she relented. My husband, a very good soul, pushed her around the parks and she had a pretty good time.

So tell your MIL that she need not worry about getting around. Her daughter will be glad to push the chair around if she needs that. (Sorry, had to get that one in. )

 

[DVC Grammy]

I read somewhere that the definition of FAMILY is:
"Those people you love, who love you back". There's no mention of shared genes, just shared commitment and devotion!
IMHO, DVC lets us know who are "family" by deed, and who are only "family" by label.

 

[mmmcq]

We've had family cancel on us - in fact DH's family has never come with us. Three families with a total of 7 kids and none of them has been to WDW. It's unbelievable. My in-laws don't think much of the place, so it clearly has affected their opinion. Thankfully my DH saw the magic on our first trip with our kids and we bought into DVC on our 2nd trip.

Anyway......on one of these cancellations.....I just called up a good friend with whom we have shared ski and beach vacations and my husband's golfing buddy. I put the extra points in a studio across the hall and we had a wonderful trip. He'd been to WDW, but never with a family and he really enjoyed it.

So next time.....if you do the research and find some airfare.....get another set of friends to sub-in.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

We vacation with friends and family all the time. I just make the rules clear upfront, and I don't feel bad about enforcing them. I've never had a bad experience. A lot of it is just making the rules clear to peopel

My dad did cancel once. I didn't flip out about it....I just put DS in the second bedroom, and we enjoyed the space.

A lot of it is your approach and attitude.

I agree. I have a big family trip planned for August 07. My family WOULD cancel on me, no matter how many times I have told them they can't, I just know someone will cancel. I stressed about it for a long time. Until one day, I just realized, the points would be used (gone) if they didn't cancel.

So, I am renting a GV for myself and MY family Sun-Fri, if any of my family members I get a studio for cancel, I will try to book the extra night. Probably won't be able to extend the GV stay, but we can move to a 1 bedroom to extend out vacation.

 

[DisneyMomJen]

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[locodemickey]

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Am I missing something here? Is the period code for something

 

[TisBit]

There are some members of my family I would use points to plan a trip with and others I would never in a million years.

As a matter of fact, we happened to be down in Orlando at the same time and had one park day and that couldn't even work out because part of the family would not understand that we could still all do things together even with an infant, etc. I just know that the trip would be more frustrating then it would be worth.

 

[WolfpackFan]

Am I missing something here? Is the period code for something

I think perhaps OP regretted something she has posted and went back and edited her posts to remove some content.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I think perhaps OP regretted something she has posted and went back and edited her posts to remove some content.

She must have been worrying about it for the last four years. The original post was in 2006.

 

[bicker]

We vacation with friends and family all the time. I just make the rules clear upfront, and I don't feel bad about enforcing them. I've never had a bad experience. A lot of it is just making the rules clear to peopel

Since it happens so infrequently, I have to make a point of agreeing with Jodi.

We've taken family on several trips, and even brought friends a couple of times. The boundaries are clear from the outset, stuff like, "You'll be our guests in our timeshare," meaning that we expect them not to pay for the hotel; "Meals will cost you about $XX per day each," meaning that we expect them to cover their own meals; "You can buy admission for the week for $XXX," and so on.

 

[quirty30]

She must have been worrying about it for the last four years. The original post was in 2006.

I was thinking the same thing. I don't think anyone would have noticed had she not dug it up.

 

[WolfpackFan]

She must have been worrying about it for the last four years. The original post was in 2006.

Interesting.

 

[dis-happy]

I got sucked into the thread and was so excited to see a posting from CarolA---thought she was back here on the DIS for a moment (until I saw the date). I miss her.....

 

[DisDaydreamer]

I think perhaps OP regretted something she has posted and went back and edited her posts to remove some content.

Agreed... except this last post is a new post that brought the thread up from the dead. A mystery....