Worthwile to save 1000$??

[mi*vida*loca]

Same here...my kids had notice of exactly 15 minutes to grab one Item they wanted to bring before we left for the airport for our disney trip, so they had no say whatsoever in anything. And they loved every single second of the trip and ask again and again for us to surprise them again. They don't care if they help plan, or where we stay or what we do. They are just happy to be there!

Our trips have been surprises too! They literally have 10 minutes before it's time to GO. Now that I think about it my kids are 14 and 8 and have never even asked where we are staying. Ever. They keep asking for me to take them next year. No mention of hotel or anything. They just want to be there.

 

[SEA333]

Our trips have been surprises too! They literally have 10 minutes before it's time to GO. Now that I think about it my kids are 14 and 8 and have never even asked where we are staying. Ever. They keep asking for me to take them next year. No mention of hotel or anything. They just want to be there.

14, 10, and 8 here...perfect ages for surprise trips! I'm glad it works so well for our family because the surprises are sooooo much fun to pull off. Sounds like yours is the same way!

 

[Jenn55]

Our 1st few trips were at Value resorts, we have been slowing breaking free from them. My kids are 8 and 9 and were 1 and 2 on their first trip. They have never missed the values when we have stayed at another resort, and never ask to stay at them again. All the resorts are fun in their own way. Except maybe the Grand Floridian, I just don't see anything about that resort that I like. I can only assume there will be a discount for the beginning of December in 2015, so the price difference will go down a little bit between POP and POR. Look at it as you would with anything else you buy in life, do you eat ground beef every day or do you get more expensive cuts of meat? Do you drive an inexpensive smart car, or do you have a bigger more expensive car? Do you live in a 1 bedroom apartment, or do you pay more money for something bigger? We make choices every day in life that cost us more or less money. Sometimes we choose the cheaper route but there are plenty times were we choose the more expensive choice.

I know exactly what your getting at, but I had to laugh when u mentioned buying ground beef every day.. If it were up to my son, we'd eat plain pasta or rice every night! What I'm thinking of is if POR gets a good RO discount go with that

I have a BF I have lived with for two years and we are going to WDW next year. He doesn't have children so we don't have that issue. I've thought about DVC but our dates can change at any moment because of flight prices. I will add or subtract a day or add it to the end depending on savings. Moderate or deluxe are our only options due to room size and queen beds. Although DD would LOVE AoA and if I went with just my kids that would be doable (DD and I to a bed or DD and DS share a bed), I don't think I'm depriving my children of "forever memories" because I'm accomodating my BF and myself with bed size at a different resort. We are at WDW! They could sleep in a box and be happy.

Son and I did AOA in January, split stay with AS movies, he loved the cars suite we had, it seemed like too big of a splurge for just him and I, but I'm glad he enjoyed it. I wouldn't do it again cause it's a good 5 grand for our next trip and POR is less then 4

 

[clutter]

I'd go ahead and book POR and start putting money towards it. You can always change it.

If Disney comes out with Free Dining or room discounts, it might change your mind. But by then, you'll have a bunch of money paid towards it, and they can switch it over to another reservation.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I took it as she spent that money on her January trip that her BF couldn't go on. Now she is resaving for the next trip that her BF will go on and needs to save up for it.

Personally I can't do DVC because it's no money back type reservation. I'm too much of a "what if" person. It's too set in stone for me. I need a cancellation option.

Once my kids are older I may try renting DVC points for an adults only trip.

I worry too. Trip insurance is just $29 through insure my trip. To me it's no different than if I have to pay off the balance of a cruise 75 days prior with penalties or complete loss for cancellation after that. I'm used to being "stuck" with a trip.
I dont mind not having daily maid svc.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I've always liked the idea of renting DVC points, especially for Aulani, but the whole no maid service thing makes me hesitate.

I don't reuse towels at home so I certainly wouldn't want to go four days with the same towel on vacation.

I guess if I had a washer, but then I don't particularly want to spend my vacation doing laundry everyday either.

It's not even the room cleaning part, just the whole towel thing.

Where do you even hang all those towels to dry in such a small bathroom? Maybe I'm missing something lol.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I've always liked the idea of renting DVC points, especially for Aulani, but the whole no maid service thing makes me hesitate.

I don't reuse towels at home so I certainly wouldn't want to go four days with the same towel on vacation.

I guess if I had a washer, but then I don't particularly want to spend my vacation doing laundry everyday either.

It's not even the room cleaning part, just the whole towel thing.

Where do you even hang all those towels to dry in such a small bathroom? Maybe I'm missing something lol.

I did ask the owner I'm renting from about towels. That's a concern I have too. We do re-use towels at home but at least there we have plenty of towel bars and they are dry by next day. In a hotel room or cruise cabin that's never the case so we like fresh towels on vacation. All of our past rentals were for 1 or 2 nights stays pre-cruise. January will be 4 nts so I considered upgrading to a 1br just to have a w/d but why double cost just to wash towels? The DVC owner suggested getting some pool towels and bring back to the room. It's not lime we're stealing them. It all ends up back in their laundry room in the end.
If our stay was > 4 nts we'd automatically get towel/trash service on 4th day.

 

[Marionnette]

I've always liked the idea of renting DVC points, especially for Aulani, but the whole no maid service thing makes me hesitate.

I don't reuse towels at home so I certainly wouldn't want to go four days with the same towel on vacation.

I guess if I had a washer, but then I don't particularly want to spend my vacation doing laundry everyday either.

It's not even the room cleaning part, just the whole towel thing.

Where do you even hang all those towels to dry in such a small bathroom? Maybe I'm missing something lol.

How hard is it to throw a load of towels and wash cloths in the washer before you head out in the morning and then into the dryer when you get back?

There are plenty of towel racks in the bathroom for damp towels and even a clothesline in the shower to hang additional towels if you need the room. We just take clothespins with each person's name on them to ID the towels.

The towels were never an issue for me. However, the lack of daily trash collection (members and guests without daily maid service have to take their trash to a trash bin). The locations of the trash bins are not always convenient. But that's a trade-off for having deluxe accommodations at the price of a moderate resort.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

How hard is it to throw a load of towels and wash cloths in the washer before you head out in the morning and then into the dryer when you get back?

There are plenty of towel racks in the bathroom for damp towels and even a clothesline in the shower to hang additional towels if you need the room. We just take clothespins with each person's name on them to ID the towels.

The towels were never an issue for me. However, the lack of daily trash collection (members and guests with daily maid service have to take their trash to a trash bin). The locations of the trash bins are not always convenient. But that's a trade-off for having deluxe accommodations at the price of a moderate resort.

For our Jan trip it's a deluxe for the price of a value resort. Well at rack rate anyway. I'm paying $5 more to stay at OKW than what I can currently book to stay at Pop. To me it's worth the minor inconveniences. I can understand that not everyone would feel that way.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I worry too. Trip insurance is just $29 through insure my trip. To me it's no different than if I have to pay off the balance of a cruise 75 days prior with penalties or complete loss for cancellation after that. I'm used to being "stuck" with a trip.
I dont mind not having daily maid svc.

We change dates around once we get closer. Either adding a day at the beginning or end or taking a day away at the beginning and adding it to the end. That won't work with renting DVC.

One day I think I will rent but right now it doesn't work for us.

But thank you for the trip insurance advice. That'll come in handy when and if we do.

 

[SunnieRN]

My only opinion is, and yes I know what opinions stand for really, is, that if I were going to stay at Port Orleans, I would stay in the french quarter section. No matter where you stay you can use both pools and both food courts. French quarter is smaller, easier to get to the boat to DTD and to the food court to refill your mugs that come with the dining plan.

It's all a matter of choice of course but I like the french quarter better. No matter what your final decision is, have a magical vacation!!!:

 

[Jenn55]

My only opinion is, and yes I know what opinions stand for really, is, that if I were going to stay at Port Orleans, I would stay in the french quarter section. No matter where you stay you can use both pools and both food courts. French quarter is smaller, easier to get to the boat to DTD and to the food court to refill your mugs that come with the dining plan. It's all a matter of choice of course but I like the french quarter better. No matter what your final decision is, have a magical vacation!!!:

We did look at French quarter, I'm not really sure why we ruled it out tho lol.. Just something about riverside that jumped out at us. But I thank you for ur opinion!

 

[MichaelaF]

I've always liked the idea of renting DVC points, especially for Aulani, but the whole no maid service thing makes me hesitate. I don't reuse towels at home so I certainly wouldn't want to go four days with the same towel on vacation. I guess if I had a washer, but then I don't particularly want to spend my vacation doing laundry everyday either. It's not even the room cleaning part, just the whole towel thing. Where do you even hang all those towels to dry in such a small bathroom? Maybe I'm missing something lol.

You can always just pay extra for mousekeeping if you are renting DVC points - either full service or just trash and towels. Even if you pay the extra it's still usually cheaper than if you did it otherwise.

And if I remember correctly, I believe the back of the doors at VWL had hooks we hung our towels on. It wasn't a huge deal to us. I definitely prefer getting daily mousekeeping (I like coming back to made beds!) but for the cost savings, I'll let it go!

 

[cel_disney]

You can always just pay extra for mousekeeping if you are renting DVC points - either full service or just trash and towels. Even if you pay the extra it's still usually cheaper than if you did it otherwise. And if I remember correctly, I believe the back of the doors at VWL had hooks we hung our towels on. It wasn't a huge deal to us. I definitely prefer getting daily mousekeeping (I like coming back to made beds!) but for the cost savings, I'll let it go!

You can also JUST get fresh towels daily in a towel pack for less than $10. I would recommend you request the extra towels and do the load of towel laundry every other day of you ever decide to do DVC.

We use our towels multiple times at home - its very expensive to keep washing them daily - so we are used to the hanging up method.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

POR is not worth an extra thousand dollars especially for one adult and one child. When my kids were young we stayed at POP and loved it. We don't anymore because they are grown and four grown adults don't fit well at POP. You can still resort hop on your off days.

 

[Jenn55]

POR is not worth an extra thousand dollars especially for one adult and one child. When my kids were young we stayed at POP and loved it. We don't anymore because they are grown and four grown adults don't fit well at POP. You can still resort hop on your off days.

I'm looking at POR if it's the 3 of us, but if it's just my son and I I would do POP. Thanx for ur input!