Yet Another Question.....

[panfan]

Sorry for asking too many questions but I guess thats one of the reasons these threads are here. To have the experts help the newbies like me. For those of you who have read my last post I am having second thoughts about only purchasing 150 points at BCV and am thinking maybe I need more etc... Now I have another question. I have just been thinking about the whole way we vacation annualy and are seriously considering a SECOND annual trip ( I know---I know lots of you go multiple times a year but as a young familly , we figured DVC would be a smart move for our usual annual trip) Any way--My question this time is--

Do any of you that live a plane ride from WDW go for LONG WEEKENDS per say ?? I have mentioned before that we have a restarunt and longer periods of time are not an option for us but now I am thinking a second trip of maybe just 3 nites. Our time would be mon, tuesand wed though. Im figuring with the annual pass and accomadations out of the way just have to worry about air. Is this crazy??? Just trying to get some opinions!!

 

[TnRobin]

Not crazy at all. We have take quite a few "long weekends" using our DVC points.

We live either a 12 hour drive or a 1 1/2 hour plane trip, therefore a plane trip is necessary for these little excursions. Like you said, having AP makes it real economical to take the trips. I watch for basement rate airfare specials to Orlando on SWA. When I see one, it is off to MS to make a ressie.

Good Luck

 

[mikesmom]

Who'd have thought it. We live a much longer plane ride than you. From Oklahoma, we're traveling usually around 6 hours as there is no such thing as a direct from OK to Florida. If you add travel to the airport, make that 8 hours.

Anyway, we're headed down in a few weeks for a leave on Tuesday, return on Saturday trip to destress from some heavy time at work for both myself and DH, and to visit the Flower & Garden fest.

In November, we're doing a Wednesday thru Saturday again just to visit the Food & Wine Fest.

The best way to handle this for us is to get into mindset that the trip is part of the vacation - that way you feel like you got more time. We take some reading for the plane (non-business!), have good conversations with each other and people watch in the airport. We also have a "destination" within WDW in Mind. We don't try and do it all, we're going to the Flower fest, the Wine Fest, to see the Christmas decorations, etc.

Do realize that we have a lot of frequent flyer points from Southwest - I'm not sure we'd do it if we had to pay for the plane trip (though they are pretty cheap!).

The long weekends are amazingly fun and refreshing. I highly recommend you try it!

 

[BillPA]

Hi Neighbor, were just down the road in West Chester. We have gone on several 5 night trips. We have our first 4 night trip in just 4 weeks from today. I watch for deals on air, like the $137.50 that Delta had for one day a month ago, then call DVC to see what's available. I hope this trip doesn't feel too short. But I just had to get out of here when I saw that snow in early April. Having APs does make it easier to just get up and go. With no additional cost for passes or a room, it really isn't that expensive. I'll let you know how this long weekend turns out.

 

[CarolMN]

I'd love to do 3 or 4 day trips, but if the trip doesn't include a Saturday night stay, the airfare out of MSP is prohibitive! SOunds like that may not be an issue for you. Color me officially jealous!

 

[JimC]

We have done 11 of our 25 trips to date for 4 days or less

 

[Beast fan]

IMHO, any stay at WDW is awesome. DW and I, in 10/97, stayed at WL (Resort) from Thursday - Sunday. We had an awesome time!!

 

[Frozenfingers]

As CarolMn referenced, airline rules/costs will be the deciding factor. I like to browse for their rates and the snooze u loose page for last minute bargains. I am not a member , but they do all the research and make it avail to the public. Saves me searching all the airlines for the specials.

BTW in answer to your question... yeah, we would go for 3-4 days. DW & I just came back from 3 days at the Grovesnor (DTD), not long enough to get my "Mickey Fix" though.. have a terrible craving to go back again, like tomorrow!

 

[Frozenfingers]

Well, that link didn't go in like it was supposed too, my apologies.

http://www.Bestfares.com

 

[Terry S]

I just returned from a 4 days weekend with my best friend and we fly from Michigan.

Be careful, your thinking is how I got 900 points. When we first thought of buying into DVC we thought we would need less than half of that. Then we figured well, we would eventually need a 2 bedroom so we bought enough for 1 trip in a 2 bedroom, after that we thought, well, if we have these Annual Passes, we might as well buy enough for 2 trips and we added on just a few weeks after our initial purchase.

 

[Disney Doll]

I will tell you now that 150 points won't be enough if you want to stay in a 1BR DVC unit for a week. We started out with a 200 point contract, and we would go down, stay in a regular hotel for the weekend and then move to the DVC property for Sunday through Thursday night. That's a way to conserve points. Remember, if you are able to long weekends, Friday and Saturday night point rates are the highest.We recently bought another 230 point contract, so now we have a total of 430 points to play with!!!!

As far as a long weekend, of course it's do-able. We have done it a lot, and are doing it in a couple of weeks, as a matter of fact. We live and hour north of NYC, it's about 2- 21/2 hours by plane. With the DVC, you don't have to come up with the big "chunk of change" for accomodations all at once, if you have an AP, you don't have the ticket thing to worry about except for once each year, so really all you have is plane fare and spending money. There are cheap fares all the time. We have had good luck with JetBlue out of JFK. If they fly out of an airport near you, I'd look into their rates.

Basically, you book a room, make a plane reservation and hop on a plane. DH have left NYC at 7AM and been having a Mickey bar at the MK by 11AM. Can't beat that!!!!!!!