A great big beautiful – Summer 2022

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by Fuellady

That’s great Abby, thank you. I assumed you had paid Kate’s ticket in cash while using the companion voucher for you and Dave. I didn’t realise you could use avios for the additional seat. The Amex yearly fee is now £250 - I’ve just had mine appear on my statement 😢

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I still think it's worth it, even with the annual fee. If I add on the £195 fee then I've paid £1065 for 3 people to fly direct in the summer holidays with the return flight being premium economy, it averages at £355 per person which is a fantastic price. I'd bite your hand off if you offered me that price for indirect with a long layover.

Originally Posted by MrsSilverStar

Yay, how lovely to read another Abby trippie!

Your dvc news is amazing, what a rollercoaster. You’ve picked a beautiful home resort. So excited for you.

Wowser at that flight price - I’m not admitting how much we’ve paid…it’s too painful!

I’m finally getting excited about our May trip and am loving reading all the reports that are starting to pop up now - looking forward to following along with your plans!

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Hey there Tara

How are you all doing? I'm glad your May trip is still on, it really looks like we are back in business this year and that all our trips will go ahead

[MrsSilverStar]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Hey there Tara

How are you all doing? I'm glad your May trip is still on, it really looks like we are back in business this year and that all our trips will go ahead

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We’re all good thank you, just plodding along and slowly getting more and more excited about May! We’ve been looking at restaurants and I’m starting to think about our park reservations.

I’m really hopeful we’ll all get to go this year - I’m even optimistic that tests might be dropped by the time we go, but that’s probably just wishful thinking!

[Em4owen]

Hi Goldia👋. I'm so glad to see you are back and are going in the summer, third time lucky, like us 🤞

Very exciting that you are now DVC members and it sounds like you'll be staying at two lovely resorts.

I'm looking forward to reading more and seeing how your planning goes.

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by MrsSilverStar

We’re all good thank you, just plodding along and slowly getting more and more excited about May! We’ve been looking at restaurants and I’m starting to think about our park reservations.

I’m really hopeful we’ll all get to go this year - I’m even optimistic that tests might be dropped by the time we go, but that’s probably just wishful thinking!

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You never know, maybe USA will relegate testing too. I'm all for wishful thinking

Originally Posted by Em4owen

Hi Goldia👋. I'm so glad to see you are back and are going in the summer, third time lucky, like us 🤞

Very exciting that you are now DVC members and it sounds like you'll be staying at two lovely resorts.

I'm looking forward to reading more and seeing how your planning goes.

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Hey there,

We're all back on the merry go round aren't we? I really hope your first trip as a family does get to go ahead this summer. Perhaps your youngest will be tall enough to ride everything at Disney? Kate was 7 on our first trip and went on all the rides at WDW.

[Rescuer]

Oh I missed you’d started a pre trip report.

Great news on the dvc and flights, we will miss you by a day or two again as usual. Wilderness lodge is on my list to stay at at some point.

Shame Max has chosen not to come but it will make it a totally different experience which I’m sure you will still all love.

[smithlane]

Oh this is amazing news Abby! I’ve actually never known how DVC works in so much detail so thank you for explaining it so well!
So with your 150 points a year how many weeks does this give you?
I reckon you should see if you can stay in a different Disney resort for those 5 nights before you move into CC and I’m nominating the Polynesian or Grand Floridian so I can live vicariously through you 😆

Fantastic deal on the flights too, what a complete bargain!
We couldn’t believe the price of flights this year either and managed to use our companion voucher for Jim and I for Club class on the way out and WT+ on return. We didn’t have enough points for the kids so they’re flying out the day before with my parents. I felt guilty for about a nano second but then I figured they’re getting a free holiday so tough 😂
I’m gutted we miss you by 4 days though, one year our holidays will overlap!

[theCMG]

Congratulations, great price on the flights 🙂 it's all coming together now!

[lfc_sarah]

This thread has been great for explaining DVC, I've always been majorly confused now I have a little insight.

Very exciting for you guys!

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by Rescuer

Oh I missed you’d started a pre trip report.

Great news on the dvc and flights, we will miss you by a day or two again as usual. Wilderness lodge is on my list to stay at at some point.

Shame Max has chosen not to come but it will make it a totally different experience which I’m sure you will still all love.

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I'll forgive you missing the start at least you're here now! Of course we won't overlap again . The blasted school term times up there and down here never match up do they?

I hope you're really starting to believe your Mardi Gras trip will go ahead, it's looking good I think.

Originally Posted by smithlane

Oh this is amazing news Abby! I’ve actually never known how DVC works in so much detail so thank you for explaining it so well!
So with your 150 points a year how many weeks does this give you?
I reckon you should see if you can stay in a different Disney resort for those 5 nights before you move into CC and I’m nominating the Polynesian or Grand Floridian so I can live vicariously through you 😆

Fantastic deal on the flights too, what a complete bargain!
We couldn’t believe the price of flights this year either and managed to use our companion voucher for Jim and I for Club class on the way out and WT+ on return. We didn’t have enough points for the kids so they’re flying out the day before with my parents. I felt guilty for about a nano second but then I figured they’re getting a free holiday so tough 😂
I’m gutted we miss you by 4 days though, one year our holidays will overlap!

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It's really difficult to say how many nights the 150 points will give us. Different hotels cost a different number of points per night, and different times of the year cost different points. It's similar to paying cash for a hotel. If you want to stay at a hotel at Christmas it's going to cost more than the middle of September, equally the same hotel room may cost more on a Saturday night than mid week. Or if it's a 5 star hotel it will cost more than a 3 star hotel for the same dates. Plus, of course a studio room is less points than a 2 bedroom villa.

So, it's really difficult to answer what we will get for our 150 points. Given that we usually travel in July and August it will give us about 9 nights at Wilderness Lodge or Contemporary Bay Lake Tower in a studio. If I wanted to stay at Animak Kingdom villas or Old Key West it would be about 12 to 14 nights, whereas Grand Floridian or Poly will be more like 7 nights.

So all that being said, I don't think our points are going to stretch to GF or Poly this year! But, I do plan on staying in all the resorts at some point that's a definite bucket list for me.

Great news on you and Jim getting Club tickets on the outbound leg, it's sooo good! You will love it. I bet Hope and Sam are really jealous they don't get to come along too.

I thought your trip was going to be a bit later, it's a real shame we won't overlap this year.

Originally Posted by theCMG

Congratulations, great price on the flights 🙂 it's all coming together now!

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It really is coming together now. I was starting to think about daily plans, which parks to visit and what ADRs to book up - it's so ingrained to do the bookings at 180 days and get all that set but I've got ages to wait until we can start making reservations.

Originally Posted by lfc_sarah

This thread has been great for explaining DVC, I've always been majorly confused now I have a little insight.

Very exciting for you guys!

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I'm glad you found it useful, it is confusing, I still feel like I'm learning about DVC.

[collybird]

Abby! I feel awful I've missed this so far.

I cried reading your intro post, so many emotions... The nostalgia for trips gone by, the fact that Max won't be travelling, the fact it's been 3 years since our last trips, and most of all, you're a DVC member and you truly will be 'home'.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading about the DVC buying process, it is fascinating to me and I am sure researching was simultaneously stressful and fun! However, the money transfer business made me feel ill!