51 forum replies
I have a different perspective on using a TA. We've used a TA on 3 cruises. We ended up with problems on 2 of those 3, and we were unable to talk to Disney Cruise Line directly (because the TA "owned" the reservation). Our personal agency as a customer was removed because of the TA. The first time, a hurricane cancelle
We planned a very last-minute "Escape Wedding" at Disney in 2008. I was in Kuwait (on my home from Iraq) and Hubby was in Germany. He had never been to WDW, but was working with our wedding planner to book our hotel. We wanted to stay at the Poly, but it was unavailable. She suggested a 1BR villa at Wilderness Lodge. H
Congrats! Very exciting. The issue with purchasing a different resort is they will each have separate 11-month booking windows. And 160 points will not get you a 2BR at BLT. So you would either have to bank and/or borrow to do that every other year (or so) to lock in your desired reservation at 11-monhts. If you're les
They do have the same value to a certain extent. The only issue is you cannot use them to stay at the resorts from Riviera and newer (Cabins @ Fort Wilderness, Villas at Disneyland Hotel and Lakeshore Lodge when it opens). If you bought BLT resale, look for the same UY. Then they will be under the same membership. It's
Would 35-50 points at 11-month window to secure the entire stay? If so...AND if you didn't have two stays that fell in the same 7-11 month window, you could probably do it. We have two UYs in our contract, but I realized I sometimes want to book a home resort whose points are in the latter 1/3 of my UY. So I book it at
Most of the higher floors are Ocean View. This site has a really specific breakdown with images. It helped me craft my room request when we went in May 2025. https://mydvcpoints.com/085-aulani-tips-on-booking-a-room-flights-and-car-rentals-a-multiple-dvc-member-review-part-2-of-4-in-our-aulani-review-series/
I like to cool off in Sunshine Seasons when it's hot outside. And Connections Eatery is popular with my son because of pizza 🤷🏻♀️
I can't speak to ABD, but I lived in northern Bavaria for 6 1/2 years. Generally, Germany is not "mobility friendly" but I would bet that ABD takes it at a pace that will be easy for you (if you don't need a scooter, etc.). Also German cuisine doesn't rely heavily on shellfish. So I think you could fairly easily avoid
I don't know about booking. Generally the first year of a ship creates so much buzz, the prices are high. But you're right about general disappointment in this ship. If you haven't been on a DCL, maybe consider the Wish? It can be had for relatively low prices now (we went in 2023 and I'm ashamed of what I paid). We de
Resort hop? We stayed at OKW this past May, but we took an afternoon/evening and had dinner at Boma. It was nice to immerse ourselves in an entirely different part of the World for a few hours.
We have a countdown calendar. That helps. Of course it helps that we now go several times a year, so the countdown is a happy thing vs. depressingly long 😂 My other way is to stick my nose in all the DVC Fan content, watch the episodes with my husband, strategize future trips, etc. Not the most healthy way of coping,
I wish I had a strategy. We started our DVC journey with no kids (but hoped to have them). We bought 300 points in a single contract. We learned afterward that was not a best-practice (from DVC veterans) 😂 Then we added on 15 1/2 years later (after having two kids) and added another 300 points. So, at least they each
That does make me wonder if the service dog is actually a service dog. They're usually meticulously trained.
I think you made a fantastic choice. We own BLT and our first add-on (in 2024) after 15 1/2 years of ownership was RIV. We fell in love with it. Also, you're not going to be able to buy direct for less than now. I'm sure LL will initially price out higher. And who knows about dues... I'm intrigued by LL, but we love th
@Whole new world 1995 (WNW ‘95) Congrats on retirement. Being untethered from the school calendar has got to feel liberating! We have always been homeschoolers, so we always try to avoid school breaks. @DVCDan we're trying VBR for the first time in Jan after a cruise out of Port Everglades. Really looking forward to it
After over 16 years as members, we finally stayed at Aulani (or first non-WDW DVC stay), and that pushed us into our first add-on. I used the whole year's worth of points (1BR Ocean View), but didn't want to miss our WDW trip as well. We chose to initially add on direct at Riviera, because we fell in love with staying
Good idea. I have a boy and a girl too. Of course, they're so spoiled with DVC, they'd rather us pick a 1BR that has the extra twin 😂. It's our fault. We bougth DVC before they were born. We tell them all the time that they're just bougie-by-proxy, because we enjoy these vacations.
@kkarmah and @Disneygrandpa -I never really got to enjoy the nightlife of BW before they started dismantling it. I do think there's some attention toward improving it. You both are probably right about a future tower, but I would really hate that from an aesthetic standpoint. And @kkarmah I totally agree about the valu
I agree. But then I don't want to pay dues at the non-tower resort prices 😂 We own BLT and RIV (two offending tower resorts) and VGF. But collectively the only way we could lower our dues would've been to buy Poly instead of Riv. I agree my favorite resorts are separate buildings as add-ons to an existing Deluxe Resor
I think the rooms and the DVC Deluxe studios were both updated in 2021...but the DVC Studios only got a softgoods refurb. While the hotel rooms got a comprehensive Moana-style makeover. I think the projected hardgoods refurb for Poly is 2028...so maybe then? I agree that things start to look really tired before a long-
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