The Reason Why I Bought Into DVC

How I learned to stop worrying about the cost and love DVC

I’ve written a couple of times about Disney Vacation Club (DVC) and while crunching numbers, I found it to not really be worth the money invested in it.  Well, I’ve recently come across a change of heart and am now in the process of buying my first DVC contract.  Here’s what changed my mind.

                The biggest change of heart came from our recent trip to the Aulani.  I have to say this is a wonderful resort.  Also, my kids are getting older now and they are starting to refine their travelling tastes.  Amusement parks are fun, but there is so much out there to experience and they are starting to realize that.  Hawaii, is one place that we can all agree is a must-return-to destination.  And the Aulani was simply the icing on the cake to that trip.  It’s a beautiful resort located in the beautiful Ko’ Olina area of Oahu.  I often find myself wanting to return and spend more time there.

                The other reason I find myself changing my mind on DVC is the age of my children.  They’re getting older.  Something that I had never really given much thought to even though I knew it to be inevitable.  I now have a teenage boy and a pre-teen girl.  So, the sharing of beds that was so common on all of our previous trips is starting to become uncomfortable.  A standard hotel room is at best two queens meaning my wife and me in one bed and the kids in the other.  In just a few short years I’ll be looking at renting two rooms or a suite to give everyone the space they need.  At Disney both of those prospects are pricey ones. 

                So, here’s my solution.  Buy into DVC and when we go to the parks or someday Hawaii, we can stay in a one or two bedroom villa for a reasonable price.  But making sure it is a reasonable price is truly the goal here.

                Since staying at the Aulani is one of my chief goals for this plan, I’ll start there.  I explained in one of my previous post that you could pay a lot less than retail to stay at a resort like Aulani.  But to be fair, it’s still a large chunk of change.  At the time of that article renting points at the Aulani was running $14 per point.  Since we like to travel in February, I’ll quote some figures for that month.  If you simply want to stay in a hotel room booking an Island Gardens View room online will run $2317 for 7 days, 6 nights.  If you were savvy you could rent points and stay in a studio villa for $1512 and get a kitchenette but, lose daily maid service.  However, as I mentioned, my goal is also more room for the kiddos.  So, I’m really looking at a one bedroom villa.   Retail on that comes out to just over $3200.  Ouch!  And, renting points is not really saving a huge amount of money with that total coming out to $3024 and that’s if you can get a DVC member to part with their points.

               This leads me to my plan. Remember, I want to make this affordable.  When I sat down with the DVC people on my last cruise those precious DVC points were going for $160 per point.  And now, there are rumors of Disney increasing the price to $180 per point.  Staying at the Aulani for a week in February currently runs about 216 points.  That means I have to buy a contract of at least 225 points (if I want to go every year and believe me Laura does!) for a total of $36,000.  It would take me 18 trips before I would come close to even breaking even (when you factor in the maintenance fees.)  So, I’m not buying from Disney.  Fortunately, there’s a robust second hand market when you are looking at DVC properties.  In fact, DVC holds its value pretty well and in some cases has even appreciated in value.  After a great deal of number crunching I finally settled on buying into one of the cheaper Disney properties.  As my wife says “Points are points.”  Whether you own them at one resort or the other they all spend the same.  Well, she’s almost right but that’s the subject for another article.  We settled on Saratoga Springs Resort.  The average price on the resale market for this property is $74 per point.  And I figure that if I managed to score it for less then I’m money ahead.  I made my offer and it was accepted at $72 per point for 150 points.  Not really the amount that I wanted (remember 225) but the affordability factor was way up there.  Besides, with DVC you can bank and borrow points to make that vacation that you desire.  The total price for our points came to $10,800.  Less than 50% of the Disney cost for the same points.  Now, the points needed for the same February stay at our home resort is just 191 points  which means that I can’t go every year but every other year I’ll have more than enough points to go to Disney World or Hawaii with a lot of points left over.  That will also free us up to experiment with other vacations on the off years.  But, instead of taking 15-20 vacations to break even, it’s more like 4-5 trips to reach the break-even point.  After that, the cost to me is just my maintenance fees which run about $775 per year.  In other words, an every-other-year vacation will cost me $1550 for a room that normally runs from $2674 to $3,100.   So, YIPPEE! That’s why I bought DVC.

Steve

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

It’s that time of year again and one of my favorite things at Disney is the Halloween Parties. With the fall décor, parades, fireworks, dance parties, and extra villainous characters it is a treat to enjoy.

Although the party has what seems to be a steep price tag for only an evening’s worth of entertainment we were pleased to find out our tickets got us into the park at 4:00pm even though the party officially starts at 7:00pm. So, for about the half the price of a full day ticket we can spend about a half of a day in the park.  Another thing to keep in mind when buying tickets is not to wait until the last minute to purchase them. The ticket prices are usually higher when bought the day of the event rather than when bought in advance, and there is a good chance the event will be sold out. 

Because this is a ticketed only event, you can take advantage of the thinner crowds once they begin to usher everyone not part of the party out the gates at 7:00pm. This makes it the optimum time to ride some of the big, popular rides without the long wait.  For the thinnest crowds possible it is best to go on a weeknight.  Once 7pm hits the park begins to transform with special decorations added and the Trick or Treat stations are quickly set up.  I was surprised at how fast the atmosphere changed. 

At first glance, the Trick or Treat lines and character meet lines can appear very long but from our experience, they moved quickly.  The Trick or Treat stations gave out handfuls of candy and so we really only needed to do one of the stations before our Trick or Treat bags were overflowing with goodies. 

Ultimately, it is night filled with meeting characters rarely seen in the parks.  You will see Snow White with all 7 of the dwarfs, all of the Pooh Characters posing for pictures together, ghostly characters in front of the Haunted Mansion to interact with and entertain as you wait, and of course the many villains of Disney.  For the first time in 2013, Jack Skellington and Sally from “Nightmare Before Christmas” will be posing together in the town square.

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

One of the highlights of the night is the “Boo To You Parade” it opens with the Headless Horseman riding by and features The Villains of Disney. My personal favorite is The Grave Diggers they appear as an army wielding their shovels.  Our kids loved this parade so much that they were willing to watch it twice that night.  Don’t forget to catch the special firework show “Hallowishes” in front of the castle with “The Villains Mix and Mingle” Show directly after.

The Grave Diggers in the “Boo To You Parade”

Whether you choose to come in costume or not is a personal choice but if you do make sure that it is comfortable and easy to wear.   My kids quickly shed their costume hats and boots for much more comfortable crocs and sandals guess who got to hold the discards?  Are you kidding! We got a locker. 

On the West Coast in Disneyland Resort, the party is called “Mickey’s Halloween Party” and it takes place within Disneyland.  There is not quite as much going on as the party in Disney World but it is still fun and has many great character opportunities, a firework show called “Halloween Screams” and a “Mickey’s Costume Cavalcade” parade as well.  Halloween time is truly is one of our favorite times to go to Disney.

Skagway-From Soapy Smith to Sarah Palin Discovering This City’s Rich History

Don’t be fooled by the looks of this quaint little Alaskan town. It may look tame and quiet now but according to our tour guide, this city is rich in scandalous history.

 

Our excursion for the day was the Skagway Street Car Tour. We choose this tour for a couple of reasons. First, it was at the right price point for us. Second, it was short, only an hour long. We did not have many expectations as to how this tour would be since we could not find that many reviews on it. How pleasantly surprised we were. Our tour guide did an outstanding job of making the history come alive for us. Dressed in the gold rush period times she entertained us with stories of “Soapy Smith” the infamous town scoundrel who embezzled from the citizens. The “Hero” who gave his life to take him down in a bloody duel only to be found out he, himself was wanted for murder back East. In addition, she shared the story of how the original Street Car Tour was a spur of the moment decision when President Warren G. Harding visited the town in 1923 and the local coal deliveryman brightly painted his coal truck and took the President on a tour of the town in it calling it his “Street Car.” Our tour would not have been complete without a drive by the childhood home of former Governor, of Alaska, Sarah Palin, where “On a clear day” according to our tour guide “You can see Russia.”

This was our first stop in Alaska and the picturesque town looks very turn of the century. From the wooden plank sidewalks to the western themed storefronts it looks like a place where you could walk back in time and join the gold seekers who came here in the late 1800’s to search for gold. Today the population is around 800 full time residents but, during Cruising season it can be upwards if 8000. Squeezing 8000 people into this tiny seaport town that is only 4 blocks wide and 1 mile long can make one think of what this place may have looked like during the Klondike gold rush. During its heyday, the city’s population was over 10,000. Skagway was the final stop before the miners would make the infamous hike over the White Pass trail to get to the gold fields in the Yukon. The pass was so strenuous and difficult, that many animals perished and, it became known as Dead Horse trail. Just a couple of years later a rail line was built to take the miners over the pass making things much easier on those that could afford the passage

fee.

After our tour, we enjoyed shopping along the main street named “Broadway” and grabbing some lunch at “Bites on Broadway” a small eatery where my son discovered German Chocolate Cake. When he tells people about Skagway, he only mentions the cake. It was that good I guess. One thing I noticed was all of the flowers. The city is also known as the “Garden City of Alaska” and my pictures reflect that. Finally  did I mention that our ship was the tallest building in the town “That day.”

   

 

10 Things To Pack For Your Disney Alaskan Cruise

So, You've Booked Your Cruise Now What?

10 Things To Pack For A Better Cruise

Choosing The Right Port Excursions For Your Family

Preparing To Go On Your Disney Vacation

Photo Friday– The Road Trip North

Yup, the only way to travel.

Enchanted Taku Glacier Lodge and 5-Glacier Sea Plane Discovery

 

By far the most amazing experience of our Alaskan Cruise was our port adventure in Juneau, the "Enchanted Taku Glacier Lodge and 5-Glacier Sea Plane Discovery". When going to Alaska everyone looks forward to seeing the wildlife and scenery this untamed country has to offer. On a cruise however, the only way to fully experience it is through your port excursions. After determining that this was going to be the big splurge on our trip we had high hopes and expectations that this would give us the taste and experience of Alaska we all wanted. We boarded the 10 seat float plane and took off from the port of Juneau where our ship was. The forty five mile and thirty minute trip was narrated and told us all about the Juneau ice fields we were getting to discover by plane. The view was incredible as we flew over the glaciers that from the air look like rivers of ice.  Everyone had a window seat and their own headphones to listen.

  

The landing at the Taku Lodge was exciting. Upon our arrival the visitors were telling us about a bear in a tree just to the right of the lodge. We scrambled up the hill to take a look and could see his nose peaking through the pine branches. One of the lodge employees was standing close by advising us where to look and cautioning us about getting to close. He held a big walking stick in his hand and I wondered if that was really just for walking or could possibly be more for protection.

 

We wandered around the grounds and took in the scenic views. Directly across the river was the "Hole in the wall" glacier. This glacier is considered a small arm of the much larger Taku glacier. It measures 2 and half miles wide and a mile high. From our view it looked enormous. It didn't take long before the smell of our grilling Wild Alaskan Salmon lunch began to waft through the air and entice us over to take a closer look. We watched as the cook prepared the basting sauce and tried to take mental notes. Of course a quick Google at home and I found the recipe to share with you. As he grilled we asked him how it was he cam he to be the cook. He said that basically there is a small handful of employees that live and work here in the summer season and you take on the roles that you are the best at. It sounded like a very family/team kind of atmosphere and I wondered what kind of job I would get if I worked here.

  

Soon our Salmon was ready and they called us to lunch. Along with our salmon they served us home made herb biscuits, that were amazing, freshly baked sourdough bread, baked beans and coleslaw it was a feast. Our drinks were served with authentic glacier ice compliments of the " Hole in the wall".  Not only was there plenty of food on our plates there was plenty of food for seconds of everything and my kids ate they're fill of salmon. While eating the employees told us the history of this nearly 100 year old lodge and of the fascinating Mary Joyce who ran it. While eating our lunch we watched, through the big glass window in the dining room, our bear come back and begin to lick the sand in the bottom of the grill where the salmon drippings had fallen while cooking. Our lunch was interrupted as we snatched up the cameras and ran outside to get an up close picture. Seeing the bear was just another reminder of how remote we were and of the rich wildlife surrounding us.

  After lunch our guide, along with his big walking stick and the camp dog, took us on the short glacier view trail. This route offered panoramic views of the glacier and a look at the rainforest environment we were in. Our time at the lodge was coming to an end and we headed down to the docks to watch our planes arrive loaded with new guest to drop off.  Watching the small fleet come in and land one at a time on the river was just one more indication of how exclusive and special this adventure really was. Our son Stuart got to ride in the cockpit with the pilot on the way back and our daughter Leah having been thrilled with the sighting of the bears and filled the delicious salmon actually fell asleep on the way back with gentle hum of the engine coaxing her.

Steve and I looked back over the spectacular views of the ice fields knowing that we had just experienced an adventure of a lifetime giving us some wonderful memories to look back on.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 Things To Pack For Your Disney Alaskan Cruise

Choosing The Right Port Excursion For Your Family

10 Things To Pack For A Better Cruise

So, You've Booked Your Cruise Now What?

Preparing To Go On Your Disney Vacation

Choosing The Right Port Excursions For Your Family

When planning for up coming Cruises Steve and I generally take a lot of time to hammer out which excursions we want to do. Knowing ahead of time what we want to do is important because when our booking day opens up we can be sure to reserve our spot and know that it won't be sold out. With Disney they have all of the excursions for each port already detailed on their website which makes it easy to determine which ones will be a good fit for your family. They give you highlights of the excursion, cost involved, ages of children allowed, and the amount of time it will take. They also tell you the amount of physical activity required and whether there will be food provided. When we sit down to look through our options we first do a quick overview to see what they have to offer and what stands out to us. We talk about them as a family and find out what everyone is interested in. This generally leaves us with a list of 2-3 to choose from at each port. When planning the excursions for our Mexican Riviera Cruise our daughter was completely smitten with the idea of swimming with a dolphin it was definitely at the top of her list. We refine that list by double checking the ages of children allowed. On many of the adventures it seems that five is the magic age. For kids younger than five there are only a few to choose from and they tend to be bus rides and tours of the town. When our children were under the age of five many times we opted to not do an excursion and simply go to the beach or walk thru the town and shop.  This gave us the freedom to decide when, as a family and our kids endurance level, to go back to the ship for naps. When we were in St. Maarten we simply let the kids play on the beach and collect sea shells. They built a great sand castle and it didn't cost us much money except for the ice cream we bought nearby. Now that our kids are reaching the age where we can choose some exciting adventures we find that our next step is to look at the amount of physical activity and what type it is to gauge whether our own children and even us adults are up for it. Just because my daughter wants to scale a glacier or repel down a steep canyon doesn't really mean that she is quite ready to do so. And, if I must admit I'm not sure that I am up for that much adventure either. When my father cruised with us we wanted to make certain that there was not to much walking involved because of the arthritis in his knees. Whale watching was a great choice for our family that day.                                                                     
Finally we consider the duration of the adventure. One of the things I really wanted to do on our last cruise was to take the White Pass Train thru the historic Chilkoot Trail in Skagway. However, when we looked at the duration of the trip we realized that it was quite long and probably would not suit our kids well. My parents confirmed this for us when they took their Cruise to Alaska a month later and said that the 12 year old boy sitting in front if them slept on the way back. They said although they loved it they could not see our kids enjoying for as long as it was. The last thing we consider is of course what our budget will allow. How much can we afford? This really does help us to fine tune exactly what is the most important to us and what we can eliminate or scale back on. Doing this on our Alaska cruise really helped us chose the one excursion we all really wanted to experience and made it easier to say no to other adventures so that we could afford it. Now that we are back home from our trip that one excursion is the first thing we tell of when we share about our vacation. One more thing to look into before your finalize your booking reservations is if booking the things you want to do on your own with out going through Disney Port Excursions Services is more cost effective and feasible.  Although I have never done this I have heard of people who do and generally save quite a bit of money.  Sometimes it is worth the doing this way.  Just remember that when you do it on your own you are giving up transportation from the ship to your destination and the guarantee that you will be back before the ship departs.  If you book thru your ships excursion desk they will never leave you behind in ports because of a delay getting back.  In fact they will hold the ship for you.  On those days when you are only in port for a short day you will want to be very careful about getting back on time. We always save our Disney dollars that we earn on our Disney Visa to help us cover these cost along with buying Disney gifts using our red card from target to save 5%. Once we get on board we go directly to guest services and have these gift cards applied to our account and then our port excursions are paid for. Picking your excursions is important and can bring you many memories to look back on as a family.  My number one piece of advice is to do what you can afford, and what you will love because you will never regret it.


10 Things To Pack For A Better Cruise

Preparing To Go On Your Disney Vacation

So You've Booked Your Cruise Now What?

The Castles and Gardens of Victoria BC

One of my favorite days on our vacation this past summer was our day in Victoria BC.  It is interesting how you end up with your favorite days.  Is it a combination of the perfect weather, attraction, mood, or something altogether different?  I propose that it is a combination of all those things plus a little something else too.   Expectation.  We had been saving and planning for our Alaskan Cruise for almost two years and we had carefully picked all of our excursions.  When you put that much planning into a vacation you can’t help but have some expectations about how you want your trip to turn out.  Our Alaskan Cruise was fabulous so don’t get the wrong impression here.  However, the day we spent in Victoria we had no firm plans and it was a fly by the seat of your pants kind of day, and I think because there were no expectations attached to it I was able to fully enjoy the adventure that unfolded before us rather than hoping it was all I had anticipated. 
Staying in Victoria after we got off of our Disney Alaskan Cruise was always the plan, but we weren’t sure on what we wanted to do there.  Once we had checked into our hotel we browsed through the in room booklets that tell you about the area.  One of the places that stood out to us was Hatley Castle. 

Hatley Castle was the home of James and Laura Dunsmuir.  James was the son of Robert and Joan Dunsmuir.  Robert was a coal baron, railway developer and politician in British Columbia in the 1800’s.  His son James took over his father’s business and in the early 1900’s built this home for he and his wife to spend their retirement days in.
On the day that we arrived we got there early before the castle opened for tours.  However, the ground's keepers were busy at work and encouraged us to explore the gardens to our heart’s content.  They said that one of the peacocks had just had babies and if we looked carefully we might be able to spot them.  Leah and I took them up on their offer and eagerly set out to discover the baby peacocks.  The gardens are separated into many different areas highlighting the different garden styles of the times.  There was “The Bog Garden” near the creek bed, “The Chinese Gardens”, “The Rose Garden”, “The Italian Garden” and the place Leah wanted to see the most “The Green House.”  We rambled over bridges and through garden gates.  We did happen upon the new baby peacocks, and beyond the furthermost gate we even discovered the green house, which was locked.  We learned that every fern, flower, and plant had been transplanted to this area and perhaps the only native thing in the garden were the tall pine trees. 

Once the castle opened we then took the hour long tour of the inside.  Upon the death of James and then Laura Dunsmuir the home went to the state of British Columbia.  The home then served as the headquarters for the Royal Cadets Training Academy.  Currently it is part of the Royal Roads University Campus and is still used to this day for classes and university administration offices.  Our tour was of the ground floor only and some of the rooms were not available for us to go into because of summer classes being held.  Because it is a working university rather than a museum the inside restoration was not as grandiose as you would have hoped from looking at the outside.  It was very beautiful and we learned some unique history.  They have used the building as a set for one of the X-Men films and during WWII this was a possible place for Queen Elizabeth II and her family to escape to if the fighting became to intense where she was in England.

Once we finished our tour of the castle we decided that in order to get the full picture and history of this place we needed to also visit Craigdarroch Castle.

Craigdarroch Castle was built by James’ father Robert.  This castle was a museum that was fully restored to the time period of the late 1800’s when it was built.  Unlike Hatley Castle that is surrounded by gardens and nestled near the shore this Castle is smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood of homes surrounding it on either side.  There are no gardens or grounds and is not nearly as romantic on the outside as the other.  Once, you step inside though you are not disappointed.  This home is grand and glorious. With the self guided walking tour map you are able to make your way through each room and read about the history of the pieces in that room.  They even had a walking map tour for the kids with an I spy kind of feature where you must locate the item pictured in each room.  Sometimes this was easy, other times it was hard and well hidden.  The kids enjoyed their scavenger hunt which left me peacefully able to dream and fanaticize about all of the history and grand parties that must have taken place in this home. 


Steve and I decided that touring both castles is the only way to do it right.  You get a much better idea of the full magnitude of these impressive homes when you see them together.  I wish that they sold a combination tour package that gave you some sort of discount if you buy both at once, but they don’t.

We ended our day with a tour of Butchart Gardens. It was late enough in the day that we didn’t have the heat and the crowds had thinned a bit.  The transformation of this once rock quarry turned into sunken gardens is an unbelievable sight to behold.   The gardens are beautiful and there is much to explore within it’s grounds but between these and the gardens of Hatley Castle my favorite was Hatley Castle.  I found the gardens of Butchart to be much more formal and less intimate than the ones of Hatley Castle.  Perhaps it was because of the thousands of people vs. Leah and I being the only ones at Hatley.  The dirt paths vs. the paved clearly marked walk ways of Butchart, or the many secret gates that kept us intrigued as to what we would find next vs. the intricately detailed map that laid out our path before us.


By the end of our day we were fully exhausted but also filled with so much fascinating history and beauty. This was by far much different than our previous trip to Victoria.  If you ever find yourself on Vancouver Island I would not miss out on the opportunity to spend your own day touring these stately mansions.



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