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Until we took the older two kidlets to Disney in February 2009, on a spur of the moment trip - less than a month to plan - we weren't big into Disney. Friends of ours were Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members (going at least once a year) and other friends of ours have taken their kidlets to WDW at least … A lot of times. Hubs and I never really got it. We are beach people. We love our own New Jersey beaches, the Outer Banks of North Carolina and the sandy beaches of Jamaica, putting all three vacation spots before a trip to Walt Disney World. We are the ones who used to tease our Disney addict friends that they were missing out on the beaches by taking their kids to an overpriced, overpopulated gigantic theme park.
Our kids were nothing less than ecstatic when we told them of our upcoming plans to take them to WDW. Unfortunately, the week before our trip, everyone in our house got the stomach bug. I’m sure I posted about it … somewhere. DinoBoy got it the worst. We actually took him to the doctor because he was still vomiting after 5 days! He was taking the anti-acid medicine the doctor prescribed him when we left for our first family WDW trip.
Hubs was able to plan this entire trip on his American Express Points – hotel, airfare and WDW tickets. It was awesome! We were to stay at the Dolphin Hotel which really isn’t a Walt Disney property although they are located ON Walt Disney property and participate in Extra Magic Hours and Disney Transportation (but not the Magical Express.) There was character dining at the Swan next door, busses to the parks and Downtown Disney at our disposal and Mickey Magic … everywhere.
In each park visited and at Downtown Disney we saw kiosks for Disney Vacation Club. We never really asked our friends about it because we didn’t do Disney. Hubs stopped here and there to browse through the books but didn’t get into a full conversation with any of the Disney Vacation Club Guides because still we didn’t “do” Disney. This was the first of a Twice a Childhood trip for the older two kidlets who were with us.
After our trip and gauging our kidlets enthusiasm over the entire vacation, their disappointment in not being able to swim at the outdoor hotel pool (it was mid-February and even Florida gets relatively cool!), their fearless flying in the airplane, all among countless other things, Hubs decided to look into different vacation clubs and/or timeshare ideas. He was in contact with Hilton Vacation Clubs, Marriot Vacation Club and Disney Vacation Club.
In the days and months ahead, we went through all of the different promotional guides, features of each and the pricing (a very important factor.)
The end result? A purchase of 3 separate contracts at Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village. We couldn't be happier with our purchase. We were even given a "bonus" of the prior year points to bank so that we had a plethora of points to use towards our first vacation (or two, or three ...)
Needless to say, we're hooked. We've since purchased another DVC contract, this one at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. That one is right next to Downtown Disney and you can get there by boat, right from the resort. How fun!
We've had a quite a few DVC vacations in the last year. More than we ever imagined possible. And, very soon, we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving in style, Disney Cruise Line Style. :-) I promise, I will keep you updated on that trip as well.
If you have any questions at all about Disney Vacation Club, feel free to pick my brain. I will help answer your questions the best I can!
Have a magical day!
