My Adventures by Disney trip that wasn't About This Page:

[MissMousey]

How did my “Adventures by Disney” vacation turn into a self-guided week in Vermont ?

A few years ago DH and I decided we would love to go on a guided vacation somewhere we wouldn’t normally have the courage to go on our own—out of the country. So in 2007 we decided to bank all of our 2008 Disney Vacation Club points and skip our annual trek to WDW hoping to save up enough points to get at least 3 (out of 4) of us there on points alone. And the timing would work out well because we were going to be getting two new puppies in the spring (when we normally visit WDW) and would need to stay home to raise/train them. We looked into the Adventures by Disney and calculated that we could afford the Costa Rica trip where we would explore the rainforests, animals and take a canopy tour via zip lines. How exciting! I was over the moon about this trip. Everything was working out well. We just had to wait for the new points schedule and dates to be released and then we could book our trip. I keep checking and calling to ask when I could expect them to come out. And finally they came out! But, oh no! Wait, all the points have gone up. The only trips we can now “afford” with our points are right here in the U.S. I can’t believe this! We had already banked our points and they cannot be pulled back. Why is Costa Rica so pricey now? I decided to look up the resorts where we would have stayed and realized that there were a few resorts in Costa Rica that are part of the Interval International exchange group. And so is DVC So I kick into overdrive trying to see what activities can be booked through the resort and therefore would not require a guide. Hmm. Most of the things we wanted to do we could arrange to do ourselves. It certainly wouldn’t be as much fun and it may even be a little scary without a guide, but what the heck! In the fall I called member services and opened a search for a resort in Costa Rica which was just added to Interval’s lineup. They told me it would only cost us less than one year’s allotment of points—it’s sounding even better now as I might be able to fit in another vacation in 2009. So we put in our search request along with the dates we would like to travel. And then the waiting started.

[jagmom08]

I am interested to see how this turns out.

[MissMousey]

A few weeks before Thanksgiving 2008 we received a mail from DVC stating we had a confirmed reservation to stay at The Sanctuary Resort and Spa in Costa Rica! We would be there the week of Thanksgiving 2009. I was so excited! I immediately went to Borders and began searching for just the right travel book—one with lots of color pictures, maps, and touring suggestions. The next big hurdle was airfare. I had already called our airline company before we put in our search request with DVC and they did have an alliance partner that could fly us there enabling us to use miles to pay for the airfare. I called right away because we wanted to use frequent flyer miles and it’s often hard to get what you want if you don’t call early. This time though, I was too early. Those dates had not been released yet. Ok, back to waiting again.

A few days before Thanksgiving, my dad became very ill and had to be taken to the hospital via ambulance. It turns out that he had several infections and a whole host of other health issues. So he was admitted to the hospital and we had to scramble to try to re-arrange our holiday plans. We were all supposed to be together for Thanksgiving, but with him in the hospital should we spend it there? Would the kids be allowed in? This was the beginning of many phone conversations with my mom and sister (my only family nearby) about exactly what we were going to do. With all of this going on, I somehow forgot to call the airline on the exact day. Oh no—surely they will have something still available, right? I’m only a few days late in calling. I finally get through to the airline and tell them where we need to go, and that I had already checked on this a few weeks before, etc. They informed me that “all those seats are already sold out”. What? This far in advance? Was there some kind of special event taking place in Costa Rica at Thanksgiving? Did all of these people call in before me somehow? How could this be? This can’t be happening! I resort to asking him how much the airfare would be if I purchased it instead. He said $600 per person and I needed 4 seats. There’s no way I’m going to pay $2,400 just to get us there. I reluctantly thanked him for his time and sat stunned at my desk for a few minutes.

[jagmom08]

Oh no!

[Colexis Mom]

Yikes!

[hoosiermomma2]

Ouch!!! OH My Goodness! .....that would have been so not cool

[magic mickey]

Oh no! This isn't sounding very good.

[chezp]

Oh goodness - what a terrible discovery. I hope it all works out.

[MissMousey]

It took a few days for all of this to sink in, but then I had to decide whether to cancel the trip or wait and hope that airfare would go down—way, way down. I finally resigned myself to the fact that this was not likely and my Costa Rica trip was just not going to pan out. We began searching online for other resorts we might be interested in booking at various times of the year through Interval International --now that our points had been traded into their system there was no getting them back. I called and inquired about several different destinations and nothing was available any of the times/places we were interested in visiting. I had never traded points before and now I was pretty sure I would not be doing it again. Availability was practically non-existent except for places where we could literally drive to within 3 hours. We tried for any/all coastal areas in the U.S. as well as the Caribbean, Aruba—nothing. It doesn’t help that we have two tween aged kids who really can’t be missing a week of school and therefore, we were stuck traveling at peak travel/vacation times. To make matters even worse, DVC decided to end their relationship with Interval International at the end of the year and switched over to RCI. Maybe this would give us more flexibility we thought, but no. Points traded into II must be used within II resorts. While searching through all the II resorts, I came across the Trapp Family Lodge and thought it was just beautiful. And my family LOVES the Sound of Music; so how cool would it be to say in their resort ? We decided to call (yet again) and check on availability. Nothing, AGAIN. So I asked them to please open a search for this resort for anytime in August. I decided to stop looking. At this point I was just really sick of this whole process and was pretty much wishing I’d never traded my points. Boy had I learned my lesson! Much to my surprise a few weeks later, we received word that our reservation had been booked and confirmed. Finally—we have a place to go spend a week. I have always wanted to head north in the summer because here in the D.C. area, the heat and humidity are a little more than I can handle. I usually stay indoors as much as possible until it starts to cool off in late September. So, while I am excited to head up to Vermont in a few weeks, I am still mourning the loss of my Costa Rica trip and hope that maybe someday we’ll be able to get there—somehow.

Lessons Learned:
Make sure that if you ever trade your points to RCI that you are willing to pay for the airfare to your destination—regardless of hopes to use FF miles.

RCI resorts require extreme advance planning. I’ve read that 2 years in advance is best to try to secure your desired location!

There’s always a bright side to every situation! We still had more than a year’s points to use elsewhere. So we’re booked on a 3 night cruise in November and then will spend two quick days at WDW all on points.

[Lemap760]

Sorry to hear about your Costa Rica plans, but Vermont is beautiful.

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you were able to get Vermont!!

[chezp]

Glad your plans worked out in the end, but what a nightmare you had to go through.

[goofysdtr]

Ugh! What a mess. Glad things finally worked out for you.

[RoonieRooToo]

Wow! I'm glad that at least something came through. I also greatly appreciate you posting what you learned for us newbies to DVC.

[sc507]

I'm interested to see how your trip turns out.....