Am I crazy for contemplating this?

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

2 hours ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

Well after considerable thought about joining DVC I'm not into it right now. My main reason is the Fort has become our #1 draw for a Disney trip. Using points for a site isn't a good deal. Also another reason we considered DVC was for quick trips. Owning a new F450 makes pulling the camper a non issue. It's no more stressful than driving down in our suburban. We've done a few short trips already without feeling any negatives of taking the camper. We may buy in at a later date, but for now we are still campers. 

I’m your OP you said you were done with All Stars. But have you been since they’ve redone the rooms with the queen sized Murphy bed and the regular queen bed?

 

its a game changer. 

Normally my DW and DD would share a double bed and then I’d have the other double to myself.im not a big guy and my DW isn’t either but two adults in a double bed SMB. 

Also with the Murphy bed up there’s is a considerablely more usable real estate in the room. 

Actually last time we stayed at a Value resort we stayed at POP. And we are staying there this May. 

We like it better than the AS resorts.  And we like the food court there and AoA better than the AS resorts food courts. 

[LONE-STAR 370]

3 hours ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

Well after considerable thought about joining DVC I'm not into it right now. My main reason is the Fort has become our #1 draw for a Disney trip. Using points for a site isn't a good deal. Also another reason we considered DVC was for quick trips. Owning a new F450 makes pulling the camper a non issue. It's no more stressful than driving down in our suburban. We've done a few short trips already without feeling any negatives of taking the camper. We may buy in at a later date, but for now we are still campers. 

Same here buying a modern diesel made all the difference in towing, and the Fort is Disney to us. I may get a drw 3500 on my next truck depending on how our next trip to the Fort goes. It will be our first trip going that far with the new trailer. As long as there is no sway I will stay with SRW other wise DRW here I come.

[ImDownWithDisney 342]

9 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

I’m your OP you said you were done with All Stars. But have you been since they’ve redone the rooms with the queen sized Murphy bed and the regular queen bed?

 

its a game changer. 

Normally my DW and DD would share a double bed and then I’d have the other double to myself.im not a big guy and my DW isn’t either but two adults in a double bed SMB. 

Also with the Murphy bed up there’s is a considerablely more usable real estate in the room. 

Actually last time we stayed at a Value resort we stayed at POP. And we are staying there this May. 

We like it better than the AS resorts.  And we like the food court there and AoA better than the AS resorts food courts. 

No, we haven't been there since the remodel. My issue with the value resorts is for us they don't offer much more than a place to sleep and maybe swim. Now that my wife's family live so close we can use a guest apartment and pool for free with a 10 to 20 min drive to anywhere on property. Plus we can cook our meals just like we are in the camper. I've learned that our biggest $ spend can be food. We don't really buy souvenirs anymore, but a family of 5 can eat a fortune on property.

9 hours ago, LONE-STAR said:

Same here buying a modern diesel made all the difference in towing, and the Fort is Disney to us. I may get a drw 3500 on my next truck depending on how our next trip to the Fort goes. It will be our first trip going that far with the new trailer. As long as there is no sway I will stay with SRW other wise DRW here I come.

It really is amazing how well new trucks do with trailers. My 450 literally handles 17k lbs like it is not even there. I know you like a SRW. Have you looked at a Hensley Arrow hitch? If you don't need the payload of a DRW I would think a SRW 1 ton with a Hensley would be rock solid with your trailer.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

3 hours ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

No, we haven't been there since the remodel. My issue with the value resorts is for us they don't offer much more than a place to sleep and maybe swim. Now that my wife's family live so close we can use a guest apartment and pool for free with a 10 to 20 min drive to anywhere on property. Plus we can cook our meals just like we are in the camper. I've learned that our biggest $ spend can be food. We don't really buy souvenirs anymore, but a family of 5 can eat a fortune on property  

 We are only a family of three and I absolutely agree with you. 

Our biggest expense, after lodging and tickets, Is food. 

We usually do a split stay. 

Our timehsare at bonnet creek and then a Disney Resort.   I love saving money by eating almost every breakfast at our condo/room.  Even at Disney we keep bagels, yogurt and fruit in our fridge for breakfasts. 

 

For a splurge we also rent DVC points to stay at a deluxe resort.   We are thinking about 7 days this thanksgiving at Boardwalk villas and it going to cost $1638, studio.  The studios come with fridge, microwave, etc. 

a studio will sleep 5.

Queen bed

queen sleeper bed

twin Murphy “type” bed. 

[DaveInTN 3,247]

For my crew, a nice dinner out at Disney can easily run $300-350, and add in characters or a show like the Hoop and we're talking $600-700.  It's just not justifiable on a regular basis.   

[ImDownWithDisney 342]

1 hour ago, DaveInTN said:

For my crew, a nice dinner out at Disney can easily run $300-350, and add in characters or a show like the Hoop and we're talking $600-700.  It's just not justifiable on a regular basis.   

No joke. It is not worth it. My fuel and 7 night stay at the fort 2 weeks ago was less than 2k. You can easily spend that on food in a week if you are not careful. Camper cooking FTW.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

3 hours ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

No joke. It is not worth it. My fuel and 7 night stay at the fort 2 weeks ago was less than 2k. You can easily spend that on food in a week if you are not careful. Camper cooking FTW.

Yeah... that's the beauty of having a kitchen, whether it be in your RV or in a villa/timeshare/ etc.  I can choose to eat out for convenience such as lunch on a park day, or for a special occurrence like a nice dinner, show, date night etc.  But all other meals we cook, and since I enjoy cooking, especially outside, it works out well.   

Honestly, if I spent a week in a Disney hotel room and had to eat out every meal I'd lose my mind, not to mention my wallet and my waistline. 

[LONE-STAR 370]

11 hours ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

It really is amazing how well new trucks do with trailers. My 450 literally handles 17k lbs like it is not even there. I know you like a SRW. Have you looked at a Hensley Arrow hitch? If you don't need the payload of a DRW I would think a SRW 1 ton with a Hensley would be rock solid with your trailer.

Pay load I am fine it has a little over 4,400 lbs of pay load. The Hensley may be good idea if I have any sway issues. It's pulled good on all the trips we have taken it on accept coming back on the last trip. There were 30 to 40 mph cross winds so I had to keep it at 65 mph to keep the sway down.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

3 hours ago, DaveInTN said:

Honestly, if I spent a week in a Disney hotel room and had to eat out every meal I'd lose my mind, not to mention my wallet and my waistline. 

Lol!    

We went on a 2 week Mediterranean cruise a few years back and I remember after about half way through the cruise I just wanted some “ regular” food.  Here I was on this awesome ship with tons of free gourmet food and all I wanted was some homemade biscuits and gravy. The kind I make.   Not that “gourmet “ gravy. 

 

 

 

[dblr....Rennie 224]

if we drive down and stay using our DVC we will even bring along our crock pot or electric griddle to cook in the unit, we have asked for these items before and have never been able to get them at the resorts plus the electric griddle cleans up much easier then their cookware so this way we get a mix of cost saving eating in to splurge eating out if we choose.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

2 hours ago, dblr....Rennie said:

if we drive down and stay using our DVC we will even bring along our crock pot or electric griddle to cook in the unit, we have asked for these items before and have never been able to get them at the resorts plus the electric griddle cleans up much easier then their cookware so this way we get a mix of cost saving eating in to splurge eating out if we choose.

Smart!

Very smart.  

[lightbikes 73]

5 hours ago, dblr....Rennie said:

if we drive down and stay using our DVC we will even bring along our crock pot or electric griddle to cook in the unit, we have asked for these items before and have never been able to get them at the resorts plus the electric griddle cleans up much easier then their cookware so this way we get a mix of cost saving eating in to splurge eating out if we choose.

We always bring our toaster oven too - it's a Convection Kitchen Aid one that I thought was overly expensive when we  bought it but has let me feed 6-8 people in a DVC studio so it's more than paid for itself!!!

[Travisma 1,317]

6 hours ago, dblr....Rennie said:

if we drive down and stay using our DVC we will even bring along our crock pot or electric griddle to cook in the unit, we have asked for these items before and have never been able to get them at the resorts plus the electric griddle cleans up much easier then their cookware so this way we get a mix of cost saving eating in to splurge eating out if we choose.

You need to get into the fast lane of cooking and invest in a Ninja Foodie! 

 

The Ninja® Foodi™ | Pressure Cooker That Crisps | NinjaKitchen.com‎

[dblr....Rennie 224]

5 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

Smart!

Very smart.  

Thanks I will have to tell the wife you said that, lol

1 hour ago, lightbikes said:

We always bring our toaster oven too - it's a Convection Kitchen Aid one that I thought was overly expensive when we  bought it but has let me feed 6-8 people in a DVC studio so it's more than paid for itself!!!

That sound like a great idea also especially in a studio.

8 minutes ago, Travisma said:

You need to get into the fast lane of cooking and invest in a Ninja Foodie! 

 

The Ninja® Foodi™ | Pressure Cooker That Crisps | NinjaKitchen.com‎

The wife has been looking at a pressure cooker but I keep telling her we do not need any more kitchen gadgets, now if she would discard somethings that are hardly used maybe we can talk

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

1 minute ago, dblr....Rennie said:

Thanks I will have to tell the wife you said that, lol

That sound like a great idea also especially in a studio.

The wife has been looking at a pressure cooker but I keep telling her we do not need any more kitchen gadgets, now if she would discard somethings that are hardly used maybe we can talk

I have to back him up on this one. I am going to be replacing our air fryer and our pressure cooker with a Ninja Foodi. I use both but they are bulky. Reducing the footprint by 1 device is worth it for me. 

[Travisma 1,317]

30 minutes ago, Katman1356...Jason said:

I have to back him up on this one. I am going to be replacing our air fryer and our pressure cooker with a Ninja Foodi. I use both but they are bulky. Reducing the footprint by 1 device is worth it for me. 

 

33 minutes ago, dblr....Rennie said:

Thanks I will have to tell the wife you said that, lol

That sound like a great idea also especially in a studio.

The wife has been looking at a pressure cooker but I keep telling her we do not need any more kitchen gadgets, now if she would discard somethings that are hardly used maybe we can talk

There are at least 2 Foodi models.  The better one has a dehydrator feature.

Like an InstantPot,  FB and web pages have exploded with its versatility.

You can pressure cook, air fry, broil, bake, slo cook, steam, dehydrate and more.  Only thing it doesn't do is sous vide.

The big feature of it is you can pressure cook, then air crisp the food, so ribs that are pressure cooked tender can be sauced and then air crisped/fried in the same pot.

Only drawback, is that it's heavy, larger than an InstantPot, and the air fryer lid doesn't come off, it hinges open straight up when not in use.  So unless you have cabinets that are high off the counter, you won't be able to cook on the counter top.  It fits on our stove top and clears the vent hood. 

 

Google it to see everything it can do.

 

We got ours at Sams and it can with an extra rack.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

On 4/7/2019 at 8:22 AM, ImDownWithDisney said:

It really is amazing how well new trucks do with trailers. My 450 literally handles 17k lbs like it is not even there. I know you like a SRW. Have you looked at a Hensley Arrow hitch? If you don't need the payload of a DRW I would think a SRW 1 ton with a Hensley would be rock solid with your trailer.

 

On 4/7/2019 at 8:32 PM, LONE-STAR said:

Pay load I am fine it has a little over 4,400 lbs of pay load. The Hensley may be good idea if I have any sway issues. It's pulled good on all the trips we have taken it on accept coming back on the last trip. There were 30 to 40 mph cross winds so I had to keep it at 65 mph to keep the sway down.

We really liked our Pro-Pride (same as Hensley) with our TT.  Honestly, it was amazing.  Actually, when switching to the the 5th wheel, everyone told me how much I'd love the way the 5'er pulled... truth be told:  zero difference.  I had NO sway with the ProPride.  That sucker was locked down.  Definitely worth the price.

On 4/7/2019 at 5:42 PM, DaveInTN said:

Yeah... that's the beauty of having a kitchen, whether it be in your RV or in a villa/timeshare/ etc.  I can choose to eat out for convenience such as lunch on a park day, or for a special occurrence like a nice dinner, show, date night etc.  But all other meals we cook, and since I enjoy cooking, especially outside, it works out well.   

Honestly, if I spent a week in a Disney hotel room and had to eat out every meal I'd lose my mind, not to mention my wallet and my waistline. 

Goodness, yes.  The plan is to be in town 3x this year and we have to budget (very) carefully, where we want to eat.  Already staying off property as the Fort just isn't in the budget this year... kids will have to choose whether they want one character meal or 3 breakfast buffets or 6-8 take outs at TE.  Staying is painful, but eating out will put you over the edge.

[rtguy007 74]

This thread is exactly what I needed right now. As I sit here in our room at port in St Thomas on our cruise we are contemplating a DVC membership. The deals on the boat make it look good but the more I dig into it the less sense it makes. They are offering us a 150 point at Saratoga for a little under 25k (160 per point) with full benefits as of this time. Problem is the fort is the only place we would use it. They pulled up the point rate calendar for us and it showed availability pretty much every week for the forseeable future on a premium site for 13 to 15 points per night. Our upcoming trip for 2 weeks is going to cost 2k which is the most I have ever paid. We never stay in any other resort and if we do it is for a 1 night splurge to get away from the kids while their grandma watches them in thw camper. The more I look at it the less sense it makes. Honestly I would rather take the 25k and put it towards the down payment on a house in Fl vs the timeshare.

The only big advantage I see is the RCI conversion. Even then it doesnt seem to make a lot of sense as we dont travel around much.

At least we got $100 in stateroom credits and extra fast passes for our next trip for aittong through the presentation and talking to them.

[ImDownWithDisney 342]

1 hour ago, rtguy007 said:

This thread is exactly what I needed right now. As I sit here in our room at port in St Thomas on our cruise we are contemplating a DVC membership. The deals on the boat make it look good but the more I dig into it the less sense it makes. They are offering us a 150 point at Saratoga for a little under 25k (160 per point) with full benefits as of this time. Problem is the fort is the only place we would use it. They pulled up the point rate calendar for us and it showed availability pretty much every week for the forseeable future on a premium site for 13 to 15 points per night. Our upcoming trip for 2 weeks is going to cost 2k which is the most I have ever paid. We never stay in any other resort and if we do it is for a 1 night splurge to get away from the kids while their grandma watches them in thw camper. The more I look at it the less sense it makes. Honestly I would rather take the 25k and put it towards the down payment on a house in Fl vs the timeshare.

The only big advantage I see is the RCI conversion. Even then it doesnt seem to make a lot of sense as we dont travel around much.

At least we got $100 in stateroom credits and extra fast passes for our next trip for aittong through the presentation and talking to them.

Sounds like we have similar situations at the moment.

Another thing that I have been thinking about is we are somewhat fickle and obsessive about vacations.  10 years ago we spent most of our vacation time and money doing ski trips out west. It was all we wanted to do. Now we barely ski, but I am sure we will swing back that way some day. We tend to go through phases. I wouldn't be surprised in 5 years or so that our Disney trips are a lot less, and we will be on to something else.

[rtguy007 74]

3 hours ago, ImDownWithDisney said:

Sounds like we have similar situations at the moment.

Another thing that I have been thinking about is we are somewhat fickle and obsessive about vacations.  10 years ago we spent most of our vacation time and money doing ski trips out west. It was all we wanted to do. Now we barely ski, but I am sure we will swing back that way some day. We tend to go through phases. I wouldn't be surprised in 5 years or so that our Disney trips are a lot less, and we will be on to something else.

We are the same way. Our camping has been reduced quite a bit over the past 2 years because we save all our vacation to go to the fort. We are not in a position to sell the camper nor wouldbwe want to. With the kids starting to get older we also think they will start losing interest in disney in a few years. While the deal they offered us is pretty good compared to current rates, I am not sure the gamble is worth it. If I cant use it all the time for the fort and we have trouble with the RCI conversions then its just not worth it. Its just cheaper to book the fort and cough up the money vs the yearly renewal with the monthly payment for 10 years.

[Tony 27]

On 4/8/2019 at 2:03 PM, Travisma said:

You need to get into the fast lane of cooking and invest in a Ninja Foodie! 

 

The Ninja® Foodi™ | Pressure Cooker That Crisps | NinjaKitchen.com‎

We got the Foodi for Christmas and use it almost daily, it's an all in one, pressure ,air fry, slow cooker ,saute, etc. in eight minutes i can give outback a run for the money on Rib eye. Love it!!