Thanks so much! Yes well I made 4 jumps already and each one costs so figured leap this time. PR is at National Harbor. I have never even been but I will visit now. So I hope you like PR? Looks like you have been owner for a little. I just started last year and of course not much travel really but I know I will use it. I just need to learn the ropes.
PR was our 7th jump so you're way ahead of us. Also way ahead of us in buying in younger, a lot younger. I'm guessing from the ages of your kids that you're probably in your 30's. I will have my 70th birthday on what will be our 4th annual summer family vacation at Glacier Canyon.
The traditional week based timeshares had never appealed to us at all. It took attending two then Fairfield before it became Wyndham sales presentations to wrap my head around the newer points based system and decide we should buy. During that second presentation when I was asking questions that indicated to DH that I might be actually considering buying he asked in a horrified tone of voice if I was seriously thinking of buying when the salesperson left us alone for a few minutes. We still laugh about that. If anyone had ever told us 20 years ago when we first bought or even on subsequent buys that we'd ever spend what we've spent or buy as many points as we have, we would have asked if they were drunk, high or just plain crazy.
I've related before that we live in Florida and that I fly to Cleveland, Ohio several times a year to bring one or both granddaughters down to stay with us for anywhere from 10 days to three weeks. Thank you Spirit, Frontier and Allegiant for really cheap flights so we can do this. We usually stay at one of the resorts in Orlando and also at a beach resort while they're here. In Orlando they've stayed at Bonnet Creek, Reunion, Star Island, Cypress Palms, Vacation Village at Parkway, the Houses at Summer Bay, Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort and Animal Kingdom Villas in a savanna view unit. For the beach stays, several resorts on Sanibel Island, Clearwater and Ocean Walk on Daytona Beach. People our son and DIL know think we're rich because even just one week of what our granddaughters do 4-5 times a year is as much as those people's families do for their big vacation once a year. I'd estimate that the cost of three of our trips is equal to if not less than what their one trip costs them.
When I brought the girls down after Christmas we stayed at our house but had a staycation for two nights at Palm-Aire for New Year's Eve. The resort is 20 minutes from our house. We had a two bedroom plus in the Areca Palms building and I asked for a city view on a higher floor so we'd have a great view of the fireworks in the area. People in this part of Florida love their fireworks and you can pretty much see them going off somewhere throughout the evening on New Year's Eve and the 4th of July. The girls enjoyed going in and out throughout the evening to watch the fireworks. The two bedroom plus units have a huge balcony and a den. The girls were so were thrilled with having their own TV room next to their bedroom.
Our son, DIL and granddaughters are coming to Orlando for a Spring Break vacation in two weeks and we're staying at Reunion again. Our DIL has stayed at more resorts than our son because she's a teacher and comes for vacations with the girls as she has more time off than our son. He loves fake complaining that his daughters and even his wife have stayed at more resorts than he has and he's been an owner for 14 years since he turned 21. This will be our son and DIL's first time staying at Reunion so our son was asking about the resort. He was in the car with the 4 year old and on speaker phone. I laughed and told him that he could just ask his daughters about the resort as they've stayed there several times. The younger one just this past October. She remembers the resorts by something she really liked about them so I told her to tell him about the one with the waterpark. She had plenty to tell him most of which made no sense to him as he hadn't stayed there. I sent him a link to view the units and the waterpark.
The girls love looking at the pictures on my phone of them at the different resorts. The 4 year old really likes Ocean Walk and hearing her talk about the older pictures of her at Ocean Walk when she "was little" just cracks me up every time. Because you know she's so old now at 4. She was born exactly two months before her sister's 5th birthday and when I first showed her pictures of her sister when her sister was the same age she asked where she was. She decided the answer was that she was at home with mommy because she was a baby. Yup, lets go with that. Lol
Over the years people my husband worked with would ask how we could afford to vacation like we did. I was a stay at home mom until our son was 16, the year after we bought, and they knew approximately what my husband made. He always told them it was because we had the timeshare. He would leave an opening for them to ask questions about owning a timeshare but none ever did. Most were sure timeshares were nothing but a scam. Within a few years of owning we were taking four vacations a year of a week plus a couple of nights. I planned our vacations over a paid holiday to maximize DH's vacation time. DH got a lot of vacation time at that point and I was able to take time off without pay beyond my two weeks of vacation. Our work schedules were very flexible and that extra day or two meant I was able to book the cheapest flights. We had a routine. Sea Gardens in Pompano Beach, FL in January or February. Grand Desert in Las Vegas in the Spring. One of the Myrtle Beach resorts in late May. We drove to Myrtle Beach and DH was able to schedule himself a work appointment half way there on the way down and back so travel days didn't use vacation days. The last one was a vacation in September or October back to Myrtle Beach or a couple of times back to Vegas.
About a month before DH turned 61 he lost his job when the owners of his company were making the company lean and mean in order to sell it. Because what he did was very specialized he had no problem finding another job. He found one in Florida and we didn't have to wait until he retired to move somewhere warmer than northwestern Pennsylvania. However that meant he was starting over building vacation time. During my first year here in Florida I discovered there are a lot of resorts in Florida that I could book through RCI. My husband covered all of Florida from Sarasota over to Fort Pierce clear down to Key West. If he had a couple of days work in a particular area and I found us a stay, off we went. He would have a day that he did reports and would sit on the balcony or in the pool area at the resort doing them. He said it didn't feel like he was working. One year we had stays over every holiday. Sometimes he would take a day of vacation to give himself an even longer holiday weekend. We only needed him to work until I turned 65 for the health insurance because I didn't go back to work after the move to Florida but he kept working another 18 months until he was 68.5 through choice. He says that having those timeshare stays made him in no rush to retire.
I wish you and your family many happy memories as you make your own stories over the years. Your kids will grow up with wonderful memories and also very spoiled when it comes to vacations. It's a wonderful feeling knowing you make that happen for them.
If you ever need any help figuring things out you're welcome to private message me and I'll give you my phone number.
and Hawaii not an owned resort. Wanted to go soon while my kids are still remote learning. They can attend school anywhere so we can try make a little positive out of that and travel a little.