I don't want to rent/sell my points - How do I use?

[sagosto]

You don't say where you are based or how much WDW you've experienced, but DL in June and WDW in Nov can be very different trips. By November (you don't say when) there will be Christmas parties, and holiday decorations, and if you haven't seen WDW during that season, it's really special. You can do a lot more resort-only stuff that's unique to WDW, or focus on attractions that aren't found at DL.

(we have 5 trips scheduled for 2024 right now - one is a girls' weekend, another is a wedding anniversary with kids, a summer birthdays with another family, then Thanksgiving + surprise birthday for one kid, and Christmas week that we will try to go to either DL or Aulani with my dad and sister.)

All will be different and only the wedding anniversary weekend and Thanksgiving are our family alone.

I also second the Hawaii suggestions if you don't want to do DL / WDW, or HHI (I haven't been yet).

Other people also use points for Vero Beach before or after a DCL cruise out of Port Canaveral.

North Jersey. We've been to WDW only about 6 times in the last 9 years (COVID...). We typically go every year. It was supposed to be 1st week of Nov (Jersey week) but we shifted to Jan/Feb. I am hoping to get back on the Nov schedule. We normally do 8-9 day stays so I might get lucky and get Halloween and Christmas decor at MK.

I THOUGHT Paris was included with the points but sounds like the transfer sucks so I will need to just sell off the points or pay cash.

 

[kboo]

Coming from that far away, I would use a bunch of points and go to Aulani. I get the island hopping - I would want to do that too. Not sure if you’ve gone with kids - we took a 6 year break - went a few times when my oldest was 4-6 and youngest was 0-2. Last year we only had 10 days including travel, so we split between Waikiki and Aulani (this was before the fires on Maui and I’d been thinking of going to Maui). We had lots to do on Oahu alone and even though we had a car, we didn’t do half of what we wanted to do.

Next time maybe we’d split with the Big Island? But the Big Island is so big that spending 3-5 days isn’t enough either.

 

[crisi]

....

Honestly, this is VERY surprising as I thought it was just another resort and expensive. I need to investigate more to make sure the girls wouldn't be bored.

I COULD push the problem down the road but just trying to be prepared. I love reading how generous ppl are with taking their family/friends -- that's not me.

For kids your kids age, HHI offers the beach, the pool, the activities at the resort, plus on the island, ziplining, dolphin tours - but it is not the go go go of Disneyworld. Its a sit in a hammock and play cornhole sort of trip. Savannah is about an hour away - and if your kids are Girl Scouts, has the home of Juliette Gordon Low. It is also, as I said, very difficult to get whenever school is out and its beach weather. So if you want to go when its beach weather, I wouldn't even bother with the research - even with the effort of walking and stalking, there is no guarantee you'll get a room. And in non-beach weather, it is less good for kids. Even the Disney resort is less full of kids in the Winter than in the Summer. (We are empty nesters who go in Winter to get away from the cold weather - and don't care if we beach - we want a little humidity, to go out to eat, and to read books.)

And I get not wanting to take people. Its what we've often done with extra points, and about half the time I've regretted it. The other half has been great.