She really does, as its her only sibling, she still remembers fondly of them being young, and my family is a bit bigger, but we really aren't close to any one of my siblings.
Wow, I think you may win the most stressful invite ever. We would only have around 140 points tied up in their room (one week in a LV studio at the Poly), but you're right. If they aren't coming, just politely decline. I'm sure you're not going to shun them if they were to decline BEFORE the May 15th deadline. I hope you hear from them soon!!OMG - I can relate!!!
Back in January we invited my husbands sister (and her family) and brother (and his family) to join us at Aulani for a 12 night stay immediately this coming Xmas. We would leave on Boxing Day, and return right before the kids go back to school. All have school age children that really enjoy hanging out together at Aulani. We booked a two bedroom villa for our family (with extra space for cousins to bunk if they want) and two separate DVC hotel rooms (very hard to get at Xmas)…one for each of them so their families would have their own home base. We offered the rooms, transportation (we’ve booked a transit van), a fully stocked (from Costco) kitchen and bar in our 2 bedroom that they are able to use anytime and excursions for the kids. All they have to pay for is flights and any meals that they choose to eat out.
Crickets. Compete and utter silence.
The booking window opened and since I had already extended the invite, I booked the rooms. I’m currently tying up almost 3 years of points holding these 3 rooms and everyone is still unwilling to commit. And it’s not like we never we talk! But everytime we do and bring up the trip it’s “we really haven’t had time to discuss it as a family”. I’ve tried to be patient, but it’s been almost 4 months!!!! and there are really other things that I would like to be doing with my points if they don’t want to come.
I sent them both a note last week letting them know that I really my need to know by May 15th whether they want to come (which is true because I need the points for something else then if they don’t want them), so to please let me know as soon as they can. No response/acknowledgment from either of them to my emails.
I am a bit disappointed that they can't even find a minute or two to email or send a text. And no, they are not people you would want to travel with. If they accept, I'm sure it will be a one-and-done.
It seems that my wife and I will need to communicate with them soon about the 11 month booking window and the very serious "eight" month booking deadline. Plus we will likely do separate rooms just for the space, as it would be too much to be in the same room with them, even if it was a 3BR Grand Villa.
This is where I am at currently. I know they don't get everything that goes into planning a WDW vacation, but there's not much interest being shown, even questions to help them make a decision one way or another. I'm already busy with my own vacation planning and it's not up to me and my wife to decide how to plan their trip if they are paying for tickets and food.
I'm realizing this since the invite and even past holidays. I feel bad that its happening to my wife. I know she wishes she was closer to them and our boys could see each other.
Awesome! Animal Kingdom looks amazing! Our August 2023 vacation will be a split stay between Poly LV for seven nights and then two nights at AKV-Kidani in a 1BR savanna view. Our boys love animals, so I cannot wait to see their faces when they see the animals from our room. We will be spending our second to last full park day and the morning we fly out at Animal Kingdom.
If I was a betting person, I would put my money on you being right.
I've always shied away from split stays because of the hassle of packing everything up and moving it between resorts. I'm on the west coast, so I have to fly in and we don't rent a car we just rely on Disney transportation (or we did when Magical Express was a thing, I'm not sure what we'll do to get from the airport to the resort now). Then again, with Minnie Vans back (at least they were last I heard) maybe moving from one resort to another wouldn't be so bad - we could do 3 nights an AKL and 4 at BRV or CCV.
Thankfully Poly studios are pretty easy to book around seven months, but you're absolutely right about the misconceptions of DVC, even to the well-initiated WDW vacationer.
In the case of Finn I could see this being the case. In the case of Jack, enough other behavior by the invitees has been discussed that I don’t think this is what’s going on. Since 2016 his BIL and his family haven’t made any effort to Jack’s family in any capacity. That doesn’t come across to me as a financial issue, that comes across as not having interest in having a relationship.
I could definitely agree with this sentiment, and from my perspective, I'm blown away by the offer from @FinnFogg. I guess owning DVC has normalized the privilege we have to purchase something that means I get to take my family to WDW until I'm 82 years old.
You're rather astute. I would rather pass, but its all for my wife and kids. I'm not one to brag about things like this, but perhaps it came across that way when we offered them the free room.
