(Note from Bill: Welcome Mousejunkie Jenna – yes, it’s THE Mousejunkie Jenna from both “Mousejunkies” books. Jenna is at the Vero Beach DVC resort right now, and she’ll be telling us about it in the coming days. Take it away Jenna!)
In January, I found myself with 55 points that were going to expire at the end of July. In January I was also a bit cash-poor, and the prospect of buying theme park tickets didn’t appeal- especially when I was planning a long WDW trip in October. I realized that I didn’t particularly want to go to WDW. Madness, I know. But I also didn’t want to lose my points. I considered renting them out, but it was too fraught with imagined danger and besides, why should someone else get to enjoy my vacation. I have a hard time thinking of them as points or as a commodity. They are nights in DVC resorts.
After carefully considering the options (trading into other vacation clubs/hotels or off-site DVC resorts), I decided to visit Disney’s Vero Beach Resort. If I borrowed ten points from next use year, I could get five nights in an ocean-view Inn room.
I live in Michigan, which is surrounded by lakes, not oceans. My experiences with the ocean as an adult have been limited to a brief visit to the beach at Santa Monica on the way to the airport after a weekend in LA; playing Apples to Apples in a ocean-side park in San Diego, and an hour or so walking along the beach in… I want to say Newburyport with the Burkes when visiting them in New Hampshire. I haven’t actually been in the ocean deeper than my ankles since a high school band trip to Virginia Beach in coughcough1986cough. I checked availability using the new online reservation system and decided on the first weekend in May. It seems pretty odd, but I actually planned my trip around the full moon because I thought it would be really pretty over the water. And now I’ve learned it will be a Super Moon, so that’s like double rainbow time.
I planned some activities in the area, but the main plan is “sit on the beach with adult beverages and my Kindle.” I want to be very, very busy relaxing. Since I’m writing this from my balcony and listening to God’s own white noise machine, I can tell you, that’s a goal I can achieve. Stay tuned! (But be warned- I’m both wordy and overly concerned with details.)