Patricia and her late husband started taking her grandchildren to Walt Disney World in 2015. After doing his research, her husband was convinced DVC was the right fit for their family because he wanted to spend quality time with his entire family. Tune into the show to hear Patty's story about using DVC for extended family time, special one-on-one time with her grandsons and even some trips with her girlfriends. Episode 232
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Automated – Show Transcription
Chad: Today we're talking with one of my listener friends who's been a longtime supporter of the show, whom I had the pleasure of meeting last August in person. So let's welcome you to the show for the first time, Patty Boorom. How are you doing today, Patty?
Patricia: I'm doing well, Chad; thanks for having me.
Chad: Oh, thanks for joining our show and sharing some of your D V C wisdom here.
Chad: Patty, tell me a little bit about your D V C and Disney background.
Patricia: Well, we started going to Disney in 2015. We wanted to take my son, and his family had an 18-month-old grandson, and we had a lot of fun. A year later, my late husband says, you know what? We are going to buy into DVC. I'm going to look into it. He looked into it. We went down the following year, bought into it, bought even more after that, and we've been coming just about every year.
Patricia: Of course, with Covid, we had extra points, so it was a couple of times that year.
Chad: And so now it sounds like your husband kind of did the DVC research and kind of made the decision, hey, this is the direction the family's going.
Patricia: Correct. Yes. He was home. So he was able to look into things and he checked into direct points, of course at first, and we went on to the direct points he looked into it, and he said, copper Creek is what I want. We went down, did a tour, and signed up right then.
Chad: That sounds awesome to me. I mean, especially that he looked into it ahead of time, and walked into it knowing what he was doing, but now where were you in this process? Patty.
Patricia: Well, I was going along with him. He would, I would come home from work. He would tell me exactly what he was looking for and everything, and we just knew when we went down there, we already made an agreement to go down and speak with someone and just agreed with everything. Went ahead and left.
Chad: Okay. So you were on board with the process.
Patricia: definitely.
Patricia: Yes.
Chad: And then what happens?
Patricia: Then we, we bought into it, and then after that addon Ida hit and we had to get more points. We did get those not direct, and that was an easy process. Well, kind of easy. We went for it. We didn't hit the first time Disney bought it. And, the second time around we were able to get it and that just gave us a couple more days.
Patricia: We were only going seven days at a time and we wanted to go longer.
Chad: Okay,
Patricia: getting more points we're able to do that,
Chad: Now did you buy at the same resort or a different resort? How did you end up doing that?
Patricia: that we bought at the same resort.
Chad: Okay, so, so right now you've got Copper Creek Direct and Copper Creek resale as well.
Patricia: Exactly, yes.
Chad: I'm loving that. I mean, it's one of my home resorts and one of my favorite ones. I absolutely positively love some Copper Creek.
Patricia: May too. And then after that we decided, you know, let's try somewhere else. Especially when Copper Creek was getting a little hard to get at the seven month mark if we decided to go then. So, at that point it was all myself, cuz my husband had passed away, but we decided, , my family and I decided, let's try old Key West.
Patricia: We went and visited it. We loved it. So I bought resale on Old Key West.
Chad: Oh. I really loved Oak Key West then.
Patricia: We did, we did. They, we loved the rooms because there was six of us and we had three boys, and we just loved the area, loved the size of the rooms, especially if you got near hospitality.
Chad: Oh, okay. Yeah. I know a lot of people love the near hospitality house booking category there. It's a really short walk. I think it'd be a little hard to park there if you ask me, but that's just because all the people at Hospitality House are creeping on into your parking spots. But
Patricia: We always fly in so we don't have to worry about driving or anything, and then we just take either the buses or the boat or lifts or whatever we have to take.
Chad: okay, where else have you stayed other than Copper Creek and Oaky West?
Patricia: I did a girl's trip a little bit back and we stayed at Boardwalk, and then I took, my sister-in-law down and we stayed at, Um,
Chad: Boardwalk Beach.
Patricia: I think we, yes, we stayed at Beach Club cuz we walked around Boardwalk just to show her the area. Beach Club.
Chad: Any trying of animal kingdom yet?
Patricia: We did tour. We did also go into Animal Kingdom. I went into Animal Kingdom. I just took one time. I had taken my grandson down. He saw that, Mahomes had won. The Super Bowl and said he was gonna go to Disney World and he calls me that night and he says, grandma, can we go to Disney World?
Patricia: And I'm like, oh Parker, that's gonna be impossible. I got off the phone and I'm like, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna take him to Disney World. I got on, I was able to get a D V C room. I was able to get plane flights down. I called him, we were on the plane at two in the well off to the airport at two in the morning.
Patricia: Picked him up. We went right to the hotel and right to the resort. there. We did stay at, also Wilder de Lodge, but we did Boulder Ridge,
Chad: Okay.
Patricia: and I just, I took him down and I was like, we're going to this. We stood in line for a long time, but we were able to go to the parade and see Mahomes, which made his day, made his year, I think.
Chad: Yeah. I'm telling ya. If he's a huge sports fan and a Patrick Mahomes fan, you get grandma in a year for that trip.
Patricia: Exactly. That's what everybody kept saying. Can you be my grandma? Can you be my grandma?
Chad: I think a bunch of listeners are gonna say, adopt me and Adopt me
Patricia: Yes. Oh, it was, it was a fun trip. Just he and I and. . He was just thrilled to see Mahomes and during the parade, the parade happened to stop right in front of us and he did like a one-on-one eye to eye with Mahomes, and he was like, I swear he was flying . It was so fun.
Chad: That is awesome. And it sounds like you and your, your late husband kind of bought D V C with the. Mindset of we're gonna do this to take our grandkids and extended family kind of situations as well.
Patricia: Exactly.
Chad: So to see you being able to come back into it and take the grandkid, I mean, that just warms my heart because that's like on the mark of what you bought it for and it's such a flexible product that you can do the big family trips, you can do the girlfriends trips that you mentioned, the take the grandkid kind of a.
Patricia: Absolutely. And I love, the candlelight processional. So last December I said I really wanted to go. There was nobody around, you know, none in the family really. But my sister-in-law loves that kind of thing. And I said, let's go. Booked around. We just did a three day down, stay back and put into the candlelight professional, which I wanna go to.
Patricia: I'm gonna do it next year too.
Chad: Oh, I love me some candlelight professional. I think that's my favorite thing at Disney.
Patricia: I did too. I love it. I love Christmas there. I that I just need to do it.
Chad: yeah, and I'm not gonna lie, I just got home from Josh Gad last night, so that was a phenomenal experience as
Patricia: Oh, that is good. Yeah.
Chad: he had a bunch of one-liners as you would kind of expect from Josh Gad as well.
Patricia: Right.
Chad: that was an incredibly good time and I can't wait to to do it again.
Chad: And luckily, I think I'm gonna go a couple more nights this week, so,
Patricia: Oh, that's funny. That's fun. Do you usually,
Chad: I usually stand in line for something, but we had some, uh, part of our, uh, mighty V C points community. We had a member meet up this weekend and Ron and Jackhammer were down here and they invited me to come join them at their, candlelight professional dining package over at las.
Patricia: Nice.
Chad: we just had to like buy my, uh, meal at las and then we got the preferred seating, but he still ended up standing in line 45 minutes for that.
Chad: We just got to sit closer and had guaranteed seating so,
Patricia: exactly. That's what we did. I just said, let's, we're gonna do dinner anyway, so let's just get the dinner package. And then we went in and sat and had great seats and it was nice.
Chad: Yeah, I can't say enough great things about candlelight. It really, truly is one of my favorite things at Disney. And last year I think I did two trips to see people for it. So now that my house is here and it's like, minute drive from garage to Epcot. I'm there. You know what I'm saying? It's . I'm there,
Patricia: Exactly. I don't blame you. I would be doing it too. I love that show. Love.
Chad: I'm seeing just like even more and more and more flexibility and optimization of this membership in these points here, Patty, to be honest with you, it's, it's like really kind of impressive what you're pulling off and, and doing. is there anything left on your DVC bucket list? Like, like what's the, the boxes here to check off.
Patricia: Well, I think we've been to every one of the festivals, so those are all checked off already. my main one is just next year I'm gonna take my youngest grandson. I'm gonna take him to Disney for Christmas cuz he is never seen everything decorated.
Chad: so sounds like another awesome grandma grandson, kind of a, a trip lined up.
Patricia: Yes. And I'm gonna take my daughter and son-in-law also, so
Chad: Okay. I mean, that
Patricia: all.
Chad: that is like retirement life at its best. I mean, it sounds like you're, you're living your best grandma life here. Okay.
Patricia: One thing I love is that like this year, we're going May to June with my son and daughter-in-law, and they have to come home on a Saturday. Well, the meetup is Saturday night, the Maryanne meetup, and I said, I really wanted to go to that. And he goes, so just come home the next day. I was like, why don't I, I've got the points.
Patricia: Just extend another day. Be able to go to the meetup and come home the next. So , that's what I'm gonna do.
Chad: Yeah. Well, that's awesome. We look forward to seeing you this June as well. And then just for everybody who's listening in, we tend to do meetups when our community members come in, especially if they're kind of a more active person in Maryanne co-host, the Community Hall live show. She used to produce all the individual interviews for this show.
Chad: Everybody kind of knows Maryanne. So when she comes we say, okay, we're declaring a meetup cuz Maryanne's here and
Patricia: Great.
Chad: Yeah, I think last year we had 10 or 12 people there and this year it'll probably at least grow by 50% cuz there's just more and more people that want to come and just come to hang out with the people from our community that they see online, they see the posts, they see 'em on the shows. We interact together.
Chad: It's all about what we do here at my D V C points is build an awesome community of D V C members. It's like our number one goal. yeah, it's a lot of fun. A lot of fun.
Patricia: I hope it's gonna be, I. Be a lot of fun. I can't wait.
Chad: So Patty, what all has changed in the way you do Disney since buying into the vacation?
Patricia: Oh, a lot has changed. Believe me, when we first went, of course we did everything topnotch. We had. The dining plan and it was the deluxe dining plan and we had like tons of points that we could use and tons of snack points to use. And you know, we did all those things. We did all those dining restaurants.
Patricia: They, now we know that we don't have to do 'em all unless we really, they're one of our favorites. We really wanna do them. That's changed a lot. And then my son now is, Disabled. So he takes the d a s, so that holds six and there's six of us that go. So that's changed. We don't really have to wait in line, we just go up, get the d v s, come back later for our turn.
Patricia: So that has changed a lot in, in the way of waiting for things.
Chad: that definitely does change things. And you know, that's the disability access service. And if you're eligible for it, I highly recommend it as well. But if you're not eligible for it, just stay away. it's really designed for people who, for one reason or another, can't handle the lines and,
Patricia: Yep.
Chad: you know, everybody has their own set of life challenges, and if your life challenges kind of are along those lines, you can talk to Disney and, and enroll in that service as well.
Patricia: and they were pretty good about it. They said, yo, what do you want? Tell us about your own, your disability. He said, well, how much do you wanna know? And they said, as much as you wanna tell us. And he went on. And then they stopped him and they said, oh no, you are eligible. So what, you know, they, they're pretty much eligible on who should be and who shouldn't.
Chad: Yeah. Yeah. And the long and short of that is, is if you just can't stand, they'll tell you to get a wh.
Patricia: right.
Chad: Or if you've got something that, that, you know, movement base, they're like, you can get a wheelchair, you can get a scooter. You can accommodate it that way.
Patricia: Mm-hmm.
Chad: But there's other complicated, you know, life is complicated and, and people have more challenges than just that.
Chad: And so I know people that have gotten it for like severe forms of a d d. Some people have it for like, I can't hold it if I've gotta go. Yeah, when I gotta go, I gotta go. And I can't be in a 90 minute flight of passage line and try to work myself in and out, even though there is a bathroom midway. It's great if you gotta go and you're passing it, but if you've gotta go now, it's a challenge.
Chad: Right. And.
Patricia: has a wound that won't heal, and so he has to change his dressings like every half an hour. So they, they were just like, oh, no, , you can't stand in line that long. No. And they just stopped him and said, Nope, it, you're, you've got it. So that's, that has changed a lot about how we do Disney.
Chad: And that makes sense because as normal guests, we don't wanna be in line with somebody dressing a wound, either you, you know what I'm saying? It's so, it, it works out for everybody's benefit that he gets this service and yeah, so good on Disney and, and you know, great use of that service and accommodation as well. Let's go through some of our rapid fire questions here, Patty. do you wear ears or rocket T-shirt?
Patricia: Both
Chad: And I see as we're recording this show, you're actually rocking the ears on video.
Patricia: Uhhuh? Yes, I am because I know that, uh, it makes me feel better. Makes me feel like I'm doing Disney just talking to you,
Chad: Yeah. Well, I mean, I get it. I get it. So let's talk carbs, Mickey, pretzel, or Churro.
Patricia: pretzel
Chad: Okay.
Patricia: all the way.
Chad: And now let's get frozen. So are we going, Mickey Bar, Dole Whip, or Mickey ice cream sandwich?
Patricia: Go whip.
Chad: The only correct answer
Patricia: Yes, it's, I knew it
Chad: like, come on
Patricia: been able to let it down if I said anything different.
Chad: Yeah. I'm telling you. Favorite Disney attraction?
Patricia: Soen?
Chad: Ooh, that's a good one. That's usually on my have to do when I'm at Epcot list. I'm not gonna lie.
Patricia: Soren. We do seven Endorf mine train also. Those are the magic kingdom. We just have to do those.
Chad: Yeah, that one beats me up a little bit too much on my knees and getting in and out of there. I, I swear to God, they built that for skinny people,
Patricia: My favorite is small world, but not everybody likes that. So sometimes I have to do that one by myself.
Chad: You know, that's always an option as well.
Patricia: It is.
Chad: what's your favorite land?
Patricia: My favorite land is Animal Kingdom.
Chad: And well, that would be favorite park, but what about
Patricia: favorite podcast. My favorite land, I'm gonna say Frontier Land.
Chad: best place on property to enjoy a drink or a dessert.
Patricia: I just love to go to the Doll Whip. Place they're, uh, because we always stand there to watch the parade. So I love going right around. And then next time I go, I'm gonna get the bacon on a stick.
Chad: I gotta try that. I've had the candied bacon in something at Animal Kingdom called the Smoky Bones. And it was like a milkshake with a caned bacon. But I've gotta look up this bacon on a stick thing, cuz that, that sounds new to me.
Patricia: I think it's right by, um, it's in animal. No. It's a Magic Kingdom and it's down by Pecos Bills,
Chad: Okay.
Patricia: and I've just heard about it from another.
Chad: Yeah. Okay. Well, I mean, I'm gonna have to come back in and, and try that here. So our Patreon, v i p Producers Club has a question that they have me ask, value is pretty subjective. It's not just financial, but they wanna know what do you do to maximize the value of your D V C points.
Patricia: it's hard for us because we could only go during certain times. So it's really hard for us to decide. We always get a two bedroom, so we don't, we can't go that way with a studio or maximizing it that way. we just kind of pick a time where we, we will get more value out of our points at a certain, like this time we're going in May, the end of May, December's gonna be tough cause December is always busy a little bit more points.
Patricia: But if I need more points, I guess I. My add on it and buy some more. I don't know
Chad: Yeah, that happens. That that definitely happens. But, so it sounds like you guys try to just optimize points from going when you can
Patricia: exactly. Yes.
Chad: always getting a two bedroom, because believe it or not, I think it is the best value, bang for your buck that's out there is a two bedroom. When you really talk about what do you get for your points,
Patricia: yes.
Chad: especially if you're talking old Key West now, cuz that thing's a mini condo.
Chad: It
Patricia: Yeah, it is. And we were gonna go, we were gonna go with another couple and their kids and we thought, oh, well let's get the three bedroom. And it's like, no, wait a minute. We should just get two, two bedrooms. Because it was better value of points to get two, two bedrooms than it was to get the three.
Chad: Oh yeah, yeah, you can book two, two bedrooms much cheaper than you can get a grand
Patricia: Yes.
Chad: Now you're giving up the grandness of the Grand Villa.
Patricia: I know and I'm giving up the cookies, but
Chad: Yeah, well, I mean, you can still bake cookies in a two bedroom, so
Patricia: That is true.
Chad: sounds like your team cookie there as well. Patty, do you have a Disney story that'll make us laugh or cry?
Patricia: Yes. When we were at, animal Kingdom, my youngest grandson lost a tooth and he was so afraid that the tooth fairy wasn't gonna be able to come that night. And so, . My son went down to the desk and he said to the desk people, you know, my son lost a tooth, and what could we do? Is there something that you do special?
Patricia: They typed out a little letter that said that the tooth fairy usually doesn't come, but take a bell would get a hold of the tooth fairy and they would meet partway and exchange the tooth and stuff. So, The next day he got up. There was a little note, his tooth was gone. His little gift was there because it's funny because now every time we go, we have to take Tinkerbell with us.
Patricia: I have a little Tinkerbell statue and she's gotta come with us all the time now, just in case.
Chad: Just in case she comes back to.
Patricia: Just in case. Just in case something comes up and she needs to come
Chad: Okay. That is an awesome story that, uh, the Tooth Fair doesn't quite invade on Tin Space, but, uh, but Tinnk has a collaboration agreement with the tooth Fair. I love it. I love it. Well, speaking of Tinkerbell, we have a classic question here at my D V C points, and if Tinkerbell were. 2001 time use points into your account that you could use for anything in the D V C system with guaranteed availability. How would you spend tank's points?
Patricia: I would go to a Kevin at Copper Creek.
Chad: I mean, that's sounding like a true wilderness lodge. Cabin Creek, yeah. Copper Creek owner there as well. And I gotta tell you, that's been my favorite place that I've stayed so far. Hands down, and I don't think anything can knock it off the top unless it's a Grand Villa Alani, but we'll see. We'll have to see on that one.
Chad: You know, one of
Patricia: I'd like to do Alani, one of these days I'm gonna do Elani, but for now, , that's another wish. But for now, I'll go with, the cabin.
Chad: Okay. Yeah, I'm with you a hundred percent on that. , let me ask you this as just an, as an open-ended question. Is there anything else that we haven't covered that you want to talk about or think a a, a member should know when they're researching D V C or any of those lines? I just, uh, open mic opportunity, I guess.
Patricia: I think for the first thing I would recommend to people. Possibly get a travel agent for their first trip, but then look into D V C because I've got so much use out of DV C in just the last, what do we, seven years that I have totally paid for it. It's totally paid for itself.
Chad: Mm.
Patricia: Totally paid for itself.
Patricia: And I've met wonderful people and I've, um, Mary, and she's down there right now. She, um, I, I met her there. I've met you there. There are just so many wonderful people that you can just meet and you just feel like your family to.
Chad: Yeah, that is very true, and that's kind of what we try to do on the show is. Make these connections with people for not just our team but from member to member. I wanna thank you so much for being an active member of our Facebook community as well over at facebook.com/group/my dvc points, or just search for the Mighty VC points community.
Chad: I know you show up there as Patricia, and, but you prefer to go by Patty in person, so I, I can respect that as. But thank you so much for joining our show today and sharing your story, Patty.
Patricia: Thank you for having me. I enjoyed.
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