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My best timeshare memory

Fredflintstone

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When I owned timeshares, I did exchange often and had built some very good memories.

The one timeshare week that sticks to being the best memory builder was the 2 weeks I exchanged for Hona Koa in Maui. I would get up early in the morning and watch the honos or turtles swim by. I would pick a fresh banana off a tree on the property and have it for breakfast. Then, I would walk to The Sands of Kahana and back.

The reason this was the most memorable was because the total peace allowed me to make good life changing decisions.

So, what timeshare week did you have that is the most memorable for you and why?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Panina

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My best timeshare memory was my first husbands extreme happiness and joy (now in heaven) when we traded into Gurney’s Inn, Montauk, NY. He loved everything there, the beach, the views from the rooms, the restaurant, the indoor pool but most of all the spa. It is no longer a timeshare, in a way a good thing for me. I want to have the good memories, would never go back. We had purchased two week prior to his departure. I could not use them, too hard and Gurney took them back.
 

WinniWoman

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I would have to say the best timeshare memories have been in the one we have owned for almost 20 years at Smugglers Notch-the fixed week of which we never exchanged (but we did exchange the floaters when our son was younger). Best thing we ever did was buying there. A lot of fun activities with each other and a nice condo with an awesome view (about to go away because of the trees that were planted in front of us). Just everything about it- we are all still very sentimental about the place. Our son grew up going there and still visits us yearly when we are there. A second home to us.

Next I would say would be the 3 weeks we spent together as a family on the Big Island and Kauai on exchanges. This was at a very crucial stage in my life spiritually - very karmic. Too involved to get into but I cried when we left.
 

DaveNV

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Wow. Best timeshare memory? There are so many, and I'm a relative newbie at this. (Just over a dozen years in the "hobby.")

Up to this point I'd probably have to break it down by location vs. resort. One might have been better than the other.

For location, probably the Manhattan Club in New York City. I'd never been to New York, and our week was loaded with awesome experiences I still think about. 3 Broadway shows, 4 museums, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Ground Zero, all the rest - it was just too much overload too fast, and I want to go back to do it all again. A good second choice is Old Town Alexandria, so we could visit Washington, DC. Been there twice, and would easily visit there again.

For resort, I'd say probably the Grand Mayan Riviera Maya. We had a family group in a couple of two bedroom units, and it was an excellent time. A good second choice would probably be the Hacienda Del Mar in Cabo St. Lucas. Great family experience there.

But ask me again in a few years. I've just started my WorldMark experience, and I have five very different trips planned over the next year. Some are to new locations, others are to favorite places with a new resort to try. So I expect I'll have new memories to think about.

Dave
 

vacationhopeful

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The trip to Hawaii with my TX sister (and another 2 sisters) .. but it was the TX sister's husband who finally shown WHY my sister loved him so. He had never been to Hawaii .. and he was very excited to be on Kauai. Arriving late and after dark, he was bouncing off the walls the next morning.. proclaiming HE could see the OCEAN! I looked out and YES, the ocean was RIGHT THERE! And then I knew, he would be a HAPPY CAMPER and not his usual major league "KING JERK" personna for the next 10 days. 4+ months after the trip ... he died VERY suddenly at age 46 of a blood vessel burst in his brain. Dropped dead on their kitchen floor.

I saw the VERY NICE professional protraits they had taken in Hawaii. My other siblings & I all agreed, he had been on this best behavior ever on that trip.

That trip ... showing his best side ... is the memory I draw on when dealing with my widowed sister. I did several trips with her during that first year AFTER his passing .... starting with a week in October onsite Disney. ONLY did trips they had NOT done or planned on doing ... making new memories, seeing new places and LIVING life as my sister had put in for her retirement just weeks before he died.

Oh, her company did offered to rescind her retirement papers due to death ... she & I talked about it. They had all those PLANS as to what they were going to do, etc. BUT we talked about WHY she had put in the papers. Her JOB had become miserable .. multiple layoffs rounds, travelling out of the country to 3rd world countries opening plants there and then closing the USA plants. Phone calls and online meetings over a 24 hour a day work commitment ... with plants in Eastern Europe, China, Tiawan, South America, etc. She was a corporate officer .. her job was no longer fun . .which is "the WHY" she had put in her retirement papers.

And she had never looked back. Best thing about her retirement, her golf game did improve!
 

AwayWeGo

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[triennial - points]
We get spoiled easily. What seemed lavish & luxurious & semi-exotic has become routine & customary & expected. Timeshare vacations are squarely in that category.

Even so, we had some stand-out timeshare vacations, starting with 2003 when the extended family decided to do Thanksgiving With Mickey Mouse in Orlando FL. Bursting with pride of ownership, we snagged a week-long reservation in our outstanding 3BR-3BA floating-week lock-off unit at the timeshare then known as Cypress Pointe Grande Villas Resort (more recently, just Grande Villas Resort, which we no longer own).

The Chief & Staff & I took the 1BR-1BA "B" unit. Our son & daughter-in-law & baby grandson, plus our grandson's other set of grandparents, divvied up the adjoining 2BR-2BA "A" unit. Meanwhile, the Chief Of Staff's sister & sister's husband camped out in their AirStream B-van motorhome at Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground RV park, while our nephew (Chief Of Staff's sister's son, a single dad at the time) stayed at the WDW Contemporary Resort with his 2 little girls (ages 4 & 6 at the time), who both dressed up as Disney princesses. The whole crowd enjoyed a wonderful noisy & chaotic Thanksgiving dinner in a huge dining hall at Disney's Polynesian Resort. What a time !

A few years later, our customary week-long January Florida vacation had stretched into 2 weeks. We thought we had mastered the art of snagging prime RCI reservations for next to nothing by reserving back-to-back 3BR timeshare weeks, each for only 7,500 points (plus exchange fee) via what was known at the time as Instant Exchange (9,000 points maximum for a 1-week reservation made within 45 days of check-in). These days we still get pretty decent digs for Florida in January, but nothing quite like that.

Back during the era of using tiger trader South African timeshares as RCI exchange bait to stay in other people's nice USA timeshares, we snagged a wonderful 3BR-3BA lock-off unit at HGVC Sea World during a September week when we vacationed there with an old friend from college days plus her teen daughter. The week featured a day at Discovery Cove, a day at Disney's Animal Kingdom, plus several days at Sea World & 1 night at the outstanding Arabian Nights dinner show. Uncle Alan was designated entertainment director while The Chief Of Staff & her old college friend relaxed, shopped, & mostly took it easy. One afternoon, the teen girl said, "Uncle Alan, will you play ping-pong with me?"

She was shocked to hear me say, "No way! Absolutely not! Not no, but heck no!" That was shocking because until then I had been pretty much up for most any & every resort activity she suggested, & she really kept me going.

"No? But why not?" she said.

"Because," I pleaded, "I'm just too poofed from all the stuff we've been doing all day at the parks."

"Oh," she said. "Then what about going to the pool?"

"OK," I said. "But I'm too tired to swim. I just want to get in the water up to my chin & stay there in 1 place."

So that's what we did until suppertime, when we rejoined The Chief Of Staff & the teen's mom for dinner.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 

moonstone

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We have so many wonderful memories of timesharing since the early '80's it is hard to pick. I would say the one that stands out the most is what turned out at the last minute to be a family vacation about 9 or 10 years ago.

I had booked 3 two bedroom units in Kissimmee. One for DH & I, one for DS#1 (& his then gf) and his son (DGS), and another unit for the gf's parents who were good friends of ours. A week before we were to leave our DD was able to arrange 10 days off work and a cheap flight to join us but asked us to keep it a secret from everybody. The whole trip was a secret for DGS who didn't find out about it until his dad picked him up at his mom's the morning we were leaving. Then 3 days before we were leaving DS#2 found a cheap flight, arriving about 6 hrs before us, and also decided to join us, again asking for it to be kept a secret. I thought my head was going to explode!

We & DS#1 drove down to FL together but in separate vehicles since we were staying on another 3 weeks. We had to 'loose' him as we approached Orlando so we could pick-up DD. DS#2 had flown in very early that morning and taken transit to the resort. We told DS#1 we needed gas and to continue on to the resort. We picked up DD and somehow arrived at the resort within a minute of DS#1. When we were close to the resort I texted DS#2 to meet us in the lobby.

The look on all our kids & DGS faces as they all saw each other was priceless! We all had an amazing week, especially with DGS, showing him around Disney, Universal and taking him to the beach. I never thought we'd have a big family vacation together when all our kids were in their 20's, we all still talk about it. The sad part is that the gf's dad (our friend) dropped dead of a massive heart attack 5 months later, 2 weeks after she & DS had broken up.


~Diane
 

DaveNV

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^^^ This is now the second story about a man dropping dead after a nice timeshare vacation. Not to be insensitive, but I'm worried... :eek:

Dave
 

beejaybeeohio

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There are two trades that stand out for me-

Our 2nd trade ever was into a 3 bedroom at the Osborne Club in Torquay England. Two couples joined us and there was room for all with 2 full baths and a toilet room. The views were amazing, the resort had a pool, restaurants and a walk down to the English Sound. Every morning 2 different newspapers were delivered to our door. The property was so well maintained for a late 19th century "crescent" building- we even came upon a groundskeeper scrubbing the steps to our building!

Chateau du Maulmont in Randan France was the other "wow". The charm of being in an actual castle yet in a unit that was fully functional exceeded expectations. Great restaurant in the chateau. I recall a pool that we didn't use. We had a balcony that faced the rear of the castle and a pasture! It was quite interesting for us city folk to watch the coming & goings of the cows.

Barb
 

missyrcrews

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Our best memory was a trip to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. We decided to stay a week at Timber Creek (our usual spot) close to Mom and Dad, and then move about 4 hours away the second week to the Lake. We stayed at the Worldmark/Wyndham resort there. It was right on the Lake. We fished every single day, hiked at Lake of the Ozarks State Park and Ha Ha Tonka. We did some outlet shopping. Dennis rented a boat for a day, and took the kids out...Audrey caught a HUGE catfish. Got back to Maine the night before school started...and I found out on the road coming home that I'd be starting the school year as a long-term sub!

Dennis says his is last summer at Smuggs. He hired a fly-fishing guide and went out for the day. He had a blast with the guide, and then went out fishing every day.

So many great places we've been...this was harder to answer than one might think!
 

silentg

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The most memorable timeshare vacations were when our kids were small. We could go anywhere and they were happy.
We used to take an annual trip to visit family in Massachusetts in the summer.
One year we stayed in Falmouth at Briarwood. The family,parents, siblings cousins would all come visit.
We did this at Cape Holiday Estates too.
We took our first timeshare exchange to the Poccanos. We stayed at Carrage House in Poccano Manor. Our kids were so thrilled with the indoor/outdoor pool and the closet that they could stand in. Another nice one was Willow Valleyin Boone, NC. Nice little golf course and cozy fireplace. We cooked marshmallows.
Simpler times.
We have stayed in many nice timeshares as a family and just the two of us.
Lots of great memories...time flies, but we have enjoyed timeshares since 1981!

Silentg
 

Panina

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The most memorable timeshare vacations were when our kids were small. We could go anywhere and they were happy.
We used to take an annual trip to visit family in Massachusetts in the summer.
One year we stayed in Falmouth at Briarwood. The family,parents, siblings cousins would all come visit.
We did this at Cape Holiday Estates too.
We took our first timeshare exchange to the Poccanos. We stayed at Carrage House in Poccano Manor. Our kids were so thrilled with the indoor/outdoor pool and the closet that they could stand in. Another nice one was Willow Valleyin Boone, NC. Nice little golf course and cozy fireplace. We cooked marshmallows.
Simpler times.
We have stayed in many nice timeshares as a family and just the two of us.
Lots of great memories...time flies, but we have enjoyed timeshares since 1981!

Silentg
Years and years ago I went to the Carraige House in Pocono Manor. Actually traded in there a few times. I loved it there. Review these days can go either way so have been tempted and reluctant to go again.
 

slip

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My favorite was the second time we went to the Pono Kai on Kauai. We went on drive to destinations when my kids where young. This was the first time we went on a plane as a family. Both kids had been out of the house for about a year and they wanted the family to take a trip so I booked them a their own oceanfront unit at the Pono Kai and my wife and I were in our own oceanfront unit there too.

My son had never been on a plane before and he loved it. Everything was so new to everyone. It was great. We got some great photos and we all still talk about that trip.
 

bluehende

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My best memory of a timeshare vacation was in VT with my then 2 yr old grand daughter. It was a crisp clear still late fall evening. Her and I were sitting on the steps playing with stones. She noticed a leaf falling. It floated like a feather. For the next 20 minutes we watched leaves falling with great excitement. You really need to look at the world through the eyes of a 2 yr old again. It is magical. This is a memory that will be vivid in my mind until I die.
 

moonstone

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^^^ This is now the second story about a man dropping dead after a nice timeshare vacation. Not to be insensitive, but I'm worried... :eek:

Dave

Dave, I don't think you need to worry. I used to tell DS & others that the guy was committing a slow suicide. He spent decades being a (barely) functioning alcoholic, took way too many strong painkillers (even tried to get me to refill one of my pain med prescriptions that I no longer needed, just to give to him!) and he smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. I just felt so sorry for his wife and daughter.


~Diane
 

DaveNV

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Dave, I don't think you need to worry. I used to tell DS & others that the guy was committing a slow suicide. He spent decades being a (barely) functioning alcoholic, took way too many strong painkillers (even tried to get me to refill one of my pain med prescriptions that I no longer needed, just to give to him!) and he smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. I just felt so sorry for his wife and daughter.


~Diane

Hi Diane. I understand, and I am truly sorry to hear of the man's demise. That is a pretty bad way to live, so it isn't really surprising. My comment was more of a one-off semi-joke about how there were two different posts in this same thread about a guy who died after taking a nice timeshare vacation. I have a lot of nice timeshare vacations. I'm a guy. :eek:

Dave :p
 

WinniWoman

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My best memory of a timeshare vacation was in VT with my then 2 yr old grand daughter. It was a crisp clear still late fall evening. Her and I were sitting on the steps playing with stones. She noticed a leaf falling. It floated like a feather. For the next 20 minutes we watched leaves falling with great excitement. You really need to look at the world through the eyes of a 2 yr old again. It is magical. This is a memory that will be vivid in my mind until I die.


That is awesome!

No grandchildren here, but...

One of the things I always enjoy in the heated in our VT timeshare is the leaves falling down in the pool on a crisp, peaceful October day while swimming. Most of the time, I would be the only one in that pool. Magical.


And....the snow falling into the pool in winter. The mountain view of the notch in front of me. At night, the snow falling onto the pool lit only by the surrounding low level pool lights and the moon. Magical.

I could stay in for hours and just meditate.
 

Icc5

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My best timeshare memory had to be our very first stay at Lawrence Welk Villa in Escondido. To this day I don't know what gave me this feeling but we walked in the door (wife,2 young kids and myself) after working like always and I just felt the weight of the world being lifted from my shoulders. I'm sure everyone with a young family, buying a house, and a regular job feel all the stress of just making ends meet and making good decisions for them. Well, we walked in the door and all of that seemed to disappear. Now after 30 years of time sharing that is the only place I get that feeling.
The 2nd best memory was a family reunion we had at Eagle Crest in Oregon where we had 2 units right next to each other. Between the relatives and us we just did simple things but everyone seemed happy and relaxed. It made time sharing a real treat.
Bart
 

bluehende

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That is awesome!

No grandchildren here, but...

One of the things I always enjoy in the heated in our VT timeshare is the leaves falling down in the pool on a crisp, peaceful October day while swimming. Most of the time, I would be the only one in that pool. Magical.


And....the snow falling into the pool in winter. The mountain view of the notch in front of me. At night, the snow falling onto the pool lit only by the surrounding low level pool lights and the moon. Magical.

I could stay in for hours and just meditate.

As a skier there is nothing better than sitting in a hot tub or pool watching it snow. The memories are sometimes dulled by wine, but a particular week with my brother at Sugarbush brings back memories of snow angels in bathing suits. Most times with bathing suits unless a challenge was issued.

Another unbelievable time was a ski week in our sugarbush timeshare. It had snowed 69 inches the week before. The week we were there it snowed a few inches every night again in a still cold night. With no wind the snow made the mountain a fairyland of soft white. I have skied for 44 yrs and never saw this scale of beauty. Usually there is a hard cold beauty not soft and warm, . Unfortunately it was supposed to be nasty the first few days and did not have the camera. The next day I took these pictures. A lot of the softness was still there but some green was now poking through. A lot of the magic was gone but this still would have been my most beautiful ski day other than the two before.
upload_2018-8-19_10-7-57.jpeg


upload_2018-8-19_10-9-27.jpeg
 

klpca

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It will be interesting to see if my "favorite" stands the test of time but the one we just returned from on Thursday has the potential to be my all time favorite. We had all of our kids and significant others, plus two dear friends of theirs (my other "kids") with us up at Northstar, near Lake Tahoe. Not all at the exact same time, but close enough. The kids who are usually lukewarm on timeshares loved the resort and the location was perfect for everyone. Everyone was happy and it was a little like when they were younger - everyone crammed around the table for meals and game playing, and there was a lot of laughter. Having a second unit just across the hall was perfect, close enough to come and go but allowing for privacy too. The location was perfect for our outdoorsy family. We never ran out of things to do and in fact, we didn't get to do everything that we wanted. They are already asking when we will do it again.
 

missyrcrews

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It will be interesting to see if my "favorite" stands the test of time but the one we just returned from on Thursday has the potential to be my all time favorite. We had all of our kids and significant others, plus two dear friends of theirs (my other "kids") with us up at Northstar, near Lake Tahoe. Not all at the exact same time, but close enough. The kids who are usually lukewarm on timeshares loved the resort and the location was perfect for everyone. Everyone was happy and it was a little like when they were younger - everyone crammed around the table for meals and game playing, and there was a lot of laughter. Having a second unit just across the hall was perfect, close enough to come and go but allowing for privacy too. The location was perfect for our outdoorsy family. We never ran out of things to do and in fact, we didn't get to do everything that we wanted. They are already asking when we will do it again.
That's the best.....when they ask "when can we go there again?" My kids are starting to say that about Massanutten already....I think Dennis and I could wait a LONG while before going back, but the kids loved it. :)
 
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