As some of you probably already know, FI and I are taking our HM to Disney World. We had a room booked in a nice upper-end Moderate resort called Coronado Springs (Disney ranks their resorts in tiers: Value, Moderate, Deluxe, and Deluxe Villa). We had it all paid for and everything.
My mom recently bought into the Disney Vacation Club. For those who don't know what that is, it's kind of like a timeshare, but instead of a time of year, you buy points associated a particular Deluxe Villa resort. You get a certain number of points per year, depending on which Deluxe Villa resort you buy into and how much you want to spend. You can use the points at any time in the year, but different times of the year cost different points (peak season = more points). You're even allowed to transfer your points to another resort for a particular stay, with the restriction being that DVC members for that particular resort get first dibs when it comes to booking. You can also use your points to book for someone else, like a family member or friend.
Well, when my mom bought her membership, they gave her 100 points (basically a bonus) that she has to use or lose by the end of the year. Since my family had no intentions of going to Disney again this year, she looked into which Deluxe Villas still had availability for this November. Her particular resort (Wilderness Lodge) did not, but she was able to find one with availability that would allow her to transfer points. For the 8 days, 7 nights stay that FI and I wanted, it was going to cost 91 points. So she did it! My mom booked us a room at the Old Key West resort! Which means I was able to cancel our other room for a full refund, i.e. FI and I got 2-tier upgrade for FREE!!! And just because Disney is awesome like that sometimes, they also allowed my mom to roll over her 9 remaining bonus points into next year's points!
FI and I are over the moon! We are going on a honeymoon for basically the cost of food and tickets, for which I have Disney Reward Dollars from my credit card points. YAY SUPER CHEAP HM!