Big Cedar -how can I get in?

[Hoosiergal Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hoosiergal]

We have 21,000 points yearly. Silver member. Our anniversary date is May 1
How can I ever get into Big Cedar during the summer? By May 1st, everything is booked. I really only have about a month when my son is not participating in sports or the 1st week of July which is moratorium week here in Indiana. I don't need a week, just 3-4 days would be great or even a long weekend & use bonus time. I'd like to go as a family, so my kids could enjoy it too.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.
Bev

[akparsa Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close akparsa]

Here is one thing you can do:

It doesn't help you for this year, but it will help for every year thereafter!

Prepay your MF for the next year and borrow next year's points. If you do this right now, you'll get this year's points and next year's points on May 1, 2010.

This year's points will become saved next year on may 1, 2011 and thus can't be used for summer 2011. But the borrowed points won't become saved until May 1, 2012, so you can make reservations for next summer.

it is painful the first year because you'll pay double MF, but every year after that you'll just pay once.

Anita

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

How can you get in?

Well, there are four roads, but ya probably have ta be from around here ta know em all.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I see alot of talk about this resort.

What's so special about this place?

In the pictures all the resorts in Branson look the same to me, pretty nice.

What am I missing? I don't want to miss anything.

[Timeshare junkie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Timeshare junkie]

We have 21,000 points yearly. Silver member. Our anniversary date is May 1
How can I ever get into Big Cedar during the summer? By May 1st, everything is booked. I really only have about a month when my son is not participating in sports or the 1st week of July which is moratorium week here in Indiana. I don't need a week, just 3-4 days would be great or even a long weekend & use bonus time. I'd like to go as a family, so my kids could enjoy it too.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.
Bev

yes, you need to prepay. Ring the 800 number and they will tell you the earliest date you can prepay so you can get you following year's points.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

It doesn't help you for this year, but it will help for every year thereafter!

Prepay your MF for the next year and borrow next year's points. If you do this right now, you'll get this year's points and next year's points on May 1, 2010.

This year's points will become saved next year on may 1, 2011 and thus can't be used for summer 2011. But the borrowed points won't become saved until May 1, 2012, so you can make reservations for next summer.

it is painful the first year because you'll pay double MF, but every year after that you'll just pay once.

Anita

This is why TS4Ms is great!
What great information - just what u need to know to get what you want - OP, let us know if u succeed in getting your reservation.

[Timeshare junkie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Timeshare junkie]

I see alot of talk about this resort.

What's so special about this place?

In the pictures all the resorts in Branson look the same to me, pretty nice.

What am I missing? I don't want to miss anything.

This is not Branson, it's Ridgedale. They are close (a 15 minute drive if i remember correctly). The difference is Branson is like being in Vegas for Christians. You stay close to the strip and are fed by the strip - the shows, buffets etc.

Ridgedale is removed, and you may go to Branson once or twice, but you would stay at Big Cedar to enjoy the resort itself. And there is plenty to enjoy.

Hope this helps

[akparsa Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close akparsa]

Chriskre,

I think a large part of the appeal of Wilderness Club at Big Cedar is that in this midwestern region, we don't have a lot of drive-to vacation locations. It is a full 2 day drive to the closest beach, and even Colorado is a really long day or a 2 day drive.

We leave in the extreme eastern part of KS and Big Cedar is just over 3 hours away for us. It is great for a long weekend year round or a longer trip in the summer. The resort is very high quality with beautiful grounds, lovely decorating, and a luxury feel. I've heard it compared favorably to DVC resorts, though I have never stayed in one personally.

I'm not sure it would be worth a trip from Florida for me personally, though my brother and his wife and son drove up from the Miami area last summer for a family reunion and they loved it. Without the 30+ relatives, I doubt they would have thought the drive was worth it.

Anita

PS - Agree with the poster above that Big Cedar is very different from Branson. We aren't Branson people - too touristy, too busy, too over the top - but we love Big Cedar.

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

yes, you need to prepay. Ring the 800 number and they will tell you the earliest date you can prepay so you can get you following year's points.

In the past, you did have to prepay MF. However, I borrowed points this year in order to book an early reservation. All I had to do is to call and borrow the points. If you MF is paid and you are in good standing with all your bills, then you don't have to prepay.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I see alot of talk about this resort.

What's so special about this place?

In the pictures all the resorts in Branson look the same to me, pretty nice.

What am I missing? I don't want to miss anything.

When BCWC first opened, and I was on another forum, I went to meet with a first-time timesharer family there (I met many from that forum at BC). Young Mom and Dad and two young kids.

We were eating lunch on the terrace at Devil's Pool restaurant on a beautiful summer day.

Knowing DW & I had done close to 100 exchanges, he asked, what will it be like when we trade? I paused, looked down and out Big Cedar Cove, and said, 'It will never be better than this."

It's been close a time or two, but it's never been better than that.

Big Cedar Lodge has been an upscale Ozark Lake resort for a long time . . . before Johnny Morris built Wilderness Club . . . and it still would be without Wilderness Club. (I did jury duty with the granddaughter or great-daughter of the couple who started BCL, and she probably has great-grandkids herself. Then, before that it was a private estate for a prominent businessman, built for his wife, Dorothy. The gift shop is named Dorothy's Presence, cuz she supposedly is still there.)

Anyway, it is because of Johnny Morris and how demanding he is that things be right.

They have been rebuilding Top of the Rock Golf Course into a top-line championship golf course for four or five years, but it has not re-opened because it has not been right for him, so the word is. Two other championship courses were built and opened in the time TOTR has been closed.
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FWIW, not all Branson resorts are near the strip and many of the 7 million visitors don't come for that. When I use to advise more about here, I use to say we have golf, lake, and Branson resorts, and we still do.

Before buying a house here we use to spend a Spring week in a TS with friends. I don't recall that we ever went to a show or to Branson to eat. We stayed on the lake.

Having exchanged to many other areas, it is correct that Branson resorts in general are very nice relatively. Sorta like Orlando, where the resorts are purpose-built, and nice.
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Oh yeah, if you come in the Fall, you might get to see giant tarantulas running across the road. They are so big that when small cars hit them, the cars run off the road. The tarantulas then suck the living daylights out of their victims. They are good at chasing off unwanted visitors.

Branson was down 300,000 visitors last year, probably because of the taratulas.

Another feature of BC is skunks. They are acclimated to people and come up to you, rub on you leg like a cat, and so forth if you sit out of an evening (of an evening . . . of a morning . . . is Ozark-American, like covered over). The last time we visited friends there we had a skunk and a very pregnant cat join us of an evening. Our friends reported that the kittens arrived that week.
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Then there is the Cookie Lady. I was going to apply for that job, but BC did not provide the necessary surgery. I thought that was discriminatory.
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The new Branson Airport (the only privately-funded public airport) is out that wat, and has direct flights from Orlando. There are direct flights to Springfield (50 miles away) from Orlando and Clearwater/St. Pete.