S - Th stay?

[tink_lover]

New DVC member here with a question - I know it is a lot higher in points to stay on Fri/Sat night, so what do you do? Do you not stay those nights, do you move to the Dolphin/Swan/offsite, or just stay and use a bunch of points? TIA Oh - we are new BCV members

[luvindisneyworld]

Well what we do is depending on the points we have to work with at that time. We hardly ever stay 7 nights we have a couple of times but not often we stay either 5 or 6 nights mostly 5. Then we will book a Value resort or somewhere like that for our first night or 2.

[Chuck S]

We tried moving off site a couple times. We added more points, and now we stay weekends.

[tammymacb]

Lucky me. I drive down and work weekends. I usually only plan to go during the week.

[goalie5hole]

It seems alot of people pay cash for weekend nights, which I will never understand. Why don't they just take that cash and buy more points. Isn't the reason we bought DVC is to not have to pay cash for future vacations?

[keys2kingdom]

We usually arrive on Friday night. Our stays have all been in Studios so far (DS is 4 and it's just the 3 of us) but in the future we plan to get a Studio for Friday and Saturday and then move to a 1 bedroom for the remainder of the stay.

[spiceycat]

fri - sat - stayed offsite
Pop Century
POR

but mostly just go home on Friday.

that say there are lots of timeshares that start on fri,sat or sun.... so Sunday if you are planning on your using your DVC is one to look for....

stay offsite timeshare sun-sun - then go to your DVC.

[LSchrow]

for years, we would stay at another resort (deluxe with discount) on fr & sat.
then we decided that it just wasn't worth it to us (we like to "settle in"), so we just use points.
it still averages out to much less than what CRO would charge (& we wouldn't be able to get BW view:lovestruc ).

laurie :)

[bobbiwoz]

We have begun spending more weekends in DVC, but we are not consistent. Our BCV Flower and Garden stay is 5 nights, but a Wednesday to Monday, with DH only able to come Friday to Sunday, and we really enjoy BCV together, so no moving. In December we stayed on Saturday night in a value AKV studio before moving for 3 nights to VWL. Sometimes we stay in Pop. We bought 280 more points in '07. These help make our 5 night all family trips just a bit longer for us, by giving us a weekend alone, either before or after the crowd comes.

Bobbi:goodvibes

[dianeschlicht]

We stayed at POR a first Saturday night ONE TIME....NEVER AGAIN! We bought DVC to stay DVC, and purchased with the "week at a time" idea. Of course, we now rarely stay less than 10 nights, so if we do need to save points, we just drop down to a 1 bedroom or studio for the weekend if we don't have guests.

[DVCLiz]

It seems alot of people pay cash for weekend nights, which I will never understand. Why don't they just take that cash and buy more points. Isn't the reason we bought DVC is to not have to pay cash for future vacations?

Well, I bought DVC in order not to have to pay cash for future vacations, but I never said I would limit my WDW vacations to only the stays I could have using my DVC points. I don't want to have that much money tied up in DVC points - I'm comfortable with what I have bought and what my maintenance fees are, but adding another 150 or so points just to stay 2 nights isn't in my plan.

Also, I didn't buy DVC with the idea that I would only use DVC resorts for the rest of my life. AKV wasn't in the picture when I purchased, but I love the AKL and planned to stay on a weekend in order to get my "fix" there. Now that AKV is a possibility, great for me, but I like the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian, too, and I don't want to use my points to stay there, either.

In other words, it's all about the flexibility. For many DVC owners, their preference is to buy enough points to stay put for as many days as they choose to vacation. But, that's not a requirement, and for others, being able to take two vacations a year by staying DVC on the weekdays and paying cash (especially at a 25% members discount) makes it possible.

There aren't any rules that every DVC owner must follow. That's what I like about it!!!

[DisDaydreamer]

We stay five nights until we have more points... Sunday - Thursday. Works for us and gives us the points for a second stay.

[BroganMc]

.and for others, being able to take two vacations a year by staying DVC on the weekdays and paying cash (especially at a 25% members discount) makes it possible.

That explains our cash usage last year. Originally we purchased DVC with the intend of adding on our one week Marriott stays with 5 days at Disney. We didn't really care if we were in a studio or stayed a long time. We had been used to one week commando stays offsite. Getting just a few days onsite to have that experience was enough of a taste. Or so we thought.

Then circumstances contrived to give us our first weekend stay making it an 8 day stay in the warm and beautiful month of May. Of course, Disney seduced us (all those pretty flowers, the warm and accessible pools, long walks in the early morning or twilight, a quick ferry ride to a fancy dinner, and all those extra hours at the park to ride HM).

Suddenly a few days as an afterthought to our offsite stay just wasn't enough. We had to do a week. And oh, we have to bring the rest of the family so we'll ned the bigger rooms. And then we got invited to a New year's Eve date with fireworks, midnight runs through an amusement park, and Disney had us hook, line and sinker.

Two add-ons later, we don't have to pay cash unless we take the entire family down for a grand gathering. (We can't just abandon our May rendezvous or our NYE date for that, can we?)

All in all, I think we've paid about $1000 in extra weekend nights before our add-ons. It was worth it at the time until better deals came around and finances improved.

Oh and don't worry. We haven't ditched our first spouse Marriott. After all, he's taken us to London for 10 days and he's always there for the family. Now we're just happy bigamists with Disney as well.:wizard:

[DeeCee735]

We usually stay Sunday through Friday nights, checking out on Saturdays. When we first purchased we specifically bought enough points for a one bedroom during Presidents Week in Februray Sun - Fri nights, worked out great for us.

When we drive down, 6 nights is really the most we stay. When I fly down, its usually for a three or four night stay and I'll do that over a weekend in a studio......so I guess the answer is weekends when it suits us? But mostly no Saturday nights.

[DiznyDi]

For shorter stays or stays when it is just DH and I we stay Sun through Thurs. in a studio and depart on Friday.
Longer stays and stays when family joins us, we arrive several days ahead of the others and stay in a studio then move to a 2 bedroom on Sunday. The studio saves us a few high-weekend points. We can do laundry once we get settled in our 2 bedroom. Haven't stayed in a 1 bedroom yet...

[southtexasmom]

We check in on Sunday and check out on Friday, my kids love pool at Nick Hotel so we usually move there for Friday night, its a lot of money there too but not as much as a Deluxe.

[tjcj]

We have been flying in on Sat staying at SOG (military members) then checking in early on Sunday before hitting the parks and then heading back to the not so fun real world on friday. We have been thinking that it would be nice to add a Friday night stay and heading back on Sat... time for an add on :cool1:

[tedisney]

We use points for weekends for a couple of reasons:

We have no desire to move resorts while on "vacation", especially with later check-in times at DVC resorts. Having a toddler really complicates moving - more gear, where to nap, and so on.

Plus, the cost of flying these days makes it more important for us to take less trips, but stay for longer times. We use to take lots of short trips when we were paying $199 each for two of us to fly down. Now that we're paying $300+ each for three of us (someone turns two soon), flying has become a much bigger part of the travel budget.

[LIFERBABE]

Im planning our Christmas break trip at SSR right now.

We have decided to stay put for the entire 2 weeks in a 1 bedroom. I added all the points up and divided it by 14. Our 1 bedroom will averagae 37 points a night over Premier Season.

Looking at the Point Chart, Sun - Thur at SSR in a 1 bed is 36 points a night in Premier Season. We have 4 weekend nights in our stay and it adds less than 1 point per night to our average.

I cant even stay in a Deluxe Resort for 370 a night over Christmas. The values will be well over $100 during that time and our only other option is to move offsite which will also cost us closer to $200 a night for something comparable. So to me it is not worth it to pack up and move when you look at the average cost over the nightly cost.

I know this is Peak Season, but an example of why choosing to use weekend points is not always a bad thing when you look at your overall costs. We can unpack, put our tree up and be "home" for 2 weeks and then pack to come home to Texas. I always dread moving day so that works for us.

Brogan, I like your examples as well. That is exactly us!:rotfl:

There is no right or wrong way, just different perspectives to using weekend points. I think its great that we can all share them.

[eyeheartgoofy]

It seems alot of people pay cash for weekend nights, which I will never understand. Why don't they just take that cash and buy more points. Isn't the reason we bought DVC is to not have to pay cash for future vacations?

Well, we have a single 100 point contract at VWL. For our upcoming trip (Thur-Thur), the weekend falls during premiere season and requires 150 points for Fri and Sat in a one bedroom. As it is, we are borrowing points to come up with the 160 points we need for our 5 weeknights. I am paying cash for those 2 weekend nights and it will run slightly under $1000 with taxes. Purchasing an additional 150 points will cost roughly $14,000 ... that is a lot more cash than $1000.

[Saratoga Souris]

Always go early on Sunday and leave late on Friday.
That way my 200pts gets me
1x 2 bed OKW = 22x5=110pts
plus
2 x studio OKW = 2x5x8= 80pts

with 10 points to spare

[Deb & Bill]

We check in and settle in until it's time to leave. I hate packing up and if I only need to do it once, that's good for me.

[CarolynMink]

We just tried staying in a studio for the high points of Friday & Saturday night. Then moved to a one bed room for the Sunday-Thursday. It worked great.

We were able to book the DDP for just while we were in the studio. We ate at our favorite restaurants on the plan. I made breakfast and a few dinners in the one bed room (full kitchen). This saved us a lot of money. I had packed a whole suitcase of food going down and used it for all those extras we had to bring back. DH won one of the door prizes at the welcome home party!:yay:

We would definitely plan to save our points this way again.:thumbsup2

[PinkTink63]

We fly from the West Coast and my husband "HATES" to switch hotels, therefore, we cough up the extra points for the weekends!:rotfl: We will be staying in Florida for 3 weeks this summer, so it's hard not to get some weekends in there!

[Disneyhappy]

When we go for our yearly week long trip, we stay Sun-Thurs and move to another resort for the weekends. We bought in with this expectation as we enjoy the other resorts too much. I can't imagine never staying in the Polynesin again! We do take some long weekend trips in which we sometimes will use points. There may come a day when I get tired of packing up after five days to move to another resort but I have not reached that point in my life as yet.

[tink_lover]

Thanks! It has been fun reading all the replies. I guess that is one of the learning curves for planning a trip as a DVC member. Right now, I think we might try a couple nights at AKV. I believe a one bedroom will sleep 5.

[goalie5hole]

Well, we have a single 100 point contract at VWL. For our upcoming trip (Thur-Thur), the weekend falls during premiere season and requires 150 points for Fri and Sat in a one bedroom. As it is, we are borrowing points to come up with the 160 points we need for our 5 weeknights. I am paying cash for those 2 weekend nights and it will run slightly under $1000 with taxes. Purchasing an additional 150 points will cost roughly $14,000 ... that is a lot more cash than $1000.
Add that $1000 or more to every trip you take over the life of your DVC contract.

[Safari Queen]

For our spring and fall trips we arrive Sun and depart Fri. For the longer winter trip with family we put the weekend in the middle so we only pay high points for two nights and get to stay for 11-13 nights. We never visit in Magic or Premier season. Last January we tried an AKV studio for our time alone and moved to a 2 BR when the family arrived. That worked well and minimized the necessary points.

[photobob]

Last year we went to Pop on Sat. and then checked in at BWV 1 Bdr Sun-Thursday and went to Vero Beach Fri and Sat. This year we went to VWL in a studio Sun-Tues in Feb. and will do a Sun-Thurs in June at BWV for a standard view 2 bdr. I foresee doing mainly Sun-Thurs or shorter trips. I'd rather do multiple shorter trips and not use high points for Friday and Saturday. I also see adding on points down the road..

[JCLNJ]

We usually stay from Sunday and check out Friday. My DH feels this way we can have another 5 night vacation another time. He has alot of Holiday inn points since he travels and we stay at the Summerfield suites for 2 nights, and go to a water park on one of those days while we are there and to DTD.

[starbox]

We are lucky to live within driving distance, so Sun-Thursday stays are possible. We've done a bunch of things since becoming members:

1. 5-night or less stays (we did 3 nights at HHI last spring break).

2. 12 nights starting on a Sunday and using points for the weekend in the middle.

3. 12 nights paying member cash for the weekend in the middle.

4. 7 nights staying offsite the first weekend.

5. 6 nights using points for one weekend night.

[solgent]

I don't want to "pay" the weekend points. So far we've done a Sun-Thurs stay, weekend nights at CR followed by Sun-Thurs on points, and in August we'll stay on points Sun-Weds nights and then a 3-night cruise. Switching resorts went well & I think we'll do that again. It's a chance to stay at other resorts.

[JVL1018]

At WDW we always stay a full week on points Sat-Sat. If we decide to fly in on Friday after work, we arrive in FL anywhere between 8-10 depending on when DH can get out. In that case we stay at a value resort, because I am not spending weekend points or deluxe hotel $$$ for the 12 hours we're there.

At HHI, we always stay Sun-Thurs nights and sometimes pay cash for Friday night, sometimes just leave on Friday. HH weekend points are high and we only have 100 points there, so we're already borrowing 10 points each year for the 5 nights forget about the weekends.

[Laurabearz]

We spend weekends at Hard Rock Hotel over at US/IOA... The perk of FOTL is great, esp on the weekends.

[buzz5985]

We have been traveling a lot with family. Example this summer we will be getting 2 - 2 BR's at OKW from Sun-Thu then 2 - 2 BR's the following week at HH. Trying to figure out where to stay for the weekend. We had to bank/borrow and steal points for this vacation. LOL

I don't have a lot of points, but we are happy with the amount I have 250. And I love to move around on vacation. No big deal to pack and move, we bring so little now with the washer/dryer.

So since we became members in 2002 - we have never used points for a weekend night.

[Reginak]

We arrive on a Sat.; stay at Pop or an AS; move over the next morning to a villa; and go home on Friday evening.

Before we were DVC members we noticed that the parks were always busiest on a Saturday so we just check into our room and wait until Sunday.

If we did have to stay over then we would pay cash.

Regina