Poll: Staying weekdays or whole week

[deerh]

Ok a poll on DVC usage. How many of you go for Sun-Thurs or stay the whole week? Do you hate to move? Just doing a little research on this. This poll is for ALL DVC resorts from HHI to OKW.
Let's see what happens.....
deerh

[Peggy Sue]

After our first DVC trip, we quickly realized one vacation a year to WDW wasn't enough and began stretching our points by avoiding weekend. Altough we were able to take more frequent vacations we hated the hassle of packing, moving, unpacking etc. It burned up too much of our precious vacation time. We quickly came to the conclusion we needed more points...we've added on twice and now book weekends...this year we have booked 3 trips - 24 nights at OKW and BWV's...9 of which are Fri/Sat nights. We also found the added cost of renting rooms Fri/Sat defeated the purpose of a DVC vacation. I can certainly understand why people avoid weekends to make their points stretch.

[prplcrzy]

I tried to vote but the poll said I already voted. We stay the whole week in our home resort because I am on vacation. We have enough points for one week in our room for the entire week for one year and this is our annual vacation. I can see why people do it, but for us we just want to be on vacation and not moving around.

[TheWho]

We'll stay one full week at BWV, but will pay cash for one or two nights at some other WDW resort. (before the week stay begins). Last July, we stayed at AKL for two nights at the beginning of trip. Even though I loved the place and it is very special, it felt good checking into a big 1 bedroom at BWV for seven nights.

[DebbieB]

I usually need to stay over a Saturday night because of airfare, so we usually go Saturday to Friday, so only 1 weekend night with points.

[PamOKW]

Missing an option....I sometimes "move" between DVC resorts (or WDW resort on points). I voted for the first one since I think you are trying to see who uses cash nights or eliminates weekends.

[spruce]

We usually stay one weekend night plus 5 weekdays and a week offsite. The exception to this was when we had a Grand Villa one Oct. and a studio for the millennium NYE, then we stayed 5 weekdays.....spruce

[MdmMim]

I stay for a week or more, but I switch accommodations during that time to stretch my points. I spend most of the time in a studio, but I switch to a 1-bedroom before my departure to truly enjoy myself--and for a real treat! I also may stay at several DVC resorts during my vacation using my points.

:earsgirl:

[Ms. WDW]

We bite the bullet and extend over the weekend sometimes. Last trip we arrived on a Wednesday and stayed 10 nights on points at the BWV. We had guests and wanted a longer stay.

This next trip (2002) it's just us and we'll be there 8 nights and that's usually the norm for us.

[robinb]

We almost never stay at DVC resorts on the weekends. I can't bring myself to spend almost double the number of points for 7 days as for 5 days :(. We usually stay off-site to save money and I've saved a boatload of it since finding Priceline. I've stayed at WDW area hotels for as little as $10 per night and as much as $48 per night with Priceline. However, the AP rate of $49 at the All Stars was too tasty to pass up, so we're on-site in November :).

[Lisa F]

it all depends on how you think about it... we never look at it as a "daily" price but rather as a weekly price. It's not worth saving the extra points to go through the trouble of moving during our vacation. Occasionally we HAVE done this because we just didn't have the points to do the weekend also (and if there is a new resort like AKL that we want to try out and we can get AP rates), but my preference is by far to spend 12 nights with 10 of them being weekday and 2 weekend nights consecutively.

[Lesley]

I can't really vote in good conscience because I may do all of those things and some others in the next 41 years. Our next trip will be one where we do much like Mdm Mim suggests...we'll be staying in a studio for the first portion of the trip (including the weekend) and then moving to a 1br. There may be trips where we stay weekends at another on site hotel using cash, like when we want to try AKL or the Poly again, but it would mainly be because we'd like to stay in those hotels for a change....not really a points conservation effort, but just the most practical way of doing it. And then there may be times when we'll spend a weekend night or two off property. US and IOA are definitely on my "someday" list, and I think I'd like to try the Portofino. If not, the Clarion that is right down the street is very nice and quite inexpensive.

And then there will be trips when taking family where we just bite the bullet and stay 7 nights Sat to Sat to fit everyone's schedules and not be moving everyone.


So basically I just do whatever works for that particular trip! No rules!

[Granny]

We only go once a year, and we hate spending any of our vacation time moving from one place to another. We bit the bullet and bought enough points to do a 7 or 8 night stay in the summer so we wouldn't have to mess around with moving.

If we lived closer, and anticipated more visits per year, we would definitely look at Sun - Thurs trips and would probably avoid the weekends altogether since that is when the parks are the busiest anyway.

[AnnK]

We usually begin our trip at HRH or Portofino, especially when we go in Feb or Easter because we LOVE the FOTL access that you get by staying at these resorts, and since these are peak times, it makes it worth visiting the parks because you don't have to wait in any lines. We will then move over to BWV for the remainder of the trip. We usually end up staying for 2 nights on the weekend.

[caveat lector]

My vacation is for relaxation. I have in essence prepaid 40+ years of vacation. Thus point differences make no difference. Some folks have got the hotel change down to an art, and talk about wonderful rates elsewhere. I applaud your diligence, but, prefer to stay at one home the whole time.:smooth:

[Nanajo1]

We usually stay put for the week, but our March 02 trip DH and I are staying in a studio the first Fri and Sat nights. We'll see if we mind moving. I planned the studio first then the 1br, I don't think I could stand moving from the 1 br to a studio. This way we can stay 8 nights.

[mzzbuzzlightyear]

We usually stay for the week, but the last time we went we had to leave on a Friday because of the flight availability. Since we checked out the following Sunday, this gave us 2 Fridays and 2 Saturdays!

We debated all sorts of things, but finally realized that we should just borrow the points and stay the entire 10 days at OKW in our 2 BR because it would be too hard to move with the chldren (3 boys and a 5 month old infant)

We had a wonderful time, but... Oh, the Pain! LOL!

June

[mistermouse]

Wife and I are in a unique situation, our "weekends" fall on Tuesday/Wednesday - our jobs rarely allow for traditional weekend visits. This is one reason DVC was such a great value for us. Our next two planned trips are 4 nights at HHI in Oct and 4 nights at OKW in Jan (both are check in on Mon, check out on Fri). We hope to make 3 or 4 such trips a year. However, in the event we do get to take a traditional weekend off, we will plan a 10 or 11 day stay around that weekend and pay the weekend points. My wife HATES to move rooms.

We LOVE the flexibility of DVC for this reason.

[CarolMN]

I didn't vote because none of the options fit our situation.

Our DVC vacations are planned around what works best for that particular trip (airfares, school schedules and availability of time off from work). If a Friday or Saturday night (or both) fall within the time we want to go, so be it. I would not even consider moving to another resort/hotel during the middle of our trip. Just seems like a lot of hassle and wasted time. For us, (YMMV) our vacation time is more precious to us than the extra points.

Our first trip was a Saturday - Wednesday and our second a Saturday - Saturday. BUT, even though I hate to move, for our next two trips, we'll be splitting our time between VB and BWV. For some reason, I have "rationalized" this move in the middle of our vacation as a very good idea! :D

[downontheBW]

Our choice of vacation times wasn't on the list of choices either. We usually stay Sat-Wed or Sat-Thurs and take more trips per year. If we decided to start our trip on a Friday, we wouldn't hesitate to use the extra points.

[dianeschlicht]

First, I am glad to see so many people using the week long stay option. We purchased with the 1 week plan in mind, so expected the weekend point differences. When we first became members, we tried to figure out all kinds of ways to use less points per visit. It quickly became evident that we needed a few more points, so we added on when OKW opened up again for additional points, and now stay 10 days in one spot, usually a 2 bedroom. We did use a Sun.-Fri stay at a grand villa once to save points, but that was the only time.

[mickey7861]

I like to change resorts. I did it before I had DVC and I do it now, but the resorts are sooooo much nicer. This year we spent 3 nights at CBR, 5 days at OKW (1bdr), 2 nights at the Poly, and 5 nights at VWL (1bdr). The 3 nights ta CBR were a last min. unexpected add-on. I have always LOVED the Poly but could never bring myself to pay the price for a whole trip. Spending the weekend there sure was fun. The way I look at it those 15 nights cost me $700 (with AP disc.) and all but 3 nights were at a deluxe. Of course my DH now says we need to add-on points and just stay 14 nights at DVC....I'll probably still change DVC resorts though.

[WebmasterDoc]

We arrived at OKW this afternoon for 9 nites. 4 weeknds and 5 weekdays! Not the best use of points, but this has the makings for a great vacation!!

We got a "Welcome Home" at the front gate, at the front desk and also at the Bell desk. Got directions to Publix on 192 from Angelo- a nice store with fair prices and our room was ready when we arrived at 2:30 PM. Building 26- our 2nd stay in the building we "own".

All is well....life is good!

More later!

[prplcrzy]

Hey Doc,

How about posting those directions for us? Maybe even a helping page on the site with directions there and other great places like Walmart etc, so that when we go home we will know where to go if we need something.

If it is possible and it wouldn't put you out.

Thx

[eva]

I'm not sure how to vote because we always arrive in Orlando late on Saturday and spend the night off property then we stay Sunday through Saturday at OKW or BWV. I like doing that because we can check-in on Sunday around 7am and enjoy at entire day at the resort. It's funny because we have been doing this for years and only one time our room wasn't ready when we checked in at 7am. As a matter of fact, we usually have a choice as to what villa we want.

[mnlovesdisney]

For us it varies. We have stayed full weeks at times, but we do try most of the time to plan DVC stays for Sunday through Thursday and then stay somewhere cheaper over the weekends. Sometimes we say at All Star hotels weekends and DVC weekdays, other times we will go to one of the coasts for the weekend and then DVC weekdays. It all depends on the circumstances at the time. We only have 220 points and with kids in school and having to now plan things for off school times the weekends just eat too many points and really limit our options if we stay on weekends, so we try to avoid this.

[Wes]

Since we are a long way from our BWV home, we only make one long trip every 2 years.

[JADEMM]

We enjoy some other FL sites (not as much as WDW and DVC) but if we are going to hit Clearwater or Universal (FOTL) we figure why not do it on the weekend and save the points? To do it midweek and stay at DVC on the weekend just to use more points doesnt seem rational. This allows us 2 full week trips per year for the same points as 1 full week at DVC, 1 at spring break and one in the summer-1 weekend at Clearwater and one at Universal.

[msdis]

We usually move every trip but not because of weekend night point costs. It's more due to flexibility and availability. We own at 2 resorts and sometimes with the 11 month window we can book at both but then can't work it out at 7 months out, or don't want to borrow the points from either one. Not a big deal to move, I just hate the pack, unpack, and wait from 11am till 4pm or after.

[littlestar]

I couldn't vote because we do two things - either stay seven days and pay cash for one or two of the weekend days at the DVC resorts, or stay five nights at DVC and then switch to a regular Disney hotel for the weekend nights. It's all with Disney, though.

We don't like off property. If we don't stay with Disney, we don't go to Orlando. Had a bad experience a few years ago at an off site hotel. Promised myself I'd stay with Disney from there on out. One of the reasons why we bought DVC, actually.

[Nanajo1]

msdis,
The poll is over a year old. Maybe that is why you found it closed.

[jade1]

QUOTE: "We usually begin our trip at HRH or Portofino, especially when we go in Feb or Easter because we LOVE the FOTL access that you get by staying at these resorts, and since these are peak times, it makes it worth visiting the parks because you don't have to wait in any lines."
Could not have said it better AnnK. Plus you save all the weekend points. If DVC offered FOTL on weekends at WDW for showing your Room/DVC key we would have a tough decision-may just have to skip IOA some trips.