6-nights at Disney World and 6-nights at Aulani in same year on 150 point contract

[Road_Dog]

Hey all, I'm new to DVC as I purchased 150 direct at Poly just a few months ago. We want to go to Disney for 6-nights in March 2026 as well as go to Aulani in May 2026.

We are pretty firm we want to do 6 nights at Disney, as this is (IMO) the perfect trip length to avoid burnout. Staying at a MK resort is very important and it's why we bought in at a monorail resort. And since we just bought at Poly and have never stayed there (only visited and dined), we're 95% certain we want to stay at Poly just to experience it. We're happy to branch out to a "cheaper" MK resort like BLT or CCV, but we kind of want to get our first Poly stay underneath our belts. That being said, to make both trips happen, we're open to whatever, but if we did a non-MK resort, we'd prefer something with theming like AK over somewhere affordable like OKW.

With that being said, we're flexible on how many nights we do Aulani. We definitely want to make it worth our time. My wife and I honeymooned in Maui and did 7-nights. We felt it was maybe 1-night too long--we were pooped by the end of it. But I think 5 nights would be too short, so we're leaning towards 6. All comes down to what we can "afford" via DVC.

Currently we're planning Disney in March 2026. And Aulani would be May 2026.

Pointswise, we have

• Oct 2024: 150 points
• Oct 2025: 150 points
• Oct 2026: 150 points.

We will obviously be banking 2024 into 2025 and are willing to borrow as much as needed from 2026. We are also willing to buy the 20 one-time-use points if needed.

Based on point charts, it looks like we can do 153 points for a 6-night studio stay at Poly in March. This leaves us with 297-317 points for Aulani.

The kicker is, we want to bring the in-laws to Aulani and we'd need a 2-bedroom. If we could somehow secure a Standard view at 7-months, we'd be set to get 6-nights at 306 points. However, based on everything I read here, we can not go into this expecting to get a Standard view, and should plan for an Island view. This means we'd need 354 points for 6-nights. Which isn't possible--we'd either need to cut back from 6-nights to 5-nights, cut back our Disney World trip by one night, OR stay at a cheaper Disney World location like BLT. That being said, I'm not sure BLT would even be much cheaper since there'd be no guarantee we'd get a Standard View at 7-months, so we'd be looking at 129 points for 6-nights in a Lake View Studio at BLT. Those 24 points we'd save over Poly wouldn't get us to the 354 point threshold that we'd need.

So now I turn to you! I'm hoping there are some fanatics who can help me out. Obviously my plan works a lot better if I knew I could grab standard views, but I'm going into it expecting I won't be able to (except for at Poly). So my questions are:

1. What are my odds for Standard availability at Aulani at 7-months for a mid-May visit?
2. Is there any path where we can do 6-nights at Poly in March and 6-nights in a 2-bedroom at Aulani in mid-May?
3. What alternative lodging would you recommend to ensure we could make the 6-night Aulani trip work? We'd be "fine" with BLT or CCV but we did really have our heart set on Poly.
4. Do you have a recommendation for a failsafe path I should take for booking? Aka, book a Poly studio at 11-months, then at 7-months see if I can switch to a cheaper CCV (as an example) and at that point we'll officially "know" how many DVC points we're working with--and if we can grab 6-nights Standard, great, otherwise we might have to do something like 5-nights Island view.
5A. Because I'm still "new" to DVC and haven't done my first booking yet, is there a way to leverage my "Welcome Home" booking with a DVC specialist on the phone, where they can pull from cash inventory for me? I'm imagining a scenario where they do this to get me a Standard view at BLT or CCV at the 7-month mark. However, my understanding is, I can't use this "feature" if I've made any sort of initial booking on my account--meaning grabbing Poly at 11-months as a fail-safe is off the table. That being said, if they can just as easily secure me 6-nights in a standard Poly studio at 7-months, I can always fall back on that.
5B. Is there a way I can finaggle my "Welcome Home" booking to secure a 2-bedroom standard view at Aulani (7-months out from May 2026, so book in October 2025) and then immediately make a booking online for my 6-night Disney stay in March? My fear is that since I'd be booking 5-months out, even at Poly I'd be risking not getting a Standard Studio.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

Standard view 2BR at Aulani at 7m is gonna be tough. If you are only a few points short for the island view you can always buy up to 24 one time point to make up the small deficit.

If it was me I'd make my 6 day stay at poly. Then at 7m before your Aulani trip I'd grab what I can. If standard view is available great. If not ...if grab what you can...even if it's 5 days. Then you can always shave a day off the WDW trip to finance the last day at Aulani.

I'd would love to know if anyone's had success using their Welcome Home booking at a resort they don't own at like Aulani. I'd guess since DVC is still selling Aulani they might let you....but I wouldn't count on it.

We love Aulani and if it was me I'd shave a day at WDW before I shaved a day at Aulani.

 

[JackosinDIS]

Have you considered a split stay at WDW? You could do 3 nights at Poly and 3 nights at SSR or AKV (saving you around 10 points per night).

As noted above, standard view at AUL will be tough at 7 months.

Would your points stretch to 2x island view studios at Aulani rather than a 2br… that might work

 

[Road_Dog]

Standard view 2BR at Aulani at 7m is gonna be tough. If you are only a few points short for the island view you can always buy up to 24 one time point to make up the small deficit.

If it was me I'd make my 6 day stay at poly. Then at 7m before your Aulani trip I'd grab what I can. If standard view is available great. If not ...if grab what you can...even if it's 5 days. Then you can always shave a day off the WDW trip to finance the last day at Aulani.

I'd would love to know if anyone's had success using their Welcome Home booking at a resort they don't own at like Aulani. I'd guess since DVC is still selling Aulani they might let you....but I wouldn't count on it.

We love Aulani and if it was me I'd shave a day at WDW before I shaved a day at Aulani.

Thanks. Yeah, it's tough to shave days off anywhere. We could easily get 6-nights at AK, even a Savanna view, but I feel my wife would complain about having to use the buses as much as we would haha (we just did a stay at Saratoga and it was her main complaint). Honestly I'm on board with sleeping around the Disney resorts, but with our kids being as young as they are, I think we wanted to prioritize MK resorts for our first few DVC trips.

I do think that at 11-months (April 2025), I should grab 6 studio nights at Poly. I'll already have 300 points in that UY since I'm banking 2024 to 2025. Then, when the 7-month window comes around (August 2025), I need to take a look around. Is there standard view studios at BLT? If so, that's 117 points--the exact same as a Savanna Studio at AK. That would allow me to get 6-nights at an Island view 2-bedroom at Aulani for 354 (as it would bring my total to 471 points--450 from 3-years of my contract and 21 bought as OTU. If somehow there were standard views at Aulani, even better.

If Standard BLT is not available, I will likely keep the 6-nights at Poly until I get to the 7-month window for Aulani (with a May 2026 stay, that would be October 2025). If I can somehow grab 6-nights in a Standard view 2-bedroom, that's 306 points--of which I'd have enough (450 total points minus 153 for the Poly reservation plus buying 9 OTU points).

If Standard view is NOT available (I'll plan on it not being), then I can make the call as to whether I need to modify my Disney stay from 6-nights to 5-nights, or do the same for Aulani. The main issue is, even reducing our Poly stay from 6 to 5, this only brings the point cost down to 125. Add the 354 points I need for Aulani, and I'm at 479. I will have 450 and can buy 24 OTU--so I'd be 5 points short. At this point, I'd have to consider seeing if there are any Lake views at BLT available. 5-nights in a BLT Lake View studio would only cost 105 points--leaving me with 345 points left and the ability to buy 9 OTU.

The biggest issue with this plan is that my 7-month window for Aulani will only be 5-months out from my Disney trip--and according to DVC Field Guide, my odds of getting a Lake View studio at BLT at 5-months is low. I should almost just plan on there being no Standard Aulani availability and plan to book Island view immediately at 7-months. With that in mind, 2-months before I book Aulani (when my 7-month window starts for non-Poly resorts), I should just book 5-nights at BLT Lake view to "lock it in".

Sadly, if I no matter what am going to be spending 354 points at Aulani, then 120 points is the max I have to use at a Disney resort--so even 5 nights at Poly is out of the question--I'd have to look at 4 nights.

Have you considered a split stay at WDW? You could do 3 nights at Poly and 3 nights at SSR or AKV (saving you around 10 points per night).

As noted above, standard view at AUL will be tough at 7 months.

Would your points stretch to 2x island view studios at Aulani rather than a 2br… that might work

Considered it, sure. But split stays with young kids always feels like a hassle. We just have so much to pack and unpack and depending on when check in and check out is, we're stuck using our rest day to do a stressful thing like haul everyone to the new resort.

2x Studios at Aulani would absolutely be cheaper but less ideal--we like sharing a living space for eating breakfast and cooking meals, and winding down after a long day while the kids sleep in the other room.

 

[D-Trick]

I'm going to be honest-- I stopped your reading your post halfway through (like my signature says) and will just respond with this:

Addonitis. Adding on resale points is your clear and easiest solution. You've already gotten your DVC-Y, and luckily both Poly and AUL are in the O14.

 

[Road_Dog]

I'm going to be honest-- I stopped your reading your post halfway through (like my signature says) and will just respond with this:

Addonitis. Adding on resale points is your clear and easiest solution. You've already gotten your DVC-Y, and luckily both Poly and AUL are in the O14.

I realized how long and insane I sounded once I reread it. Not exactly an easy situation to solve but I thought some diehards might be interested in helping.

Adding on before my first stay—tempting!

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

I realized how long and insane I sounded once I reread it. Not exactly an easy situation to solve but I thought some diehards might be interested in helping.

Adding on before my first stay—tempting!

You wouldn’t be the first

 

[eticketplease]

BLT standard view is going to be hard to get and is only one square foot larger than copper creek I believe.

I would try and go with Boulder Ridge at 116 points

 

[TexasJedi]

I'd would love to know if anyone's had success using their Welcome Home booking at a resort they don't own at like Aulani. I'd guess since DVC is still selling Aulani they might let you....but I wouldn't count on it.

You definitely can use the Welcome Home for a different resort--in fact, my guide encouraged me to do just that when I booked, highlighting that sometimes other resorts can be very hard to get at 7 months, so the Welcome Home is a great way to have the opportunity to try something different.

Of course, it still has to be within the standard DVC guidelines--you can't book a non-home resort more than 7 months out, and it's all subject to availability, although they are able to "pull" some additional availability for places that show no DVC availability. I also know that some resorts are excluded, but not sure which ones. When I called, I asked about Grand Floridian and was told it was excluded before MS looked for availability, but I was offered options at several other resorts that weren't being actively sold.

 

[achinforsomebacon]

In addition to OTUP, you could also look into a point transfer to get enough points for both trips without having to cut either short. Check out the rent/transfer listings to get an idea of what this might cost.

https://www.disboards.com/forums/dvc-rent-transfer.29/

 

[RichVIII]

Different plan.

Book something at Poly for 2025 so your wife falls in love and agrees to more points. As mentioned add-on-itus is real. Just easier if the spouse gets hit.

 

[thadhouse]

I agree with the above statements about adding on a small contract somewhere. You can always use it for a few years, and then resell it if you determine you really won't use the points.

Since you're booking at 7 months anyway to use the Poly points, you don't have to buy at Aulani, and could pretty much buy anywhere. Although as someone who owns 400 Aulani points, once you go you can never have enough

 

[AstroBlasters]

Champagne tastes on a beer budget.

My vote is to cut back a night at WDW (but stay at Poly) and then book Aulani with OTUP @7m if need be. It could be dicey getting that many nights in a row… but May availability is a LOT better than June or later in the summer.

 

[mort1331]

As a pp mentioned....easiest way is to just look for a points transfer. Lots of time for it.

 

[Road_Dog]

Champagne tastes on a beer budget.

You’ve got that right. Here I thought burning 3 years of points (450 total) would get us what we want. And perhaps that’s the case at WDW but throwing Aulani into the mix is another factor I didn’t consider when buying the contract.

All in all, I know we can fall back on “cheaper” Animal Kingdom or even Old Key West and get what we want at Aulani. We just don’t want to cut back too much at WDW—we wanted to be monorail people since we have young ones so I’ll do whatever I can to make it work.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

How old are your kids? My niece is 6 and her best park was actually Epcot this past trip, though to be fair she’s afraid of a lot. HS has shows that she likes. So if you ended up at BW/BC you could be close to 2 parks (skyliner is actually better than the monorail in my view), at a more favorable points chart.

 

[Road_Dog]

How old are your kids? My niece is 6 and her best park was actually Epcot this past trip, though to be fair she’s afraid of a lot. HS has shows that she likes. So if you ended up at BW/BC you could be close to 2 parks (skyliner is actually better than the monorail in my view), at a more favorable points chart.

Currently 2.5 and 1. Just did a visit and stayed at Saratoga and the bus was very inconvenient with strollers and bags. They’ll be 4 and 2.5 for the next trip—we won’t need as much packed in bags, but still want the quick transportation option. MK was by and large our favorite park but Epcot was next. The kids love the character meet and greets, character dining, and the kid friendly rides and shows which MK has a lot of. Although the Frozen ride at Epcot was a top moment for us.

 

[kgou]

You wouldn’t be the first

I'm guilty of that over here

 

[lilsonicfan]

I'm leery of any plan that involves using 3 years worth of points. It just takes away a ton of flexibility if you need to cancel or change plans at all. I realize that isn't particularly helpful

But what you might want to do is 5 nights at Aulani and 1 night somewhere else, handy if you are flying in at a late time so you don't "waste" one night at Aulani. Or, say you have a really early flight home, you might want to stay the last night at another hotel. You can use the facilities for the whole day of check-in/check-out.

 

[Road_Dog]

I'm leery of any plan that involves using 3 years worth of points. It just takes away a ton of flexibility if you need to cancel or change plans at all. I realize that isn't particularly helpful

But what you might want to do is 5 nights at Aulani and 1 night somewhere else, handy if you are flying in at a late time so you don't "waste" one night at Aulani. Or, say you have a really early flight home, you might want to stay the last night at another hotel. You can use the facilities for the whole day of check-in/check-out.

I understand the sentiment. Banking my 2024 into 2025 was always the plan when buying the contract. We had just got back from a Disney World trip and knew we wouldn't go back until early 2026--so I always knew I'd have 300 points to burn for our first DVC stay. The decision to borrow from our Oct 2026 UY is solely because it's the right time to do this Hawaii trip. It will be for our anniversary combined with my in-laws anniversary. I doubt we'd have an itch to go back to WDW until Oct 2027, when our points would renew, and we could start doing more "reasonable" redemptions of 135-153 points for 6-nights at Poly.

However, we originally bought into DVC with the idea that we'd be back for our daughter's 4th birthday--so now we're just thinking what can we do to make both trips happen.

I've built a spreadsheet and basically determined that we'll likely need to shorten our WDW trip to 4-nights. Since I'll be spending 354 points on an Island View 2-bedroom at Aulani, and with the plan of buying 24 OTU points, we'll have 120 points to work with. This is good enough to get me:
- 4 nights at Poly (Studio-Standard)
- 4 nights at GF (Studio, Lake View)
- 5 nights at BLT (Studio, Lake View)
- 6 nights at AKV (Studio, Savanna)
- 6 nights at Cabins at FW
- 5 nights at Disneyland Hotel (Studio, Standard View)

With kids as young as we have (will be 4 and 2.5 during the trip), I think the monorail transportation or walkability from BLT weighs out heavily over extra nights. That being said, Animal Kingdom Lodge in a Savanna view is a bucket list thing for me, especially while my kids are young enough to appreciate it (rather than just shrug their shoulders and go back to using their iPad, lol). But if not now, then our next stay.

I really know nothing about the Cabins at FW--they look amazing with the bunk beds--but paying $75/day for a golf cart (which seems like a necessity) is annoying. The boat transportation to MK seems OK--but the lack of laundry and not being able to walk to pools or dining might be annoying. I guess I'll never know until I stay there!