Adding an Extra Night to Our Welcome Home Trip...Need Some Advice/WWYD?

[Little E]

Hi Disfriends!

I'm a WDW vet, but a DVC newbie. DH and I purchased two contracts in mid April this year at GF direct from Disney. We booked our welcome home trip for March 23-31 of 2023. It is our youngest DS's senior year of high school, and we are really looking forward to staying in a 2 bedroom villa at GF for the first time. We'll have DS's buddy with us, and we hope our older son can fly in from college to join us.

I am trying to book flights, and airfare is SO expensive. As I'm noodling around with airfare, I discovered that if we leave on March 22 (a day early), we can save anywhere between $700-$1000 in airfare, which is pretty significant. The savings of $700 flight gets us in early evening, but would require that the boys miss a half day of school (no biggie) or the other flight that would save us close to $1000 would arrive around midnight that night. Of course, we'd all love to get to WDW sooner too!

So, either way, if we choose to fly on March 22, we'd need someplace to stay on the evening of March 22, because right now our reservation starts on March 23. We had 2022 points leftover from our welcome home trip, but we banked them. I need some advice...what would you all do to add that extra night? Ideally, I'd like to have a 2 bedroom at GF for that extra night, and be able to stay in it for the duration of our trip and not have to pack up and move twice. If that's not an option, we would need someplace that would give 5 of us our own sleep surfaces, separate sleep space (either a villa or two hotel rooms), and two bathrooms. (I don't sleep in the same room with other people's kids!) So, should we:

1. stay at the Hilton at the MCO airport and get two rooms and arrive at Disney on March 23? This would get us there earlier in the day than our flight on March 23rd would, but it seems silly to not be on property, and I know those rooms are pricey.
2. stay at a value in two rooms and transfer to GF on the morning of March 23?
3. stay at another DVC resort and transfer to GF on the morning of March 23? If so, how does that work? Can I book one night on cash from DVC with MS? Or buy one time use points at a DVC resort where we don't own?

Or, is there a way to add a 2 BR GF villa to our current reservation? Paying cash or buying one time use points? How pricey would that be?
Or, are there other options that I just am not thinking of?

Any advice would be awesome. Thanks in advance!

 

[SleeplessInTO]

Could you borrow points from your next UY to book the additional night at VGF?

 

[Marionnette]

Hi Disfriends!

I'm a WDW vet, but a DVC newbie. DH and I purchased two contracts in mid April this year at GF direct from Disney. We booked our welcome home trip for March 23-31 of 2023. It is our youngest DS's senior year of high school, and we are really looking forward to staying in a 2 bedroom villa at GF for the first time. We'll have DS's buddy with us, and we hope our older son can fly in from college to join us.

I am trying to book flights, and airfare is SO expensive. As I'm noodling around with airfare, I discovered that if we leave on March 22 (a day early), we can save anywhere between $700-$1000 in airfare, which is pretty significant. The savings of $700 flight gets us in early evening, but would require that the boys miss a half day of school (no biggie) or the other flight that would save us close to $1000 would arrive around midnight that night. Of course, we'd all love to get to WDW sooner too!

So, either way, if we choose to fly on March 22, we'd need someplace to stay on the evening of March 22, because right now our reservation starts on March 23. We had 2022 points leftover from our welcome home trip, but we banked them. I need some advice...what would you all do to add that extra night? Ideally, I'd like to have a 2 bedroom at GF for that extra night, and be able to stay in it for the duration of our trip and not have to pack up and move twice. If that's not an option, we would need someplace that would give 5 of us our own sleep surfaces, separate sleep space (either a villa or two hotel rooms), and two bathrooms. (I don't sleep in the same room with other people's kids!) So, should we:

1. stay at the Hilton at the MCO airport and get two rooms and arrive at Disney on March 23? This would get us there earlier in the day than our flight on March 23rd would, but it seems silly to not be on property, and I know those rooms are pricey.
2. stay at a value in two rooms and transfer to GF on the morning of March 23?
3. stay at another DVC resort and transfer to GF on the morning of March 23? If so, how does that work? Can I book one night on cash from DVC with MS? Or buy one time use points at a DVC resort where we don't own?

Or, is there a way to add a 2 BR GF villa to our current reservation? Paying cash or buying one time use points? How pricey would that be?
Or, are there other options that I just am not thinking of?

Any advice would be awesome. Thanks in advance!

As long as there is a 2BR that is the same booking category as your current reservation, you can modify the reservation to include 3/22. You would have to borrow from your next UY since you banked your 2022 points already. If you aren't comfortable with doing this online, call MS and ask the CM to handle it for you.

Personally, if I was arriving late at night, I would head to an airport hotel rather than spending the additional points for a 2BR.

 

[Little E]

Oh geez! This is so good to know! I didn't think I could borrow points, because we already banked them this year. Thanks for letting me know this is an option @SleeplessInTO and @Marionnette!

Any other options I should be considering?

 

[SleeplessInTO]

Oh geez! This is so good to know! I didn't think I could borrow points, because we already banked them this year. Thanks for letting me know this is an option @SleeplessInTO and @Marionnette!

Any other options I should be considering?

You could also transfer points in from another member to make the booking. But if you have your own points available to borrow, I’d rather do that. Much easier. Less risk.

Staying at the airport definitely has pros (what if bags are delayed, flight delayed, everyone is tired). But lately I’ve been wanting to get to my room asap so I can be in my own room the next whole day and not have to get up and pack for an 11am checkout. Especially if I had a late night and didn’t get much sleep. Both are good options imo.

 

[sndral]

Oh geez! This is so good to know! I didn't think I could borrow points, because we already banked them this year. Thanks for letting me know this is an option @SleeplessInTO and @Marionnette!

Any other options I should be considering?

The problem w/ trying to save money by arriving earlier due to cheaper flights is your savings are eaten up in paying for 2 rooms for the night. It is nice to get there early, and it’s easy to borrow points for the extra night, you can’t borrow the points you already banked - but you can borrow from next years allotment of points. If there aren’t any 2 br.s left at VGF in the view & type (lock off v. dedicated) you already have booked & you want to save a few points you could book 2 standard view resort studios in the BPK building @ VGF for the night of 3/22.
BTW, because you are a brand new member it’s worth a call to MS, they just might let you ‘unbank’ those points as a one time favor for a new member still learning the ropes & if not, they’ll help you w/ borrowing to book the extra night. Good luck.

 

[Sandisw]

Oh geez! This is so good to know! I didn't think I could borrow points, because we already banked them this year. Thanks for letting me know this is an option @SleeplessInTO and @Marionnette!

Any other options I should be considering?

You wouldn’t be borrowing the points you banked. You’d be borrowing points from your next UY

So those would be 2023 UY points. The banked points you moved you your 2023 UY will stay there and need to be sued for a trip in your 2023 UY

 

[Little E]

*sigh*. I'm so grateful for all of you. I think I screwed some things up and didn't explain things correctly.

We have 2 200 point contracts purchased in April, 2022 direct from Disney. We are booked in a 2 BR standard view GF villa for March 23-31, 2023. We have used a total of 540 points. I'm assuming that's 400 of 2022 points and 140 from 2023. We banked the remaining 260 points, so they are available in our Feb UY 2023. I think I have that right.

So, if I would like to use points to add on for March 22, 2023, I'm not sure I can? If it's a February UY 2023, is that possible, since the booking is for March 2023? If not, can I borrow from 2024 points?

Thank you for patiently helping me figure this out!

 

[Sandisw]

*sigh*. I'm so grateful for all of you. I think I screwed some things up and didn't explain things correctly.

We have 2 200 point contracts purchased in April, 2022 direct from Disney. We are booked in a 2 BR standard view GF villa for March 23-31, 2023. We have used a total of 540 points. I'm assuming that's 400 of 2022 points and 140 from 2023. We banked the remaining 260 points, so they are available in our Feb UY 2023. I think I have that right.

So, if I would like to use points to add on for March 22, 2023, I'm not sure I can? If it's a February UY 2023, is that possible, since the booking is for March 2023? If not, can I borrow from 2024 points?

Thank you for patiently helping me figure this out!

A March 2023 trip falls in your 2023 UY. You would have had to bank 2022 UY points first in order for them to be used for that trip.

So, you would hsve had banked 2022 and 2023 points. Since you used 540, that leaves you 260 left to use.

You do not need to borrow since you still have points in your 2023 UY. Everything goes by the time of the trip, not when you book it

What you want to be sure of is that the trip is using all of your banked points. If you banked any points after that trip was booked, then you want to have a reallocation done so all 400 points you banked from 2022 are used.

 

[TraJon]

If this is a domestic flight you shouldn’t worry. Prices that many months out are not typical. Example back in June Philadelphia to Orlando was 600 in November. Now it’s down to mid 200’s. It should get a bit cheaper. If this is international scratch everything I said.

 

[Little E]

@TraJon this is good to know. We are definitely a domestic flight. Flying from the midwest to MCO. DH and I are persnickety about direct flights...we don't like layovers, especially in March when the weather can be dicey. We are limited to Delta or Spirit, as they are the only airlines that offer direct flights for us. We do NOT fly Spirit...again, too risky for our tastes, which leaves Delta as our only airline. I just added a day at AK using my DVC points, so we have a specific day we must fly now. Are you thinking I should wait for that specific day to drop in price, or is it better to just book it so I know we have seats? If you think I should wait, how long should I wait? Every time I check prices for the flights I have my eye on, the prices have been the same throughout the summer.

 

[Little E]

@Sandisw Ugh...I'm so dumb. Again, thank you for being kind and patient as I figure this all out. I called MS today, and spoke with a lovely gal. She assured me that I hadn't banked points; I simply had points in our 2023 UY, because we had used all of our 2022 points, and then borrowed some of our 2023 points. So, I was able to easily use 2023 points to book an extra day. I didn't want to use all the points to add a 2 bedroom GF villa to our trip, so instead, I was able to snag a 1 BR villa at AK-Kidani. I'm excited, as we've never stayed at AK, and we can check this resort out before we transfer to GF the next day.

 

[TraJon]

@TraJon this is good to know. We are definitely a domestic flight. Flying from the midwest to MCO. DH and I are persnickety about direct flights...we don't like layovers, especially in March when the weather can be dicey. We are limited to Delta or Spirit, as they are the only airlines that offer direct flights for us. We do NOT fly Spirit...again, too risky for our tastes, which leaves Delta as our only airline. I just added a day at AK using my DVC points, so we have a specific day we must fly now. Are you thinking I should wait for that specific day to drop in price, or is it better to just book it so I know we have seats? If you think I should wait, how long should I wait?

Check flight prices 3 months out currently. Like for November flights for your location just for a gauge. If you search “how far out should you book” this is the common answer. I remember reading the best price was found around 64 days.

The general advice is to book domestic flights between one and four months in advance. Even though airline schedules are posted a year or so in advance, there’s no reason to jump the gun and get your tickets locked in so far in advance.

For one, airlines typically only release more expensive fares when the schedule opens, hoping that they can convince some eager travelers to lock in flights at higher fares.
If you look it up this is the suggestion.

 

[sndral]

@Sandisw Ugh...I'm so dumb. Again, thank you for being kind and patient as I figure this all out. I called MS today, and spoke with a lovely gal. She assured me that I hadn't banked points; I simply had points in our 2023 UY, because we had used all of our 2022 points, and then borrowed some of our 2023 points. So, I was able to easily use 2023 points to book an extra day. I didn't want to use all the points to add a 2 bedroom GF villa to our trip, so instead, I was able to snag a 1 BR villa at AK-Kidani. I'm excited, as we've never stayed at AK, and we can check this resort out before we transfer to GF the next day.

It is confusing to wrap your head around which points you can use & which points you’ve already used & how many are left for any specific trip. I find to figure out what I’ve done & what’s going on w/ my points I need to navigate the clunky DVC member site. I’m a tech dinosaur, so here’s how I figure out my points.
1. Log on to your DVC member account.
2. In the upper right you’ll see a tab “my DVC” - which I’ve circled in red, click on it & you’ll see this drop down menu

Click on “my vacation points” - #2 in red, which brings up this screen You’ll have 2 contracts.
3. click on the use year you are interested in - so probably 2023 for you. In that screen under each of the two contracts you own you’ll see “view contract activity” in blue -
4. click on that link for each contract & you’ll see details of which points you have
/have not yet used & whether you’ve any banked previous years points sitting in there.
Or if you’ve borrowed any points from that use year/allotment.

 

[Little E]

@TraJon thanks for the flight advice! I looked at airfare for the beginning of December and was shocked at how much lower prices were. Granted, we're flying during peak spring break time, but still. I guess I'll hang on a little bit to see if prices drop at all.

@sndral thank you so much for the visual aids! Your info was so helpful!

We added a night to the beginning of our trip at AK-Kidani. I'm actually really excited about this, because we've never stayed at AK before! I think I'll just sit tight for a little bit to see what flight prices do. I suspect we'll still have to pay hefty price tags, because we're flying during spring break, but we'll see.

 

[thegash35]

Book cheap rooms somewhere (like at a hampton inn) somewhere between MCO and WDW so that you can crash after your flight and it won't wipe out all the savings on your earlier flights.

Wake up the next morning, put on your bathing suits and head over to GF and hang out at the pool until your room is ready.

This is the way.

 

[RoseGold]

1BR Kidani is a WONDERFUL choice. They will be fine on the sleeper sofa. You wake up on the first day of your vacation with animals out your balcony. It's great.

There's still lots of time to waitlist or stalk this, if you want the VGF -- or something like Boardwalk or BC. The 1BR is possible there, especially a 1 night waitlist.