Coach's next question- How often do you use your points outside of Disney?

[BobH]

Using points outside of Disney only makes sense if you really don't want to go to Disney and you don't want to spend the money to get the Concierge Collection type of accomodation. With a young family I would concentrate on using your points for a long time at Disney resorts first. That being said the quality of the Concierge collection resorts is also fantastic and is an option - although an expensive option. On an off year when I was not going to go to Disney I once chose to use 147 points to stay 3 nights at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco and I have also stayed 2 nights the Coral Gable Biltmore (82 points). You can see that you would not get many days for your points if you currently have 175 points. Look at the point charts and you will see what I mean. The Concierge Collection is a nice option if you get in a bind as I did and are left with points at the end of your use year that you cannot bank. Imagine having that problem. I had some airline milage and chose to travel a couple places for virtually nothing so it made sense to me at the time to use the points that way. It is not an efficient use of your points from the point of view that it costs you much more per night outside of Disney than at a Disney Resort. You also incur a $95 charge when you book your reservation through the Concierge Collection. Just some things to consider. Enjoy your DVC Vacation Club Membership! I enjoyed mine woth my kids now I am looking forward to sharing it with my future grandchildren.

 

[DVC-Don]

We've only used our points for DVC, the Grand Californian @ DL & a Disney Cruise.

 

[beachblanket]

Have done the Concierge Collection twice and are doing an Interval exchange this summer. Have also gone into the Disney Collection numerous times (I don't consider that "going outside Disney.")

Per Bob's pointk, our two Concierge trips were in essence short notice, "duress" vacations that resulted from family emergencies that left us with significant point balances that had to be used before year end (translation: I paid the pricey point costs because I was in "use 'em or lose 'em" situations and needed to book short less-than-a-week trips, so an exchange was out of the question and DW wanted something other than Disney). One was in October, the other November (Sagamore Resort in NY and the Boston Harbor Hotel in MA). Both were spectacular properties.

The Interval exchange this summer is to the Marriott in Williamsburg, VA. Followed Dean's advice and stuck to a brand name property that gets good reviews.

Bottom line: if we enjoy the exchange, we'll probably start to look to leverage that option more frequently. That works best if you can have a range of destinations and dates in mind, and can think several years out. Concierge is always a nice option to have, but by and large the point costs there are just too out of whack to justify pursuing on any regular basis, particularly for longer stays.