Complicated question...

[MJ6987]

Hi All,
I am thinking about buying into DVC (I am based in the UK). The two times of year I would like to stay at WDW are February and December.

One way I thought this could be done is: every other calendar year, stay at WDW for a week in Feb and then 10 months later, a week December (ideally at different resorts) The calendar year in between - nothing. So this works out a week a year on average. The reason I thought of doing it this way is that we could get discounted annual passes every other year that would cover both trips (if this is the most economical way to do it). This also opens up the chance to get the DDE and possibly other AP discounts?

So, is this a good way to do it? Has anyone done this? And, importantly, how would this be done in terms of points-management, use year/s, contract-wise (one or two contracts?) and, approximately how many points would I need?

Thanks for any help,
Mathew

 

[bookwormde]

It is what I do a lot, 10 months (Aug/June) between visits for AP and then 14 month off. I stay cash on weekends to conserve points so the AP discount is especially valuable for the AP room only discounts that come out a month or 2 before our travel times.

Point requirements would be the same as a once a year visit, you may have to occasionally bank or borrow but that is easy. As to the number of points just take point chart values for the resort, room size/category, number of weekdays and weekend days and for both trips and divide by 2. It never works out perfectly as you will be trying different resorts with different point levels. If you end up a little short over time you can always adjust with a night or 2 cash reservation.

bookwormde

 

[MJ6987]

Thanks Bookwormde,
I'm obviously not the first one to come up with this idea then!

A couple of follow up questions please:

- do you just have one home resort / one contract? Would this work just as well with two smaller contracts at different resorts?

- is there any advantage to having a particular use year in this case, given my planned vacation dates?

- I like your idea of paying cash for the weekends, but how does this work? i.e. are you able to do this at the actual DVC resort where you are using your points and avoid moving rooms? If you are booking a couple of months out with the AP discount I would have thought that there would be no DVC availability? Or are you talking about just booking the weekend wherever available and having a "split" stay?

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[SuzanneSLO]

We schedule our trips in a similar manner: Oct (or Dec) then April/May, then we head to Maui the next Oct and following Spring. Rinse. Repeat.

We have an August UY, which means 2 trip in one UY, none in the next. For our 2 trips, we use all banked points, all current points and end up borrowing a few from the following year (and bank the remaining).

The only time we had a problem managing our points was when we added a day to the Spring trip about 4 months out and did an add-on of more points. As a result, we had about 11 current year points that we didn't need that year or the next. It was easy to find someone who wanted a transfer of exactly that many points.

We stay about 10-12 nights and just use points on the weekends. We do get an AP.

Best of luck -- Suzanne

 

[5forDiz]

" . . . would this work just as well with two smaller contracts at different resorts? "

Maybe with banking and borrowing. Then again maybe not - because once you bank points or borrow points they must remain & be used in the Use Year you banked or borrowed them into. If you couldn't travel or needed to change your initial reservation & then couldn't secure the reservation you wanted then you may have points that could go unused.

Also note that two contracts with different Home Resorts can't be combined to book at just one of those Home Resorts at 11 month booking window.

So, for example :
If contract A is AKV Home Resort with 100 points
and contract B is SSR Home Resort with 100 points and you wish to use points from both contracts for an upcoming trip at AKV that would require 175 points you may only book a reservation for the number of nights that can be covered by your 100 points from AKV contract at 11 months out;
THEN at 7 months out you can hopefully find additional availability at AKV and then use the points from Contract B to add additional nights to your reservation.

The only way you would be able to book the entire 175 point AKV reservation at 11 months out would be if you had 75 points from AKV contract's previous UY banked or if you borrow 75 points from your AKV contract's upcoming UY.

Regarding your question about DVC rooms being booked for cash - yes they can be and sometimes there is a 25% DVC member discount available. Reservations must be made through Member Services. MS will link your points reservation to the cash reservation so in most cases it is not necessary to change rooms ( there is chance you might have to change rooms but majority of cases you would not ).

Can't speak to AP discounts, sorry I do not have experience with that

August, September or October may be best Use Year if you plan to travel in December and February; would leave you time to bank your points into next Use Year if you had to cancel a reservation ( by Mar 31 for Aug; Apr 30 for Sept; May 31 for Oct ). Keep in mind that only current UY points that are used to make a reservation can be banked; borrowed or banked points need to be used by end of the Use Year (ie 31 days or more before your February 2009 reservation you need to cancel & you have October Use Year : current UY points <Oct 1 2008-Sept 30 2009> may be banked up to May 31 2009; if the reservation is also made up of points that were banked or borrowed then those points must be used by Sept. 30, 2009)

This link ( post #2 & #3 ) can help how to determine what may be best Use Year month, etc.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1945957

Best wishes & good luck on your DVC planning

 

[bookwormde]

If you book your weekends in DVC properties trough MS you can have them linked so you do not have to move rooms.

I like to move after 5 days so I do CRO on the weekends. I did 2 nights at WL this August for $436 w/tax, for a courtyard view at the AP rate and a night at AKL standard for $162 w/tax with 5 nights 1br OKW wd in the middle and 2 night BCV studio at the end.

If you hate moving then this limits your flexibility

bookwormde

 

[dianeschlicht]

We started doing something similar 11 years ago when we first joined DVC. We usually would do it with 11 months apart though, and then take a year off. That had us going every January either early or late in the month. We always bought APs and found that we could always get decent airfare in January. The only question I have is if a week is enough each year? We find we like the longer trips. I would think that would be especially important when you are coming from across the pond!

 

[Disney Spaz]

This is similar the what DH and I have planned now that we just bought in. Only diffenence is what months we are doing. We plan on going in May then again in December then taking a year off. I can't imagine having to renew the AP's every year. Now that being said I can already see myself trying to work a small summer trip here or there since I am a teacher and am off middle of June through middle of August.