Do others have a hard time spending their points for weekends??

[edk35]

I spend my points, hoard my cash!

That made me laugh.

 

[edk35]

I have a hard time spending points on the weekend...what enters my mind is that could be 2 extra days during the week. We joined DVC Dec 07, and just added on another 160 points last Saturday (320 total), and it should ease my mind, but I don't think I will ever have enough points to where it wouldn't bother me...only because I will always think about the extra days I could go back at another time. We have 4 vacations planned for next year (Feb - 5 nights 2 bedroom, Sept - 7 nights (4 nights 2 bedroom, 3 night Disney Cruise) , Oct - 5 nights 1 bedroom, Dec - 6 nights 2 bedroom), and trying to work a 5th one in....of course at some point I will use the extra points, but I don't like it. LOL Dh and I are going in Oct for our anniversary (Oct 17 - 21) and that is 2 nights weekend rates...but when you average all 4 nights, it is a great deal! So yes, I have a hard time doing it, but I would prefer to rather than deal with moving etc.

See that is what I keep thinking.....I could pay cash for two weekend nights at BCV and then stay 4 extra weekdays.

 

[dvcdisney]

We always use our points for weekends. We don't like moving. And instead of paying cash, I would take that money and buy more points.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Our very first DVC stay was a Friday/Saturday night studio stay at VWL one December. It was worth every point and we have continued to use points on weekends. Sure, we try to have as few weekend points as we can, but I think that if I'm paying the airfare, why not get there on Friday night instead of waiting for Sunday to enjoy DVC.

Bobbi

 

[KirstenB]

I know we've used points for weekend stays occasionally in the past, but I bet it's been at least 5 years. We have 200 pts, and I hoard those suckers. Especially now that our older dd can't miss school (too hard to try to make it up). We do 5 nts at WDW, this year was AKV, and dh and I have a no kids 3 night getaway in a studio at HH in the spring.

 

[CraftyMouse]

If it came down to using cash for DVC accommodations I would buy more points instead. The room prices are just too high for me to justify paying cash for them and, to me, it would negate all of the savings of having DVC in the first place. Instead we choose to go to Value or Moderate resorts, or elsewhere for the weekend. We rarely pay more than $100 per night which, to me, is worth it.

 

[edk35]

We always use our points for weekends. We don't like moving. And instead of paying cash, I would take that money and buy more points.

You know what. I should take the money that would pay for these cash nights ...this past year and next and set it aside and before I know it..I would have enough for a 25 pt. add on. I probably should just do this...go for the nights we can on pts...and the ones we would love to add to said trip.....with cash....NOT ADD THEM instead take that money and save it for future add ons.

 

[Coach81]

We usually stay Sunday - Thursday at our resorts, and then stay weekends at a value or offsite hotel to save money & points.

 

[ILuvTigger]

Actually, it could be 5 extra days during the week. Generally the two weekend nights total the same amount as the 5 Sun.-Thu. nights. I would much rather get an extra 5 nights of vacation so we tend to move on the weekends as well.

Sorry should have been more clear...I just meant 1 of the weekend nights. If it was Friday and Saturday that would equal to 4 nights during the week (1 bedroom Fri/Sat 32 points each vs Sun - Thurs 16 points each, if I went down to a Studio the 64 points from a 1 bedroom would give me almost a week (56 points for 6 days), now that sounds great!! But, I love having the kitchen, washer and dryer).

 

[El&Asmom]

For us it really will depend on the year, and the trips we have planned. Next year, we will be getting APs beginning for our trip in May. We decided to pay for a value or Mod for the Sat night that trip and stay Sun-Thur nights at VWL, (hopefully if we can get in at the 7m mark so we can finally try that resort). Since we will have APs that year, we decided to take a mini trip in Oct so we can go to MNSSHP agin. By saving points on weekend nights, it will give us enough points for that Oct trip in addition to the trip we have planned for Jan of '10.
In future years if we go for fewer or longer trips, we will likely just use our points for weekends.

 

[edk35]

Sorry should have been more clear...I just meant 1 of the weekend nights. If it was Friday and Saturday that would equal to 4 nights during the week (1 bedroom Fri/Sat 32 points each vs Sun - Thurs 16 points each, if I went down to a Studio the 64 points from a 1 bedroom would give me almost a week (56 points for 6 days), now that sounds great!! But, I love having the kitchen, washer and dryer).

We get a 2 br. so it would close to 2 extra nights for us..but the locals thing does make perfect sense too. I never thought about the people that would flock their on the weekends.

 

[SWVA BGSU Fan]

Because we often stay 8 nights, we spend our first Friday/Saturday night in a studio (usually OKW) and then transfer to a 2BR for the remaining 5 or six nights.

We've always had good experiences with Bell Services.....they make the move relativley painless.

I guess that much of this debate is dependent upon the number of points available....we've got enough for our needs but like everyone else, wouldn't mind having more

 

[OurDogCisco]

No not really... Maybe I'm the minority here but I found DVC to be a bargain compared to other timeshares bought from a developer. The flexibility of using our timeshare when and how we want is an awesome perk. We travel from California and do not have the opportunity to come for short getaways. So, when we do come it is for 8 to 10 nights. I do not want to waste time packing and repacking especially when you come for a longer duration as you have a lot more stuff with you than for a 4 nighter.

I just came back from Kauai on a 2 week vacation and we did switch after 7 nights at one place to go to another place and it was a waste of time. It took a good 4.5 hours. 1.5 hours to pack everything up (I have 2 kids that helped but still), 1 hour to unpack everything and then another 2 hours of moving over to the resort and checking in, (this includes driving time as it was a 30 minute drive) etc.. I realize, at Disney it would probably take less time since, you wouldn't be packing as much stuff like frozen foods, boogie boards, snorkel stuff, coolers, etc... but still... not my idea of vacation...

So, I think it would depend on your vacation habits.

 

[cobbler]

In a word - no.

I don't mind using points on weekends. I bought with the intention of staying on weekends.

 

[ILuvTigger]

Sorry should have been more clear...I just meant 1 of the weekend nights. If it was Friday and Saturday that would equal to 4 nights during the week (1 bedroom Fri/Sat 32 points each vs Sun - Thurs 16 points each, if I went down to a Studio the 64 points from a 1 bedroom would give me almost a week (56 points for 6 days), now that sounds great!! But, I love having the kitchen, washer and dryer).

We get a 2 br. so it would close to 2 extra nights for us..but the locals thing does make perfect sense too. I never thought about the people that would flock their on the weekends.

When we have our 2 children (15 and 16 years old) we get the 2 bedrooms. We plan 4 WDW vacations a year, and bring the kids on 2 - 3 of them, the other times are just the two of us. We love going alone!!

 

[loveswdw]

We've never switched resorts to save points in the past but we will be this October. At the end of our stay we are moving to POR for Friday (maybe Thursday too if the WL doesn't pan out). We are a party of 6 this time and needed a 2BR. Even at OKW, a 2BR on Friday night was 56 points! We only have 150 points so that would've been over a third of our yearly points. So we opted to switch this trip.

We are actually looking forward to staying at POR as we've never stayed there before. We are a little anxious though since we have become so accustomed to our DVC 1BRs.

 

[edk35]

I guess like everything else on the Dis boards....we all have different ways of traveling and using our points. Just like this summer seem right for us to go for a 2 week trip and spend cash for 4 of those nights...but next summer I will want to SAVE money by not going that long. THANKS EVERYONE FOR ALL THE DIFFERENT VIEWS ...I will think about everything mentioned here.

 

[johde]

I move for the weekend. I enjoy Busch Gardens, Seaworld, and Universal. So moving for the weekend to be closer to those attractions is not a big deal.

 

[PIERCEDRN]

In a word - no.

I don't mind using points on weekends. I bought with the intention of staying on weekends.

In another word - Yes.

I want to get the most out of my purchase and dues and look at the weekends as a opportunity to go outside the box, either with AP rate at moderate, or Off site for Universal etc.
I never understood the weekend rates, especially since people usually will stay about 7 days. Why do they need to be DOUBLE?
So they wont get my dollars on the weekend, and their competition will.
BOB

 

[spiceycat]

the first excuse was that Floridian would get all the weekend if the points were the same.

the real reason - Disney has no problem renting rooms for the weekend.

so if you don't want your dvc villa for the weekend because of the higher points - not a problem CRO will rent it.

really, really hate to use that many points for a weekend - will do it occasionally - especially now that AKV value is cheaper for the weekend than OKW.

but on the whole forget - will either stay 5 days and go home.

or will stay the first 7 days in an offsite timeshares - then 5 days in my DVC.

or like my next trip - traded offsite to II and got DVC - so 7nights at SSR, 1 nights at AKV (fri), then Pop, then OKW (only using my points at oKW and AKV)

most of my weekends have been at Pop, lately.
a couple at Universal's Royal Pacific - that has been a while.

so if you find a cheap resale that trades with II - is on a beach. II does not seem to have enough beaches in Florida or South in generally. So they will let you trade up.

Now so far only allowing me to trade to studios and 1-bedrooms - no 2-bedrooms yet. but my timeshare deals more with RCI than II - besides me and maybe one or two others - most exchanges are thru RCI not II. RCI has more than enough beaches so it is not valued as highest by RCI (my opinion)

it is a small 2-bedroom - but it has an great view of the gulf - really, really beautiful. but beaches bore me - 3 or 4 days is enough for the beach. never been completely bored at WDW.