Do you "move" on the weekends?

[roadtripper]

We come in on Sat, stay offsite, and leave Fridays, since we drive home. All those weekend points could mean inviting more people to stay on the next trip, so I can't imagine staying Fri and Sat. But we bought the minimum and like to bring people, so it's the only way we can do it. Either way, doncha just love DVC?

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Never have........never will.

 

[colleen costello]

I think moving is a pain, as I have to pack for 4. If I was a solo traveler it would be different. That said, we usually sneak down 1 night early and stay the first night at a Moderate. This has worked out well for us. The kids get to try out a different pool and I only "partially" unpack. The next morning I get up early and charge over to the DVC room to check us in. Since we were in a 2-bedroom last week with my parents, staying one night at Riverside cost a little over $200 (2 rooms AP rate) and saved me over 70 points. That is enough for 5 nights in a studio at the Lodge this summer, definitely worth it to me!

 

[SnowWitch]

Depends! If its a summer trip and we're driving, we generally stay at the Poly or AK for the weekend just to hang out by the pool and relax. If we have guests that have younger children, such is the case, this Dec we're just checking into our 2 bedroom on Fri and staying until the following Sat. Its just to much for the little guy to move.

We have done both and probably will continue to do both based on a case by case scenario. We have more than enough points to the effect we bank at least enough for two more trips every year. It really just depends on what we're in the mood to do and see.

If we're staying at VB or HH we always use the weekend nights for convience.

Do whats comfy for you, they are your points.

 

[jdm_dkm]

We like to stay at one of the other resorts on the weekend at the end of the trip. Next time we will move to AKL. They make it easy to move. They take your bags to your new resort. We just go to the parks and at the end of the day take the bus over to the new resort and have bell services bring the bags up. No hassle at all. Of course we don't have kids....

 

[Lori-n-NY]

I travel with my 11 year old DD and we stay Fri and Sat on-site and then move to DVC for the next seven nights. So I do stay DVC for the weekend but only one of the weekends. My planning of my points will get me quite far. I will stay in a studio...just 2 ofus. I have tenative vacations planned into 2007. DOes anyone else plan that far out?

Lori

 

[Frozenfingers]

Actually, I have the point useage kinda mapped out thru 2011.. things can change of course, but we have a fair idea who will join us and when we will be inviing them.. How is THAT for being retentive?

 

[Desperado]

Well, we don't really move just for weekends, but they are considered in our planning. We may arrive on a weekend and stay in the Swan or Dolphin and then move to our DVC resort for the rest of the trip.

 

[WOW]

We used to pay cash for the weekends, as we were too lazy to move, so we could also "hoard" points. Then we finally bought enough points that we didn't have to do that anymore. We all get the add-on fever, so maybe sometime in the future that will work for you. Good Luck!!!!!

 

[Pa@okw95]

There is no way I pay 2.5 times more for the same room just because it is Friday or Saturday. I view points as cash, I would not do it if were cash why do it because it is points. At any rate out of 17 vacations down to OKW I did do it once when I arrived late Saturday night and was too tired to ask around for a room so I went directly to OKW and took a room on Saturday night. I also have plans for next winter that include a Saturday night stay over at OKW in a two bedroom, but I am doing that because I have guests coming in on Satrday and don't want to have them have to stay somewhere else for one night. There are a lot of nice places out there to stay at on the weekend, I found the Hilton to be one of them.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Nope. We've stayed at BWV on weekends and will be staying at SSR and BWV again this year on Friday and Saturdays. It's not worth the hassle of moving to me.

 

[AZKathy]

When we purchased DVC, we had a family of four and purchased accordingly. To our pleasant surprise, we are now a family of five and do not have the option to afford add on points as others have. We have been flexible with our points now by arriving on a Sunday or changing on weekends. In the perfect world, it would be best to just stay in our villa the entire stay, but it does not bother me too much to change on weekends if that allows a longer stay. I would rather move and stay in Central Florida longer than cut the vacation short.

 

[chrissyk]

We usually do move for the weekend to save on points. At first my husband didn't want to do that, but now he likes hotel-hopping more than I do

 

[WDWMom]

We bought into DVC so we would never have to "pay" for a room again. When planning our trips we look at the weekly points instead of the day to day points. We view them as an average of points per night. Plus, with a family of 5, I do not want to pack and unpack, worry about food and the time it takes to do all this. I'm on vacation and that time is precious to our family.

 

[perdidobay]

Nope, I don't move on weekends...to us it's not worth the hassle.
When we fly to WDW, it's usually Sat arrival - Sat departure, so I have 2 high point days. When we drive, it's usually at Sun arrival- Friday departure, so no high point days... it evens out ok for us.
I even use points on Sat night stays for the day before our 4 day Disney cruises.... and of course the first night after is a Thursday... so we feel it evens out.

Hey, I bought them to use, not to hoard

 

[sumessefui]

Never!

 

[Pixie_Dust]

Yes, we always save points by not using the weekend. Last time we took a trip to the Gulf Coast. It was great! We went to Busch Gardens a couple of times and once we went to Cypress Gardens. These are all very memorable side trips.

I have found cheap-with-breakfast places up by Sea World and Universal too as the weekend break. It's always nice to be as close to the park you are going to as possible. Plus it is very interesting to stay in different places. I wouldn't have it any other way

The "hassle" is minimal and way more than offset by the amount of money you save (just multiply your cost-per-point by how many more points you would be using for the weekend, and ask yourself if you would fork over that much cash to avoid a little "hassle" -- which you could always see as not a hassle at all but an adventure and a chance to make more memories.)

P.S. Obviously you need a car to do this, but weekly rentals are always so cheap it makes no sense to suffer without a car anyway. Remember you get free parking at the theme parks when staying at DVC, too.

 

[VanHouten]

I always thought I would never want to switch. But we are going down on May 15th and SSR doesn't open until the 17th so we had to book somewhere for two days.

I'm kind of liking the chance to check out a resort that I have never been to before. We are looking at AKL. Even though it will cost a little money, it is only two days so we can try some resorts that we otherwise wouldn't have wanted to pay for during a longer stay.

(then again, this is out first trip down with DVC so maybe once we do end up staying at OKW, we will never go to a "regular" resort again. )

 

[DSNY FN]

We transfer out every weekend that way we mae our stay longer as the weekend points depending on the accomodation can addup to another week.

 

[twinmomplus2new]

We alaways go Sunday to Sunday. I always arrive Sunday morning (DVC) And on the following Friday switch to AKL on the weekend. That is the standard trip for us we get in our Boardwalk fix and then move to AKL to simply hang out and enjoy the resort itself.