Do you skip FR/SA nights?

[apulk]

Moving during the trip isn't our favorite thing to do but those weekend points are killers. It isn't the worst thing though...cutting the trip short would be the worst.

We try to arrive on Sunday -- book at Vacation Club resort thru Friday then move to 2 rooms at Pop. Moving isn't hard...just pack, leave your bags in the room and arrange to have them moved during the day.

At Hilton Head we are NEVER ready to leave so we either do Friday on points or pay cash.

 

[KristinU]

When we joined DVC we bought enough points to do a whole week including a weekend, and did so for a few years...but then we realized that we could do two vacations with our points if we don't do weekends. DH travels a lot for business so we almost always have enough hotel points to stay free at DTD hotels or we have done AP or AAA rates at moderates, we're trying a value for the 1st time this fall and I'm sure it will be great too. Packing up and moving isn't the best thing in the world, but as a PP said already - not cutting your WDW vacation short is!

 

[Camping Cat]

I know I'll probably get jumped on for this and I feel like maybe I'm just being really dense and missing something so simple, but I still don't see why Disney has to charge so many more points for weekends than week nights. They can explain and explain it over and over again but I can't get past the feeling that I'm the only one that sees that the Emperor isn't wearing any clothes. Please, somebody explain it to me like I'm a 3 year old. Look, I know it's their ballgame and they can do whatever they want to do. I still love WDW and I'll still be there every chance I can get. I just wish this made more sense to me.

 

[Inkmahm]

I don't like to move once I'm at a location and I don't want to avoid weekends as those are "free" days that don't cost me any of my precious vacation time at work. Our current schedule is a 4 night stay in spring (starting on a Friday night) and a 4 night stay in December (starting on a Thursday) following a 4 night Disney cruise. I'll have to look at paying cash, haven't considered that before.

We take other vacations during the year, too, so Disney is only one of our destinations.

When I retire in a decade or so, we'll have plenty of points to use on only weekdays then for longer trips.

 

[Dean]

I know I'll probably get jumped on for this and I feel like maybe I'm just being really dense and missing something so simple, but I still don't see why Disney has to charge so many more points for weekends than week nights. They can explain and explain it over and over again but I can't get past the feeling that I'm the only one that sees that the Emperor isn't wearing any clothes. Please, somebody explain it to me like I'm a 3 year old. Look, I know it's their ballgame and they can do whatever they want to do. I still love WDW and I'll still be there every chance I can get. I just wish this made more sense to me.

No reason for anyone to jump. Truth is DVC has never given a formal explanation. Our assumption, and I suspect the correct one, is to minimizes weekend usage. DVC has the responsibility to average out the usage during the year and during the week. And they try to do so with as few changes over time as possible. If you look at OKW, the weekends are up to 2.5 times the weekdays. That's not true at the rest of the resorts, it's not nearly as high. Why, because they raised the weekdays. Maybe it bother you because you want to use it just for weekends part of the time, if so, I'd say they were right. Truth is if the weekend points were in a reasonable ballpark, I'd be there ten 3-4 night weekends a year.

 

[Camping Cat]

No reason for anyone to jump. Truth is DVC has never given a formal explanation. Our assumption, and I suspect the correct one, is to minimizes weekend usage. DVC has the responsibility to average out the usage during the year and during the week. And they try to do so with as few changes over time as possible. If you look at OKW, the weekends are up to 2.5 times the weekdays. That's not true at the rest of the resorts, it's not nearly as high. Why, because they raised the weekdays. Maybe it bother you because you want to use it just for weekends part of the time, if so, I'd say they were right. Truth is if the weekend points were in a reasonable ballpark, I'd be there ten 3-4 night weekends a year.

I've heard that explanation before also and it just doesn't fly with me. If they were really trying to discourage weekend only usage or long weekend usage, then they could accomplish that with a weekly rate.....by giving members a real break on the weekend points for staying a week or more. That way they could still have those high weekend points (for anyone staying less than a week), but anyone staying a week or more would not have to make the decision that so many on this thread have had to make to either pay outlandish points for the weekend, pay cash for those nights, or pack up and move to another resort for those weekend nights. Even if the weekend nights were still higher than the week nights in a weekly rate, but not that outrageous spike that they are now, it would seem more fair to me. And no, I'm not thinking of personally being disappointed that I can't go for just weekends. We don't take short trips to WDW. Our last trip was for 17 nights.....once I get there, I don't want to leave.

 

[Dean]

I've heard that explanation before also and it just doesn't fly with me. If they were really trying to discourage weekend only usage or long weekend usage, then they could accomplish that with a weekly rate.....by giving members a real break on the weekend points for staying a week or more. That way they could still have those high weekend points (for anyone staying less than a week), but anyone staying a week or more would not have to make the decision that so many on this thread have had to make to either pay outlandish points for the weekend, pay cash for those nights, or pack up and move to another resort for those weekend nights. Even if the weekend nights were still higher than the week nights in a weekly rate, but not that outrageous spike that they are now, it would seem more fair to me. And no, I'm not thinking of personally being disappointed that I can't go for just weekends. We don't take short trips to WDW. Our last trip was for 17 nights.....once I get there, I don't want to leave.

The points must be a zero sum situation. They can't legally offer a per night amount that is more than the total week reserved as a unit. What they could do is institute a minimum stay but the max would be 5 days unless the actual members voted to allow longer. I don't know of a single points system that doesn't charge more for weekends and some are far more onerous than DVC and most will tell you it's exactly for the reason I quoted above. Some as many as more than 5 points to one weekend vs weekday. You can accept it or not, your choice.

 

[lsutigger2]

We don't like moving so we have points for the whole week. once we get settled in, I really don't want to move. And I don't think I want to pay cash for rooms. makes the cost of the trip go up. We travel on Saturday, arrive on Sunday for however many days the trip is planned for.

It works for us.

 

[rinkwide]

If weekend points weren't so high, members who happen to live in closer proximity to the resorts would tend to monopolize Friday and Saturday nights, thus shutting out others from booking full week trips. It might also be that they don't want Dean hanging around, driving down property values .

 

[bicker]

Dean and rinkwide hit the nail on the head: They cannot offer the same night in the same room at different rates. If the disparity between weekdays and weekends wasn't as large, many folks would want to stay weekends, more often, and demand wouldn't be even.

 

[DisneyFreaks]

Yes, I do this all the time. Our usual plan is to arrive on a Thursday or Friday and spend 2 or 3 nights at a resort other than our DVC "home" for that trip. If we're staying at BCV, we might begin at Wilderness Lodge. If it's a VWL trip, we'll either stay at the BC a few days if it's warm enough to swim, or AKL because it's another favorite of ours. It's easy for us to move, so we do it frequently on our WDW trips. I think it's a case or either/or - you're either comfortable moving or you're not!!!!

Exactly how we think. Our adult children and their families always accompany us to WDW so we need larger or multiple rooms. We can save alot of points by staying at other resorts. It's fun trying the different resorts and we organize our packing so moving isn't so difficult.

 

[dsneygirl]

The last trip and our one in Oct we are arriving on Sat. So not worth the hassle of changing rooms for 1 night. Sat is more practical for travel as well. DH doesn't have to take off Fri and we can usually get the 7:30am direct on SW from BUF so we are at the resort by noon.

When we drove in Oct 2005 we didn't check in until Sun but we had a lot more time on our side. For a quick 4 day trip I don't mind using the points on Sat for convienence sake.

 

[dgaston]

And I'm someone who moves for Friday and Saturday. That's how we got to AKL and the Polynesian. And *gasp* this October we're staying over at Cypress Pointe in their 1 br until Sunday when we move to BWV. I just like making the most of our points!

 

[jdvm]

We NEVER move but do switch from points to cash (with a member discount, if possible) for weekends.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We do use points for weekends. That's the way our schedule works out. I just figured out how many nights DH and I will be staying at DVC this calendar year, 22, and of those 6 will have been weekend nights. For guests not in our villa, 16 nights, including 3 weekend night stays. The "guest" who gets this extravagance is my mother, if an extra night or two means that she thinks the trip is worthwhile, so be it. She's making 3 trips down this year, 3 nights for each trip.

We've not paid points for a "larger than studio" villa for a weekend night either for ourselves or our guests. We have guests staying in a 2 bedroom for 2 weekday nights in October, and they've decided to pay cash for the 2 weekend nights in the 2 bedroom, while DH and I are staying at the Swan then.

People who have to go during Premier season are the ones who really pay top dollar points. I wonder how many of us use points then.

Bobbi

 

[beachblanket]

I actually prefer to check in on Fridays. As this thread shows, the "fear" of weekend point costs tends to sweep a lot of DVC people out of the resorts, which means means more villas open up - which in turn means a higher likelihood of getting a "choice" one. It's a strategy that has continually worked for us (we always get all our requests, and have never had to settle for a "dumpster view.").

 

[vbalacek]

We usually go early Sunday and stay through late Saturday (not only do we save on Sat points, but we get a day to decompress before its back to work on Monday).

We've occassionally gone the weekend before (we love AKL). However I'd only recommend doing this the first weekend. Once you're staying in spacious two-bedroom DVC, switching to a hotel room and losing all of that space is a shock

 

[goofy4tink]

I used to vacation Sat-Sat. Since buying DVC that has changed. I also bought enough points to get me a full week at BWV in a one bedroom villa. However, I started getting greedy. So, now I arrive in WDW on a Friday night/afternoon, stay at a moderate or a value resort until Sunday. Then I move to BWV until the following Friday, or sometimes Sat.
This way, I can go for a week in August when dd is out of school, and then again in a studio by myself in Dec.

 

[Disneyhappy]

When looking into purchasing DVC, we were concerned about missing staying at some of our favorite resorts like the Polynesian and AKL. We purposely bought in with the intention that we would be staying at another resort for part of our stay on certain trips. It works out that we will do this on Fri & Sat where the points are higher. That means more trips per year!