Does ANYONE use points to stay weekends?

[Deb & Bill]

We usually check in and stay. If we are arriving late, we might stay at a moderate and then check into DVC the next day. On our last trip, we stayed from Friday to the next Sunday, so we were in a two bedroom for two Friday and two Saturday nights.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I know that I already answered, but I totally forgot that our very next trip is for 5 nights, including Memorial weekend at VB, 2 OV rooms!

Bobbi

 

[lsutigger2]

I am a member of the "not moving while on vacation" club. DH and I will stay put in one place for the length of the vacation. Last Oct. we stayed from one Saturday until Monday a week later - two weekends!! We bought enough points for that very reason.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Wow I was expecting a lot more people to say they paid for w/e's. We only bought last year, so not sure what we'll do. Would like to stay in one place, but our points are limited (at this point!), so we'll probably conserve. This April, we were going to stay Fri at Pop & Sat at BCV, but then traded Sat for Mon + Tues!, so now at Pop Fri & Sat

Well, no shortage of points in this family; we've got nearly 500. But I generally prefer to pay cash for weekend nights. There are plenty of times we will use points on the weekends, like our BW view 2BR over Columbus Day, which you can only get staying on points, and also times when the DVC discounted cash rate is not available. But generally, if we can do it, I'd prefer to save my points for when they are most cost-effective (ie, weeknights), and try to snag a DVC discounted cash rate for those weekend nights.

On our upcoming April trip, we are spending the first weekend at AKL. Since we are bringing my parents and my niece for their first WDW visits, I really wanted to start out with a WOW, and AKL has that in spades (esp Savannah view). Then on the Sunday we move to a 2BR at BWV for a different kind of Wow, and stay thru the week there. But that final Friday night, we booked for cash using the 25% DVC discount. Since we are fortunate enough to have the luxury of the free cash and the points, why not make the most effective use of both? Plus I am hoping to save for a BWV GV next year, so I am conserving as many of those BWV points as I can.

 

[kathyseb]

When we bought in our guide explained to us that it takes more points on weekends as the locals were booking rooms just for the weekends. They were close enough they could make a weekend trip. By doing that, people with extended stays (a week or so) were having trouble finding rooms available for their entire stays. So they raised the points needed to stay on weekends.
Makes no difference to us. Since our three trips are pretty much a constant, we knew exacly how many points we would need and that is what we bought. After our original purchase, we then did a small add on at BW. So the two contracts combined, we will never run low on points.
This year when we were trying to book at BW for our up coming April trip (this was before our add on there, so we were at the 7 month window) I was afraid we would have to switch resorts in the middle. We decided then NO WAY. But when I called at the seven month window to switch, I had no problem.
We will never pay cash on weekends. It is so nice to call and make reservations and not be asked for a credit card number. And even nicer to check out and never see a bill.

 

[xterratri]

We currently have four trips booked and they ALL include weekends. The May/June and Dec trips are 7 nights each, Oct has to fall over a weekend due to my school schedule as does the Jan trip for the marathon. That being said, we are leaving on Dec 24th due to the huge jump in points. I get two weeks at X-mas so we are going for the first week. Thought about staying longer by moving but we'll be back two weeks later anyway. The great thing about DVC is the flexibility to plan your vacations how you want to have them.

 

[Peggy Sue]

we initially started out paying cash for the weekends using the dvc discounted rate..did two add ons and now used points for all nights. we don't like moving around .. last december we started out with 2 nights at akl so we could reserve the sunrise safari .. we enjoyed the experience and may do something like that again, but we wouldn't move just to avoid using points.

peggy Sue

 

[Bella2000]

We use our points on weekends as well.

 

[maja36]

About to book ssr for 1 week in Jan 2006. Silly me, somehow I figured a weekly rate was less points than per night rate. Well, airfare is booked so we're stuck with the weekly rate of 95 points. But with 2 little kids, I can't see us moving midway, and being in Toronto, it's hard to go more than 1 time per year to disney. So we'll probably always use the weekends...

 

[tjkraz]

The reason is that people would prefer to stay weekends to maximize their vacation days allocated from work, its cheaper to include Sat night stay with air and rental car, and various other obvious reasons.

More concisely, it's pure supply and demand. As kathyseb mentioned, there are many DVC owners who live within a few hours of Disney who would love to make frequent weekend stays if they were more economical. The higher points are simply to balance demand.

In fact, the one adjustment made to the point table at OKW back in '96 redistributed the weekend / weekday points a bit to respond to demand. Sure, there are still members that successfully get the member cash discount for weekends, which tells us that they aren't consistently being booked by members using points. But DVC won't tell us the exact occupancy levels, so we're left to assume that everything is within acceptable guidelines.

As to the original question, we've used points for the weekend and would do it again if it fit into our schedule. Our kids are too young for us to enjoy resort hopping, so we'd rather just plant roots at one hotel and stay there for the duration.

 

[pumpkinboy]

About to book ssr for 1 week in Jan 2006. Silly me, somehow I figured a weekly rate was less points than per night rate. Well, airfare is booked so we're stuck with the weekly rate of 95 points. But with 2 little kids, I can't see us moving midway, and being in Toronto, it's hard to go more than 1 time per year to disney. So we'll probably always use the weekends...

The thing is, my TO friend, that when you book a cash ressie thru MS, you stay put in the same unit. This past November, we started out with a points ressie for Weds & Thurs, switched to a DVC discounted cash ressie over the weekend then back to points for Sun; we had the same keys, same parking pass, same room, same everything the whole time. It was completely seamless. And instead of paying 58 points a night over the weekend, we paid $490 after tax, which at $10 a point (assumed rental value) comes to a savings of $90 a night for those two weekend nights. I'll just use those 116 points saved last year on some weeknights this year (saving for that pie-in-the-sky dream, a BWV GV next year).

So it can be done without hassle, provided the cash rates are available, which they are not for certain types of rooms at certain times. But when they are, I am darn sure going to take advantage of them if I have a goal towards which I am saving points. Without such a goal, I'd just use points anyway and save the cash out of pocket, and I guess that's wwhere a lot of our fellow DVCers are.

 

[mom23boys]

This August is only our 2nd trip with DVC, and yes we am using 144 points to stay Fri-Sat. We really debated it, but the rate even with the DVC discount was far more than what we wanted to spend. We have a 2 bedroom. This now puts us in the hole till August 2007.

I have been hinting to DH about more points, but I do not see that happening anytime soon.

 

[bwvBound]

Our annual DVC stay runs SAT-SAT (7 nights). I simply look at the point cost per week instead of the nightly breakdown. No worries!

 

[DisFlan]

We'll be staying Sat. through Fri. on our next trip. My DH thinks it's a hassle to move.

DisFlan

 

[TinkTatoo]

We come over from Ireland and our plan for our points is to stay 12 nights in a 1 Br in OKW which would include 1 weekend. Then the second weekend cash somewhere else with our final 5 nights in a 1 Br at BWV, BCV or VWL.

As the main cost of our vacation is the flights - plus the long journey time, it makes sense for us to stay for one long vacation rather than lots of smaller ones.

 

[IsAreWasWereAm]

Once we move in, we're in for good ... or at least until it's time to head down to Vero to dance in the sunshine!

 

[DisneyBB]

We tend to go for about 19 nights and to off set the points stay the first 5 nights in a studio on a different DVC resort. Either BWV's,WL or BCV then move on the Sunday to our home OKW for 12 nights in a 1 bed. I could never do it the other way around as it would be so hard to go from a 1 bed to a studio. Also at the beginning of the holiday you are organised enough to move. We always use the points for weekends, just try to get smaller accommadation at the beginning. The other way we have done it to fly into Orlando on a Sat and stay the first night in a Disney value hotel and check in really eary the next morning to OKW. This means we are not getting the left overs and we save a few points. We have a booking for this Christmas and since we are staying 25 nights we have to move a round a bit! 3 nights at the beginning in the ASMo, 14 nights in 1 bedroom OKW (73pts for WE), 4 nights in Dolphin and 4 nights back in a bed okw! We could afford one weekend over Christmas on points, but not the new year. So decided to book and stay where we could walk to the parks. I can't wait, I just love DVC I would not be able to afford to do this without it.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

We've used points many times to stay on weekends. For our upcoming trip, we're staying a Friday night, as well.

 

[akghutton]

We stay the weekends on points.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We use our points for weekends. When we purchased, I assumed a week at a time, and purchased 230 points for that reason. Then I decided I wanted to go occationally during higher point times, so we bought another 150 points. I think paying for weekends defeats the purpose of having DVC.