Have you ever stayed 10 days and went to a hotel on the weekend to save points?

[sssteele]

My wife and I are thinking about it for a 12 day trip with a weekend in the middle. I thought we'd take advantage of AP discounts, but currently they are not available for Fri/Sat nights. Is this likely to remain the policy? It seems to be custom-designed to thwart point conservation by DVC owners, but I'm sure it's just because weekends have a higher occupancy rate, and they don't have to offer the discount to fill rooms on weekends.

 

[Coach81]

We'll be doing that this upcoming trip. We'll be at the Nick Hotel the Saturday night, then we'll be at AKV from Sunday - Thursday, then we'll pay cash for a hotel for the weekend...

Can't wait

 

[emmababy]

For those who do this, how does it affect ddp? Can you still do it? And if we have ap, who do we call to book and get a discount?

 

[Liljam]

We're planning to do this in Dec. of 2009 as our first Winter vacation. We're planning to do Sun-Fri at SSR, then stay out of WDW in an Orlando area hotel. The weekend will be used for me to do some mega shopping while my DH and DS find some things to get in to. Then on Sun. We'll check back in to SSR or possibly other DVC property if available for another Sun.-Fri. then we'll come home. This will be the first time we'll get APs too because then we can go back again before they run out and do another 2 week stay or just a week long stay! I've always wanted to go to Discovery Cove and do the Dolphin program so that would be an option for my weekend out of WDW too!

 

[vandy]

We definately try to do the weekend stay elsewhere, if nothing else, just for one of the nights. We've done side trips to Kennedy Space Center and seen baseball games at Tampa Bay. We were considering Universal this year, but time is an issue and may need all 11 days at WDW.

 

[FLYNZ4]

We generally book 12 nights.... staying in WDW for the middle weekend only... but NOT staying for either the 1st or 3rd weekend. Moving can be a pain... especially if you have groceries.

OTOH... we will often add 1 day to the beginning of our trip (Sat night) and just stay in a studio that night. We cannot arrive early in the day unless we take a red-eye... which we tend to avoid doing. If we get into MCO at 10:00 PM or so... we just crash in the studio (or value resort) without unpacking, wake up early... and then check-in for our 12 day stay on Sunday morning. We will then do our grocery shopping on Sunday once we have our room ready.

/Jim

 

[hellerjw]

If I had younger children or a grumpy husband I'd do it differently...

I am one of those grumpy husbands (I have about 7 Grumpy the Dwarf T-Shirts, 3 or 4 caps, etc) and we usually do a cash stay at one of the value resorts the weekend before our DVC stay starts. We get some good Disney vibes with all the heavy value resort theming and then get to move into our "DVC mansion" for the remainder of our trip. I usually would baulk (the grumpy husband in me) at such changes, but for some strange reason I don't mind doing it at Disney. My wife calls my lack of complaining while we are there our little slice of Disney Magic

 

[wendyinoc]

Were doing 5 nights SSR followed by Disney Cruise(Weekend) and then 2 night AKV. I think the cruise is the best bet for the weekends. Royal Caribbean usually has a really good deal for their 3 night and it leaves on Friday.

 

[dromio42]

We always stay at a non-DVC resort on weekend nights. We (adult couple, no kids) actually like to move; it slows us down for a day, keeps us out of the parks for a day, forcing us to rest and explore other resorts, go mini golfing, whatever. Otherwise we would power through the parks everyday. we often chnge DVC resorts on points during our trips as well for the same reason.

 

[realfam]

Were headed to SSR in August and were doing the weekend at POP Century and then heading to AKV on the sunday. It saves you a ton of points....

 

[Rozzie]

We always stay at a non-DVC resort on weekend nights. We (adult couple, no kids) actually like to move; it slows us down for a day, keeps us out of the parks for a day, forcing us to rest and explore other resorts, go mini golfing, whatever. Otherwise we would power through the parks everyday. we often chnge DVC resorts on points during our trips as well for the same reason.

Ditto!! Sure we would rather park somewhere for 9 days, but we really don't mind moving. We don't pack a lot (we have 2 Ownerslockers) and always have a car. It helps break up the trip, see different things, and saves us bunches of points so we can come back for more.

In Oct we are doing first weekend SSR Studio, then going over to BWV for F&W for 5 nights in 1BR, then POFQ for last 2 nights.

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

Yes, we are doing this in December. We are staying 12 nights. Doing the first 5 (Sun to Fri) at DVC and then the weekend at POP, then the next 5 nights (Sun to Fri) at DVC.