Help me think this through....many at one or few at many

[Brian Noble]

This will probably color my answer, but: I am not a split stay fan. It's one thing to have a day tacked on one end--particularly for an arrival night that is on the later side--but I like being able to stay put.

Anyway, I'd echo the advice of "have enough for a healthy stay at your first resort in your preferred unit type before diversifying."

 

[Cfabar1]

This will probably color my answer, but: I am not a split stay fan. It's one thing to have a day tacked on one end--particularly for an arrival night that is on the later side--but I like being able to stay put.

Agreed… and, while in my graduate student days, and earlier in my life I would frequently go through that kind of “optimization” for the late night plane arrival for example, I’m past that now… the extra few dollars isn’t worth it to me anymore…

 

[Chili327]

Yeahhh we did a 2-3-2 once and it was.. fine I guess because we were all adults and lived out of our luggage but I'd hate to do that with kids. I think going forward we're going to do 3-4 or 4-3

Do you always do 7 nights per trip?

My most common is Sat - Sun (8 nights), but I’m thinking I might rather get more mid-week (Tues, Wed, Thurs) park days, so maybe going Sun through the following Fri, getting more mid-week parks days and less weekend days, but that changes from 8 nights to like 12. lol

 

[intamin]

Do you always do 7 nights per trip?

My most common is Sat - Sun (8 nights), but I’m thinking I might rather get more mid-week (Tues, Wed, Thurs) park days, so maybe going Sun through the following Fri, getting more mid-week parks days and less weekend days, but that changes from 8 nights to like 12. lol

We like doing Saturday to Saturday which is why unfortunately I don't see us using the FW that often. Leaving Saturday means we don't have to rush to the airport after work and also spares us from the cost of a weekend night for one night and leaving the following Saturday also spares us another weekend night and gives us a day to recover being going back to work so yes our normal is Saturday to Saturday for 7 nights

 

[Genie+]

I wanted to chime in on this, because I now have a little more experience and wonder what my next “point move” should be.


AKV - 39 (good for 2 nights a year)
BWV - 100 (good for the majority of our trip)
BLT - 161 (use as SAP* to upgrade or add days)
-
VGC - 75 (untouchable)




Trying to plan like this sounds like a dream, unfortunately I just seem to have commitment issues. lol

I really like starting my trip on the savanna for a couple nights (may be part of the problem, you’ll see later), then LOVE the boardwalk for the bulk of the trip, but from there is where it gets messy &/or confusing. We just did this exact trip ending with a couple nights at BLT, but I’m not sold on staying at BLT each time, so my thought is to use it for random other resorts to finish off the trip, BUT I’m torn between just staying at Boardwalk longer vs the trying other places for only a couple nights… after really utilizing the kitchen for the first time I get the hassle of switching to another resort, as I sit here looking at space mountain from a theme park view at BLT it’s nice, but my bags are all packed there isn’t much in the fridge or cupboards, etc.

The best laid plans lol. Things were fine until we decided >2 people in a studio no longer works. Threw the whole plan off. Before that BW was getting good mileage with only 50pts and 150pts VGF was plenty. After doing 2 trips with twin studios and our next in a 1BR, I’m less sure of where we go from here*.

I don’t prefer split stays but find it’s not bad if at least 3 nights each resort or at least one large block of nights in one place, and bonus points when a MK/EP resort split so the park access offsets the inconvenience.

I also prefer not to both bank/borrow on the same reservation since that leaves less flexibility to salvage a change in plans.

I guess I’m just wondering if I should do less splits stays and focus on certain resorts for longer, like bank and borrow my AKV and try staying longer, (we usually do about 8 nights total per trip) so start doing AKV for 4, BWV for 4, and during years when bank or borrow AKV points are unavailable, switch it up to new resorts based on whatever is available using BLT points?

Hmm, this is tricky.

Do you like mixing 2 or 3 nights AKV into most trips?

Would you like some trips where you do not move at all? Or do you ever feel 8 nights is too long at one resort?

Is there any pattern to how you book studios and 1BRs? Are you ever intentionally mixing them on the same trip?

TL;DR
I need and want to try more/other resorts, but getting stuck on my favs and afraid of owning too many resorts (small contracts) for not enough vacation time


Also, I didn’t mention above, but how do you determine what your “dues budget” should be?

As far as dues budget I aim to keep it easy to swing on a monthly basis. Right now double would still be comfortable. Triple is where we’d feel pain noticing that monthly bill. My limit is staying under that.

I may start another thread for this, but it kind of plays into the “how do you do it” question. Do you do some trips that are studio heavy and eat out more, then other trips that are more resort days utilizing the kitchen more or a little of both on each trip?

*It’s this next trip that I hope will help us decide the path forward. My guess is the VGF 1BR will change DH into wanting more of that in our future. Honestly that’s going to change our whole outlook.

For one, we’ll definitely keep running short on points. 1BRs would also mean our home resort might be less vital than when we were planning mostly studios. From there the decision would be lock in with adding more DVC points, or pivot to using bounceback offers for some of our 1BR trips so we don’t keep running out DVC points. I’m more confused than ever!!!

 

[Genie+]

Not sure how we got back here, but I find myself thinking I should have bought 50 more VGF points when I bought… and I should have not taken magical beginnings… Oh well! You live you learn….

^ So much this! I really want to kick myself We’d have 0 regrets if we made either or both of those choices.

We just didn’t know if we’d truly need/want more points. The biggest thing I’ve been guarded about with DVC is not having it over-prioritize beyond what we’d naturally choose otherwise. Not easy to measure, especially without knowing the future

For now I’m on a holding path until our trip in 78 days. We’ll be throwing 1BRs, club level, and bounceback offers into the mix. So now I’m contemplating mixing DVC with bouncebacks (can book up to 2 per adult from each WDW resvtn)…depending how those experiences play out.

Less commitment, more flexibility, not far off cost-wise when compared to point cost on 1BRs if we’re doing more of them now… and I have a feeling DH will want more Club Level which BB is by far best option there. What seemed two very different paths but maybe they ‘taste great together’?

We just can’t beat DVC for studios and 2 BRs. We love the perks. But DH struggles with booking 11 months out, or even 8 months out for that matter. He also loves booking shorter spontaneous trips (which actually means late Oct or Feb lol).

Maybe hybrid is the answer for us. Solves needing more points and opens a few more options. But first I need to see if my suspicion is correct about 1BR and CL, then see how easy/hard it is to manage using DVC and BB together.

 

[Genie+]

Do you always do 7 nights per trip?

My most common is Sat - Sun (8 nights), but I’m thinking I might rather get more mid-week (Tues, Wed, Thurs) park days, so maybe going Sun through the following Fri, getting more mid-week parks days and less weekend days, but that changes from 8 nights to like 12. lol

In this case try Tues - Fri. In a perfect world this is what I shoot for.

Crowd-wise Wed and Thursday almost always are the best park days in any given week, with Tuesday probably next in line after. Plus you’ll get 2 of the Wed EEH which is usually MK, and 1 on Monday which usually EP and 1 is likely enough.

 

[intamin]

For one, we’ll definitely keep running short on points. 1BRs would also mean our home resort might be less vital than when we were planning mostly studios. From there the decision would be lock in with adding more DVC points, or pivot to using bounceback offers for some of our 1BR trips so we don’t keep running out DVC points. I’m more confused than ever!!!

The thing about 1BRs is it's so nice not only to have the extra space and amenities but also your resort options open up so much, especially if you go outside of peak times. When you get to 2BRs you start running into availability issues again but like I'm not worried about booking the hard to get resorts at 7 months for when I want to go in the summer because of our kid's schedule.

 

[intamin]

Not sure how we got back here, but I find myself thinking I should have bought 50 more VGF points when I bought… and I should have not taken magical beginnings… Oh well! You live you learn….

I've still been questioning myself if I should've added an extra 50 to get up to 250 for Poly but we don't need it.. I think. I also don't know if they would even let me amend my contract since we did sign things over 10 days ago now but are still paying the contract off

 

[VGCgroupie]

I've still been questioning myself if I should've added an extra 50 to get up to 250 for Poly but we don't need it.. I think. I also don't know if they would even let me amend my contract since we did sign things over 10 days ago now but are still paying the contract off

You can bump up your purchase amount if you have not fully closed. Sorry to bring you this great yet dire news.

 

[tx911]

I hate seeing these old posts of mine and thinking, who was that chump?

 

[Cfabar1]

I hate seeing these old posts of mine and thinking, who was that chump?

Better that than "oh those days were so much better".

 

[intamin]

You can bump up your purchase amount if you have not fully closed. Sorry to bring you this great yet dire news.

I'm extremely tempted turns out my work forgot to give me my bonus and it turns out that's enough to cover the add on. I'm leaning towards being financially responsible though because if I REALLY wanted 50 extra points, I could buy an add on down the line. I feel like I'm trying to solve a problem I don't really have yet? Because it's always nicer to have more points but do I actually need more Poly at this point? Ehh I don't know if the incentive jump from 200 to 250 is worth it. Alternatively that's money that could be put towards swapping AKV for a potentially larger BLT contract . I don't know, also the wife would murder me.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I'm extremely tempted turns out my work forgot to give me my bonus and it turns out that's enough to cover the add on. I'm leaning towards being financially responsible though because if I REALLY wanted 50 extra points, I could buy an add on down the line. I feel like I'm trying to solve a problem I don't really have yet? Because it's always nicer to have more points but do I actually need more Poly at this point? Ehh I don't know if the incentive jump from 200 to 250 is worth it. Alternatively that's money that could be put towards swapping AKV for a potentially larger BLT contract . I don't know, also the wife would murder me.

Good news is you probably have enough time to apply for another card with a big sign up bonus!

But I totally know what you mean. Rock meet hard spot.

 

[intamin]

Good news is you probably have enough time to apply for another card with a big sign up bonus!

But I totally know what you mean. Rock meet hard spot.

Disney Inspire card here I come! But yeah honestly it was already a stretch for my wife to go for 200 instead of 150, I don't think she would go for the 250 lol. I've been studying the charts to see what I would be able to get with 250 instead of 200 to see if it's worth it.

 

[Chili327]

We like doing Saturday to Saturday which is why unfortunately I don't see us using the FW that often. Leaving Saturday means we don't have to rush to the airport after work and also spares us from the cost of a weekend night for one night and leaving the following Saturday also spares us another weekend night and gives us a day to recover being going back to work so yes our normal is Saturday to Saturday for 7 nights

Yep, I get that. My days off are actually Sun & Mon so it changes it a little bit.

The best laid plans lol. Things were fine until we decided >2 people in a studio no longer works. Threw the whole plan off. Before that BW was getting good mileage with only 50pts and 150pts VGF was plenty. After doing 2 trips with twin studios and our next in a 1BR, I’m less sure of where we go from here*.

I am mostly sold on a king bed over having a full kitchen. lol

I don’t prefer split stays but find it’s not bad if at least 3 nights each resort or at least one large block of nights in one place, and bonus points when a MK/EP resort split so the park access offsets the inconvenience.

I’m leaning that way as well 3 minimum, more often 4 or 5.

I also prefer not to both bank/borrow on the same reservation since that leaves less flexibility to salvage a change in plans.

I’m about to start learning how that works (or doesn’t) for me real soon.

Hmm, this is tricky.

Do you like mixing 2 or 3 nights AKV into most trips?

Would you like some trips where you do not move at all? Or do you ever feel 8 nights is too long at one resort?

Is there any pattern to how you book studios and 1BRs? Are you ever intentionally mixing them on the same trip?

I usually start a trip with 2 or 3 nights at AKV.
I’ve just started booking 1bdrm and as I posted above, I’m mostly sold on the king bed over anything else. Availability will be a nice bonus.

As far as dues budget I aim to keep it easy to swing on a monthly basis. Right now double would still be comfortable. Triple is where we’d feel pain noticing that monthly bill. My limit is staying under that.

I’m more confused than ever!!!

Indeed. But it’s fun trying to figure it out!!

In this case try Tues - Fri. In a perfect world this is what I shoot for.

Crowd-wise Wed and Thursday almost always are the best park days in any given week, with Tuesday probably next in line after. Plus you’ll get 2 of the Wed EEH which is usually MK, and 1 on Monday which usually EP and 1 is likely enough.

I am going to start trying to play around with that. Travel Monday then parks Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday then I was thinking would a weekend trip to Vero Beach be worth doing? (then come back on Monday to do the 3 park days again)

The thing about 1BRs is it's so nice not only to have the extra space and amenities but also your resort options open up so much, especially if you go outside of peak times. When you get to 2BRs you start running into availability issues again but like I'm not worried about booking the hard to get resorts at 7 months for when I want to go in the summer because of our kid's schedule.

I’m so sold on the King bed I’m not sure what to do any more. The 1bdrm availability is just bonus. lol

 

[intamin]

Hrmm looking at the charts and given my plans I'm not sure if I need the full 50? I'm considering increasing by 25 but then I don't hit the incentive for 250. Right now my 200 is roughly enough to get a 1BR TPV during the second most expensive time assuming 1 weekend night and 2 weeknights, going with my 4-3 split stay plan where 4 would be at RIV and 3 at Poly. That's also roughly the same cost as a 2BR standard at Poly tower. In order to get 2BR TPV that's roughly 300 points for the second highest category for 2 nights during the week and 1 night during the weekend so I still don't reach that every year but again I don't know if I need that every year. Excuse me while I think out loud guys lol. It really only affects me being able to book 3 nights in a 2BR TPV to round out the RIV stays but eh. Is it more worth for me to use those funds to potentially swap AKV to BLT like I said and use those as more SAP points? Probably better to just stay put for now? . Could probably do 3 nights a year in a 1BR TPV during that timeframe like I said but we also don't have to do a TPV every single time? Idk.

 

[Girlstar30]

Let's say, hypothetically, that I just joined DVC and already want more points before even taking my first DVC trip

Should I add more points to my existing home, or buy at a second home resort?

The former allows "going big" at 11 months at one home resort, while the latter allows smaller 11 month bookings at 2 different resorts. Either scenario allows "going big" at 7 months, assuming the points are unrestricted.

For those that have experience owning lots of points at one resort (and probably also owning at multiple resorts), which would you prefer if you had to choose one or the other?

Well I think you know my answer. I was just calculating yesterday that there is going to be 19 dvc resorts with LSL.

So if I started from scratch they just need to build one more and then 50 points at each could put me into the 1000 point club and have priority in each

 

[VGCgroupie]

Hrmm looking at the charts and given my plans I'm not sure if I need the full 50? I'm considering increasing by 25 but then I don't hit the incentive for 250. Right now my 200 is roughly enough to get a 1BR TPV during the second most expensive time assuming 1 weekend night and 2 weeknights, going with my 4-3 split stay plan where 4 would be at RIV and 3 at Poly. That's also roughly the same cost as a 2BR standard at Poly tower. In order to get 2BR TPV that's roughly 300 points for the second highest category for 2 nights during the week and 1 night during the weekend so I still don't reach that every year but again I don't know if I need that every year. Excuse me while I think out loud guys lol. It really only affects me being able to book 3 nights in a 2BR TPV to round out the RIV stays but eh. Is it more worth for me to use those funds to potentially swap AKV to BLT like I said and use those as more SAP points? Probably better to just stay put for now? . Could probably do 3 nights a year in a 1BR TPV during that timeframe like I said but we also don't have to do a TPV every single time? Idk.

So tough. Very hard to leave extra discounts on the table.

If 25 points work would 24 by chance? You could just do MMB and OTUP BOGO for what you need.

 

[intamin]

So tough. Very hard to leave extra discounts in the table.

If 25 points work would 24 by chance? You could just do MMB and OTUP BOGO for what you need.

Mm the only thing is then that wouldn't help at 11 months for Poly. I guess I might as well go all or nothing on the remaining 50? Idk, I have a couple more weeks before my contract is fully closed I guess. The option to wait and see how our use pattern truly is is still there. I could always add on one last 50 pointer down the line even though it'd cost me more. Like I said IDK, I feel like maybe I'm making a problem that isn't there so maybe the best thing is for me to stay put.