How many book one or two nights in a regular hotel before DVC stay?

[littlestar]

I'm planning our February trip. We have five nights at the Boardwalk Villas on points (Sunday through Thursday). Found out we could get $77.96 (with tax) a night with our DisneyClub discount at All Star Movies the Saturday we arrive and booked it. I hate to use points for a Saturday, plus the day we arrive is usually a waste (especially if our flights come in during the evening). Do a lot of you do this? Book a night or two at a Disney hotel for the Friday and Saturdays to save points?

We plan on booking with cash for Hilton Head on a Saturday arrival also. Then switching over to points for the next five days.

Our kids like the Polynesian hotel. One of the questions they asked when we bought DVC was, does this mean we can't stay at the Poly? We told them our plan was to spend a Friday and Saturday at the Poly and then switch over to DVC for the rest of the vacation. They said "cool."

 

[Terry S]

Yes, this trip we have the AS Movies booked for the first night. Next trip, I decided to make it a bit easier and book a studio at BCV the first night and then were moving to a 1 bedroom at BCV the rest of the nights.

I wouldn't do it for more then one night though because I don't want to have to unpack.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We have two nights in AKL Concierge before we spend 6 nights at BCV 1-Bedroom in late May, early June. Last Easter, we spent two nights at the Swan before we checked into OKW Studio for 6 nights. At Christmas, though, we have eight nights at OKW 1-bedroom, no extra nights anywhere else.

We'll do it because we have some other plans in mind or not enough points to get the full stay without borrowing. Hopefully, we won't have to borrow too much any more since we added on a few times. We don't do it to save points on weekends.

 

[zurgswife]

We typically stay the first night....Saturday...in a different hotel...last time it was AKL....awesome night....

 

[luvindisneyworld]

we always book the first night at a place near disney or in disney, we stay sunday through thursday also, i find it better coming in on saturday and staying somewhere close so we can goin MK first thing on sunday.
misty

 

[eva]

We sometimes do this if we are arriving late in the evening or come in a few days early. But we hate moving. We hate it so much that we will usually spend the extra points for 1 or 2 nights on the weekend. This next trip we will be flying in Saturday morning, so we will pay the extra points for Saturday night. We had thought about staying in a studio the first night and then moving to a 1-bedroom, but we decided that we would rather pay extra to stay in a 1-bedroom the whole time.

 

[vernon]

I've done this before, I'm doing it this trip over Xmas and I'll do it again. IMHO if you're flying into Orlando late afternoon it's a waste to use precious DVC points if you're not going to take advantage of the facilities. If you're just looking for somewhere to sleep for a night it's a sensible option.

 

[Richyams]

Never, it kind of defeats the purpose of DVC. We look at our vacation as the cost of the vacation. We bought enough points to not have to worry about moving out for the weekend.

 

[slp87]

We always arrive on a Friday evening, so we stay off site that first night in an inexpensive motel.

 

[Pa@okw95]

We stay at the Hilton every Saturday then go over to OKW on Sunday. We love the Hilton. It is very close to DDM just have to cross the street. They have excellent restaurants also. It is also very close to a Catholic Church that we attend on Saturday night.
It costs about $200 give or take a few bucks. It is also an easy drive to OKW.

 

[rbuzzotta]

We do, weekend points are too precious now........we are looking into adding on once our house is built!!! YAHOO!! At that point, I hope to add on enough to cover the weekends........

 

[lampy]

We always do this. There are so many quality resorts in the area. When we arrive on Saturday afternoon, it seems silly to spend 2-3 nights worth of points at DVC when you are tired from the trip. We just check-in on Sunday. Last time it was HIFS and we spent Sunday at Seaworld. Before that we have stayed near US.

Next trip we are coming in on Thursday to Tampa and spending that weekend at the beach before our Sun-Thur stay.

There is not that much stuff to move for us, we know we will have a washer and dryer at DVC so we only pack a few outfits each.

 

[mzzbuzzlightyear]

When we go to WDW, we stay put. In fact, last March I was dragging my feet trying to get the very cheapist airfare, and you can guess what happened.
I ended up having to leave on a Friday morning, (from LaGuardia!) 4 adults, and 3 young boys plus a 7 month old baby! So... we had to use points for TWO weekends instead of one! But it was easier to stay at OKW than to move with the 4 children. Plus, my DGS, 10 yrs, kept saying isn't this nice to stay at OKW for all these days?
It was worth all the points for the 10 days.
June

 

[TerriBelle]

We are trying it this trip!

We saved over $300 on airfare by flying Friday night instead of Saturday morning. We had already reserved our room and we didn't want to spend more points since we won't arrive until 9:00. We got a great rate at PO with one of the codes so we are staying there for Friday night. I was going to try All Star but the rate for PO was about the same! We never rent a car so I want on-site.

I hope this all goes smooth. I have heard good things about Disney moving your stuff.

 

[BarbOKW]

Now that the kids are older they really like spending time at IOA and Universal too. Since you get front of the line access at those parks if you stay at one of there resorts, we always move. So as it happens it's either the weekend before of after our DVC stay. We don't like to move so before we started spending some of our vacation time at Universal we used points on the weekend. We bought enough to ensure we could stay the weekend without moving and I always looked at the total cost for the vacation not the cost per night. But now that we do move we're saving a lot of points and I'm enjoying trying to figure out what to do with them.

 

[colleen costello]

We are trying this out and it's pretty fun. I dragged DH down this summer a night early, and we stayed at Coronado Springs for $114. It was a treat -- we'd never been there before. Those extra Saturday night points would have hurt!

We had March 2003 reservations for BCV but have switched over to OKW. My parents are joining us and we think BCV is just too much walking for Grammy. At OKW you park right in front of the room. I did leave us in BCV for the first night -- just so my parents can see it. For one night you don't really have to unpack much. We hope for warm weather so we can use Stormalong Bay the first day, then it's over to the peace and quiet (and minimal walking) of OKW.

 

[anniet]

This was a consideration for us when purchasing. We only wanted 150 points, but that basically gets us 10 or 11 nights in a studio at our home resort, and we usually visit for 14 to 17 days in January. We decided to fly into Orlando, travel around Florida (usually down the East Coast) and then head to Orlando for the last 10 days, (we've done this pre-DVC too) Although we're newbies, so there may be an add-on in our future!

 

[twinglefam]

we've only stayed at Disney resorts since our purchase, spring'01....but this fall we decided the pts were just too high Thanksgiving weekend....we got a great rate at PORiverside so we're leaving VB a night early to head up to WDW Fri. then transfering to BCV Sat-Fri. Can't beat the moving help from Disney.... Now, the whole issue is that you save the points by doing this, but now you've saved yourself enough points for a mini spring break trip....another pair of plane tickets, another pair of park hoppers....here we go again!

 

[MdmMim]

From Richyams...

Never, it kind of defeats the purpose of DVC. We look at our vacation as the cost of the vacation. We bought enough points to not have to worry about moving out for the weekend.

I totally agree! When I calculate the amount of points needed for a trip, I look at the weekly amount, not the daily. I bought enough points to cover weekends.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

I used to stay weekends at OKW, but.....then figured I could squeeze another trip out of my points if I stay somewhere else on Friday and Sat. We found a nice villa about 8 mins. outside Disney for 84.00 per night and were very happy with it, but......there is NO place like home and we were happy to be at OKW on Sunday.