how many points?

[quandrea]

We currently have 300 points. That gets us to Disney for about fifteen days a year in a one bedroom and eight nights in a studio. In the future, we may have to travel during busier times and we hope to spend Jan and Feb down there when we retire (in about 25 years). My question is: Do any of you spend a few months a year down there and how many points do you have? Should we be slowly adding on now, or just acquire the 400 more down the road? I figure our children may use the points on their own as they get older and we have friends and family interested in renting the points from us. Just interested in how others make use of their point inventory.

 

[tomandrobin]

We do not spend a month or more now, but we have 1745 points for such use.

That would give us enough points for a 1 bedroom, staying at SSR, from 1/1 to 2/28 each year. However, we don't plan on staying just at WDW. We own five other timeshares also for trades to other locations. We add points as we can afford them.....no financing.

We rent all of our excess points and use the money to help cover the yearly maintenance fees. We treat our kids, extended family and friends with rooms too.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Only own 324. As TOmandrobin has stated, we rent some points that offset the MF's, and hopefully will provide quality vacations for my children and thier future families.

 

[jekjones1558]

You may need more points than you are calculating. I don't see how you can possibly get 20 days in a 1 bedroom at any DVC resort, even in Adventure season, with only 300 points. Looking at the points charts, you will need at least 1400 points to spend 8 weeks in a one bedroom, even at the cheapest DVC resort (at least 600 points for 4 weeks in January and at least 800 points for 4 weeks in February).
We thought we would want to spend 6 weeks in winter so we have 1150 points. But we have found that we get more enjoyment out of going on several trips during the year and we almost always treat family and friends, so our points are gone in a flash.
Good luck on your plan. DVC makes planning lots of fun!

 

[quandrea]

You may need more points than you are calculating. I don't see how you can possibly get 20 days in a 1 bedroom at any DVC resort, even in Adventure season, with only 300 points. Looking at the points charts, you will need at least 1400 points to spend 8 weeks in a one bedroom, even at the cheapest DVC resort (at least 600 points for 4 weeks in January and at least 800 points for 4 weeks in February).
We thought we would want to spend 6 weeks in winter so we have 1150 points. But we have found that we get more enjoyment out of going on several trips during the year and we almost always treat family and friends, so our points are gone in a flash.
Good luck on your plan. DVC makes planning lots of fun!

We are thinking two months in a studio. With just the two of us we figure that would be comfortable. Maybe we're wrong. Thanks for the feedback. I was talking to our guide today and she suggested what many of you have: add points as you can afford them, no financing. Renting them seems like a good idea to offset MF, just worry about the logistics of that. I suppose that I could have DAddio do some of the legwork for me. One more question: Is it important to own at only one resort? My guide says it makes planning easier, but we love OKW and own at AK. I'd rather add on at OKW, but perhaps it does muddy the waters somewhat? Thoughts?

 

[Sandisw]

We are thinking two months in a studio. With just the two of us we figure that would be comfortable. Maybe we're wrong. Thanks for the feedback. I was talking to our guide today and she suggested what many of you have: add points as you can afford them, no financing. Renting them seems like a good idea to offset MF, just worry about the logistics of that. I suppose that I could have DAddio do some of the legwork for me. One more question: Is it important to own at only one resort? My guide says it makes planning easier, but we love OKW and own at AK. I'd rather add on at OKW, but perhaps it does muddy the waters somewhat? Thoughts?

I think the important piece of owning at more than one resort is to own enough points to book what you want at each the way you want.

We owned BLT and VWL for a short time. The biggest problem was that the VWL contract was only 50 points. Not enough for 2 nights of our summer trip. The BLT contract was only 130 points, not enough for 4 nights of our summer trip so basically, I could not book my entire yearly trip at 11 months out without borrowing.

If you add on at OKW, I would just be sure that you get enough to book whole nights so that you can easily combine a trip with nights at AKV and still book at the 11 month mark.

Good luck!

 

[quandrea]

I think the important piece of owning at more than one resort is to own enough points to book what you want at each the way you want.

We owned BLT and VWL for a short time. The biggest problem was that the VWL contract was only 50 points. Not enough for 2 nights of our summer trip. The BLT contract was only 130 points, not enough for 4 nights of our summer trip so basically, I could not book my entire yearly trip at 11 months out without borrowing.

If you add on at OKW, I would just be sure that you get enough to book whole nights so that you can easily combine a trip with nights at AKV and still book at the 11 month mark.

Good luck!

That's what I was thinking. there is no law that says I have to buy an even number of points. I guess I should do the math and if it comes out to 457 points for OKW for example, buy that. Is my thinking right? This would make split stays easy. Which is not a big deal when staying a long time.

 

[jolia]

Keep in mind that points charts may change from year to year. Some folks pick their home resort where the annual dues are the lowest.. some people pick their home to take advantage of the 11 months. I can tell you from experience that even if OKW or SSR is not your home (and you cant book using 11 mths) both properties are usually available at last minute. I personally have OKW as home and love it but I dont think I'd spend +1000pts / year to stay there for a month - thats is like $10,000 (considering you can rent them for $10/pt)

 

[Sandisw]

That's what I was thinking. there is no law that says I have to buy an even number of points. I guess I should do the math and if it comes out to 457 points for OKW for example, buy that. Is my thinking right? This would make split stays easy. Which is not a big deal when staying a long time.

As long as what you own at the resort is enough to get you what you want, or at least most of what you want with the split stay, you will be fine.

So, in this case, if you know you want to stay at OKW and want to be able to book that stay at the 11 month mark without having to wait and hope availability is still there at 7 months to use your current AKV points, then I would certainly buy enough to book the stay. I would not buy the exact amount, but leave yourself a cushion (ie: instead of 457, maybe 470).

Good luck!