How often do you stay at your home resort?

[WDWLODGE]

Thanks everyone for all the great info! Your responses have got me thinking about another question. It seems some of you like to split your stays during longer trips. Is this because it is hard to book 10 or so consecutive nights at the same DVC resort? Our average stays are 10 nights.

 

[lilpooh108]

If you prefer VWL, you should buy there. I've only been successful getting VWL once (we bought in 4 years ago) out of maybe 7 trips to WDW. The weekend I got was pretty last minute too, so I caught a cancellation. For planned trips, I've never been able to get consecutive days in and the waitilst never works for me so...

 

[lovin'fl]

I think you got the answers to #1 and #2. #3 was how often we stay at home resort:
We bought 200 OKW points in 2006 and then 75 HH points in 2012 and used them for:
BWV- 12 nights plus rented points to friends for 5 nights
BCV- 5 nights (used mostly HH points, but some OKW)
SSR- 2 nights plus booked 6 nights for MIL and FIL (used OKW points)
OKW- 9 nights plus booked 6 nights for MIL and FIL...6 nights for SIL (used OKW points and could get the hh section)
VWL- 4 nights (used OKW points)
HH- 4 nights (used OKW points)
VB- 4 nights (used OKW points)
BLT- booked 3 nights for Oct (used OKW points)
AKV- booked 5 nights for MIL and FIL for this Dec (used OKW points...have 8/200 '14 OKW points left)

Bought AKV points this March and used all '12, '13 and '14 points (that came with contract...261 total) to book 5 nights there in Dec for us and a studio for SIL as well.

Just added another 50 HH points so we can do a HH trip next Aug (now we have 252 to use for the trip...2 '13 plus all '14 and '15). Will likely use the 125 HH for a HH trip every other year (250 points with banking/borrowing). MIL and FIL paid us to use 1/2 our OKW (though they tend to use a bit more than 1/2 since they LOVE the 1BR instead of a studio), so we have 100 AKV and (technically) 100 OKW that we will use every other year (400 total with banking/borrowing) that we will use at our fave resorts...will be trying BLT and AKV for the 1st time coming up...then we will have an order of preference (right now mine goes: BCV, BWV, OKW, VWL, SSR...I think DH has VWL up higher than me). And as you can see, we are always in borrowing mode. Though, hopefully we can go into 2015 with all our OKW and AKV points...or we may just have to add more.

 

[disneynutz]

Thanks everyone for all the great info! Your responses have got me thinking about another question. It seems some of you like to split your stays during longer trips. Is this because it is hard to book 10 or so consecutive nights at the same DVC resort? Our average stays are 10 nights.

Longer stays might be more of a challenge depending on when you book your home resort, time of year, size of room and other factors. A longer stay can be made to feel like 2 vacations by staying at 2 resorts. You might want to stay in the Epcot area for those parks and move to the MK area for visiting the MK.

Bill

 

[drusba]

Thanks everyone for all the great info! Your responses have got me thinking about another question. It seems some of you like to split your stays during longer trips. Is this because it is hard to book 10 or so consecutive nights at the same DVC resort? Our average stays are 10 nights.

Our usual stays are 9 to 11 nights. We have not had any issues getting the total number of nights at one resort either at 11 or 7 months out over the last 16 years, but for very high demand times like NYE time, we definitely do home resort at 11 months out and book 7 nights and then add extra nights. We do not do split stays--that would be an impossibility for certain family members who believe packing is an activity that requires several hours of strategic planning followed by several more to carry out the plan.

 

[lovin'fl]

Thanks everyone for all the great info! Your responses have got me thinking about another question. It seems some of you like to split your stays during longer trips. Is this because it is hard to book 10 or so consecutive nights at the same DVC resort? Our average stays are 10 nights.

We did 1 longer stay (9 nights) as a split stay at VWL and BWV (had deluxe DP for one part of the split). We also did a split stay when we went to HHI (added 3 nights at OKW to go to Seaworld). When we did VB last summer, we added 2 nights at Universal Hard Rock so we could see the WWoHP. We just like to do split stays for longer trips (to keep DH's and kids' interest peaked and to try out the various resorts). Most of the time, now, our trips now tend to be shorter (like 5 nights), so we stick with just 1 resort for those.

More food for thought: We like to do weekdays to conserve points as the Fri and Sat nights cost more (sometimes a lot more, like HHI). We likely won't do BLT or VGF all that much because they also cost a ton of points. We started off getting a 1BR for our family of 5, but now, with 3 teens, we get a 2BR. We fell into a biennial plan where we get APs (or PAPs) and do 2-3 shorter WDW trips in that year...then the following year we do a DVC beach (will be HHI for a few years until we try Aulani someday). The year we do the DVC beach trip saves us on park tickets and airfare (can drive from MD to HHI easier than driving to WDW). This year was a WDW/PAP year and next year will be HHI.

 

[rusafee1183]

Hello,

We just started looking at resales and we are finding that our preferred resort(VWL) is a hard one to get. Our vacation style is to go to WDW one a year. We like to start planning our next trip before we take the currently booked trip. We would plan on staying at the VWL every other year or every 3 years. The other years we would like to try the other resorts. We usually travel in May or Sept. through Early December, avoiding any busy holidays. I've read that October and early December are busy DVC times.

1. Are there any other times of the year other than October and Early December that are busy for DVC?
2. Are there any resorts that are hard to book 7 months out regardless of the time of the year?
3. How often do you stay at resorts other than your home resort?

Thanks,
Bill

I think you got a lot of really good responses here, and all these people are super helpful and know the system inside and out. We are still learning, so I don't have much to offer. I just wanted to say HI NEIGHBOR!

 

[cwdefouw]

We have always stayed at our home resorts except for one time when we had a free 4 night stay at the treehouses as an incentive for buying BLT. One thing I always tell friends who are looking into DVC is, "Buy where you want to stay." This has always been good practice IF you want to be sure that you can get your preferred accomodation at most times of the year. If you like VWL and want to stay at there most times, you may want to hold out until you can find a contract for that resort. If you just want to go to WDW and stay in a villa somewhere, you may not need to buy anything more than the cheapest contract you can find. If you look right at 7 months, you can almost always find something with the exception of Holidays and other high peak times for DVC.

You are already into the "plan ahead" mindset which is also necessary for DVC owners in many situations. We usually have the next year totally planned and locked down by end of June and are starting to kick around ideas for the year after around that time as well.

 

[Chuck S]

I have only used my points to stay at OKW since purchasing in 1992. I have done a cash night here and there at a value resort.

 

[CMOORE185]

We bought where we wanted to stay every year and have stayed at all of them except Aulani and VGF. VGF is this December and Aulani is in 2015.

We will use VGF and VWL for our MK stays and BWV for our Epcot and DHS stays.

Bill

I have no real favorite resorts so I stay at them all. The only resort I felt I needed to buy at because of booking issues was HHI. Since the weather can be iffy in fall, winter, and spring it is hard to get a reservation during summer months.

 

[CMOORE185]

I know this isn't one of your three questions, but relatively speaking, VWL is one of the easier resorts to book at the 7 month mark.

I have actually found this one of the hardest resorts to get at 7 months at all times during the year.

 

[dsneygirl]

We are VWL owners but have stayed everywhere on property and some multiple times (BLT, BC, AKL, SSR). But we never travel at holidays. We prefer Dec, Sept, Oct, May.

 

[DebbieB]

I own at BWV, probably about 50% of the time I stay there.

Last year I stayed at BWV in April and VGC in September
This year I stayed at BLT in March, planning VGC in August and BWV in November.

I've stayed at all the on property DVC's except SSR.

 

[crisi]

We almost always stay at our home of BWV.

 

[dvc_john]

I own some points at all the resorts except VGF and Aulani. Points are mostly used at their respective home resort. Exceptions are for Aulani and an upcoming reservation at VGF. I almost always book 11 months out, but if I happen to book at 7 months or less, I may clean up some balances. ie use 5 points from this resort and 10 points from that resort to zero out the balance, and the rest from the home resort.
Every year I bank some resorts and borrow other resorts. I do an extensive winter stay every year, so I like to bounce around from resort to resort.

 

[missycj96]

We own at ssr (mostly) and vwl. We've stayed at bc, akv kidani and jambo, blt, vwl, boardwalk and hhi on points. I find if i book right at 7 months and am flexible (dates, view) i always get something good - i've even been lucky and few weeks out for a few nights. I also find persistence pays off. Note we dont travel on major holidays like christmas, new years or july 4.

 

[Sandisw]

Thanks everyone for all the great info! Your responses have got me thinking about another question. It seems some of you like to split your stays during longer trips. Is this because it is hard to book 10 or so consecutive nights at the same DVC resort? Our average stays are 10 nights.

We split because we like walking to 3 of the 4 parks and staying at BLT and BWV allows this. I even take a taxi to AK to avoid the buses...worth it to me!!!

I try to make the change day our DTD day and go for lunch and shopping so it doesn't feel like a wasted day. I also pack in such a way that I unload only one suitcase and refill as we use things so packing up to move is pretty non stressful. It's not for everyone but I like being at two different places, even for those 5 to 7 night trips.

DH and I are even doing it next December for a 4 night one...

 

[TagsMissy]

Thanks everyone for all the great info! Your responses have got me thinking about another question. It seems some of you like to split your stays during longer trips. Is this because it is hard to book 10 or so consecutive nights at the same DVC resort? Our average stays are 10 nights.

We just do split stays to 'change it up' Each resort is so unique with a different feeling so it's almost like you've gone to a new destination when you split... our goal is try try every DVC resort, our next trip we had intended to try a new resort but we ended up doing the same combo of BLT/BWV as BWV has captured part of our heart

I always book the length of stay at BLT at 11 mos then at 7 mos I make the change to the split stay. It's just two of us travelling so it's an easy move and we do take the time to really enjoy and explore the resorts now that we're DVC members and have been back numerous times. We don't feel we need to spend every breathing moment in the parks anymore.

When we paid cash we just stayed in one place either POR or POFQ which are our favourite mods and we'd stay for 8-10 days at one place.

When in on Oahu we just stay at Aulani, the only time we change is when we jump to a different island otherwise we spend the whole time at the same resort. Our last visit was 10 days and that wasn't long enough!

 

[saintrob]

So far we've never stayed at our home resort of AKL using points

We normally use our points for our Christmas stay and so far have managed to stay at BWV and BCV as we love to be around this area for the festive period.

Our summer stay is usually on cash as it works out better for us - one day I'm sure we'll use our points at AKL. We have stayed there on a cash ressie.

 

[Dacky619]

We own at BLT and since we bought in, we have taken 5 trips. Not one of them was at BLT. We are planning on going next June and finally staying at our home resort. Now, if we look at 7 months and VGF is available, I think my wife is going to force me to switch.

Once we experience all the other resorts we want to check out (and our son is born) we'll be staying at BLT more often.