How would you best use 170 points?

[trampslady]

Hello! My hubby and I are relatively new owners. We have 170 points at BCV. I'm now thinking we should have purchased more. It's just the two of us but we will most likely treat my mom, grandma, dad and possibly brother and sisterinlaw from time to time. We have no problem with a studio but would prefer to take advantage of a one or two bedroom from time to time just for the added space and amenities. We traditionally travel in the off season....january, may, september, october, november and december (prior to christmas). It appears that weekends will wipe us out rather quickly unless we work to maximize our points. For example, we banked last years points and have an April use year. That means we have 340 points to use (or bank a portion of) by April 2004. We have planned to possibly reserve two studios for the first week in December for BCV and would love to spend the week between Christmas and New Years at Hilton Head if we can get it at the 7 month window.


Any suggested room choices or use of points will be appreciated. I'm sure some of you more seasoned DVCer's have come up with creative ways to maximize the use of your points!

 

[Chuck S]

Some members with smaller contracts check-out of DVC resorts on weekends, or pay cash for Fri & Sat nights. For us, it got to be too much trouble, so we added on (and on and on). You are right , studios and off-season travel do stretch your points considerably.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

we havve 350 points and we still do not stay weekend nights i just cant see giving 3 times the points for those nights so we always do sunday through thursday on points and we drive down a day early so we can be there early on our check-in day but we always pay cash at a value resort or outside disney our first night(saturday) also good use of points is value season we went in september and had a wonderful time. hope this helps!!
misty

 

[ErinC]

We also have 170 VWL points. At this point in our lives its all we can afford. So for right now we just stay in borrow mode. My goal is to add on in a few years, when we are financially able to, and I can convince DH that it is a "neccesity"!! Our guide talked us into the the 170 instead of 150 and I'm so glad he did or we would have an even harder time stretching our points! Best of luck and planning with your points. Erin

 

[crisi]

Our contract is 150 points, but we only travel to Disney every other year. But we will stay in a 2 bedroom for a week in October for less than 300 points, including Friday and Saturday nights.

We are planning to cruise, but will pay cash. We are going to San Francisco, but will pay cash instead of using one of the non-DVC options. If the Disney bug bites hard and we need to go more often, there is always those perfectly nice deluxe hotels.

Eventually, I can see a stay or two where we book a cash Yacht Club room for access to SAB on Saturday night, before moving to BWV. Or a Saturday night on cash at AKL so we can wake up to the Savannah.

 

[trampslady]

If and when we do purchase an add-on...does it make more sense to purchase at the resort you currently own at or would it make better sense to purchase at, lets say, Hilton Head or Saratoga Springs when it opens?

 

[bicker]

Always purchase where you plan to stay. As noted in another thread in the forum in recent days, if you don't have enough points for the resort you want to stay at, then you end up getting the dregs of availability. For us, we want to stay at two different resorts, so we have points at two different resorts.

Of course, finding add-on contracts of suitable size is problematic once a resort sells out, so you may have no choice; at that point you'll need to make your decision based on how much you're willing to deal with that aforementioned dregs.

 

[Chuck S]

Originally posted by trampslady
If and when we do purchase an add-on...does it make more sense to purchase at the resort you currently own at or would it make better sense to purchase at, lets say, Hilton Head or Saratoga Springs when it opens?

That depends on how you think you'll want to use your points. If your points are mainly for stays at WDW, then buy at a WDW resort to take advantage of the 11-month home resort booking window. Points from different resorts can not be combined for the 11-month window. Our contract and all add ons are at OKW for the same use year, that way we have the option of booking a 2 bdrm or even a GV at the 11 month window, if the need to do so ever arises. If your plans are mainly for 3 or 4 day stays, having 2 home resorts may be a good option for you. For add-on contracts I'd consider looking at what is available through resale - while you'll have to pay closing costs, which may on a smaller contract boost the actual price to what it is direct from Disney, it'll give you a wider selection of resorts, like OKW, VWL or BWV.

 

[crusoemom]

We started with 150 points at BWV and added 50 points at HHI after visiting there last year.

We saved our points last year by just staying in a studio at HHI for 5 days in April, so next Feb. we're going with parents and sister's family (9 of us) and staying at a 2BR and a studio for 5 nights. We're coming a day early and will use the studio for Sat. night. Total points used for 5/6 nights was 246 (I think), well within our 200 point yearly allotment, considering we won't have all of them back again for a few years. We used the HHI points to book the Sat. night part of the studio at a 4-month window without any problems. This is the last week in Feb., considered high season, and we still got a standard view room. Those week-end days must be going begging.

I wouldn't ever check out and back in just to save points, but by taking off a day or two from either end, you can easily save points. As far as we're concerned, 6 days versus 7 days doesn't make a difference to us.

We plan to go back to HHI next year and will have enough points saved to take a 1BR home for 6 nights. We actually can't stay any longer than that because it takes us 2 days each way to drive there. Once again, we'll use the HHI points to book the Sun-Thurs. nights at the 11-month window, and the BWV points to book the Friday night at 7 months.

With careful planning, 170 points will be OK, but it's true - the more you have, the more flexible you can be.

Have fun planning!

 

[trampslady]

Crusoemom-

That is exactly the kind of add-on we might consider. Of course, like everyone, I wish I would have considered it more seriously before the price increase. Since we are so new and really don't have a clear picture of what our travel needs will be, I've been apprehensive to add on yet. Also, we certainly want to visit HH before buying there. Although, I have a feeling we will love the laid back atmosphere contrasting with the go, go, go of WDW.

 

[ZerasPride]

We are 170 point owners too. I would love to have more points but that is not financially possible. I even cancelled an add-on last week because it would have overextended us financially. At first I was a bit bummed out but I figure with a bit of creativity we can stretch our points as far as possible.

Hilton Head is our home resort and we plan to spend 10 days in low season in a one bedroom and bank the remaining points into the next year where we plan to split a 10 day stay between OKW and VB again in low point season (probably September). Of course, all this is contingent on our being empty nesters when DS goes off to college in a couple of years. Until then we are and will continue to be in borrowing mode.

Have a great time planning how to spend those points!

 

[Pig Pen]

We just bought 150 points and this is our plan for our first couple years (April use year, VB home resort) -

May 2003, Thurs-Sat at CBR at AP rates, Sun-Thurs at VWL studio - 65 points

Sept 2003, Thurs-Sat - resort undecided as yet - at AP rates, Sun - Thurs at OKW studio - 40 points

That leaves us with 45 points to bank for 2004 which we plan to save for a cruise in late 2004 (45 banked points, plus 150 2004 points, borrow 150 2005 points = 345 total).

We decided to mix our points and split our stays at two different resorts until we figure out which is our 'real' home!

We will not use points for weekends.

 

[PKS44]

There are two DVC point managing software programs that the creators have made available on this board-one by DVC Dave and the other by Caskbill...they are both excellent and actually complement each other...Dave's is perfect for figuring out how to bank/borrow and track point totals while Bill's is better for playing around and comparing what the point costs are for staying in different resorts/room sizes etc...I would recommend you get them both (sorry maybe someone can post the thread links??)Start playing around to see what works best for you...we only have 150 pts but do go weekends, do get studios and 2 BR, do plan on staying for 9 or 10 days in 2004, etc...of course we only go about every 18 months or so it involves, borrowing and banking...still with 170 Ishould think you can have lot of fun...

Good luck.

 

[trampslady]

Thanks guys. Anyone have the DVC planning links?

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by trampslady
Thanks guys. Anyone have the DVC planning links?

Here is Dave's below.........if I find Caskbills I will post it also.

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/dmfredrick/Download.html

 

[ZerasPride]

I know if you go to the DVC website you can plug in your dates and see how many points you need for a particular stay. If you are like me, you will get to the point that you know how many points it takes for a particular season in your head (I know I need to get a life!). Anyway, have fun planning your trips - for me that's half the fun until I can go on my next trip!

 

[DemoBri1]

Well...we just bought in this year for 170 BCV points. Since we didn't get in until August, we decided to forego the "wait list" and bank our points for this year.

We now have 340 points once our March use year comes up. We are planning a trip for next Dec for eight nights which will use up 222 points in a 1 bdrm. We will be banking the rest of our points to the next year. From here I have calculated that we can two more 7 night stays in a 1 bdrm and a six night stay without having to borrow.

So unless you are going to need two rooms or a two bedroom and are willing to stay in the week range, then I think you can probably get 4 trips before you have to "skip" a year and bank/borrow.

 

[PKS44]

Caskbill's program:

http://www.seidata.com/~wneth/id57.htm