Is it worth using points at the Poly???

[MMrules]

I have a dream of staying at the Poly. However, we just purchased DVC . I was just wondering if people do use their points at the Poly or if it is a waste b/c they take so many points?

If we buy an annual pass are there always room disount rates? Is it better to use a discount than points?

 

[vicki_c]

In my opinion, that would be a huge waste of your points unless you have more expiring points than you know what to do with AND you don't feel like renting your points to recoup the money. But I think that would be pretty crazy, myself. A Poly garden view room usually runs more than 3x the price in points of a DVC room - even a studio last time I checked if I'm remembering right.

Plus you have to pay the $95 exchange fee to do it. And that fee again if you make any changes.

Lastly, resale points purchased after 3/20/11 do not have this option either.

 

[Brian Noble]

If you want to stay at Poly, rent your points out, and use the proceeds to book a room at the best discount you can get.

 

[MMrules]

In my opinion, that would be a huge waste of your points unless you have more expiring points than you know what to do with AND you don't feel like renting your points to recoup the money. But I think that would be pretty crazy, myself. A Poly garden view room usually runs more than 3x the price in points of a DVC room - even a studio last time I checked if I'm remembering right.

Plus you have to pay the $95 exchange fee to do it. And that fee again if you make any changes.

Lastly, resale points purchased after 3/20/11 do not have this option either.

We didn't buy resale we bought direct so that isn't an issue.

Everything else you say makes sense. It doesn't add up to use 3x the points. I don't plan on renting them and we don't have an over abundance of excess ones. I also forgot about the $95 fee.

I guess it will stay a dream to stay at the Poly or I will go with a really good discount for a solo trip

thanks for your input, I appreciate it!

 

[dlm1017]

You could do what I did a split stay! I have always wanted to stay at the poly so last year I got a 45% off pin and used it to stay 4 nights then used my points to stay at bwv! It was like 2 separate vacations loved it! I will definitely do it again. Loved the poly it is just to expensive to stay a whole week.

 

[Deb & Bill]

You'd be using anywhere from 42 points per night to 120 points per night depending on when and where you stay at the Polynesian plus the $95 fee. So if you have the points and don't mind using them, do it.

 

[spiceycat]

well use too - but when I did it at both the Polyn and BC the points were 22 points per night. - not the number it is now.

only use your points if you can't find and use any cash discounts.

and it also depends upon how many points you have if you have several 1,000 - hey go for it.

that say remember the BLT (next door to CR) is really a better location. You can definitely visit Polyn it is just a ride on the monrail from CR (BLT

 

[JWG]

At 42 pointqs or more per night you'd be better of renting your points for $10+ per night and paying cash. May even get free dining or something.

I'd love to stay at the Poly too but have a hard time justifying paying for a deluxe when we have over 300 points to use and aren't that close that we make multiple trips per year.

 

[MMrules]

This is such great feedback. I think I will only use points there if for some reason we have to bank them and have an overabundance of points. If I go to the Poly I will try to do it at a discounted rate for a split stay.

Another question for those who have done it....How difficult are split stays??? It seems like a lot of work to pack up stuff to move to another hotel, plus it must waste an entire day. I have 2 boys (4 and 6) and the thought of packing up more than once sounds exhasting. Is it difficult or does it usually go smoothly???

 

[Deb & Bill]

This is such great feedback. I think I will only use points there if for some reason we have to bank them and have an overabundance of points. If I go to the Poly I will try to do it at a discounted rate for a split stay.

Another question for those who have done it....How difficult are split stays??? It seems like a lot of work to pack up stuff to move to another hotel, plus it must waste an entire day. I have 2 boys (4 and 6) and the thought of packing up more than once sounds exhasting. Is it difficult or does it usually go smoothly???

I despise split stays and won't do them anymore. You are homeless for much of the day on the day you move out and move it again. There is no guarantee that your villa will be ready when you want it. And 9 out of 10 times, it will be ready much later than you want it.

 

[vicki_c]

We don't mind split stays and have done it pretty often over the years. We just get up early and give all our luggage to bell services, then we go to the next hotel (this is easy because we always have a car), check-in, and then we head to the parks to wait for our room to be ready. It has always worked out well for us - and we don't even miss rope drop if that's our intention.

We have also always gotten our 2nd room pretty early - even DVC rooms - usually by 2 in the afternoon. Whether that's luck or as a result of checking in early in the morning, I don't know. We're always prepared that that might not happen though, but it's worked out for us the 5-6 times we've done it.

 

[dlm1017]

I have done a split stay twice.. Akv then to ssr. And poly to bwv. It was easy. They transferred or luggage to our next resort and we picked it up when we checked in. We golf so we scheduled it on our "in between days" we were gone most of the day so we never really felt homeless. If you go to the park for the day anyway you will probably never notice. The only thing I didn't like was I am a "un packer" so had to do that twice. I wouldn't do it for very short stays but we were there 9 days so it wasn't a problem for us! the poly was on the front end of our trip and we used that time at the resort to decompress and spent time relaxing at the pool, renting water mice, watching fireworks on the beach.... Then on to boardwalk where we walked to epcot and dhs and hit the parks! It was like two different vacations in one!
I loved the poly, it was my way of being able to afford to stay there and still use my dvc.. Now if they ever open a dvc at the poly I will be in trouble

 

[disgirl]

I agree with all the wonderful advice here that practically no it is not worth the points to stay at the Poly. However, a few years back, we decided to stay at he Poly for 3 nights on points and the BCV for 5 nights. My dh and I had stayed at the Poly once many years ago and loved it, my ds was intrigued by the pool there so we said why not use our points and experience the Poly.

If you do not have many points (we only have 200) and you go more than once a year, then it really would not be a good use of points. We, however, only go to WDW once a year so we felt it was worth it to make our summer vacation more interesting. DH,DS, and myself still talk about our stay at the Poly. It was a great time. As far as a split stay, I would not want to do that every vacation, but for a chance to stay at the Poly again for us, it worked. It made our vacation seem longer than 8 nights.
Your boys, however, are still young, mine was about 14 at the time. Maybe, when your boys get older you might want to do a split stay. The unpacking and packing is not one of my favorite things and with 2 young ones wanting to go to the parks, pool,etc. it might not be too much fun. I would wait until they are a bit older, but I think it is worth trying at least once.

 

[supersuperwendy]

This is such great feedback. I think I will only use points there if for some reason we have to bank them and have an overabundance of points. If I go to the Poly I will try to do it at a discounted rate for a split stay.

Another question for those who have done it....How difficult are split stays??? It seems like a lot of work to pack up stuff to move to another hotel, plus it must waste an entire day. I have 2 boys (4 and 6) and the thought of packing up more than once sounds exhasting. Is it difficult or does it usually go smoothly???

I don't mind resort hopping at all actually. We travel pretty light since the 2 bedroom villas we stay in have a washer/dryer. I just pack up in the evening after the kids go bed. We use express check out so no worries there. We call bell services about 10-15 min before we're ready to walk out the door and have them send our stuff to the next resort. We usually head to a park for a few hours then go to the next resort, check in, have lunch and go back out! Once we are settled into our room later that day we call bell services and have our stuff brought to our room. Super simple and easy!

 

[arthur06]

We are doing a split stay in Sept/Oct. I normally prefer to not do a split stay, but we very much wanted to stay at BCV for SAB . So our first 4 nights are there. We also wanted to be at BLT for Oct. 1st (MK's 40th!) so we are doing the last 4 nights there!

I would agree, that getting to your room and spending the length of your stay there and not packing/moving is the way to go!