Just curious?

[AnnaS]

It has not changed the way we book at all.

 

[sssteele]

We drive from PA, often leaving home Saturday and staying in a hotel around Savannah for the night. 300 miles to WDW the next day. Then we'll stay twelve nights and check out on a Friday. Traffic on 4 through Orlando is a pain on weekdays during rush hour, and not much better on the weekend, but last trip we took the toll road around the city. (417?)

 

[Muushka]

Now that weekend points (Friday & Saturday) aren't much more than weekday points, are people booking them or are you still booking Sunday-Thursday and moving out and doing something else to conserve points?

It used to be such a huge increase but not it's really not worth the hassle in my opinion.

We used to be Sun to Fri folks and didn't mind staying somewhere else that first night.

We now do book Fri and Sat nights. But the one huge difference for us is that we now just go to WDW for 1 week instead of 2.
Not enough points to do 2, and really no desire.

 

[wildernessDad]

The points for a week were about the same. So it didn't matter much to us.

 

[DebbieB]

I've almost always booked Saturday or Sunday to Friday and it hasn't changed. Mainly because I take a full calendar week off of work. Get home late Friday and then have the weekend to catch up before going back to work on Monday.

 

[normr]

But that's my point, there had to be many empty units on Friday and Saturday's that forced them to do the reallocation. Now that i'm retired I too will probably do the Sun-thursday bookings because it is less crowded in the parks, but I'm happy they did the reallocation because of family only being able to get away on weekends.

 

[Dean]

But that's my point, there had to be many empty units on Friday and Saturday's that forced them to do the reallocation. Now that i'm retired I too will probably do the Sun-thursday bookings because it is less crowded in the parks, but I'm happy they did the reallocation because of family only being able to get away on weekends.

Clearly there were enough favoring S-F to affect the availability and booking patterns. However, I think it's equally clear they over shot the target and have swung the pendulum too far the other way. I've asked myself (and posted) the question of why and I have never seen an answer that seemed to truly explain it or suggest anyone had insider knowledge as to the reason. I postulated that it was purposeful (had to be) and wondered aloud as to whether it was intended to shape behavior and they would later swing back the other way OR they are planning to institute a min stay of some type. Every points system I know of has a larger differential overall for weekends compared to weekdays. The one's with the lowest differential are also the ones that are harder and more costly to get to (MX). I generally see anywhere from a 50% to a 500% premium for Fri/Sat nights at the ones I normally look at.

 

[ShuisFan584]

It won't change a thing about how we book our trips. I never purposely avoided weekends, moved, payed out of pocket, etc to save points on weekends. Our trips are usually about 8 nights long - sometimes this includes 2 weekend nights, other times even 3. So this change doesn't really affect us much.

 

[Dean]

It won't change a thing about how we book our trips. I never purposely avoided weekends, moved, payed out of pocket, etc to save points on weekends. Our trips are usually about 8 nights long - sometimes this includes 2 weekend nights, other times even 3. So this change doesn't really affect us much.

For 7 nights it wouldn't make much difference but for 8 or 9 nights involving 2 weekends, the benefit for your situation is fairly substantial. And the increase for those previously avoiding weekends including myself is also significant (not complaining, just stating). Now there are specific options where the affect was greater, namely for some of the resorts with lockoff's but no smaller dedicated units like SSR for some seasons.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Since my DGCs family moved to FL, I see a change in my DVC use. In June, I had two weekends in a two bedroom, with weekdays in a studio for DH and myself. They don't have to take vacation days and fly to WDW, DH and I do!
for F&W ,it's the same. Weekdays for DH & me in a studio, with a long weekend THV stay when they join us!