Planning first DVC trip: help with points

[alamode]

Just sent in my $$ for our first DVC resale purchase yesterday. 130 pts at SSR.

Its a Dec year contract, with full 2009 pts and 4 bankked from 2008.

I want to travel at the end of May 2010, so in theory I would have:

4 banked points from 2008
130 points from 2009
130 points to borrow from 2010

or 264 points to use. I need a 2 bedroom for our first trip, as it will be myself, my 10 yr old son, twin 6 yr old girls and my in-laws. (So 6 all together).

Looking at the points charts for end of May 2010, this means I have enough points for either a value or standard 2 bedroom at Animal Kingdom, or a 2 bedroom at Old Key West.

Is my math right with the points? It gets really confusing with the December year contract.

 

[bookwormde]

Assuming that you are going for a week, that sounds correct. OKW 264, AKV value 229, AKV standard 249.

One thing I might suggest is that you might want to consider doing a DVC discounted cash reservation for one or both of your weekend nights to avoid borrowing so many points, especially if you want to do OKW or a savanna view at AKV or for that part any other resort. Often you will be able to rent or transfer points “close in” for under $8 or less and often can still get a weekend night to replace the cash reservation which you can cancel up to the last day at an even better price. It takes a little work, but if you are intending to go every year or even every other year is nice not to be always working on borrowed points.

Since you are a SSR member you might want to consider a tree house (since you have young children and 3 bedrooms might work for you) since you can see if they are available now for the weekdays and use the same strategy.

Just some thoughts.

bookwormde

 

[alamode]

Thanks for the help. Hopefully getting a 2 bedroom will be a one time thing, unless other people are willing to chip in with renting extra points. We'll usually be getting a studio, so I won't be borrowing points for much longer.

I just wanted to make sure that I would actually have that many points available. The calculations seem a bit confusing.