Question about points

[JourneyGirl]

I just received the DVC catalog and DVD in the mail. While I plan to use most of my points at WDW, there is a section (page 36-43) that lists The Disney Collection;
World Passport; Concierge Collection; and Adventurer Collection. Unfortunately, it does not give the points that are needed to stay in the hundreds of resort/hotels
(i.e. the 4 resorts in Key West). Please let me know how to find the points.

Thanks, Mary

 

[Caskbill]

Points for these options change annually, and are published in the DVC Vacation Planner that members receive each Fall.

Here's some information in a nutshell:

The Disney Collection:
These are Disney owned properties as follows:

WDW: Grand Floridian, Polynesian Resort, Yacht Club, Contemporary, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Fort Wilderness Cabins, Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, Port Orleans

Disneyland: Grand Californian, Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier

Paris: Disneyland Hotel, Hotel New York, Newport Bay Club, Sequoia Lodge

Disney Cruise Line: 3, 4 or 7 day cruises, categories from 4 to 11.

Point costs for all the above vary considerably, based on resort, room type, and season. The WDW hotels range from a low of 15 pts/night, Sun-Thurs, value season, at Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, or Port Orleans. The highest cost is 173 pts/night, Fri/Sat, Grand Floridan, Holiday Season. Generally the majority of points range from the mid 30's to the about 70.

Disneyland points are a low of 25 pts/night (Paradise Pier, Standard View, Value season) to a high of 94 pts/night, Grand Californian, Concierge CA Adventure view, Holiday season.

Paris is 39 pts/night (Sequoia Lodge, Sun-Thurs, Value season) to 91 pts/night, Disneyland hotel, peak season). One plus to the Paris resorts is that it includes theme park tickets.

Cruises are based per person, double occupancy, and range from 71 pts/person, 3 night, value season, category 11 stateroom, to 392 pts/person, 7-night, Category 4 stateroom. For all combinations, points for a 3rd/4th adult are about 65-80% as much as each of the 1st two adults. Points for a 3rd or 4th child are around the 40-50% level.

World Passport
These are exchanges for a full week at selected Interval International exchange resorts. A 1-B/R unit, low season is 124 points, mid season is 144 points, and high season is 160 points. For a 2-B/R the values are 207 pts, 252 pts, and 270 pts.

There is a $75 non-refundable exchange fee.

There is also the Buena Vista Trading Exchanges (Club Cordial and Club Intrawest. These can be booked nightly. A $75 fee is required. You need to call to get actual point requirements.

Concierge Collection
There are currently 28 resorts in the Concierge Collection:
The American Club, Arizona Biltmore, Big Cedar Lodge, Boston Harbor, The Broadmore, Charleston Place, The Dorchester, The Equinox, The Fairmont San Francisco, Grand Hotel, The Grove Park Inn, Hotel del Coronado, Juniper Hill Inn, Kapalua Bay Hotel, Keystone Resort, Mandarin Oriental, Mauna Lani Bay, The Plaza, Royal Garden Hotel, The Sagamore, Shelbourne Murray Hill, Shutters on the Beach, Stein Eriksen LOdge, Tanque Verde Ranch, Topnotch at Stowe, White Swan Inn, The Whitehall Hotel, The Windsor Court Hotel.

Points are per night, vary by hotel, by room type, and by dates, and go from a low of 15 pts/night (Keystone Lodge, Lodge room, April-June) to a high of 112 pts/night ( again at Keystone Lodge, 3-B/R unit, Feb-March)

On average it looks like most points are in the mid 20's to the mid 70's.

There is a $95 non-refundable fee for each reservation.

Adventurer Collection
These are all over the place.
7-day Alaska Cruise goes from 166pts/person to 230pts/person
African Safaris go from 493pts/person to 540pts/person
Biking Trips range from 310/person to 427/person
Eco Trip is 383/person
Backroads Multisport Trips range from 260pts/person to 341/person

There is a $95 non-refundable fee.

Your four Florida Keys resorts are all part of the II trade. In Florida just about everything is considered Red Season, meaning it's High Season year round. So a week at any of those four resorts (The Banyan Resort, The Galleon Resort, Hyatt Beach House Resort, or Hyatt Sunset Harbor Resort), would be 160pts for a 1-B/R, or 270 pts for a 2-B/R, plus the $75 exchange fee.

Final Comment: While DVC offers all these other ways to use points, it is generally agreed that the best value you get for your points is to use them at DVC resorts.

Hope this helps

 

[JourneyGirl]

Yes, this helped a great deal. As I said in my first post, I plan to use a majority of the points to stay at a DVC resort. I will save some of the points (now that I know how many places I can go) for the very hard trades. Key West is one of them, we stayed at the Banyan and I got that on a trade using my Worldmark credits. I'd really like to stay at the Hyatt Sunset, plus I'd like to also go to Hawaii. My sister owns the Mariott on Kaui and I think those would be a hard trade. Everything else, it's not worth the trade. I'm already a member of II, so that helps.

Thank you very much for the info.

Mary

 

[Figment2]

JourneyGirl, just remember - you can bank and borrow points every year. BUT, banked points are lost if not used by the end of that use year (you bank 100 points into your next use year of December 2005. They must be used by November 30, 2006). You cannot keep rolling over those 100 points to the next year. Borrowed points stay in the current use year (I borrow 100 points from my Dec. 1, 2005 allocation. They must be used by Nov. 30, 2005).

Cyn

 

[JourneyGirl]

Thanks for the input Cyn. I figured that you couldn't carry more than 2 years on the books because Worldmark is the same way. With WM you can have 2 years, but then your anniversary month comes along (say March) and you have 3 years worth of credits. WM gives you to the end of the month (say March 31st) to book a reservation or turn it into RCI weeks, etc.

I'm really looking forward to becoming a new DVC member.

Mary