Using Points for Friday and Saturday???!!!

[KyleRayner]

I've only been a DVC member since April 2005. I've read on these boards that a lot of people don't use their points for Fridays and Saturdays and instead will stay at a Value or Moderate resort those 2 days and then transfer to the DVC Resort for Sunday through Thursday in order to save points since Fridays and Saturdays eat up a lot of points.

When I go to WDW, I usually stay either Friday to the following Saturday or Saturday to Saturday.

I'm curious to hear from those who do this and how it has worked for them in the past. Especially in regards to transferring from the value/moderate resort to the DVC resort and how smooth a transition it is. How does the transfer of your luggage work?

Any comments and or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Well, we're like you. We settle in and stay until it's time to go. I hate packing and unpacking and to do it for two days would be a royal pain.

 

[CapeCodFam]

As previously mentioned, transfering does have a hassle factor. Disney does a great job transferring the luggage to your new resort. You call bell services and they will ferry your luggage to the next resort. When you are in your new room, bell services will deliver to you. But, you will be 'homeless' during the check-out/check-in timeframe.

We're paying cash for a Fri on our next trip. Not to save points. But, to arrive a day early.

 

[Boston5602]

Last trip , stayed one night at POP because I HAD TO. ( family was there the week before me and was staying there ) Although the ONE move is/was not to bad , I dislike....

1 - not having a room for 1/2 the day while changing....

2- either not unpacking to make it easy to move or pack/unpacking.

unless I run out of points I'll stay put my whole trip , if I want to go to WDW again or just stay longer THEN i'll pay cash.

 

[RobDoc]

We usually go for 10 or 11 nights, including 4 weekend nights, and hate to move so we just stay in one place.

As mentioned, you can have the Bell staff take you luggage if you wish to move to another WDW resort. You'll need to take anything you'll need with you since you luggage may not make it to the next resort until after 4pm - even if your room is ready sooner. The Bell staff will store it until it is transported to the next resort and you will need to claim it there.

They ado a good job, but you will be homeless for several hours in most cases - so just be prepared for that likelyhood.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I know people are happy transferring luggage using Disney services. We've never done that, and the only time we've gone from Value to DVC resorts has been when we've had a car.

Enter ME and for us there seems to be a rising cost of rental cars. (We would think that the cost of rental cars would go down.)We used to just get a car, even if we weren't going to use it very much, just for the convenience, and it was a place to keep our luggage/supplies while we waited for our DVC room. We cancelled a Pop "before DVC" stay so our 5 night DVC December trip will include a Friday and Saturday night. It's a SV studio at BWV, so the price didn't seem overly outrageous. I just want to settle in and enjoy our stay, not lose time in a room during that busy time of the year. Besides, our longest lines for check in has not been DVC, but at Pop or the Value resorts.

Bobbi

 

[byoung]

Don't mine moving here, but sometimes I will book the week end. This Dec I booked the week end at BWV.

 

[dgaston]

Not point rich enough for Fridays and Saturdays. We've used those days to check out AKL and the Polynesian or even Pop (Bell Services did fine moving the luggage -- for many years we have packed an extra bag with pjs and swimsuits and meds and toothbrushes for everyone and take that with us) and *oh, the horrors,* even Cypress Pointe off property as we have a rental car. Maybe someday we will have enough points for Friday and Saturday, but for me and DH, the moving isn't so awful.

 

[DVCLiz]

I add a weekend on cash all the time when I go to WDW - I don't want to use that many points on a Fri/Sat - I'd rather have two trips a year!!! But I don't stay at a value/moderate - those weekends are for the AKL, the BC (if I'm staying at VWL later) or the WL (if I'm staying at BCV). I love to check out the deluxes!!!

 

[jjohnson]

We switch. I have 4 children & don't find it a hassle at all + we like to try different resorts - To us it's like having 2 vacations. Pack up, call bell services, go to a park, then take the bus to the new resort. It's very simple.

 

[eporter66]

Unfortunately, we dont live that close to Disney, so when we go we usually do 6 nights (sunday to friday and leave on Saturday). After travelling all that way I just want to settle in and relax. I cant be bothered with transferring to save points. We usually try to go once a year, so if I need to borrow or bank points (depending on how many points the stay costs), I will do that.

Eric

 

[wdwfan1]

We have done both. We always have a rental car, so we dont count on Disney moving our things.

If we stay at VWL, I usually book WL with passholder discount. This time I have POP for one night and OKW for the remainder. Last time we did weekends on points. I have also booked weekends on cash. It depends on how many points we have at the time and what we feel like doing.

 

[3DisneyKids]

We switch. I have 4 children & don't find it a hassle at all + we like to try different resorts - To us it's like having 2 vacations. Pack up, call bell services, go to a park, then take the bus to the new resort. It's very simple.

This is our feeling, exactly! We have 3 kids (and from your pic, Kyle, I know that your family is even bigger!) so there is definitely some work involved, but we all love getting to "the next place" b/c it does make it seem like your vacation is just starting over.

We always have a car and move our own luggage.

One tip, though--if you are going to move, you want to START at the Value or Mod (or wherever) and then move to your DVC. To go from a Villa to a standard hotel room might really bum you out! Plus, you may have left-over food, etc. that will be a pain to deal with.

Our last trip, we stayed Fri. & Sat. night at the Sheraton Vistana because we got AMAZING rates ($49/night for a two-BR)...and when you look at what a 2BR costs point-wise at DVC, we decided that the move was totally worth the hassle.

In the future, however, if I don't snag another deal like that one, I will suck it up and use the points on the week-ends, just to see what the difference is like. Then I can make a better decision for future stays.

 

[emma'smom]

We did this last time and we did sort of feel like we were waiting for our "real vacation" to begin. However, it was not a hassle to move the luggage. We planned ahead and packed one bag for the first two nights and then different bags for the rest of the week. This made repacking our luggage for bell services much easier.

The "homeless" thing didn't bother us as we just made a point of planning to be in a park for the better part of the day. The biggest issue was that we didn't have the dining plan until we checked into DVC. We didn't want ot pay cash for too much on check in day because we knew we would have the plan as soon as we checked into the hotel...so we ended up hungry until we finally went to SSR to pick up our room cards with DDP on them.

 

[Lady V]

We haven't ever done it before but we are doing it next July. We are going to stay at ASM for two nights for the kids and then Saratoga Springs for 9 nights. And then we go to a Universal hotel for 3 nights. It is a long, wonderful vacation that I love!! This past summer we did the same thing except not the ASM part. It was great and the kids feel like they are on so many vacations!! I love it!!

 

[DisDaydreamer]

We pay cash instead of points. We don't like moving either.

 

[beachblanket]

We purchased enough points so we don't have to do this "refugee" thing. What's the point of investing in a program that is supposed to give you access to top quality properties, if you can't "afford' a weekend stay?!?

 

[Caskbill]

We avoid the weekend points. I'd rather have an additional 5-days stay during the week rather than adding on a 2-day weekend stay.

We'll usually go Sun-Thurs. My sister only lives 1-1/2 hour away so we'll either go visit them for the weekend, or on occassion have moved to a 'value' resort.

We always drive to Florida, so having a car, the move is not difficult at all. Especially since it's just the 2 of us. Not having to pack up kids stuff is a big factor.

After the weekend, we'll go back for 5 more nights, usually at a different resort. In the end we get 10 nights instead of 7 if we used points for a weekend, get to experience two different resorts, and spend some time with family living in Florida.

Using this method, so far our longest 'non-continuous' stay was 6-weeks (of a total 3-month vacation. Being retired is great... )

We had our RV with us at the time, so spent some of the weekends at Ft. Wilderness, and weekdays at DVC resorts. For that trip, we stayed in all 4 (at the time) WDW DVC resorts, a couple of them twice.

Avoiding weekends works well for us, as it saves us points, and we don't go to the parks since they're crowded with all the local Florida residents.

 

[jade1]

We move even in DVC. Just booked 5 days 2BR at BCV for June and 2 weekend days 2BR at VWL even though we had enough BCV points. Its a great change of pace and will concentrate on MK while at VWL.

Often though we stay at Clearwater or Universal for the weekend-both wonderfull places as well, so we may as well save the points.

 

[DVCLiz]

We purchased enough points so we don't have to do this "refugee" thing. What's the point of investing in a program that is supposed to give you access to top quality properties, if you can't "afford' a weekend stay?!?

Well, for starters, there's no law that says I have to use my DVC the same way you do, now is there? I actually find that I have excellent access to top quality properties Sunday through Thursday, as well as Friday and Saturday nights.

Then, there's also no law that says I have to limit my visits to WDW to DVC properties, or that I have to use DVC points to stay at non-DVC resorts. So if I choose to occasionally visit the Animal Kingdom Lodge, why should I be bound by your opinion of correct DVC usage??

Why don't you just do your thing and I'll do mine, and then we'll both be happy.....