Weekdays vs. Weekends

[maryisme]

Hello all,
I am interested in learning as much as possible about DVC and just received my information package. As I was reading over the material, one thing that struck me was the difference in the amount of points for weekends vs. weekdays -- specifically Friday and Saturday. Wow! It seems very costly (point wise) to stay on a Friday or Saturday. Since our initial purchase would have to be the minimum points (150) we were thinking of making all our stays weekday stays. Does anyone else vacation this way or am I out in left field here?
Thanks again for your ALL your assistance in helping me decide.
Almost forgot, one other question, How far is HH's beachhouse from the accomodations. Can you walk?
Thanks
Mary

 

[spiceycat]

yes, I generally book Sun thru Friday (thursday night stay) I have enough points now to stay on Friday and Saturday - but I can not see using a 5-day worth of points for 2 days. However I can drive there, some people can only fly. So I can if you have a long way to go, going on the weekends.

 

[TnRobin]

At 180 that was our intent. But the best laid intentions....

We have probably spent 3 of 8 nights on a Friday or Sat.

As for the beachhouse, you could walk it. It is not too terribly far (maybe half a mile). I would suggest using the bike path.

Disney Vacation Club Board Co-Moderator
DVC and Cruise Chat Hostess
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<font size=4 color=blue font face="Comic Sans MS">Robin

 

[RobDoc]

The beach is a little over a mile and is a pleasant walk- if it's not too hot. You can ride bikes down there- the bike path goes the entire distance or take the resort shuttle which runs from (I think) 10AM until 4PM. Enjoy!

Doc
doc@wdwinfo.com

 

[dvc_john]

I agree with Robin - you can walk it. It's a very nice walk if you stay on the bike path (and much safer too, as it goes under a very busy street). I usually bike it, as HH has lots of bike paths.

 

[mattsdad]

I vacation on during the week to save points. For me there is nothing so special about Fridays and Saturdays to justify spending a huge premium on points to stay those days

 

[Richyams]

I take 10-12 night vacations every year. I couldn't be bothered with avoiding the weekends. I do arrive after the weekend and leave before the weekend but I always have a weekend in the middle.

In December this year, I will arrive on a Sunday and leave on a sunday...that is my highest weekend ratio ever, but I never move out for the weekend.

Those with the smaller point packages that are more likely to avoid weekends like the plague, are the ones that will be hurt most if Disney does even out the days of the week.

Another reason Disney is doing us all a diservice by continually lowering the minimum buy in.

A question, how is that last sentence construed by some as "elitist" or anti-poor?

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs", Karl Marx, pretty sick, huh?

 

[mattsdad]

I suppose your statement would be considered elitist or "anti-Poor" (pro-rich?) if one believed that lowering the minimum buy in to 20 points was a good idea to include the masses. Sounds like Marxism to me

 

[TnRobin]

Lets keep to the topic and not take a detour about what the minimum point requirement should be. We have our opinions about that topic, but that is not what the poster asked.

Disney Vacation Club Board Co-Moderator
DVC and Cruise Chat Hostess
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<font size=4 color=blue font face="Comic Sans MS">Robin

 

[HorizonsFan]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Another reason Disney is doing us all a diservice by continually lowering the minimum buy in.
A question, how is that last sentence construed by some as "elitist" or anti-poor?[/quote]

I don't think it's elitist or anti-poor, it's just wrong. I don't think that anyone who can afford to pay $10,000 for a timeshare can be classified as "poor".
I have a 150 point contract and I am staying for 10 nights in May/June. We will be staying through the weekend because, like you we don't want to interrupt our vacation to change resorts. We are not contributing to the number of people who "avoid weekends like the plague." In fact, you can do some searching and find many people with much larger than the minimum contract who avoid weekends so that they can take several trips per year. There's just no evidence to support your inferrence that small contract owners make up the bulk of weekend avoiders.

BTW, I agree that if the weekend avoiders become more numerous, we'll all pay higher points during the week eventually...

Dave

 

[chris1gill]

We originally started out with 150 points, thinking that we wouldn't stay on the weekends.. but we like to vacation for two weeks, checking in on a sunday, checking out a week from Friday... After the hassle the first year of trying to plan it paying some cash, going elsewhere, etc... I found that I was more than happy paying the point cost, it works out about right... if you figure each point costs about 5.50, and multiply by the # of points, it still is a good value as far as deluxes go...

Anyways, to make a long story short, we added 100 points on so that we COULD stay the weekend, without the hassle, and we are glad we did.. If you want to start out small, get a 150 point package... try DVC out, pay down the principal, and add on if you feel you want to stay over the weekends. I liked starting out with a small package. I felt like it got our feet wet, and we found we liked it so we bought more points!!

 

[maryisme]

Thank you for taking the time to post your opinions/suggestions. I didn't know disney has lowered the minimum points purchased to 150. I learn something new everyday on this board .
I am entering into the DVC cautiously to make sure it works for my family. We already own a one week timeshare in Cape Cod, so this will be a second purchase for us. The points system is so different from rest of the timeshare market. So far, from my research, I've found it to be more flexible. My scenarios on how it will work for us, at this point, is merely a *concept*.
Thanks again.
Mary

 

[dianeschlicht]

You are right that the points system is unique to Disney, but if you look at DVC like other timeshares and think of it in terms of a week, you will find out just how many points would be feasible for you. We started out with 230 because we wanted to be able to do a week in a 2BR at OKW every year. Right away we decided we needed a GV for a trip. We did avoid the weekend on that one because of weekend point values for GV. We found we did just fine with the 230 points, but then we thought we might want to do some exchanging, so we added on 150 more points when they became avaialable at OKW. Now we have done our first exchange to Hawaii, and will still be able to take our trips to WDW too.

Like Rich, we also like the longer stays. I used to think a week was enough, but now I prefer the 9 and 10 night stays.

If you want to look at it a different way, try to think about a 6 night stay instead of a week. It is still basically a week, but uses only one weekend night. If you plan your travel time to arrive early on the first day and leave late on the last day, you still have essentially a week in WDW.

Good luck in making your decision. I think you need to look at how often you travel to WDW and how much you like the on-site experience. We bought DVC because, once we stayed on-site, we just couldn't see ourselves going back to off-site!

Are you thinking of HH as a possible home resort? Is that where you would most like to be on vacation, or are you thinking more in terms of WDW on-site? Be sure you know your preferences and ask us lots of questions before you make a decision. Everyone here is very helpful, even if some of us are a little overzealous!

Disneydiane

 

[spiceycat]

sorry I forgot this web site - the person who posted name is tommy

http://members.tripod.com/~ttowery/

 

[Peggy Sue]

We initially purchased 220 points at OKW. After our fist 1 week vacation in a 2 bedroom we knew 220 would not be enough! We started booking points for Sun - Thurs nights and paid cash for the weekends. This got very expensive and really defeated the purpose we joined DVC! So, we added more points twice last year so we can take more frequent vacations and include weekends. We tried staying off site the first night to avoid weekend points, but the hassle of packing up and moving on, checking in, waiting for your room to be ready was just too much for us..we just want to get where we are going, unpack and get on with our vacation.

Good luck with your decision!

Have a wonderful day!

 

[Lesley]

I have to agree with HorizonsFan....with a 162 point contract I am no more a weekend avoider than Rich.....planning my longer stays so they only cover one weekend.

With the points structure this way it looks as if Disney possibly uses its interest in the resorts during the weekend....more availability for cash ressies when they may be more in demand.

And really they wouldn't have set up the points schedule this way if they weren't hoping to discourage weekend stays.


Lesley


1979 Contemporary
1992 Off-site
1994 Carribean Beach
1999 Fort Wilderness and Coronado Springs
2000 Polynesian and Old Key West
2002 Boardwalk Villas