We usually arrive in WDW on Saturday, pay cash and hope to keep the same villa for our points stay Sunday to Friday. We've been fortunate that has worked out so far.
We usually fly Saturday and stay offsite Sat night. I figure why pay the extra points for Saturday night when the soonest we can check in is past 7pm (assuming we take a direct flight).
Now if there was a DVC for DL (one can always dream for us west coasters), I could see my self doing a Thurs or Fri check in for a long weekend.