What kind of "points" spender are you??

[com_op_2000]

I will always choose a smaller room and more days at the resorts, when using my points.

 

[Kwaschitz]

We're so new to this that it never occurred to me to think about more than a studio for our upcoming trip (3 adults, 1 tiny 8 year old). Of course, we bought in at 100 points at VGF, so unless we stay elsewhere we really can't do much more than that until we add on (our plan was to buy another hundred with the opening of the Poly). But I have to say, this does have me looking at points charts for the future when the 8 year old isn't so tiny and the murphy bed isn't the best fit.

 

[nolanboys]

We are a family of 6 so we have to get a 2 bdrm. We are savers though. We book the cheaper resorts and cheaper views. 200 points only goes so far so we like to stretch them. If we are doing a longer trip, we have done split stays to make our point usage not as high.

 

[swooshbear]

It's just me and my wife for now so we are ok with studios. We try to spend as much time as we can in the parks so we don't really spend too much time in the room. But on our last trip to AKL, we were pleasantly surprised with a free upgrade to a 1 bedroom. The second bathroom and extra space was a plus and might have spoiled us just a little bit!

 

[eeyoresmom]

Interesting thread. I don't splurge on 1 or 2 bedrooms anymore........We have a large family, but for the past few years it is usually just 2 of us(me and DD or me and DH). Sometimes, like this month, there are 3 of us ( myself and 2 DDs, both young adults). We always stay in studios because I don't like to cook on vacation. I would cook, but because I only travel with one or two others now (used to be 6-8 of us) dining out doesn't seem so expensive. I do splurge and use my points for weekend stays now and definitely splurge using them at the more points expensive resorts.

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

Borrow, borrow, borrow, borrow, buy! <Repeat>

That appears to be our points spending strategy.

In honesty, though, that has more to do with how often we go, as opposed to room size. I've never yet spent the points to get anything other than a studio when it's just the two of us. We either do studios (for 2) or two-bedrooms for when we have guests.

We also never spent the points for theme park view at BLT. That is until our most-recent trip, when the grandkids joined us for the first time. I've always been perfectly happy with the lake view, before. Now I've seen how the other side lives. I was the one sitting at the window every night watching Wishes from our living room with a nice drink in my hand. Don't know if I can be un-spoiled.

 

[Anal Annie]

Well, you know me - I'm a points miser and will 99% of the time book studios. The only exception to that "rule" was last summer when we had to make last minute changes to our trip and the only thing we could get was a 1 bedroom. But we only got 9 nights vs being able to get a full 2 weeks. We only have 250 pts. and TRY to get either a couple of trips a year in studios OR 1 longer (nicer) trip like we're doing this summer to resorts that are point hogs (VGC) or especially nice (Aulani). If we could afford to own more points then we'd probably spring for the 1 bedroom more often but that feels like such a waste of points to me…we don't NEED a 1 bedroom. We don't own enough pts. for a 2 bedroom (unless we skipped years - ummm…NOT)! Sure, the extra space & king bed in the 1 bedroom was NICE but I'm not going to cook so I don't need the full kitchen. I DID use the w/d last summer for 2 loads I think…just 'cuz I could. Not a biggie to me to NOT have the w/d tho… In order to even re-plan this trip to VGC & Aulani this summer we had to borrow 40 pts. and it's driving me crazy that we'll be short points for 2015.

I guess if you own enough points to DO the 2 bedroom and you have no other trips to use them for then go for it…that would just never apply to us!!

 

[daisygirl902]

I'm totally a splurger on room size, but not on view. My husband and I have stayed in studios, but much prefer a minimum of a 1 bedroom, as I really love having the kitchen for breakfasts (we use DP for other meals) and the washer & dryer. Oh and the KING SIZE BED and master bathrooms .

Location within the resort means very little to either of us though, I always prefer standard view. I did stay for a few days at AKV once with a savannah view, which was pretty cool.

My hubby and I are planning a trip with a two month old and my mom in October, and will either stay at BLT (if waitlist comes through) in a 1 bdrm or at BWV or OKW in a 2 bdrm. The extra bathroom is just so convenient, even though technically we don't need the huge amount of space for only 3 adults. I'd much rather my mom be comfy and have her own space, since I'll likely rely on her to watch our new baby while we ride ToT!!

 

[disfanforlife]

We are a family of 5 and bought in with 200 points and have always stayed in a2 bedroom. For the first few years we were able to do so because we had developer points and then banked our first 200. But we found out after a few years 200 wasn't enough, we never considered a smaller room at first. We took a year off, banked points and added on another 100 so this year we had a lot of extra points so we stayed for a week in November and invited friends with us and are going back in two weeks but are going to try and squeeze in to a one bedroom for the first time since only two kids are going with us. I hope it goes ok. But in the future, I am pretty sure we will stick to the two bedroom. We love the space and comfort. We don't plan to go alone, we will always have kids or friends with us.

 

[Wedgeh]

I have a 0 points total until October 2015, so I guess I have to go in the splurge category!

 

[edk35]

I have a 0 points total until October 2015, so I guess I have to go in the splurge category!

 

[MrsDuck]

It's usually just DH and I that travel. Sometimes we go with my parents.

If we go alone, it's a studio. If we travel with the parents, it's a 1 BR.

We like to be as frugal as possible!

 

[loveswdw]

Point stretcher since we only own 150 points. We do stay in 1BR pretty much exclusively. We used to only do Sun-Thur stays in 1BRs in order to save points but since they balanced the weekend points more with the weekday points that strategy doesn't work as well. We LOVE OKW because the points are so low and the villas are so huge! We also book standard views as much as possible to save. That view can mean an extra night. BWV standard view is awesome as it's as cheap as OKW many nights of the year!

For our upcoming trip, we have a 1BR std at AKV Kidani. We've had to cancel trips the last two years so we had a few points banked up. I still didn't want to spend the points for a savanna view due to reading on the boards that many times it wasn't worth it. There are plenty of viewing areas around the resort so we'll make do.

We can not give up our washer and dryer, king size bed, jacuzzi and PRIVACY (we have 2 DS)! After that first trip in a 1BR, we said no studios unless it's just for 1 night.

 

[AlohaAnnie]

We splurge our points.

We are out and will have to take 2015 off after our upcoming trip.

We have had some of the best vacations!

We like our views, and I enjoy the washer and dryer in the room for vacation. We also booked AKV CL for our upcoming trip, not the wisest way to spend points but it is about the experience to us. We are looking forward to it.

.

 

[sarah-jane]

We go less often and splurge on a two week trip when we go. A big factor in that is airfare from western Canada though. We are a family of 4, but part of why we bought Dvc was for the space of a 1 bedroom. We love the kitchen and cook almost every meal in the room - huge savings. We didnt think views were important to us but after last trip looking at a large metal box (presumably air conditioner or other utility unit?) out our balcony at beach club for five days we have now agreed that if we can choose a view we will try to stretch the points to ensure we have something nice out our balcony from now on. .

 

[dianeschlicht]

It is mostly just the two of us 60 somethings, but we MUCH prefer a 1 bedroom so we can have a king bed, Jacuzzi, kitchen and laundry. If we have 4 people, we'll usually get a 2 bedroom, but we HAVE gotten a GV for 4 people in the past too, so everyone has a real bedroom. If I was going to stay in studios, I wouldn't have purchased DVC, because it just is NOT the true Home away from Home experience.

 

[edk35]

It is mostly just the two of us 60 somethings, but we MUCH prefer a 1 bedroom so we can have a king bed, Jacuzzi, kitchen and laundry. If we have 4 people, we'll usually get a 2 bedroom, but we HAVE gotten a GV for 4 people in the past too, so everyone has a real bedroom. If I was going to stay in studios, I wouldn't have purchased DVC, because it just is NOT the true Home away from Home experience.

We are the same way.... we bought into DVC to have MORE space and to STOP having to book 2 rooms at the resort with a family of 5 and be all crammed.

 

[CarolynMink]

Most of the time, we try to stretch those points.

We are a family of 4 (DS & DD) therefore, we love to be in at least a 1 BR. We have done a lot of split stays. First night or two (week end points) in a ST and then change to 1B. (We have 2 owners lockers storing air mattress, pump and bedding).

We definitely do not splurge on view. Many AKV stays in value or standard view. BLT in a standard. The whole family agrees to stretch for those longer trips.

However if there are 5 of us, we always stay in a 2B and love it.

 

[PoohsFan1]

We are a family of 4 with 2 DDs ages 12 and 10. We are frugal with our points so we don't mind staying in studios in order to get a longer vacation out of it, plus we don't go in high peak seasons either (well, except for our next trip). When we stay at SSR, we do stay in a 1 BR, mainly because the points are cheaper there and when we were there in October, DH and I did a 50pt add on so we can do more 1 BR stays (we now have 250 points...100-BLT, 150-SSR with more to add on in the future). We love going to Disney anywhere from 9-11 days and in order for us to do that and still have points later, we have been splitting our stays between doing 3 nights at a non DVC resort and then using our points for the rest of our stay which consists of either 6 or 7 nights using DVC points. We like this because it allows us to try out the different resorts that we haven't stayed in yet and we are able to use our DVC points too.

 

[a742246]

We go twice a year when it is just my DW and I we go the studio route, when we invite family or friends it is a 2 BR or 2 studios.