Why not to buy into Poly 1 but maybe Poly 2 / Those Darn Bungalows !!!!

[lilsonicfan]

It may be overused but also reality most of the time. The last couple years we’ve needed to book under 7 months several times with different people joining us. They all had the same reasoning when faced with choosing from the last 3 resorts. OKW is preferred especially when SSR is 30% more points, and when that choice is gone they pick AKV because they feel the overall resort and safari are a better value at the same point level as SSR.

IDK. I'm faced with the same choice (in that I decided against a split stay for this last min trip) and am choosing SSR over OKW and AKV.... OKW with no elevators and an uncomfortable sofa bed.... or AKV with its super long hallways and an uncomfortable sofa bed... SSR makes more sense for us in a 1BR. OKW is 138 points, AKV is 139, SSR is 150, so not a massive difference in points. My point is just, it gets a lot of hatred. And my point really is more toward OP who seems to have a pretty doomsday view of what is bookable at 7 months.

 

[tom1944]

Lake View at BLT is the most reliable at 7 months. It’s a great option!

And the 1BR 2 bath is perfect for us.

I think next year we will go to 8 days and try BLT for 4 and AKV-Kidani for 4

 

[bholbert81]

I hear ya...I cannot justify the point cost on the bungalows EVER!!! More studios please!!

 

[Yankee626]

IDK. I'm faced with the same choice (in that I decided against a split stay for this last min trip) and am choosing SSR over OKW and AKV.... OKW with no elevators and an uncomfortable sofa bed.... or AKV with its super long hallways and an uncomfortable sofa bed... SSR makes more sense for us in a 1BR. OKW is 138 points, AKV is 139, SSR is 150, so not a massive difference in points. My point is just, it gets a lot of hatred. And my point really is more toward OP who seems to have a pretty doomsday view of what is bookable at 7 months.

My real point goes back to buy where you want to stay. Which is what I did. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't want to stay somewhere else once in a while . Most of the people who bought SSR bought for cheap SAP which is fine but it has clogged up the system with 14 million SAP points. I considered buying points there myself to use only at AULANI. It would be a cheaper way of going there every year. Eventually I realized I wouldn't want to get stuck as SSR because there are so many better choices for me at DW in my opinion. I do suggest to people to buy SSR resale instead of AULANI if that's where you want to stay. Its always available at 7 months.

 

[Artemis Fowl]

It does seem like, via the bungalows, DVC added a bunch of points to the system which end up being used disproportionately often at places other than Poly. Certainly the studios don't seem very difficult to book, so those bungalow points are being used somewhere else. I'm quickly becoming one of the culprits here -- we just had twins and are quickly outgrowing those studios, and there's simply no other room category at Poly which we can afford.

Our (resale) PVB contract is therefore becoming our SAP contract, which isn't so bad since we got it for <$140pp a few years ago (post-restrictions). Reaaaally hoping the new building is same association, at which point we'd go back to using the points at Poly -- for a 1bdr. Not looking good on that front though.

I'm in the same situation as you. Bought at a price I thought was good and like Poly but would have been using the points elswhere.

 

[gmi3804]

I do suggest to people to buy SSR resale instead of AULANI if that's where you want to stay. Its always available at 7 months.

I disagree. There are plenty of folks who travel during the popular times that get shut out, or have a couple of waitlists that may or may not come through, at the seven month mark at Aulani, even when walking their desired dates.

 

[Jayunit09]

I disagree. There are plenty of folks who travel during the popular times that get shut out, or have a couple of waitlists that may or may not come through, at the seven month mark at Aulani, even when walking their desired dates.

Agreed.

Havnt been myself yet but using SAP at Aulani you are probably only getting into the pricier rooms at 7 months. If you want to stay at Aulani frequently then it’s still probably cheaper to buy Aulani points and get access to the standard rooms.

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

I do suggest to people to buy SSR resale instead of AULANI if that's where you want to stay. Its always available at 7 months.

Aulani isn’t sold out and availability there is likely to evolve substantially as time passes and more contracts are sold.

 

[zavandor]

We know for the entire 11 month window about 50% are booked that’s including February, March, April and May that can’t be booked by other owners yet which sit at 99% vacant about. Within that 7 month window we actually see a pretty high occupancy rate.

Those numbers are actual facts on the current bookings scraped directly from the member site. They aren’t opinions or based on anecdotal experiences.

I agree with your statement they don’t really benefit Poly owners, but they do benefit DVC as while, look at September, it’s booked 92% or November it’s booked 75%. That’s not 75% of the days with no availability that’s 75% of the bungalows are booked on average each day, I’d say that’s very high percentage.

Unfortunately at the time with no resale restrictions I think Disney did make decisions to benefit the entire DVC system with Poly (and the Resort Studios at VGF) being mostly studios. That doesn’t benefit Poly either but it does certainly benefit DVC at large given the high interest in studios. Resale restrictions make it very important now to buy into resorts that have a balance of rooms that interest you.

Is there a way to see on the DVC website how many rooms are actually free?

 

[RoseGold]

AND THEY ARE ALWAYS AVAILABLE BECAUSE NOBODY HAS ENOUGH POINTS TO USE THEM. Its only a matter of time before they transfer some of those points to the already high Studio point chart.

I just completely disagree with your math. There are 360 studios and 20 bungalows. Even if they made bungalows cost 50 points, they wouldn't move the needle much on studios.

 

[Sandisw]

Is there a way to see on the DVC website how many rooms are actually free?

Supposedly this site gives you that info, but it it costs to join

And, for others, if someone is using it, we still don’t allow info to posted here regsrding actual availability and # of rooms.

https://unlockedmagic.com/

 

[Yankee626]

I just completely disagree with your math. There are 360 studios and 20 bungalows. Even if they made bungalows cost 50 points, they wouldn't move the needle much on studios.

There are approximately 4 million total points sold at the Poly resort and 1.1 million of them are alocated for the Bungalows. Over 25% of the points sold were for the bungalows. Of course it moves the thread.

 

[gmi3804]

Agreed.

Havnt been myself yet but using SAP at Aulani you are probably only getting into the pricier rooms at 7 months. If you want to stay at Aulani frequently then it’s still probably cheaper to buy Aulani points and get access to the standard rooms.

OK, I give up. What's SAP?!

 

[DanCali]

OK, I give up. What's SAP?!

Took me a little while to figure it out too...!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/sleep-around-points.3905261/

My first reaction to it when I first saw it was "Sorcerer Annual Pass", but at some point, that interpretation didn't make sense anymore....

 

[crvetter]

Is there a way to see on the DVC website how many rooms are actually free?

Yeah you can see it directly. You just need to inspect the source code of the website.

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

Is there a way to see on the DVC website how many rooms are actually free?

Yes. It’s in the data source for the site and you can get to it if you’re logged in and do a search, and have some familiarity with website data and page sourcing. It’s incredibly convoluted if you’re not, and I couldn’t explain it in detail without violating I think at least 1 board rule.

 

[Sandisw]

There are approximately 4 million total points sold at the Poly resort and 1.1 million of them are alocated for the Bungalows. Over 25% of the points sold were for the bungalows. Of course it moves the thread.

Well, if I have done my math correct..if the bungalows were reduced in half for cost per night and those other points moved to the studios, it raises the points about 4 points, on average a night.

Not sure I’d say call that a major shift. But again, the fact is that owners at PVB are not having trouble booking the studios at 11 months…which means their impact hasn’t been a detriment to those owners.

 

[Yankee626]

Well, if I have done my math correct..if the bungalows were reduced in half for cost per night and those other points moved to the studios, it raises the points about 4 points, on average a night.

Not sure I’d say call that a major shift. But again, the fact is that owners at PVB are not having trouble booking the studios at 11 months…which means their impact hasn’t been a detriment to those owners.

No its not a detriment to their booking ; it just means they overpaid for their points by 25%. And your point analysis would work out great for their owners.

 

[DanCali]

Well, if I have done my math correct..if the bungalows were reduced in half for cost per night and those other points moved to the studios, it raises the points about 4 points, on average a night.

Not sure I’d say call that a major shift. But again, the fact is that owners at PVB are not having trouble booking the studios at 11 months…which means their impact hasn’t been a detriment to those owners.

Not sure I follow this. If the studios are more expensive to book by 25%, and then you're saying there is plenty of availability at 11 months (maybe even at 7), doesn't that mean that there has been an impact on demand? Those owners are not booking at PVB but rather elsewhere at 7 months. When something is cheap to book, like AKV Value or Standard views at some resorts, those owners do have trouble booking even at 11 months.

 

[crvetter]

Not sure I follow this. If the studios are more expensive to book by 25%, and then you're saying there is plenty of availability at 11 months (maybe even at 7), doesn't that mean that there has been an impact on demand? Those owners are not booking at PVB but rather elsewhere at 7 months. When something is cheap to book, like AKV Value or Standard views at some resorts, those owners do have trouble booking even at 11 months.

I would suspect people don't book Poly out 100% within the 11-7 month window not because they want cheaper rooms but because they want larger room sizes. And what @Sandisw was referencing was that if they rebalanced (which I maintain they can't) points between studios and bungalows they would need to do so by increasing the points per night by roughly 4 points across the board, not that the rooms are 25% more expensive right now because DVC hasn't transferred points between room types, they tried but they failed.

It would also only increase the points per night roughly about 18% not 25% if they transferred those 4 points per night per room onto the studios.

Edit: When DVC tried to rebalance the points across room type they tried to use the 7 month booking window as an argument. Unfortunately, the POS only referenced balancing within a home resort. And the multi-site POS doesn't really say anything about demand rebalancing, except that they could potentially claim points aren't 1-1 when transferring between resorts but I think that can only happen when introducing a new resort not after the fact. It's been a few years when reviewing those documents.