How Many of You Do This??

[cdpa4d]

I currently own 150 points at SSR, and to be honest I think points for Friday and Saturday stays at DVC resorts are outrageous. I don't know why Disney jacks up the points for weekends. I could understand a few more points, but double or triple the Sun -Thurs points is out there.

So, I was wondering if some of you plan your stays around Sundays - Thursdays with points then move to a Disney resort and pay cash, or maybe pay cash at the DVC resort you are staying at on Fridays and Saturdays to conserve your points?

Is that common, or am I losing my mind!?

 

[Rozzie]

mmnn...we have been wondering the best solution to this also. We once did cash nights at OKW and linked the reservation to save moving. We also this past trip spent weekend at PBH at "the other park". This trip we are planning now in May, we are going to spend the first 4 days (and over a weekend) in a studio, as we barely spend time in the room our first few days, then our last 3 days spend in a 1BR. on weeknights (we also resort lounge our last few days). We might end up sometimes doing a value on weekends, I know a lot of members do that. I am intrested in what everyone else does also!

 

[DeeCee735]

We skip the Sat night. We usually stay off property at a value place like Best Western, it's our arrival/travel day, so it doesn't pay to use so many points for such a short time there on that first day, we don't go into the property til Sunday morning and stay six nights in a one bedroom/standard view at our home resort, which is BW. Disney looses our business for that Saturday afternoon/Sunday morning - points are too high to stay there. When we go down for our shorter stay, it's usually a Sunday to Wednesday, and that works out great. If I did stay in my villa for a Saturday, I'd do a cash ressie for that night and link it to my points ressie, to avoid moving.

 

[Mister Incredible]

If we fly in on a Saturday, we stay off site for the night. We do plan Sunday through Thursday leaving late on Friday. We will stay sometimes on a Friday, but never a Friday and Saturday..too many points!

 

[CarolMN]

The points are higher for Friday and Saturday to balance demand. If all the days cost the same, many members would stay 8-10 days (take up two weekends). In addition, those within driving distnce would no doubt take lseveral ong weekends.

Bottom Line: It would be very tough to reserve a Friday or Saturday night or entire weeks if the weekend nights cost the same as the other days of the weeks.

It's in our interest that DVC balances the demand. Their objective is to make the demand even for every day of the year (as much as possible). They do this by varying the point cost . To me it's like the race track handicappers who try to use weight to make sure all the horses finish at the same time.

Anyway, since I hate to move, we bought enough points to stay the week. (If you look at the cost for the whole week, it doesn't seem so bad). We only move if we are visiting non-Disney attractions or if I planned poorly - like this trip, I waited too long to book airfare and so we are arriving a day earlier than planned. No room at the BWV by the time I called for that extra day (which happened to be a Friday, LOL).

Best wishes -

 

[disney-super-mom]

I have found that a bit perplexing myself. At all their resorts, they (Disney) charge based on the season, not based on the day of the week. So if someone were to stay for a full week at the WL, the rate stays the same regardless of the day of the week.

However, it doesn't really bother me because other hotels and resorts charge more on the weekends, so it's not out of the ordinary.

If Disney were to charge the same amount of points regardless of the day of week, they'd probably increase the Sun-Thurs point rates to offset the decrease in points for the weekends.

On the bright side, it does give DVC members the opportunity to conserve points if they want by staying a Sun-Thurs.

 

[aDVCwannabe]

you mean that peolple DON'T switch out fri/sat nites! i don't know how i'd ever see other parts of fl if it weren't for saving those wknd pts!

the plan is that dh and i would stay in the studio at okw sun - thurs and then go visit our retired friends throughout fl on fri and sats and then return to an okw studio for the next sun - thurs whence it would be time to leave to visit more friends!

after the next add-on we might be able to stay in fl for all of jan and feb between disney and our friends!

 

[Lora]

If we drive, we try to arrive on Sunday and leave on a Thurs. or Friday of the next week. If we fly, it's generally cheaper to fly on Saturday, so sometimes we stay off property for the Sat. night or get a studio on points and then check-in again on Sunday.

We usually stay for 10-12 nights and spend the middle weekend away in another part of FL (visiting relatives) or in a studio on points. This requires 2 or 3 separate reservations, which we don't mind. Occasionally we have stayed the last Friday night in the 1BR instead of moving again (usually when we have a Sat. departure flight).

I've never stayed at DVC on a cash basis or even stayed at a non-DVC resort since we've been members.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

We've stayed at Wilderness Lodge and Gaylord Palms on the weekends, and our next trip we'll be spending the weekend at the Swan. We've only stayed over the weekend once, and that was on our New Year's trip (didn't want to move hotels on NYE - ended up using 106 points for that night alone!).

 

[Deb & Bill]

We hate to move. We usually take 8-9 day trips, so lots of times we have two weekends on our trip - and we use points. That's what we bought them for.

 

[cobbler]

At first we were planning on 180 points and that wouldn't be enough for Fri/Sat stays. We did a split stay last year and it wasn't bad, but to be honest it was kind of a pain. I personally didn't like the idea of having to stay one or two nights somewhere then having to pack and move it and check in again on a regular basis that would be required with Sun-Thurs stays.

So we opted to go for 220 points so we can stay a full 7 days and not worry about moving. To me its worth it. I don't want to move.

 

[JimC]

Our OKW points are full week stays. The economics of OKW are acceptable with weekends. BCV is a Sunday to Friday stay. Economics here are such that we decided that point weekends were not desired. It also fit better for us because the BCV trip is early December and we wanted it shorter.

 

[Disney Doll]

Here's what we usually do...we arrive on a Friday. We stay in a regular hotel Friday & Saturday night (usually a moderate) paying cash. On Sunday we move to the DVC property, and stay till Friday.

 

[byoung]

Staying at CSR Dec 9 and 10 before OKW Dec 11 thru 15.

 

[lsutigger2]

I am a member of the "we don't move" club. Depending on all the variables, we've done Sun - Thurs; once did Sat-Mon (a week later); and other combos. We got enough points to go for a week.
since we've gotten points, I really don't want to put out the extra cash for a room on the weekends or move. We did do the moving thing once and decided it wasn't for us.

And now we are one-bedroom snobs!!

 

[Dean]

I have found that a bit perplexing myself. At all their resorts, they (Disney) charge based on the season, not based on the day of the week. So if someone were to stay for a full week at the WL, the rate stays the same regardless of the day of the week.

However, it doesn't really bother me because other hotels and resorts charge more on the weekends, so it's not out of the ordinary.

If Disney were to charge the same amount of points regardless of the day of week, they'd probably increase the Sun-Thurs point rates to offset the decrease in points for the weekends.

On the bright side, it does give DVC members the opportunity to conserve points if they want by staying a Sun-Thurs.

We've only stayed one weekend night on points in 10 years and that was at VB and because we had to be in the area anyway. As for the reasons it's like this, it's all speculation. Remember that DVC is a timeshare and as such it's not directly comparable to a regular hotel room or resort. That includes costs, usage and seasons. I would assume that the reason for the high points is to discourage weekend stays and it's a reasonable assumption. Every single points system I know of has higher points for weekends. Some are better than DVC and some are worse. Most give priority to those staying a full week in some way or another.

 

[beccasmom]

We've done the following at one time or another -

- paid cash
- stayed at a value/moderate, never off-site
- moved
- stayed put

It depends on the circumstances. If traveling with a larger family group, moving can be difficult. If there are only 4 of us, we sometimes move to a studio for Friday/Saturday and plan to do most of our shopping, touring, etc. then. In February we moved from an OKW one-bedroom to a studio next door and moved back to the one-bedroon on Sunday. This was luck - the resort was uncrowded and there were only 3 of us. We are frugal with our points!

 

[mom2rb]

We like long trips but one weekend is my limit. Last trip we arrived on Sunday and stayed 12 nights. The trip before we got a great deal at AKL with an AP, so we stayed one weekend there. The points are high but when I am there for that long the over all total isn't so bad.

 

[jamzots]

We either avoid Fri/Sat night stays, or pay cash for these nights~ I agree with the O.P.'s statement that the points are outrageous for a Fri/Sat night stay.

 

[FreeTime]

We have moved to other property on site, we have stayed prior to our stay offsite, and we have stayed over the weekends. We have stayed 3 times on points for weekend only trip. On our last trip we used points on a weekend at CBR (it was a use it or lose it case), however, we much prefer staying put. We have decided that we bought it to use it. On our next trip we are spending 301 points in a 2 bedroom for 7 nights. The only way we will move is if we decide to get a room at Vero for a few nights.