Talk DVC with the Dis Dads

[that's nice]

I am no expert. Just stayed a few times and sharing what limited information I have. See blue..

What I and others have done for either the high demand resort, high demand season, or high demand room is to go ahead and book your home resort at 11 months at your booking window. Then, call at the 7 month mark to ensure availability, and then use those same points on your new reservation as well as borrowing any additional ones. That way, you always are guaranteed your stay at WDW. Hopefully, you wouldn't borrow points for your 11 month stay and then use LESS points in switching to another resort at 7 month.

I think you are at SSR, which isn't a high demand resort, but if you're trying to get a TreeHouse or stay during Christmas, etc., then I would go ahead and book at 11 months.

Sorry I never responded... Not sure why I didn't.

Thanks for the info Norm. I've been checking the availability a few times a week and there seems to be a lot of availability for the week we are thinking of. Obviously, we are more than 7 months away though.

Interesting DVC day for me. I called to book our 2015 October trip. I didn't feel like going online to do all the banking and such.I chose a BLT Lake View for 241 points. I couldn't get a standard view from Sat-Sat!

As MS was summarizing, they said I had 75 points that would expire in August 2015. Peculiar. I asked for an explanation and it didn't jive but I had to get on with my day, being at work and all.

The 75 was stuck in my head all day b\c that's the amount of points I added on this Spring or Summer.

I called back to get things ironed out.
1. I booked this October 2014 trip last December.
2. Bought another BLT contract chich gave me another 75 points. We got the 75 point for our 2013 UY, too. This is where the confusion sets in.
The 2013 points got banked AFTER I had planned our October 2014 trip. Of course that was b\c I got the points AFTER the trip was booked. I know that I ahd this conversation and MS was supposed to reallocate the point to use the oldest points first. It seems that someone DIDN"T do that.

So Janet, the MS person spent a great deal of time researching she shuffled everything around and now all is well with my account. She was fantastic and earned her pay today. The experience concerned me a little though b\c oter poeple may have just accepted the expiration of the points.

Could you not see the 75 points on your DVC page?

Glad you got everything worked out.

 

[brettcw23]

Could you not see the 75 points on your DVC page?

Glad you got everything worked out.

It's not that I could or couldn't see it. With 3 contracts, 3 different point amounts and a number of modified bookings, it was difficult to track how my points were allocated.

I originally bought into BLT for 180 points, added on at SSR for 50 more points. I realizeed that it was a struggle to get into many resorts at 7 months, so we added another 75 contract for BLT this past Spring.

My points got shuffled around a lot during the bookings and adding on points. For example, I had booked at 11 months at BLT, then at the 7 month mark, rebooked and used my SSR points instead of the BLT points. The intent was to have enough BLT points to book at 11 months out for the next trip. Since I was able to get BWV, it made sense to reallocate my points and use the SSR ones. My

*sigh* Imagine trying to balance a checkbook with random purchases , credits and debits! It was a lot like that.

 

[brettcw23]

Our resident DVC thread responder Norm, is on vacation, I hope someone can help me out…..

I have a question or 2 that came up after our first DVC stay at BLT 2 weeks ago.

1) Do you tip housekeeping on day 4 when they exchange towels, and do garbage?

2) Do you tip on check out day?

3) How clean do you need to leave the room? i.e. do you wash the dishes, clean out the fridge, vacuum, etc?

4) When you book a room and you have current UY points, if you cancel 31 days or before, those points get put back in your account with no penalties correct?

That is it for now… We are starting to plan our end of August 2015 trip and I'm gonna try to book a BCV studio at 7 months. Melody won't know if she gets approved for her vacation week until the middle of February, so I'm booking with the chance she won't be approved and will have to find a different week.

I wish I hadn't overlooked this post! This would have been helpful.
Clarification here..I am usually a generous tipper. even if the service isn't good, I'm likely to give a 15% tip and then follow up with a letter or phone call about my experience.

Mousekeeping at DVC resorts is a confusing for me. We get towel service and garbage emptied basically. So what does that warrant as a tip? I left a $5 bill and a note for them on day 4. To Norm's point, they clean the room at the beginning to get it ready for me. Should I tip more for that? I did not leave another tip.

Re: cleaning, we clear out any leftovers. We only had some fries and milk. Other items that are sealed (i.e., pop tarts, granola bars, etc.) we leave on the kitchen island. Then we run the dishwasher for any dirty sinks, glasses, etc.

 

[AirGoofy]

It's not that I could or couldn't see it. With 3 contracts, 3 different point amounts and a number of modified bookings, it was difficult to track how my points were allocated.

I originally bought into BLT for 180 points, added on at SSR for 50 more points. I realizeed that it was a struggle to get into many resorts at 7 months, so we added another 75 contract for BLT this past Spring.

My points got shuffled around a lot during the bookings and adding on points. For example, I had booked at 11 months at BLT, then at the 7 month mark, rebooked and used my SSR points instead of the BLT points. The intent was to have enough BLT points to book at 11 months out for the next trip. Since I was able to get BWV, it made sense to reallocate my points and use the SSR ones. My

*sigh* Imagine trying to balance a checkbook with random purchases , credits and debits! It was a lot like that.

Yes, those multiple contracts are extra to manage. Before I sold the one DVC contract and bought DW her car, it was our intent to use the different contracts at different times and go twice a year. It worked out (just lucky I suppose) but with the dds different activities, it will actually be difficult for us to go twice a year now since fall & spring breaks have had different tournaments scheduled.

So, if we had kept the two contracts and only go once a year, my plan was to book both at 11 months out with both contracts, always setting up for split stay. At the 7 month mark, if I would have tried to change one of the resorts to the BWV where we wouldn't have to move rooms or resorts. Or, to change to a new resort we hadn't tried yet. With only one contract, it is no longer an issue.

 

[brettcw23]

Yes, those multiple contracts are extra to manage. Before I sold the one DVC contract and bought DW her car, it was our intent to use the different contracts at different times and go twice a year. It worked out (just lucky I suppose) but with the dds different activities, it will actually be difficult for us to go twice a year now since fall & spring breaks have had different tournaments scheduled.

So, if we had kept the two contracts and only go once a year, my plan was to book both at 11 months out with both contracts, always setting up for split stay. At the 7 month mark, if I would have tried to change one of the resorts to the BWV where we wouldn't have to move rooms or resorts. Or, to change to a new resort we hadn't tried yet. With only one contract, it is no longer an issue.

Yep, you\I are of the similar mind set. The 11 month window is why we eventually added on more points at BLT. DW didn't want to deal with split stays. Me either, but the more I hear about them, they sound very manageable. On our flight home to the Burgh, the lady sitting across from us was a travel agent and she stayed at 3 different resorts on their family's trip.

I have no real desire to stay at SSR or OKW. So we continue to book BLT at 11 months and then try the other resorts at the 7 month mark. If the failure to lock up 7 days continues, we may actually break down and start doing split stays.

 

[AirGoofy]

Yep, you\I are of the similar mind set. The 11 month window is why we eventually added on more points at BLT. DW didn't want to deal with split stays. Me either, but the more I hear about them, they sound very manageable. On our flight home to the Burgh, the lady sitting across from us was a travel agent and she stayed at 3 different resorts on their family's trip.

I have no real desire to stay at SSR or OKW. So we continue to book BLT at 11 months and then try the other resorts at the 7 month mark. If the failure to lock up 7 days continues, we may actually break down and start doing split stays.

That was why I bought BWV. If I could only stay at one resort and never change, then that's a great one. Not only is the location great, but it has cheaper points.

But, I'm also not a real fan of the split stays. I'm ok with doing the beach (VBR) & WDW, but I really didn't enjoy the split stay at WDW. It just seemed like too much work to pack and unpack to move to another location. But, that is probably the only way we'll get to do VGF or Poly, since they'll be so many extra points.

As for OKW and SSR, I've stayed at both. For me, the cons of staying at both were not having that extra form of transportation to the parks, and i don't like that "spread out" style of the resorts. I do wish AKV would build a ski lift type transport from there to AK, but I'm not in charge, and the bus ride is short. The pros for OKW and SSR are the boat rides to DTD. OKW also has as cheap of point stays as BWV and SSR has the walking distance to DTD.

 

[that's nice]

It's not that I could or couldn't see it. With 3 contracts, 3 different point amounts and a number of modified bookings, it was difficult to track how my points were allocated.

Got cha.

I originally bought into BLT for 180 points, added on at SSR for 50 more points. I realizeed that it was a struggle to get into many resorts at 7 months, so we added another 75 contract for BLT this past Spring.

My points got shuffled around a lot during the bookings and adding on points. For example, I had booked at 11 months at BLT, then at the 7 month mark, rebooked and used my SSR points instead of the BLT points. The intent was to have enough BLT points to book at 11 months out for the next trip. Since I was able to get BWV, it made sense to reallocate my points and use the SSR ones. My

*sigh* Imagine trying to balance a checkbook with random purchases , credits and debits! It was a lot like that.

Sounds like a headache. Are your UYs the same or are they different as well?

I wish I hadn't overlooked this post! This would have been helpful.
Clarification here..I am usually a generous tipper. even if the service isn't good, I'm likely to give a 15% tip and then follow up with a letter or phone call about my experience.

Mousekeeping at DVC resorts is a confusing for me. We get towel service and garbage emptied basically. So what does that warrant as a tip? I left a $5 bill and a note for them on day 4. To Norm's point, they clean the room at the beginning to get it ready for me. Should I tip more for that? I did not leave another tip.

Re: cleaning, we clear out any leftovers. We only had some fries and milk. Other items that are sealed (i.e., pop tarts, granola bars, etc.) we leave on the kitchen island. Then we run the dishwasher for any dirty sinks, glasses, etc.

How long have you been DVC members?

Thanks for the tips. It seems like we did basically what you did.

Yes, those multiple contracts are extra to manage. Before I sold the one DVC contract and bought DW her car, it was our intent to use the different contracts at different times and go twice a year. It worked out (just lucky I suppose) but with the dds different activities, it will actually be difficult for us to go twice a year now since fall & spring breaks have had different tournaments scheduled.

So, if we had kept the two contracts and only go once a year, my plan was to book both at 11 months out with both contracts, always setting up for split stay. At the 7 month mark, if I would have tried to change one of the resorts to the BWV where we wouldn't have to move rooms or resorts. Or, to change to a new resort we hadn't tried yet. With only one contract, it is no longer an issue.

I'm up for split stays but really packing up all our stuff and moving seems like a great big PITA.

Yep, you\I are of the similar mind set. The 11 month window is why we eventually added on more points at BLT. DW didn't want to deal with split stays. Me either, but the more I hear about them, they sound very manageable. On our flight home to the Burgh, the lady sitting across from us was a travel agent and she stayed at 3 different resorts on their family's trip.

I have no real desire to stay at SSR or OKW. So we continue to book BLT at 11 months and then try the other resorts at the 7 month mark. If the failure to lock up 7 days continues, we may actually break down and start doing split stays.

We've stayed at OKW and we really enjoyed it there. However they are detached for the parks there. We own at SSR and I really don't care if we ever end up staying there.

As for OKW and SSR, I've stayed at both. For me, the cons of staying at both were not having that extra form of transportation to the parks, and i don't like that "spread out" style of the resorts. I do wish AKV would build a ski lift type transport from there to AK, but I'm not in charge, and the bus ride is short. The pros for OKW and SSR are the boat rides to DTD. OKW also has as cheap of point stays as BWV and SSR has the walking distance to DTD.

Melody & I always talk about AKL and the lack of ease getting to AK. You'd think they would come up with a way to get from AKL to AK that doesn't involve a bus.

 

[AirGoofy]

I'm up for split stays but really packing up all our stuff and moving seems like a great big PITA.

It didn't seem like as big a PITA when we went to the beach. I guess when there is 2 hours between resorts and what is in essence two different types of vacations, then it doesn't seem as bad.

 

[that's nice]

It didn't seem like as big a PITA when we went to the beach. I guess when there is 2 hours between resorts and what is in essence two different types of vacations, then it doesn't seem as bad.

We are planning our August trip and we are going to have 3 stays- Mels grandfather, Mels cousin, and WDW. I CANNOT move 1 more time.

 

[AirGoofy]

We are planning our August trip and we are going to have 3 stays- Mels grandfather, Mels cousin, and WDW. I CANNOT move 1 more time.

Packing up and staying with family doesn't count as a split stay. It is one of the circles of he11.

 

[that's nice]

Packing up and staying with family doesn't count as a split stay. It is one of the circles of he11.

It's not that bad. Her grandfather watches fox news all day and swears at the TV- we go out and hit the beach or do stuff in the area. We are planning on going to the Clearwater Aquarium to see Winter one day (her grandfather lives in Bradenton). The cousins house is fun. They have 4 kids and get along great with our kids. Plus then we get to hang out at night with the parents. They live 20 minutes from WDW.

 

[AirGoofy]

It's not that bad. Her grandfather watches fox news all day and swears at the TV- we go out and hit the beach or do stuff in the area. We are planning on going to the Clearwater Aquarium to see Winter one day (her grandfather lives in Bradenton). The cousins house is fun. They have 4 kids and get along great with our kids. Plus then we get to hang out at night with the parents. They live 20 minutes from WDW.

That doesn't sound too bad. I was thinking of what it was like staying with my outlaws.

 

[that's nice]

That doesn't sound too bad. I was thinking of what it was like staying with my outlaws.

Her grandfather is a trip but he is harmless. He did yell at me for cutting a chicken wrong once though.

 

[that's nice]

Ok all... I have a legitimate DVC point question (I think). We have a December UY. Home resort SSR.

Let's see how many points I have-
2013-0
2014-153
2015-250

We are hoping to stay at BCV studio in August 2015 for 8 nights, which I can book in February. Total points 136 which would leave us with 17 2014 points. Y'all still with me?

OK.

So I need to book somewhere for marathon weekend Jan. 2016. Since everywhere books up quickly, I was figuring to hold a studio room at SSR in March Thursday- Sunday for 42 pts. But I'd want to switch to either OKW (36pts) or AKV (37pts) at the 7 month window if available.

My question is if I book SSR(42pts) in March I'd use 17 2014 points so 25pts would be borrowed from my 2015 points. If I was able to get OKW I'd only need 19 points. What would happen to the other 6 borrowed points?

Would the new reservation use the 25 borrowed points first then use my 2014 points leaving me with 6 2014 points that I would have to bank?

I hope this all makes sense.

 

[AirGoofy]

Ok all... I have a legitimate DVC point question (I think). We have a December UY. Home resort SSR.

Let's see how many points I have-
2013-0
2014-153
2015-250

We are hoping to stay at BCV studio in August 2015 for 8 nights, which I can book in February. Total points 136 which would leave us with 17 2014 points. Y'all still with me?

OK.

So I need to book somewhere for marathon weekend Jan. 2015. Since everywhere books up quickly, I was figuring to hold a studio room at SSR in March Thursday- Sunday for 42 pts. But I'd want to switch to either OKW (36pts) or AKV (37pts) at the 7 month window if available.

My question is if I book SSR(42pts) in March I'd use 17 2014 points so 25pts would be borrowed from my 2015 points. If I was able to get OKW I'd only need 19 points. What would happen to the other 6 borrowed points?

Would the new reservation use the 25 borrowed points first then use my 2014 points leaving me with 6 2014 points that I would have to bank?

I hope this all makes sense.

Jan 2015? Why isn't your room booked already? That's 2 months away.

As for your question, if you borrow your points, yes, if you borrow points, changed resorts and then did not use them, you lose them.

And yes, if you have unused borrowed points, then you can call MS to use them. If you already booked your stay, they will have to cancel one day of the reservation and add the one day back, first using the borrowed points. I've read somewhere on these threads that a supervisor can do these point adjustments without cancelling the existing reservation, but I don't remember what it was called. Since you are going in August, if you call at the 7 month mark, then you should have success.

 

[that's nice]

Jan 2015? Why isn't your room booked already? That's 2 months away.

Ummmm should be marathon weekend January 2016.

As for your question, if you borrow your points, yes, if you borrow points, changed resorts and then did not use them, you lose them.

And yes, if you have unused borrowed points, then you can call MS to use them. If you already booked your stay, they will have to cancel one day of the reservation and add the one day back, first using the borrowed points. I've read somewhere on these threads that a supervisor can do these point adjustments without cancelling the existing reservation, but I don't remember what it was called. Since you are going in August, if you call at the 7 month mark, then you should have success.

Well, I would have to call in June 2015 for the January 2016 adjustment then. This does get confusing.

 

[AirGoofy]

Ummmm should be marathon weekend January 2016.


Well, I would have to call in June 2015 for the January 2016 adjustment then. This does get confusing.

I thought that was a typo. Well, that changes things now, doesn't it. Thus, the cost for all this info is that beer you sent me.

You will use 136 of your 2014 points for BCV in August. No changes to those points.

That leaves you with 17 points that expire Nov 30, 2015. In order to book the January 2016 room, you will need to bank those 17 points forward in your banking window.

Then, when you book the Jan 2016 for 42 points, you will use the 17 banked points first and then your remaining 2016 points. Then, if you switch your resorts, the balance will return to your account. If you book online, I think I remember the system prompting me to use banked points first. Maybe I dreamed that.

You should be able to book both the BCV stay at the 7 month window and the SSR stay at the 11 month window. I would recommend booking SSR at 11 month window to ensure a stay over marathon weekend. That is becoming a popular time frame. But, book BCV first so I don't have to rethink this for you.

Edited:
Te other option is to use 136 at BCV at 7 month.
Use 2016 points to book SSR @ 11 month.
Then, use 17 banked points first for your next vacation, presuming you're going again in 2016.

 

[brettcw23]

Ok all... I have a legitimate DVC point question (I think). We have a December UY. Home resort SSR.

Let's see how many points I have-
2013-0
2014-153
2015-250

We are hoping to stay at BCV studio in August 2015 for 8 nights, which I can book in February. Total points 136 which would leave us with 17 2014 points. Y'all still with me?

OK.

So I need to book somewhere for marathon weekend Jan. 2016. Since everywhere books up quickly, I was figuring to hold a studio room at SSR in March Thursday- Sunday for 42 pts. But I'd want to switch to either OKW (36pts) or AKV (37pts) at the 7 month window if available.

My question is if I book SSR(42pts) in March I'd use 17 2014 points so 25pts would be borrowed from my 2015 points. If I was able to get OKW I'd only need 19 points. What would happen to the other 6 borrowed points?

Would the new reservation use the 25 borrowed points first then use my 2014 points leaving me with 6 2014 points that I would have to bank?

I hope this all makes sense.

A train leaves Chicago travelling at 45 mph...

 

[brettcw23]

Ok all... I have a legitimate DVC point question (I think). We have a December UY. Home resort SSR.

Let's see how many points I have-
2013-0
2014-153
2015-250

We are hoping to stay at BCV studio in August 2015 for 8 nights, which I can book in February. Total points 136 which would leave us with 17 2014 points. Y'all still with me?

OK.

So I need to book somewhere for marathon weekend Jan. 2016. Since everywhere books up quickly, I was figuring to hold a studio room at SSR in March Thursday- Sunday for 42 pts. But I'd want to switch to either OKW (36pts) or AKV (37pts) at the 7 month window if available.

My question is if I book SSR(42pts) in March I'd use 17 2014 points so 25pts would be borrowed from my 2015 points. If I was able to get OKW I'd only need 19 points. What would happen to the other 6 borrowed points?

Would the new reservation use the 25 borrowed points first then use my 2014 points leaving me with 6 2014 points that I would have to bank?

I hope this all makes sense.

OK, I think I get all of this, but then the "DVC Sensei" Norm befuddled me a bit. So I am going to give my interpretation and see if I actually understand things.

Bank the 2014 points and book BCV for a total of 136 points. You are left with a balance of 17 points to use from UY 2014.

You need a studio for Marathon in Jan. 2016. B\c you are smart like me, you plan to hold a reservation at your home resort (better to have one at a resort you don;t prefer versus not having one at all!)I'll assume that the month that you get your points coincides appropriately and you can use your 2014 points in 2016.

Now, the room you'll "hold" is 42 points. 42-17=25.
So you use your 17 banked points and then 25 from 2015. Those aren't borrowed. Regardless, though, if you used 25 and then realized that you only needed 19 or 20, they should simply return the points to you 2015 use year. I'd just make sure to call and verify how the points are allocated. I have noted previously (it may have been on the DVC group on FB) that you need to pay special attention to how GS allocates points. They are not nearly as concerned about how the they come up with the total amount of points as we the members.

 

[brettcw23]

Not to make this EVEN more confusing but, won;t the 17 points from UY 2014 expire before they can be used in Jan. 2016?

So if the 17 points are banked, they will expire Nov, 30 2015, so any booking has to happen by then or the points are lost.