Justify spending more points to stay somewhere else?

[Kim Gillihan]

I really want to try out other resorts! I have 3 nights booked at the poly to use 75 extra points I have and I am so excited about staying there... but then I see that I could stay more nights and make my trip longer by booking my home resort that I just got home from AKV or SSR etc.

I also really want to stay at BLT etc... just wondering if its hard for others to splurge so to speak for the different experience?

I could have a savannah studio for one more night as an example!!

 

[Granny]

If you take that approach, you will always talk yourself into staying at OKW or SSR or standard view at other resorts if you can get them...in other words, you will always want to stay at the lowest point per night resorts and views.

I can't tell you what is the right decision for you, but we have really enjoyed staying at almost every DVC resort. Each has its charm, and when you go every year or multiple times per year it helps to keep things a little fresher.

That doesn't make it a good decision for you. If your goal is to spend as many days as possible at WDW, then you are right to stay where points are lowest. For us, it was about the different experiences and it was an easy decision to sample the other DVC resorts over time. And while we enjoyed every one of them, we found that we still like our home resorts of VWL and BWV very much and are happy to stay there at any point.

Now, if this is a one time thing and it's the difference between a 3 day trip and a 4 day trip, then that might push me towards the longer trip. But in general, we very much enjoyed seeing what each DVC resort has to offer, and it wasn't hard to make that decision (except for VGF...wow, that one put us in a hole for a while!).

Good luck.

 

[rcs]

As Tom says, it depends on what's most important to you. Our home resorts are BLT and BCV, but we've made a goal to stay at each DVC resort at least once. We're doing pretty good against that goal and have already found a couple that we really like a lot and will definitely return to those at some point in the future. One thing I've noticed though, it appears (non-scientific, personal observation only) to becoming more and more difficult to get into non-home resorts on the dates that we want anyway (grand kids are now in school, so we tend now to book on busy weeks). I assume this is because more points are being sold and there is more people competing for those non-home resorts. So, if you want to hop around, it may be easier now than in the future.

As for the Polynesian... our family has an emotional attachment to the Polynesian as that was the resort we stayed at when visiting with our kids (back in the days when the Magic Kingdom Club discount got us rooms there for $275 a night!). We had so many great times there during our trips there that we jumped for joy when DVC announced the expansion to there... and were positively heartbroken when we saw the number of points per night and the cost per point. But we still wanted to experience the villas there, so decided to do a one-in-a-lifetime-splurge and took an insane amount of points to spend part of a week there in a bungalow, giving up what would have been a much longer trip had we booked elsewhere. I'm so glad we did... we love that resort, loved being back even for a short time, and really enjoyed the MK fireworks and water pageant. It brought back great memories and being able to quickly walk to (and from) Trader Sam's wasn't so bad either!

For us that was a great decision. I hope whatever decision you make works out well for you and yours. Good luck!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Only if you try them will you know if paying more points for certain resorts is worth it. We have stayed in every DVC resort. I have decided that the CC Cabins are worth every one of the extra points to stay there! For me, the Poly studios are not, but we were happy to be able to view the fireworks from our balcony during our one 3 night stay there.

Try and decide for yourself!

 

[com_op_2000]

IMHO, that is why DVC is great. Each family can vacation how they choose too. Some prefer more space so will take a larger room over more days, some will take a "better" view over more days, some will take more days over anything else, and some will choose to mix it up doing different things on different trips.
What you choose is right for you and your family and no one can say it is wrong; as that is how you choose to vacation.
Have fun making and planning each vacation.
We choose to stay where we want to stay based on what we are planning on doing that vacation:
Going to the parks - choose a resort near the park we intend to go to most often.
Resort stay - AKL, BCV, BLT, OKW
Going to offsite location - OKW, SSR, AKL
Quick get away - last minute trip - SSR, OKW, AKL

 

[CarolMN]

Kim, I feel the same way. It's why most every resort that appeals to me (besides our home) was just "one and done".

Loved the Poly and expect to love the VGF (this spring), but it's so hard to pay almost as much for a studio as a 1 Bedroom at the BWV (home). Not quite so bad for BLT & CCV, but the pull of home resort is very strong for the times we prefer to stay. Enjoyed the stay at AKV with my sister's family (included two 5 year olds at the time), but again, when it's just us, we strongly prefer the BWV location. No desire to stay at BCV, OKW or SSR for now (and can't quite bring myself to pay more for SSR than BWV).

We enjoy our home resort and seldom stay elsewhere, especially if the points required are so much more!

 

[Flossbolna]

I totally understand your concern, I had a hard time to decide to stay 4 nights at the Poly last trip. I think you need to think about what is important for you personally for your vacation. Spending more points on the resort is only worth it, if you are actually getting something more out of it than just being able to say that you stayed there. All resorts can offer something special (walking to a theme park, animals at AKV, different pools, dining, different sizes for the same type of room, number of bathrooms). If you just use the room to sleep in and spend most of your times in the parks, you will most likely not get very much out of a resort. To me the stay at the Poly was worth the points because we spent a lot of time hanging out at the pool, watching the fireworks at night from the beach, eating at the great restaurants there, spending time at Trader Sam's. Yes, we could have done all of that with not staying there, too (not sure about pool hopping to the Poly though), but it makes such a difference if you don't have to travel to your activities.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

I think you should stay wherever you want to and don't put too much thought into the point value unless you need them for the next trip. I bought Poly points and some people seem to think that I would not get my money's worth out of my purchase if I stay elsewhere but I disagree. If I have available points to use than I should be able to use it in the way I see fit. I bought Poly because I wanted the home resort advantage there but won't be devastated if I use my points somewhere else once in a while!

 

[pineapplepalms]

It really just depends on what you want to get out of your vacations and your ownership! If you enjoy spending time at the resorts then it can absolutely be worth it. We just bought DVC recently and this year we have stays at VGC, Poly, VGF, and BWV - of these, only BWV is one of our home resorts and staying at the other resorts is part of the fun of our ownership. Vacation time is precious and we want to make the most of it. If you're going to splurge, own it and enjoy and don't worry too much about the points

 

[disneynutz]

It all depends on you. We are already spending thousands to take a overprice Disney vacation, spending a little bit more to stay where we want when we want makes us happy. We also bought at our favorite resorts to book at 11 months just for that reason.

Bill

 

[Kim Gillihan]

I think everyone had such great advice! I am a new owner and so excited to see and experience the other resorts as I can and I think that is the great thing about DVC is the excitement of staying in new places! The new experience of staying at the poly, where I have always wanted to stay makes me super happy so I guess that is my answer!! If I want more nights I will do split stay and use more points or stay few nights at a value..... hoping it all works out. I have it booked for late june as a just in case but I am so excited about poly it makes it a lets make it happen instead!!

 

[rcs]

Glad you found your answer and I hope you have a magic trip!

 

[Kelly25]

I feel the same as you! I just joined a few months ago and i booked our first trip for Jan at our home resort, boardwalk. I kept looking at the others...drool...but then i would look at the points and decide...nah im good. lol I think since my girls are still little and we arent pulling them out of school for trips we are going to focus on the longer trips for a few years. when our trips are shorter i dont think i will mind the higher points because i will have more points to spend during shorter trips.

 

[jimmytammy]

My story is similar to yours...we own pts at VWL(I refuse to call it BRV)and for several yrs we wouldn't stay elsewhere. Until my folks were going with us and we were trying to manipulate pts to wrangle out 2 studios. We were fairly slim on pts in those days, so OKW made sense. Without detail, we decided after that say, it was time to add on to VWL. We did, but it was based on our not liking OKW(it was the studio, not the resort, reminded us too much of a motel room, not DVC studio). FF a few yrs and we stayed at OKW again, this time in a 1 bed and fell in love with the place. Then we got on a kick saying at OKW, over and over. Im not going to drag you through all my mess of where we have stayed, etc. But I will encourage you to try other DVC resorts, because it does give you different perspectives of WDW. I love them all for varying reasons. VWL will always be home, it holds special memories for our family, but I don't think you can truly appreciate home until you see what else is out there.

 

[com_op_2000]

...I don't think you can truly appreciate home until you see what else is out there.

Ditto
How do you know you love your home without knowing what else is possible. IMHO, This goes not only for DVC but your non-vacation home.

 

[Kim Gillihan]

My story is similar to yours...we own pts at VWL(I refuse to call it BRV)and for several yrs we wouldn't stay elsewhere. Until my folks were going with us and we were trying to manipulate pts to wrangle out 2 studios. We were fairly slim on pts in those days, so OKW made sense. Without detail, we decided after that say, it was time to add on to VWL. We did, but it was based on our not liking OKW(it was the studio, not the resort, reminded us too much of a motel room, not DVC studio). FF a few yrs and we stayed at OKW again, this time in a 1 bed and fell in love with the place. Then we got on a kick saying at OKW, over and over. Im not going to drag you through all my mess of where we have stayed, etc. But I will encourage you to try other DVC resorts, because it does give you different perspectives of WDW. I love them all for varying reasons. VWL will always be home, it holds special memories for our family, but I don't think you can truly appreciate home until you see what else is out there.

Great point!! Funny enough I just booked one night at VWL and waitlisted another! My short poly trip to use the 75 points has now turned into lets try all the resorts!! kidding LOL, but I am making this trip longer than originally planned and the studio at VWL popped up and its same points as at AKV! So, hoping for a miracle 2nd night there!

 

[JETSDAD]

We're new as well but have already had a chance to do 2 trips with 2 more planned for this year. At first we were excited about how much time we could spend there especially after purchasing AP's. We would get into Florida early and spend a couple of extra days at WDW staying offsite and planning how long of a trip we can manage with our points. We have realized that we really are happiest with about a 7 night stay. We also had 2 years of banked points with our contract so have been able to try some things that we may otherwise not have done (1 bedrooms, GF lakeview as an added arrival night stay, etc.) and realize that we appreciate the 1 bedrooms and the higher point rooms over trying to do a longer vacation. There will still be times that we want to be frugal in order to fit 2 or 3 trips into a year or to be able to afford to bring family and stay in a 2 bedroom (as we are doing in December) but otherwise we will just use the points to enjoy whatever resort/room we want without worrying about how we could have saved a few points per night.

 

[DenLo]

I like a variety when vacationing, but sometimes I miss our home resorts so much that it takes us a number of stays before we are willing to stay at another resort. Also like the OP stated being able to stay at our home resort for more nights than other resorts really is the icing on the cake. We have to date stayed at all of the DVC resorts except for BCVs. At first it was impossible to get a reservation and later we thought we'd leave it to families that really enjoy SAB. It doesn't help that EPCOT is my least favorite resort. Now we are thinking we should really try it. But we both don't want to give up staying at our home resort, so a split stay might be in our future.

 

[Kim Gillihan]

We're new as well but have already had a chance to do 2 trips with 2 more planned for this year. At first we were excited about how much time we could spend there especially after purchasing AP's. We would get into Florida early and spend a couple of extra days at WDW staying offsite and planning how long of a trip we can manage with our points. We have realized that we really are happiest with about a 7 night stay. We also had 2 years of banked points with our contract so have been able to try some things that we may otherwise not have done (1 bedrooms, GF lakeview as an added arrival night stay, etc.) and realize that we appreciate the 1 bedrooms and the higher point rooms over trying to do a longer vacation. There will still be times that we want to be frugal in order to fit 2 or 3 trips into a year or to be able to afford to bring family and stay in a 2 bedroom (as we are doing in December) but otherwise we will just use the points to enjoy whatever resort/room we want without worrying about how we could have saved a few points per night.

great point! This next trip just few months after our trip we just returned from is happening because I have points I need to use.. we are doing stuido at poly for my cousin, me and 3 kids! Will be little crammed but cant wait to stay at the poly! I will still have 150 points left for 2019 I will either rent or use somehow.. tbd. how do you make the one bedroom work with the kids? use living room? does that work out ok?

 

[Chuck S]

I am slowly branching out to try other resorts. I think it is a good thing to do...but so far, other than OKW, I've only stayed at the Poly DVC. It was nice, a lovely resort, convenient location. But, it didn't feel like "home" in the same way as OKW. I apparently am a creature of habit. I do want to stay at all the onsite location eventually, especially BLT, as I always loved staying in a tower room at the contemporary before buying into DVC.

To the OP, no one can tell you what is right or wrong for you. I suggest trying others, and then stay regularly at the one where you feel most comfortable.