Point Strategies

[LoungeflyPrincess]

Hello, I am a new member who is so excited about all DVC fun to come over the next several decades. I think I have read and watched everything out there prior to purchasing, and like others, I wish I would have bought sooner. For fun, share some of your point and vacation strategies with me. Do you frequent the same time of year with same type and place of accommodations? Do you take multiple small trips? Have you checked off your disney dream list of stays? Tell the most creative ways you have made your points stretch. For reference, we are a family of 7 from Texas who come anywhere from one to ten times over the last nine years. Sometimes only the littles go, making it a party of four, and other times we all come pending schedules. We can't wait to make more magical memories with our points, and dinsey a whole new way.

 

[Sandisw]

Now that I am semi retired, I go a lot! We do a lot of split stays and shorter trips!

I have my favorite resorts and that is pretty much where we stay most trips.

I own a lot of points now because I am not good at making them stretch, unless I have to!!

Welcome to the club!

 

[LoungeflyPrincess]

Now that I am semi retired, I go a lot! We do a lot of split stays and shorter trips!

I have my favorite resorts and that is pretty much where we stay most trips.

I own a lot of points now because I am not good at making them stretch, unless I have to!!

Welcome to the club!

I love this!! Short trips are such a great way to get that Disney fix. Our family enjoys sporadic four day trips when we can. We then will usually plan a longer 7-11 night trip during the summer.

 

[Hubalorian]

We are a family of 3, soon to be 5, twins girls on the way. So I am sure our habits will change.

What we have done the past couple years we’ve been DVC members is travel in the summer (APs), so we can go late into the summer the first stay then early summer the following year to get the most out of the AP. Our third visit was over the Christmas holidays which was a lot of fun. We are currently taking 2025 summer off with the impending arrival of the girls in the next few weeks. However, we will be reverting back to the formally mentioned summer strategy in 2026 then 2027.

I find stretching points a matter of preference and what resort you want to stay out. I own at VGF and AKV, so if I am being more point conscious we stay at AKV, if we want to stay at VGF, we have to be willing to spend more points. Split stays can help with this as well.

We have done this once and may try it again in the future. We typically arrive late evening/ into the night, so we booked a studio for the first night just to have a place to crash and sleep before moving into a 1 Br. Which helps with points

 

[LoungeflyPrincess]

We are a family of 3, soon to be 5, twins girls on the way. So I am sure our habits will change.

What we have done the past couple years we’ve been DVC members is travel in the summer (APs), so we can go late into the summer the first stay then early summer the following year to get the most out of the AP. Our third visit was over the Christmas holidays which was a lot of fun. We are currently taking 2025 summer off with the impending arrival of the girls in the next few weeks. However, we will be reverting back to the formally mentioned summer strategy in 2026 then 2027.

I find stretching points a matter of preference and what resort you want to stay out. I own at VGF and AKV, so if I am being more point conscious we stay at AKV, if we want to stay at VGF, we have to be willing to spend more points. Split stays can help with this as well.

We have done this once and may try it again in the future. We typically arrive late evening/ into the night, so we booked a studio for the first night just to have a place to crash and sleep before moving into a 1 Br. Which helps with points

Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your twins! You are sure to create a lifetime of memories with your growing family. We have done split stays a number of times as non-dvc. We would book a few nights in the values and then move over to a larger resort for the remainder of our stay. We are current AP, and I have toyed with the alternating year strategy buying late summer one year and vacationing early summer the next. It would definitely save us a ton. We also thought about coming for short trips during the non-AP year and doing only special ticket events with maybe a single park add on day. I am having fun just looking at the what is available, when, and for how many points at present.

 

[Doingitagain]

Airfare has gotten very expensive. We have a teacher in our family and kids in school, so we travel prime time. We bank and borrow points to get a grand villa for our group every other year, then pay cash for Disney Cruise on the years in between.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Following this is fun! I am also new to DVC!

I'm thinking about using an every other year method to make my points stretch.
Year A: Disney cruise (pay cash) plus use points to stay a little before and a little after
Year B: either one longer trip or 2 shorter trips (we have kids in school and don't want to make them miss so we are limited to when we can go so still trying to figure out best times)

 

[Hubalorian]

Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your twins! You are sure to create a lifetime of memories with your growing family. We have done split stays a number of times as non-dvc. We would book a few nights in the values and then move over to a larger resort for the remainder of our stay. We are current AP, and I have toyed with the alternating year strategy buying late summer one year and vacationing early summer the next. It would definitely save us a ton. We also thought about coming for short trips during the non-AP year and doing only special ticket events with maybe a single park add on day. I am having fun just looking at the what is available, when, and for how many points at present.

Thank you for the well wishes!

Just be careful, playing with possibilities easily leads to, well if I just had 25…50 or so more points I could do X. Addonitis will kick in and that’s a hard itch to scratch!

 

[WDWkristin]

We have a long drive so always 7-10 day trips. My best hack that has worked is to waitlist for a really low point room you never think you will get. We have stayed in an AKL value room this way and the points per night are so low!