Booking with the "right" points???

JCMCM

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 18, 2015
I've thought about this and googled till it made my head hurt o_O so I thought I'd just come to the experts . . .

We've mulled DVC over several times and are now strongly considering purchasing -- likely 100 AKL direct to start (having the "perks" is important to us) and then adding on a resale at some point once we've had a chance to use the system, stay at a few different resorts to see where we love most, etc. Hypothetically, we might add on points at a different resort with the same UY -- maybe 125 at BLT.

I get that we would only have 11 month booking for the points "at" the respective resorts. However, through banking and borrowing we could increase the number of points available to us at 11 months on the individual contracts. I get that too.

Here's where my head starts hurting . . . if we didn't book at AKL or BLT at 11 months and instead chose to book elsewhere at 7 months -- say OKW -- how does the DVC system "know" which points to use? I'd like the answer to be "I tell it" so I could use banked/current/borrowed from whichever contract made sense at the time. Is that how it works or is there some default thou shalt use these points mechanism -- or worse -- the system randomly selects for you? My concern is losing points if the "right" ones aren't used.

Does this make sense? Just trying to think through how all this works in practicality. Many thanks in advance for any insight those of you already in the know can share! I feel like I'm waaaaaay overthinking this. :confused3
 
Don't worry, once you have an account it will be more obvious.

1. If you have an AKV and BLT contract, you choose which one to pull from

2. The system uses banked points first, then current points. If it's not enough, the system will ask you if you want to borrow points. You have to approve it because once you borrow it's not reversible.
 
Yes. You tell it on the booking screen. You can specify the order of contracts. It will generally take points in this order: banked, borrowed, current. If it does not end up as you wanted, Member Services can generally correct it.
 
For your first resort I would think twice about AKV. It's a fine resort, we own there along with 6 other resorts, but it isn't our favorite and it isn't close to MK or Epcot/DHS. The novelty of seeing animals soon wore off for us and being able to walk to a park is important to us.

:earsboy: Bill

 


Also, make sure you have the right UY (Use Year) ie, more like "Use Month". If you want to travel in the spring a February or March UY works well, and if you travel in the fall a September or October UY works. Make sure you read up about UY and the borrowing and banking guidelines.
 
For your first resort I would think twice about AKV. It's a fine resort, we own there along with 6 other resorts, but it isn't our favorite and it isn't close to MK or Epcot/DHS. The novelty of seeing animals soon wore off for us and being able to walk to a park is important to us.

:earsboy: Bill

This is a misleading statement, and one that I think I have seen before. AKV is not "far" from DHS. It's less than a 10 minute drive. It's only 15 minute drive to Epcot. Neither of those distances are far. If you mean to say that you can't walk from there to any of the theme parks, that's one thing. But distance wise and relative travel time, it's really not far.
 
This is a misleading statement, and one that I think I have seen before. AKV is not "far" from DHS. It's less than a 10 minute drive. It's only 15 minute drive to Epcot. Neither of those distances are far. If you mean to say that you can't walk from there to any of the theme parks, that's one thing. But distance wise and relative travel time, it's really not far.

Your right, but it feels isolated being down there all by itself. The bus to every park gets old. It’s also worth mentioning that after SSR and OKW it’s the 3rd easiest to book at 7 mo.

I certainly wouldn’t by AKL as my direct points because AKL is on the cheaper side resale.
 


This is a misleading statement, and one that I think I have seen before. AKV is not "far" from DHS. It's less than a 10 minute drive. It's only 15 minute drive to Epcot. Neither of those distances are far. If you mean to say that you can't walk from there to any of the theme parks, that's one thing. But distance wise and relative travel time, it's really not far.

Waiting for the bus, boarding the bus, riding the bus time needs to be added to the estimate. But you are correct, I prefer to walk and I prefer the MK and Epcot resort areas. More to do and see from those resorts.

:earsboy: Bill

 
Waiting for the bus, boarding the bus, riding the bus time needs to be added to the estimate. But you are correct, I prefer to walk and I prefer the MK and Epcot resort areas. More to do and see from those resorts.

:earsboy: Bill

If you are traveling to a park, then all of the following resorts are pretty much exclusively by bus.
Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Old Key West.
Saratoga Springs.
Coronado Springs.
Port Orleans French Quarter
Port Orleans Riverside
The three all star resorts.
And currently Caribbean Beach, Pop Century, and Art of Animation.
In addition, travel from Wilderness Lodge or Fort Wilderness is also mostly by bus unless you take the water taxi to the Magic Kingdom. That is not always convenient and is not Dependable in a rainstorm.

In other words, travel to a park from most resorts is always by bus. And travel to parks from all of the other 'convenient' resorts, is still, usually by bus.

Even the resorts that have special access such as Polynesian, Grand Floridian and the Contemporary, and Beach Club and Boardwalk Villas, only get you to one or two parks. If you want to go to the other parks you still need to take the bus.

So, monorail, Water Taxis, and walking distance are all nice perks for some resorts. But frankly most travel to Parks is by bus. Given that, once you load onto the bus, it really is usually only a few more minutes at the most from anywhere within Walt Disney World to anywhere within Walt Disney World. And that includes Animal Kingfom. So what it comes down to, really, is what kind of resort do you prefer. And is it important to you to be able to take the monorail or water taxi or walk. If that is one of your main points go for it. Otherwise Animal Kingdom lodges stack up with the best of them.
 
Another thing, is that it is sometimes possible to call up the DVC reservations office, and ask them to switch your points around in the way that you want them. In case you have made a mistake, or other things change. I have done this in the past and had no trouble doing it.

I had two reservations, one of them using regular points and one using Banked points. When I cancelled the Banked Point reservation I called them and asked them to switch the banked points to the reservation that was then using regular points.

Please note that the system does not do that automatically. You need to call them and ask for them to do it for you.
 
Last edited:
Waiting for the bus, boarding the bus, riding the bus time needs to be added to the estimate. But you are correct, I prefer to walk and I prefer the MK and Epcot resort areas. More to do and see from those resorts.

:earsboy: Bill

Yes, fair enough about the bus time and padding required (although having next bus times available via MDE should cut down on that). We either drive down or rent a car, so I tend to not really approach it from the bus perspective. But the one time we used the bus to get to MK from AKV we found the service to be good.
 
I've thought about this and googled till it made my head hurt o_O so I thought I'd just come to the experts . . .

We've mulled DVC over several times and are now strongly considering purchasing -- likely 100 AKL direct to start (having the "perks" is important to us) and then adding on a resale at some point once we've had a chance to use the system, stay at a few different resorts to see where we love most, etc. Hypothetically, we might add on points at a different resort with the same UY -- maybe 125 at BLT.

I get that we would only have 11 month booking for the points "at" the respective resorts. However, through banking and borrowing we could increase the number of points available to us at 11 months on the individual contracts. I get that too.

Here's where my head starts hurting . . . if we didn't book at AKL or BLT at 11 months and instead chose to book elsewhere at 7 months -- say OKW -- how does the DVC system "know" which points to use? I'd like the answer to be "I tell it" so I could use banked/current/borrowed from whichever contract made sense at the time. Is that how it works or is there some default thou shalt use these points mechanism -- or worse -- the system randomly selects for you? My concern is losing points if the "right" ones aren't used.

Does this make sense? Just trying to think through how all this works in practicality. Many thanks in advance for any insight those of you already in the know can share! I feel like I'm waaaaaay overthinking this. :confused3
It's not as hard once you do it. I bought direct OKW and then resale OKW and AKL currently renting some points at some and used some points for a future reservation, it is pretty straight forward. I was nervous I wouldn't get it, but like everything disney it takes care of itself :)
 
Waiting for the bus, boarding the bus, riding the bus time needs to be added to the estimate. But you are correct, I prefer to walk and I prefer the MK and Epcot resort areas. More to do and see from those resorts.

:earsboy: Bill
Epcot resorts are the worst. We stayed at BCV and we all agreed that we hated it. Yes you could walk to Epcot and DHS, but the busses to the other parks were shared between resorts. We will never stay at an Epcot resort again. As far as AKV is concerned, it is our favorite and we never tire of watching the animals. Everyone has different tastes, but I agree with the other poster that saying AKV is too far from everything is misleading.
 
Epcot resorts are the worst. We stayed at BCV and we all agreed that we hated it. Yes you could walk to Epcot and DHS, but the busses to the other parks were shared between resorts. We will never stay at an Epcot resort again. As far as AKV is concerned, it is our favorite and we never tire of watching the animals. Everyone has different tastes, but I agree with the other poster that saying AKV is too far from everything is misleading.

Never said that AKV is too far, I said that I like to walk to a park. We love the Epcot area resorts, you can walk to Epcot, DHS, the YC, BC, the boardwalk, and several boardwalk restaurants. BWI/BWV had a direct bus to the MK, did that change? As you posted everyone has different tastes and Disney has something for everyone. :thumbsup2

:earsboy: Bill

 
I've thought about this and googled till it made my head hurt o_O so I thought I'd just come to the experts . . .

We've mulled DVC over several times and are now strongly considering purchasing -- likely 100 AKL direct to start (having the "perks" is important to us) and then adding on a resale at some point once we've had a chance to use the system, stay at a few different resorts to see where we love most, etc. Hypothetically, we might add on points at a different resort with the same UY -- maybe 125 at BLT.

I get that we would only have 11 month booking for the points "at" the respective resorts. However, through banking and borrowing we could increase the number of points available to us at 11 months on the individual contracts. I get that too.

Here's where my head starts hurting . . . if we didn't book at AKL or BLT at 11 months and instead chose to book elsewhere at 7 months -- say OKW -- how does the DVC system "know" which points to use? I'd like the answer to be "I tell it" so I could use banked/current/borrowed from whichever contract made sense at the time. Is that how it works or is there some default thou shalt use these points mechanism -- or worse -- the system randomly selects for you? My concern is losing points if the "right" ones aren't used.

Does this make sense? Just trying to think through how all this works in practicality. Many thanks in advance for any insight those of you already in the know can share! I feel like I'm waaaaaay overthinking this. :confused3
You'll need around 20-25 passes in the first few years to make up the cost difference. If I was going this route I'd do the resale first because it'd be easier to add the retail second and match up to your UY than resale.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!









Top