Buying more points

[smith365]

Hello,

We are thinking about buying more points. The studio size room is getting crowded. Should it be the same resort or a lower price one? We are currently in Poly. How does combining points between resorts work? Should it be close to my current Dec use year? Any points will be well taken.

Thanks

Jeff

 

[Bing Showei]

Unless you're ok with doing adjoining studios, or buying a ton of points at Poly to live like royalty in one them fandangled bungalows, you'll probably want to get away from the Poly. If you are looking at 1BRs exclusively, 7 months will be much easier to manage outside of October-mid-January, so a cheaper resort could work (with the usual caveats of 7-month bookings getting increasingly harder to get). If you're keeping your poly points (vs. selling them), you won't be able to use those points for a 1BR until the 7-month point. And at 7-months all points are exactly the same, so buy cheap to supplement.

That said, if there is a specific resort that you really enjoy, buy there and plan to book at 11-months.

Life is easier to stick with the same UY (titled the same as well) so that you can share your points at 7-months.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Hello,

We are thinking about buying more points. The studio size room is getting crowded. Should it be the same resort or a lower price one? We are currently in Poly. How does combining points between resorts work? Should it be close to my current Dec use year? Any points will be well taken.

Thanks

Jeff

Too bad you didn't realize about the size of the studio when you bought your Polynesian points. Then you could just buy another contract at the same resort. But Polynesian has no one bedrooms, so you are stuck there. Don't buy an offsite resort just for the price. You want to be able to use those points to book at 11 months out at a WDW resort. BLT or SSR seem to be the resort of choice when adding on.

 

[rg35]

Yeah, being at Poly puts you in kind of a rough spot for the aforementioned reasons. If you don't care about member benefits you might want to sell your Poly points and just buy enough of what you need at another resort via resale.

 

[disneynutz]

Looks like it's time to buy a different resort and sell PVB.

Bill

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Hello,

We are thinking about buying more points. The studio size room is getting crowded. Should it be the same resort or a lower price one? We are currently in Poly. How does combining points between resorts work? Should it be close to my current Dec use year? Any points will be well taken.

Thanks

Jeff

I also would not recommend Poly since the purpose is for larger rooms. Buy at another resort that you like to stay at that has all the villa sizes. You cannot use points at another resort until 7 months out but having them all in the same UY will help to make it easier to use the points all together at 7 months.

Depending on where you might want to stay going forward it's not a bad idea to look at selling the PVB unless you feel studios will work at times.

 

[Disneykate605]

We bought direct in 2015 so 2/3 of our points are poly and the other 1/3 are HHI (bought in 2016). We have done at least 10 trips since we bought 3 years ago and when we go this Thanksgiving it will be the 1st time we will be staying at poly (by choice ...we wanted to experience our home resort) and this past Easter was the 1st time we stayed at HHI. Obviously we have been really lucky and it's worked out for us. What we usually do when it's high demand time like Thanksgiving is book Poly at 11 months so we know we have somewhere to go and then change it at the 7 month mark to a larger room somewhere. We are Disney Spring fans so we don't mind staying at SSR or OKW if that's all that is available. That being said we are looking to by another contract (resale this time) at BWV in the next 6 months because we love staying there and we would like to have the 11 month advantage at a resort that has more room size options that and we need more points!
Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[Mumof4mice]

Hello,

We are thinking about buying more points. The studio size room is getting crowded. Should it be the same resort or a lower price one? We are currently in Poly. How does combining points between resorts work? Should it be close to my current Dec use year? Any points will be well taken.

Thanks

Jeff

Please PM me if you want to dump your Poly contract… Haha, just kidding. Fellow DEC Poly owner here!

Agree with previous posters that if you're adding, a second home resort would be good (we have gone this route for our second purchase). But I wouldn't be in a hurry to sell, as Poly can be a great fit for some family's vacation styles.

One bedrooms are hands down far more comfortable than studios. However, we rank two connecting studios above one 1 bedroom in overall experience.

Two connecting studios gives you 2 real beds, 2 Murphys, 2 foldouts and 4 bathrooms. For our family of 6 this means better sleeping comfort for everyone, no bathroom fights, and neat, usable living areas because the foldouts do not need to be folded out. We don't cook on vacation and plan to split stay (2BR at VGF/BLT/BCV).

Skier Pete and Bing showei's excellent charts should give you a good idea of 7 month availability to decide if you need home resort advantage or can buy SSR points. Best of luck!

 

[smith365]

Well... my wife wanted Poly after she examined all the resorts. For the beauty I guess. lol
If you have 75 points at OKW (2019 Starting) and 75 points(2018 starting) at Poly, would this work? You bank the 75 points at Poly in 2018. In 2019, I book a trip 11 months out at OKW using 150 points or am I only allowed to book 11 months out using 75 points? Am I only allowed to book 7 months out with both the combined 150 points?

Thanks

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Well... my wife wanted Poly after she examined all the resorts. For the beauty I guess. lol
If you have 75 points at OKW (2019 Starting) and 75 points(2018 starting) at Poly, would this work? You bank the 75 points at Poly in 2018. In 2019, I book a trip 11 months out at OKW using 150 points or am I only allowed to book 11 months out using 75 points? Am I only allowed to book 7 months out with both the combined 150 points?

Thanks

11 months at OKW only with the OKW points. You'd have to wait until 7 months to use PVB points at OKW.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Please PM me if you want to dump your Poly contract… Haha, just kidding. Fellow DEC Poly owner here!

Agree with previous posters that if you're adding, a second home resort would be good (we have gone this route for our second purchase). But I wouldn't be in a hurry to sell, as Poly can be a great fit for some family's vacation styles.

One bedrooms are hands down far more comfortable than studios. However, we rank two connecting studios above one 1 bedroom in overall experience.

Two connecting studios gives you 2 real beds, 2 Murphys, 2 foldouts and 4 bathrooms. For our family of 6 this means better sleeping comfort for everyone, no bathroom fights, and neat, usable living areas because the foldouts do not need to be folded out. We don't cook on vacation and plan to split stay (2BR at VGF/BLT/BCV).

Skier Pete and Bing showei's excellent charts should give you a good idea of 7 month availability to decide if you need home resort advantage or can buy SSR points. Best of luck!

You still only have two bathrooms. Just a separate shower and sink from the tub/shower/toilet/sink area. Only two toilets and those are important.

 

[gharter]

Many options.
You could add more Poly points, not cheap, and still have some of the limitations.
Adding points for a second resort, you can't use them with the Poly points until the 7 month mark either direction.
You could bank points from each and stay at each resort alternating years with a larger room each year.
Or sell the Poly points, get a larger contract at another resort.

 

[Mumof4mice]

You still only have two bathrooms. Just a separate shower and sink from the tub/shower/toilet/sink area. Only two toilets and those are important.

None of the one bedrooms has more than two toilets, and the majority of two bedrooms have only two toilets, correct? We haven't been struck down by gastro at Disney so two toilets adequately service that department anyway (touch wood!). Agree that when they designed the studios two toilets would have been more useful than two showers.

 

[Deb & Bill]

None of the one bedrooms has more than two toilets, and the majority of two bedrooms have only two toilets, correct? We haven't been struck down by gastro at Disney so two toilets adequately service that department anyway (touch wood!). Agree that when they designed the studios two toilets would have been more useful than two showers.

Yes, they do. Both Kidani Village and BLT have two full bathrooms in the one bedroom. Two bedrooms have three full bathrooms.

Polynesian studios just have a split bathroom like most of the older one bedroom villas. Which is unusual to have in a studio. GFV also has a split bathroom in the studio.

 

[kniquy]

If it was any other resort then you could just simply add-on to afford a 1 or 2 BR but your only option with poly is enough points for a chance at adjoining rooms, which isn't guaranteed or buying enough points for a bungalow -- which is just insane. Plus even if you get enough points for 2 poly studios you could use that same amount of points to get a 2 BR which would have the luxuries of a full kitchen and laundry. If the poly studios really are not working for your family you might want to sell and buy something that would work or just keep your poly and come to terms with split stays so that you can do a few nights a poly and then the remainder of your stay in a larger unit.

 

[Bing Showei]

You still only have two bathrooms. Just a separate shower and sink from the tub/shower/toilet/sink area. Only two toilets and those are important.

In a pinch, one man’s sink/shower...

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

One bedrooms are hands down far more comfortable than studios. However, we rank two connecting studios above one 1 bedroom in overall experience.

Two connecting studios gives you 2 real beds, 2 Murphys, 2 foldouts and 4 bathrooms. For our family of 6 this means better sleeping comfort for everyone, no bathroom fights, and neat, usable living areas because the foldouts do not need to be folded out. We don't cook on vacation and plan to split stay (2BR at VGF/BLT/BCV).

But the better point comparison is 2 PVB studios vs a 2BR at many of the other resorts. The points for the PVB studios are just that much higher than other resorts except VGF. So looking at a 1BR vs 2 PVB studios is going to end up being quite a savings. This is an extreme example but an AKV Value 1BR for a week in May is the identical number of points as a single standard view studio at PVB. In many cases even 2BR's at several resorts are less than 2 studios at PVB. Or within 10-20 points more. Then you get 3 real beds, 2-3 full bathrooms, 2-4 pull outs of some sort, laundry, kitchen, dining table. For less or just a few points more the additional real bed, living area plus the laundry and a nice fridge to keep drinks in and freezer for Mickey bars provides a lot more comfort.

 

[Mumof4mice]

In a pinch, one man’s sink/shower...

But the better point comparison is 2 PVB studios vs a 2BR at many of the other resorts. The points for the PVB studios are just that much higher than other resorts except VGF. So looking at a 1BR vs 2 PVB studios is going to end up being quite a savings. This is an extreme example but an AKV Value 1BR for a week in May is the identical number of points as a single standard view studio at PVB. In many cases even 2BR's at several resorts are less than 2 studios at PVB. Or within 10-20 points more. Then you get 3 real beds, 2-3 full bathrooms, 2-4 pull outs of some sort, laundry, kitchen, dining table. For less or just a few points more the additional real bed, living area plus the laundry and a nice fridge to keep drinks in and freezer for Mickey bars provides a lot more comfort.

Fully agree! Even if you don't count on scoring the value rooms, the standard view AKV/BWV 2 bedrooms compare favourably to two Poly studios. Two studios at the Poly is a compromise for us to be right on top of the TTC; far from an ideal situation.

That said, my $101pp AKV contract was taken last week. Another member just had a $110 stripped AKV taken. By the time OP pays selling costs for his Poly, rebuys a different resort and pays buying costs, he might not end up ahead at all. So why not simply keep his contract (direct benefits a bonus) and resort hop with it? One bedrooms have good availability most of the year.

 

[Renee H]

We bought direct in 2015 so 2/3 of our points are poly and the other 1/3 are HHI (bought in 2016). We have done at least 10 trips since we bought 3 years ago and when we go this Thanksgiving it will be the 1st time we will be staying at poly (by choice ...we wanted to experience our home resort) and this past Easter was the 1st time we stayed at HHI. Obviously we have been really lucky and it's worked out for us. What we usually do when it's high demand time like Thanksgiving is book Poly at 11 months so we know we have somewhere to go and then change it at the 7 month mark to a larger room somewhere. We are Disney Spring fans so we don't mind staying at SSR or OKW if that's all that is available. That being said we are looking to by another contract (resale this time) at BWV in the next 6 months because we love staying there and we would like to have the 11 month advantage at a resort that has more room size options that and we need more points!
Good luck with whatever you decide!

Out of curiosity, how difficult is it to book HH at Easter?

 

[Disneykate605]

I had no problem but I booked our room at 8am the morning the 11th month booking window opened. I did not pay attention to how quickly it filled up.
We went with a studio for our family of 4 that time since it was for a short trip. We went Thursday- Monday.