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Charting your points

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Mon, 03/02/2009 - 19:09
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Charting your points

I'm personally not happy if I don't have a spreadsheet somewhere plotting out my DVC points to see what I can work and what I can't.

Started one last night and thought I'd run it by you to see if you do anything similar.

Some of you may have read a while back that I was considering a trip this year which amounts to two days at WDW, followed by a four night cruise, followed by two more days at WDW.

Right now, I'm not sure when we're going (or IF we're going), but it could be as early as May, in the summer or this fall.

First of all, I figure the costs. On a cash basis, this trip (8 room nights & four individual cruises) can vary as much as $2,200 based on when it is priced.

Seeing that, I build a spreadsheet and put the cash cost of each step by calendar date on it. I then insert a reference guide to the point requirements for the DVC/Hotels I want to stay at (Animal Kingdon, Polynesian), along with the points charts for the DCL as well.

So now I've got four different trip scenarios, May, June/July, August & September, complete with cash costs and DVC points laid out. I can look at cash, compare the point equivalent, add, subtract, move around, borrow, insert, change, etc.

I have many happy hours of self imposed entertainment ahead now! On a preliminary note, I sure do like what I can get in August & September compared to months before that.

That how the rest of you do it?

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Mon, 03/02/2009 - 20:06
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Follow up -
I realized after posting that it would be very easy to figure savings per point by adding one field on the sheet. We had discussed a couple of weeks ago the value of DVC points by season when trading them for hotels, etc.

Pretty interesting stuff -
May - (Didn't figure)
June/July - I save $6.01 for every point used
August - I save $3.67 for every point used
Sept - I save $3.75 for every point used

Not sure what this tells me, as the cost structure is much higher in the summer. The mix over the periods was pretty much equal between hotel and cruise, so the mix didn't seem to matter.

Interesting.

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Mon, 03/02/2009 - 20:18
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MouseTraveler wrote:
Follow up -
I realized after posting that it would be very easy to figure savings per point by adding one field on the sheet. We had discussed a couple of weeks ago the value of DVC points by season when trading them for hotels, etc.

Pretty interesting stuff -
May - (Didn't figure)
June/July - I save $6.01 for every point used
August - I save $3.67 for every point used
Sept - I save $3.75 for every point used

Not sure what this tells me, as the cost structure is much higher in the summer. The mix over the periods was pretty much equal between hotel and cruise, so the mix didn't seem to matter.

Interesting.

When you say you save X per point used, is that based on a valuation of the points or just that the points are "worth" that amount. I'll try to clarify:

A vacation would cost me $2,200, or 220 points. Do you then say the points "saved" you $10 per point, or some amount less based on what you think the points are "worth?"

Mon, 03/02/2009 - 20:20
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Every point used in those time frames knocks off the amount indicated.

For instance, in June/July for every vacation point I trade in, it saves me $6 on the cash cost of the trip.

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Tue, 03/03/2009 - 18:48
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Man spreadsheets. Now you're talking my language! You should share your template on your site.

Although technically I rarely do most of the planning. I just give the thumbs up or thumbs down and then criticize afterward!

Tue, 03/03/2009 - 18:50
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Brad wrote:
Man spreadsheets. Now you're talking my language! You should share your template on your site.

Although technically I rarely do most of the planning. I just give the thumbs up or thumbs down and then criticize afterward!



Well, its not a 'user friendly' spreadsheet. If I was going to share something, I'd certainly redo it so people would know how to use it for themselves. You can READ it pretty easily, but there'd be no way for others to utilize it.

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Wed, 03/04/2009 - 17:14
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MouseTraveler wrote:
Every point used in those time frames knocks off the amount indicated.

For instance, in June/July for every vacation point I trade in, it saves me $6 on the cash cost of the trip.



I've never seen anything like this system, but I LIKE IT!

So does that make the summer trip more appealing than the August/Sept trip at this point?

(I'd also figure in non-monetary costs, like crowd levels, MNSSHP, and F&W Festival...)

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Wed, 03/04/2009 - 17:28
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bali wrote:

I've never seen anything like this system, but I LIKE IT!

So does that make the summer trip more appealing than the August/Sept trip at this point?

(I'd also figure in non-monetary costs, like crowd levels, MNSSHP, and F&W Festival...)



I agree about the non-monetary stuff.

At this point, I'm actually thinking about the early September trip. There is a big difference in the cash only part of the trip, so you'd expect to lose some value per point, but this also lowers the amount of cash left you have to put out. Right now, it looks like (using points and cash), I'd spend a thousand dollars less cash in September, plus I'd use 110 less points on that trip.

As for the non-monetary, there will be less crowds then, and its hurricane season, so the sissies are afraid to cruise! laugh

That's the way I'm leaning right now, but hey... the wind will probably change after lunch. Check with me then.

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Wed, 03/04/2009 - 17:54
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MouseTraveler wrote:

As for the non-monetary, there will be less crowds then, and its hurricane season, so the sissies are afraid to cruise! laugh

Sept is great at the parks. Are Cruises generally less crowded as well? I'd think they'd just bring down the number they ran.

Wed, 03/04/2009 - 18:21
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dsoup wrote:

Sept is great at the parks. Are Cruises generally less crowded as well? I'd think they'd just bring down the number they ran.


They run the same number of cruises, but because of the time of year AND hurricane season, there are far fewer cruisers.

We've only been on one cruise where there was a hurricane threat, and they changed our schedule slightly and we never saw any indication that anything was wrong.

Just to give you an example of the cost difference, a simple Expedia search for an oceanview cabin will give you a price of $1,099 in June; in September it's $599.

I LOVE September!

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Wed, 03/04/2009 - 21:24
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MouseTraveler wrote:
dsoup wrote:

Sept is great at the parks. Are Cruises generally less crowded as well? I'd think they'd just bring down the number they ran.

They run the same number of cruises, but because of the time of year AND hurricane season, there are far fewer cruisers.

We've only been on one cruise where there was a hurricane threat, and they changed our schedule slightly and we never saw any indication that anything was wrong.

Just to give you an example of the cost difference, a simple Expedia search for an oceanview cabin will give you a price of $1,099 in June; in September it's $599.

I LOVE September!



That is an astronomical difference. Thanks for the info.

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