4. The weekly option

With the debut of Grand Floridian, DVC introduced a new concept, which is the weekly purchase. The idea is that some people steadily frequent Walt Disney World at the same time each year. Rather than fight the DVC crowd by trying to secure reservations 11 months prior to your vacation, Disney now provides customers with the option to lock in that week every year.

The obvious target date here is Christmas week. Everybody understands exactly how much competition there is during this crowded point on the calendar, as families try to spend the holidays at the happiest place on Earth. There are other uses as well. If you happen to celebrate a birthday, holiday or anniversary at Walt Disney World each year, the idea can be appealing.

As an example, my wife’s birthday and our anniversary line up in a manner that causes us to visit in May. Were we interested, we could secure the requisite dates from now until 2066, at which point my titanium exoskeleton and Google Brainpal© will be sustaining my existence long after my original body has given out. Making such a purchase comes at a price, though. Expect to pay 10% more than the cost of an appropriate amount of points for the week in question in order to secure your annual visit. So, Christmas week would be $40,000 by my calculations (227 points at 10% markup from $160 per point). If you want to do this, you have to accept and be willing to tolerate the additional cost of doing business.

5. The miscellany

The maintenance fees start at $6.02. I would describe this as a bit of a surprise in that the Polynesian is already in the upper tier with regards to maintenance fees for Walt Disney World properties. The Wilderness Lodge is effectively tied with it at $6.02, while Bay Lake Tower ($5.05), Beach Club Villas ($5.97), Grand Floridian ($5.52), Old Key West ($5.84) and Saratoga Springs ($5.17) are all lower. Only Boardwalk Villas ($6.07) and Animal Kingdom Villas ($6.30) cost more. The two most recent additions to the DVC family, Bay Lake Tower and Grand Floridian, had maintenance fees of $3.67 and $5.41 to start. Presumably, the cost of renovating the property is grafted in at least somewhat. Whatever the explanation, the costs for maintenance fees at the Polynesian are a bit disappointing.

The rooms themselves are sublime. The “smallest” DVC rooms at the resort are studios that are 447 square feet. For comparison, the previous record-holder for largest DVC studio at a theme park was Old Key West at 390 square feet. The actual smallest DVC studio rooms are at Bay Lake Tower. Those are 339 square feet only there is technically one type of room at Animal Kingdom Villas that is even smaller at 316 square feet. So, there is 41% disparity between the smallest DVC studio and the basic room choice at Polynesian.

If all of the above intrigues you and you are already a DVC member, you can purchase points already. If you are considering joining and Polynesian is the property you want, sales will open to the general public on February 9th. If you want to win Valentine’s Day, this is your best bet.