DVC “slush fund”?

Good question - We ended up buying more points as our needs evolved. Like you, we only stay in 1- or 2-bedroom rooms. Mostly 1-bedrooms for my wife and me, and 2-bedrooms when our grandkids come with us. We bought Direct at AKL over 12 years ago. We started really enjoying Food and Wine, so we bought at Boardwalk to lock in the 11-month window. As our grandkids get older, we needed more points for the 2-bedroom, and we like Boulder Ridge, so we bought another resale at BR.

For us, we bought at the resorts we want to stay at. As retirees, we are flexible about when we go (NO May-Sept!!). I would buy where you like to stay.

For us, it seems like if we want to go, we can usually get a SS room, so we didn't buy anything there. I hope this helps! Add-On-Itis !!!!!

I think a lot of people refer to these points as "sleep around points". Points to use on random nights/trips outside of your main vacation stay's.

We tend to be point misers. We like to stay in Studio's (value studios if we can get them) in order maximize our number of nights per year. As empty nesters we don't feel a need for an extra bedroom. Coming from Michigan we try to plan out 4 trips/year with 4-5 nights per trip. Now that our son is older, if he wants to come down with us, we will just get him his own room. Oddly enough, getting 2 studio rooms is often a point or two cheaper per night than a 1 bedroom. The last couple of trips we have book our primary resort and used "slush fund" points to add a night at a another resort. As newer DVC members we are still checking hotels off the list. When it comes to adding on new contracts we have been focusing on smaller contracts with the same use year at other resorts that we like in order to give more 11 month options.

After over 16 years as members, we finally stayed at Aulani (or first non-WDW DVC stay), and that pushed us into our first add-on. I used the whole year's worth of points (1BR Ocean View), but didn't want to miss our WDW trip as well.

We chose to initially add on direct at Riviera, because we fell in love with staying there and we can't use resale (other than RIV resale) to stay there.

There's always talk about "Sleep Around Points" in the DVC-sphere. SSR used to be the prime example. But I think there are other good choices. You mention AKL, and the cost is often not much more than SSR. Aulani is another low-cost resale (although the dues can be higher if you don't buy a subsidized contract).

BLT is still considered a good value. Longer contract term, lower dues. And if your travel needs change, you can use your BLT for more nights/bigger room at the 11-month window where you like to stay.

Wife and I are gonna test the land/sea option in December 2027 to see how that works. We are hotel cowards and tend to stay where we know. We would've gotten VGF if they were on a sale. So, we are inclined to only use our points only at PVB. We are going to try to book a cabin in July 2028 for my son's high school graduation, since he also wants to spend a couple of days at Universal, which is on that end of WDW.

If the land/sea option works for us, we will likely use it most of the time, as we plan to take only one trip per year. We will look at more points once grandchildren are in the picture, which should not be before 2031.

We dont have SAP, but have used our points at other resorts. Back before there were Grand Californian DVC, we used our points to stay there. Now days the exchange rate to stay at a non DVC resort is really bad, I mean really really bad. We have 3 home resorts at WDW and have gone by the "Buy where you Love" motto. Also depending on when you go, 7 months can be tough. Old Key West was always our goto if we could not get Boardwalk or BLT. But even there can be hard at 7 months. We were thinking of adding on to our AKV, but not for a slush fund. I think we are a little light on AKV. We try to do 1 trip to WDW and 1 trip to DLR a year. So we tend to to go for 14 or so days.

For points that you just want to use at other resorts, I'd take a look at DVC Resale Market's best economical resorts to purchase blog. I like that it takes into account not only the price per point but also the dues and number of years left on the contract. While SSR is towards the top of the list, CCV can be a surprisingly good pick for sleep around points.

For us, we own resale at AUL and AKV. We own direct at RIV and Poly. I typically will try and burn the resale points first, especially the AKV points. I find myself using the home resort priority at AKV the least currently. AUL we actually do use the home resort priority somewhat regularly so we if we have a AUL trip coming up, if resale AKV cannot be used either due to resale restrictions or simply because we don't have any more AKV points, I will use the RIV points next. If there is no upcoming AUL trip then AUL will be used after resale AKV.

The sole reason why RIV is used before Poly is simply that we have 335 RIV points and 200 Poly points. Both are point heavy resorts but RIV points will go further at RIV than Poly points will at Poly. Our direct Poly points really are a last resort. I also do take into account the use year of the points and try to avoid dipping into future use years to retain maximum flexibility.