Disney Resort Room vs. Villas

[Funkidivagirl]

Hi everyone. I am new here and have never been to Disney World. I am in the process of doing my research now for a place to stay. My family of four will be traveling mid-October 2006. I am thinking about the Port Orleans-French Quarter or renting points for BCV or BW studio. Again, I haven't done any of this before and it is so overwhelming. Are the studio villas larger than a room at Port Orleans? When you stay at a villa are you still near all the other amenities that the resort has to offer? Any recs. on a place to stay would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[n2mm]

The villas are much bigger that POR. Since you are interested in going in Oct, you need to know that October is one of the busiest times of year for BCV and BWV, so you need to rent from someone who owns at these resorts so that they can book at the 11 month window, (November 2006). At the 7 month window it can be very difficult or near impossible to get a room at either of these places. Also, renting points has it's pros and cons. You get a bigger/better place for less month, you don't get daily housekeeping, but you can purchase the dining plan. If you go with a regular disney resort you can only purchase the dining plan if you buy a package, which includes rack rate room and tickets for all in the room. The villas all have some kitchen areas with the studio being the smallest. The studio has a microwave, frig, toaster, and sink & cabinets. The studio and 1 bedroom sleep 4, the 2 bedroom sleep 8 (plus there are bigger units). You can go over to the rental board on the DVC boards to get a feel for renting.

 

[mirlow]

Welcome to the Dis!

I was trying to figure out the same thing. We added six days to the beginning of our trip and I didn't want to spend a lot of money. It is just going to be me and my kids so I thought I would try a resort that we wouldn't normally stay at since we usually travel as a party of five. I started at POP then I switched to POFQ and now I ended up at SSR in a studio.
If you are looking for Oct 2006 I can tell you that different people have looked for me during the middle of Oct (10th-16th) and there was nothing for DVC in a studio. I decided to just book one through Disney with an Annual Passholder rate. Disney must have different inventory? I decided to go with SSR because we aren't going to be doing the parks but two days and I thought SSR had more to do around the resort and I wanted a kitchenette.



If you are looking to book for this Oct I would do the package deal that they have going on right now. Here is the link



Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[Funkidivagirl]

Thanks. SSR is a nice resort? I don't know anything about this one, but I will look it up on the Disney site. You can book villas thru the Disney site also? Thanks for the tip on avail for October. Yes, I have checked into the package on Disney site and now I'm in the process of seeing which is more cost effective...booking a package on Disney site, a travel agent, booking everything individually myself, the dining plan or not. But I will cut it off at some point---this is exhausting!

 

[mirlow]

SSR is a good option for our family for this visit, but it might not be for your family. I would look at what you want to spend and narrow down the choices you have. Yes you can book villas through WDW but they will be more expensive than renting points for October. Our studio is $245 including tax with a passholder rate. More expensive than a moderate but cheaper than most deluxe rooms. There have been times when it was cheaper to book through Disney than renting points (that was the case on our visit in April of 2005).

The package that Disney is offering is the cheapest you can go right now. It doesn't matter if you book it yourself or if a TA books it. You have to decide if you want the dining. I was going to do it but we decided to book a passholder rate and get the DDE card that lets passholders get 20% off dining and drinks at TS restaurants. We don't normally get an appetizer and desserts for everyone. Plus we tend to hit the buffets or family style restaurants.

The Dis board has a ton of information which can be overwhelming. If you are going this October I would start booking your reservation and make dining ADR as soon as you can.

 

[Deb & Bill]

If a member has a reservation that they no longer need and wants to sell it, you might be able to get a reservation for BWV or BCV in October. That will be the only way to reserve there on DVC points for 2006. You might check out the Rent/Trade Board to see if anyone has a reservation they want to rent out.

Just remember that when you do a DVC rental through a member, Disney is NOT involved in any way with the rental. It is an arrangement between you and the member and they control the reservation until you check in. The price is negotiable, but if it is a desired reservation, the member may want to charge more for the reservation.

You will see lots of points for rent, but if there is no vacancy at the DVC resort, these points will be useless.

 

[Funkidivagirl]

Thanks everyone for your insite. I will try renting points and if that doesn't pan out then maybe a travel agent.