Have you ever combined rented DVC points and a Bounceback offer? Advice please...

[Hootenany]

Hello all!
We have a Bounce-back Free Dining offer booked for September 1st through 8th. We are a family of 5. In doing some math, it seems as though if we were to split our stay with rented DVC points and used our Bounceback offer for the other half of our trip, we could save a significant amount of money- approximately $1200!!! Has anyone ever done this before? Any advice?
Thanks in advance!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

No i haven’t but we are doing a split on our upcoming trip. I rented points for 7 nights at BWV. But the two nights prior i booked through my TA that does agency exclusive Rates on rooms and they offer discounts on park tickets too. So we will do two nights at POFQ with 8 day hoppers and a free WP day. I was initially going to do 9 nights at BWV but the deal for the tickets is really good and i get to try a resort I’ve always wanted to try at a nice room discount too.

 

[Hootenany]

No i haven’t but we are doing a split on our upcoming trip. I rented points for 7 nights at BWV. But the two nights prior i booked through my TA that does agency exclusive Rates on rooms and they offer discounts on park tickets too. So we will do two nights at POFQ with 8 day hoppers and a free WP day. I was initially going to do 9 nights at BWV but the deal for the tickets is really good and i get to try a resort I’ve always wanted to try at a nice room discount too.

That is awesome! I am nervous to rent DVC points (we have never done it before) but I am motivated by the savings! Here is what I'm have calculated...
Sept 1- Sept 5- Rent points (BWV 43 x $15pp $645)
Sept 5- Sept 8- Use Free Dining Bounceback offer YC with 4 day ph's ($3756)
Total- $4401 (plus food expenses for 4 days- 1 being a travel day)
(Our FDBB trip right now for the same dates is $5800.)

By renting points for the first half of our trip versus using FDBB, we will save money as those dates are a holiday and the room rates are higher. We will keep our 4 day park hoppers with our FDBB offer. I spoke with a CM and they told me that they could open our tickets up 1 week in advance of check-in.
Another plan would be to use the FDBB offer for the first half of our trip. It would cost a little bit more, but we could hoard some pre-packaged snacks for later in the week to use for when we no longer have FD. Free Dining is great, but it is a lot of food. At the end of our trip last year, we had crazy amounts of snacks and QS meals left over.

Any thoughts out there?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

That is awesome! I am nervous to rent DVC points (we have never done it before) but I am motivated by the savings! Here is what I'm have calculated...
Sept 1- Sept 5- Rent points (BWV 43 x $15pp $645)
Sept 5- Sept 8- Use Free Dining Bounceback offer YC with 4 day ph's ($3756)
Total- $4401 (plus food expenses for 4 days- 1 being a travel day)
(Our FDBB trip right now for the same dates is $5800.)

By renting points for the first half of our trip versus using FDBB, we will save money as those dates are a holiday and the room rates are higher. We will keep our 4 day park hoppers with our FDBB offer. I spoke with a CM and they told me that they could open our tickets up 1 week in advance of check-in.
Another plan would be to use the FDBB offer for the first half of our trip. It would cost a little bit more, but we could hoard some pre-packaged snacks for later in the week to use for when we no longer have FD. Free Dining is great, but it is a lot of food. At the end of our trip last year, we had crazy amounts of snacks and QS meals left over.

Any thoughts out there?

I would do the FDBB at the end of the trip. I would prefer to rent points for the whole trip and pay OOP for food. We started paying OOP in 2015 since we did another TA exclusive that we couldn’t add the DDP on to. We got deluxe rooms for $200 and i realized that i prefer paying OOP for food. Before that we did the dining plan, usually free but i also did the 4/3 deal many moons ago.

 

[kydisneyfans]

We have in the past but did the bounceback free dining first as the refillable mug was good the entire trip and our food credits covered the day we moved to the DVC resort.

 

[wendow]

I would prefer to rent points for the whole trip and pay OOP for food.

Same! We also do the agency exclusive rates and pay OOP for food. I crunch the numbers each year and that always comes out cheaper than "free" dining.

 

[mster425]

If you do the package at the end of your trip you will not be able to book fast passes for the first portion of your stay until you get to the park. Do the package first and you can book fp for the length of your ticket.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Same! We also do the agency exclusive rates and pay OOP for food. I crunch the numbers each year and that always comes out cheaper than "free" dining.

It's very freeing! I was nervous the first time we did it but it worked out great. We saved a ton of money and got to stay deluxe! Next trip it's just DD12 and myself. No way was I doing the dining plan. We are making 3 ADR's and then winging it the rest of the trip with QS and same day ADR's.

 

[Debbie Jean]

You are late to the party for a DVC rental in September. First, you would need to find a BWV owner with 11 month booking window. Second, standard view studios which is what you have budgeted are already booked. You would have to take a pool/garden view, which is 61 points at $15 per point or $915 if my math is correct. In any event, the lower point rooms get booked by owners immediately so the likelihood of renting points for them is never very good.

 

[Luvdancink]

Same! We also do the agency exclusive rates and pay OOP for food. I crunch the numbers each year and that always comes out cheaper than "free" dining.

Sorry to hijack the thread but what’s an agency exclusive rate and how do you figure out what those rates are?

 

[Marionnette]

That is awesome! I am nervous to rent DVC points (we have never done it before) but I am motivated by the savings! Here is what I'm have calculated...
Sept 1- Sept 5- Rent points (BWV 43 x $15pp $645)
Sept 5- Sept 8- Use Free Dining Bounceback offer YC with 4 day ph's ($3756)
Total- $4401 (plus food expenses for 4 days- 1 being a travel day)
(Our FDBB trip right now for the same dates is $5800.)

By renting points for the first half of our trip versus using FDBB, we will save money as those dates are a holiday and the room rates are higher. We will keep our 4 day park hoppers with our FDBB offer. I spoke with a CM and they told me that they could open our tickets up 1 week in advance of check-in.
Another plan would be to use the FDBB offer for the first half of our trip. It would cost a little bit more, but we could hoard some pre-packaged snacks for later in the week to use for when we no longer have FD. Free Dining is great, but it is a lot of food. At the end of our trip last year, we had crazy amounts of snacks and QS meals left over.

Any thoughts out there?

You're not likely to get a BWV standard view studio at this point. Owners started booking them back in early October and there is a high probability that there are none available to book now. You should never rely on being able to book the low-cost villas such as BWV standard studios and AKV value studios if you are renting points. Make your budget based on the higher point requirements (in your case, it would be 61 for BWV preferred) and you have a lesser chance of being disappointed.

 

[Hootenany]

If you do the package at the end of your trip you will not be able to book fast passes for the first portion of your stay until you get to the park. Do the package first and you can book fp for the length of your ticket.

I wondered how fast passes worked by doing this! Thank you for this information- really good to know!

 

[Hootenany]

It's very freeing! I was nervous the first time we did it but it worked out great. We saved a ton of money and got to stay deluxe! Next trip it's just DD12 and myself. No way was I doing the dining plan. We are making 3 ADR's and then winging it the rest of the trip with QS and same day ADR's.

This! We have actually Bounced-back with free dining for 4-5 years in a row now. This past year, we were lucky to visit Disney twice- once with free dining and once without. I was nervous to go without as our family has made free dining our "travel habit" and breaking those habits can be a little tough. (i.e Table service once per day.) In the end, we did just fine. We didn't starve and you are right- it was very freeing and we all actually felt accomplished that we saved a few dollars! We booked FD during our October trip, and looked into changing the FDBB to a ROBB discount during our December trip. The CM told quoted us a price for ROBB that was $2,000 more than FD, so we kept FD. BUT, knowing that we can live without FD is what prompted me to look into other options (split stay with rented DVC points).

This is all so helpful- I'm all ears and open to any more ideas/suggestions that you all may have!

 

[Hootenany]

You are late to the party for a DVC rental in September. First, you would need to find a BWV owner with 11 month booking window. Second, standard view studios which is what you have budgeted are already booked. You would have to take a pool/garden view, which is 61 points at $15 per point or $915 if my math is correct. In any event, the lower point rooms get booked by owners immediately so the likelihood of renting points for them is never very good.

This is the story of my life- always late to the party...
Thank you for this information. What DVC (if any) would most likely be available in early September?

 

[Hootenany]

Sorry to hijack the thread but what’s an agency exclusive rate and how do you figure out what those rates are?

Yes please! I, too, am very interested in learning about this!

 

[wendow]

This is the story of my life- always late to the party...
Thank you for this information. What DVC (if any) would most likely be available in early September?

Our family has rented DVC many times in early Sept. You should find availability but what the previous posters were saying is that the low cost rooms will not be available. When we rented BLT last time in early Sept, we had to take a premium view (lake view, all standard were booked). That will be the trend other than *maybe* at places like SSR or OKW.

 

[wendow]

Yes please! I, too, am very interested in learning about this!

It's really not something we can discuss on the board or through pm's. Sorry Just a TA that books up a ton of rooms at deluxe resorts during the slowest times at WDW and then you can reserve at lower rates than Disney.

 

[Marionnette]

This is the story of my life- always late to the party...
Thank you for this information. What DVC (if any) would most likely be available in early September?

Saratoga Springs is the most likely to have availability. OKW may have some studios. Both are larger resorts and tend to be "less desirable" than BWV because they are not "near park" resorts.

 

[elgerber]

You're not likely to get a BWV standard view studio at this point. Owners started booking them back in early October and there is a high probability that there are none available to book now. You should never rely on being able to book the low-cost villas such as BWV standard studios and AKV value studios if you are renting points. Make your budget based on the higher point requirements (in your case, it would be 61 for BWV preferred) and you have a lesser chance of being disappointed.

Yes, the standard view are long gone. The only studios for those dates at BWV now are the Garden/Pool view at the 61 points mentioned above.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

If you do the package at the end of your trip you will not be able to book fast passes for the first portion of your stay until you get to the park. Do the package first and you can book fp for the length of your ticket.

As long as you have an 8 day hopper and a room reservation that you can link to your MDE, you will be able to book FP+ at 60 days.

DVC stays can be linked in MDE, and your tickets can be linked in MDE, so you shouldn't have any problems with FP+.