Non DVC member booking at a DVC resort a year in advance

[madzy]

I was trying to book a 2 bedroom for next March at any of the Deluxe Villas and seem to not be able to find anything past the last week of February. Does Disney hold the rooms from the general public, allowing DVC members to book first? Thanks for any info!

 

[Geomom]

DVC members can't book until 11 months out, and only owners of that resort can book between 7-11 mths, then any DVC member can book.

Disney owns a small percentage of rooms at DVC resorts to sell for cash reservations, the rest belong to DVC. I have no idea 'when' those rooms start selling though!

 

[sndral]

I was trying to book a 2 bedroom for next March at any of the Deluxe Villas and seem to not be able to find anything past the last week of February. Does Disney hold the rooms from the general public, allowing DVC members to book first? Thanks for any info!

I did a quick search & checked June ‘24, Sept. ‘24, Nov. ‘24, Feb. ‘25, & March ‘25 & like you found nothing for March 2025, but there were 2 br. villas available for cash in all the other months including Feb. ‘25. Most of March 2025 is not yet w/in the 11 month booking window & I assume Disney, like any other owner, can’t book the 2% of DVC resorts they own until 11 months out - so I expect you’ll see DVC villa inventory available for cash bookings in the next couple of weeks as that 11 month booking window for a March 2025 trip opens.
DVC also gets points to offer for cash bookings when people exchange their points to book cruises or deposit their points into IL which can occur at any time depending on when owners decide to book a cruise or deposit points into IL. DVC also gets to rent out for cash any breakage inventory - eg inventory not booked by 60 days pre arrival & that 60 days isn’t a hard and fast number because they can ‘anticipate’ breakage.
Also, DVC still owns the unsold points for resorts in active sales like Riviera & the cabins at Fort Wilderness, &, later this year when it opens, the new Poly tower, so those resorts will have more inventory that can be booked for cash than the sold out resorts.

 

[Best Aunt]

Most of March 2025 is not yet w/in the 11 month booking window & I assume Disney, like any other owner, can’t book the 2% of DVC resorts they own until 11 months out - so I expect you’ll see DVC villa inventory available for cash bookings in the next couple of weeks as that 11 month booking window for a March 2025 trip opens.

This is my understanding.

 

[Mle8308]

Previous posters are correct. Even booking a cash reservation for DVC, you have to wait until the 11 month mark to see availability.

 

[madzy]

Makes sense. Thank you all!

 

[Mardigras2025]

I did a quick search & checked June ‘24, Sept. ‘24, Nov. ‘24, Feb. ‘25, & March ‘25 & like you found nothing for March 2025, but there were 2 br. villas available for cash in all the other months including Feb. ‘25. Most of March 2025 is not yet w/in the 11 month booking window & I assume Disney, like any other owner, can’t book the 2% of DVC resorts they own until 11 months out - so I expect you’ll see DVC villa inventory available for cash bookings in the next couple of weeks as that 11 month booking window for a March 2025 trip opens.
DVC also gets points to offer for cash bookings when people exchange their points to book cruises or deposit their points into IL which can occur at any time depending on when owners decide to book a cruise or deposit points into IL. DVC also gets to rent out for cash any breakage inventory - eg inventory not booked by 60 days pre arrival & that 60 days isn’t a hard and fast number because they can ‘anticipate’ breakage.
Also, DVC still owns the unsold points for resorts in active sales like Riviera & the cabins at Fort Wilderness, &, later this year when it opens, the new Poly tower, so those resorts will have more inventory that can be booked for cash than the sold out resorts.

Is cash booking a lot more expensive than renting points? I am close to the 11 month mark and need to decide if I need to put in a request for 2 existing poly studios for 7 nights in March or if I should wait on a 2BR at the new tower. Not sure if that will be even possible given demand, or if it will cost substantially more than renting VGF or Riviera.

 

[Mle8308]

Is cash booking a lot more expensive than renting points? I am close to the 11 month mark and need to decide if I need to put in a request for 2 existing poly studios for 7 nights in March or if I should wait on a 2BR at the new tower. Not sure if that will be even possible given demand, or if it will cost substantially more than renting VGF or Riviera.

Yes, a cash booking will definitely cost you more, especially since the Poly rarely offers discounts and when they do, they are nominal. Depending on who or where you rent from, it can be 50% less. Of course, there are a lot more risks involved in renting points, main one is that it's not refundable and dates can't usually be changed. Some companies will allow a credit, but not a refund. Trip insurance is a possibility, if you can find the right coverage. I would not count on the new tower and a 2BR. Not saying it's impossible, but no one even knows for sure if it will be the same association, which could determine how easy it would be to rent points (if same association, more people with Poly points to rent out).

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Yes, a cash booking will definitely cost you more, especially since the Poly rarely offers discounts and when they do, they are nominal. Depending on who or where you rent from, it can be 50% less. Of course, there are a lot more risks involved in renting points, main one is that it's not refundable and dates can't usually be changed. Some companies will allow a credit, but not a refund. Trip insurance is a possibility, if you can find the right coverage. I would not count on the new tower and a 2BR. Not saying it's impossible, but no one even knows for sure if it will be the same association, which could determine how easy it would be to rent points (if same association, more people with Poly points to rent out).

I would add that it is rare for all units at a new build to be available on points on opening day, and what unitss are declared to be booked on points can vary pretty wildly.

Good example is the Villas at Disneyland Hotel. Only about 20% of units were available for points on opening day (61/344 units), and to start only 2 1BR or 2BR units were even bookable with points.

 

[sndral]

Is cash booking a lot more expensive than renting points? I am close to the 11 month mark and need to decide if I need to put in a request for 2 existing poly studios for 7 nights in March or if I should wait on a 2BR at the new tower. Not sure if that will be even possible given demand, or if it will cost substantially more than renting VGF or Riviera.

I’m no expert, but the reason folks go the riskier route of renting DVC points from a private owner route or broker is presumably because it saves them money.
However, you really need to pencil it out. Private owners tend to charge based on $XX per point & how many points any particular stay will cost varies depending on villa size (studios don’t take many points, 2 br.s take a lot of points,) the view (more expensive views take more points than less expensive views but less expensive views book first,) & the season. For example, a 6 night Poly studio standard view from 9/1 - 9/7 will cost a very reasonable 87 points (@ $ 20 per point = $1740) whereas that same studio will cost 156 points for a 6 night stay from 12/29 - 1/4 (@ $20 per point $3120) & if you can’t get a standard view & need to reserve a lake view that’ll cost 191 points for 12/29 - 1/4 ($3820.)
The one time I paid cash for a 1 br. from Disney (pre DVC) my price was roughly the same as renting points would have been - the cash discount was around 30% I think. Right now Disney is offering 30% off on most deluxe resorts except the Poly where the discount is only 15%. They’re also offering packages which may or may not move the needle depending on what you plan to buy (tickets, dinning plan, etc..)
Most of the rental brokers have cost calculators for the various villa sizes where you plug in your dates to get a price & then you can run the numbers for what Disney will charge (go to the discounts tab on the Disney web page) to figure out what’s best for your party.
Because the Poly tower isn’t even open yet it’s hard to know how much Disney will charge for 1 or 2 br.s or even how many points they’ll cost in the DVC system, it looks like they’ll all be lake view, so I’m guessing they’ll cost about the same as VGF & Riviera’s equivalent views. Early on the Tower will be much easier to reserve from Disney for cash because most of the resort won’t be sold yet, although I’d expect the cash price to be high. What inventory is available to DVC owners to book w/ points will likely be snapped up fast. If DVC does what they did w/ the new building at the VGF they’ll limit bookings to new Tower buyers for around a month & then open it up to all DVC owners for points bookings.

 

[msmayor]

As others have said, you have to wait until after the 11 month mark has passed before the cash rooms will start to show up.

We knew we wanted to try for a 2BR and separate studio at BLT for a family trip this June - I had my DU agent first book us three Tower Theme Park View rooms so we knew for sure we had an acceptable spot to stay, then once the BLT rooms started to open up for cash stays we switched.

As for price, surprisingly - the cost of the BLT space was only slightly higher than the regular Tower rooms. Could I have saved a bit renting points? Yeah - but I just didn't want the worry of renting and am really utilizing the services of my DU agent to organize things for this special family trip. AFAIK too - I get daily mousekeeping this way, something I know we will use and appreciate.