Polynesian Bungalows for non-DVC

[juliekzp]

When and how can you book a stay in a Polynesian Bungalow, if you're not a DVC member?

 

[IndyRnRfan]

I assume you could call Disney or rent points from reputable seller if anyone has that many points to rent.

Be ready to spend some cash. We overheard some people talking on the boat ride to the poly and they said its around $2300/night to stay there if not a member. Not sure if that's true or not. I do know we have some friends who just stayed at the BW for 7 days and the poly for the last 3 and his wife said they don't own enough points for 1 night stay. I can't believe it is that expensive. Just be prepared if what I've been told is true.

 

[juliekzp]

That's about what I've seen too, and normally it would be too much but we are celebrating and splurging . My original thought was three rooms in the GF main building (5 in my family plus in-laws), but that would actually cost more than the Bungalow, so......

 

[Deb & Bill]

You know the bungalow only has two real beds, right? One queen and one king. Then a queen sleeper sofa and two murphy beds (smaller than twins, but larger than crib sized). At least ten of the twenty have not been turned over to DVC because of sales yet at this time (or that what I heard most recently). They run about $1500 to $2000 a night (or thereabouts).

 

[illinidp]

That's about what I've seen too, and normally it would be too much but we are celebrating and splurging . My original thought was three rooms in the GF main building (5 in my family plus in-laws), but that would actually cost more than the Bungalow, so......

You could also look into renting points for a 2BR villa in VGF or BLT MK view, that would be the equivalent of the Bungalows. You could save >50% (you can look up the points charts) and the villas at the VGF are considerably larger. The Bungalows are extremely cool and you can't beat the location but they aren't very big as a PP mentioned. I'm not trying to discourage you in any way, just throwing out some options.

For the same price you could also get a three bedroom Grand Villa that sleeps 12. As was also mentioned it is difficult to find an owner with 1000+ points to rent and cash availability is very low.

 

[juliekzp]

You know the bungalow only has two real beds, right? One queen and one king. Then a queen sleeper sofa and two murphy beds (smaller than twins, but larger than crib sized). At least ten of the twenty have not been turned over to DVC because of sales yet at this time (or that what I heard most recently). They run about $1500 to $2000 a night (or thereabouts).

That bed layout would work fine for us -- hubby and me in king, hubby's parents in queen, my kiddos (ages 8, 6, 3) in some combination of sleeper sofa and murphy beds.

 

[juliekzp]

You could also look into renting points for a 2BR villa in VGF or BLT MK view, that would be the equivalent of the Bungalows. You could save >50% (you can look up the points charts) and the villas at the VGF are considerably larger. The Bungalows are extremely cool and you can't beat the location but they aren't very big as a PP mentioned. I'm not trying to discourage you in any way, just throwing out some options.

For the same price you could also get a three bedroom Grand Villa that sleeps 12. As was also mentioned it is difficult to find an owner with 1000+ points to rent and cash availability is very low.

We've stayed in the 2BR villa at VGF and loved the room but felt like it was missing that special GF feel (and smell!). Where is the three bedroom Grand Villa? GF?

 

[juliekzp]

Well shoot, just called Disney reservations, and she said that there are no Bungalows available for our dates :-(. Might there be one available for DVC members, that I could book if I rent points? I'm not sure how that works.

 

[CMNJ]

Depends on when your dates are-you would need a poly owner to rent from if you are trying to book a reservation more than 7 months out and the likelihood of finding a poly owner with that many points who wants to rent them is probably low. If your dates are less than 7 months out you could rent from any DVC owner who has enough points to make your reservation. As mentioned by a previous poster that still may be quite difficult as for a week stay you need 841-1439 points (depending be on which "DVC season" your dates fall in) and not too many owners have that many points available for rent-I would suggest if you really think you want to do this contacting one of the point brokers to discuss options-perhaps they have owners with that any points or would be able to arrange 2 back to back rentals from 2 different owners and request that member services note the reservations to try to keep you in the same bungalow.
Keep in mind renting points is very different than booking through Disney-usually all the money is due at the time of booking, nonrefundable and if you use a broker dates cannot be changed (some private renters will try to accommodate dates changes if possible). The DVC owner "owns" your reservation and could cancel it at any time prior to you physically checking in-that can happen whether you use a broker or not but at least with a broker they will guarantee you a refund if something happens to the reservation (this actually recently happened to a couple f&w BWV reservations with David's point rentals).
****just to give you an idea I glanced at our avail tool for DVC members and avail is wide open at this point for feb/mar of next year but oct-dec is booked solid (jan is about 1/3 unavail)-so if you really want to go that route you prob want to try to book right at 7 months (or shortly after) to have best availability

 

[illinidp]

We've stayed in the 2BR villa at VGF and loved the room but felt like it was missing that special GF feel (and smell!). Where is the three bedroom Grand Villa? GF?

The 3BR is in the same building as the rest of the villas but they have the best view.

How far out are your dates? You can try to go through a third party site to rent the points and make a res or look at the rent board on this site or others. For this many points I would probably go through a reputable company although while they will guarantee your money they are just a broker so if the seller doesn't pay their dues or cancels the res you will get your money back but likely won't be able to replace the res. You could always split up the stay into multie reservations as a last resort but you may well have to move units at the change of each res doing this and you would only be able to book ADRs at 180 days from the check in for each leg.

 

[juliekzp]

Thank you for all the info! I called again last night and there IS a bungalow available, but hubby is now saying he'd prefer the GF main building, so maybe we'll bungalow next time....

 

[sfbank]

Just to throw this in we got moved to a bungalow this year due to construction at the Boardwalk. We should have been so excited but our hearts are at the Boardwalk. While the bungalow was nice it is not anywhere near worth what they are charging for them. Master shower door didn't close, hot and cold hooked up wrong on washer, had to yank refrigerator out of the wall to open it. Small things but in something brand new it should be better. You will not be missing anything.