Pop Century or All Star Movies or DVC rental

jghart22

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 6, 2013
Messages
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We are looking at doing a split stay next November 17-28 2020 so we can experience two resorts. We’ve always stayed off site so this will be new to us. We are looking at renting DVC points for the last five days and then possibly doing a stay at either POP or ASMovies. I have a few questions.

Would you choose POP or AS with kids 9 and 7? It’s a $250 difference total for 5 nights. Also, We really wanted to do DVC rental of the first 6 nights at Boardwalk Villas and last 5 nights at AK Villas but I was advised Boardwalk will be very difficult to get and that Old Key West and Animal Kingdom Villas are more likely. This led to us looking at POP and ASMovies. Never having done DVC rentals so I don’t really know the process involved even after reading about it, but is this true that I won’t be able to get a Boardwalk Villa Studio from 11/17-11/23? And is a split stay a bad idea for any reason?
 
250 for 5 nights is not much. I'd choose POP because of the skyliner.

I did a split stay of POP and Bay Lake Tower last year. Not a bad idea. You just give your bag to the concierge and they'll transfer it to your second hotel. DVC rentals is a great way to experience a deluxe resort without breaking the bank. The major downside is it's non refundable once you agree to it. I did my dvc rental from a Facebook Group (I don't remember the name, I already left it). I just posted that I needed this property on these dates and someone replied and offer me the DVC
 
I’m looking at using DVC Rentals or David’s. We really want Boardwalk but are being steered away from it. Is it true that it will be hard to get and that we should settle for OKW or Either of the hotels? Any other downside to doing a split I’m not thinking of like it’s effect on booking fast passes or anything?
 
If you don’t really want OKW or AKV, don’t book them. Why stay where you don’t want to be? I would tell the rental place that I only want BWV and I would tell them 11 1/2 months in advance so they could try to get a member to book when available at 11 months.

However if you are trying for standard view studio at BWV, that would be hard. Members grab those fast because they are fewer points.

Your back up plan can be one of the value resorts. Book those through Disney and you can cancel if not needed. Just make sure you know the cancellation rules based on whether you book room only or package.

Also make sure you understand what the BWV studios are like before you book. Only one real bed, limited housekeeping, later check in time, etc.
 

If you are pricing out a standard studio at BWV, you have no chance of a rental during November. If you are pricing out a pool/garden studio, you would have better luck.

BWV owners book the standard and boardwalk view studios during the fall at 8:00 am when the 11 month booking window opens. It is hard to get a rental for those studio types during the fall. The pool/garden studios do not have as high a demand with owners.
 
As someone who has done both, I would be renting DVC. We just booked our upcoming stay renting points at AKV. It cost me $200 more for the entire trip vs the pop with a 20% discount pin code. We have rented twice before through a rental service and love it. The only drawback to renting is that the is no date flexibility. Once it is booked, those are your dates. Why not just one DVC resort for the entire stay? It would vastly simplify the rental process. I love AKV, and your kids are at a great age for it. Boradwalk is difficult to get, but its worth trying. You should definitely be able to get AKV as a backup.
 
As someone who has done both, I would be renting DVC. We just booked our upcoming stay renting points at AKV. It cost me $200 more for the entire trip vs the pop with a 20% discount pin code. We have rented twice before through a rental service and love it. The only drawback to renting is that the is no date flexibility. Once it is booked, those are your dates. Why not just one DVC resort for the entire stay? It would vastly simplify the rental process. I love AKV, and your kids are at a great age for it. Boradwalk is difficult to get, but its worth trying. You should definitely be able to get AKV as a backup.
Who did you use for your rental?
 
I’m looking at using DVC Rentals or David’s. We really want Boardwalk but are being steered away from it. Is it true that it will be hard to get and that we should settle for OKW or Either of the hotels? Any other downside to doing a split I’m not thinking of like it’s effect on booking fast passes or anything?
Yes they really are that hard. There are owners that want a standard studio for that time period and have already started walking a reservation to get their desired time. During food and wine boardwalk is very very difficult to get. The rental company also probably has more requests for that time period than they have owners willing to rent their points. Rentals at most studios are hard to come by that time of year. It's called fall frenzy. Weather has finally eased up a bit, food and wine is going on, and the rooms are close to the cheapest number of points they are all year.

Both POP and ASMo are good choices. The rooms are pretty much identical and both have the over the top disney themeing you get at value resorts, which I actually love. Pop will have the skyliner so that is something to consider. There isn't a big difference.

Split stays have pros and cons. One thing to note is that with a stay on DVC points will mean you don't get housekeeping every day. If you do one long stay 8 nights or longer you will get a full room cleaning at day 4. If not, the trash is taken out every day and 4 days in you get new towels. Just something to keep in mind. The good thing about a split stay is that Disney will transfer the luggage for you. The bad thing is you are essentially homeless for a day and you may not get your luggage till 5 or so.

With your age kids, I think I would stick with a deluxe resort for the entire stay if they like to swim. The value resorts won't have a water slide.
 
Whatever you do, ignore any private messages you get from people who you did not initiate the message. That is one of the many ways unsuspecting renters get conned Your best bet is to go with a reputable broker who will return your money or try to get you another reservation if anything happens to your reservation because something happened to the reservation. There are owners who don't pay their annual fees and hope they get the money from renting their points to pay Disney. Or they have been found to be a commercial renter by DVC and their reservations are all cancelled. Or they are just liars who steal other members information.

For a Thanksgiving reservation, you need to contact your broker by mid-December. The biggest problem brokers have is getting an owner with enough points to make a reservation at 11 months out. And for your reservation, you need to make it a 11 months out.
 
Thanks for all the responses. There is a guy named *********** saying he can guarantee a studio rental at BWV September-December time frame next year. Any thoughts on the legitimacy of this?

Moderator note: edited to remove name of member and social media group.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks for all the responses. There is a guy named Michael Holm on the Facebook group Disney Vacation Club Point Rentals saying he can guarantee a studio rental at BWV September-December time frame next year. Any thoughts on the legitimacy of this?
Use a broker for your first rental. Anyone who says they can guarantee is lying.
 
Thanks for all the responses. There is a guy named Michael Holm on the Facebook group Disney Vacation Club Point Rentals saying he can guarantee a studio rental at BWV September-December time frame next year. Any thoughts on the legitimacy of this?
I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. As @Deb & Bill stated, NO ONE can guarantee a DVC rental over many months of availability like that.
 
Thanks for all the responses. There is a guy named ******* saying he can guarantee a studio rental at BWV September-December time frame next year. Any thoughts on the legitimacy of this?
Agreed with other posters, I wouldn't risk it with some random guy on facebook. Maybe he is willing to walk a reservation. But even owners cant GUARANTEE they will get the exact dates/room they want in that time period.

Moderator note: edited to remove name of member and social media group in quoted post.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Agreed with other posters, I wouldn't risk it with some random guy on facebook. Maybe he is willing to walk a reservation. But even owners cant GUARANTEE they will get the exact dates/room they want in that time period.
This person says that since my dates are over 11 months out he will have to walk the reservation but he already has “a foot in the door” (not sure what this even means) so he can secure the room as a guarantee 11/17-11/23 for 6 nights at Boardwalk. This sound right?
 
I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. As @Deb & Bill stated, NO ONE can guarantee a DVC rental over many months of availability like that.
He says “he already has a foot in the door” so he can secure it as a guarantee. Does this sound like it could be legit?
 
He's lying. Go with a broker. There is no "foot in the door". He's a scammer. You'll wind up with no reservation and be out the money you paid him. Your only recourse would be to sue him.
 
This person says that since my dates are over 11 months out he will have to walk the reservation but he already has “a foot in the door” (not sure what this even means) so he can secure the room as a guarantee 11/17-11/23 for 6 nights at Boardwalk. This sound right?
It means he has already started to walk a reservation. That still is no guarantee, though it does up his chances. But I would be very leery of him if he handles his transactions this way.
 
He's lying. Go with a broker. There is no "foot in the door". He's a scammer. You'll wind up with no reservation and be out the money you paid him. Your only recourse would be to sue him.
That’s exactly what I was thinking but I pm’d two that responded to a thread I made in the Facebook group about any issues anyone may have had and I specifically asked them about the guy and they both said he is good. Only thing I guess is that they could be in cahoots together.
 












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