Renting DVC at BLT

[smooreo]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for my question, but the DVC boards didn't seem right either!

We are thinking about renting points for a SV 2BD at BLT for late January/early February 2015 (I know....so far in advance but just researching). Is this a busy time? Will we have to book 11 months out? What are the odds of getting in?

We stayed at BLT this past October (as a cash ressie....very $$$ but worth it). The budget for the next trip is a little different, but it isn't much more to rent points than stay at Port Orleans RS, and we'd much prefer the location of BLT!

TIA!
Sarah

 

[ToddyLu]

Obviously things slow down after the New Year then pick back up for President's Day and Mardi Gras in February. I think renting BLT points is a great idea and yep you will need to book ASAP at the 11 month mark. If you do not have a member you are renting from then David's Rentals is a brokering site with good reviews. It is the only site I would trust outside of knowing a DVC Member personally. You will pay a little more but he kinda "guarantees" the vacation and is a sponsor on the DIS.


I was playing around on the site just the other night and scored one night at BLT for Halloween Night then the following day we check in to AKV. I am really excited about getting that reservation.

Good Luck and Have Fun!!!

 

[ElizabethG]

What pp said is true. That time is slower until Presidents day. You will still need to book at the 11-month mark if you want SV. There just aren't that many of them. I stayed at a busier time (October) this past year. I reserved a 2-bdrm SV in the early morning on my 11-month day. The dedicated 2-bdrms were booked for all but one day already. I was able to book a lock-off. Those disappeared quickly.

 

[abner1776]

As DVC members we generally shoot for a 4-5 day trip around the last weekend in January( just like this year) because the point usage is low, availability is great and the crowds are low. Weather is always a consideration but this past January we had 5 days in the high 70's with no rain so we really lucked out.

SV is always tough to get because of the low point usage so you will need to book at or near the 11 month window even in late January.

Since you have already stayed at BLT, I do not need to fill you in on the in's and out's of the resort.

IMHO you should not have a difficult time booking late January as long as you plan ahead and allow adequate time to find a DVC member to rent out their points or give Davids enough time to do the same.

I know many people who want to rent points are turned off by the "risk" of sending to a stranger a lot of your hard earned $$$ based on the faith of the other person, but I have been a DVC member for 7 years now and have rented my points off and on for 4 years. Very seldom do I ever hear of a renter getting ripped off, so as long as you do your homework and check out the DVC owner you should not have a problem.

Remember that the reason why DVC owners bought into DVC in the first place was to vacation at WDW...that in itsefl, should tell you what type of people we are.

 

[smooreo]

I know many people who want to rent points are turned off by the "risk" of sending to a stranger a lot of your hard earned $$$ based on the faith of the other person, but I have been a DVC member for 7 years now and have rented my points off and on for 4 years. Very seldom do I ever hear of a renter getting ripped off, so as long as you do your homework and check out the DVC owner you should not have a problem.

Remember that the reason why DVC owners bought into DVC in the first place was to vacation at WDW...that in itsefl, should tell you what type of people we are.[/QUOTE]

A very good point! I feel a little cautious about renting points, but after staying there last October, I'm seriously in love with the location and having the monorail next door. We all said we'd never want to stay anywhere else (it was also our first time ever staying on Disney property....such a treat!)

We're flexible in our dates, but would prefer to check in on a Sunday since we're driving from Canada, and I'm thinking about using David's as I don't know a member personally. Do you think there is a better day to check in to get our reservation?

 

[geraghty]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for my question, but the DVC boards didn't seem right either!

We are thinking about renting points for a SV 2BD at BLT for late January/early February 2015 (I know....so far in advance but just researching). Is this a busy time? Will we have to book 11 months out? What are the odds of getting in?

We stayed at BLT this past October (as a cash ressie....very $$$ but worth it). The budget for the next trip is a little different, but it isn't much more to rent points than stay at Port Orleans RS, and we'd much prefer the location of BLT!

TIA!
Sarah

Since you like researching, have you thought about joining DVC? I know the intitial price is outrageous, but it appears you can plan far ahead. If you go WDW at least once every three years it may pay for itself in less than fifteen years. For example, a two bedroom standard view room for a week, you would need about three hundred points, give or take. If you bought a resale at $90 pp you could get a 100 point contract just under $10,000. Maintenance fees would be under $500 per year costing you $11,500 for this trip. You take this same trip every three years for $1,500. I know to most it sounds crazy, but if you rent at $14 per point, the room for a week will cost around $4,000. At a savings of $2,500 per trip, it would take just 5 trips to more than recoup your investment, plus the value of your timeshare interest and you can make the reservations yourself and cancel or change them if you need to. There are also some other perks that may or may not be there being a dvc member, but just some food for thought. It took me years researching DVC to wrap my head around it actually saving my family money. We now own a 100 point contract at BLT and I wish we would have done it 5 years ago when I could have bought straight from Disney for $90 per point.

Back to your original question. If you want a standard view room you will need to make this reservation close to 11 months out. By the 7 month mark there probably will be little to no availability.

 

[abner1776]

On the check in day question I am not sure if there is one day that is better than another. If you were talking about a school vacation week or a holiday week, then Sat would probably be better but late January is one of the slowest times of the year so I just don't think it will really matter one way or the other.

Generally when I hear from people " I don't know anyone who is a DVC member" by response is...ASK ...you would be surprised how many of us are out there, but since you are from Canada I am not sure how wide spread our membership has expanded "above the border."

I have been both a renter and rentee (I ran out of points and my DD was not too happy with me) but I have never felt uncomfortable or uncertain on either side of the transaction. I think you have a better chance of being hit by lightning than losing your $$$ in a DVC rental.

 

[CupcakeKelly]

I have been both a renter and rentee (I ran out of points and my DD was not too happy with me) but I have never felt uncomfortable or uncertain on either side of the transaction. I think you have a better chance of being hit by lightning than losing your $$$ in a DVC rental.

I just rented points for the first time, and the person I rented from went out of their way to make me feel comfortable with the transaction. She sent me a confirmation number before I sent her the $ (she was afraid of the particular room type being booked up!) and has been a dream to work with. She also let me split the cost 50% upfront and 50% before checkin. I believe that David's makes you pay 100% upfront. With the confirmation numbers, I was able to plug them into the My Disney Experience website and see all our names attached to the res #. AND, I saved almost $500 because her cost per point was $2.50 less than David's charges

 

[jimandami]

We rented points at BLT in November 2011 and absolutely loved it. I encourage you to contact an owner ahead of time (maybe a week or two) so they can book at the 11 month window. We did just that and even then, we could not get standard view for all of our days so had to go with lake view. Even though late Jan/early Feb is not a busy time, BLT books very quickly!

 

[Deb & Bill]

OP, here is a tip from the DVC Boards. Do not respond to unsolicited private messages or e-mails from people offering you points for rent. You don't know if they are trying to scam you and there have been a few scams on these boards. The moderators on the DVC Boards ask DIS posters to inform them of any unsolicited PMs or emails offering points for rent.

 

[smooreo]

OP, here is a tip from the DVC Boards. Do not respond to unsolicited private messages or e-mails from people offering you points for rent. You don't know if they are trying to scam you and there have been a few scams on these boards. The moderators on the DVC Boards ask DIS posters to inform them of any unsolicited PMs or emails offering points for rent.

Thanks so much for the tip. I really appreciate it (and all the advice!). I think we'll use a company, at least for the first time. Our last trip we were too nervous and it was worth paying for the cash reservation. Now I can't imagine us ever staying anywhere else (or at least while the kids are small and the MK is such a draw!).

 

[spiceycat]

blt is hard to get from brokers - why - because most blt don't rent their points - the ones that do - can get more for than $11 per point that is being offered.

so if you want BLT then would find a owner at BLT - who can get your reservation in feb or march of 2014

now maybe by then renting will be easier and you can thru a broker - never count on this.

 

[kappyfamily]

We rented from David's Vacation Rental for a 2 bdrm BLT and it was a great experience!