Staying at a Disney resort with RCI possible?

[monica9]

Wondering if I can stay at a disney resort with an RCI timeshare and how does it work? Do you save money?

 

[bankr63]

Yes you can, but they are a hard "get"

First off, if you are in weeks, understand how many TPU you will need for the time period you want to stay, there is a trading power calculator on the RCI site that can help with this. Disney resorts are generally a fairly high TPU value, so you may need to combine a couple of deposits to get sufficient trading power. I actually generally keep a combined "super trader" deposit in RCI to use for Ongoing Searches (OGS). I do this by gathering up an expiring deposit and all of my change deposits at one time and combining, which also extends. My current super trader is worth 79 TPU so will match most anything.

If you have a sufficiently powerful trader start an OGS for the resorts you would like to stay at in the timeframe you want to stay. This should be done well in advance, and you will have to pay the reservation fee at this time. Note that Disney deposits rarely make it to "public" sightings as they will be used to fulfill OGS first. Also, if you upgrade your membership level in RCI, you can boost your match level too; I believe Platinum members get first dibs on OGS (Priority Access); you also won't have to pay the OGS reservation fee in advance.

If you are RCI points, some of the above applies, but I don't know the ins-and-outs of that program as well. TUG (Timeshare User Group) is a great place to get educated on all the details of trading into Disney, or anywhere else for that matter.

Is it a pain to trade into Disney? Sure. Is it a sure thing you will get it? Absolutely NOT (have a plan B in place). Is it economical? Absolutely; I can pull together about $1500 worth of TPU plus fees to be able to get a week at a Disney resort. It's not easy, and I don't bother because we love Vistana Resort which is near enough to Disney for us, much less $$, much less hassle, same great quality.

 

[monica9]

Yes you can, but they are a hard "get"

First off, if you are in weeks, understand how many TPU you will need for the time period you want to stay, there is a trading power calculator on the RCI site that can help with this. Disney resorts are generally a fairly high TPU value, so you may need to combine a couple of deposits to get sufficient trading power. I actually generally keep a combined "super trader" deposit in RCI to use for Ongoing Searches (OGS). I do this by gathering up an expiring deposit and all of my change deposits at one time and combining, which also extends. My current super trader is worth 79 TPU so will match most anything.

If you have a sufficiently powerful trader start an OGS for the resorts you would like to stay at in the timeframe you want to stay. This should be done well in advance, and you will have to pay the reservation fee at this time. Note that Disney deposits rarely make it to "public" sightings as they will be used to fulfill OGS first. Also, if you upgrade your membership level in RCI, you can boost your match level too; I believe Platinum members get first dibs on OGS (Priority Access); you also won't have to pay the OGS reservation fee in advance.

If you are RCI points, some of the above applies, but I don't know the ins-and-outs of that program as well. TUG (Timeshare User Group) is a great place to get educated on all the details of trading into Disney, or anywhere else for that matter.

Is it a pain to trade into Disney? Sure. Is it a sure thing you will get it? Absolutely NOT (have a plan B in place). Is it economical? Absolutely; I can pull together about $1500 worth of TPU plus fees to be able to get a week at a Disney resort. It's not easy, and I don't bother because we love Vistana Resort which is near enough to Disney for us, much less $$, much less hassle, same great quality.

Ok thank you. It is my sisters timeshare. She hasn't used it in years but is fully payed off from what I understand. She tried calling RCI to ask how much to stay at Disney villa and if any are available and the lady wouldn't tell her unless she renewed her timeshare which I guess is $200 to do so. She doesn't want to renew if we decide not to use it but I guess they wouldn't give her any prices or info without doing so. She is going to see if she can figure it out. She told me she is platinum. She's had it for about 20 years and I guess it's "payed off"?? We are going to Disney sept 20-oct 7 and booked Polynesian but then I had the idea to save money and use her timeshare points since she never uses them and maybe stay at Bay Lake or ideally the Polynesian villas if those are available. But I have no idea how to figure it out! I am assuming no matter what it will be cheaper than paying rack rate at Polynesian.
When you said "it's not a sure thing" do you mean I might not know until last minute if I'm able to even if I book 11 months out?

Thanks for all of your help!!

 

[bankr63]

I'm going to suggest you keep with your current plan.

Although it would be great to use your sister's unit, if she is not actively depositing it now, then it is unlikely that one week at her resort is going to equate to enough trading power to snag a Disney week; it generally takes combining two weeks of deposits. A lot depends on the value of what she owns in RCI - if it is a prime week at a high end resort in Hawaii, then it might be equivalent value to a week at a Disney resort. As I mentioned, Disney is a difficult objective to get in RCI; if you are looking at reinstating membership just for this, you may be disappointed. Booking Disney is possible, but it's not easy!

One thing I would do is direct your sister to the above mentioned TUG usergroup. It is a forum for timeshare owners to exchange information and tips, and she could learn a lot about how to utilize what she already owns. I hate to think that she is paying annual maintenance fees on something she is not making use of! There is also a marketplace there for owners selling timeshare ownerships that are no longer being used. Much of the information on the site is free, and membership is about $15, which gives access to the selling listings and a few other perks. Might be the best $15 she spends...

 

[monica9]

I'm going to suggest you keep with your current plan.

Although it would be great to use your sister's unit, if she is not actively depositing it now, then it is unlikely that one week at her resort is going to equate to enough trading power to snag a Disney week; it generally takes combining two weeks of deposits. A lot depends on the value of what she owns in RCI - if it is a prime week at a high end resort in Hawaii, then it might be equivalent value to a week at a Disney resort. As I mentioned, Disney is a difficult objective to get in RCI; if you are looking at reinstating membership just for this, you may be disappointed. Booking Disney is possible, but it's not easy!

One thing I would do is direct your sister to the above mentioned TUG usergroup. It is a forum for timeshare owners to exchange information and tips, and she could learn a lot about how to utilize what she already owns. I hate to think that she is paying annual maintenance fees on something she is not making use of! There is also a marketplace there for owners selling timeshare ownerships that are no longer being used. Much of the information on the site is free, and membership is about $15, which gives access to the selling listings and a few other perks. Might be the best $15 she spends...

Thank you for all the information. I just passed it on to my sister and I think that group will really help her. Think we will stick with our original plans and just pray we get a discount!

 

[LtRazor]

I’ve been able to trade into bay lake, beach club, animal kingdom and Saratoga springs. Now the only ones that show up are Saratoga springs(actually got 3 weeks here in one year) and animal k8ngdom. They are VERY hard to get now and why I gave up after my last trip three years ago. Platinum members and OGS (ongoing search) get first dibs so if your regular member with no OGS, odds not in your favor. I had my OGs in almost 2 years ahead last time (I was platinum too) before weeks showed up earliest OGS get availability first).

Before you do any of this, go to TUG and see what people are seeing (will have to join tug to get access to that forum). If you think odds are good proceed. To do this, most units are not of trading level to do exchange for 1 week so you will more than likely have to combine 2 weeks (one for this year and next for exam0le). Once you do this, put in ongoing search and consider using membership to platinum for your search time(could be 2 years). Now you just wait for availability and be flexible with dates as that will help (I had best luck with weeks in summer so did OGS for all of summer).

All this being said, depending upon what you want, if you don’t mind staying off property, you can get some really good deals through RCI for extra vacations. I paid about $600 for weeks at Sheraton Vistiana and VRBO has weeks at Wyndham Bonnet Creek for $1800(2br unit). I had sold most of my timeshares because it had gotten too hard to stay on property I still maintain RCI membership for the extra vacations because you can get great deals there.