To Rent DVC or Not, That is the Question

[Hopefully]

The Walt Disney marathon which is in January. It attracts thousands of folks.
The Wine and Dine in November is a half marathon

 

[IrishNYC]

As much as I'd love to rent DVC points and stay deluxe, the restrictions/hassles/extra work/etc. aren't worth it to me. Most of our non-Disney vacations are house rentals, and after a day or two I have making beds, cleaning up, etc. when I'm on vacation. So when we're at Disney I like mousekeeping. I also like that I can call my TA friend, tell her what I want, and it's done, then I just have to make payments as I pick up gift cards from Target. It's the one vacation destination where I don't have to put everything together myself and I love that. I'll "suffer" at a mod so I don't have to do the work of a dvc rental.

 

[Marionnette]

We have been to Disney World 3 times now and are planning on going in October. My husband has said this is going to be our last time to go for the next 6 years (he said we can go when my oldest graduates from high school). With that being said, we have always wanted to stay at the Poly but spending that much money for a room hurts so in the end I have not booked it. We have stayed 2 times at CBR and this last time at the Pop. We did not care for the Pop at all and have always liked CBR, but there is just a feeling I get when we go visit the Poly that I feel it would be amazing to actually stay there. Right now the plan is to stay 2 days at the resort and not go to the parks at all and than do 3 days at the parks (we have done parks everyday in the past even when we went for 10 days!). So, I have been checking into renting DVC points and discovered that it is a few hundred dollars cheaper than paying rack rates for CBR. However, before I bite the bullet, for those who have rented DVC points before in particular at Poly, do you feel like your missing out on something by renting dvc and not renting a room through Disney? We have always purchased packages and done dining and memory maker with it. This would be the first time that I pay for everything individually and that makes me slightly nervous. As well as we LOVE getting magic bands, I know this seems like a silly detail, but it is something that makes us happy and we decorate them ourselves each time. Are the rooms significantly different from those that are regular rooms? Has anyone had any difficulty once being there since you are renting the points and you do not actually own DVC? Or am I being silly and it is awesome and better then renting moderate resort directly through Disney? Any advice, opinion, or past experience greatly appreciated!

Renting DVC is an option for people who want to stay deluxe but don't want to pay the high price of a Deluxe Resort hotel room. There are those who will say that that it's not worth the risk or hassle. Or that they don't want to deal with the restrictions. But for those that are willing to compromise and accept a modicum of risk, the savings are significant.

You can get any dining plan you want. You can order Magic Bands once you add the reservation to your MDE account. Even people who stay offsite can order Memory Maker. If you want daily housekeeping, you can pay extra for it.

You will have all the perks of a regular Disney hotel guest (EMH, access to the feature pool, charging to your room account, free parking at the theme parks, etc.) but you will not have any DVC member benefits like shopping/dining discounts or access to TOTW Lounge or the Members' Lounge in Epcot.

Your biggest obstacle will be getting a reservation for October because it is a period of high DVC demand. Right now, only Poly owners can book there for October, but when March rolls around all DVC owners will be able to. The earlier that you make your decision, the greater your chance of success will be.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I have never stayed at the Poly villas, just the resort so I have absolutely no experience regarding that resort to share. I can, however tell you about our experiences with the other villas we have stayed at.

In April of 2014, we decided to change our reservation from Port Orleans Riverside Royal Guest Room to a 1 bedroom at Saratoga Springs. We booked directly through WDW for this resort. When we arrived, they were out of 1 bedrooms and we ended up getting upgraded to a 2 bedroom.

This past December, my in-laws were tossing around the idea of joining us at the parks for a couple of days so we decided to rent a 2 bedroom preferred at Boardwalk through David's Vacation Rentals. Now, getting upgraded when you book a 2 bedroom preferred is pretty much not ever going to happen because the only way to go up would have been a grand villa. That said, I have heard from numerous people that when you rent points, getting upgraded to a 2 bedroom from a one (like we did at Saratoga Springs) is never likely to happen and getting and upgraded view is also less likely. Supposedly, those go to the people who have cash reservations first. Can neither confirm nor deny this.

So, we have a 2 bedroom for both resorts. One was a cash reservation and one was renting points. When we were physically on WDW property, the only difference we noticed was that Mousekeeping didn't service the room daily with our points rental like they do when you rent with cash. We aren't very messy people, though, so it really wasn't all that noticeable. It was also nice in some ways because, for example, our daughter could leave out the homework she was working on and didn't have to put it away for the room to be cleaned each day. Other than that, everything was exactly the same.

For the booking process, there weren't many differences, either. With Saratoga Springs, we went ahead and booked our tickets at the same time as the resort. We never had a need to change our room reservation or anything, either, so no real hassles. With Boardwalk, we booked the room through David's. Once they gave us the confirmation number, we plugged that in our MDE and then purchased tickets directly through Disney. One thing that I really loved with our points rental was the ease of booking Magical Express. With Disney, I am always hunting for what seems like forever for the way to add magical express online and almost always end up calling anyway. With our points rental, David's had a screen for us with each of our names. You could select each of the people you needed to and plug in their flight information. If people were going to be on different flights, that was no problem. You would select those people and plug in their flight information. David's sent it to the booking DVC member and the member handled everything. So I actually thought Magical Express was a lot easier with the points rental than booking directly through Disney.

I can tell you that, based on our experiences, we wouldn't hesitate to book through David's again. I can't tell you any experiences with other points rentals, but if they are anything like David's, our expectations were exceeded. Knowing that we can get a 1 bedroom villa so much cheaper than booking directly through Disney or a studio villa for around the same prices as a moderate has really changed how we plan to vacation in the future.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Villas reserved for points are seldom upgraded unless the one you are scheduled to stay in is suddenly taken out of service because of a problem. Otherwise, plan on a studio if you book a studio, plan on a one bedroom if you book a one bedroom, plan on a two bedroom if you book a two bedroom.

We booked a studio for cash at the start of our stay on points in a one bedroom. When we arrived they upgraded the studio to a one bedroom and we were able to stay in the same one bedroom villa. Disney does upgrades for their convenience, not ours.

 

[Deb & Bill]

What marathon are you talking about? The wine and dine marathon is in November.

She is talking about the time frame from the beginning of October (and with the start of F&W moving into Sept, change that October to Sept) through the end of the marathon in January. That is the busy season for DVC. And the first two weeks of December are the hardest to book for DVC.

 

[Lupeix]

I was hesitant to rent DVC before mainly due to the non cancellation and having to pay everything in advance ( you can pay for extra mouse keeping if you want to and still save tons, we will). We have decided to rent DVC for our next vacation mostly due to the new policies on the DVC rental store
As some people mentioned before, they now offer a "cancel for any reason" policy for a little extra per point, and you pay a deposit but the full balance is due 45 days before your vacation.
Have not stayed deluxe yet, but I have stayed at the AoA suites and never again, I cannot believe a 1 bedroom villa at a Deluxe costs almost the same when renting points.

 

[NewmanFamily6]

We have a DVC rental at the Poly booked for our next trip. We used an online company that offered trip cancel protection. We also didn't have to pay it all up front. The company has made the process sooooo easy. The trip is in our MDE account and we get magic bands just like normal. Only big difference I see is we won't get daily housekeeping although we will likely add it on for the extra cost. Even adding that and the trip protection the overall cost is still cheaper then booking direct with Disney.

Could you PM the name of the company to me? The only reason we haven't tried renting is because every company I have found makes you pay up front and of course no cancelation.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I was hesitant to rent DVC before mainly due to the non cancellation and having to pay everything in advance ( you can pay for extra mouse keeping if you want to and still save tons, we will). We have decided to rent DVC for our next vacation mostly due to the new policies on the DVC rental store
As some people mentioned before, they now offer a "cancel for any reason" policy for a little extra per point, and you pay a deposit but the full balance is due 45 days before your vacation.
Have not stayed deluxe yet, but I have stayed at the AoA suites and never again, I cannot believe a 1 bedroom villa at a Deluxe costs almost the same when renting points.

The Family suites usually sleep six. One bedroom villas sleep four or five.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Could you PM the name of the company to me? The only reason we haven't tried renting is because every company I have found makes you pay up front and of course no cancelation.

It might not show up on the DIS since it's not David's. You might just get ******************* for your answer.

 

[mslhb]

Could you PM the name of the company to me? The only reason we haven't tried renting is because every company I have found makes you pay up front and of course no cancelation.

PM sent!

 

[crystaldawn]

We have rented points 3 times from users on the disboards now and have had great stays each time. I'm not sure I ever would have rented if it hadn't been for a friend of mine who is DVC who had extra points one year and rented to us very inexpensively. We had a great stay and were thrilled with the savings. We rented this December and plan to rent again (possibly from one of the same DVCers) for our next trip.... not exactly sure when that will be.

I think that in the future we will get trip cancellation insurance just in case. We did take a gamble this trip and went without but the cost we paid for the whole week renting was what we would have paid for two nights booking through disney.... so even if something would have happened it wouldn't have been the end of the world. Going without mousekeeping doesn't bother me, honestly.

It's def a good way to save some money if you're looking to stay deluxe.... but the process is not for everyone.

 

[BLLB]

I own DVC,I have rented my points through Dave's. great experience. My niece rents through Dave's almost yearly. She has also had great experiences.

 

[Lupeix]

The Family suites usually sleep six. One bedroom villas sleep four or five.

Well... that's in theory. For anyone that may be considering the AoA suites, they do not fit 6 people well at all, you can barely walk if the beds are all out. Other than the bed in the main room, the other two are pull out/murphy bed not queen. Two people in those is cramped not to mention they are not very comfortable, even when it is one adult and a child. We were 4 adults and 2 children under 5 and the suite felt cramped. Its is really designed for four people IMO. If you care at all about comfort and want to be able to get ready for rope drop without stepping into someone. That's my experience. So if you compare to a 1 bedroom it is really 6 people/4 of them uncomfortable and the whole place cramped versus 4/5 comfortably, with a full kitchen, the amenities and location of a deluxe. I have a friend that's a DVC member and visited her villa while she was staying and there's really no comparison between an AoA suite and a 1 bedroom villa, specially if the price is close. From now on I am renting DVC with cancelation insurance and paying for mousekeeping every other day. With two little (messy) kids that is something I cannot go without. It still saves a ton. I could pay rack price but I just refuse. I rather spend that money on other things while there.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Well... that's in theory. For anyone that may be considering the AoA suites, they do not fit 6 people well at all, you can barely walk if the beds are all out. Other than the bed in the main room, the other two are pull out/murphy bed not queen. Two people in those is cramped not to mention they are not very comfortable, even when it is one adult and a child. We were 4 adults and 2 children under 5 and the suite felt cramped. Its is really designed for four people IMO. If you care at all about comfort and want to be able to get ready for rope drop without stepping into someone. That's my experience. So if you compare to a 1 bedroom it is really 6 people/4 of them uncomfortable and the whole place cramped versus 4/5 comfortably, with a full kitchen, the amenities and location of a deluxe. I have a friend that's a DVC member and visited her villa while she was staying and there's really no comparison between an AoA suite and a 1 bedroom villa, specially if the price is close. From now on I am renting DVC with cancelation insurance and paying for mousekeeping every other day. With two little (messy) kids that is something I cannot go without. It still saves a ton. I could pay rack price but I just refuse. I rather spend that money on other things while there.

No, that's reality. Now I'm not saying six adults could fit comfortably in a family suite, just six people would be allowed in a family suite.

 

[Lesverts]

By luck I discovered that someone I know through work is an avid Disney fan and has a huge number of points from contracts purchased in the 90's and early 00's at Beach and Boardwalk. She asked why I would never consider renting.

Despite David's being Ontario based and TICO certificated (Ontario travel certification) I just have too many hang-ups;
- lack of control
- upfront payment
- that leads to high insurance costs for the trip
- no ability to change; this is especially big for me because things can often change at a moments notice and I have to be able to adjust quickly.

 

[DopeyDame]

We're heading to the Polynesian in a few weeks with rented points, and I'm so excited! The only major concern I have/had is the inability to cancel, but as others have said, insurance is available to mitigate that risk if you think it's needed.

I do have a question about mousekeeping, though...
We're going for 6 nights, so will only have the towel/trash on day 4. If we want to add one day of full-up housekeeping, do we just do that at the front desk? Also, is it possible to upgrade the day 4 to a full-up cleaning, rather than adding a cleaning? What's the cost of that?

Thanks!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

We're heading to the Polynesian in a few weeks with rented points, and I'm so excited! The only major concern I have/had is the inability to cancel, but as others have said, insurance is available to mitigate that risk if you think it's needed.

I do have a question about mousekeeping, though...
We're going for 6 nights, so will only have the towel/trash on day 4. If we want to add one day of full-up housekeeping, do we just do that at the front desk? Also, is it possible to upgrade the day 4 to a full-up cleaning, rather than adding a cleaning? What's the cost of that?

Thanks!

Cost is the same to "upgrade" day 4 as it would be to add a cleaning -- $30. You can add housekeeping at the front desk. You may have to follow-up, as added housekeeping on DVC units is often skipped or screwed up.

 

[DopeyDame]

Cost is the same to "upgrade" day 4 as it would be to add a cleaning -- $30. You can add housekeeping at the front desk. You may have to follow-up, as added housekeeping on DVC units is often skipped or screwed up.

Thanks, Aurora! You've been so helpful on all my questions lately!