tons of questions

[sschro3]

background trip dates are 9/23-9/28/07, there are 12 of us going...well 13 with the 8mo
On so many posts I've read people suggesting renting points and I think I get the jist of it. You can rent pts from a DVC member who for whatever reason has extra. I know different times of the year and different resorts are different point totals.
Here are the questions:
How can you find out how many pts you will need to have for a trip?
Renting pts gets you the "room" only, so you will still need to get tickets?
If you rent from a DVC member can you do the dining plan?
Is there space enough for 12 people?
Do you still get transportation to the resorts?
What resorts are available?
We had thought of staying off property and renting a home for maybe 1 second then decided we wanted to be on property.
I wasn't sure the best route for a group that large so we just booked 3 value rooms at the pop century. We have stayed there before and I know how cramped we are going to be, especially with a crib in one of the rooms. If this would be a better option I would love to atleast look into it.
Thanks Sharon

 

[Dman67]

How can you find out how many pts you will need to have for a trip?
There are a bunch of places you can look for points charts that will show you how many points you need. In your case you need room for 12 which probably means a 3 bdrm villa. Since it's almost April, availability is probably limited for Sept. Most likely you going to find a room at Saratoga Springs Resort (SSR). Based on that you can expect to need 420 points for a 6 night stay from 9/23 - 9/28 at SSR.
Renting pts gets you the "room" only, so you will still need to get tickets?
Tickets are always seperate and are never included in the price for renting points for a DVC stay.
If you rent from a DVC member can you do the dining plan?
I'm not really sure. Someone else may be able to answer that one for ya.
Is there space enough for 12 people?
Like I said above, the 3 bdrm villa will best suit your needs for 12 people. The 3 bdrm at SSR is 2100 sq ft and has a full kitchen and dinning room. Very, very nice!!!
Do you still get transportation to the resorts?
Are you referring to transportation from the airport? That I don't know. As for transportation around WDW the same bus service that is provided at regular Disney resorts is available at the DVC resorts.
What resorts are available?
That depends on how soon you find points to rent. The longer you wait the less chance there is to find something.

Good Luck! I rented points recently and basically saved around $200/night on our stay at WDW. Can't beat that deal anywhere!!!

 

[tomandrobin]

background trip dates are 9/23-9/28/07, there are 12 of us going...well 13 with the 8mo
On so many posts I've read people suggesting renting points and I think I get the jist of it. You can rent pts from a DVC member who for whatever reason has extra. I know different times of the year and different resorts are different point totals.
Here are the questions:

How can you find out how many pts you will need to have for a trip?

First, do you all want to be in one unit or can the group be broken down into smaller, multiple rooms? Two 2 bedroom units at Saratoga will be 378 points, Old Key West would be 328 points. A 2 bedroom sleeps 8 people.

Renting pts gets you the "room" only, so you will still need to get tickets?

Yes, I would recommend joining mousesavers and buy your tickets ahead of time.

If you rent from a DVC member can you do the dining plan?

Yes, you can still get the dining plan. You will need to add it to the reservation before you arrive.

Is there space enough for 12 people?

Only a Grand Villa sleeps 12. A 2 bedroom sleeps 8. A 1 bedroom sleeps 4.

Do you still get transportation to the resorts?

Yes, you can use the Magical Express.

What resorts are available?

Don't know, that is a slow time of year though.

We had thought of staying off property and renting a home for maybe 1 second then decided we wanted to be on property.

We always prefer staying on-site. Disney transportation, Dining, and extra magic hours.

I wasn't sure the best route for a group that large so we just booked 3 value rooms at the pop century. We have stayed there before and I know how cramped we are going to be, especially with a crib in one of the rooms. If this would be a better option I would love to atleast look into it.

If you want space, the best bang for your buck is Old Key West Resort.

 

[castleri]

n

background trip dates are 9/23-9/28/07, there are 12 of us going...well 13 with the 8mo
On so many posts I've read people suggesting renting points and I think I get the jist of it. You can rent pts from a DVC member who for whatever reason has extra. I know different times of the year and different resorts are different point totals.
Here are the questions:
How can you find out how many pts you will need to have for a trip?


You can go to the points calculator on this site and figure out how many points each option would be at each resort. Then multiply that by $10, $11 and $!2 These are the usual rates that people charge. You will then have an idea of what range you are looking at. ie OKW 9/23-check out 9/28 180 pts 9/23-check out 9/29 266 pts

Renting pts gets you the "room" only, so you will still need to get tickets?
You can buy your tickets from Disney or from one of the ticket brokers.

If you rent from a DVC member can you do the dining plan?
Yes all people on the reservation must buy it for all nights of the reservation. You would ask the person you rent from to add it to the reservation but you would pay for it when you check in.

Is there space enough for 12 people? There are 3 bedrooms and a sofa bed in the living room = there are 4 bathrooms total. There is a king bed in the master suite, a bedroom with two double beds and one with 2 queen beds. Each of these rooms has its own bathroom and there is one in the hallway near the living room for the people who sleep there. It would depend on the make up of your group how well this would work. If you got 2 2BRS you would have 2 master suites, 2 second bedrooms and 2 sofa beds. You would still have 4 baths.
Do you still get transportation to the resorts? You can use the magical express transportation if that is what you are asking

What resorts are available?
OKW and SSR have the most GVs.
We had thought of staying off property and renting a home for maybe 1 second then decided we wanted to be on property.
I wasn't sure the best route for a group that large so we just booked 3 value rooms at the pop century. We have stayed there before and I know how cramped we are going to be, especially with a crib in one of the rooms. If this would be a better option I would love to at least look into it.
Thanks Sharon

You will have a full kitchen with full size appliances in each of the units so may be able to save some money by doing breakfast and snacks in the room. . You need to figure the points for each as they are not the same. You do not have daily housekeeping if this is an issue but you will have a full washer and dryer.

The question I would have is will you have any issues with who has which bedroom etc. specifically the master suite? Then you may want to stick with smaller units.

 

[Amy5000]

Sharon. If you look at the top of this page, I think the top right most link will say "DVC Point Charts." This way you can look up how many pts you will need for any particular configuration.

I'm not sure how hard it would be to get a Grand Villa, so you may need to get smaller units at the same resort for your party.

Also, just an fyi, you can use the Magical Express and its free.

Good luck. Amy

 

[sschro3]

WOW!! Thank you soooo much for answering all my questions. I think I'm gonna look into this. The idea of having a washer and dryer with 6 kids sounds too good to be true.
Sharon

 

[sschro3]

Why do Boardwalk and Saratoga Springs Resorts take so many more points then OKW?

 

[sweetp267]

Why do Boardwalk and Saratoga Springs Resorts take so many more points then OKW?

The reason for the difference in points is that the highest point per night resorts are connected to a theme park somehow. The BW and BC are within walking distance to Epcot and VWL is a short boat ride to MK and have regular hotel amenities like room service etc. SSR is in the middle because it is connected to Downtown Disney while OKW is kind of self contained with everything pretty much reached by bus transportation. The big plus side to OKW IMO is that the rooms are much much bigger and my personal reason is that it is on the Lake Buena Vista golf course and most of the views are of the course.