Using DVC Points for the Disneyland Hotel

[Quartermouse]

Hi all. My wife & I are looking at purchasing a DVC contract. We live in CA and Disneyland is an easier drive for us to get to. We have heard all of the stories that getting into GCA is a nightmare (even for owners), but I was wondering if anyone has used their points for booking a room at the Disneyland Hotel, and if so, what was your experience with it? Is it something worthwhile or did you find it to be a waste of points? TIA.

 

[LYSE]

The points exchange rate is horrible, I would wait and see about the dvc addition to the Disneyland hotel.

As an owner if I wanted to do a Disneyland trip and use my points but I couldn't get anything, I would rent them out privately and use the proceeds to pay for my cash room, this would use less of my points than exchanging them with disnsy.

I'll also add that the privilege of wasting your points is limited to directly purchased contracts or those re sale owners who are grandfathered in.

 

[Imkarlawithak2005]

We used points to book Paradise Pier years ago. It worked for us because we needed two rooms and we were past the 7 month booking window. It’s definitely not the best use of points.

 

[Quartermouse]

The points exchange rate is horrible, I would wait and see about the dvc addition to the Disneyland hotel.

As an owner if I wanted to do a Disneyland trip and use my points but I couldn't get anything, I would rent them out privately and use the proceeds to pay for my cash room, this would use less of my points than exchanging them with disnsy.

I'll also add that the privilege of wasting your points is limited to directly purchased contracts or those re sale owners who are grandfathered in.

We are definitely waiting to hear more about the new CA property. The rumors about the initial point buy are a little scary, but hopefully we will be in a position to buy at the initial offering.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

If you want to stay at DL, buy resale VGC and book during home resort. Don't buy a Florida contract direct to trade to DLH. The numbers don't work well.

If splitting time between WDW and DL get two smaller resale contracts, one for each coast. Bank and borrow.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I'm not certain where the info comes from that it's difficult for VGC owners to book VGC because that just isn't true. Like any location on certain very popular days it can be but if you book at 11 months there's virtually no issue and even within the home resort window it's not too bad especially with flexibility.

Back in the day I also used points to book DLH but the exchange requirement keeps increasing and it is questionable on the value now.

If you want to stay at VGC regularly then buy VGC resale and book at 11 months and you'll be fine. If you want to stay at DLH then wait for the new DVC tower and purchase there. Or rent reservations.

 

[AZMermaid]

We did it like 5 years ago for a Run Disney race. I priced out renting them and using the cash vs just using the points. The difference was less than $50 so we just used our points to keep it simpler. That said, I’m not sure that’s always true and I wouldn't buy DVC with that plan in mind. We own VGC (decided to do the race too late) and have never had issues booking at 11 months.

 

[cruisehopeful]

If you are going to stay in the hotels, you are much better off paying cash for the hotel stays. You can look at the math and project out 5 or 10 years to see that for your yourself.

If you want a DVC, you'll likely wait for the new DVC DL tower to be built and go on sale. Lots of us are doing that right now. You could keep looking for a VGC contract, but those are selling extremely fast and at very high prices. Those rooms are not hard to book for owners. I am not an owner there and have already picked up a couple nights for this fall. I can see past my booking window into the owners booking window and there's lots of inventory. Only holidays are booked out 10 months in advance.