Renting Points- which resort- newbie!

[DnA2010]

Hi All,

I wasnt sure where to post this, but I have been reading about DVC, and I was thinking about renting points for a visit (dates removed) and all of the resorts sound nice! I have no idea on how I would go about trying to decide which one! I have figured out that they have different amounts of points, but I don't really know why

Any tips? Positives/negatives about them? Also, if renting points, am I still able to add the Dining plan? We were thinking this might be nice to do, to save the hassle. The only other time I have been to WDW we stayed off site (didnt really understand the onsite options) and as we are going on the Oasis, we thought we might add a week at WDW after since we have already travelled that far

Thanks so much!

EDIT: This post has been edited to remove travel specifics-Chuck S

 

[DMKEDM]

All the WDW DVC resorts are "deluxe"...you can see pix and read about amenities at disney.com, wdwinfo.com (this board), allears.net and lots of other places...

The seven DVC resorts at WDW are:

Old Key West (OKW)
Saratoga Springs (SSR)
Animal Kingdom Villas (AKV) (two sections--Kidani & Jambo)
Beach Club Villas (BCV)
Boardwalk Villas (BWV)
Wilderness Lodge Villas (WLV)
Bay Lake Tower (BLT)--connected to the Contemporary

Points per villa depend on villa size (studio--sleeps 4; one-bedroom--sleeps 4 or 5; two-bedroom (sleeps 8 or 9) and Grand Villa (3-bedroom, sleeps 12)), time (Friday and Saturday nights require more points than Sun-Thurs; high-demand seasons also require more points (e.g., the highest-point "costs" are New Year's Eve, Christmas Eve; lowest are mid-Sept)...you can see a points chart at the top of this page...note: point "costs" are BY NIGHT...so if you cross over on seasons, the higher cost season points will be required for the nights in the higher cost season, and there is no "discount" for a full week...it's just the 7 nights totaled up for convenience)...

Which one you'd choose is going to depend on what you like/need...each is themed differently (e.g., AKV is Africa and animals; SSR is upstate New York/horse races, etc.); some are bigger (e.g, OKW villas are much bigger than the other DVC resort villas, while the BLT studio is noticeably smaller than most other DVC studios); some have two bathrooms in the one-bedroom (AKV/Kidani & BLT); all but OKW have a queen-sized sleeper sofa and a queen sized bed in the studio (OKW has two queen beds)...some are closer (walking distance or shorter bus rides) to the parks (e.g., you can walk to Epcot in under 10 minutes from BCV or to MK from BLT), some have better access to the monorail, etc.

Your best bet is to look them over on one (or all) of the websites shown above, see the amenities they offer and look at the pictures, and then come back with more specific questions or seeking more specific thoughts...

Yes, you can add a dining plan--but the owner you rent from has to do that for you, and has to pay for it (so you'll have to pay the owner) at the time it's added.

Renting is NOT like making reservations thru Disney--most owners have restricted (or no) cancellation options; most require upfront payment, in whole or in large part; only the owner can talk to DVC Member Services (which is where reservations are made, the dining plan is added, Magical Express is ordered)...you have no control at all over your reservation until you actually check in, so you need to trust your owner (and your owner needs to trust you, since the owner will be responsible should you cause any damage or fail to pay any or all of your bill)...Renting can be a substantial savings and a great way to experience what DVC is like prior to shelling out a large sum of money to buy in--but you do need to understand it is not even remotely like calling (or going online to) Disney to make a reservation that can be canceled or changed!

Good luck!

 

[jekjones1558]

Also be aware that your dates include the WDW marathon days so some resorts may already have limited room availability in some room categories. DVC rooms tend to book up more quickly than cash rooms from Disney.