I am going to look into this for our next trip…and i have a bunch of questions
(1) Which companies do you use to rent
(2) Can i still book my fast passes at 60 days out on the MyDisneyExperience account?
(3) Do you see your room reservation on the MyDisneyExperience account
(4) what about the dining plan? do you see that?
(5) is everything pretty much the same as when you book through a travel agent/Disney direct?
(6) what are the disadvantages to renting points vs booking direct?
(7) any tips/advice would be great!
I know that’s probably a lot to cover, but it seems too good to be true, so I must be missing something!
(1) Which companies do you use to rent DVC Rental Store
(2) Can i still book my fast passes at 60 days out on the MyDisneyExperience account? YES
(3) Do you see your room reservation on the MyDisneyExperience account If I remember correctly, YES. But I’m positive you can view your room reservation on the DVC Member site.
(4) what about the dining plan? do you see that? Sorry, I can’t recall what I saw related to my dining plan on MDE but I had zero issues. I booked ADRs without a problem.
(5) is everything pretty much the same as when you book through a travel agent/Disney direct? YES - just a lot cheaper!
(6) what are the disadvantages to renting points vs booking direct? I don’t see any disadvantages! Maybe the fact that you can’t cancel - but that isn’t a concern for me since I would go no matter what! I know there is a protection plan you can add in case you are worried about needing to cancel - I’ve just never taken that.
(7) any tips/advice would be great! I can’t say enough good things about DVC Rental Store. I’ve booked with them 3 times. You are assigned a designated rep and they are so responsive and don’t make you feel silly for asking even the craziest questions! I would try to book right at the 7-month mark so that you can take advantage of the slight price discount - unless you are going at a busy time of year or not flexible with where you want to stay - then I would book as soon as possible.
(3) I’m pretty sure you must be able to see your reservation on MDE otherwise you wouldn’t be able to book fastpasses. Knowing it exists on the DVC site is no use if you’re not a member of DVC, because you can’t log on to see it.
(4) Not sure either, I don’t think it shows up as such, but not a problem if it doesn’t.
(5) Everything will end up the same, but you can’t do things like book the dining plan yourself, you need to ask the rental company to arrange it for you with the owner.
(6) The one main disadvantage is you could end up with no reservation. Going through a rental company does at least mean you will get your money back if that happens, and I assume it doesn’t happen often, but it could still happen.
(1) Which companies do you use to rent I used David’s DVC rental.
(2) Can i still book my fast passes at 60 days out on the MyDisneyExperience account? yes
(3) Do you see your room reservation on the MyDisneyExperience account yes
(4) what about the dining plan? do you see that? I can’t remember, but I don’t think so
(5) is everything pretty much the same as when you book through a travel agent/Disney direct? yes, except booking the dining package as Nickysyme said and the room isn’t cleaned every day. I think it’s cleaned on day 4, then again on day 7 or 8. No towel service every day either. You can pay extra for trash & towel or full cleaning on other days if you want it.
(6) what are the disadvantages to renting points vs booking direct? I don’t think you can change your reservation once it’s made, or cancel and get a refund.
(7) any tips/advice would be great!
Did it happen automatically though or did you have to call down to services? I mean, not that it would matter as one can simply bring coffee with them, but I am curious (and yeah, I realize this sounds like a stupid thing to question about :P)
Do you remember if there is a place to that you can take your trash bags and throw them away so they are not sitting in the room between cleanings? I called DVC and asked but the person I spoke with didn’t know. (Our youngest is still in diapers) Thank you!
Haha there is no such thing as a stupid question where Disney is involved! There always seemed to be a maids cart in the hallway at some point during the day. I would just ask them for more coffee. I got towels from their cart once or twice - but also grabbed an extra towel at the pool. (Not sure if that’s a no-no or not but I never had a problem!)
Another question, do magic bands need to be purchased separately? Or are they included at no charge as if you bought a package through Disney like normal?
Also, that day 4 “cleaning” isn’t really a cleaning. We recently stayed at BCV on rented points (through DVC rental store, Katrina is fabulous), and on day 4 all they did was switch the towels and empty the trash. Worked fine for us. When we wanted more towels we grabbed them off the housekeeping boxes (no carts seen) that were outside rooms that were getting restocked that day. Renting points was great, and made the Beach Club much more affordable than renting through Disney (40 percent less). Not sure about the coffee situation as we didn’t use the pot- we drink cold Starbucks coffee drinks there since it is hot.