Renting a DVC or booking directly through Disney

I have just discovered the DVC rental option for booking a trip. Does anyone have any thought between the pros and cons of renting DVC over a “traditional” booking?

We are looking at going April 22 and are up in the air between DCS with a traditional booking or DVC at the Poly. The price difference for a 7 day trip with 6 day park hopper for three of us is about $1,200.00. I have always wanted to stay at the Poly and this makes it seem like a real possibility, I am just wondering what others thought of the DVC studios.

Thanks everyone!

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I love renting DVC but its much less flexible than booking through Disney. With Disney, you can reschedule/cancel up until 3 days before with a package. With a DVC rental, it’s nonrefundable.

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Main pro is savings. But main disadvantage is you can’t cancel.

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Ditto both of the above. Another consideration is booking & points availability- although that may not be an issue at Poly. The company you are renting from may or may not have the points right away. When we booked at BLT we wanted a standard room but ended up upgrading to lake view because the standards were sold out for our dates we wanted in the two weeks it took for them to find a BLT owner with the points we needed.

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I see you have stumbled upon the same question I had 2+ years ago when I first started booking my WDW trip! :joy:

Yes, the cost savings is so appealing. The Disney Math is alluring.

Be careful. You could find yourself 2 years from now buying DVC points.

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So true

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We rented in points in 2019 through DVC Rental Store and loved it. I don’t think I’ll talk my husband into ever going back to a traditional hotel room at Disney. We’ve got another trip booked for November through Dave’s. The biggest factor is looking realistically at what you’ll be out if something happens - we’ve opted for travel insurance both times, since we’ve had to cancel Disney bookings at the last minute in the past.

But, agreed, after these trips we might have talked ourselves into buying some points. :joy:

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You’re both bad influences. :rofl: I followed along with your recent purchases and have been researching my own options ever since. Was worried if my DW would be on board, and took her all but 20 min of my “presentation” to tell me we’re losing money if we don’t buy and that she wants to keep going a lot and try all the best resorts. :man_facepalming: I’m screwed. Ball’s in my court now.

I’ve never rented points but see the value.

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You’re welcome?!?

:slight_smile:

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This was the realization I came to: if you have the desire / will power to not go and want to save money, DVC is a bad idea. But if you’re going to go and you’re going to stay at Deluxe hotels (or even Moderate), you will regret it if you don’t buy.

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I have rented points three/five times in the last year and a half. I say this because I did it three trips but for five resorts. I don’t think I can go back. I’m paying moderate prices for deluxe but nope you cannot change your dates or your room or your hotel but did I mention I’ve paid half price, literally. Also free parking if you’ve got a car. I’ve used both Dave’s and DVC Rental. I prefer Dave’s but they’re both fine. Insurance is smart. I use a travel credit card that comes with it so it’s technically free for me. But it makes sense to do that since the trip is not refundable. Poly is also on my list and the DVC studios look amazing. Best of luck in your choice.

For what it’s worth I think DCS you mean Coronado Springs? That is an absolutely wonderful resort too so you really win no matter what. :-).

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:eyes:

First DVC rental: July 2019.
DVC purchase: April 2020

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Hah! For us:
First DVC rental: November 2019
DVC purchase: November 2019
:joy: (copper creek IS that good)

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You can cancel with DVC Rental Store but you will only get a credit instead of your money back.
Of course, if you’re just looking to reschedule your vacation, that credit may work out for you.

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Besides all of the above, another difference is that in a regular hotel room you get two Queen beds, whereas in a DVC studio you get one queen bed and one pull-out sofa. The uncomfortable pull-out can be a deal breaker for me depending on the party involved. I do understand however that some of the newly redone rooms have a Murphy bed rather than a sofa pullout which is better.

Also, free laundry with DVC is a nice perk!

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I’ve booked DVC through Disney at Disney World three times (third trip a week from today!)

I’ve considered renting points, but haven’t done it due to the inconvenience of going through a third party and waiting plus the risk if we needed to move or cancel our vacation for any reason. After reading a bunch of horror stories last year on this forum when COVID happened, I’m not sure I would ever feel comfortable going that direction.

This is a fairly minor thing but worth mentioning - you get typical housekeeping when you book through Disney. If you rent, you get the housekeeping available for DVC members, which I think is trash pickup once during the week.

FWIW, I have not purchased DVC either, as the math doesn’t work out for my family and our situation.

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I’ve rented DVC points several times now. Stayed at BLT and will be staying at BCV in January. Rented at Boulder Ridge and had to cancel. I love BLT but the studios are the smallest of all studios apparently. As of right now through DVC rental store, if you cancel, you don’t get your money back, but instead can use the points at another time. Also keep in mind, once you select, you can’t change your room or dates

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RUH ROH - what kinds of stories?

I think people should also keep an eye on the rental market price. Recently people have been surprised by the $600-800 a night rack rate at deluxe resorts, the increasing cost of resale points, and a couple of weeks ago there was a confirmed SSR studio renting for $28 a point (a discount on the rack rate).

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At first the rental companies said renters would lose their money during the closure. Most companies ended up giving a credit that must be used before a certain date.

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