Renting points for Disneyland stay

[Keli]

Hello! We're in the very early stages of planning a trip to disneyland this december. I'm finding myself wanting to stay at one of the disneyland resorts. There will be 7 of us, 4 adults and 3 children (7 yrs, 6 yrs, and 4yrs) I looked into the prices for the disneyland resorts and its fairly high for our budgets so I considered renting dvc points. I've never done that and I'd like to get more familiar with the process and get some tips so I don't make any rookie mistakes. Does anyone have a suggestion on who we should rent from? Also, we will need either a suite or two rooms for all of us, does anyone know which would be the better deal? I appreciate any help you guys can offer and if you have suggestions on threads to look at all the better. Thanks!

 

[pblack]

The only resort you can rent DVC points for is the Grand Californian and from what i've heard it can be pretty difficult to get a reservation there. You can try Daves DVC Rentals (Sorry if this is not allowed), or Google search others.

 

[bcla]

My understanding is that the Grand Californian Villas are the hardest DVC location to book anywhere. They only have 50 rooms and those who have it as their home resort tend to use their points there.

 

[starry_solo]

You would need a two bedroom, at least. You might want to look at off site hotels

 

[JohnR5101]

We successfully booked 4 nights in Sept 2020 through DVC Rental Store. You would need to make the request 11 months out, which would be right about now for next December. Holiday time is probably not going to happen, but early Dec may work out. At DVC store you can see what it would cost and can check availability. If they say its available, then you submit your request and wait for an owner to agree. You work through DVC not directly through the owner. It may take a few weeks to secure an actual reservation.

We are going with 5 people (3 adults, 2 children), so we booked a 1 bdrm unit which has 2 baths, and the living room has pullout bed plus a dropdown that would be suitable for a child. The total price (about $600/night) was about half what it would have cost us to just book 2 standard hotel rooms there so I consider that a real deal. Basically staying at the Grand for $300/night per family and in something much better than a hotel room.

They have Studio, 1 bdrm and 2 bdrm units. And I think there is also a couple 3 bdrm units but that was WAY more than we needed.

 

[Becca1007]

We successfully booked 4 nights in Sept 2020 through DVC Rental Store. You would need to make the request 11 months out, which would be right about now for next December. Holiday time is probably not going to happen, but early Dec may work out. At DVC store you can see what it would cost and can check availability. If they say its available, then you submit your request and wait for an owner to agree. You work through DVC not directly through the owner. It may take a few weeks to secure an actual reservation.

We are going with 5 people (3 adults, 2 children), so we booked a 1 bdrm unit which has 2 baths, and the living room has pullout bed plus a dropdown that would be suitable for a child. The total price (about $600/night) was about half what it would have cost us to just book 2 standard hotel rooms there so I consider that a real deal. Basically staying at the Grand for $300/night per family and in something much better than a hotel room.

They have Studio, 1 bdrm and 2 bdrm units. And I think there is also a couple 3 bdrm units but that was WAY more than we needed.

There are only 2 units that have 3 bedrooms and they look awesome but are never available (at least when I have been looking).

 

[Staceycs]

We used an online broker (one of the main 3 that will come up if you Google) and secured a 1-bedroom at 11 months out. We were in contact with them beforehand, so the very day it became available they were ready to try and get it for us. A very easy process and we’d do it again.

 

[Czardas]

I’ve rented points and have never had any issues with being able to secure what we wanted. I just this week got confirmation for our September 20 trip for a 1 bed villa.
We don’t go during peak times but if you look at my signature, can see we go. I always use one of the main DVC rental places.

 

[Desert Girl]

We rented points at VGC for this June. I made a request at 11months out and they secured us a reservation within a few weeks. It was a pretty easy process. You do have to pay up front though if you get the reservation.

 

[starry_solo]

As I mentioned above, due to the number of people in your group (7), you will need a two bedroom villa. Studios go fast so the only thing left would be One bedrooms for the lock offs, which won’t fit your group. I don’t recall how many dedicated two bedroom villas there are. You are looking at anywhere from 46 to 86 points per night.

 

[mouschievous]

We just put in our request for September 2020. And by just, I mean in the last couple of days. We are working with one of the DVC rental companies that you can find if you Google. We need a two-bedroom, and there is one available, so now we are waiting for an owner to be willing to rent their points to us. Either someone will step up and want to rent to us, or there will be no two bedrooms left and we'll be out of luck. Either way, it was something we thought we'd try and if it doesn't work out that's okay. It's worth a shot to put in for it and see if you can get it!

One thing that might be turn off for some people is that you pay a good chunk of the cost when you book, and the rest a month or so before you go. Since you aren't paying Disney directly, you can't use Disney gift cards.

 

[bcla]

We just put in our request for September 2020. And by just, I mean in the last couple of days. We are working with one of the DVC rental companies that you can find if you Google. We need a two-bedroom, and there is one available, so now we are waiting for an owner to be willing to rent their points to us. Either someone will step up and want to rent to us, or there will be no two bedrooms left and we'll be out of luck. Either way, it was something we thought we'd try and if it doesn't work out that's okay. It's worth a shot to put in for it and see if you can get it!

At the very least there's no shortage of nearby hotels that are reasonably priced as a backup option.

 

[mouschievous]

At the very least there's no shortage of nearby hotels that are reasonably priced as a backup option.

Yup. We have one booked that we will cancel if we get the DVC rental.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

For the OP: Read through the threads below for off site hotel information if you plan to book a hotel as a backup option. You can ask any questions in the second thread -- you'll find lots of helpful information there!

"HydroGuy's Hotel Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862
"Choosing the Right DLR Area Hotel for You" www.disboards.com/threads/choosing-the-right-hotel-for-you.3656512/

 

[mouschievous]

Update: We got notice today that we are able to rent points! It took less than a week. Granted, we are not going at a super busy time (Sept 8-13), but I was shocked it happened so quickly.

 

[Keli]

Thanks so much for the insight, I really appreciate it. I can see getting a suite to fit us all is a long shot but we can give it a try. And I really appreciate the thread links for offsite options too since that is looking like the likely option for us if the other doesn’t work out.

 

[JohnR5101]

With the closures in effect right now has anyone gotten any information about what will happen to the renter if the park remains closed for the time they are renting VGC? I have a confirmed reservation for Sept 13-17 and have paid the initial 60% of it. If the park is still closed what happens to my investment?

I know that some who have rented DVC must have already been affected in the last couple of weeks. Can any of you in that category explain how they have handled your situation?

 

[starry_solo]

With the closures in effect right now has anyone gotten any information about what will happen to the renter if the park remains closed for the time they are renting VGC? I have a confirmed reservation for Sept 13-17 and have paid the initial 60% of it. If the park is still closed what happens to my investment?

I know that some who have rented DVC must have already been affected in the last couple of weeks. Can any of you in that category explain how they have handled your situation?

You might want to click on "new posts" and see all the threads about what's going on. There are at least two. I'll see if I can find them for you:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/davids-dvc-rental-reimbursement-or-rescheduling.3796922/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/does-davids-tell-you-if-the-renter-cancels.3796406/
It doesn't sound promising for those renters.

But I do think Disneyland will be open by September.