Renting Disney Vacation Club points is a great way to score the Deluxe Disney Resorts for the price that you normally pay for a Moderate Disney Resort. You get all the perks of staying on Disney Property, but with a nice savings added to your budget!
How To Stay At A Disney Vacation Club
Staying in a Disney Vacation Club Resort room is no different then staying on property at any other level of Disney hotel rooms. You book your stay, pack for your trip and then arrive to your hotel room and get the fun started at Disney World.
The difference is the booking of the room and the price that you are going to pay. Renting DVC rooms from DVC timeshare owners, gets you Deluxe Disney Resorts for the price that you normally pay for a Moderate Disney Resort!
You can not book DVC rooms thru Disney, you have to book them thru a DVC owner or a site that acts as a third party. We will get into exactly how to book a DVC room a little bit further down.
What is DVC?
Disney vacation club is a timeshare program that Disney offers. Disney vacation club is often referred to as DVC. These timeshare owners are offered the benefits of luxury rooms at the moderate or deluxe hotels on Disney property. Most people think you need to purchase a DVC membership to be able to take advantage of these amazing deals. Thankfully you don’t need to make that kind of investment thanks to these helpful tips I have for you.
Many Disney Vacation Club owners find themselves with extra points, or not being able to use their points so they rent them to people who are not Disney Vacation Club members!
Why Rent DVS Points?
DVC members have a certain amount of points they receive every year. Now if they don’t use those points they will expire so they will lose out on their money. Their potential loss turns into our personal gain. The DVC members have the ability to sell these points for money so they will not lose them.
How to Save Money Renting Disney Vacation Club Points
On our last trip to Disney World, I decided to book a DVC room so I can see if this was something you could really do. I spent a lot of time on the Disney chat boards like The Disboards learning all about how to use DVC points.
I was already saving money with the military Disney tickets since we are active duty military, and so I had room in the budget for some Disney splurging. That included me wanting to things like making a Cinderella’s Table Reservation, going to Bippity Boppity Botique, and a few other things including getting a bit fancy and staying at a Deluxe Disney Resort instead of the normal moderate or value resorts we normally stay at like the Finding Nemo Art of Animation Family Suite. Which we LOVE but we wanted to get a bit fancier on this trip. I did not however want to spend a fortune on our room because we don’t spend much time in our rooms, so I I decided to book a DVC room.
One thing you need to know before you get started on booking your trip is to make sure you are using a reputable website or a trusted person. There are other sites that have not been around for awhile and don’t offer any protection when you book through their site. Don’t worry, we have you covered on where to book your Disney DVC reservations so you don’t run into any issues.
When you are staying at the DVC room you will be able to get the same benefits that regular guest get like the magical express and the ability to purchase the dining plan. After all the time I have spent planning my own vacation these two ways are the only ones I recommend.
Dave’s Vacation Club Rental
Dave’s vacation club has been around since 2005. This site was recommended over and over again in many different chat rooms and facebook groups. I didn’t personally use this site when I was booking my DVC vacation but my friends have used this site to sell their points and they have been very happy with them.
To get started they have a great video on their main page which explains the whole process of renting through there site. Dave’s has a great feature called the cost calculator. It helps you plan out what the cost of the different hotels at different times.
As an example, you can book in a studio room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for the week of 02/16/2019 for only $1495! Just to book a regular room there would be over $4000 for the same about of days.
The process is fairly easy. Search for your dates, submit a reservation request and they hook you up with an owner who is looking to rent out those dates for their DVC points. The transaction happens thru the company, so there is a bit of protection to where you can report back to them if the DVC owner did not keep up their end of the agreement.
I also suggest signing up for their e-mail lists and for the specials. I did and I have been getting emails for INSANELY Cheap deals that are DVC members putting their points on sale and making the rooms crazy cheap. You will only be able to find those deals if you sign up for the emails.
They also have a list of prebooked stays that DVC members have made but will no longer be using. You can check those lists to see if any of them match the dates you are looking for.
DVC Reservations
DVC Reservations is another DVC booking site that you can use to find and book DVC Rooms. I didn’t personally use this site when I was booking my DVC vacation but I have read in many of the Disney Forums people that have used this site to sell their points and those who have used them to rent points and they have been very happy with them.
The process is fairly easy. Search for your dates, submit a reservation request and they hook you up with an owner who is looking to rent out those dates for their DVC points. The transaction happens thru the company, so there is a bit of protection to where you can report back to them if the DVC owner did not keep up their end of the agreement.
They also have a list of prebooked stays that DVC members have made but will no longer be using. You can check those lists to see if any of them match the dates you are looking for.
I also suggest signing up for their e-mail lists and for the specials. I did and I have been getting emails for INSANELY Cheap deals that are DVC members putting their points on sale and making the rooms crazy cheap. You will only be able to find those deals if you sign up for the emails.
Book Through A DVC Member
This option is only a good choice if it is someone you know and trust. You will need to find someone who is a DVC member (you can easily spot them with the DVC magnets lol). If they have unused points you can have them book your vacation and you can pay them the cash value for the amount of point you use.
I had a friend who just had a baby and they were not going to be making it to Disney that year. Since she knew I was planning a vacation to Disney she offered that I could buy her point instead of her selling them online. This was a win-win for both of us since she wouldn’t lose points and I would be able to stay at the Polynesian for the same cost as a moderate hotel.
She was able to put my dates into the DVC website to see what my options were. I was able to pick the hotel and dates I wanted. She didn’t book through the website since this was her first time she was doing this. She called in and a cast member went through all the steps of the booking process with her to book it all in my name. But the person you are renting from, can book online or call in and then have the room booking in your name.
Book DVC On Ebay
Ok so, this one is a bit on the take a little risk side but well worth it! You have the protection of paypal if something were to go wrong with your purchase which for me I am ok with.
On Ebay you will find lots of DVC bookings that people have but are trying to rent out and because they are wanting to get rid of the week they have already paid for many times you can find them at crazy low prices!
I am talking prices like $600-$1100 for a 7 night stay at a Disney Deluxe resort!
What Hotels are DVC at Disney?
There are 10 Disney Resort hotels that are Disney Vacation Club Resorts! Some of the Disney Vacation Club rooms are in the same building as the main resort, others have their own buildings). There are a couple Disney Vacation Club resorts that are ONLY for
- Beach Club Villas (same building as Beach Club)
- Boardwalk Villas (same building as Boardwalk Inn)
- Bay Lake Tower (separate building at The Contemporary Resort)
- Animal Kingdom Villas (some are located in same building as Animal Kingdom lodge, others are located in a separate building)
- Boulder Ridge Villas at Wilderness Lodge (adjoining Wilderness Lodge)
- Copper Creek Villas at Wilderness Lodge (adjoining Wilderness Lodge)
- Old Key West Resort (DVC Only resort)
- Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa (DVC Only resort)
- Grand Floridian Villas (located at The Grand Floridian)
- Polynesian Village Resort (located at The Polynesian)
Now I must also share the few cons that are with renting a DVC room. Although they are not all exactly cons.
- You are renting the room and your room agreement is with the DVC owner and not Disney directly. That means that for your room you are paying the DVC owner and they are responsible for booking your room. All the payment and information is going thru the DVC owner to book your room. I suggest just as a precaution with anyone doing this that they pay half the room cost upfront and then pay the other half of the cost once you have the room confirmation.
- Mousekeeping comes 2 times during a stay except trash is daily at DVC. At the normal Disney Resorts, mousekeeping is done daily.
- Some of the rooms are smaller, but include a kitchenette. The standard rooms for DVC are about 100sqft smaller then a normal room, however the normal rooms do not have kitchenettes in them. The only exception to this is the Polynesian Standard rooms are smaller then the DVC Polynesian Standard rooms.
Disney Travel Tip
Another important thing to know is to check to make sure there isn’t a race going on the weekend you are thinking you would like to go. DVC rooms book out very fast if it is a race weekend I found out the hard way.
After you have booked your Disney Vacation Club Room by renting points, you are good to start planning the rest of your Disney World trip. You will get the same perks of booking dining 180 days before your trip, booking fast passes 60 days before your trip and getting your magic bands, along with everything else you get when you stay on Disney Property!
Be sure to check out the Polynesian DVC Room tour video to take a peek at what a DVC room looks like! Hint, they are amazing Deluxe hotel rooms!
Be sure to check out all of our other Disney World vacation planning posts, to help you make the most of your Disney World trip!
- How to get Discounted Disney Gift Cards. All the tricks you need to know to get Disney Gift cards for less then they are worth to save a lot of money! Disney Gift Cards can be used when paying for Disney property hotels, Disney park tickets, food and more!
- Disney Military Discount – All the Discount Military Members can get from Disney Tickets, Hotel and more!
- Disney Tips – Secrets about Disney World from Disney Cast Members
- Best Disney Hotels for Families – Going to Disney with the family? Check out these resorts that are perfect for families going to Disney world.
- How to Ride More Rides at Disney World – Want to ride the most rides while at Disney? Be sure you check out these tips!
- Weeklong Disney World Vacation Tips – Making your Disney World Trip a week long adventure? Be sure to check out these Disney vacation planning tips!
- Bippity Boppity Botique – Everything you need to know about the Princess (and Prince Disney World Makeovers)
- Disney free stuff – Everything you can score for free at Disney World – and so many of them are AWESOME!
- Disney Packing List. Everything you need to make sure that you pack for your trip to Disney World. Plus a FREE Printable to help you keep track while you are packing!
- Tips for Doing Disney World in the Rain! Don’t let a little rain get in the way of your fun! You can still have an amazing time even when it is raining at Disney World!
- 5 Reasons to make a Chef Mickey’s Dining Reservation. (It is perfect for the whole family!)
- 3 GOOD Reasons to upgrade to a Disney World Park Hopper Pass
- Why you should make a Cinderella’s Table Reservation. (It is perfect for the whole family!)
- Reasons to stay at a Disney Deluxe Resort Property
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