Renting DVC

I go to WDW once or twice a year and recently discovered the joys of renting from DVC members. Last time I stayed at the Boardwalk Villas. They are walking distance (1/2 block) from Epcot and are wonderful. By renting from a member they are affordable and only cost about the same as staying at the Dolphin or Swan. I'll never stay at a non Disney hotel again now that I have stayed at the Boardwalk. The time prior I stayed at the Old Key West again renting from a DVC member. That was great too. It wasn't noisy and it was relaxing -more like a resort than a hotel.

I was fortunate enough to be upgraded to a Wilderness Lodge Villa in February (since Disney told me the Lodge rooms had high speed internet, which wasn't complete as yet... so they transferred me to one of the rooms that had it installed earlier that day).

Anyway... the rooms were wonderful, and I can see the appeal of joining the DVC. For me, personally, though, I like staying somewhere different on property each time I go to WDW, so the DVC isn't really for me.

If you buy into the Disney Vacation Club can you stay anywhere you want or just at certain places? I'm not sure how the club works, but we want to start going more and this may be a good idea for us. thanks

I'm not positive on the details, but my ex and I had looked into it a little a few years ago. I believe it is some kind of point system. Your membership gets you so many points each year that can be used for your stays. I'm almost positive that you can in fact use them at any resort you want, and that it just costs a different number of points depending on where you choose to use them.

Of course I could also be completely wrong, but that is the jist of what I remember.

I've been a DVC member for three years now, so I can address some of these questions.

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If you buy into the Disney Vacation Club can you stay anywhere you want or just at certain places? I'm not sure how the club works, but we want to start going more and this may be a good idea for us. thanks.

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There are now 5 DVC sites at WDW....Old Key West, Boardwalk Villas, Villas at Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club Villas and the new Saratoga Springs Resort. So you can get a lot of variety with DVC and still get the great benefits of these resorts. Also, you can use your points at other resorts on property (except the "parent" resorts of the DVC units) so there is even more flexibility. However, it is important to note that the points needed for the regular WDW resorts is not a very cost efficient way to use them since it is really an internal trade between two business units of Disney.

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I'm not positive on the details, but my ex and I had looked into it a little a few years ago. I believe it is some kind of point system. Your membership gets you so many points each year that can be used for your stays. I'm almost positive that you can in fact use them at any resort you want, and that it just costs a different number of points depending on where you choose to use them.

Of course I could also be completely wrong, but that is the jist of what I remember.

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You are basically correct. You pay for your points one time...currently about $95 a point, and you get to use them for a set number of years. Then you pay maintenance fees on them each year, about $4 a point.

Again, they are best used for staying at DVC resorts. But yes, they do give you the flexibility to go other places on site at WDW.


Here's a primer on the DVC program at this link: http://www.wdwinfo.com/dvc/faq.shtml#faq

Thanks for the info. That helped clear a bunch up for me.