DVC Point renting questions!

I don't know much about the point rental process, but as far as the things that you might miss out on, free dining is not available if you rent points because you are not booking your room through Disney. If that is something that you typically try to use, you'll have to factor in the additional food costs. Also, there is no daily maid service. I actually prefer that because I feel like fewer people accessing my room when I'm not there is a good thing, but you should be aware of that going in.

Our Magic Bands were fine at Saratoga, but everyone that I have talked to who went in December when we did had trouble with their bands if they did a split resort stay. So, if you are thinking about splitting up your time, you may want to keep an eye on the boards for Magic Band news and make sure that bug gets worked out before you go.

Saratoga and Old Key West typically have the best availability. If you wait until kind of the last minute to book, you can sometimes get better deals at these places than elsewhere on property and they are both very nice. The only downside to these two resorts is that the "transportation upgrade" is a boat to DTD as opposed to monorail service or walking distance to EPCOT like some of the others have. We stayed at Saratoga (where we just bought points) and visited all of the other DVC resorts. I really liked Saratoga as a resort. It's big and spread out, but it's really beautiful. I didn't care too much for OKW relative to Saratoga. It was nice and we're staying there in May so I'll have a better assessment then, but on first impression, I thought Saratoga looked a little fresher. We're doing Boardwalk in April and that looks like the best of all worlds to me--walking distance to two parks, smallish resort, walking distance to a Hess station for discounted bottled water, nice views. If you're not spending too much time in your room, shoot for something that required a relatively low number of points like OKW or Boardwalk to keep your costs more reasonable.

Good luck!

We rented privately through 3 owners before we bought in, one of those people was our friends but the other 2 were pretty much strangers. The uk forum I used to use had a rental forum and both people had advertised that they had so many points available at their home resort at 11 months and any resort within 7 months! plus the price per point that they wanted. We came to an arrangement, they booked the accommodation and I sent them the money via bank transfer, they sent me the confirmation email which had a link through to to see the reservation.

I don't think Davids is any safer than going direct through an owner, owners still have the same ability to cancel your reservation and take all your money. This is very very rare but it has happened in the past and quite recently someone has been arrested for it (I believe they went through a 3rd party like David's). Most people are decent and want decent renters as if you did damage, it would be the owner who would be responsible so there is trust on BOTH sides.

Personally we own at AKL and all three previous rentals involved AKL (though we did do 2 nights in BLT and was disappointed) so that would be my choice, also if you secure a renter just before the 11 month mark you might be able to get a value studio which are lower in points (so lower in cost to you).

we had agreements with the people we rented from too (apart from our friends), I think it makes good sense to have that just in case.

I've rented twice with no problems on any front. I didn't use a 3rd party, because I knew I would get a better deal that way.

We did a split stay in November and there were no problems with magic bands...I ended up getting two sets in the mail, but once we were there, we just had them put everything onto one and had no hiccups (other than DH losing his!).

I'll probably rent points again from someone for November. I know that OKW and SSR are the easiest to get into, and I love both places, so I'm okay with that. Availability is sometimes scarce at the MK resorts, but I did score a one-night stay at BW next month (a bridge day for me). I hang out on mouseowners to keep an eye out for rentals...there's a board over there that is dedicated to that.

I rented from David's in November for an AKL studio. No problems at all, making changes to my reservations were very easy. As others have pointed out, there are really only a few downsides. We were treated just like we were actual DVC owners (the CMs may or may not know any different when you check in, I don't know). The lack of mousekeeping on a daily basis is one downside, and the studios at AKL only have one bed and a pull out sofa (not a problem if it's just you and your wife, it was me and my sister in Nov and we weren't up for snuggling, so she slept on the pull out all but one night when I did, it wasn't bad). Another downside is that you lose flexibility in your planning. Going through David's you are committed to traveling those dates. So if you are thinking you may want to move your dates a few days here or there, you may be out of luck. You also pay upfront and since it goes to Davids (which is in Canada, btw, so make sure you don't have to pay a fee on your CC) and not to Disney, you don't get the 6mo to pay it off if you're using a Disney Visa.

As far as free dining, it's usually offered in the fall, with certain dates blacked out. I would not let that be the deciding factor for you though. With what I saved on my room, I paid for my dining. I had reserved at POR for a $158/night (race weekend rate) and was able to rent DVC points for only $10 more/night. So it was worth staying at a deluxe resort (for us) and paying for our food vice staying at the moderate.

Oh, we had NO issues w/our magic bands or our FP+.

For my other trips this year, I do keep checking David's b/c I would not hesitate to use them again. It was super easy and I LOVED staying at a deluxe (walking past the long lines for the values and then getting on an empty bus alone was worth it).

The past few years it has been a fall offering, so it may end up coinciding with your trip. If you book your room through Disney, you have access to that plan. Maybe someone who has used this recently can clarify if this is still the case, but when we used it in 2010, Value resort bookings got a counter-service-only plan (2 counter service per day); moderates got the standard Disney Dining Plan (1 table service, 1 counter service, and 1 snack per night); deluxe got the super duper plan (3 table service meals per day).

Here are the posts on the Disney Food Blog from last year to give you an idea of dates for free dining.

http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2013/05/09/reminder-september-2013-walt-disney-world-free-dining-offer-now-available-for-all-guests/

http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2013/08/01/news-disney-world-free-dining-now-available-for-october-november-december-2013-dates/

If you have a trip booked and a promotion is announced, you can call to see if you can have it applied. That is if you booked directly through Disney. If you used a travel agent, they will need to call to have it applied. You don't have to wait. You may have to change where you are staying if there are no rooms available for the promotion or if a resort isn't included.

In 2012 we had a trip booked already at Coronado Springs when they announced the free dining. Since it was available when we were going to be there I called and asked if we could add it. It was no problem other than we had to switch to POR. I guess they allocate a certain number of free dining to each resort rather than as a whole and there were none left at Coronado. We didn't mind switching especially since it ended up being a bit cheaper so it was like getting money to eat free

Never rented points as we are owners
Like has been said when on points you don't get the promos
But there are perks of being on points and I would guess you would get some of those perks

Most of the "perks" that DVC Members get are slim and can be applied whether or not you are using your points for your reservation. You just need to show your DVC member card. Dining, shopping & recreational discounts at some locations, as well as a DVC Member price for the dining plan and special hard ticket events.

Is the DVC Member price for the dining plan much cheaper?

DVC Members don't have seasonal pricing, it's the value season price all year. At least last time I checked that was the case, but that has been at least a year.

The dining plan has seasonal pricing too? I did not know that. You really do learn something new everyday