First Time Renting points, for our Disney Honeymoon! Please help!

[JustinS30]

Hi everyone, new around here but have heard this is a great place to get some information. I'm very early in the planning process for planning a honeymoon for myself and my will-be DW. We are looking into renting DVC points (which I have never done). Our top two resort choices are: 1. Polynesian Studio(Standard view) and 2. Boardwalk Studio (with a Boardwalk view). I'm leaning more towards utilizing a rental agency rather than private owner simply for peace of mind sake.

Any tips for getting either one of these reservations secured? I plan on requesting early so I can hope for the 11-month window, but I know it also requires an owner willing to rent. Are either of these rooms more difficult to book?

Should I book a room through WDW when the packages open up in a few days "just in case"? I'm not sure the success rates of these agencies, resorts, and time.

As far as my Boardwalk option is concerned, can I specifically request a Boardwalk view, or does it simply have to be a "preferred view" which could wind up being Boardwalk or Garden(not knocking the garden view, just preference)?

Essentially, any tips and advice so I can stay ahead of the game would be GREATLY appreciated! Thank you!

 

[zavandor]

Early September has always been a quit time for DVC, with plenty of options open at 7 months. Poly standard shouldn't be difficult to book at 7 months, Boardwalk view would be much more difficult. Being an honeymoon I would say it's better if you plan at 11 months if possible and pay a little more for the home resort premium.
The BW view is a booking category, meaning that if the owner can secure it, then it's guaranteed. You can then ask to add as a request other requirements like "near the elevator" or "high floor", however those are just requests and may not be accommodated.

 

[JustinS30]

Early September has always been a quit time for DVC, with plenty of options open at 7 months. Poly standard shouldn't be difficult to book at 7 months, Boardwalk view would be much more difficult. Being an honeymoon I would say it's better if you plan at 11 months if possible and pay a little more for the home resort premium.
The BW view is a booking category, meaning that if the owner can secure it, then it's guaranteed. You can then ask to add as a request other requirements like "near the elevator" or "high floor", however those are just requests and may not be accommodated.

Thank you for the advice! I'll definitely be placing my request at the 11-month window either way. I'll have to look more into the BWV views and such since that resort seems to fill much quicker

 

[Frederic Civish]

Poly probably won't book up for early September until the 7 month window. But you should still put in your request as soon as you are absolutely sure of the dates you want. The great thing about rentals is you save money. But one of the trade-offs is that you are pretty much locked in. No refunds, exchanges, etc, most of the time.

If you are concerned that some unknown circumstance might make it hard for you to go, consider getting travel insurance, which you can buy at www.squaremouth.com or from many other sources. The broker will probably also sell travel insurance. I don't know what agencies they use, but Squaremouth generally has very good agencies, and a number of options. On travel insurance you ONLY list your NON-REFUNDABLE expenses, when they ask you for the cost of your trip. Typically, it seems to run about 10% of the cost of the trip. It also, usually, provides full emergency health care coverage for your trip.

Be aware that most travel insurances will only refund your money if you can't go for severe health/medical reasons, or death, of yourself, anyone in the traveling party, or any of their close relatives (Grandparents, Parents, Siblings, Children). Also provide coverage, sometimes, if you lose work involuntarily (you are fired), you go bankrupt, your house is severely damaged by fire or weather enough to make it unliveable. That is pretty much it, but, I will say that I recently planned a trip to Europe. a year in advance, with 12 close family members PLUS, a sister and brother in law, a cousin and his wife, and my wife's sister, brother in law, and grand niece, plus my wife's other sister, her two daughters and a friend of theirs. My Brother in law got back surgery so he and his wife couldn't go. My wife's brother in law had a recurrence of his cancer and he and his wife couldn't go, but their granddaughter did. And one of my daughters got pregnant with a high risk pregnancy, and couldn't go. One of my sons lost his job. So, my Sister, Brother in law, Wife's sister and brother in law, my wife, my daughter, her husband, my granddaughter and my son all ended up not going. The rest of us went. Everyone who didn't go has filed a claim and got their money back, except I am being slow and still working on the claims for my wife, daughter, granddaughter, son in law and son. But I should get it, and it is a chunk of change. I'm glad everyone took my advice to get travel insurance. Everyone chose their insurance on Squaremouth and we had 3 different insurance companies!

Anyway, most of the time there are no problems and the Rental agencies are great. I highly recommend them. I have worked with David's and some others to rent out some of my own points and can only say that I think they do a great job and are easy to work with.

 

[Deb & Bill]

You need to delete the details of your request so your post won't appear to be a request for points. The DIS doesn't permit that. Stick with general questions. And never respond to private messages offering you a reservation. That is one way to get scammed.

 

[Frederic Civish]

Boardwalk will likely book out before the 7 month window, especially the standard views and the Boardwalk View, so ask for them early.

 

[JustinS30]

thank you all for the tips! I have looked into the travel insurance given the lack of flexibility with renting. I’m pretty set on the time, but you also never know.

 

[JustinS30]

Boardwalk will likely book out before the 7 month window, especially the standard views and the Boardwalk View, so ask for them early.

I have been reading this quite a bit. It actually partially concerns me listing it as choice #2. Since I don’t really know how quickly an agency would move to my second choice, I do fear that if the Poly weren’t available right away and they took a while to move to option 2 that the Boardwalk may fill up in the meantime. That simply comes from not knowing how the agencies operate

 

[Best Aunt]

If you are going to book a room through Disney as a back up plan, my understanding is that the payment deadlines and refund deadlines are different based on whether you book Room Only or a package.

 

[JustinS30]

If you are going to book a room through Disney as a back up plan, my understanding is that the payment deadlines and refund deadlines are different based on whether you book Room Only or a package.

If I’m not mistaken, packages have to be by 45 days out, whereas room only is closer to 24hours. Since I’m trying to rent at 11 months out, I figured it wouldn’t matter as much