Think Disney is too expensive for your family? Think again with the Disney Vacation Club Rental Store
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The story of how we booked a stay at Disney’s Grand Floridian for almost 60% off
Back in 2023, my husband Ryan passed away after a 17 month battle with brain cancer (more about that story here).
A month or so after Ryan passed, during the beginning of the holiday season, I knew I wanted to book a trip for me and the 3 kids to get us out of town and change our scenary to try and bring a few little smiles to everyone’s faces. Disney seemed like the perfect place to do it.
I went to Disney’s website to start and started looking at availability. It was last minute (we were looking to go on the trip just 3-4 weeks from the time I was booking) and prices were sky high, especially for a large group like ours (I had invited my 2 sisters and 2 brothers to join us, along with my parents). It was going to cost us almost $20K to stay in a two bedroom villa at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.
Yeah… NOT going to happen.
But then a friend told me about DVC Rental Store and their “Confirmed Reservations”. Basically, if a Disney Vacation Club Member books a stay using their points, but then decides for whatever reason they can’t actually make that trip work, they can put their already “confirmed reservation” up for sale - and anyone can buy it.
You can browse these confirmed reservations right on the DVC Rental Store website - you’ll see there are a ton of Disney World properties (basically any of the hotels that have Disney Vacation Club Villas and Suites on-site).
If you can be a bit flexible witth your dates, you can find AMAZING deals.
And this is exactly how we ended up finding a confirmed reservation for the week at the Grand Floridian Villas - for almost 60% off the price advertised on Disney’s own website.
Just one of the many beautiful pools at Disney’s Grand Floridian! If you book at stay at a Disney Vacation Club property (like we did when we stayed at the Villa’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian - you get access to ALL the pools at your resort - the main hotel included)
What is the DVC Rental Store and How Does DVC Rental Store Work?
The DVC Rental Store is a service connecting Disney Vacation Club members who want to rent their points with guests seeking resort accommodations.
Disney Vacation Club Members (members of Disney’s points-based timeshare program) sometimes have points they won’t be able to use, and so they can “rent” their points out to people like you and me - DVC Rental Store facilitates this exchange! Additionally, sometimes a Disney Vacation Club Member uses their points and makes a reservation at Disney - only to realize they will not be able to make the trip happen. In this case, they can sell their “confirmed reservation”.
So, there are really two ways to book a stay at Disney through the DVC Rental store —Check Availability and Price and Browse Confirmed Reservations. If you are undecided and want to compare a few different options, DVC Rental store recommends starting with Check Availability & Price.
If you are looking for a rental with availability already reserved, or want to browse the types of rooms and discounts you can find through the DVC Rental Store, then the Browse Confirmed Reservations is for you.
Booking through Confirmed Reservations
Confirmed reservations are reservations that have already been secured by a DVC Member and are just waiting on a Guest to reserve them. You can browse through these and decide if any of them would work for your family. You cannot make changes to these but they do have an Stress-Free Cancellation Policy for added flexibility. To learn more or book your trip, visit theDVCrentalstore.com/confirmedreservations
Browsing confirmed reservations at the DVC Rental Store will give you a good idea of the types of deals you can get. You can filter by all types of factors, but I usually filter by number of guests the rental will sleep - and then If I know we can go anytime in the summer for instance, I’ll filter by that date range.
Booking through Price/Availability
Another way to book through the DVC Rental Store is by searching picking dates or pricing. This list provides details on all Disney Vacation Club resorts, allowing you to compare rental offerings by price for your entire length of stay. To learn more or book this way you can visit TheDVCrentalstore.com/guests/availability
Which Disney World Resort Hotels can you book through DVC Rental Store?
Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort
Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge
Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas (Jambo House and Kidani Village)
Disney's Beach Club Villas
Disney's BoardWalk Villas
Disney's Old Key West Resort
Disney's Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
Disney's Riviera Resort
Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
Disney's Vero Beach Resort (though located outside of Disney World, it is part of the DVC collection and is a short drive from Walt Disney World).
This is just a list of the most popular resorts with DVC, there are over 17 that you can choose from.
Pictured: Our crew outside of our
DVC rental at The Bay Lake Tower
Behind us: The Contemporary Hotel, where you can get on the monorail to go a number of other resorts. Our favorite thing about staying here is the 5 minute walk to Magic Kingdom.
This brings me to earlier this year. We were planning a spring break trip and wanted to do a few days at Disney again. I knew we wanted to stay close to the parks and decided to check out the DVC rentals again.
This past week, we stayed at the Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. It is connected to the Contemporary hotel through a skywalk (although they are currently doing construction on the bridge that connects it) and it is no more than a 2 minute walk outside over to the Contemporary.
The main Contemporary building is is where you go for coffee, breakfast or any food/shopping options. Inside the Contemporary is where you would also find breakfast/lunch/dinner options. We didn't eat a lot of our meals at the hotel because we were at the parks but we did have one dinner at the Steakhouse in the Contemporary, called Steakhouse 71. It is a casual but stylish family-friendly steakhouse. The menu varies from a chopped salad, crab cakes and of course a wide variety of steak cuts. Reservations are not required but recommended.
They have THE BEST coffee shop on the ground level, called Contemporary Grounds where we would go to get specialty coffee every morning. Some of the rooms do have coffee pots and provide coffee which is amazing so be sure to look with your room type. There is also a market that you can buy snacks, drinks (alcoholic beverages) ice cream, and even small food items you can keep in your room. We usually get bagels and waffles, cream cheese and some fruits just to have in the room for breakfast for the kids so we didn’t have to rush. On our last trip, we were here for a whole week, we did do a larger instacart order for that trip and made some of our meals since we had a full kitchen.
We are not the family who usually rushes to get to the park first thing in the morning. I do like to bring some energy bars and apples with us for a quick and healthy snack while we are walking around and then buy some meals while t the park. And yes you may bring your own drinks and snack with you but just remember you will be carrying it around all day with you. See Disney’s FAQ page to confirm whatever you want to bring is permitted.
Top left: The view from our balcony at night. You could see the Magic Kingdom AND the whole nighttime firework show
Top Right: Aerial view of the Bay Lake Tower Pool
Bottom Left: The cute details of our room. The hotel had little mickeys everywhere
Bottom Right: Our crew in our hotel lobby on the way to Magic Kingdom
An Honest Review of Staying in a Disney Vacation Club Property and Booking Through DVC Rental Store
PROS of Booking and Staying in a Disney Vacation Club Rental through DVC Rental Store:
Up to 60% the normal cost of a Disney Hotel Stay (#1 Benefit!)
Early and Late Access to the Parks on certain days (the same benefits ANY guest staying at a Disney world resort gets)
Kitchenettes: DVC villas come with full kitchens, helping you save money since you can prepare meals and snacks
Washer & Dryers: Many of the DVC suites have these right in your room, which we LOVE. Go home with clean laundry? Yes please!
Separate bedrooms and living spaces: the villas we have rented have all had multiple bedrooms and bathrooms and come with a separate living space and balconies! Being able to travel as a large family and have everyone stay in ONE spot rather than multiple hotel rooms is amazing. We can put the kids to be and still all spend time together in the living area hanging out
Location: The locations we have rented have been SO Close to the Parks - making transportation a breeze (and FREE - because anyone who stays in any Disney World property gets free on-site transportation to all parks and other hotels)
Some of the DVC rentals are so close to the parks that you only have to walk 5 minutes (For instance: You can walk to the Magic Kingdom from the Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary and the Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian.
If you stay at the Polynesian DVC, Grand Floridian DVC or the Contemporary DVC (Bay Lake Tower) you can also easily take the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom.
For any park you can’t walk or ride the monorail to, you’ll be able to use Disney’s on-site bus system at no extra cost
CONS of Booking and Staying in a Disney Vacation Club Rental through DVC Rental Store
No Daily Housekeeping at any Disney Vacation Club Rentals (You can always request any towels or anything you need to be sent up to you). Instead, you'll receive trash and towel service on day 4 for stays of 7 or less nights. Housekeeping will empty your trash, provide fresh bathroom linens, replace shampoo, and all soap, replenish facial tissues, paper towels and toilet paper, dishwashing liquid, detergent, sponges, laundry detergent and coffee.
For stays of 8 or more nights, full-cleaning service is provided on day 4 with trash and towel service provided again on the 8th day.
With a bunch of kids, rooms can get messy and we go through a LOT of towels, so this is probably our family’s #1 Con. However you do have the in-room washer and dryer, so its not difficult to throw a load of towels in.
And if you DO want to have housekeeping, it can be purchased and added to your stay at an additional cost.
Not Able to Book as far in advance. You can only book up to 11 months in advance (Which honestly is never a problem for us, because we are more last-minute travelers and are usually planning only e usually plan 4 or so months in advance). If you are someone who wants to plan further than a year you can request an email when dates after that open up.
Limited Change/Cancellation Flexibility. Altering a booking with rented DVC points can be difficult due to restrictions on the owner’s points, such as expiration dates or resort limitations. Changes may incur fees or be impossible, so renters should be sure of their plans or choose services with flexible cancellation policies. Of all the sites we explored where can
Frequently Asked Questions About Booking Through the DVC Rental Store
Do you have to be a Disney Vacation Club (DVC) member to use DVC Rental Store? No! Anyone can use DVC Rental store. You do NOT have to be a DVC member.
How does it work? here are really two ways to book a stay at Disney through the DVC Rental store —Check Availability and Price and Browse Confirmed Reservations. If you are undecided and want to compare a few different options, DVC Rental store recommends starting with Check Availability & Price.
What is a “Confirmed Reservation?” Confirmed reservations are reservations that have already been secured by a DVC Member and are just waiting on a Guest to reserve them. You can browse through these and decide if any of them would work for your family. You cannot make changes to these but they do have an Stress-Free Cancellation Policy for added flexibility. You can get REALLY good deals on these - so if you can be flexible on your dates, this is a GREAT option. To learn more or book your trip, visit theDVCrentalstore.com/confirmedreservations
If we can’t be so flexible with our dates, can we still book through DVC Rental store and get a good deal? Yes! If you know the dates you want to take the trip, you can book through the “Check availability and Price” option
If you are interested in learning more about renting through DVC Rental Store or are a DVC member that wants to rent out your own points or put up your own confirmed reservation you can read more at DVCRentalstore.com.
** Jolly Good Travel is an Affiliate partner with DVC Rental Store, a brand who we have independently used and loved for years. If you book through any of our links you are supporting the brands that support us (Thank you for supporting Jolly Good Travel).
