Any advice?

[ZipZop]

My fiance and I are going to Disney World for our honeymoon Sept 30-Oct 7.

We currently have a small, refundable, deposit down on a trip with our arrangements made to stay at Port Orleans Riverside in a king room through a wonderful agent at AAA.

However, I began looking into DVC rentals through a well known broker service and got a quote for a savannah view studio in Kidani Village for only slightly more money.

Being the extremely risk averse person she is, while being excited for the prospect of the upgrade, she is concerned by the lack of control over booking (being dependent on the member booking the room/dining plan).

Any advice? Reassurance?

 

[eric1985]

I've never used the rental service because I'm a DVC member. I think if it is through Dave's he may already have the points signed over to him when the reservation is made. You will enjoy the upgrade at that hotel, I've never stayed there, but walked through it and it seems very nice. Every review The Dis has done on it turned out very well. Restaurants and views are all good.

 

[lurkyloo]

I've rented DVC points numerous times and never had a problem—and I've always gone through individuals, which is theoretically more risky than a well-known broker service. I think you'll be glad you upgraded to a Deluxe, and we found AKL especially magical for our honeymoon.

Does the service help you purchase the dining plan through the member? If you're worried about that, you can skip the dining plan, IMHO. We eat at least two table-service meals per day at Disney and still have never found the dining plan to be worth the price—especially if you tend to split meals and/or appetizers and desserts. And the one time we did have it, we felt pressured to get more food than we could eat in order to get our money's worth.

 

[ZipZop]

My (future) wife is mostly concerned with what recourse there may be should something fall through on the part of the room owner, such as bankruptcy or just not paying member dues type stuff. We don't want to spend several grand on this trip and have it fall through because of something that is out of our control and be out a ton of money. I know they do a point protection plan, which we are considering, but it mostly seems to cover if you cancel, and doesn't mention anything in terms of recourse should something happen with the owner.

We're also unclear of how everything will look/work in the MyDisneyExperience considering the room will be in his name. Will/can we be able to get tickets through a discount ticketing service? Will/can those be attached to the MagicBand?

 

[lurkyloo]

You might want to post on the DISboards' DVC forum for more opinions, but in 12 years on the DIS, I've never heard of an owner defaulting on a points reservation for a renter. And I really think that if you go through a professional service, they're going to take care of things if something does go wrong.

The room will not be in the owner's name, it will be in your name. You get magicbands through your DVC reservation, not through your ticket purchase, so you can buy tickets anywhere and just link them to your reservation via My Disney Experience online. Here's a great thread in the DVC section of the DIS that explains this: https://www.disboards.com/threads/how-does-renting-dvc-effect-magic-bands-and-fp.3380293/

 

[Mickeyflower]

My fiance and I are going to Disney World for our honeymoon Sept 30-Oct 7.

We currently have a small, refundable, deposit down on a trip with our arrangements made to stay at Port Orleans Riverside in a king room through a wonderful agent at AAA.

However, I began looking into DVC rentals through a well known broker service and got a quote for a savannah view studio in Kidani Village for only slightly more money.

Being the extremely risk averse person she is, while being excited for the prospect of the upgrade, she is concerned by the lack of control over booking (being dependent on the member booking the room/dining plan).

Any advice? Reassurance?

First, CONGRATS!!!!!
Second: My FH and I will be there the same week for our honeymoon! We've opted to book through Costco Travel because we are staying at one of the hotels near Disney Springs, I think it's called the B hotel and spa.
If you are going through a professional DVC points broker, they have trip insurance available for purchase. IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY to buy trip insurance. The beautiful face in my signature died suddenly and unexpectedly the day before my Disneyland trip in 2009, I didn't have trip insurance. I had to call Disney and explain what happened and they graciously gave me 30 days to re-book. I know you're going to be nervous, but purchase the insurance and everything will be fine. You've actually made me rethink booking through Costco and maybe renting points instead

 

[Pandora.becca]

I've never gone through a DVC member or one of the sites but I will say, if you have the opportunity to stay at AK with a savannah view...do it!! Truly unforgettable!

 

[Wild4Walt]

We're staying a AKL in the Jambo House for our honeymoon in September as well. We went with a straight booking through Disney because my fiancee was too worried about the same issues your fiancee is worried about. We checked out a dealer and as I felt really confident there would be no issue ( I mean this dealer has been in business for years - ) I didn't want him to be stressed out about it until September when we checked in.

 

[LadyD]

We’ve used DVC rental store to rent points for our trips, including our honeymoon with zero issues. I know through them they give you a hefty contract, and I believe they also have a sample one on their website. They make it clear what will happen if something were to go amiss with your reservation, and the language in the contract always made me feel like we’d be completely taken care of and had nothing to stress about. I’d see if you can get your hands on a sample contract for the broker you’re thinking about using to see if it more clearly indicates how you and your vacation would be protected in case something went wrong with the DVC member.

Renting points is a great way to save, and AKL is totally magical and worth it. It is such a beautiful, relaxing resort. Have a wonderful honeymoon!