How to Rent Disney Vacation Club Points

A trip to a Disney park may seem like the ultimate family vacation, but the costs to visit have ballooned, especially when it comes to lodging. While you may still be able to afford tickets and even meals, actually staying on Disney property may no longer be affordable if you’re paying the standard room rate.

If you want to stay at a Disney hotel without paying full price, consider checking out unoccupied Disney Vacation Club (DVC) rooms — which can cost significantly less for your stay. You can rent DVC points to book these properties for a one-time vacation without having to commit to owning a Disney timeshare yourself.

Let’s talk about how to rent DVC points and whether it’s worth the investment.

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The Disney Vacation Club is the company’s timeshare program. Once you buy into it you’ll get a set home resort (at which you’ll receive reservation priority) and a specific number of points that you can redeem each year. These points can be used for stays at several Disney resorts, including those at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort.

The rooms and villas that are a part of the Disney Vacation Club are distinct from regular resort rooms. Because they’re oriented toward a longer stay, many include full-size condos with kitchens and multiple bedrooms.

However, you don’t have to be a member of the Disney Vacation Club to rent DVC rooms. It’s possible to book these online through Disney’s website, though you’ll often end up paying a lot out of pocket.

Instead, renting DVC points from owners can provide an excellent way to experience Disney at a discount. It’s a win-win for each of you; the owners, who can’t travel, can earn money by renting out their points while you get to save money and experience a Disney resort at a discount.

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Renting DVC points is simple. If you know someone who is a DVC owner, you can negotiate with them to rent their points.

However, if you don't know anyone in the Disney Vacation Club, don’t worry. There are online sites that connect DVC members and people who are looking to rent DVC points. Depending on how you book, you can either browse reservations that are instantly confirmable, or you can make a request for a reservation and hope someone fulfills it.

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There are several websites that will help you find DVC points to rent, including the following platforms that have been around for years:

• David’s Vacation Club Rentals.

• DVC Rental Store.

• DVC Shop Rentals.

• DVC-Rental.com.

Note that you may find different availability at each site. This is because individual owners must decide where they want to rent out their points; they aren’t automatically added to each site’s portal. So an owner listed on DVC Rental Store but not on David’s Vacation Club Rentals.

You’ll also want to be aware that different sites will charge different amounts for reservations, so you should compare stays and quotes at multiple sites.

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It may seem like a lot of effort to book a stay at a resort, so you may be wondering if it’s really worth it. The short answer is that, yes, you can save a lot of money by renting DVC points. The long answer is that the amount you’ll save is going to depend on how far in advance you’re booking, the room type you’re looking for and where you want to stay.

You’ll find the lowest prices on close-in confirmed reservations, as you’d expect. Near-term bookings are at risk of going vacant, so owners tend to reduce them to entice booking. In addition to getting you lower pricing, these types of bookings can also secure you a room when Disney’s website says that they’re sold out.

Here’s an example of a two-night stay in an overwater bungalow at Disney’s Polynesian Resort. For a trip with two weeks' notice, we found a two-night stay in a bungalow with two bedrooms, a full-sized kitchen and two bathrooms in a space that sleeps eight for $3,808.

Not only are these bungalows difficult to book — there are only 20 in the entire resort and the average room rate hovers around $3,200 per night, meaning an equivalent stay would usually cost $6,400 or more for two nights.

In this case, you’d save roughly 40% by booking with rented DVC points. That’s pretty incredible.

However, if you don’t have a ton of flexibility when it comes to when you can visit or where you’re looking to go, you can also opt to submit a request to rent an owner’s points. In this case, the further in advance that it is, the better it’ll be for you.

It’s more expensive to do a customized quote, but it can mean the difference between staying somewhere you’d really like versus staying in a property that doesn’t really suit your needs.

Still, even if you’re doing a customized quote, you can save money on your stay overall. For example, Dave’s Vacation Club Rentals will charge you between $20 and $25 per point for your stay. In practice, this means you can pay as little as $207 for a one-night stay at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas Jambo House. You’ll get a studio that sleeps four with a kitchenette and a balcony.

Compare this to the basic guest room, which only includes two beds, and you’ll still end up paying more than $300 per night, even when it’s on sale.

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Renting DVC points can help save money on a Disney vacation, whether you’re traveling to Florida, California or any of Disney’s other resort properties.

While the process may be a little more complicated than usual, it’s definitely worth it for a Disney stay.