Help with DVC?

[snipsnsnails]

I've never used DVC and I'm sure it's probably easy once you do it. Right?

Do I buy park tickets and then attempt to reserve on DVC? Or do I go through the reservation process to try to rent DVC and then go buy my park tickets? Can someone explain?

[mccallister84]

I haven’t done it in a covid world so this advice may be completely outdated but when we did DVC we put in our request at the 12 month mark and got it fulfilled at 11 months (the earliest it possibly can be booked). We bought tickets through undercover tourists but not until we were pretty close to our fast pass date.

I didn’t find either DVC website to be particularly informative - what worked the best for me was actually going through and making a mock request and then just cancelling it before I had to enter payment info. Then I knew what to do when I was ready to make my real request.

I am curious to see/hear how DVC is operating in a covid world. It was really a great experience for us and we were looking forward to doing it again (actually we had hoped to go next month but aren’t going now).

[TamiTaylor]

I know I am bias since I am a TA but just go into with eyes wide open. I would a 100% avoid David’s and choose DVC Rental Store over them. David’s was horrible when all the shut downs first happened and lots of people did not get their money refunded. I have rented from DVC prior to being a TA and they used to have travel insurance that you could pay an extra fee for that we would opt for.

[huskymom]

Apr 25, 2021 17:54:34 GMT -5 TamiTaylor said:

I know I am bias since I am a TA but just go into with eyes wide open. I would a 100% avoid David’s and choose DVC Rental Store over them. David’s was horrible when all the shut downs first happened and lots of people did not get their money refunded. I have rented from DVC prior to being a TA and they used to have travel insurance that you could pay an extra fee for that we would opt for.

DITTO. We lost our credit card dispute and I’m sitting on a $3500 voucher from them that I suppose I need to look into using in the next year or 2. But look carefully at the insurance terms from any of these companies because the amount covered can drop drastically the closer it gets to your travel dates. And have them changed them to exclude pandemics? Not sure. I’ll never book via a DVC broker again.

[ssmjlm]

Depending on when you want to go, I would book DVC first. We've used both David's and DVC Rental Store and both left much to be desired. DVC rental store CS was terrible and kept saying they couldn't book our dates and finally when my mom escalated she realized if we moved the dates by 1 day, we could get the week we wanted. It was a mess.

[taratru]

Honestly? I have rented directly from owners four times. Much cheaper, and if you do a little homework, you can find people with references and strong reputations. I've used Facebook groups and mouseowners to find.

[curbsideprophet]

We have not rented in years as my family owns points now, but we were happy with DVC Rental Store. From reading various boards it seemed DVC Rental Store handled covid better than David’s.

When are you looking to go? What resort and what room size?

DVC owners can book their home resort 11 months out. The further ahead you can plan the better your chance of getting what you want. However some things are hard even for owners and could be tough to get as a renter.

If you are going over certain dates no matter if you get a DVC room or not I would go ahead and get the tickets and park reservations.

[huskymom]

S/o- how far in advance do you need to make park reservations? Thinking we may book for next April so will put in the request with David’s soon (and we still have to pay extra for them to look, even with the voucher on hand, don’t get me started) but haven’t been in 2 years at this point.

Has anyone stayed at the Riviera?

[curbsideprophet]

Apr 29, 2021 12:52:39 GMT -5 huskymom said:

S/o- how far in advance do you need to make park reservations? Thinking we may book for next April so will put in the request with David’s soon (and we still have to pay extra for them to look, even with the voucher on hand, don’t get me started) but haven’t been in 2 years at this point.

Has anyone stayed at the Riviera?

You can check park reservation availability online. disneyworld.disney.go.com/availability-calendar/?segments=tickets,resort,passholder&defaultSegment=tickets

May and June of this year have limited availability. The end of July seems open for now. There a few dates in Oct and Nov that are only showing some parks available. Next April is open. I think you have some time before you need to be concerned about next April. Unless they announce some attraction/event for a specific park, then you might need to a pass for that park sooner rather than later. 

Have not been to Riviera yet but plan to stay there this summer. 

[huskymom]

May 1, 2021 12:16:02 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

Apr 29, 2021 12:52:39 GMT -5 huskymom said:

S/o- how far in advance do you need to make park reservations? Thinking we may book for next April so will put in the request with David’s soon (and we still have to pay extra for them to look, even with the voucher on hand, don’t get me started) but haven’t been in 2 years at this point.

Has anyone stayed at the Riviera?

You can check park reservation availability online. disneyworld.disney.go.com/availability-calendar/?segments=tickets,resort,passholder&defaultSegment=tickets

May and June of this year have limited availability. The end of July seems open for now. There a few dates in Oct and Nov that are only showing some parks available. Next April is open. I think you have some time before you need to be concerned about next April. Unless they announce some attraction/event for a specific park, then you might need to a pass for that park sooner rather than later. 

Have not been to Riviera yet but plan to stay there this summer. 

Thank you! I’d love to hear about your stay!