Disney March 2025?

[nicolewi]

Tentatively looking at Disney for spring break 2025 (third week of March)--family of 6. We previously went in 2019, stayed at AoA and loved it, but kids were just 4, 6, 8 and 10. I absolutely loved being in "the bubble" and not needing a car, but I don't know that we can make the family suite work anymore with teens. It was tight with littles. We did really long days at the park and enjoyed everything.

I am thinking that this time we would do a mix of Disney & Universal (2 days??). 

Do you think it just makes sense for us to stay off site and rent a car, or to try to rent DVC points or something? I would assume renting points is still going to cost a LOT more than just staying at Bonnet Creek or similar, and I don't know that the benefits are strong enough these days to warrant the extra expense. 

Other than Bonnet Creek (friends love it there), is there a very convenient, non-Disney place that you'd recommend checking out?

If I did want to try to rent DVC points, should I be doing that like now? or when?

[ssmjlm]

Universal’s new park is opening sometimes in 2025, but I’m betting it will be late spring. They haven’t announced how express pass will work for the new park and any premier hotels.

If it’s during spring break, you’re going to want EP for universal. You can buy like genie. It’s typically cheaper the earlier you buy.

[roo54]

Disney just announced that they are booking through Oct 2025 starting tomorrow, so you could start looking into renting points tomorrow.

[mccallister84]

Feb 26, 2024 14:12:14 GMT -5 roo54 said:

Disney just announced that they are booking through Oct 2025 starting tomorrow, so you could start looking into renting points tomorrow.

You can only rent points at the 11 month mark. Some of the agencies will allow you to submit your request before hand, but no one can secure a reservation on DVC points until 11 months out (and if you want a popular resort you need to jump right at the 11 month mark - we were few days short of 11 months and the Polynesian was completely booked so we had to shift our dates a week).

[roo54]

Feb 26, 2024 14:29:57 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

Feb 26, 2024 14:12:14 GMT -5 roo54 said:

Disney just announced that they are booking through Oct 2025 starting tomorrow, so you could start looking into renting points tomorrow.

You can only rent points at the 11 month mark. Some of the agencies will allow you to submit your request before hand, but no one can secure a reservation on DVC points until 11 months out (and if you want a popular resort you need to jump right at the 11 month mark - we were few days short of 11 months and the Polynesian was completely booked so we had to shift our dates a week).

Ah ok, I haven't actually rented points. I just knew you could book a resort starting tomorrow. 

[nicolewi]

What is the best way for me to explore options with renting points (at 11 months) to see what my prices would be without having to commit???

Like do Disboards or something?

[mccallister84]

Feb 26, 2024 16:11:14 GMT -5 nicolewi said:

What is the best way for me to explore options with renting points (at 11 months) to see what my prices would be without having to commit???

Like do Disboards or something?

I found the easiest thing to do was just walk through making a mock reservation and just not actually submitting it/stopping right before you have to enter payment method. Neither website was super intuitive to me about cost but I could easily make a mock reservation and get pricing details that way.

[ksun]

Disneyland or Disney World?

[jaycee]

After we lost $3,000 through renting DVC points through covid, I caution you to think twice about the points. The parks were closed but they would not give us our money back and they said we could come and stay anyway (even without park access). The cancellation insurance must be purchased to avoid this with DVC, and then there is almost no savings compared to buying just a regular room through a travel agent or their website.

[nicolewi]

Jun 20, 2024 20:44:07 GMT -5 jaycee said:

After we lost $3,000 through renting DVC points through covid, I caution you to think twice about the points. The parks were closed but they would not give us our money back and they said we could come and stay anyway (even without park access). The cancellation insurance must be purchased to avoid this with DVC, and then there is almost no savings compared to buying just a regular room through a travel agent or their website.

That's horrible! I'm so sorry. 

We've done nothing about this as of yet. I'm a little paralyzed by the housing decisions and limited options for 6 of us.