Please help a newbie!

[mguimond1990]

So i just reserved my first dvc rental from davids vacation club at animal kindom villas. Theres only 2 of us this trip so I got the studio standard view. I have a lot of questions that hopefully someone will help me with

1)Does anyone know which building we would be staying at?
2) can I still book dining reservations 180 days out and if so how does that work?
3) if I buy my park tickets from disney and link it to my disney experience account does my magicband still get shipped to me with all my hotel/park information? Or do I pick up our magicbands while checking in?
4) Is there a way to even link the resort stay to my disney account?
5) Are there any hidden fees that I should be aware of?

I know thats alot of questions but ususally I book thru disney itself but when I found out about Daves and saw that I would stay at AKL for $798 for the week I couldnt resist

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

2) can I still book dining reservations 180 days out and if so how does that work?

ANYBODY can book Dining Reservations at 180 days - you don't need any sort of resort stay to do so

 

[LuvtheGoof]

So i just reserved my first dvc rental from davids vacation club at animal kindom villas. Theres only 2 of us this trip so I got the studio standard view. I have a lot of questions that hopefully someone will help me with

1)Does anyone know which building we would be staying at?
2) can I still book dining reservations 180 days out and if so how does that work?
3) if I buy my park tickets from disney and link it to my disney experience account does my magicband still get shipped to me with all my hotel/park information? Or do I pick up our magicbands while checking in?
4) Is there a way to even link the resort stay to my disney account?
5) Are there any hidden fees that I should be aware of?

I know thats alot of questions but ususally I book thru disney itself but when I found out about Daves and saw that I would stay at AKL for $798 for the week I couldnt resist

1. Did you reserve Jambo House or Kidani Village? That's really the only 2 buildings. Where you will end up is another story!
2. Yes, no reservation needed. If you have an MDE login, then login first, and when you set up reservations, they will show up under your account. If your 2nd person has an MDE account, you can link it to the reservations, if that person has set up their account to allow you to make reservations for them. You can set it up for view only, or make reservations.
3. Your MB should ship with your hotel information, park tickets, Memory Maker, and FP+ reservations that you have made. It will ship about 2 weeks or so before your arrival.
4. You should have received a confirmation number from Davids, so you can simply link that to your MDE account.
5. Since you are using DVC points, there are no resort fees at all. Disney does not charge extra for access to work out rooms, etc. for their guests like other chains do (Swan & Dolphin both do, but they are not Disney resorts). So no hidden fees. You do not have to pay the taxes that the state and county charge for regular paying guests either.

We're here to help, so ask anything else you'd like to know!

 

[mguimond1990]

1. Did you reserve Jambo House or Kidani Village? That's really the only 2 buildings. Where you will end up is another story!
2. Yes, no reservation needed. If you have an MDE login, then login first, and when you set up reservations, they will show up under your account. If your 2nd person has an MDE account, you can link it to the reservations, if that person has set up their account to allow you to make reservations for them. You can set it up for view only, or make reservations.
3. Your MB should ship with your hotel information, park tickets, Memory Maker, and FP+ reservations that you have made. It will ship about 2 weeks or so before your arrival.
4. You should have received a confirmation number from Davids, so you can simply link that to your MDE account.
5. Since you are using DVC points, there are no resort fees at all. Disney does not charge extra for access to work out rooms, etc. for their guests like other chains do (Swan & Dolphin both do, but they are not Disney resorts). So no hidden fees. You do not have to pay the taxes that the state and county charge for regular paying guests either.

We're here to help, so ask anything else you'd like to know!

Thanks so much for the info!..I do have one more question (and I think the answer is no but I want to make sure)..we are going in September and usually they offer free dining during that time. Is that something to take advantage of? Or since we didn't book directly thru Disney it isn't an option? Thanks again

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Thanks so much for the info!..I do have one more question (and I think the answer is no but I want to make sure)..we are going in September and usually they offer free dining during that time. Is that something to take advantage of? Or since we didn't book directly thru Disney it isn't an option? Thanks again

Sorry, but no free dining for DVC reservations ever. While you can purchase the DDP (well, the DVC member that actually holds the reservation will have to, since you cannot do anything with it yourself), it really isn't a good plan, and will cost you more than you think. If you are worried about budgeting the money, place what you would have spent for the dining plan onto a Disney gift card. Make the reservations that you want, and eat like you normally would. You'll be amazed at how much money you have left over after the trip. This works out for better than 90% of the people that buy the DDP. The only reason they purchase it is to have everything prepaid in advance, and for convenience. It really doesn't save you money anymore.

 

[mguimond1990]

Sorry, but no free dining for DVC reservations ever. While you can purchase the DDP (well, the DVC member that actually holds the reservation will have to, since you cannot do anything with it yourself), it really isn't a good plan, and will cost you more than you think. If you are worried about budgeting the money, place what you would have spent for the dining plan onto a Disney gift card. Make the reservations that you want, and eat like you normally would. You'll be amazed at how much money you have left over after the trip. This works out for better than 90% of the people that buy the DDP. The only reason they purchase it is to have everything prepaid in advance, and for convenience. It really doesn't save you money anymore.

Thanks again for the fast response. Very helpful

 

[stichrules]

The only other thing to keep in mind, this would be under the hidden fees area of your question is Mousekeeping. You will not get daily mousekeeping. DVC members only get mousekeeping on the fourth day and there is one day where they just do trash I believe. That is really the only thing different than paying and booking a room thru Disney.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

The only other thing to keep in mind, this would be under the hidden fees area of your question is Mousekeeping. You will not get daily mousekeeping. DVC members only get mousekeeping on the fourth day and there is one day where they just do trash I believe. That is really the only thing different than paying and booking a room thru Disney.

One would hope that David's DVC Rentals points that fact out to people when they are renting. Obviously we DVC members know all about it, so it wouldn't be considered hidden, but I can understand how a non-DVC member would not know that.

 

[mguimond1990]

One would hope that David's DVC Rentals points that fact out to people when they are renting. Obviously we DVC members know all about it, so it wouldn't be considered hidden, but I can understand how a non-DVC member would not know that.

Another question (sorry haha)..While technically I am staying on resort how will the fastpass+ system work? M yplan is to buy my tickets from undercover tourist and load them onto my MDE account..but will I still be able to book fastpasses 60 days in advance? I hope that made sense haha. Thanks again!

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Another question (sorry haha)..While technically I am staying on resort how will the fastpass+ system work? M yplan is to buy my tickets from undercover tourist and load them onto my MDE account..but will I still be able to book fastpasses 60 days in advance? I hope that made sense haha. Thanks again!

As long as you load the tickets more than 60 days out, you should be ok.

 

[sxeensweet]

The only other thing to keep in mind, this would be under the hidden fees area of your question is Mousekeeping. You will not get daily mousekeeping. DVC members only get mousekeeping on the fourth day and there is one day where they just do trash I believe. That is really the only thing different than paying and booking a room thru Disney.

To clarify on the 4th day mousekeeping
Will come and do trash and towel service, and on the 8th day they do a full clean/service. If you want them to come every day or more often you can pay per day they come. The prices vary to which room type you are in and which services you want performed.

 

[Weather_Lady]

One would hope that David's DVC Rentals points that fact out to people when they are renting. Obviously we DVC members know all about it, so it wouldn't be considered hidden, but I can understand how a non-DVC member would not know that.

They do - it's on their website, along with rate information for cleaning services, and they mentioned it to me again in e-mail correspondence when I rented with them last year. If the OP hasn't already, I'd recommend reading the entire Frequently Asked Questions section. It was very helpful to me when we rented.

https://www.dvcrequest.com/faq.asp