I’m going to reiterate a few points from my other article on timeshares for rent, namely that destination and travel forums are some of the best places to find accommodation and this is just as true for Orlando and Disney World. But before I get into that we need to sort out what we mean by Disney timeshares.
To my mind, Disney timeshares can be broken down into two types. First, there’s Disney Vacation Club. These are timeshare resorts located on Disney World property that were actually built by the Disney company. Staying at these resorts comes with all the benefits of staying “on property” at Walt Disney World. In other words, you get the morning and evening magic hours that get you early entrance (or a late stay) at a selected theme park each day; you get free parking in the theme park parking lots; free transportation with Disney’s Magical Express from the Airport if you choose not to rent a car; and 24/7 Disney magic and pixie dust!
Then there are the timeshares that are simply close to Disney World — which is pretty much any timeshare located in Orlando, Kissimmee and the surrounding area. I would say that any timeshare located within a 5 mile radius of Disney World would probably qualify as a Disney timeshare rental. Much further away than that and you are looking at longer drive times to get in and out of the parks.
Personally, when I stay off-site, I try and keep my drive to one of the Main Entrances under 10 minutes. This isn’t really too difficult either as there really are a ton of timeshare resorts in the immediate area.
Ultimately, what you’ll need to decide is:
- Do you want to stay on-site at Walt Disney World? or
- Is staying near Disney World (and saving money!) a better way to go?
I can help you out with some tips for both solutions here.
Staying at a Disney Vacation Club Resort
If you want to get a Disney resort rental, it is easy enough to just call up the Disney folks and book your trip. You don’t have to own at any of the resorts in order to book accommodation and usually the regular Disney World reservations reps will have no problem booking your trip for you.
However, booking directly with Disney is going to cost you a lot more money than speaking directly to a DVC owner and negotiating your stay with them. Most owners should be willing to give you a much better deal.
Disney Timeshare Rentals by Owner
If you want to find Disney Vacation Club owners, you can find them on timeshare rental sites such as RedWeek, but I think some place like MouseOwners would be the first place I would try as that’s a board for DVC owners. A DVC owner can either book your trip directly, or if you actually own DVC yourself and just need more points for your trip — they can rent you some of their points. Some DVC owners also pre-book popular weeks such as Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and President’s Day Weekend and then simply rent those weeks out first come, first serve. Also, check some of the Ebay timeshare rentals for deals on DVC or other Orlando timeshares. While it is difficult to find DVC available for sale on Ebay, Disney World timeshare rentals are very common so you should have good look with that.
Renting Other Timeshares Near Disney World
If you decide that you’d rather stay off-site, you have a lot of options here as well. Wyndham has a couple of resorts in the area, including their extremely popular Bonnet Creek Resort which is actually located inside the confines of Disney World (near Downtown Disney), on the only piece of property that Walt Disney was unable to purchase.
In addition, Marriott and Sheraton have resorts in the area as do most of the other larger timeshare companies and of course there are tons of smaller HOA-owned resorts in and around Orlando and Kissimmee. Finding a timeshare to rent is fairly easy. You can either visit the websites of the different chains, such as BlueGreen or Marriott, and look for their deals or you can let Google get you to some awesome deals. Ebay is also a safe bet with plenty of choices for finding Disney timeshare rentals as well.