Disney Vacation Club Announces New Paid Member Perks Program
Disney Vacation Club has finally confirmed the long-rumored membership program for perks at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and beyond. This post discusses the details of the paid member add-on, along with our more general commentary about this and the barrage of upcharges, price increases, and so forth.
Introducing the “Membership Magic Beyond” option—a yearly enhanced benefits package that gives you special ways to elevate your family’s stays. Eligible Members can purchase Membership Magic Beyond for $99 starting December 3, 2024 for usage January 12 through December 31, 2025.
Membership Magic Beyond will supplement rather than replace the current Disney Vacation Club Membership Extras, which currently lists 306 Member Benefits according to Disney. Don’t get too excited–at least half of that list is either nothing special or not even real right now (“temporarily unavailable”)–but there are a lot of valuable perks. See our List of the Top 10 Disney Vacation Club Member Perks for the ones that are worthwhile.
Disney Vacation Club’s Membership Magic Beyond will offer the following paid perks:
Enjoy Enhanced Value
- Purchase specially priced 5-day weekday Walt Disney World Theme Park tickets with one water park visit included. Available for the enrolled Member and up to 7 family members living in their household. More pricing details to come.
- Purchase specially priced 3-day weekday Disneyland Resort Theme Park tickets that include Lightning Lane Multi Pass. Available for the enrolled Member and up to 7 family members living in their household. More pricing details to come.
- Receive a 30-day Memory Maker entitlement to capture and share treasured Walt Disney World memories. (Up to a $210 value if purchased separately.)
Get Exclusive Access
- Meet and mingle with special Disney Characters at Disney Vacation Club ImaginAtrium – A Member Lounge at EPCOT. The enrolled Member must have a Resort reservation and be staying on Points. The enrolled Member can bring up to 4 guests or the number of guests on their resort stay reservation, whichever is greater. Available 7 days a week. Capacity restrictions may apply.
- Take advantage of priority access to Disney Vacation Club ImaginAtrium – A Member Lounge, Disney Vacation Club Star View Station – A Member Lounge and a new Member lounge projected to open in 2025 in Magic Kingdom Park. Use this benefit when lounge access goes on a waitlist. The enrolled Member can bring up to 4 guests or the number of guests on their resort stay reservation, whichever is greater. Capacity restrictions may apply.
Experience More Flexibility
- Use your Points to purchase the Disney Sorcerer Pass to enjoy Walt Disney World Resort Theme Parks.
Get one bonus One-Time-Use Point for each One-Time-Use Point purchased! Members can purchase up to 12 Points for a total of 24 - One-Time-Use Points in a Use Year. Excludes bookings offered through the hotel exchange program.
- Enjoy having your $95 transaction fee waived when booking Disney Collection Resorts and experiences, including Adventures by Disney, Disney Cruise Line and National Geographic Expeditions experiences.
The Membership Magic Beyond option is part of Membership Extras which, effective June 3, 2021, requires having an ownership interest with 150 Vacation Points or more purchased directly from Disney Vacation Development, Inc. This is an incidental benefit subject to availability, change or termination. Yearly enrollment fee applies. All offers are subject to availability. Special ticket and Annual Pass offers are not part of the ownership interest and are subject to change or termination.
This means Membership Magic Beyond is what’s colloquially known as a “blue card” perk. It’s all-digital now, so “blue card” member is a misnomer, but that’s what most DVC members still call it. Disney Vacation Club is able to restrict perks to only certain owners because these things are funded by DVC’s marketing budget–or some other budget–and not annual owner dues.
Turning to commentary, Disney might pitch this as offering more convenience, flexibility, or options for members to purchase the perks that best serve their needs. [Insert additional flowery marketing language.] And some guests might even agree! Perhaps there are some DVC members who would use the lounges more often but for the waitlist, would like to use points to purchase the Sorcerer AP, or buy special tickets.
It’s not uncommon to see this type of product segmentation in the travel and hospitality industries. Airlines do it, hotels do it, and Walt Disney World certainly does it. So it’s really no surprise that Disney Vacation Club would do it. And I don’t doubt for a second that diehard fans who already dropped tens of thousands of dollars to join the club will be inclined to purchase this. Unlike Lightning Lane Premier Pass, DVC diehards absolutely are the target audience for this type of thing. It makes complete sense for Disney Vacation Club to offer this.
I mention this in the interest of balance, but also because I am the target for this. Almost. Basically, I’m just the target for a (paid) FastPass to the front of the lounge lines. We use these lounges every single day that we visit EPCOT and Disneyland–sometimes more than once. There are multiple Cast Members who recognize me at the Imagination lounge. (My silly/stupid goal is to stop being carded.)
Not to brag or anything, but I haven’t bought a caffeinated beverage at EPCOT in years–or at Disneyland since the lounge opened–but I’ve consumed hundreds of them. I’ve half-joked for a while that I’d pay for FastPass to two things: the TTA PeopleMover and the Imagination lounge. So I am very squarely the target audience for this.
However, I won’t buy it for a few reasons. First, I wouldn’t use any of the other perks (not sure about the character thing, actually). Second, spending $99 to get priority access to “free” soda and coffee kinda defeats the purpose of “free” soda and coffee.
Finally, it just doesn’t feel right to me. Don’t get me wrong–I’m perfectly fine with Lightning Lanes (even if I’d prefer faster-moving standby) from a moral perspective. Ride capacity is fairly robust at most attractions, so each guest is costing other guests a few seconds, at most. In aggregate, it’s obviously a different story. I’m more concerned about my individual impact, since the aggregate impact is obviously out of my control.
The difference here is that lounge capacity is very limited, so cutting someone on the waitlist has a clearer consequence. I could be costing a family that visits once per year 10 minutes, perhaps more, just so I could visit the lounge for the thousandth time to get a “free” soda and check my email. I don’t begrudge anyone who does buy this, and I’m not pretending to be the ethical arbiter of this stuff. All I know is that it doesn’t sit right with me–I don’t want to be the one doing it. My people already get a bad rap, so I don’t really want to be the jerky entitled blogger who is cutting families who have limited park time. To each their own, though.
Then there’s the other side of this. After the Lightning Lane Premier Pass announcements today, I shook my head when coming across this news. When is enough enough?! When do Walt Disney World and Disneyland just stop being fun for fans because the company has gotten so brazen with price increases, nickel and diming, and trying to squeeze every last cent out of people? How long before guests realize there’s a disproportionate number of announcements with immediacy that are of this nature instead of positive news? At what point does Disney cross the rubicon?
Look, I don’t think Membership Magic Beyond is going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. For most DVC members, it’ll be mildly annoying at worst–perhaps something they actually want at best. But it’s also not the first or last of this. (Remember, Walt Disney World still hasn’t done the annual price increase that hit Disneyland last week–it was presumably delayed due to the hurricane. So there’s still that to look forward to.)
Based on what we’ve been hearing from readers–at least the vocal ones–there are a lot of lifelong fans who are on the precipice of reaching their breaking point. And this is on top of all those who already have due to the end of Disney’s Magical Express, free FastPass, and everything else that’s been cut over the last several years. Even if you’re indifferent to some or most of this, I think you’ve gotta admit that in aggregate, it’s exhausting.
Twice in the same day, I’m thinking the same thing. (The rest of this is repeated from the final few paragraphs of the Disneyland LLPP post, but most of you read the Walt Disney World version, so this is new to you.) One of my fears for a while has been that Disney is inflicting long-lasting brand damage for short-term financial gain.
We’ve seen this with the aforementioned lost (free) perks, along with entertainment cuts, nickel and diming, catering to the affluent, crowds and long lines, and a laundry list of other complaints. Not to mention Disney’s falling reputation, which is based on all of the above plus other issues. We’ve discussed all of this at length–no sense in belaboring the point here.
Beyond that, there are examples of very niche product offerings that are clearly aimed at the wealthy. Most notable of these is the abandoned Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser. Same goes for the $100,000+ private jet Disney Parks worldwide “adventure” and the new Cotino Storyliving by Disney communities.
Starcruiser was a colossal failure, but I’ve long wondered whether–even assuming it were a financial success–was it worth all of the negative headlines? Think of how few guests stayed there versus the millions of views on various YouTube videos or news articles, almost all of which were negative. These are niche offerings, but they have an outsized digital footprint. Is Disney’s immediate monetary gain worth the brand damage and loss of goodwill?
I can’t help but wonder the same thing about Lightning Lane Premier Pass Membership Magic Beyond. I’d expect that the number of people who read about Lightning Lane Premier Pass Membership Magic Beyond on the day it’s announced and feel alienated or annoyed will dwarf those who ever purchase it. Most consumers will quickly conclude the answer is “no” when asking themselves whether it’s worth it. Disney would be well-served to ask themselves the very same question when it comes to this and other such affluent offerings. Is the negative word-of-mouth and reputational hit really worth the 99 bucks? The answer might also be “no” if they looked beyond the immediate impact to this quarter’s balance sheet.
If you’re thinking about joining DVC, be sure to read our Ultimate Guide to Disney Vacation Club. This covers the pros & cons, resale v. direct, how much money you’ll save, and other important things to know before taking the plunge. If you still can’t decide whether membership is right for you, “try before you buy” with the recommendations in How to Save BIG on Deluxe Disney Accommodations Renting DVC Points.
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about the new Membership Magic Beyond? Excited or disappointed about this new upcharge, or do you not really care? Bigger picture, does it bother or worry you that this is seemingly the direction that Walt Disney World and Disneyland are headed? When is enough enough for you? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Share any questions, tips, or additional thoughts you have in the comments!
For every trip we take, I buy Disney Memory Maker (currently $185), so this DVC perk is a win even if we only use the Memory Maker benefit. Our next trip to WDW is in 2025, and we’ll likely use the weekday ticket discount, the lounges (which we have never used before due to lines), and the points purchase discount to get the extra 7 points we need to upgrade to a 3 BR Grand Villa.
I’m more frustrated with the excessive cost of the Lightning Lane Premier Passes and no free fast passes.
Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed the resale market seems way down? Ie, prices seem to have almost cratered, especially at the older resorts.
i was interested in the 5 day discount ticket, until i realized it was week day only. There is no way i would do 5 park days in a row. I need a rest day or 2 in there.
We won’t even consider this until we know the actual ” specially priced ” cost of the 5 day ticket. We currently are passholders and go to DW a minimum of twice per year. Sometimes 3. That said, the annual passes are getting overly pricy but as of now, a 5 day hopper is still more expensive. I thought we might be able to drop the annual passes if the “specially priced” 5 day is low enough. But they won’t say how much. That would be the only reason I’d pay $99 for this. So as of now, WDW is screwing itself . Oh, there will be some who drink the Kool Aid. I’m just not one of them, at least until I see some theme park pricing
I recently reminded my husband of when we first started going to WDW, and how I really appreciated that even though the admission was expensive, once through the gates, everything was included. Attractions, parades, shows, fast passes. We could spend a little or a lot on food and drink, or merchandise, but the park experience was one and done. I really dislike this feeling of being nickel and dimed. We’ve transformed from multiple trips per year to maybe every other year or so. I’m glad we don’t have more DVC points. We wouldn’t use them. It’s become such a chore to figure out the newest change each trip for actually getting to the attractions we want to experience. Much of the fun has turned into work, and increasingly expensive work at that. Color me disenchanted.
Since you asked for our thoughts:
(1) I’m not particularly opposed to Disney maximizing its profit by adding more pay to play features. I don’t particularly like being priced out of them but I don’t begrudge Disney for doing it.
(2) Most of these benefits aren’t designed for AP holders but for those on a 7-10 visit, especially weekdays. I’m no longer in that demographic, at least for WDW since I live here now. So I can’t even take advantage of most of the benefits even if I wanted them. Most of my stays are shorter for specific purposes (races, special events, etc).
(3) None of the benefits are particularly appealing from an emotional viewpoint. There’s no benefit that says to me “I really want that.” It’s purely a financial analysis. Will it save me money? If it does, buy it. If it doesn’t, don’t. But there’s no benefit beyond financial savings that would convince me to buy it even if I were in their demographic.
My gut reaction to the initial DVC email was “this is so stupid” and after reading all the details my feelings are unchanged. It’s such a random hodgepodge of highly specific things, most of which aren’t applicable to a typical DVC member, much less worth spending $99 on. Now if they offered a package of widely popular former perks like doubling the DVC dining discount from 10% to 20% (tables in wonderland style), pool hopping passes, or included airport transportation with luggage delivery (aka magical express), they could probably charge a lot more and I’d be thrilled to pay it. But this feels like the dollar-store-junk version of perks-for-purchase. No thank u.
Agreed. I’d certainly pay for a Disney branded Magical Express. Getting on the bus with is cheesy video was the official start of our vacation. Great memories.
We have 200 DVC points but we won’t qualify for this. When we purchased our DVC, we saved $90 per point–adding up to $18,000–by purchasing Boulder Ridge resale points. We would have to get a lot of perks to have made direct purchase worth it.
Depends on when you purchased the resale.
Exactly! We bought 200 resale pts at SSR years ago, put the $20K savings into the stock market (not DIS, btw) and have never looked back. Considering all of the disappearing DVC benefits, all of this has become like that scene in National Lampoon’s Vacation, when Clark and Russ look over the Grand Canyon…..
We used to visit once a year for a week, now we only go for the Halloween party for our wedding anniversary. Arriving this Sunday and leaving on Tuesday after the Monday party. We will do two character meals, dinner with Snow White and brunch at ohana before going over and getting in line for party. That’s enough Disney for us these days we have other places we would rather spend the money.
I don’t think we’ll need this every year, but to give some context on when it is a good value, my AP expires right before my next trip and I’m not renewing, so the savings on Memory Maker alone will justify purchasing this membership. (We were going to buy it anyway for an extended family vacation, so now it will only be $99 instead of $185.) The verdict is still out on the ticket savings, but we have trips planned to both Disneyland and Walt Disney World this year, so those could be a worthwhile perk as well. I would never pay for lounge LLs (ha!), but I’ll take it as a bonus if I’m paying for the membership for these other reasons.
Your post lines up with my view. It’s purely a financial analysis on whether to pay for this perk. Everyone is looking at it and calculating whether it will save them money. If it does, they’ll do it. If not, there’s nothing compelling about it.
There are 2 different DVC audiences from what I can tell:
For AP holders, super frequent guests— like Tom — the priority lounge access.
For one trip per year visitors — the 5 day pass could be the big benefit, depending on pricing.
From Disney’s perspective, it steers more guests towards less crowded weekdays.
Depending on pricing, it could be a real cost SAVING for families. I’m potentially the target audience here.
I’ll glad pay $99, if I can save hundreds on tickets.
So I’m reserving judgment until I see the details of the 5 day ticket. If it’s truly discounted and if there aren’t blackout dates (often visit peak periods), then I’ll buy it.
The financial analysis is really the only compelling reason to buy it. It was like Tables in Wonderland. You did the calculations and if it saved money, you paid for it. If not, you didn’t.
I think Tom’s case is exceptional in terms of DVC lounge usage and even he doesn’t seem particularly convinced to get it based on that privilege alone.
Is it me or wouldn’t this offer benefit and drive a greater return for Disney if this is offered to the so called non-blue card members who are currently shut out of dvc lounges, etc. seems like they would get more sign ups IMO since blue card members receive all these perks already.
I am not seeing anything on that list that is worth $99/year. Hard to imagine very many people would unless you were booking an exchange and planning a WDW visit in the same year. We visit in slower seasons only and have never had to wait to get into a lounge. And we definitely don’t consume $99 worth of “free” sodas, coffee and cheez-it’s in a year .
We kept APs for 20+ years but no longer. In fact often visits now have few if any park days. Disney is being penny wise and pound foolish.
I haven’t ever bought one-time us points. But if I am reading this correctly, I can pay 99 bucks and then get 12 free one-time use points which is valued at $240. Am I right about this??
That kinda’ seems like a good deal?
Well, you have to pay the $99 plus you have to purchase 12 points to get the 12 free points (for a total of 24 points obtained). But yes, you still make out financially ahead in the end. You spend $339 to get $480 worth of points.
This out of state DVC family has been priced out of twice a year visits which we were able to do when we originally bought into DVC . Matter of fact, we are now priced out of annual visits. We have made a mostly financial decision to visit every other year so we will skip visiting in 2025. Not that we won’t be vacationing but just not to WDW. We can get alot more bang out of our vacation budget by visiting other destinations during the year and destinations is in plural.