2024 Disney Vacation Club Buying Guide
Our Disney Vacation Club Buying Guide for 2024 covers best & worst home resorts, buying DVC directly vs. resale, how to use points, pros & cons of joining, membership perks & more. We share our story of why we joined, and also answer frequently asked questions. (Updated December 26, 2023.)
Although we are DVC members, we weigh the benefits and drawbacks of joining. In other words, this isn’t a sales pitch for Disney Vacation Club. The fact is, DVC is not right for everyone. So, rather than presenting the kind of emotional and rosy marketing message you’ll hear from a DVC guide trying to make a sale, we’ll present a more balanced perspective here.
Let’s start with a little background. Disney Vacation Club is Disney’s twist on the traditional timeshare concept, and Disney advertises it as a way to save money on future vacations at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and beyond. There are currently 16 Disney Vacation Club resorts, with several more projects in development in both Florida and California.
Speaking of which, it’s probably worth delving into some recent developments before getting down to the basics. The Villas at Disneyland Hotel is the newest Disney Vacation Club resort and the second addition at Disneyland Resort. That tower is a huge addition to the DVC portfolio for the California parks, where Disney Vacation Club is incredibly popular, but also has significant supply constraints at the Grand Californian. We’ve already stayed in the tower–check out our look at the new rooms in the Villas at Disneyland Hotel.
Next up, there are two projects at Walt Disney World. The first of these is the New DVC Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, which is currently under construction and is currently slated to open in late 2024 at Walt Disney World. Based on the incredibly quick pace with which that expansion is being built, there’s no reason to believe it’ll be delayed.
Second, there’s the Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort – A Disney Vacation Club Resort. Work has not yet started on this, but these are slated to open in Summer 2024–before the Poly tower. The explanation for that is the new cabins being pre-fabricated off-site and installed unit-by-unit, not built on location. So the turnaround time could be a matter of months from start to finish.
Against this backdrop of new developments, Disney Vacation Club Sales Are Slumping. Well, sort of. The tides have been turning and we expect recent trends to continue in 2024. In a nutshell, what you need to know is that direct sales volume increased significantly in the second half of the year and the end result is that 2023 will end up being DVC’s best year ever for direct sales.
Part of this is that Disney Vacation Club has more for sale right now than ever in its history. Disney’s Riviera Resort and Grand Floridian at Walt Disney World, Villas at Disneyland Resort in California, and Aulani in Hawaii all were active properties–and everything but Aulani was still pretty new–this year. So part of it is a numbers game with a lot of different options for a variety of buyers, whether they want a home resort in Florida, California, or Hawaii.
This isn’t to diminish DVC’s success. It has been quite the comeback story in the second half of the year as compared to the first half and late last year. No matter how you try to ‘explain away’ the success–be it with more for sale or better incentives–you’ll still come up short. Direct sales of Disney Vacation Club have improved due to greater demand and other improvements.
Honestly, at this point we’d expect d2024 to once again break this year’s sales record for Disney Vacation Club direct sales. Although Grand Floridian will be off the table (since it sold out), added to the mix will be the Cabins at Fort Wilderness and Polynesian Villas. Both of those are likely to sell incredibly well. Sales for the Poly in particular will be like shooting fish in a barrel–Walt Disney World fans absolutely adore that resort. It’s even more popular than the very popular Grand Floridian.
With more of the Polynesian’s sales likely to fall in 2025 and all of the above-referenced resorts also still being available, our early bet would be that 2025 will also break the record for direct sales. Meaning that we’re talking about 3 consecutive years of record-breaking numbers. Of course, a lot could change between now and then with Disney and the economy as a whole, so we’re probably getting ahead of ourselves!
This isn’t us blindly cheering on Disney Vacation Club and encouraging you to buy now before sales stats get even hotter and prices increase. To the contrary, there has actually been a divergence between direct and resale numbers, and we usually recommend the latter.
The resale market has been on a downward slide since prices peaked in April 2022. There was one stretch when prices declined for 11 consecutive months, but that streak was broken this spring. Nevertheless, prices have continued to trend downward, with a few ups in the general descent. Overall, resale prices are down over 25% from their peak, and there’s no indication they’ve bottomed out yet.
The explanations for this are multifaceted, including higher baselines coming out of the pandemic when pent-up demand was high and people were putting stimulus money towards DVC contracts. Think of that as pent-up demand for Disney Vacation Club, which artificially elevated prices in 2021-2022, meaning that what we’re seeing now is a correction or return to normal.
That’s not the entire explanation, though. There has also been an influx of inventory, with an increased number of listings among the various sellers. Part of this likely stems from DVC disillusionment–guest service declined, Annual Pass sales were suspended, and Disney has been embroiled in various controversies and seen its brand reputation decline. All of these are likely contributing factors.
The big one, though, is that Disney has not been exercising its right of first refusal (ROFR) over the past year-plus. For those unfamiliar with the term, ROFR is the option Disney Vacation Club has to step into the shoes of the buyer and purchase the property themselves at the terms agreed upon by the seller and original buyer in resale market transactions. Disney can elect to purchase (or not) during a review of every pending DVC transaction.
With few exceptions, Disney has largely declined to exercise ROFR since September 2022. For those reasons discussed in that ‘slumping sales’ article, Disney Vacation Club pausing ROFR is a big deal. The moral of the story is that 2024 will be a great time to join DVC via resale. The market is currently finding a price floor, and we’d expect resale prices to continue to decrease.
With the Polynesian Villas, Cabins at Fort Wilderness, and likelihood of Reflections Lakeside Lodge after that, we do not expect DVC to resume exercising ROFR to any meaningful degree in 2024. Barring a sudden surge in resale demand (unlikely), this should mean that prices continue to drop.
As with anything, it’s exceedingly difficult to time the market. Given the totality of the circumstances (both with DVC and the broader economy), the coming year might present a golden window of opportunity–much like the Great Recession offered us back when we joined DVC!
In other news, Disney Vacation Club also has released its 2024-2025 DVC Resort Refurbishments & Construction Timeline. That covers what’s happening with the aforementioned towers being built at Disneyland Hotel and the Polynesian, as well as a half-dozen room renovation and expansion projects at other existing resorts.
Disney’s Riviera Resort is the newest DVC resort, having debuted 3 years ago. Its main selling point is a Skyliner station providing gondola access to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Check out our Disney’s Riviera Resort Review for thoughts on the resort as a whole. You should also be aware of the restriction for resale buyers at Disney’s Riviera Resort if you’re considering buying there via the secondary market or directly from Disney.
In addition to that standalone property, there are new Resort Studios at the Grand Floridian. We love these new rooms, which were converted from standard Grand Floridian hotel inventory. They aren’t typical DVC villas, which is a definite drawback for some, but everything from the details to the design to luxuriousness of the new rooms is exceptional. Much better than the ‘old’ GF rooms they replaced!
When it comes to pricing, Disney Vacation Club last increased the base price for all actively-selling resorts from $207 to $217 per point almost one year ago. That number is actually higher for the aforementioned Villas at Disneyland Hotel ($230 per point), but various incentives can reduce that price to around or even below the $217 rate, depending upon how many points are purchased.
Disney Vacation Club has announced another price increase on actively selling properties set to take effect on January 30, 2024. This move is not the least bit surprising–DVC typically increases prices around the start of each calendar year. In any case, here’s how prices will change:
- Villas at Disneyland Hotel – $239 (previously $230)
- Disney’s Riviera Resort – $225 (previously $217)
- Aulani, Disney Vacation Club Villas in Ko Olina, Hawaii – $225 (previously $217)
Pricing has not yet been released for the Cabins at Fort Wilderness or new tower at the Polynesian. Sales are expected to start for the cabins by Spring 2024 and for the Poly tower by late Summer 2024. New incentives for the above-listed resorts will likely roll out in Winter 2024, too.
As hinted at above, there is an alternative to paying the skyrocketing prices from Disney Vacation Club directly. Since you’re purchasing a real estate interest, DVC can be bought and resold on the secondary market, similar to a house. As of the time of publication, the average per point price is ~$115 (and trending downward). In other words, you can save considerably by purchasing DVC via resale!
This may sound too good to be true, but it is. That’s in large part because the vast majority of buyers have no clue that resale is even an option. Disney relies on an emotional sales pitch, uninformed buyers, and the aforementioned restrictions in an attempt to minimize the resale market. It’s a surprisingly effective strategy (few companies can tug on the heartstrings like Disney!)–so if you’re reading this, you already have a huge advantage over the majority of buyers who don’t do their homework!
Similar circumstances existed when we bought into DVC back during the Great Recession, and we couldn’t be happier with our decision to take the plunge then. We paid considerably less than today’s prices–or even the costs shortly after we joined and the economy began recovering.
For our part, we’ve been waiting to add-on DVC points for several years now. We are now waiting to see what happens next, with the expectation that mid-to-late 2024 might be the sweet spot. (Even though the tides are already turning, we think the buyer’s market will only get better next year via resale.) This is not to say history will repeat itself completely, or even that DVC is right for you. That’s what we’ll try to help you figure out through the rest of this guide, though!
With the ‘current events’ addressed, let’s turn to the threshold question: whether buying into Disney Vacation Club is actually a good idea for your family? Maybe you’ve recently taken a Disney Vacation Club tour or heard a sales pitch and are now wondering if it’s really as great as that it sounds.
The good news is that saving money with DVC is still possible. The bad news is that it’s not nearly as easy as Disney Vacation Club reps might lead you to believe. From a purely economic perspective, Disney Vacation Club won’t make sense for a lot of people.
Even if it doesn’t make sound fiscal sense, there are other compelling reasons for you to make the purchase. If your main motivation for buying an interest in Disney Vacation Club is to save money, whether it’s a good deal for you depends of your party size, resort tier preference, and how often you’ll visit Walt Disney World.
It’s also worth noting that Disney Vacation Club is a pre-paid vacation plan, which differs slightly from the traditional definition of a timeshare. In the strictest sense, Disney Vacation Club can be viewed as an asset, but not a tangible one. This is an important distinction to some people, but it doesn’t matter to a lot of people.
With that said, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of buying into Disney Vacation Club, and what you should think about before you decide whether to make the purchase…
Is Disney Vacation Club A Good Fit?
Accommodations Preferences – This is the threshold question, because if you’re (voluntarily) a Values and Moderates type person, Disney Vacation Club may never make financial sense for you. However, it can be a difficult question to answer, because it’s tough to anticipate your vacationing habits in the future. If you only roll Deluxe, and anticipate demanding posh accommodations in the future, Disney Vacation Club might be right for you.
Where DVC makes even more sense is for those who have kids or anticipate soon having kids, and are tired of sleeping in the same small quarters with them at a Moderate Resort. Disney Vacation Club, and its one-bedroom units and larger, may be right for you as it gives you the option to separate yourself from the kids at night. If you’re frequently booking the Art of Animation Family Suites, DVC is a great–nicer–alternative. Similarly, if you have to book two or more rooms at a Value or Moderate, it might be for you.
If you are a commando park tourer who primarily books All Star Sports, find the Value Resorts acceptable, and you stay up until all hours of the night and get up for rope drop daily, Disney Vacation Club may not be a good option for you. This is for two reasons.
First, the initial cost of Disney Vacation Club plus the cost of the annual maintenance fees will be higher than the sum of the yearly cost of a room at a Value Resort over the life of the Disney Vacation Club contract. This assumes reasonable price increases and accounts for the time value of money.
Second, because you simply don’t need one of the vacation-home style rooms offered by Disney Vacation Club. If you’re a no-frills or ‘bottom line’ traveler who just wants a place to shower, sleep, and will barely spend any time in your hotel room, it’s highly unlikely that DVC is for you.
With that said, even if you do presently stay at Value Resorts, after one stay at a Disney Vacation Club resort, you may be hooked. For many people, it’s one of those, “I didn’t realize what I was missing until I tried it” scenarios. Our first stay at the BoardWalk Villas definitely made it tough for us to stay in Value accommodations again.
If you’re not sure whether Disney Vacation Club accommodations will be a good fit, rent Disney Vacation Club points. There are a number of sites from which you can rent points, and they offer a cheap way to ‘get your feet wet’ with DVC, so to speak. You can also book Deluxe Villas from Disney directly, although this isn’t as cost-effective.
A final consideration in terms of accommodations: Disney Vacation Club still might not be right for you if you can’t stand the idea of MouseKeeping not cleaning your room daily. To us, this is such a minor, unimportant thing, but it bears mentioning. Conversely, if you like the idea of being able to do your laundry, prepare a meal in your in-room kitchen, or enjoy a whole host of other “home-away-from-home” amenities, Disney Vacation Club may be right for you.
Advance Planning – If you can’t regularly plan your vacations 7 months or more in advance, and Saratoga Springs Resort and Old Key West Resort, which are typically the two resorts that fill up last, aren’t acceptable resorts to you, then Disney Vacation Club may not be right for you.
During various times of year, popular Disney Vacation Club resorts fill up quickly. In fact, during the Christmas season, it can be difficult to get even Saratoga and Old Key West inside of 7 months. If you can plan more than 7 months in advance, DVC is probably a good fit.
One thing we recommend doing before buying into Disney Vacation Club is doing some sample Disney Vacation Club availability searches to get an idea of how far in advance you’d need to book to secure the resort you want. This can also be helpful in determining which home resort is right for you.
Disney Vacationing Frequency – Thanks to the banking and borrowing system, it isn’t necessary to take a Disney vacation every year. However, to make DVC a pragmatic option, you pretty much must visit WDW or DLR once every two or three years.
Using DVC points for non-DVC vacations offers terrible value. Since many DVC contracts expire in 2054 (contracts for Disney’s Riviera Resort will expire on January 31, 2070), you better hope the Mouse won’t break your heart anytime soon. Although if he does, selling your contract on the resale market is an option, and thanks to Disney’s Right of First Refusal, contracts retain a somewhat inflated value on the resale market.
Even this isn’t a hard rule. A lot of Disney Vacation Club owners who aren’t able to use their annual allotment of points safely rent them out through point-rental businesses. Rather than using the exchanges for other vacations, you will always come out ahead by renting out your Disney Vacation Club points and paying out of pocket for whatever the other thing is. The amount owners can make through point rental is usually more than enough to pay for accommodations elsewhere!
Interval International & Point Exchanges – Disney Vacation Club touts the ability of members to use Interval International exchanges for access to thousands of resorts in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Caribbean, and beyond, with a portfolio including resorts from Marriott, Sheraton, Hyatt, and Westin.
In addition, DVC Members are able to use their points for National Geographic Expeditions, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, Disney Cruise Line, Adventures by Disney, and even stays at Shanghai Disney Resort. These options are great…in theory. However, in actuality, trading DVC points into these exchanges is not a smart use of points. Let me repeat that again because this is pretty much the opposite of what you’ll hear from DVC reps: don’t use Disney Vacation Club points anywhere but at DVC resorts.
We won’t belabor the point too much here since this is something covered in exhaustive detail in our Best & Worst Uses of Disney Vacation Club Points, but using DVC points on any of the various “Collections” or anything other than DVC is a bad idea. Being able to use points elsewhere is an illusory Membership Extra–a selling point touted by salespeople that has no actual value. Always has been, always will be.
This applies even to other Disney destination. You should never use Disney Vacation Club points for Disney Cruise Line, Adventures by Disney, the international parks, etc. Simply put, using DVC points at non-DVC resorts is also a poor use of points. If you buy into Disney Vacation Club thinking that you might cash-in your Disney Vacation Club points for any of these options every once in a while, you are going to have a difficult time getting adequate value out of your membership.
One reader recently emailed me, indicating that she saved $15,000 by canceling her direct purchase at the Polynesian Bungalows and instead purchasing the same number of points via resale after reading this article. $15,000. That’s a serious amount of money, especially given that one of the main reasons DVC reps are able to convince people to purchase directly from Disney is the “perk” of using the points on Disney Cruise Line, Adventures by Disney, or otherwise outside of the Disney Vacation Club resorts. It’s not an actual perk if you shouldn’t or won’t use it. Save the money and pass on the value-less perk.
Actual Membership Perks – Disney Vacation Club Members get discounts on Annual Passes for Walt Disney World. There are several Members-Only DVC pins, events, a small magazine mailed to members, and other offerings throughout the year as well. In our Top 10 Disney Vacation Club Member Perks post, we discuss all of our favorites.
One perk not mentioned in that article is free parking. Walt Disney World now charges regular guests for parking. However, Disney Vacation Club members will not pay for parking at Deluxe Villa Resorts, regardless of whether they booked with points or cash. That’s a potential savings of $24/night for guests who drive, so it’s a pretty big benefit.
It is important to note that none of these perks are contractual rights, so Disney is free to terminate or reduce these benefits at any time. A “Membership Magic” promotion runs from time to time that gives Disney Vacation Club members discounts on Disneyland and Walt Disney World Annual Passes. Disney Vacation Club members may also purchase a Tables in Wonderland card or the Disney Dining Plan, the latter of which returns in 2024!
These Membership Perks are no longer available to those who purchase their contracts via the resale market. Unlike the restriction on using the non-DVC resort collections mentioned above, this is potentially a big deal. If you intend upon purchasing Annual Passes with the DVC discount, this can eliminate a $100-200 per person, per year savings. In our post covering the “new math” for buying Disney Vacation Club direct v. resale, we analyze prospective buyers should do given this change.
Hard Economics
It’s important to note from the outset that all of the monetary considerations below assume that you are purchasing Disney Vacation Club via the resale market. This is the ‘best case scenario’ and definitely the way to buy into DVC given the presently high prices direct from Disney. The incentives Disney offers for direct-from-Disney DVC purchases rarely make sense.
If you are savvy with your money and saving it is your paramount concern, you should almost always purchase from the resale market. Before making a purchase, you crunch the numbers to determine what your vacation costs would be for the next 40 years if you do purchase DVC and if you don’t.
Since these numbers will vary widely for everyone researching the matter (based on party size, at which type of resort you’d prefer to stay, etc.), it’s difficult for me to offer sample calculations here. Instead, I’ll offer a few important considerations to make sure you take into account when doing the math.
Total Cost – When you’re looking at DVC, it’s tempting to just consider the initial, total purchase price and not pay much attention to Maintenance Fees. This is a mistake, as Maintenance Fees end up costing more over time at every resort, and can make a significant difference when comparing resorts.
We highly recommend using figuring out the total cost of DVC over the life of your contract, which is pretty easy thanks to DVC Pro Plan’s free calculator. Then do similar math for your current room expenses. However, this is not where your calculations should end, due to two very important things (see below) that the calculator overlooks…
Financing Disney Vacation Club – Not factored into the calculator is financing. Whether you have to finance Disney Vacation Club is an incredibly important question and definitely shouldn’t be glossed over. If you have to finance your Disney Vacation Club purchase, a lot of potential savings are wiped out by the interest you pay on the purchase.
Interest will vary from purchaser to purchaser, but it’s a very important consideration. Unless the intangible reasons that will be discussed below strongly apply to you, we usually advise anyone considering a purchase of Disney Vacation Club who would have to finance it NOT to make the purchase.
Time Value of Money – Another thing unaccounted for by the calculator. If you don’t have to finance your purchase, Disney Vacation Club should look a lot more appealing, but there still is a pitfall. In doing the math, time value of money is the most frequently overlooked aspect of any equation when people are crunching the numbers on Disney Vacation Club. Time-value of money is the principle that money at the present time is worth more than the same amount in the future due to its earning capacity over the course of time.
To illustrate this principle, imagine you have $1 today. If you invest that dollar today in something with a 6% yearly rate of return, and let it sit for 20 years, at the end of that 20 year period, that dollar is worth $3.21. Since you’re paying for all of your future Disney Vacation Club vacations up front as opposed to when they are incurred, large portions of the initial investment in Disney Vacation Club could be invested in other ways (with a similar return on investment rate, if not better) if you were instead paying for your room each year as you vacationed.
The calculations here can be pretty complex given that you can’t take that entire initial investment and perform a time value of money calculation on it to determine what it would be worth in 10, 20, or even 40 years, as you would be paying out portions of that initial investment each year for your hotel stays.
That said, by even doing rough math here, you should get a pretty good idea of the “actual” cost of Disney Vacation Club. Now, if you have suitcases full of one-hundred dollar bills sitting under your bed that you wouldn’t invest anyway, maybe this is not a consideration for you. Use this Time Value of Money (TVM) Calculator to see how it makes a difference.
Home Resort – If you’re interested in maximizing the economics of Disney Vacation Club, it’s very wise to purchase a contract with a home resort that expires in 2054 or later. When we first started crunching numbers over a decade ago, Saratoga Springs Resort was the very clear winner.
The arguments in favor of Saratoga Springs Resort are threefold. First, it frequently has the lowest per-point cost of any of the Walt Disney World-based resorts. Second, even when other resorts are lower in per-point costs, they’re higher in per-point maintenance costs, which is more important than the initial cost-difference.
During the intervening years, a number of other resorts have opened that are more expensive but have even later expiration dates. Disney’s Riviera Resort and the Villas at Disneyland Hotel expire in 2070 and 2074, respectively. That’s 16 and 20 more years than Saratoga Springs at this point, so amortizing those higher up-front costs over the life of the contract can mean they end up being cheaper on a per year basis.
So in other words–don’t overlook expiration dates. Some of the oldest Disney Vacation Club resorts have less than 20 years of life now, and those are (finally) starting to come down in price as a result. At the other end of the spectrum, many newer resorts have 30-50 years, which is pretty lengthy by comparison.
You should never overlook maintenance fee costs, as over time, you will pay more in maintenance fees than the actual contract cost itself. That $.20 to $2 difference per point in maintenance fees may not seem like much now, but over time, it really adds up. It may be tempting to buy at Aulani, Hilton Head, or Vero Beach, but consider the maintenance fees before doing that.
You also need to keep in mind that your home resort is where you have an 11-month window. This is of no value whatsoever at Saratoga Springs, whereas it’s incredibly valuable at any of the monorail loop or EPCOT-area resorts.
Copper Creek at Wilderness Lodge, Grand Floridian, and Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary all hit this ‘sweet spot’ of desirable location, lower maintenance fees, and longer contract durations (later expiration dates). While these are not the cheapest contracts on the resale market, the price premiums are not bad considering all of the above. (They are better than, for example, the Polynesian or Grand Californian.)
Although we opted for Saratoga Springs Resort as our home resort when we purchased Disney Vacation Club, things have changed since then. If we were doing it all over again, we’d probably buy at the Grand Floridian, BLT, or Copper Creek. In fact, that’s precisely our plan–to target one of those three resorts–the next time we add-0n.
Locking In Your Vacation Costs – One of the huge benefits of Disney Vacation Club is locking in prices for future vacations. In other words, you know up front what your vacations will cost for the next forty years or so (depending on the expiration date of your DVC contract).
This is something you can’t accurately predict without DVC, but one thing you can predict is that room prices directly from Disney will increase. In fact, since we purchased Disney Vacation Club–and even since we first published this article–rack rates at Walt Disney World have skyrocketed, far outpacing Disney Vacation Club maintenance fees.
Depending on how dramatically these prices increase, you could realize significant savings by purchasing Disney Vacation Club. When performing your calculations, make sure to account for this yearly increase in room rates you’d be paying if booking a room from Disney each year rather than using your DVC membership.
Non-Economic Considerations
Okay, I wrote up a lot of “stuff” above, and it’s funny to think that one sentence can wipe away all of that, but it very well might. That sentence is, “will owning Disney Vacation Club increase my quality of life?” If the answer to this question is yes, all of the economic considerations in the world may very well be meaningless. It may be a good idea to purchase DVC anyway.
If things, such as the “Welcome Home” doormats, Disney Files Magazine showing up in your mailbox, going to bed at night knowing your vacations are partially paid in advance for the next 40-some years, the “forced vacation” aspect, owning a piece of the Magic, or being able to share trips with friends and family in awesome and unique accommodations are a big deal to you or will make you happier, then you might want to disregard everything I’ve written above.
As with everything in life, “happiness” is that ace-up-the-sleeve trump card that can render everything else meaningless. Quite simply, you can’t put a price tag on happiness and peace of mind.
Try Before You Buy!
We highly recommend trying Disney Vacation Club before you buy to see if it’s right for you. You can either do this by booking a Deluxe Villa directly from Disney or by renting Disney Vacation Club points. We highly recommend renting Disney Vacation Club points, as you will save considerably over booking directly from Disney (typical savings over even a discounted Deluxe Villa price are around 50%) and you will get the true “Owner” experience.
Check out our Guide to Renting Disney Vacation Club Points if you want more information about the process! For renting points, there are a few options. The most popular and least expensive option is renting points from David’s Vacation Club Rentals, which specializes in DVC points rentals.
This is actually another place where you might want to stop and do the math. Not to see if renting is cheaper than booking through Disney (it unquestionably is), but to see if renting Disney Vacation Club points for all of your trips is a better option than buying Disney Vacation Club points. We know a lot of people who go this route year in and year out because it provides great savings without locking them into an actual contract. It is something to give serious thought, and you might be surprised just how attractive renting, rather than buying, can be!
I Want To Purchase DVC, What’s Next?
Home Resort – If saving money is the impetus behind the purchase, and you’ve crunched the numbers and think it can be done, this is a no-brainer—you buy into Saratoga Springs via resale.
If money is a concern, but you have a definite resort preference, you should buy where you want to stay. If you won’t be happy unless you are able to stay at the Beach Club Villas every trip, you should purchase points there. This is especially true with the popular and small resorts, such as the Beach Club Villas, which are difficult to book at the 7 months mark throughout much of the year.
At the bare minimum, your home resort should be somewhere you wouldn’t mind staying—because you just might have to stay there during busier seasons where other resorts are booked at the 7 month mark. If you are not sure which resort might be the one you want to call “home,” read our article ranking the Disney Vacation Club resorts.
Start Watching The Resale Listings – There are several sites that can assist you in purchasing Disney Vacation Club via the resale market. The most popular ones include ResalesDVC.com, DVC Resale Market, The Timeshare Store, and DVCByResale.com, and I’ve mostly heard positives about each.
Figure out what you want, whether your contract needs to be ‘loaded’ and start making reasonable offers on contracts. Another resource to use for searching Disney Vacation Club resale listings is DVCFinder.com. It’s basically a search engine of active listings on the main DVC resale sites.
Research, Research, Research! – This post is aimed at whether you should buy Disney Vacation Club. Once you’ve made the decision, you need to understand various aspects of ownership. With regard to those things, this post barely scratches the surface. You might have seen passing references to the “7 month window” above. Do you know what that is? Do you understand terms such as “banking,” “borrowing,” “ROFR,” or “use year,” just to name a few terms?
Disney Vacation Club practically has its own lexicon, and it’s important to fully understand the product before you buy. I spent two years reading and posting on the MouseOwners.com forums before we made our purchase. It’s worth hanging around there or the other sites mentioned above before making a purchase. The members there can impart far more wisdom on you than I ever can. Many of them are true experts.
Our Story
We are Disney Vacation Club owners, and the economics work well for us even though we don’t have a larger party or a demand for always staying in Deluxe Resorts. We save money with DVC, but more importantly, owning makes us happy, which is the paramount consideration. We reviewed these same factors when contemplating a DVC purchase. Ultimately, we decided it was right for us. After doing the math every which way, we determined that buying a Saratoga Springs Resort contract was what we needed.
Our circumstances were a bit different than the norm, though. For our honeymoon, we wanted to stay at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, or Disney’s Beach Club Resort. Unfortunately, for the busy summer season, we couldn’t get much of a discount on any of these rooms. We found that if we purchased a modest contract, we could bank & borrow enough points to use for our 10-day honeymoon. In comparison to paying out of pocket for a stay at the BoardWalk for our honeymoon, buying the DVC contract outright on the resale market provided a very short break-even number of years.
With the math working out well, it was an easy decision, as the hotel stay would have no residual value, whereas the DVC contract would be useful for years. Plus, as Annual Passholders, the DVC membership would save us over $250 per year total for our Disneyland and Walt Disney World APs, which comes close to covering our dues. On top of that, we have access to a variety of member perks including lounges, special events, and more. Those are all hardly make or break, but they’re nice bonuses that make us feel valued as members.
While our touring style of staying out late and getting up early doesn’t really necessitate DVC accommodations presently, but we won’t keep up this pace forever. When we slow down, I’m sure the amenities DVC offers will be vital. In the meantime, we still enjoy the nicer room and resort every once in a while. The math worked for us, and so too did it increase our happiness. There are few pieces of mail I look forward to more than the Disney Files magazine, and hearing “Welcome Home” from the Cast Member at the front desk of our resort gives me an ear-to-ear grin every time. It may not work for everyone, but it certainly works for us. Hopefully this guide helps you determine whether it works for you!
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Your Thoughts?
A lot of you reading this are probably either members who stumbled upon it while looking for Disney Vacation Club content, or prospective buyers weighing their purchase? What do you all think about Disney Vacation Club? Owners, are you happy with your purchase? Potential owners, how does this article impact your decision to buy? Share your thoughts in the comments!
We’ve been DVC owners at Animal Kingdom Villas since 2007 and we have enjoyed every point year after year since. I’d been staying in deluxe resorts almost yearly since the 1990’s, even before I got married. Once I was married and had a kid, often traveling with my mom, one fancy hotel room became torture. She bought the contract, I paid all dues and expenses going forward, and we continued to travel together sometimes with other family too.
Fast forward and my mom became ill and unable to travel with us anymore, I had two more kids, and I don’t know what I’d do without our membership. We got 1500 developer points free the first year which had something like a 6 month expiration window. We used it to join some friends on a Disney Cruise. Amazing!
Our August use year is perfect for us, Kidani is still our favorite resort so the more times I stay there the better, but we’ve been at many others. We’re finishing up an 8 day stay at Riviera right now and I’m a little mixed on it. I’d stay here again, but definitely wouldn’t buy, especially for many of the reasons mentioned around this blog. I like to keep up to date on the general DVC market, as I am a number cruncher by nature, but man, buying our contract direct all those years ago is a decision we’ve never regretted, but it has GOT to make sense for your family. I always tell people that. It is not for “traveling the world” or just “saving money.” But we’ve never wasted a single point and every iteration of perks has always been desirable for us. I hope others can find the right DVC option for them!
Is there a good resource for (or does someone know) which DVC resort room types have wall/murphy beds and which ones are still using sofa beds? Our family stayed in a Poly studio last visit, and the sofa bed was…not great. The wall beds we’ve seen/used are MUCH better. Thanks!
We agonized for several years on whether to buy DVC or not. I took me a lot of arm twisting to get my husband to finally agree to buy in. We stayed almost exclusively deluxe for several years prior to that and were throwing away money at that point.
We bought into the Poly in 2015 and in 5 years have broke even (this past year during our Oct 2020 stay), on the purchase price. Those stays included 2 separate 5 night bungalow
stays which use a lot of points, over the past 5 years.
We love 1 and 2 bedroom villas and since we have bought in, the price, cash, of a single night in some of the 2 bedrooms come close to our annual dues due to astronomical price increases.
We have used our points for stays in the past 5 years that include Disney World, 2 stays at Hilton Head and Disneyland at The Grand Californian.
We also have put both of our children on as owners when they turned 18 (so no inheritance issues if we die), with the understanding that they can sell the membership if it no longer interests them.
If we quit going every year I will probably sell our membership at that point, but it is really fun to be a member and we do take advantage of as many of the membership benefits that we can.
One perk that I haven’t seen mentioned purchasing direct that we have taken on both of our contracts is the extra year of points. If you bought in 2021 they would give you 2020 points to use as well. Probably doesn’t move the needle for some depending on the purchase point, but can make for a very fun trip.
You can also find resale contracts with banked points.
Haven’t watched the resale market enough, but when we were trying to get into Bay seemed like most contracts posted were point poor than full of banked. Good to know they are out there though because the wife is already wanting more points.
When we bought our re-sale in 2006, we had a year of banked points included and all dues were up-to-date. Saved thousands compared to buying direct with Disney. Unless you are loaded and do not need to borrow the money for the purchase, then the value of DVC in 2021 is very much in question. Now we wouldn’t touch it. So many deals throughout the year that any savvy traveler can get better deals and many will argue better accommodations on the fringe of the property.
We just bought at Riviera direct. I love the resort, spent months doing research and am satisfied we did the right thing. I say to each their own and buy where you like!
First I want to thank you for all your information you send our way and for being a household name in our home . I was checking out the DVC rental store to try and familiarize myself with it. I compared prices with that site to the Disney deals offered at the same time. I only saw a savings with studios. Is that the norm when there are specials offered by Disney ? I’m not sure if I am just figuring things incorrectly. Thanks !
There are often rental offers in other groups direct from a member. I know there is one or two groups on facebook.
With lots of points available you could probably get a better deal.
They definitely do quite the pitch, and we would love to be DVC owners some day… but that’s at least 8 years in the future when I can retire from the Army and can plan for vacations 7 months out.
Do you think the perks Disney has revoked for resale purchases make it worth it to go through Disney, or would you still consider resale? What’s the top perk you would miss if you didn’t have it?
We stayed at Jambo house with rented points last week and my wife loved it and started asking questions about DVC, fortunately to me and not a DVC sales person, lol. In theory, I’d like to wait a few more years, for financial reasons, but it there’s a buyer’s market ahead, I might be interested in buying sooner.
I don’t think the perks make up for the thousands of dollars in savings.
Right now Beach Club is over $200 per point direct. Resale you can find it for $150 per.
In fact most resorts save you easily $5000 for each 100 points. Hard to make up that with some merch or food discounts.
If you buy a pre riviera resort via resale you can use the points for pre riviera resorts (this of us that bought resale before can use them for riviera ).
That’s my opinion. I bought resale – few years ago and at the time saved about $3500 vs direct price. Some of the perks for direct like using the points for a cruise , isn’t a good use of points anyways.
The AP discount is definitely the perk with the most value, but there’s no guarantee that’ll always be offered (see right now, for instance). Other things–like access to the Imagination Lounge and Moonlight Magic–is nice, but certainly not make or break.
I’d take the up-front savings, without question.
Hey Erik,
This is a really tough question right now. I started looking into DVC in 2019 and thought it was a pretty easy decision to buy resale and never look at buying direct. Then, Riviera happened. I know a lot of people have mixed reviews on that resort (our family personally loves it), but the important part of Riviera to me was that it seemed like a shot across the bow from Disney for resale purchasers that were not grandfathered in. It really bothered me that as time went on, less resorts would be available to me if I purchased resale. I am not specifically talking about 2042 resorts expiring, but rather, future projects that I would be excluded from. The original 14 resorts are all desirable so this isn’t a knock on them, I just wouldn’t want to make a big purchase and regret being excluded from a future resort that I really wouldn’t want to stay in. This calculation led me to Riviera, or buying a sold out resort direct from Disney. Riviera is currently my favorite resort, so it was a pretty easy decision. However, even financially, if you are looking direct, Riviera makes a lot of sense. Even with the restrictions, if I had to resell my Riviera contract, I would lose approximately $35-50.00 per point, which is more competitive than most other resorts. Sorry for rambling, but for me, it wasn’t the benefits, it was the lack of access to resorts I might want.
You need to sit down and run a cost analysis between the options and determine what perks, if any, you would use on a regular basis. Every family has different needs. For example, we are up in Canada and the AP does not make sense for us as we cannot get down for 2-3x a year to make it worth it.
IMO, DVC is a not a value driven purchase as it currently sits at the pricing they are asking for Riveria. If you are loaded and do not need to borrow money for the purchase, great. But if you are borrowing, not so sure it is a good financial investment.
I do not think missing out on new DVC resorts is a deal breaker either. It is not like there are going to be 10 more resorts in the next 20 years. Especially now with the pandemic setting things back many, many years. IMO, the best resorts have already been built.
Again, do a cost analysis and you should come a decision that best suits your family. Either way, DVC can be great but it is not the end all of all things Disney.
Thanks everyone I love all of your input and enthusiasm on both sides. I too would have to travel to WDW and probably wouldn’t more than once a year, so don’t see an AP as being worth it. Missing out on future resorts might be a bummer, but having stayed at only one DVC resort now, probably not a big deal as we could look forward to staying in all the others. I looked at some of the resale offers and do see tremendous savings on some, though who knows if Disney takes the ROR on the best deals. Might be something I plan for when our cars are paid off in a couple years.
We just did a tour at Riveria over Christmas. We were told that if you buy DVC through the resale market, you can NOT use the points at any new resort starting with Riveria.
Yep, nothing new there. That was announced when Riveria was announced. Disney realizes they are overpriced and many if not most were buying re-sales. So what better way to shut that down then to introduce this limitation. For some it won’t affect their vacationing and they will proceed with re-sale.
I’ve read this post before, but the new picture of the Riviera pool looked new to me- great photo!!!
Tom…we’re looking into the resale market now but I’m a bit concerned about buying now and not being able to use the points due to the likely shortage of availability once things become “back to normal”. What’s your thought on waiting? And do you see a buyers’ market anytime in the future??
Disneyland Vacation Club is a bunch of crooks. We booked last year but obviously during the pandemic things have changed and here is there response to me after explaining to them that we have children with asthma and the park would not even be open during our stay, So, I’ve had no luck trying to get your vacation moved, refunded, partially refunded, credited, or anything for that matter.” Not sure I would be part of this organization as they have demonstrated such unprofessional-ism in a time where the world is struggling with a virus that can’t be cured or contained.
?? You must be taking about something else altogether. DVC had no problems with re-booking and crediting back points, in addition to extending year usage timelines.
Another thing to consider is how old your kids are and whether they’ll be able to use the DVC points with their own families someday. My parents bought into DVC somewhat for themselves, but mostly as a gift to my brothers and me. Some people pass down a vacation home to their kids, but passing down DVC points in my opinion is better because you don’t have to take care of a property. I’m super grateful that I’ll be able to take my own family to Disney World and not worry about accommodation costs, while also enjoying membership perks.
Would there be a benefit to buying some points direct from Disney and some resale as long as they are the same location and the same month? For example, if I bought a combination of points, would that allow me to stay at all of the resorts and get the benefits of the direct DVC membership?
Another question – what will DVC do when the points expire? Are there any ideas floating around?
That could be a benefit in terms of the discounts. But the minimum buy in to be considered a “regular member “ for those points could be thousands more than resale, negating the annual pass and merch discounts. But I have a tad older resale that allows me to book Riviera and the newer. If that’s important to you , then you may want to buy direct. But if you buy say Boardwalk resale you can stay at all the pre Riviera ones and that is a lot to choose from.
In terms of expiration Disney could extend like they did with Old Key West. They likely wouldn’t want to start from scratch and will let some people somehow extend their deed. I also wouldn’t be pressured to buy based on longest deed. For example a 2060 vs a 2042. Some people will say the longer deed is a better deal. But I’ll be 80 yrs old in 2060 so the deeds after that date doesn’t mean a thing to me. In terms of people saying well you can deed it to your children , maybe they don’t want the burden of the dues 20 years from now.
Thank you. That is helpful. I was not aware that they extended OKW’s deeds. Do you know how they handled that? Did you have to pay additional amounts in order to get the extension?
Owners were offered the opportunity to extend 15 more years for a certain price per point. Some chose to and some didn’t. That’s why you’ll see some resale for OKW to 2042 and some to 2057.
So this article was useful but can someone explain to me how points work I just don’t get it at all
I think when we purchased, we looked at how many points would it take to have a 2 week vacation each year at WDW in a studio. We bought resale and our home resort is Saratoga Springs. So we determined it would take about 250 points per year to do what we wanted to do.
You make an outright purchase of x number points times $ per point. That is your initial sale. With us, each year in February (our particular use year month) we get 250 points deposited into our account.
Now it is up to you how you want to spend those 250. Will it be 2 weeks in a studio at Saratgoa. Or perhaps you want 7 nights in a one bedroom at any of the WDW DVC properties. It might cost 200 points for that. So you would have 50 points left over to spend on another smaller stay in the same year pr you can bank those into the next year. In the next year you would now have 300 points to use.
At any given time you can bank one year and borrow from one year ahead, for a potential of 3 years worth of points available for a bigger stay. In our example, this would be 750 points.
We took a break for 2 years and then did a 14 night stay at 3 different DVC properties with different accommodations last XMas.
If you find yourself having unused points that can no longer be banked, you can explore renting them out.
Tom has good articles on how renting them can work.
Hope this helps.
No, worries, I guess I was interpreting that you were comparing a studio to a family suite. I didn’t understand that it was your family member who was thinking they were getting the better deal. 🙂
We always stay deluxe and so you’d think cvc would be great for us, but i have three big objections. First, you are almost always trading two real beds for a bed and a sofa bed. That is a real downgrade in my view. Second the “work on vacation” aspect really annoys me–I don’t go on vacation at resort prices only to have to cook and wash dishes, make my bed, take out the trash and track down clean towels. Third, the best part of a deluxe for me is the convenient transport to parks, which rules out the more cost effective properties.
yes, i agree. this was a point i made in one of my comments too, that you have to look at what you’re getting for your money, not just the bottom line cost. i agree that a sofabed instead of a bed is a step down, just like for our family, going from a family suite at AoA to a studio for roughly the same cost is nowhere near the same value when looking at square footage and everything you’re getting, like 2 full bathrooms versus one. to get the same at a dvc resort, it would cost substantially more.
Valid point on the bed issue although with many of the refurbs going on they have replaced the sofa bed with a murphy bed and they are quite good.
Not sure about “work on vacation”. Nobody directs anyone to cook. It’s an option and a nice one at that to save on meals on days off from the parks. Making beds? I don’t know many people that make them in their own homes. Throwing a sheet upwards to look respectable is no big deal. So in your regular deluxe room you pile up the trash and call housekeeping to come and get it? lol No big deal carrying a bag of trash to drop next to the elevator when on the way out for the day. Track down towels? Just call and ask for some if needed. You mean you only use your own towels at home once and then wash them? In addition, there are many available towels at the pool that you can borrow if REALLY needed.
We love having the washer/dryer in our DVC. Usually the last night or 2 of our stay we will throw our dirty laundry in at night and take our in the am. We are then packing clean clothes to take home. Really helps when you get home and don’t have 6 suitcases worth of dirty laundry to do.
For what it’s worth re: the housekeeping and trash situation, I found on my most recent trip (my first time renting DVC points) that my trash bins were emptied daily. I made a point of finding a trash can nearish my room to take out food trash on my first night, and then it turned out to be completely unnecessary! I think daily trash removal has become the standard level of service, at least for now, because it’s tied to the way they do daily room checks for safety. They’re still only doing towels, coffee refills, etc., every four days and they did not make the bed on the one day I got full mousekeeping.
Hi again. Sounds like those DVC members clearly did not know how to navigate the system properly. In a lot of cases. members pretend they tried using MCI and just never bothered yet slagged it. Again, as with any trip, taking the time to plan will yield the best overall vacation.
But even I said, if one is just buying DVC for Orlando and they prefer Deluxe accommodations, then the savings can be quite good. Assuming they go more than once a year, savings on annual passes are good along with a number of other perks enjoyed by DVC members.
It is not for everyone and from your description it is not for your family.
a family member rents points whenever they go and has been telling me for years that it’s the only way to go. but i just can’t justify it from a money/value standpoint. we stayed at art of animation this past year and they are staying at boardwalk on the upcoming trip and says they are paying less than us. sure, if you look at the bottom line and nothing else, she perhaps comes out ever-so-slightly ahead. but you have to look at what you’re getting: we stayed with a party of 5 in a family suite with a bedroom, and 2 full bathrooms at AoA. they are staying with 4 in a studio with 1 bathroom and no separate bedrooms. the price difference, and it was insignificant, was not enough for us to justify giving up that extra square footage and bathroom space. i make the same argument whenever we cruise- a verandah room is not at all worth it to me. i’d much rather get 2 inside adjoining rooms that gets you more square footage, and once again, 2 full baths, for less money than the “family suites” dcl offers.
but back to wdw. the price we paid also included our vacation package, which was our park hopper tickets, and free dining package. we came out WAY further ahead when you considered that on top of the renting points, they are also paying for park tickets and food. i have always been really amazed that with dvc, it’s your room, and that’s it. sure, you get some discounts on tickets and whatever else, but it’s not included in your membership. on top of paying for a room, you still have to purchase all of those other things. to me, it’s simply not worth it. it’s a lot money to pay for just your living space. this is not knocking anyone who has done it s please don’t take it that way. it’s just not for us.
What comes down to is paying up front for 50 years of vacations. You have omitted that DVC is not only Disney properties but access to cruise lines and locations all over the world through MCI etc.
For example, we purchased re-sale before we had kids at $75 per point. Did not have to borrow the money. Our first trip was an Alaskan cruise with another cruise line as Disney did not cruise there at the time. We saved thousands on that trip and almost covered our DVC purchase.
Moving forward, yes if you purchase only for Disneyworld and you are fine with a certain type of accommodation, then yes you can be ahead. However, if your family requires higher end accommodations and properties then in the long run DVC can make sense.
But, lol, looking at how much they are charging now per point and the restrictions put in place if you now buy resale, then we would steer clear of it.
The discounts had from DVC makes a difference. Discounts on early ticket promos, desert parties, etc. etc. all add up nicely.
i’ve talked to a number of dvc members and all have said it is a huge waste of points to use them on DCL. many of them have also hinted around, while not quite coming out and saying, it’s also a waste at anywhere other than WDW, including disneyland, one saying they regretted using points there immensely
again, my point was not to bash dvc, and i respect your opinion. it’s just not for us. we are fine with finding the most budget-friendly way to visit, especially since it’s not a yearly thing. the space analogy in the type of room we had versus the type of room would would get with points was just not justifiable or equal to me at all, regardless of resort (square footage and that extra full bathroom are huge). i know for some people, it’s a yearly or even more often vacation, but we have lots of other places we want to visit too. and disney cruises have really spiked up the charts for us. the magic of disney while getting to visit various places is a huge plus for us. if someone wants to go just to disney world all the time, then maybe it could work. but it’s just not justified in the cost to me at all.
I can see your point, though I’m not sure if you are comparing apples to apples. We rented points at Old Key West at Christmastime (studio room). It was $170.00 per night. No parking and no taxes. We usually stay at POP Century (studio room), this year it was going to cost $200.00 per night plus taxes and $13.00 per night for parking. So, in our case it was cheaper to stay at OLK. So, for us we were comparing apples to apples for studios not a suite at AoA. Also, OKW has 2 queen beds in their studios not a sleeper sofa like the other DVC Villas.
you missed my point- my family member was insisting they were getting the better deal with a studio and renting points over us staying at AoA family suite. when i broke down the price versus what we were getting, the family member was the one comparing things that were not equal. to get the equal space with points, my price would go up astronomically over what we paid at AoA. thus, the better deal overall was staying at AoA for the space we got for the price we paid. my overall point is, you have to look at more than what the bottom line price is, you have to look at how far your money is going in order to say what is the better deal.
i did not mean for my last comment to come across as harsh in making my point, my apologies if it looks that way.
Laura-
I totally get where you are coming from. Only recently has the math for our family weighed in on the side of being owners. There can be a huge price difference between owning and renting. As owners, our contract costs us about $11 a point( including dues). If you rent 11months out, most places charge $19 a point. That math doesn’t work for me either. 😉 We thought about it and researched for several years before buying resale for our family of 3. I wish you many wonderful trips to Disney doing what works for your family. PS-I did not think any of your comments sounded rude or unkind. 🙂
Yes, we love the warm fuzzy feeling of being owners, but also, I love staying at the Animal Kingdom villas for what it cost me to stay at POP. We have happily spent many vacations at POP. However, the recent Skyliner induced price increases have literally made it the same price or cheaper to stay in a Deluxe DVC studio. We travel mainly at Christmas, which is a high “point” time. Still cheaper. If we add in the “free” parking (covered by dues) it’s an even better value. We were able to buy a small contract with cash and couldn’t be more thrilled. 😉 In fact, my 11months recently opened and our Holiday 2020 is booked.