2026 Disney Vacation Club Buying Guide
Our Disney Vacation Club Buying Guide covers best & worst home resorts, buying DVC direct 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.
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 17 Disney Vacation Club resorts, with more projects in development.
Speaking of which, it’s probably worth delving into some recent developments before getting down to the basics. Here’s a rundown of recent and upcoming projects at Walt Disney World and Disneyland:
- Villas at Disneyland Hotel – The newest DVC resort in California 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.
- Cabins at Fort Wilderness Campground & Resort – These have officially opened, but “construction” is still in progress. The explanation for that is the new cabins being pre-fabricated off-site and installed unit-by-unit, not built on location. We stayed in one of the new “controversial” cabins during Christmas and absolutely loved it.
- Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort – This new tower opened right before Christmas, as a massive addition between the existing Polynesian Village Resort and Grand Floridian Resort. The outside of the Island Tower is hideous, but the inside is rather nice. Avoid having to look at this eyesore by staying here, I guess.
- Disney Lakeshore Lodge – First announced in 2018 as Reflections Lakeside Lodge, DVC officially revived this project as Disney Lakeshore Lodge over a year ago and massive construction progress has been made since. Despite that, DVC hasn’t shared anything about it–probably to avoid overshadowing the Island Tower and Cabins at Fort Wilderness. Disney Lakeshore Lodge is expected to open in 2027–probably in the first half of the year, judging by progress as of early 2026.
Until Lakeshore Lodge opens, Riviera Resort is still the newest standalone DVC property, having debuted 6 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.
It’ll be interesting to see what DVC sales look like in the year to come. On the one hand, there’s been a slowdown of late in direct sales. After booming business for over a year, November 2025 had the fewest number of points sold since April 2024 according to DVCNews.
Despite that lackluster month, DVC point sales for last year (through only the first 11 months of the year) surpassed the previous year’s 12-month point total (1,703,032 points to 1,693,637). Whether November was the beginning of a downtrend or an anomaly remains to be seen.
Our guess is that it’s simply where the properties stand in their sales-cycles, with the Island Tower now being over a year old and there being next-to-no interest in the Cabins at Fort Wilderness (less than 6% of the total points have sold, despite nearly two years on the market). Of course, a lot could change in 2026. At some point this year, Lakeshore Lodge is likely to go on sale–and it’s impossible to say what will happen with the economy as a whole, so we’re probably getting ahead of ourselves!
Then there’s the resale market, which has been largely flat since 2022. There was one stretch when prices declined for 11 consecutive months, but that streak was broken. Last year was mostly a story of stagnation, much like the year before that. Resale prices down from their peak, which is also not inflation adjusted.
With regard to forward-looking prices, a couple of things are worth noting. The first is the new $500 Contract Administration Fee (CAF) that Disney Vacation Club now charges on every resale contract closing as of January 1, 2026. This is a flat-fee that exists regardless of contract size.
DVC’s CAF will almost certainly put downward pressure on prices for smaller contracts, as it amounts to a $10 per point premium (in essence) for those coveted 50 point contracts. It’ll make less of a difference at the higher end of the spectrum since its per point cost is diluted, but we’d expect this alone to result in lower per point prices and slower sales.
Additionally, DVC resale inventory was on a downward trend for much of last year due to Disney Vacation Club exercising its Right of First Refusal (ROFR) more frequently than in the last couple of years. We’ve seen this less in the last few months, but if DVC resumes ROFR activity, that could put upward pressure on prices. A direct price increase in early 2026 would have a similar impact.
As with anything, it’s exceedingly difficult to time the market. We should note that we expected prices to drop during COVID, and after that briefly occurred they quickly bounced back and hit all-time highs by early 2022. We then expected the last two years to be golden windows of opportunity to buy, which they sort of were.
Now, our expectation is that the tides will continue turning as DVC resales become more of a seller’s market throughout 2026. But of course, we’ve been wrong before. As you might expect, Disney Vacation Club sales correlate with the broader market as a whole, so if U.S. economy and Wall Street keep booming, so too should DVC. If there’s a recession, all bets are off.
In other news, Disney also has released its 2026 Disney Vacation Club Resort Refurbishments & Construction Timeline. The upcoming year is currently quieter than the last few, with nothing brand-new scheduled at the condo association meeting in December. Still, more could be added for 2027 and 2028.
If you’re thinking about buying directly from Disney, it could be advantageous to do so now. This is because Disney Vacation Club is increasing prices again on February 10, 2026.
Disney Vacation Club typically increases prices around the start of each calendar year. Here’s a look at the upcoming change:
- Villas at Disneyland Hotel – $248 (previously $245)
- Cabins at Fort Wilderness – $243 (previously $235)
- Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows – $243 (previously $235)
- Disney’s Riviera Resort – $243 (previously $235)
- Aulani, Disney Vacation Club Villas in Ko Olina, Hawaii – $243 (previously $235)
These increases are about par for the course. Lower than the biggest increases we’ve seen in recent years, but still notable given the sales slowdown and lack of popularity with the Cabins at Fort Wilderness and Aulani. Don’t be surprised if there’s a promo shortly after February 10, 2026 to create the illusion of a killer deal on the Cabins, especially.
There’s 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, partly with pricing but also with the upcoming Disney Lakeshore Lodge (we love the Cabins at Fort Wilderness, but don’t want to purchase there due to high maintenance fees–so we’re hoping they end up being part of the same trust). 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, 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.
Suffice to say, 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.
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 the Disney Dining Plan.
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 vs. 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 didn’t really necessitate DVC accommodations when we joined, things have changed. We now have a daughter, and we’ve done several stays with her as a toddler. Already, we’re seeing that the amenities DVC offers are vital. And we’re also realizing that studios no longer cut it, so we’re thinking about adding on more points.
The math worked for us, and so too did DVC 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–and we’ve “grown into” the membership even more as we’ve gotten older and our party size has increased. Hopefully this guide helps you determine whether DVC is right for you!
Looking to plan a trip using your Disney Vacation Club points? Make sure to read our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide and Disneyland Trip Planning Guide. We also have an Aulani Trip Planning Guide for those of you using your points in Hawaii! For updates on Disney Parks including the latest news, discount information, and tips, sign up for our free newsletter!
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!
Awesome! overview about the Disney vacation club definitely all the visitors would love to read this article it was just amazing while reading it…
Great article Tom! With your next update, I wish you would address a section specifically towards the possibilities of restrictions by Disney, etc. and why that could but most likely won’t happen to any real extent. Reading through the comments to find folks addressing it w your responses gets a little time consuming. I’m considering a resale purchase after buying through DVC the first time. Currently on a wait list w Disney (the restriction thing spooked me alttle) but I’m tired of waiting… After doing research, while still nervous about it, I’m probably going resale now. Any additional thoughts on it, outside what other forums have said would be helpful… Not legal advice you understand but just more legal insight. 😉 thanks in advance!
We are seriously considering the purchase of a DVC membership. For us, we have loved the convenience of purchasing the Disney Dining plan with our previous stays. I am a bit confused. Are we still able to buy the dining plan? Having all of the meals pre-paid before our trip is very important. Thanks for the help!
Hello Tom, I have been reading the blog looking for some advice. I hope you can help me. Im a DVC member since 1998-1999 ( Old Key West), 150 points. My kids are now in college, using the points is not a priority anymore, and the membership has become very expensive. I would like to sale the property but there are a couple of websites out there and I have no idear which one to choose. Any advice would be very welcome 🙂
I’m interested. [email protected]
Good information! My husband and I have been members since 1996!! The year Vero Beach opened up, we bought 150 points at Vero. We are a family of 4 now and our 2 children have reached the glorious college years (and tuitions!). That said, we have thoroughly enjoyed the Disney vacations through the years and it was with much trepidation that we have just sold our points. We have found the maintenance fees increase faster than our salaries have and simply cannot justify $1300/year wasted on fees. We live in Ohio and to use our points at our beloved Vero means airfare and rental car, which all adds up to a very stressful vacation to pay for. Instead, we will take that money and actually be free to book a vacation anywhere! Plus, we still have the freedom to rent points if we ever want to return to Disney resorts.
Personally, I loved the vacation club when it first began but through the years Disney just didn’t STOP with the additions of new resorts thus decreasing the value of existing ownerships. Can’t blame them, they are a business but wish they would have kept it limited. BTW, anyone told that their points retain value or increase in value is just not telling the truth in today’s economy.
Tom – I have bought all of my points directly from Disney. If I remember correctly, those who buy resale from anyone else but Disney do not get the full “perks” offered to those who bought directly from Disney. I know I saw an email from DVC about 1-2 years ago discussing this and outlining those perks and services that will not be available to anyone who bought outside of Disney. Do you remember seeing something like this? If so, what are the advantages of buying from anyone but Disney? I bring this up because DVC launched the new “Member Magic” program and I bet there is language in the purchase agreements that prohibit resale members from taking advantage of these special perks (which I am told will continue to grow over the next year). Your thoughts?
Chet
Tom, what are your thoughts on SSR versus an OKW extended contract (both resale)? We are a family of five, and it appears that 1 bedrooms at SSR officially only sleep four (OKW lists five), which obviously isn’t ideal for us. TIA!
Loved the article and you are very right, it does not fit everyone and everyone will have different reasons and views for joining or not.
We recently signed up for DVC, at first I was adamant at the whole thing and to be honest did the tour to find out and see the resort villas (and of course the $100 in gift cards, lol). But the main reason that I decided to take the tour was after our stay at the All-Star Sports Resort. We arrived at our hotel a little over 11pm, it was freezing cold and we had our infant boy with us. I checked us in while my husband and son waited in the car. As you can imagine I had luggage worth for a one week stay plus all the gadgets I need for my son. When I asked the front desk lady for a luggage handler, she replied that the hotel was not the grand and that I should accommodate to what I had paid for… Mind you my stay at the All Star Sports was over $1000.00 for 4 nights including the dining plan, plus 300 some dollars for a Disney Floral surprise for my son. I was livid when she said this. I had chosen to stay there, because when I found out I was pregnant I was at the Sports and we had said that if it was a boy we would take him to the Football field they had I thought it would be awesome for him…not because we did not have the money to stay at the Grand. We have a 20 month old son that would have nothing to do at the Grand and the Animation was sold out as well as the Movies.
As some of you, I am a number cruncher and I have crunched the numbers and it does make great sense to me, more than that I know the service at those resorts and believe me when I say its not at all like the service at the All Star Resorts. Being a mom, I need a little bit more space than the regular moderate resort room, and unfortunately for me, the Animation is almost always booked specially the Nemo and Cars Suites. We booked the Animal Kingdom lodge (although not our home resort) for my son’s 2nd birthday on April that will be our first stay with the Disney Vacation Club.
Timeshares can be an ok option for many travelers, as they can also bring many problems.
We looked at buying into DVC on our first trip to WDW back in 2009 but after doing the math decided against it HOWEVER with the gift of hindsight wish we had have. We made a return trip to WDW in 2011 and stayed for 5 weeks including 2 DLC cruises (Bahamas & Caribbean). If we had bought into DVC on the first trip we could have saved ourselves a small fortune. We bought into DVC while on one of the cruises with Aulani as our “home” because being from Australia we felt Hawaii is a lot closer to home than Florida. Since buying into DVC we haven’t personally used any points ourself but have sold our points through David’s Vacation Club Rentals and can’t speak highly enough of their service. The money earned from selling the points more than covered the annual dues, so we were happy and any extra stays in PayPal in $US waiting to be used. Wish Disney would accept PayPal, then we wouldn’t have to convert to $AU and then back to $US to pay them. Maybe one day they will get with the times and offer PayPal. In the meantime we look forward to using some points personally later this year in Florida (fingers crossed). And in the future we plan on splitting our points evenly between our 2 kids (now 19&18)as part of their inheritance LOL
Tom – Great information. I have enjoyed reading everyone’s comments too. We became DVC members in 2010 and should have done it in 2000 when were first started going to WDW. For those of you who are not pre-planners, this is not the program for you. Our entire 2014 vacation schedule was planned by September 2013. We have 3 WDW vacations (two are just for a few days prior to a cruise) and we have 2 cruises (one being a member cruise) already booked. The DVC system REQUIRES you to pre-plan, especially if you want the popular resorts. I bought points at 6 resorts, so I would have home preference at those resorts. I bought Grand Floridian when it was first offered and will buy Polynesian when it becomes available. We buy several hundred points at each resort because of our room preferences. We stay 2 bedroom villa and higher when we stay at the resorts and on the cruise we stay one bedroom concierge level only. DVC has forced us to vacation more and that is a good thing for us. We used to take one week a year and then work our butt’s off the rest of the year. With DVC, we are vacationing more, enjoying time with one another more and focus more on family. So, my advice to anyone looking at buying DVC – do it, and buy as many points as you can. Believe me, you don’t want to leave points behind and risk losing them. For me, I make sure all of our points are accounted for and we are a happier family for it. Tom hit the nail on the head when he said “you can not put a price on happiness”. So true. By the way, economically speaking, it works, regardless of how many points you own. Just make sure you buy enough points to stay nice. You won’t regret your purchase.
As for Aulani – we own points and have been there once. Our goal here was to use these points toward our cruises and maybe travel to Aulani every 3 years. Same for the points we bought at Grand Californian. Remember, DVC is a vacationing system that you must learn, to accomplish your vacationing goals. Do not approach DVC as a deeded real estate transaction, although it is. DVC is a vacation system, that once you learn the process, can be very fulfilling.
Thank-you! Finally, someone who has voiced what I’ve been thinking. Value, but at what price?
My only restriction with buying from DVC directly is that they are not offering the resort I want. Will the option to buy a second contract on a property be offered, or do I need to contact them directly? Really want VGF, offered PR. Need the two bedroom’s.
Looking at purchase for Feb. 2016
Thoughts?
Hi Tom,
Just a question for you, or anyone else. We just bought into the dvc in Hawaii and are now wondering if it was a good decision. My two kids will be in school soon so we will likely be travelling on holidays. How do you feel about having to book the hotels so far in advance, and then you can’t pick your days to fly too easily and you may have to fly on a pricey day. Typically now we travel close to our date and try to get cheap hotels and airfare, but with dvc you are pretty much locked into the hotel date. I know that you can try to book the hotel with less notice, but it seems like things fill up quickly. Thanks for the advice in advance! Erin
I agree with your thinking. Fluctuations in airfare prices to Orlando aren’t as big of a deal, because “cheap” v. “expensive” might be a difference of $100/ticket. It all adds up, but still, not huge. However, cheap airfare to Hawaii for us is $500, and expensive is $1,000+. That’s a huge swing, and for that reason alone, I wouldn’t want to be locked into booking there far in advance, unless I could also score an advance deal on airfare.
Aulani looks great, but I wouldn’t own points there–as an entirely personal matter based on the above. When looked at by itself, buying Aulani DVC points might save you money (I’ve never done the math on it), but there are big variables outside of the points themselves when buying at Aulani. Namely, airfare.
All of this is great info, but I am confused to pieces on all the acronyms people are using on this comment board!! Is there a guide?? I can’t figure out half of the stuff people are referring to.
I’m considering DVC (ha, figured that one) and am trying to make sense of it all. Thank you!!
I don’t know of any guide, but here are a few that come to mind:
ROFR – right of first refusal
VGF – Villas at Grand Floridian
BVC – Beach Club Villas
VWL – Villas at Wilderness Lodge
BWV – BoardWalk Villas
BLT – Bay Lake Tower
SSR – Saratoga Springs Resort
OKW – Old Key West
AKV – Animal Kingdom Villas
AKL – Animal Kingdom Lodge
I’m sure I’m missing some, but those ones jump to mind. If you have any others, let me know what they are and I’ll try to help!
Thank you! That is so helpful.
I should add, we live in Ontario, Canada so going for a few days is not an option due to the distance. Our trips would be a minimum of a week, probably 10 days.
Also someone stated earlier that since cruises were all inclusive the points used were worth the value.
Have heard that cruise specials are offered to DVC members, how often does that happen?
Why are Vero Beach points only $50? Would it be smart to buy these?
Should we keep our 100 GFV points and pickup another 100 resale somewhere? This would give up 200 points. Could we use all the points at GFV?
Is it hard to rent out points? Is it harder to rent out the points at older resorts?
Lisa
Tom,
I am a little confused and am looking for your analysis. I understand partially why you would only buy resale. I however just added on 200pts at GFV at $150 a point. My reasoning:
I felt if I ever wanted to stay at GFV in October (Food and Wine Festival) early December, Christmas, New Years, or February through April that it would have to be my home resort, especially if you wanted to book the less expensive standard view studio. After reading your great post I questioned how tough it would be to reserve a standard view studio for the property within the 7 month window. I have been tracking the bookings at GFV and it seems that my thoughts were correct…at least for now.
If you’re not a member at GFV, though you may be able to stay there, you will not be able to get a standard view studio most of the year, thus paying about 20% more points for a lake view room( most of standard views at the GFV are great). The lake view studios are mostly sold out at the 7 month mark for those highly desired time frames also, so I feel it will be risky to count on staying in a studio (standard or lake) a lot of the year if it’s not your home resort. Remember there are other high demand time periods that are not premier season.
As far as the financial analysis, I paid cash to avoid the finance charges, used the money I kept in very conservative investment to lessen the time value of money calculations. I feel once the GFV are finished raising their prices and they hit the resale market in any type of quantity, they will be going for about $170 a point direct and selling on the secondary market for about $130 a point (obviously just estimates). So a $20 a point difference for the added benefits (no restrictions on point usage), picking up an additional 200 points for a 2013 August use year (already banked to 2014) seemed reasonable.
As far as buying SS as the cheapest way in you are correct. But do you think someone with SS as a home resort would be able to stay at BLT, BWV, BCV or GFV not only in the “Peak Season” but also the high demand season such as early December, October, or most of the spring? I think it would be very tough unless you are on the computer at 8am right at the 7 month booking window. Right now, most of October 2014 in studios (standard and lake) are gone at GFV and that’s 9 months away; and October is not considered peak!!
Another calculation I used was the 2064 ending date. This is 10 years more time than SS with 2054 expiration. So the GFV has an expiration date of 25% longer. So you saying you are buying in at 50% less is a little misleading because you are not buying the same thing.
Lastly I do feel that the GFV are something special and even with the point chart high will be very high in demand. It is and always will be Disney’s flagship resort and it being the smallest DVC property in the Disney area, some of the old assumptions of availability at the 7 month window may not be as accurate.
I would be interested in hearing your thoughts.
I need to update this article to account for Grand Floridian’s expiration date, but given your considerations, I think you largely hit the nail on the head. I suspect the Villas at Grand Floridian will be a tough-to-book Christmas resort, especially.
Wow! Thanks for all the info from Tom and other contributors.
Just returned from a visit to WDW and purchased 100 units at GFV. My concern is that we won’t have enough points to get accommodations for my family of 5. At $150/point we can’t buy anymore. Can still cancel the purchase and I’m wondering if we should buy resale to get in instead. GFV are beautiful but we also think they other resorts look great. Our preference would be for a one bedroom every 2nd year. It would be nice to be able to take along friends/family too. Also would love to go on a cruise but reading this isn’t the greatest use of points. At the current resale prices at AKV are these sellers taking a loss? Trying to do some math but not sure what was paid/point. Yes, we will have 50 years at GFV but is this a good option? Lastly, what happens at the end of the contract? Left with nothing? Does Disney plan on offering extensions? This is an important question we didn’t think to ask 🙁
Any insight would be appreciated in the next 5 days to help with our decision.
I booked a week for a one bedroom villa the Grand for Christmas to celebrate my University graduation, but it helps that this is my home resort so I get to book 11 months prior to everyone. But booking it for my son’s birthday this coming April was impossible there is NOTHING available…but either way we chose the Animal Kingdom which to me it seems more adventurous for a turning 2 year old, lol, and for us too… 🙂
Dear Tom,
This is a great write-up. I really wish I had read it before I bought my points. At this point, I have to say that I am not happy with the DVC. For those of you looking into purchasing points please do NOT underestimate the necessity for being able to plan in advance. I am not in a position to plan more than a month or two ahead for a Disney vacation and there is never any availability. I have owned points for a few years and while originally we were able to get rooms at Old Key West or Saratoga within the last year even those resorts are usually sold out and the new Grand Floridian didn’t seem to make a dent in availability. I can only imagine that DVC has been overselling memberships and not building enough rooms to make up for all the new members they are signing up.
Excellent write up, however I have to take issue with you recommending someone not finance their membership. When at all possible it is advisable to use someone else’s money to finance capital expenditures. Doing so transfers the risk from the buyer to the financer. While some savings are lost, these are early savings. During the life of the contract you will still save considerably even with financing. By comparing interest rates, room rates, and contract prices a financing customer will probably do slightly better than break even for the first ten years. After that the only cost will be annual dues which probably represent 25-30% of the actual room rate if being paid out of pocket. Hence the 70% savings advertised. What Disney does not account for is the promotions that you are not entitled to such as free dining plans. While interest rates are in the neighborhood of 10% on a loan, this is a fixed term loan generally at a small principal amount, thus making the higher interest rate somewhat negligible. The difference between say 4% and 10% for most contracts would most likely be no more than tens of dollars a month.
What I will agree on is that if you are someone who does not plan on spending the majority of the next 4 decades at Disney, then don’t buy it. If you are, and you have outgrown the two beds and a mini fridge hotel room, it’s a no brainer.
I understand the risk-transfer proposition, but that’s typically applied when the purchase is viewed as a necessity (or close to it). With timeshares, not only is there no necessity, but there is also an alternative: booking a hotel room. I wouldn’t consider a $15,000-20,000 loan to be negligible, and the amount of interest on that will be substantial. (This can be easily checked with an online financial calculator.) Add to that maintenance fees, and you have an amount that is pretty substantial. That still doesn’t factor in the time value of money–as even if financed, you’re paying more of your own money at the front end than you otherwise would pay for a hotel room over time.
Tom, your post is very informative and well written. I just met with a DVC rep last week before leaving the GF and I was waffling on making the purchase. He offered 150/pt at the GF (LOVED the new villas) for 2014 with addition of 2013 pts if I commit by the 6th.
My son and I take at least one to two vacations per year and typically one is a cruise. We started doing WDW before/after the cruise (been doing DCL for 10 years) but as of yet have not done a stand-alone Orlando trip. Since my son is 14, I want to start changing how we vacation by trying new things…so I’m thinking about DVC.
I was originally considering DVC since I thought you could also use points easily for non-WDW, ABD and DCL…I now know that’s not true. But I still like the option if I wanted to use up points fast or offset the out of pocket price of those trips…BUT I’d likely just use them for disney hotels and non-WDW. So I believe the latter would push me into direct purchasing (and yes, I recognize the price difference).
Since my son is in school, we can only travel at peak times–value in DVC.
I prefer to book my vacations well in advance and get the room I want–also value in DVC direct.
I am spoiled and I like concierge and larger rooms…at properties with good service. While I could live without concierge…I would like to stick with one that we’ve been to so far: Grand, Contemporary (not my fav), AK and Yacht.
I like the idea of being able to get another room for family or my son’s friend–which would be new for us…and I think this might be the best reason for me to get DVC–as I can’t see ever paying rack rates for a 2nd room at those resorts.
I was thinking 200 pts and if I banked from one year to the next, it seems I could get a 1BR or 2 rms once a year at one of the listed hotels (at peak times) and maybe try for smaller trips as well.
So (my question finally), if I want one of the listed hotels (GF, Con, AK) for studio or 1BR during peak times, is 200 going to work and which property would be better as my home? Would it be the cheapest one or is there something else to consider? And given the way I travel, is this a good choice?
Great information here, thanks for sharing. We have 2 little ones, a two year old and a newborn. We just went to Disneyland and DCA during the second week of December before the big Xmas crowds hit, and we absolutely loved it! We got a 1 bdrm suite at the DL hotel and it was crazy expensive, $600/night. I can definitely see us doing an annual trip to Disney and an occasional Orlando trip, and we would most certainly stay at a Disney resort evert time. My 2 big questions are:
1). Will my boys quickly outgrow Disney? What have been people’s experiences with this.
2). We are committed to going during off peak times. We check the calendars on various websites and literally look for the slowest times of the year to go because I hate waiting in line and the room rates tend to be lower. We will be willing to pull the boys out of school when we have to and we are self employed so we can leave whenever we wish. Is there substantial value during off-peak times?
I’ll keep doing my own research too, before I make a decision. We’ll likely try renting points for the villas at the Grand Californian on our next trip. Thanks again for all the helpful info!
Cheers!
One more question too! Sorry! haha.
My wife and I are both teachers, so we can only travel during the more premium seasons. In previous comments it was mentioned that if traveling during these premium seasons then the DVC becomes much more valuable. Why is this? If this is the case, it would definitely seem to make sense for us!
Although it “costs” more points during these seasons, they’re also the times Disney is least likely to offer deep discounts on rooms, making the comparative cost between DVC and booking via Disney better. Plus, since you know when those breaks are relatively far in advance, it’s easier for you to plan your bookings at the relative booking windows.
Hope that helps!