Disney Vacation Club Overview and FAQ
Disney Vacation Club (DVC) is a vacation ownership program offered by Disney, allowing members to enjoy vacation experiences at Disney resorts and other destinations worldwide. In short: DVC is Disney’s take on a timeshare program. It operates on a points-based system, where members purchase a real estate interest in one of the Disney Vacation Club resorts and receive an annual allotment of points that can be used for accommodations. DVC offers flexibility, allowing members to choose when, where, and how long they stay, providing a magical way to create lasting memories with family and friends.
What is Disney Vacation Club?
Disney Vacation Club (DVC) is Disney’s take on a timeshare program. Members purchase a deeded interest in one of the resorts in the form of buying a recurring allotment of “points”. These points can be used to book accommodations at a Disney resort. This “point based system” allows great flexibility and really sets the program apart from other timeshare programs giving it tremendous value to its members!
DVC Resorts begin with a 50 year contract, meaning that if you buy-in to a resort right when it is built you will receive FIFTY YEARS of points. Because DVC is a deeded interest, you OWN the rights to those points. This means you can sell it at anytime, or pass it down through generations.
Is Disney Vacation Club right for me?
As with most things, the answer is “it depends”. Read through the rest of this page and FAQs to understand the program and decide for yourself, but here are a few simple guardrails:
DVC might be for you if…
– You and your family like Disney and Disney Resorts and you would like to visit at least once every two years or more frequently
– You value staying “on property” at a Disney resort and would pay to stay at at least a “moderate” resort.
– You can plan your vacations at least 7 months in advance
DVC might NOT be for you if…
– You aren’t a fan of Disney or Disney resorts (Why are you here?!? 😄)
– You only stay at Value resorts on property and don’t see a point in moderate or deluxe resorts.
– You can not plan your travel at least 4-5 months (but ideally 7+) months in advance
What exactly are DVC Points?
As mentioned – Disney Vacation Club members purchase an annual allotment of points. This gives lots of flexibility – Different room types (e.g. Studio, One Bedroom, Two Bedroom, etc) all cost a different number of points per night, and the cost is also variable based on the time of year and the location or view of the room. (e.g. High demand periods like Christmas break will cost more points per night than low demand periods. Theme Park views will cost more points than parking lot views, etc)
DVC publishes a “point chart” for each resort every year about 14 months in advance. So for example, Disney published the 2023 point chart in Nov of 2021. Disney published the 2024 point chart in early Dec 2022, etc.
The point charts can be found in each of the resort pages on our site. To make it easier to compare different resorts, we’ve built a fantastic DVC Points Calculator where you can select a check-in and check-out date and see the total number of points required by resort, room type, and location.
What about inflation? How many points will I need in 5, 10, 20 years or more?
This is one of the best parts about DVC that many people don’t understand: There is a fixed amount of points for each DVC resort, and the point chart must always add up to that number of points, every year. Disney can choose to shift around the number of points a room, view, or date costs year to year, BUT, it must balance to the fixed number of points each year. So, if Disney chooses to make one room type or set of dates at the resort cost more points, they must offset that by making some other room type or dates cost fewer points.
An example of this was up until 2021, most DVC resorts had 5 “Seasons” on their point charts (So the same room and same view would have 5 different prices based on the date of your stay). In 2021, this was changed to 7 seasons. As a result, some high demand dates (like Christmas week) saw their total point cost go up by a few points per night (~2 points per night more for studios, for example) while other dates in the “low” demand season saw their point per night cost go down.
All this to say: While the cost of points and buying a DVC contract has historically gone up significantly, the total number of points it takes to book your vacation will be roughly the same 50 years from now as it is today.
How much does DVC cost?
There are several factors that determine the cost of DVC, specifically:
* The total number of points being purchased
* The home resort for the DVC contract
* If you are buying directly from Disney or Resale (Tip: Resale is significantly better value!)
Generally speaking: An average DVC contract of 200 points at a new resort will cost about $40,000 direct from Disney. If purchased on the resale market, the home resort will significantly change the price, but a similar contract will be $25,000 – $30,000.
What are DVC dues?
Disney Vacation Club members, no matter if purchased directly from Disney or on the resale market, all have to pay annual dues. Dues vary by resort and are charged based on the number of points you own. Dues pay for the resorts maintenance, taxes, insurance, etc. You can see the historical dues, by resort in our Historical DVC Dues table.
What is a DVC “Home Resort”?
A DVC “Home Resort” refers to the specific Disney Vacation Club resort where a member has purchased their vacation ownership interest. Each DVC contract is associated with a particular Home Resort, which serves as the primary resort for booking accommodations. Members typically have the benefit of being able to make reservations at their Home Resort up to 11 months in advance, while reservations at other DVC resorts can be made up to 7 months in advance.
Your Home Resort matters significantly. Our strongest advice is “Buy where you want to stay” because it is usually pretty easy to find availability at your home resort when you book MORE THAN 7 months in advance. Availability can be really spotty within the 7 month window.
Can I have more than one “Home Resort”?
Absolutely – anyone can own multiple DVC contracts and each contract is assigned a home resort. So, for example you can not buy a SINGLE contract for 300 points with both Bay Lake Tower and Beach Club as your home resort. But you CAN buy a 150 point contract at Beach Club and a 150 point contract at Bay Lake Tower.
If you do this, note that your 11 month window is ONLY valid for the points at their specific home resort. So in the example above, if you wanted to book a stay that is 250 points at Beach Club, you would need to borrow 100 points from a future use year to secure the booking if you are more than 7 months from your planned check-in date.
What is a “Use Year”?
While it is called a “Use Year”, this is a very misleading name. A “Use Year” is the month in which you receive your annual allotment of points. Disney use years are February, March, April, June, August, September, October, and December.
So, if you have a December “Use Year”, your points become available Dec 1. All points, regardless of Use Year, are good for 12 months from they are allocated and must be used or banked in that period.
Does Use Year matter?
The short answer is “a little”. It might seem that since your points are good for 12 months it doesn’t really matter what the use year is, and most of the time, that is the case. But there are two considerations where your use year might matter:
1) If you have multiple contracts, it is much easier to manage them when they are the same use year. So if you are already a member and have a contract with a February use year, you will do yourself a favor to buy another February Use Year. Multiple contracts at the same resort and same use year are merged together in the DVC portal so you can treat them like one large contract for booking. If they are the same resort and different use years, you will need to work with DVC customer service every time you book if you need to book a stay that requires points from both contracts.
2) You can only “bank” your points into the next year in the first 8 months. For example, if you have a December Use Year and you want to bank your points, you MUST do so by July 31st. Because of this, if you regularly travel at the same time of year, it is ideal for your use year to be right before your travel starts. That way, if something happens and you need to cancel your trip, you have a longer time to either use or book your points. As another example, if you always travel in late February, a February use year would be ideal. If you had an April use year and needed to cancel your trip for some reason, you would not be able to bank those points, AND you would have to use them before April 1st. Finding availability on that short of notice can be a real challenge.
How do DVC Booking Windows work?
Barring any resale restrictions on a contract (read all about resale restrictions here), the rules are that you can book your home resort starting 11 months from check-in and you can book a non-home resort starting 7 months from check-in.
For example: If you want to check in on November 17th at your home resort, you can book that starting December 17th. If you wanted to book at a non-home resort, you can book starting April 17th.
Important note: The booking window applies to the check-in date and you can technically book as far in advance as 11 months + 7 days. So in the example above, on December 17th, you can book a stay from Nov 17 – Nov 24. If you wanted to book a 9 day stay, you could book the first 7 days on Dec 17th, and then add on the 8th day on Dec 18th, and add on the 9th day on Dec 19th.
How easy is it to book what I want?
This is the million dollar question! What good is it to have points if there isn’t any availability for when you want to travel, after all!
It comes down to several factors, with the most important being 1) How far in advance will you book? 2) What room and view type do you want and 3) When are you traveling?
It might be counter-intuitive, but remember that you are “competing” with other Disney fans who also visit Disney World often. Since this isn’t a “Once in a lifetime” trip for most DVC owners, they usually aren’t looking to splurge for the big rooms and great views. Because of this, the most popular and most difficult to book options are the LOW POINT rooms and seasons because they cost fewer points and other DVC owners are trying to stretch their point value, too. For example: at a resort like Bay Lake Tower, the “Theme Park View” 1 Bedroom will cost nearly 3x as many points as a “Standard View” Studio.
Generally speaking: Studios will always book quickly and be more difficult to book than 1 bedrooms. Standard view (or “Value” at Animal Kingdom) will usually book faster than preferred or theme park view rooms. The wild card are the Grand Villas. They are a TON of points to book, but inventory is also extremely low with there only being a handful at each resort.
If you can plan far enough ahead to book at the 11 month mark at your home resort, there is a high likelihood that you will get what you want, even if it is the low-point room. If you are hoping to book a “low-point” room at the 7 month mark, it is highly unlikely.
Which DVC Home Resort should I choose?
The most common and best advice is “Buy where you want to stay”. Booking availability at the 7 month mark usually isn’t very good. So, if you are thinking that you will just buy at Old Key West because the resale contracts are less expensive, but book at Polynesian or Bay Lake Tower at the 7 month window, think again; You will be disappointed.
To be clear: There are definitely members who make this work, but you have to be really flexible with dates, and often be open to doing split stays (staying at one resort for a few days and then moving to another based on availability when booking).
What is “Banking” and “Borrowing” points?
Members are able to “bank” any unused points in a given year to the next year. Points can ONLY be banked for 1 year and you must elect to bank the points in the first 8 months after they are allocated. Example: If you have a 150 point contract at BoardWalk with a Use Year of April, then you receive your annual allocation of points on April 1st and you have until November 30th to bank those points. If you do not bank them by November 30th and you do not use them before April 1st, they will expire and go unused.
You can not bank points that have already been banked once. Example: If on April 1st, 2024 you receive your 150 points and you bank them before November 30th, 2024, they will be available from April 1, 2025 – March 31, 2026 (So you will have 300 points total in that time period: The 150 from 2024 and the 150 from 2025). You will NOT be able to re-bank the original 150 points. (You can bank your 150 points from 2025, though).
DVC also allows BORROWING points from your next coming use year. Using the same example above, you can borrow points from your next use year and use them now.
Between banking and borrowing, you can theoretically use up to 3x your annual point allotment in a given year. Many members choose to do this to “save up” for a big trip every 2-3 years. Here is how it works:
– On April 1st 2024, you receive your 150 points that are good from April 1 2024 – March 31, 2025
– You choose to bank all 150 points before November 30th, 2024. You now have 300 points available April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025
– You plan a big trip for May 2025 that costs 450 points.
– You can “borrow” the points that will be allocated on April 1, 2025 for April 1, 2025 – March 31, 2026 and use them in May 2025.
Best of all: DVC’s systems are “smart” enough to let you do this while still staying within the booking windows. So that means that you can book that May 2025 trip in June of 2024 in the 11 month booking window and when you book it, choose to bank your ’24 points and borrow the needed ’26 points all at the same time.
When are the Banking Deadlines?
Banking Deadlines
Use Year –> Banking Deadline
February –> September 30
March –> October 31
April –> November 30
June –> January 31
August –> March 31
September –> April 30
October –> May 31
December –> July 31
What is the cancellation policy for a DVC resort stay?
Cancellation policy depends on how far in advance you cancel:
31 or More Days Before Check-In: All Vacation Points used for the reservation will be returned to your account within the same Use Year.
30 Days to One Day Before Check-In: All Vacation Points used for the reservation will be placed in a Holding Account within the same Use Year.
On the Check-In Date: All Vacation Points used for the reservation will be forfeited.
What’s the deal with renting points?
Renting points can be a great way to do a one time DVC vacation for significantly less than just booking a room directly with Disney.
Long term, if you plan to return to Disney every few years, it usually makes more sense to own the contract and the points, but renting points is a fantastic option for a one-time trip or to try a DVC room.
The idea of renting is that you usually would go through a broker who matches up people who want to rent points for a vacation with DVC owners that have points they don’t plan to use who can book the stay for the renter.
You pay for the booking through the broker, they take a cut, and pass the rest along to the DVC owner who booked the reservation.
Usually, the prospective renter fills out a request with the broker for specific dates, a resort, a room type and view options. The broker then finds a DVC owner with points available who can book the reservation on behalf of the renter.
The cost and availability varies wildly for renting points. If you, as the renter, want to specify the exact resort, view, room type, and dates, you should expect the cost to be around $25/point to get your request. You can calculate the points needed for a stay using our DVC Point Calculator.
The major advantage to renting points is that you can have a Disney vacation for significantly less than booking a room directly.
There are a few disadvantages to renting:
First, availability can be questionable. You need to put in your request far in advance to make sure the broker can line up an owner who can book the reservation on your behalf.
Second, if you plan to return frequently, you should expect the price per point for your rental to rise over time. As mentioned above, the actual number of points needed to book a room is unlikely to change over multiple decades, but the cost to rent points (like the cost to book a room directly to Disney) is almost certainly going to increase over time, and quickly. As an example, a decade ago, you could rent points for about half of what they cost today. So while your stay might take 150 points to book a decade ago and still take 150 points to book today, those 150 points would have cost you less than $2,000 a decade ago. Today, it will cost you nearly $4,000 to rent the same number of points.
Third, refunds and cancellation policies for point rentals are very poor. Remember: You are NOT doing business with Disney when you book a rental. You are doing business with an individual owner via a broker. As pointed out above, the cancellation policy for DVC stays is not very good, so that same policy is passed along to the renter. If you book a one-time, cash room directly with Disney, the cancellation policy is fantastic: As long as you cancel within 24 hours, you get a full refund. But for DVC stays and point rentals through brokers, you will pay the full balance up front, and the refund policy is practically non-existent if you need to cancel.