We have owned points in Disney Vacation Club for several years now. I get asked about it A LOT so I thought I’d do a quick post reviewing our experience, sharing a couple things we’ve learned, and what we would do differently if we had it to do over!
We purchased our contract from a resale broker (if you call Jason at The Timeshare Store tell him I said hi. Great experience with them). It was MUCH cheaper then purchasing directly from Disney but this was before the most recent restrictions, so be aware of what you don’t get if you purchase from anyone other than Disney. To us, it still would have been worth it to go resale, but you may have different objectives so just be aware of the restrictions.
Here’s what we’ve learned:
If you think you can buy at one resort and stay wherever you want, you may be in for a surprise. There is an 11 month and a 7 month booking window. At your “home” resort, you can reserve at 11 months. If you want to stay somewhere else, you can only book 7 months in advance. And if you try to book too close to travel, there may be ZERO availability. That’s right – it’s perfectly normal for there to be nothing available. In my opinion, DVC isn’t for you if you are a last minute type vacationer.
Having said that, even though our home resort is Vero Beach, so far we have stayed at Beach Club, Saratoga Springs, Boardwalk, Old Key West, and Animal Kingdom Kidani Villas. But we are planners, so right at that 7 month mark I’m always jennifer on the spot (if we’re trying to stay at WDW – obviously for our Vero trips we are all set as that is our “home”).
There’s no housekeeping if you stay less than 8 nights. This actually does not bother me – they do “trash and towel” service every 4 days, there’s a communal trash can to dump your junk when you need to, and we’ve never had any trouble asking housekeeping for additional towels when we really needed them (or I just wash them in our washer and dryer!) even though you’re supposed to be charged for that. There’s also a vacuum cleaner and a broom and dustpan should your family get messy, and if you REALLY want it, you can pay $30 and they’ll come do a full cleaning. But for us, housekeeping always seemed to come right when we wanted to be in the room for a break during the day, so not having to worry about that is kind of nice.
It’s kind of a hassle to keep up with your points. If you don’t use them, you loose them. So you do have to do a bit of “admin” work to be sure they don’t go to waste. Disney will send you reminders when your banking deadline is coming near (the date by which you must have banked any points you won’t be using for the next use year), but truly, you do have to be sure you use them all.
There are RULES. Lots of RULES. For example, you can transfer points in from another member but only once a year, you can buy 24 additional points for cash if you don’t have enough points but only if you call member services and only once a year, if you cancel too close to your reservation your points have to be used within a very short window . . .etc, etc, etc. You have to do your homework and know what you’re doing, especially if you want to get the full benefit out of your points (I like doing Disney homework so this doesn’t bother me).
Dues aren’t nothing. In fact, for many people, if you’re happy staying in a moderate hotel room you won’t save any money on your lodging by buying DVC. But if you’re a larger family and need the extra space, or if you just LIKE the deluxe resorts, it really does make sense. Just remember that even after you own your points, you have to pay those dues EVERY year. Also, if you need to use financing, your savings can quickly get eaten up with interest. So just do your math.
Now onto some of the GREAT things:
- You have the points, so you’re going to use them. At least we do. So that means we ARE taking vacations. Even the years where money has been tight, we’ve known that our Disney vacation is something we can fit into the budget. I love knowing that family time is protected.
- There’s a great sense of community among members. I love being on Magical Express and seeing a member pin or bag or shirt and chatting about home resorts and where you’ve stayed and don’t you love it . . . you get the picture.
- You can change how you use your points as your family grows and then shrinks and then grows again. Right now, while all 5 of us are still going on vacation, we are typically using all of our available points and borrowing from the following year. But once the boys have flown the coop, Scott and I may find ourselves going more frequently but staying in a studio instead of a 2 bedroom. Once the grandkids come, we may have to bank and borrow so we can use 3 years of points and pay for a grand villa at Vero for EVERYONE (this is my dream, btw).
- You have a kitchen and a washer and dryer. With a larger family I just cannot emphasize how vital this is. We save a fortune by having breakfast in the villa each day and if you’ve ever been to Orlando you know that sweaty and stinky are sort of part of the deal – especially with 3 boys – so that washer and dryer are a life (and nose) saver.
- I also love having a landing spot that feels like home. When we are at Vero, it’s a great place to hang out after the end of a great beach day, and when we’re at Disney, it’s wonderful to have a place to hang out and get away from the crowds for awhile! And when we’ve just had enough, ordering pizza and watching a movie fits the bill perfectly (wouldn’t really work if we were all crowded in one hotel room).
- And, as sappy as it sounds, I like owning part of the magic. I know, I know, I don’t REALLY own it, but I kinda do and it makes me feel like part of the Disney family, which has been a dream since childhood. And how can you really put a price on that? (husband is screaming in the background WE ARE NOT ADDING ON ANYMORE POINTS!)
Happy to answer any questions you may have!! Let me know in the comments below. (ETA I recently added a video to the YouTube channel all about DVC and what we wish we’d known before we purchased! Enjoy!)
I LOVE the no housekeeping, makes it easy to be able to go back to the room and not worry about them coming in during naptime.
In our pre-DVC years we seem to have some sort of cosmic link to the kids naps and mousekeeping coming! Every. Time.
Honestly, I’d be happy never having my room cleaned while I’m traveling. I usually just leave the DND sign on the door the entire time (Disney or other). Of course, now that Disney changed it and they have to go into your room every day because our country loves guns, that doesn’t really work anymore.
I don’t know, I just don’t see the point in getting my room cleaned when I’m there for like a week. And I like just being able to leave my stuff however without it being in the cleaning person’s way.
Thanks for this great review. I’m thinking of taking a Disney vacation with my family. This helps me a lot!
Wow that’s an amazing family picture. It reminds me of the time my family travelling to China last year. Miss them a lot.
We just did a phone tour to get a gift card. How many points does your family use and how often do you go to WDW? We’re a family of 5 too which makes things complicated and expensive! So many of the rooms I saw were for 4 which is too small or 8+ guests and tons of points. My husband could be pushed to buy but wonders if we’ll outgrow and/or get bored with Disney. We’ve got boys ages 9 & 11 and a daughter who’s 4. That adult age beginning at 10 is a killer too!
We use my inlaws time share in Orlando, but have done a few short trips and the cost of DVC per year would be about equal to one hotel stay. We can’t do short trips and stay at my inlaws place since it’s off property and adds renting a car (that fits five!). We had an annual pass this year and last which has awesome benefits too and you break even at 10 days.
Hi, Stacey! Thanks for reading and commenting! So, we own two contracts, one for 170 points and one for 60. And we typically do one, week long trip a year and a few days here and there (mostly for my Run Disney weekends). It’s, of course, never enough but between buying one time use points and doing tricks like arriving on a Sunday to avoid the higher priced Saturday nights, we make it work.
We shared your concern when we were considering buying, but we felt confident that we could sell our contract if we really did stop going. But with Vero Beach, Hilton Head, and Aulani all great choices as well we figured we would still find a way to use those points even without the kids. Scott and I have also come to really love the resort life and could see ourselves happily going for a week or more when retired and barely ever going to parks!
And you’re right on the size of the rooms. When the boys were younger all five of us could easily stay in a one bedroom but now that they are 18, 18 and 21 a 2 bedroom is a must! It also is very dependent on the time of year as off-peak times really give you a better value for points. Do your homework but also know that many members own for a few years, realize it isn’t for them, and then sell their contract so you’re not committing for the rest of your life – Disney is one of the few time shares that is actually fairly easy to unload!
We’ve briefly thought about doing DVC tons of times and it’s hard for us to swallow the buy-in cost. I feel like for just the two of us, we’d probably get to take a lot of vacations, but we also try to do a lot of non-Disney stuff each year too.
Maybe it’s time to take another look into it. I think part of the issue I kept running into was how long it would take for us to breakeven on DVC vs just doing it up regular style. If I remember correctly, that length of time was a lot more than either of us were able to say we’d be sure we’d still be going to WDW as much as we do.
Then again, we do have a solid chunk of savings that we actually have to figure out what to do with so…hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
You two would be the perfect candidates for resale, in my opinion I’m going to do a YouTube video about this very thing (most likely filming tomorrow) and I’m going to talk more about that, but let me know if you have any questions on going that route. We bought both our contracts that way and saved a ton of money and you can also get ones that end sooner (2042)
Do resale contracts qualify for NOT having to pay the overnight parking fee?
Yes, ABSOLUTELY, Megan! All DVC members, regarding of how they purchased, have parking fees waived. Or rather, they are included in your dues:).
Good morning Jen,
I’m not sure which video you mentioned looking at contracts for sold-out properties buying directly through Disney, but I was wondering where you were getting that information. We are looking to potentially buy DVC, but we can only get pricing info by speaking to DVC. Are you able to see those contracts because you’re an existing member? I’m just curious. Thank you so much, I really enjoy your videos, I have learned a lot.
There are a couple of great websites that offer that, I got my info from https://dvcnews.com/index.php/dvc-program/financial/pricing-a-promotions and if you’re interested what the properties are selling for through resale brokers, we love DVC By Resale! Shontelle is awesome, very honest, and she will help you out! https://www.dvcbyresale.com/
Thank you so SO much!! You are awesome. I have really been enjoying your videos!! Thank you for taking your time in sharing your knowledge! 🙂
You are most welcome, Laryssa!!