What I Wish I Knew BEFORE Buying Disney Vacation Club

It’s truly like “prepaying” for our Disney World trips

If you’re not as well versed in DVC lore here’s a quick rundown. DVC or Disney Vacation Club is Disney’s version of a timeshare. You’ll purchase a set of points to use annually towards your hotel stays which are typically in the deluxe category of hotels.

Even though we’re Orlando locals now, we weren’t always and this was immensely helpful when we were planning out future vacations (sometimes multiple a year) and not having to come out of pocket for each individual reservation. We also learned this got pretty dangerous as a Disney adult because the flexibility it provided really made us wish we’d purchased more points upfront.

As out-of-towners, this took care of one of our line items to budget for which usually was a big factor in how many trips we could afford year after year. Now as locals, we’re still able to book a reservation for stay-cations and relax with some pool time and skip the parks.

DVC Guides are there to work with you and for you

DVC guides are not there to push you into a high pressured sales presentation like most timeshare companies have presented in the past. In fact, when we first sat down with a guide, he encouraged us to take a few days to discuss it privately away from the sales office and if it still made sense, the program would be happy to welcome us in.

Of course, we hit another hurdle when we decided we wanted to buy DVC because who’s bringing thousands of dollars with them on vacation to buy a timeshare on top of what you’ve already budgeted for? Certainly, not me — but that wasn’t a problem for DVC at all. In fact, they knew to anticipate this problem ahead of time. While we were initially given finance options, in order to walk away as a member we were asked for a minimum down on a credit/debit card or cash that would be applied towards the down payment. Then our contract was cleared through Disney financing, and (the cool part here) was we were allowed with a few days time from the purchase date to pay in full once we were back home or get alternate financing through our own bank and familiar lenders (at usually a lower interest percentage).

You can use them at multiple Disney Destinations

It’s true — while you’ll probably see DVC most heavily advertised at your home parks of Disney World or Disneyland there’s opportunity to use it for more Disney destinations and vacations than at first glance!

With DVC, you’re allowed to use your points for vacations at Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in Hawaii, Disney Cruise Line sailings, and even Adventures By Disney trips. If none of those sound appealing, there’s also an exchange program where you can bank your points into a traditional timeshare exchange and still enjoy what you’ve paid for already at a new destination to explore!

Using your points outside of hotels isn’t going to be your best use

This is where the proof is in the practice for me. When I bought into DVC, the membership allowed us the flexibility to do what we wanted with our points but no one told me that might be within reason.

As a seasoned owner, I’ve found that using our DVC points for hotel stays yields the highest value in return for us. While you CAN use your DVC points for things like Disney Cruise Line sailings, it’s very common for even the shortest of sailings to require a high amount of points to use them this way. It’s also worth noting that depending on how many points you’ve currently purchased, you could be looking at using more than just your current year’s allotted points to sail which could set you back a few year’s worth of points.

You can also “gift” nightly stays to family members or rent your points out to a family member and use that money towards the vacation you’d rather take.

“Use year” DOES matter!

Your DVC “use year” refers to the month when your new points will roll around for the following year’s use.

You’ll want to pay close attention to this as it will indicate how long you have within that year to use the current year’s points until they expire and you have the next year’s points rolled out to use. For example, our use year rolls around each December for our contracts which means that we get to “bank” or tell DVC we plan to use these points in the future for any unused points by June. If we accidentally miss this deadline or don’t opt to bank, we have to have used all of our current usable points for the year before December rolls back around — otherwise, we lose them.

You’ve got power when borrowing points

You can borrow from banked points in past years, and even borrow from a year ahead. This kind of flexibility was one of the major selling points to us and we could see it being attractive to the infrequent Disney vacationer or someone who wants to splurge on those grander hotel stays from time to time.

There’s also a secret bank of points that DVC will let you draw from and those points will have a separate cost to them out of pocket, but keeps you from being short.

Using your points in California and Hawaii will cost you money even when staying on points

Due to the laws in these states, even if you’re staying on your DVC points, you’ll have to come out of pocket some money per night. The only exception to this is Disney’s Grand Californian Resort at Disneyland.

This cost is calculated by a cost per point used throughout your stay and that must be paid for your stay in addition to your points. So, if you’re thinking about booking either of these destinations, it’s good to learn what that extra out-of-pocket cost will look like before you end your stay with an unpleasant surprise.

Add-on-itis is VERY real!

If you’ve ever spent any length of time talking to a DVC owner, they’ve probably mentioned something affectionately called “add-on-itis.” It’s a term owners use to describe the want to add more points to your current membership through another contract. (See, I told you we would get to this later!)

It’s a hard reality to face when you discover you don’t have enough points for the frequency of vacations you want to choose now that you’ve learned the ins and outs of booking reservations through the DVC system. If you think you’ve calculated the exact amount of points you’re going to use for the 50 years of the hotel contract, you might want to plus up that number just a bit.

When you decide you’re ready to purchase more points, that is done as an add-on to your current contract. The downside to this is that there are point minimums and your add-on purchase will be a separate contract with closing costs and down payment. However, the silver lining to add-on contracts is that you’ve got more points to use and if you’ve added on points at a second resort, you’ve got another “home”.

Annual/Maintenance Dues are a thing

At its heart, this program is a timeshare with shared association costs. Just because you’ve made the initial (hefty) investment doesn’t mean you’re done shelling out the $$.

Annual dues for DVC are paid between Dec-Jan for the upcoming year, typically fluctuate in price, and are calculated by the number of points you purchase for that “home” resort’s contract. They can be paid monthly by including them in your loan cost or you can pay them in one lump sum annually and this is the ONLY time you’re able to use Disney Gift Cards to pay towards a DVC purchase (you can’t pay a loan payment for your purchase with Disney Gift Card).

Inventory to book reservations can be VERY limited

In more recent years, DVC memberships have gained popularity and with that, a new problem. DVC members who “own” at their home resort are able to book reservations up to 11 months in advance and 7 months in advance of the hotels their contracts are not assigned to.

This could be a problem if you plan to vacation at busier times of the year like holidays, and New Year’s, especially if you’re looking to try out a hotel your contract doesn’t “own”. Even at that, DVC members frequently complain that getting the reservations they really want has become increasingly harder with the surge of new members and hotel stays are more sporadic. To limit this frustration as much as possible, I urge you to consider purchasing your membership at the hotel you plan to vacation at the most to have your best chance at booking availability.

There’s an entire slew of discounts, special offerings, and parties at the DVC owner’s disposal just waiting for you to take advantage of

Most folks considering DVC memberships don’t realize all of the perks available until after becoming members which is such a shame!

What I would have loved to have known before purchasing is that DVC members own a deeded part of real estate in that state making them eligible for the resident rates on certain tiers of Annual Passes. Popular offerings like Moonlight Magic are an annual highlight that most members really look forward to. They mimic a lot of what’s offered in the pricey after-hours events (if you can get into the reservation queues). There are also times when you’re sent special things through the mail or given opportunities during your stay to do fun seasonal DVC exclusive meet and greets and enjoy the park lounges.