I’m a Disney Vacation Club Member and This Is How Much It REALLY Cost Me

I could talk your head off all day about how much I love being a Disney Vacation Club member and tell you about all of its perks, but there’s always one area where I get the ultimate push back: “How much is it going to cost me?”

If you’ve ever been curious about staying in some of Disney World’s biggest hotel rooms, using points instead of cash to book your next Disney World trip, and wanted to know more about how you get an exclusive invite to member-only events, I’m living proof that it might not be as expensive as you think!

Hey friends, if you’re new here, I’m Myranda, one of our resident Disney Vacation Club members on the AE team. And if you’ve ever found yourself either curious about DVC or you are completely scratching your head saying “what’s that?”, you’ve come to the right place!

It’s hard to believe it but I’ve been visiting Disney World since I was 6 weeks old, which you probably would have assumed made me an expert on ALL things Disney. However, I was very humbled when my husband and I sat down to really talk about how much our frequent Disney World visits were costing us before we moved to Orlando. After crunching the numbers and talking over our options with our DVC guide, my husband and I made the decision to become Disney Vacation Club members — and our investment wasn’t anything like we expected it to be.

What’s DVC?

Disney Vacation Club, or DVC for short, is Disney’s version of a timeshare program. Your membership purchase buys you points to use for hotel stays rather than traditional cash exchanged for rooms — typically in some of Disney’s nicest and roomiest accommodations. From there, that’s basically how you pay for your Disney World hotel stays outside of annual dues and sometimes extra taxes depending on which hotels you’re using your points to stay in.

Each membership will also have an expiration date which typically is a maximum of 50 years — sounds like a pretty sweet deal, right? Sure, there are a lot of perks that come along with being a DVC member, but one big thing that seems to really turn people away from even asking about becoming a DVC member is assumptions about how much all of this costs. I’m here to tell you that it might not be as expensive as you originally thought!

Ok, I’m Listening,  What’s Next?

I knew that’d get your attention! Alright, let’s say you’ve heard enough about DVC to really want to understand what makes this program tick and how it could benefit you. Outside of asking us all the things, there’s someone else you’ll NEED to talk to further! Before you ever discuss money, (trust me, we’re getting there shortly) you’ll want to talk Disney Vacation Club membership  over with a DVC Guide. These folks are THE PEOPLE that can make your dreams of owning a piece of Disney happen — that’s right, I said OWNING!

They’re able to speak further on membership and what that might look like for you and your family’s situation. All I ask of you in return is that you don’t hold anything back, because their job is to be your encyclopedia to all things DVC and customize a DVC membership with you based on your vacation wants and needs. Everyone is different and therefore, no vacation is ever “one size fits all.” Even if you don’t visit Disney World or Disneyland each year, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a version of DVC membership available to you. While you’re talking, don’t forget to ask your DVC Guide what off-years (years you wouldn’t be visiting Disney) would look like for you and learn more about where you can use your points other than Disney World hotels — like Disney Cruise Line and other destinations.

Let’s Talk $$

All this sounds like a great deal that could really benefit you and your next Disney trips, but how much will it cost you? As always, don’t be afraid to ask about discounts!  DVC usually has a promotion going with a minimum points purchase. This is a great time to discuss how many points you’re looking to purchase based on past vacations and maybe cushion a bit more (because once you have the convenience of booking with points, add-on-itis is real).

Points have a specific dollar amount associated with them and will vary in cost based on the hotel you’re buying into as your “home” (this is just the tangible property associated with your deeded real estate paperwork for the timeshare program). As of this post, DVC memberships purchased directly through Disney range between $235 to $245 per point (ex. 100 points is $23,500), and you’ll want to discuss your options available after purchase if you need more points and what that cost might look like. Personally, when my husband and I took a step back and realized we were spending that or more in one night for a smaller room than what we could be staying in, it really started making much more financial sense to us.

I also feel the need to disclose that we’ve been DVC members for years now and these weren’t the prices we paid — but that’s the beauty of it! Was it expensive when we bought our DVC membership? Absolutely, but we also recognized it was a cost we were already budgeting for unintentionally. Where DVC membership became an investment for us, is that while the prices of hotel stays per night keep going up, our purchase price for our points never did. So in the next decades when our financed points are completely paid, we’ll enjoy the same amount of stays we do now for the same price we paid years ago and not spend thousands per night for the rooms we’re already enjoying!

Also, DVC allows owners that need a few extra points to complete a hotel stay at a cash cost as a one time per year purchase. You’ll also need to know that since you’re buying into a deeded real estate contract at one of Disney’s hotels, there are closing costs associated with your purchase outside of the points cost and your annual maintenance dues. Deciding whether you want to pay your dues monthly or annually may be a way to offset some of the hefty upfront costs to initially purchase your DVC membership. Just remember that if you’re financing your points, dues are paid in addition to your monthly payment. When you go to purchase, some of these may be prorated based on the time of year you’re purchasing.

Financing vs. Cash

This actually brings me into my next point, you’ve got the power to choose how you want to pay for your points. The last thing you probably want to do on an expensive Disney World or Disneyland vacation is fork out ANOTHER chunk of change — I get it because we had the same pains. Putting down even 10% of points purchased in the middle of your vacation might be one of the most expensive souvenirs you ever bring home, but you’ve got another option.

If you want to finance your purchase, you can either do so through Disney directly or choose to get financing at your preferred bank or credit union within a few days of purchasing. When we bought our first contract with DVC, all we needed was $500 down to sign paperwork while in the middle of our vacation and that secured our contract. From there, we were offered the option to split up our 10% down payment over a few months which meant our membership didn’t start until that was paid. This would make that down payment example of $2,350 hurt a little less in payments over a few months. Of course, if you’d rather, there’s always the option to pay cash completely for your purchase, and DVC can totally help you that route, too! In that case, all you’ll have to remember is paying your annual dues each January of the years to come.

Welcome Home, New DVC Member! What’s Left?

Once your membership is paid for whether by cash or your last financed payment, that’s it until your Annual Dues. Most contracts are for around 50 years when purchased from Disney directly. However, you’ll want to be aware that if you’re purchasing from a previous owner as a “legacy contract” through Disney or through the resale market, the years left on the contract could be significantly less depending on when the original contract was purchased. Watch out for “add-on-itis”! This term of endearment is what we call the urge to purchase additional “add-on” points beyond your initial points.

Existing DVC members often receive promotions to purchase more points (sometimes at different hotels than their original purchase) and of course the same $$ situations apply. We’ve personally fallen victim to our own failed vacation math and once we started using points instead of cash for stays, we quickly found out we wanted more points and within a year we were purchasing even more!

All in all, you and your family will want to weigh the pros and cons for what’s comfortable and best for your vacationing. For my family, it started making much more sense to take the money we were spending on a room per night with no return on our investment (other than the memories), and focus that same effort into something that could benefit our family for decades to come. While I recognize this isn’t a vacationing strategy that works for everyone’s needs and situations, it certainly made more sense to us crunching the numbers of what we were already committing to Disney World vacations year after year, and instead splitting that investment over 50 years to enjoy again and again.

We’re always talking about the best tips, tricks, and strategies to help you plan for your next Disney World vacation. Be sure to stay tuned with us at AllEars for the latest!

The “Hidden” Cost to Being a Disney Vacation Club Owner

Which of the Disney Vacation Club hotels are on your bucket list? Tell me in the comments below!

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