If you were like most kids, you probably grew up on the world of Disney. You know all of the movies, and you have strong opinions about which ones are the best. You might have even gotten to visit the Disney parks when you were growing up.
Disney is such a huge part of our lives that we rarely grow out of the excitement that comes with a Disney vacation. If you’re a frequent visitor of Disney parks, you’re going to love learning all about Disney Vacation Club.
What is Disney Vacation Club? Read on to find out!
What Is Disney Vacation Club?
Disney Vacation Club is a program that operates somewhat like a timeshare for people who are diehard Disney fans. If you’ve been to any of the Disney parks in recent years, you’ve no doubt seen one or more kiosks for this program around the park.
Timeshares are essentially fractional ownership of a specific piece of property. This means that a condo in Hawaii could have eight owners, and each of those owners would have ownership rights during specific times of the year.
The problem is that timeshares are fairly controversial, and Disney doesn’t want their name associated with that term. Disney was also not keen on giving people any sort of ownership rights to their resorts, so they dreamed up a program for vacationers that operated similarly. What came out of this was the Disney Vacation Club.
How Does It Work?
With Disney Vacation Club, you are essentially pre-paying for your vacations at their resorts. This is accomplished through a point system.
You purchase a set of points that are allocated to you on an annual basis at the same time each year. You can use those points to pay for stays at different Disney hotels and resorts. Each type of room has a point value, and that point value can vary depending on the time of year.
Points are purchased via a cash payment, or you can also finance your Disney Vacation Club points and pay it off over time. There are a number of different financing options for interested parties. You should continue reading up on your finance options before making a final decision on which one to go with.
More About Points
The point system might sound straightforward, but it can actually be quite complex. Disney has specific hotels and resorts that are DVC point eligible. All DVC hotels are issued a fixed number of points when it is either built or added to the DVC program. The number of points issued to a hotel covers every room, every single day of the year.
The points can never change unless Disney adds additional rooms. The points are then distributed to the rooms based on the room type and the date.
In theory, you could purchase enough points to buy out the entire hotel all year long, but that would be A LOT of money. Since there are only so many points in a hotel, it can sell out. Expect Disney itself to purchase some points within the hotel to use for regular room reservations.
Where Can You Go?
It depends!
When you purchase points from Disney Vacation Club, your purchase is allocated to a specific resort. This is considered your home resort, and you can book your vacations up to eleven months in advance. You can use your points at another DVC resort, but you will only be able to book up to seven months in advance, and the resort may be booked up by that time.
You can purchase points at three categories of Disney Vacation Club resorts: Disney Collection, Concierge Collection, and World Collection – RCI Resorts. These collections include resorts at Disney World and also at other locales like South Carolina and Hawaii.
Banking and Borrowing
Since points are allocated on an annual basis, you have the potential to lose your points if you don’t use them in a given year. That’s where banking and borrowing come in.
If you do not use all of your points in a given year, then you may bank those points for one year. If you do not use them the following year, then they will expire. If you’re planning a bigger vacation than usual, then you may borrow points from the next year to help pay for your accommodations.
Is It Worth the Money?
Disney Vacation Club is a pricey endeavor. You can purchase anywhere from 160 points to 2,000 points, and that can cost you tens of thousands of dollars. A percentage of those points are issued annually until the point expiration date on the resorts.
This means you’re paying for your Disney vacations years and potentially even decades in advance. DVC is absolutely a program for die-hard Disney fans who plan on vacationing there year after year. If you think you’ll only be visiting the resort every couple of years, then it might not be the right program for you.
One undeniable perk of the program, however, is that you get to lock in your pricing for decades. Imagine heading to a Disney resort paying what people paid in the 1980s!
Is Disney Vacation Club Up Your Alley?
What is Disney Vacation Club?
It’s a program where, like Peter Pan, you never have to grow up. Grown-ups and children alike can benefit from this wonderful program, especially if you’re someone who loves to vacation at Disney resorts. It can even inspire you to follow your dreams to the Magic Kingdom more frequently!
Are you looking for more vacation and family fun ideas? You don’t need to wish upon a star to find it! Check out the rest of our blog for a ton of great ideas that’ll keep you inspired!