Do I Have To Visit Disney Every Year To Make It Worth It
When people are determining if the Disney Vacation Club is worth it, they always ask me, Do I have to visit Disney Every Year? The answer is a definitive no. You do not have to visit Disney every year to make your Disney Vacation Club Worth it.
There are several options you can utilize if you are planning on having a non-Disney Vacation year?
1) You can bank your points to use the next year. Even if you have only a few points left over from your current year, you can bank them for the next year.
2) My favorite Method You can rent your points through a service like Davids Vacation Rentals and make money off your Disney timeshare. In fact, you actually can make a bit of a profit off it. The company pays $14.50 per point and since dues are around $7, you can make a little extra money to pay off that timeshare. The points typically rent very fast since it is Disney, usually within a month.
3) You can use them at one of the thousands of other timeshares around the world.
If you are planning on only doing a Disney trip once every few years, the Disney Vacation Club is still worth it, because you can bank your points or rent them out and use that money for another vacation. Now, if you are only going to Disney once or twice in 10-15 years, then I would pass.
The Basics Of Disney Vacation Club
Simply put, the Disney Vacation Club is a timeshare program in which members purchase an ownership interest in a DVC property such as Disneys Riviera Resort at Walt Disney World. The resort would become their home base for future visits.
In practice, however, members are not actually tied to any single property and are free to book vacations at both DVC and non-DVC resorts. Nor are they obliged to book a certain type of accommodations, plan their trips at a particular time of year, or commit to a certain number of days each year.
Instead, the program is based on a points system. Members purchase a minimum of 100 points, which are good for 50 years. Then they have the flexibility to access their bank of points and plan getaways.
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Vacationing At A Disney Deluxe Resort
6 Night Vacation at Disneys Beach Club Resort: 6 Nights x Average room cost of $450.00 = $2,700 annual cost X 50 years
Non Disney Vacation Club Cost Over 50 Years: $135,000
Its important to note again that these numbers are only examples. However as you can see the Disney Vacation Club membership could be worth it in the long term depending on your families vacations goals.
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Not Sure Youll Love Disney Vacation Club Try It Before You Buy It
Like we said before, when we first found out about Disney Vacation Club, we decided to try it out on our next Disney Vacation. We did so by renting points from another Disney Vacation Club member. You can do so by renting points through Davids Vacation Club Rentals. Its a great way to try out DVC without buying, plus youll save about 30% on your rooms.
Top 10 Disney Vacation Club Member Perks
Beyond the potential money saving benefit Disney Vacation Club offers, there are other member perks at Walt Disney World. DVC calls these its Membership Extras, which are usually discounts or special events. When looking at Disneys site, its difficult to tell which of these benefits are trulybeneficial, and which are thinly-veiled marketing. In this post, well share the 10 best Membership Extras offered by Disney Vacation Club, and how they might save you even more money, or otherwise benefit your value.
First up, we should offer a caveat. Thanks to a rule change within the last couple of years, Members who do not purchase their ownership interest directly from Disney will not have access to Membership Extras. While existing owners were upset about this change, Disney spins it as a way for Members who purchase directly to receive a premium advantage in addition to all the magic that Disney has to offer.
This effectively changes the math of buying DVC via resale v. buying directly. Fortunately, there are ways to circumvent this restriction, which we cover in that post. For other things to consider before purchasing DVC, we suggest reading our comprehensive Disney Vacation Club Buying Guide.
With that in mind, lets take a look at the best Disney Vacation Club Membership Extras, so you can better understand whether buying into da club is right for you!
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Do You Always Have To Stay At Your Dvc Home Resort
You do not have to stay at your home resort every time. In fact, Disney encourages DVC members to stay at all of its Disney Vacation Club resorts to get a feel for each of them. Those who are more flexible with their dates will find that even the most popular properties like Disneys Polynesian Village Resort or Disneys Wilderness Lodge often have rooms available with short notice during the off-season.
DISNEY 101:First Time? Heres How to Plan a Disney Vacation
Not staying at your home resort is also a great way to save points so you can go to the parks more often. For instance, if your home resort is Disneys Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, where studio rooms start at 16 points for a standard view, you may want to look at booking Disneys Animal Kingdom Villas Jambo House, where value accommodations start at 9 points for a studio.
Dvc Reservation Costs Vs Cash Reservations Costs
Booked with Cash Reservation:
Resort: Bay Lake Tower at Disneys Contemporary ResortReservation Dates: Oct 1 Oct 7 Room Type: Studio Standard ViewRate: $644.63 per night Trip Total: $3,868 + Booked with our Saratoga Springs DVC contract:
Resort: Bay Lake Tower at Disneys Contemporary ResortCost Basis per point = $2.907986Annual Dues per point = $5.86Annual Net Cost for a 2018 point = $8.767987Total vacation points needed = 92 pointsEffective rate per night = $134.44Effective cost of the trip =$806.66
DVC vs. cash reservations savings = $3,061.34 or approximately 79% savings
There are a couple important points to take away from this quick acid test.
Lets examine one more example stay
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Disney Vacation Club Cost
How much does DVC cost?
When you buy into the Disney Vacation Club, you purchase an ownership interest by buying a specific number of vacation points. Today, the cost per point when buying direct from Disney is around $176 per point, but will vary depending on the resort you are buying. Points are also available on the resale market, a point we will touch on in just a bit.
Disney usually requires new member to buy a minimum of 100 points, so assuming $176/pt, thats $17,600. Disney may offer incentives that will lower the per- point cost, and the price may be even cheaper if you buy points through a reseller, but youre still looking at an investment running into five figures.
If you buy through Disney, you will need to make a down payment of at least 10% or 20%, depending on the financing plan you use. To give you a ballpark idea of the cost of financing through Disney, the annual percentage rate for paying over 10 years is between 9% and 17.5%, depending on the applicants credit score. There are also closing costs to consider.
When you finance through Disney, your purchase of an ownership interest is real estate for tax-reporting purposes. You will receive a 1099 statement at the end of the year, and the interest you pay may be deductible on federal taxes.
For reference, below is a history of DVC sales price per point since 1991:
- History of DVC direct sales prices A record of the price per point that DVC has charged over the years.
Note:
What Are The Dvc Member Perks
Some perks go beyond the benefits associated with staying at DVC properties. While these perks are subject to change and are not guaranteed, they currently include dining and merchandise discounts, lounge access, exclusive events, and special merchandise offerings. Disney periodically extends park ticket discounts to DVC members as well.
Additional perks like resort pool hopping are currently on hold. Its worth noting that many find an intrinsic benefit to DVC membership beyond the extras, as being a member feels exclusive to them. If that resonates with you, its worth taking into consideration, too.
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Everything You Need To Know About The Disney Vacation Club 2022
Imagine if every future vacation you plan to take with your family incorporated some Disney magic. Picture you and your family traveling around the world to exotic places while enjoying the luxury accommodations Disney provides their Guests. The Disney Vacation Club may be just what you are dreaming of!
Our Guide to Disney Vacation Club explores everything you need to know about this option of travel to help you decide if this is a perfect fit for your Disney-loving family.
Get exclusive access to prices on hotel & tickets just for Mickey Visit subscribers. Don’t miss our travel hacks newsletter!
How Long Are Disney Vacation Club Contracts
It depends. Disney has adjusted the length of membership over time in response to the programs popularity and individual members feedback. The first group of DVC memberships has technically expired, but Disney provided an option to extend them.
You will know how long your contract is for when you sign up. Many contracts also have provided terms for extending the membership once the contract has been satisfied.
If you choose to finance your membership instead of paying it upfront, you may finance for up to ten years. Some new members opt for shorter terms and thereby end up paying much less interest over time.
If the owner or owners of the membership pass away, their heir will inherit their membership. A Disney Vacation Club membership can be willed to anyone and split up between multiple heirs, though they will likely have to share a single membership unless they make other arrangements on their own. If you have inherited a DVC membership, Disney can help you transition it into your name and get you situated with your new association.
You should also note that you can purchase a DVC membership from someone else besides Disney themselves. For a variety of reasons, current members sometimes opt to sell their memberships. Buying a membership this way has some benefits. For one thing, since the memberships arent whole , theyre less expensive. You may also be able to buy into sold-out resorts.
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How Dvc Membership Works
When you buy into Disney Vacation Club, you are purchasing a deeded real estate interest that is represented by Vacation Points.
- You begin by choosing a Home Resort. Your Home Resort is where you will own real estate interest in and is also where you get priority booking for that specific resort.
- Once you have chosen a Home Resort, pick a Vacation Points range that best fits your familys vacation needs. These Vacation Points are what you will receive as your annual allotment. Each point range costs vary. You have six Vacation Point ranges to choose from 100-124, 125-149, 150-174, 175-199, 200-224, 225-250.
- The more you travel, the more exotic the destination, accommodation type, time of year you travel, and length of stays will all determine how many points you will want to invest in.
- The value of your Vacation Points that you purchase today will never change no matter how much Disney prices increase.
- Vacation Points can be banked, borrowed, or added to. Meaning, if you are planning a future vacation that requires more points than you currently have, you can borrow points from the following Use Year .
- Or you have the option to save the points to use for future vacations that may require more points that you currently have. Or you can add points by purchasing more.
Disney Vacation Club Use Year
Disney Vacation Club points work by giving owners their annual allotment during their Use Year. DVC Use Year actually refers to a month in the year, and there are only eight Use Years to consider: February, March, April, June, August, September, October, and December.
There is no Use Year that is better than another. In fact, not every resort will offer every Use Year contract. Its best to consider when you plan on vacationing with your family. Ideally, you will want to travel early in your Use Year. This is because if you cancel your reservation within 30 days of your check-in date, your points will be put into a holding account and they must be spent by the next Use Year or they will expire, and they cannot be banked. The points in your holding account can only be used to make a reservation thats no more than 60 days in advance.
Use Year is also important to keep in mind for banking points. If you do plan on banking your points this year, they must be banked within the first eight months of your Use Year.
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Disney Vacation Club Annual Dues
The purchase cost is a one-time payment that you make up front . However, there are annual dues that you must also pay for the length of your contract. Once again, your dues will depend upon the number of points that you have as well as your home resort.
Using the example above, those 200 Boardwalk points that you purchased will cost you $7.17 per point in dues 2019, or 200 X $7.17 = $1434.
The cost per point of dues can vary from year to year depending on various circumstances. Ive heard rumors that they dont always increase, and sometimes they might even decrease. However, so far weve only seen them increase.
The annual dues are owed in January of each year. You have the option of paying all of it up front in one lump sum or setting up a monthly automatic payment option. There is no interest if you do the monthly payments, so that is really a personal preference.
You are able to pay your dues with Disney gift cards if you choose to pay the total all up front. I would highly recommend using strategies to get discounted Disney gift cards to pay your dues. By doing that you are able to at least shave a little bit off of the total expense.
Disney Deluxe Resort Luxury Cost To Go To Disney World
Lastly, how much is a Disney World vacation for guests who choose to stay at luxury resorts? Deluxe resorts are top tier at Walt Disney World and offer the best restaurants, theming and overall amenities. Guests also have access to Concierge Level amenities and Villas which come at much higher prices.
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Are Dvc Points Worth It
Before diving into the numbers, its important for us to clarify some very important points. Disney Vacation Club is not a financial investment. It is not a real estate investment. DVC members should not expect to make a profit on their purchases. Instead, consider Disney Vacation Club ownership as an investment in quality family vacations, fond memories, or even mental well-being. If magical family vacations are what you are looking for, youll probably be extremely satisfied with the investment.
For more in-depth information on how Disney Vacation Club works and the perks owners have with DVC, you can check out our blogs. In all reality, DVC is really worth it if youre going to use it every year. If youre not sure, you can find listings available on the resale market at great savings over buying directly from DVC.
| Resort |
|---|
| $62.75 | $61.74 |
*Note that these figures do not include any specials or exclusive deals that DVC is running
Upon Old Key Wests opening in 1991, Disney was selling points at about $51.00 per point. By examining Fidelitys DVC resale purchase prices for 2014, we found that Old Key West sold for an average of $60.98 per point. In 2018, this soared to $86 per point. That means that someone who first bought into Disney Vacation Club in 1991 could sell DVC points today at 168% of the initial purchase price! To put it in perspective, imagine purchasing a brand new car for $25,000 and selling it 27 years later for $42,000.
How Much Does A Disney Vacation Club Membership Cost
One of the reasons that many people dont consider a Disney Vacation Club membership is because they assume that it will be too expensive. However, it is more affordable than they might think.
Like any real estate, specific properties are more valuable than others therefore, the points at one sometimes cost more than at another. For example, the Grand Floridian is Disneys flagship in Florida, so when they built villas and sold membership, it cost more than at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. Not only does it carry real and symbolic luxury, but the Grand Floridian is also in a better location.
When you buy into Disney Vacation Club, the actual value item youre purchasing is the vacation points themselves. You will pay a specific dollar amount for every point you buy. Currently, points start at just over $200 each. Since you have to buy at least 150 points to get in, your initial investment will be over $30,000.
Different factors can drive this price up. We already mentioned which resort you buy, and if you buy more than 150 points, youll pay more. There are other fees attached as well. Since this is a real estate transaction, you must pay closing costs, which Disney states start at $628. Disney offers a financing program for up to 10 years, and these costs roll into a single payment that includes monthly membership dues.
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