Disney Vacation Club Timeshare Points Information for Owners

Disney Vacation Club timeshare owner information

This article is meant to be a general overview and primer for the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) Timeshare Points system, additionally there is an entire DVC discussion forum on TUG for additional questions here on the Timeshare Users Group Disney Vacation Club Owner Forums

Disney has Timeshares?

Disney Vacation Club (DVC) is the Walt Disney Corporation’s timeshare operation. Originally centered on Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla, it has expanded by opening new non-theme park resorts elsewhere in the US and indeed internationally These resorts are:

Walt Disney World Resorts

Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort (BLT)
Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge (BRV)
Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney's Wilderness Lodge (CCV)
Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House (AVK)
Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village (AVK-Kidanni)
Disney's Beach Club Villas (BCV)
Disney's BoardWalk Villas (BWV)
Disney's Polynesian Villas & Bungalows (POLY)
Disney's Old Key West Resort
Disney's Riviera Resort (RIV)
Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort (SSR)
The Cabins at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort - A Disney Vacation Club Resort (CFW)
The Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resor (VGF)

Other Disney Resorts

Aulani, Disney Vacation Club Villas, Ko Olina, Hawai‘i (Aulani)
Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort (HHI)
Disney's Vero Beach Resort (VB)
The Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel (VGC)
The Villas at Disneyland® Hotel (VDH)

To become a part of the DVC program you will need to buy an “Ownership Interest” at one of the above resorts. Ownership interest is most commonly obtained in points, but traditional fixed weeks, referred to as "Favorite Weeks" in Disney speak are also available. These are considered unicorns rarely found in the wild. Specific questions should be brought to your DVC Guide (Disney speak for timeshare salesperson) or Member Services (MS).

Re-Sale: Points purchased from an existing owner. This category is restricted from accessing all member benefits. Any resale points purchased after 2019 are not eligible to use their points at any "new" resorts. The most recent resorts, RIV, VDH & CFW resale contracts can only be used at their deeded properties.

Direct purchase from (DVC): with a minimum buy-in at 100 points lowered from 150 in 2023

Full Membership: minimum 150-point direct purchase to receive full benefits.

An explanation of full membership benefits can be found here: DVC Membership Guide

Yearly maintenance fees range in 2024 from $7 per point Aulani subsidized contracts to about $13.86 per point for VB. The newest resort introduced to the program, CFW maintenance is starting over $12 pp and this figure will increase over time. Understanding each particular resort's maintenance fees and what is included is particularly important. For example, most DVC stays do not incur parking fees because it is paid for through annual dues but for VDH this is not the case. Also, the City of Anaheim imposes a nightly transient occupancy tax this is included with DVC stays at VGC but not at VDH. Owners, DVC users, and guests must pay that and nightly parking fees when staying at VDH.

Using your DVC Points

When you buy your initial allotment of points you purchase a RTU real estate interest in a specific DVC property. Depending on the property or contract purchased this will have an end date ranging from say 2042 to 2056 or beyond. With these points, you can reserve a stay at any DVC resort of my choosing, for as little as one night. The only limitation to this is when you can book. This is called a booking window. The resort that you own is your "Home" resort. Choosing a home resort is important to gain the advantage of the 11-month booking window. Buy where you want to stay is what most DVCers recommend. You may book at your home resort 11 months from your check-in date. You may book other resorts from 7 months of your check-in date if your contract has no restrictions. Some people do book 1 day at a time to get the most sought after room accommodations and season. I did this once to secure a 3br Grand Villa at OKW.

All points contracts are given a use year: February, March, April, June, August, September, October, and December. This is when points will be deposited for use & replenished each year. If your use year is December, every December 1st your yearly allotment of points is placed into my account and those points will expire on November 30th. Many people are confused by use years. The principal significance of a use year is that if you need to cancel a planned trip at short notice, if your use year falls shortly thereafter your options as to what you can with your points are limited. So, if say you tend to vacation in November each year, the best use year for you would be an October or September use year, as if you had to cancel your planned November trip at short notice, you would still have 10 or 11 months in which to re-use those points. If, however, your use year was December, you might only have weeks in which to reschedule your trip or you could lose those points.

Here is the full explanation from DVC: DVC Points Use Guide

Using 'YOUR' Favorite DVC Week

DVC guarantees that your week will be available for you each year with a Sunday check-in. There is also an option to "opt out" if your travel needs change.

Where to Buy DVC Points

Disney Points are readily available on the Resale market through a variety of sites, and while they do hold their value quite well (in comparison to average Timeshare resale prices), a great deal can be saved in buying resale if you do your research and you can expect a savings per point when buying resale for most resorts. There are a variety of brokers who specialize in DVC points, Just as with any Timeshare purchase, a little research and digging can save you a fortune!

Note that buying resale does come with restrictions. You can however use your resale purchased points for reservations with Interval International Exchanges.

As a Disney Vacation Club Member, occasionally you may find yourself in need of just a few extra vacation points to book that perfect dream vacation. Previously, this required borrowing vacation points from a future use year, but very recently a new alternative was introduced. They're called "one-time-use" vacation points and are available currently for a fee of $17.77 per one-time-use Vacation Point plus $1.16 tax (6.5%) plus $1.07 resort tax (6%). Availability of one-time-use vacation points may be limited or suspended from time to time, and the fee is subject to change.

Details:

One-time-use vacation points are vacation points available for Disney Vacation Club Members to use as an alternative to borrowing vacation points from the following use year's allotment.

You can obtain a maximum of 24 one-time-use vacation points once per use year per membership.

DVC Points Charts / Room Size / Seasons

Annually each resort will offer a point chart that shows the nightly and weekly cost in points based on room size, villa location, and travel period. Room sizes and occupancy levels vary between the resorts. Each size room has a different point schedule, with smaller rooms costing the least amount of points. Some resorts also afford different point rates to identically sized rooms with different views. There is another factor that determines point costs, and that is the "travel period " the time in which you vacation. Each resort has different travel periods ranging anywhere from 4-7 different travel periods that vary in points per night requirements. Another thing to note is that point costs per night are less from Sunday through Thursday during all travel periods and they are more on Friday and Saturday. This was done to discourage people from only using weekend I guess..

Banking and Borrowing Points

Banking- any number of allotted DVC points can be rolled forward into the next use year. (U/Y) Say I get my points on December 1st in Year 1. I can bank these points for use in the following use year (Year 2).

Borrowing points- any number of allotted DVC points can be pulled forward into the current U/Y Owners can take use of 3 years of points for a larger vacation by banking & Borrowing. For example, I own 210 points. If I bank my 2024 points into 2025, I can also borrow my U/Y 2026 points into 2025 for a total of 630pts to use within the 2025 U/Y. This would allow me the use of 3 years of points in Year 2 (Year 1’s which I have previously banked, Year 3’swhich I have borrowed, and Year 2’s which I am entitled to that year).

Once banked or borrowed, points can not be returned to their original use year. Points can only be banked or borrowed once. Points can expire if not used or banked by the deadlines.

See the chart below for the official banking deadlines.
Banking/Borrowing DVC Points

Transferring Points- DVC owners can transfer points to other DVC owners. This option mostly gets used within families - my sister in law is planning a family reunion at WDW, she owns s at AKV but is short 27 points to complete the reservation. We can call MS and transfer the 27 points from my account to hers.

-Jane owns a contract with her husband and also has a contract with her parents she can move points within both contracts as needed. The rules state that only one transfer in or out per contract & UY. All home resort rules apply including any resale restrictions. The rules also state that no compensation of any kind can be given.

Exchanges and other uses for DVC points

The best value of DVC points is to use them to stay at DVC Resorts. Should you have surplus points there is an active market in renting DVC points. Whilst in my opinion exchanging your points as set out below does not represent the best value use of DVC points, it might be the best option for some so you should make your own assessment as it might suit your individual circumstances.

Resort Exchanges: DVC trades through Interval International. You are not an II member but Disney is! This limits you to the selection of resorts, (see link below). . but does allow you access to the deeply discounted Getaways.. . You can do this through the "plan a vacation" section of the website. You can not transfer your points back into the DVC resort system once you deposit them into an II but thesearch before deposit functions and request first features of II are available. For more information Interval International Guide

For some owners with direct point contracts, DVC points can be exchanged into "reservation points." These are not available to MOST resale buyers. Concierge Collection. This option allows you to reserve as little as 1 night in some of the finest hotels/resorts in the country. There is an exchange fee payable. You can stay at places like; The Plaza NY,NY, The Jefferson in DC, The Grand Hotel, Mich., Keystone,Co, and looking I see The Dorchester and Royal Garden, both in London. These are some very nice places. (not available to resale buyers)

World of Disney Resorts. You may also exchange your points for most of the Disney owned resorts at WDW, 2 at Disneyland Ca., and 4 at Disneyland Paris.

Disney Cruise Line. You can book a cruise with your DVC points.

Adventure travel. You can book various trips and tours, in the US and overseas.

The Final Word on DVC Points!

We have been very happy with our purchase of DVC. The best value of your points is within the DVC resort system. Choosing a home resort is important to gain the advantage of the 11 month booking window. Buy where you want to stay is what most DVCers recommend.

It seems complicated but once you understand the system, it's an easy and fair one for all members to work within.

If you have more questions or want to search topics, be sure to register on our Timeshare Online Discussion Forums where tens of thousands of Owners and Experts ask and answer all Timeshare related questions! Registration and participation on the forums is 100% free!

Also here is a list of helpful faq's and links describing various point systems! FAQ and Links for Point-based timeshare systems