Surprising Things DVC Members Learn After Joining

There’s so much to learn about Disney Vacation Club!  Even after becoming a Member, you’ll find that you continue to learn things you didn’t know.  

Cash and Point Room Inventories Are Not the Same

A common point of confusion for newer DVC Members is when they don’t see availability for a certain room when checking the DVC website but may see that same room available for a cash stay.  This happens because the cash room inventory and DVC point room inventory are completely separate.

As new DVC resorts are built and sold, units are declared into the resort’s condo association. DVC Members can then use their Vacation Points to reserve these rooms that are part of this declared inventory.

Polynesian Island Tower Duo Studio

Cash room inventory comes from a few different places:

• Exchanges: Most rooms come from exchanges when Members trade their points for things like Disney Cruise Line, Adventures by Disney, or Interval International.  Those traded points are then used by DVC to rent out a room as a cash stay.
• Undeclared Inventory: From new resorts that are not yet part of the condo association
• ROFR: Points that Disney Vacation Development obtains through ROFR (right of first refusal)
• Unreserved Rooms: Declared inventory that hasn’t been reserved by Members as of the 60-day mark
• Breakage: The small percentage of inventory (no less than 2% of a resort) that Disney Vacation Development keeps typically for things like regularly scheduled maintenance 

Points Charts Can Shift Slightly from Year to Year

When you’re researching DVC contracts, it’s always helpful to review the points charts to get an idea of how many points you’ll need.  Nevertheless, you may be surprised to learn that the points charts can shift a bit from one year to the next.  While the total number of points for a resort won’t change drastically, the points for a particular season can change to help balance out demand.  For example, a few years ago the points needed to book for the fall were increased, but to balance this out, the points needed to book for some parts of the summer decreased. 

Availability Isn’t Equal Across the Resorts

With most resale contracts, you can book other resorts besides your home resort once you get to the 7-month booking window.  However, this is highly dependent on availability.  Small resorts like the Beach Club and the Grand Californian can be very tough to book by the 7-month mark, so while yes, your points are good there, you can’t always bank on being able to book these resorts.

Grand Californian Villas

Add-on-itis® Is Real

DVC Members like to tease each other about add-on-itis®, that compelling feeling to buy more points, but it is a real thing!  Once Members begin using their points, they often find that they want to buy more points to try other resorts and room types or to enjoy longer stays.  Luckily with DVC Resale Market, there is no shortage of great contracts to choose from!

Access all available Disney Vacation Club resale listings, or learn more about buying and selling with DVC Resale Market.