Which DVC Resorts Offer the Best Views

When you join the Disney Vacation Club, you’ll quickly discover yourself spending more time in and around your hotel room. There’s a reason for that. Once a Cast Member welcomes you home for the first time, that’s how you’ll perceive your surroundings. 

You’ll relish hanging out in your hotel room, partially because of what you see when you look out the window. So, which DVC resorts offer the best views? Here are a few favorites.

Aulani, Disney Vacation Club Villas

When Disney introduced Aulani as a hotel option, everyone knew it would be special. After all, the company expanded its vacation options to an exotic Hawaiian destination. And since Joe Rohde helmed the project, he prioritized the beauty of Hawaii in every element of the Aulani. As someone who grew up there, Rohde wanted Disney guests to feel like they were home while enjoying their dream vacations.

The Disney Legend achieved his goal, as the entirety of Aulani will take your breath away. The rooms are particularly stunning, offering views like this one:

That’s just one Room Type, but it drives home the point. You’ll enjoy a glimpse of paradise whenever you look out the window or sit on the patio/balcony at Aulani. DVC offers unique views, each of which you’ll spend a few more points to have…but it’s totally worth a bit extra!

Garden View allows you to survey the lands of Ko Olina, while Poolside Gardens View overlooks one/some of the several pools and lazy rivers at Aulani. Finally, the end-all, be-all is Ocean View, which turns your hotel room background into this:

You won’t want to leave the resort and depart paradise once you’ve had this option for a few days.

Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort

Then, we have the scenery at Bay Lake Tower, which we all know comes with a primary selling point. Bay Lake Tower is technically the closest hotel to Magic Kingdom, the most popular theme park in the world. 

Given the proximity to the Most Magical Place on Earth, Bay Lake Tower offers close-up views of Cinderella Castle, Tomorrowland, and much more. When DVC members book Theme Park View, it’s like we’re vacationing at Magic Kingdom. 

Disney even pipes in the music from Happily Ever After at night on one of the television channels. So, you can sit in your room and enjoy a private showing of the fireworks. Even by Disney standards, it’s quite magical. 

Of course, there’s another hotel room view available here. As blasphemous as the statement is, I actually prefer it. Now called Preferred View, this option provides guests with a view of Bay Lake, which is gorgeous any time. It’s that much better when there’s rain. Oh, and Preferred View typically includes a courtside look at the Bay Lake Tower pool, too. 

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas

You knew this one would be listed here, as it’s THE best view of any DVC resort, according to many other DVC members, including me. Obviously, I’m referencing Savannah View, one of the best Room Types in the history of the DVC program. 

When you book this particular room, you gain access to something that should be impossible. You can look out your window and see countless animals frolicking in their natural habitats.

The savannahs in question are living areas for several types of creatures. They make their homes at Animal Kingdom Villas. So, you’re the guest, and they’re the residents. As gentle hosts, they’ll happily entertain you throughout the day by playing with one another and just generally living their lives. When you try Savannah View for the first time, you’ll quickly realize how addictive it is. 

Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows

I think of the Polynesian as three distinct locations now. There are the original DVC rooms by the water, the Bungalows that reside IN the water, and the new expansion tower across from Magic Kingdom. 

All these sections of the hotel campus provide excellent views of Disney’s most popular theme park. However, the older rooms and even the Bungalows aren’t tall off the ground. So, that limits their view.

One of the integral parts of an exceptional DVC view requires an elevated hotel room. That way, you can admire more of your surroundings. The new expansion tower allows that, as some of the rooms here in the Premium View and especially the Theme Park View will elevate your experience.

These rooms provide direct eyelines of Magic Kingdom, which is just across the water. This is THE best new view of any Disney resort. So, if you haven’t tried a room at the expansion tower yet, the view alone justifies it.

Disney’s Riviera Resort

Disney cleverly designed the Riviera so that many of the hotel rooms face one way. The goal was to give as many guests as possible a view of the pool and the surrounding waters. On that front, it’s mission accomplished!

When guests book Preferred View, we look down from our rooms and watch the pool area or people playing the various games available on the hotel grounds. I’ve seen Goofy lose badly at chess here…and he was quite the sore loser! 

Many of the rooms even overlook the S’il Vous Play water area, and those that don’t offer a view of the water. Since Disney reclaimed space from Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, the same waterway surrounds both resorts. It creates the illusion that you’re staying in Europe at a hotel overlooking the Riviera. Even by Disney Imagineering standards, it’s an impressive feat.

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