DVC Significantly Increases Price of One Time Use Vacation Points

Last month, The Walt Disney Company announced several moves to reduce the cost of a theme park visit. Returning CEO Bob Iger heard the criticism about soaring Disney vacation costs and offered a few discounts. 

The moves seemed like a tacit apology at the time, but the goodwill gesture has proven temporary. Disney just revealed its latest price increase. This one will hit Disney Vacation Club members where we live. Let’s talk about why many of us are about to pay more. 

The New Policy 

One-Time-Use Vacation Points just increased in cost. Even worse, the new pricing occurs immediately as of February 16th, 2023. 

Disney sent out this email to DVC members: 

“We’re reaching out with an important Member update regarding one-time-use (OTU) Vacation Points. 

Effective, February 16, 2023, the price of (OTU) Vacation Points will increase from $19 per point to $22 per point. This program gives Members the opportunity to purchase up to 24 non-deeded Vacation Points each Use Year they may need to complete a reservation for Disney Vacation Club accommodations in the 7-month booking window or Disney Collection and World Collection reservations.”

So, yeah. For the first time in more than four years, DVC has raised the cost of OTU points by $3 per point, a 16 percent increase. 

If we look at the long game here, the rate of increase isn’t bad at all. Remember that DVC initially introduced OTU points in 2010. 

At the time, these points cost $15 each, which means the price has only gone up a little less than four percent per year since 2010. Relative to most Disney vacation expenses, that’s downright reasonable.

Still, Disney had raised the cost of OTU points by three dollars seemingly overnight. That move comes on the heels of a two-dollar increase in October 2018. So, most of the 47 percent price increase overall in OTU points has happened in four years and four months. 

From 2010 through the first half of 2018, the price remained relatively static, only increasing by $2 in eight years. As such, longstanding DVC members aren’t happy about this news, especially how Disney simply sprung it on us without warning. 

What Are OTU Points?

This conversation may prove confusing to you if you’ve never used OTU Vacation Points in the past. So, you may find an upside to this discussion. There’s a chance you didn’t even know you had this OTU option! 

Let’s say that you’re attempting to book a DVC vacation. The room type you want – let’s presume its Savannah View at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – costs 21 DVC Points more than you have available. You really want to watch the animals from your hotel villa rather than stay in a standard room without a view!

While many members default to borrowing from a future contract or settle for the lesser room type, a different option involves acquiring OTU Vacation Points. You can pay $22 per point or $462 to cover the difference! 

The catch is that the DVC Points won’t remain available past your current Use Year. So, it’s legitimately a one-time-only purchase and usage. 

That’s still way cheaper than you’d pay for a cash room, although it also highlights the advantage of DVC Rental Store reservations. After all, Disney limits the amount of OTU Vacation Points you may purchase to 24 annually. Rental points have no such arbitrary constraints. 

Buying OTU points solves temporary, immediate problems but isn’t a long-term solution. Generally, you’re better off giving into Add-On-Itis™ and finding a resale contract. After all, the $462 represents a sunk cost you’ll never get back. Buying a new contract provides you with recurring DVC Points. 

Anecdotally, my friends, family members, and I have discovered that OTU Vacation Points make the most sense for DVC members with small contracts. Beyond that, buying more DVC Points is usually the smarter play long-term. Such a move solves the “lack of points” problem rather than kicking the can down the road. 

To a larger point, we never know when DVC will suddenly announce another price increase for OTU Vacation Points. This latest price increase happened without warning, which isn’t great.