How Long Does It Take to Break Even on a Grand Californian Resale Contract?

DVC resale contracts can save you thousands of dollars compared to buying a contract directly through Disney, but how long does it take for you to break even on your purchase compared to cash stays through Disney?  Let’s walk through an example with a Grand Californian resale contract.  

What Does a Resale Contract Cost?

At the time of writing this blog, the average price per point for a Grand Californian resale contract is around $220 per point.  If you were to purchase a 160-point contract at $220 per point, it would cost $35,200.

How Many Stays Can You Book with 160 Points?

Based on the 2025 Grand Californian points chart, a 160-point contract is enough points to get you a week or more in a Deluxe Studio during Travel Period 1 or 2 (parts of January, February, August, September, October, November, and December).  

If shorter trips to Disneyland are more your style, you could even use that contract for 4 nights in a Grand Californian One Bedroom Villa during the two cheapest travel periods.

Grand Californian One Bedroom Villa (Photo Credit: DVC Fan)

How Does That Compare to Cash Stays?

An average night in a One Bedroom Suite on the hotel side of the Grand Californian costs $1,275.20 when booking a cash stay through Disney’s website.  For a 4-night stay, that would be $5,100.80 or $5,814.91 after the 14% transient occupancy tax.  If you were to take a similar vacation every year for 7 years, you would be paying Disney more than the cost of that 160-point Grand Californian resale contract!  That’s without adjusting for the fact that the cost of Disney resort stays increases every year.  

Plus, with the One Bedroom Villa on the DVC side, there are more amenities compared to the One Bedroom Suite on the hotel side!  For example, the One Bedroom Villa has a full kitchen with a stove, oven, full-size refrigerator, and dishwasher as well as a washer and dryer.

What About Annual Dues?

Grand Californian dues are currently $8.80 per point, so for a 160-point contract, you’d pay $1,408 for the year.  For the 7 years that it would take for you to break even on the cost of the contract itself, you would pay approximately $9,856 in annual dues.  This means that when including both the cost of the contract ($35,200) and the cost of annual dues ($9,856), it would take you approximately 9 years to break even.  

After this break-even point, DVC Members only pay annual dues.  The current dues on a 160-point Grand Californian contract ($1,408) are still less than the cost of that 4-night cash stay in the Grand Californian One Bedroom Suite ($5,814.91)!  While dues increase from year to year, they tend to increase by 3% to 5% annually.  By contrast, cash stays typically increase 7% to 12% annually.

Interested in purchasing a DVC contract?  Access all available Disney Vacation Club resale listings, or learn more about buying and selling with DVC Resale Market.