How to Choose a DVC Home Resort

If you’ve decided that DVC is right for you and you’re ready to shop for contracts, how do you know which DVC home resort you should choose? While the price per point varies across home resorts, there’s much more than price to consider when selecting your home resort.

Contract Length

Unlike other timeshares, all DVC Resort deeds expire. Some end as early as 2042, while the newest DVC Resort (The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness) expires in 2075. If you’re hoping to pass down your contracts to your kids, a resort with a deed that expires in 2042 may not be the best option for you, and you may want to consider a different home resort so you can have more years on the contract.  

Room Types

Not all DVC Resorts offer the same room types, so it’s important to pick a resort that offers the room type that works best for your travel party. For example, resorts like the Beach Club, Boulder Ridge, the Villas at Disneyland Hotel, and the Polynesian do not offer Three-Bedroom Grand Villas, and The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness only offers One-Bedroom Cabins that sleep up to 6 guests. If you prefer Dedicated Two-Bedroom Villas over Two-Bedroom Lock-off Villas, the BoardWalk wouldn’t be a good home resort since all the Two-Bedroom Villas there are lock-offs.

Disney’s Boardwalk Resort

Availability

Your home resort is where you have the 11-month booking window, the earliest that you can book a DVC accommodation. This is especially important if you know that there is a specific resort that you prefer to stay at for most of your trips. For popular resorts like the Beach Club and Grand Californian, this jump start can be critical to getting the reservation that you want.  

If you don’t plan on taking advantage of the 11-month booking window and tend to book at 7 months out or less, your home resort won’t matter as much.    

Location

DVC Resorts have some of the best locations among Disney Resorts! When you’re looking to be as close as possible to your favorite theme parks, resorts like Bay Lake Tower, Grand Floridian, Beach Club, BoardWalk, and Grand Californian make perfect home resorts. These resorts are walking distance to one or even two theme parks, so you can easily get to the parks for rope drop or enjoy the evenings in the parks without waiting for transportation.  

Bay Lake Tower 1 Bedroom Villa

If you prefer quieter locations, consider home resorts like Old Key West or Saratoga Springs, where you are further from the parks. These sprawling resorts offer more space to enjoy peaceful grounds away from the crowds.  

Restrictions

For resale contracts, your home resort also impacts how flexible your points are. Resale points from one of the original 14 DVC Resorts can be used to book the other original resorts when you are 0 to 7 months out from your check-in date. These resorts include:

• Animal Kingdom Villas
• Aulani
• Bay Lake Tower
• Beach Club
• BoardWalk
• Boulder Ridge
• Copper Creek
• Grand Californian
• Grand Floridian
• Hilton Head
• Old Key West
• Polynesian
• Saratoga Springs
• Vero Beach  

However, resale points from the original 14 resorts cannot be used to book stays at newer resorts, including Riviera, the Villas at Disneyland Hotel, and the Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness.

Resale points from newer DVC Resorts, such as Riviera, the Villas at Disneyland Hotel, and the Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness, are restricted and can only be used at their home resort.  

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

If you’d like to make an offer or request a free consultation about buying or adding to your DVC contract, the DVC Resale Market team is here to help!