Disney Vacation Club 101: Owning a Piece of the Magic About This Page:

[PassPorter News]

Disney Vacation Club 101: Owning a Piece of the Magic
By Cheryl Pendry, Guest Columnist and PassPorter Guide of Owning the Magic, Disney Vacation Club Forum

You may have heard of the Disney Vacation Club or the DVC, Disney's answer to the timeshare. It's your opportunity to purchase an ownership interest in a Disney resort, but how does it work? Cheryl Pendry, one of the guides for 'Owning the Magic,' the DVC forum on the PassPorter message boards, explains more...

Article continued in next post...

[PassPorter News]

"Welcome Home!" are the first two words that DVC members hear whenever they visit one of the Club's seven resorts.

It's a good summary of what the DVC is all about. When you buy into it, you are essentially buying yourself a second home at Disney. Although it's their version of a timeshare, it's very different than any other scheme you may have come across before. For a start, you're not tied to going on vacation at a certain time of the year or for a certain number of nights. It's entirely your decision how you to choose to spend your vacation time.

This is possible because the DVC operates a points system and you decide how many points you want to purchase. We started off with 165 and have just added another 100, as many DVC members do. It seems that, for the majority of us, however many points you have, it's never enough to get the Disney bug out of your system!

But what do these points actually buy you? Essentially, they get you time to spend at a range of destinations, although most members tend to use their points at one of the DVC's seven resorts. Five are in Walt Disney World: Old Key West, the Boardwalk Villas, the Villas at Wilderness Lodge, the Beach Club Villas and the latest offering, Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, just across the water from Downtown Disney. The remaining two DVC resorts were the first to open and are at Vero Beach in Florida; around two hours drive away from the Walt Disney World resort and at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, approximately 45 miles north of Savannah, Georgia and 90 miles south of Charleston, South Carolina.

As well as the DVC resorts, points can be put towards vacations at most Walt Disney World resorts, with the exception of the value resorts and the hotels that have DVC properties attached to them. That's the Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club and Boardwalk Inn. (For example, you cannot use your points to book a vacation at the Wilderness Lodge, but you can use your points for the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge. If you wish to stay at the Wilderness Lodge, you must pay cash.) Points can also be used for Disney cruises, which allowed us to take our first ever Disney cruise in May of this year and for hotels at both Disneyland California and Disneyland Paris. This is something that we plan to make full use of when we head over to Disneyland California in fall 2005.

It's not all Disney though. The World Passport Collection allows you to use points to travel to hundreds of US destinations, and worldwide locations including the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and Africa. Hotels in the Concierge Collection are some of the best in the world and again, mostly include American options, although using your points in this way allows you to sample life at the London Dorchester. If you have a more adventurous nature, then you can also use your points for the Adventurer Collection to go biking, walking, rafting or kayaking or you can go on a once in a lifetime experience, such as an African safari or an eco-trip, taking in the natural wonders of Costa Rica.

All of these vacations are paid for by using your DVC points. When you first buy into the Disney Vacation Club, you decide how many points you want to have available to use every year. The minimum investment, if you're buying through Disney, is 150 points with each point costing $95, making a total of $14,250. So what do you get for that money? An ownership interest at Saratoga Springs that runs until 2054, meaning that, for the next 50 years, you will have 150 DVC points to enjoy every single year, anywhere in the DVC "universe." A word of warning - if you purchase through resale or if you're able to buy an ownership interest through Disney at any other DVC resort, these points will only last until 2042. Saratoga Springs is the only DVC resort at present where the points don't expire until 2054.

But what can you get for your 150 points each year? Firstly, DVC resorts use a lot less points, which is why most members tend to stay there as opposed to at other Walt Disney World resorts. Equally, using your points for any other Disney park or any of the other collections will be more expensive. For the DVC resorts, there are five seasons during the year starting with the Adventure Season, covering January, September and early December. Adventure Season is the cheapest time of the year to use your points, followed by the Choice season, which covers October, most of November except for Thanksgiving weekend, and mid December, until just before Christmas. The next season up, Dream, covers early February, May, early June and late August, while the Magic season covers late February through until the end of April, except for the two weeks around Easter. It also covers late July until mid August and the Thanksgiving weekend. The most expensive season of the year is the Premier one, which covers the two weeks around Easter and from Christmas Eve until New Year's Eve.

It's also worth knowing that it's a lot more expensive to use your points on a Friday and a Saturday night, which is why many DVC members aim to arrive on a Sunday and leave on a Friday. One bedroom villas, which include a separate living area, complete with full kitchen and washer /dryer, are also pricier than a studio, which is similar to a Disney resort room, but with a small kitchenette.

Bearing that in mind, you could use your 150 points to get five nights in a two-bedroom villa at the Beach Club Villas, which sleeps up to eight people in the Adventure season; five nights in a one-bedroom vacation home at Old Key West in the Magic season or eleven nights in a studio at Saratoga Springs during the Choice season. The choice really is yours and even better, if you want to save up for a big family reunion, you can bank one year's worth of points until the following year and borrow another year's worth from the next year, meaning you could use three year's worth of points to pay for one vacation. Imagine what you could do with 450 points! With that, a six night stay at a grand villa at Saratoga Springs, which sleeps up to 12 people, becomes possible in January, September, October and most of November and December.

The beauty of the DVC is that the points are pretty much set in stone for future years. If one week of the year goes up by, say, ten points, then another week of the year has to be reduced by ten points. Fluctuations in the amount of points needed for vacation are rare, which really helps with vacation planning from one year to the next.

The only other cost, once you're a DVC member, is the annual dues, which pay for a range of things, including housekeeping, maintenance, administration and refurbishments. Due by 15 January every year, they range from $3.68 to $4.67 per point, depending on your home resort, so for 150 points the cost would be between $552 and $700 each year.

And that really is it - there are no other hidden costs, but plenty of benefits. Not only do you get the opportunity to take vacations until 2042 or 2054, but you also receive Member Perks, a range of Disney related discounts, although they aren't a part of the ownership interest you purchase. These include money off meals, Ultimate Park Hopper Passes, backstage tours and special rates at Celebration Golf Club.

Of course, the biggest benefit is the opportunity to own a piece of the magic and to know that you are at "home" whenever you're at a DVC resort.

For more information on the Disney Vacation Club, check out the official website at http://dvc.disney.go.com/dvc/index or the 'Owning the Magic' forum on the PassPorter boards at http://www.passporterboards.com/ubb/...p;Board=UBB35. If you're heading down to Walt Disney World, then check out the DVC kiosks at every resort, park and Downtown Disney. As well as offering advice, they can arrange a tour, which isn't high pressure, and answer all your questions about how you can own a piece of the magic.

[Editor's Note: All information contained in this article regarding pricing, participation and other details is subject to change without notice. Please contact DVC for up to date information.]