Mickey bars, Fantasyland, fireworks–oh my! It sounds like the best family vacation ever, right? But all magic comes with a price, dearie. If you love to visit Walt Disney World or other Disney destinations you’re probably at least somewhat familiar with the Disney timeshare. In a sentence, Disney Vacation Club is a point based system where members basically financially commit to Disney resort stays for many years in advance. Compared to paying full website price or booking rooms through a travel agent, Disney Vacation Club provides a much better price on deluxe accommodations at Disney. Still, paying up front for all those fabulous trips, while it’s absolutely worth it, can be pricey. The big price tag might have you thinking about price fluctuations, specials or discounts. DVC prices continue to trend up as prices per point rise nearly every year. So if you’re considering, the sooner you buy, the better. Does Disney Vacation Club go on sale? Yes and no. Read on for exactly how to get Disney Vacation Club points for the best price possible.
Spoiler: resale DVC points are the best value you’ll find.
Does Disney Vacation Club Go On Sale?
Disney Vacation Club does not technically go on ‘sale.’ There are incentives the company offers from time to time when buying DVC directly through Disney. These promotions are only available on specific contracts Disney is more eager to sell. Let’s look at some current incentives Disney Vacation Club is offering in the Winter of 2022.
From DisneyVacationClub.com:
‘For a limited time, save $4,400 or more on Membership when you purchase at least 200 Vacation Points at Aulani, Disney Vacation Club Villas, Ko Olina, Hawaiʻi. Or, take advantage of other savings at Disney’s Riviera Resort in Florida.’
The promotion wording goes on to encourage fast action and says price increases from $201 to $207 per point go into effect starting February 3, 2022 at Aulani and Riviera. This savings event goes on through March 2, 2022 so it’s possible to have less savings if you get in on the deal after the prices increase as you’ll end up paying more.
If 200 points at Aulani on a direct from Disney contract is specifically what you want then maybe you’re in luck. You can buy a smaller point value and still receive the promotional discount, it will just be a smaller discount as it’s a per point savings special. This seems like one of those things where the sales clerk encourages you to spend more money to save more money. While $4,400 seems like a large discount, it’s far from the best price you can get!
Comparable savings for Riviera during the same time period look like this. You can save $8 per vacation point on 200 points for a savings of $1600. With Riviera being at Walt Disney World, a very popular vacation destination for DVC members, the savings aren’t quite as nice. So while these incentives aren’t considered a Disney Vacation Club sale, you are able to receive a percentage of savings depending on how much you spend. These are the two resorts Disney is actively selling, meaning they’re not considered ‘sold out’ yet like all other resorts.
Until recently, we hadn’t seen Disney Vacation Club offer any kind of promotions or incentives on sold out resorts. Just a few weeks ago though, there was a special offer on Boardwalk. That has since ended but we’re curious if that’s something we’ll see again on another resort in the near future given that Disney, as any business does, likes to do tests with numbers and promotions.
Just so you’re aware, the promotions offered to current members adding on are usually a little better than the promotions for non members just buying in. Below are numbers reflective of the Member Add On promotions Disney Vacation Club is currently running.
I’m going to toss some rough numbers around here that don’t include any fees. This is nowhere close to a final number for any of these scenarios but a starting point for comparison purposes. Even in such a vague calculation the savings when buying resale vs. direct is apparent. We’ll look at an overview of what 200 points might cost in a few different scenarios. Remember this is for the current limited promotion and incentives in the future may look different.
200 points at Aulani for a new member at full price before the 2/3 point increase is about $40,200
200 points at Aulani for a new member at full price after the 2/3 point increase is about $41,400
200 points at Aulani for a new member with the incentive before the 2/3 point increase is about $35,800
200 points at Aulani for a new member with the incentive after the 2/3 point increase is about $37,000
200 points at Aulani for a current member with the incentive before 2/3 is about $34,200
200 points at Aulani for a current member with the incentive after 2/3 is about $35,400
Now take a look at that same point value at that same resort but for resale DVC points.
200 points at Aulani for anyone buying resale DVC points is currently around $25,000!
New listings pop up all the time as DVC members sell DVC points for various reasons but there are two at this resort, this point value and this price at the time this blog post was written. If you want to buy a Disney Vacation Club membership at the absolute best rate, what you’re really looking for is resale DVC points.
There is one thing to consider. Buying directly from Disney does come with some perks if, as a new member, you purchase the minimum amount of points to get those perks which is 150 at this time. These perks include some small discounts and a chance to maybe attend some neat events at the parks throughout the year but the latter is far from guaranteed. Unfortunately the member events are few and far between and if they don’t happen to fall on your trip dates it’s not exactly convenient to attend. Some members choose to buy the minimum number of points needed direct from Disney in order to get those perks and then buy resale points after that to get to their desired number. It’s an option. But with the amount people save buying resale DVC points it can be really hard to justify spending the extra $9,200 to $16,400 in these approximate cases.
Resale DVC Points Have the Best Value
Weighing the difference between buying Disney Vacation Club direct vs. resale shows the incredible savings you can get through buying resale DVC points. Prices can vary greatly with each resort depending on the popularity of that property, when the resort was built, when the contract was purchased and other factors. Overall there’s no doubt the best sale you’ll ever find on DVC is resale!
Want to learn more about buying DVC at the best possible rate? DVC Resale Experts team members are available by phone, email and live chat on this site. Count on the experts to help you find a resale DVC contract that’s a great fit for your magical vacation plans. To see what’s available right now, view current resale DVC listings.
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