DVC, three letters that mean so much to those who are members of the Disney Vacation Club, but for those aren’t, what’s it all about?
The first Disney Vacation Club resort, Disney's Old Key West
In a nutshell, the DVC is Disney’s user-friendly version of timeshare. Forget any horror stories you’ve heard about hard sells, this is very different. If you want to walk away without buying, you can. We did, when we first explored the idea on our honeymoon all the way back in 1999. It just wasn’t right for us then, and Disney were completely happy with our decision. Three years later, we became members and we’ve never looked back.
Another difference with many other timeshares is that you don’t just buy a two-week vacation for a certain time of the year. Disney, as with so many other things they’ve done over the years, re-wrote the rules when they entered the timeshare market. Instead, you buy points, which you can use throughout the year at a whole range of resorts. As you’d expect, certain times of the year, usually the more popular time, cost more points, while less popular times are much more cost effective times to visit.
Our beautiful home resort, Disney's Beach Club Villas
When you buy in, you get a “home resort”, and you can book stays at this 11 months out, while stays at all other Disney Vacation Club resorts (and there are many now!) can be booked at seven months out. We’re members at both the Disney’s Beach Club Villas and Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, which means we can book any stays we want at either resort 11 months beforehand. If we want to swap to another resort, then seven months before our stay, we can do that, provided there’s availability – and much of the time in our experience – there is.
You can even pick the size of room you want, from a studio that’s like a basic hotel room, but with a kitchenette, to one-, two- and three-bedroom villas. All come with some amazing extras, like a full kitchen (very handy if you want to eat in), a Jacuzzi bath (my favourite!) and a washer/dryer. Of course, the bigger the room, the more points it takes.
The first west coast Disney Vacation Club resort, the Villas at Disney's Grand Californian at Disneyland
You’re not even restrained to just staying at Walt Disney World, although there are seven (with number eight, at the Grand Floridian due to come online in 2013), there are also four other locations. The first is only a couple of hours’ drive from Disney World, at Vero Beach on the eastern coast of Florida, with the second further up the coast in Hilton Head, South Carolina. On the other side of the States is a resort at the Grand Californian hotel at Disneyland, while the fourth can be found on O’ahu in Hawaii.
Want more choice? You’ve got it – add in all the Disney theme parks around the world (we’ve used our points before at Disneyland Paris), the Disney Cruise Line (two cruises to date paid for using our points, including Alaska), Adventures by Disney, the guided tours organised by the company throughout the world. There are even non-Disney options, perish the thought! There’s the Concierge Collection, with some of the world’s finest resorts, and we’ve been able to stay at some of those in London, San Diego and San Francisco, and you can even swap out your points with other companies to widen your choices.
Intrigued and want to learn more about the Disney Vacation Club? The first thing to know is that it’s not cheap to buy in, although you’ll save over the years you’re a member. We’ve more than recouped the initial costs 10 years on from our initial purchase. Full details of the latest pricing and promotions can be found on DVCNews.com Remember it may be a lot of money, but it will cover many years of happy vacation memories!
For everything – and more – that you could ever want to know about the Disney Vacation Club, there’s even a PassPorter book about it, PassPorter’s Disney Vacation Club Guide for Members and Members-To-Be, packed with information.