Disney Vacation Club, usually called DVC, is Disney’s timeshare program. You purchase an ownership interest at a Disney Vacation Club resort, receive an allotment of Vacation Points each year, and use those points to reserve eligible accommodations.
The big difference from a traditional fixed-week timeshare is flexibility. You are not necessarily buying the same room for the same seven days every year. The DVC points system lets you choose from different dates, room sizes and eligible resorts, subject to the number of points required and what is available when you book.
That flexibility is also what makes DVC confusing at first. To understand how Disney Vacation Club works, you really need to understand five things: what you own, what DVC points represent, your Home Resort, booking windows and the ongoing cost of keeping the membership.
What do you actually buy with Disney Vacation Club?
DVC is not simply a hotel discount membership. When you purchase Disney Vacation Club, you are buying a real estate ownership interest associated with a specific DVC resort.
That property becomes your Home Resort. Your ownership interest is represented within the DVC system by a certain number of Home Resort Vacation Points that are allocated to you each Use Year.
The contract also has an expiration date. DVC ownership is long term, but it does not continue forever. Different resorts have different contract end dates, which is important when comparing two properties that may otherwise look similar.
For the underlying timeshare structure, see why Disney Vacation Club is a timeshare. We also have a separate guide explaining how long DVC contracts last.
So what are DVC points?
Vacation Points are the system DVC uses to determine how much accommodation your ownership can reserve.
Suppose your contract provides 150 points per Use Year. You do not receive 150 nights or a specific room. Instead, you receive 150 points that can be applied toward eligible reservations.
A small studio during lower-point dates might require relatively few points per night. A two-bedroom villa during a high-demand period could require many times that amount.
Disney publishes a points chart for each DVC resort showing how many points different accommodations require throughout the year. Our DVC points chart guide explains how to read those tables, while how DVC points work goes deeper into Use Years, banking and borrowing.
Your points do not have one fixed hotel value
It is tempting to think of one DVC point as being worth one fixed dollar amount, but that is not how the reservation system works.
The number of points required for a stay depends on factors such as:
- which DVC resort you choose;
- your travel dates;
- the size of the villa;
- the room or view category; and
- in some cases, whether the night falls during the week or weekend.
That means two members who each own 150 points could use them very differently. One might book several nights in studios, while another saves points for a larger villa.
If you are trying to estimate how large a contract you would need, start with the vacations you realistically expect to take rather than picking an arbitrary number of points. Then compare that requirement with current Disney Vacation Club point costs.
Your Home Resort controls your booking advantage
The Home Resort is one of the most important parts of DVC ownership because it determines where you receive priority access to reservations.
Members can generally begin booking their Home Resort up to 11 months before the check-in date. Reservations at another eligible DVC resort generally open to members at 7 months before check-in.
That four-month difference can be significant for small resorts, lower-point room categories and popular travel periods.
It does not guarantee you a room. DVC reservations operate on availability, so even Home Resort owners can find that a particular room category has already filled.
This is why buying purely based on the cheapest contract can backfire if you repeatedly want to stay somewhere else. Compare the properties in our Disney Vacation Club resorts guide and use the map of DVC resort locations before deciding where you would actually want Home Resort priority.
A simple example of how a DVC year works
Imagine that your DVC contract provides 150 Vacation Points each Use Year.
- Your new Use Year begins with your annual allotment of eligible points.
- You decide you want to take a Disney vacation later in the year.
- You check the point chart for your preferred resort, dates and room.
- You search DVC availability once your booking window opens.
- You use the required number of points to reserve the accommodation.
- Any remaining points can potentially be used for another stay or banked, subject to DVC rules and deadlines.
If the reservation requires more points than you currently have available, eligible members may also be able to borrow points from the following Use Year.
This is why DVC ownership does not necessarily mean taking exactly one vacation every year.
Banking lets you move points forward
If you do not need all of your current points, DVC allows eligible points to be banked into the following Use Year if you act before your banking deadline.
That can be useful if you want to skip a smaller vacation and use more points for a larger trip the following year.
Banking is not indefinite. Banked points have their own expiration rules and cannot simply keep rolling forward forever.
Borrowing moves future points into an earlier Use Year
Borrowing works in the other direction. If a reservation requires more points than you have available in the current Use Year, you may be able to borrow eligible points from the following Use Year.
That gives members more flexibility for an occasional expensive vacation without permanently purchasing enough points for that type of stay every year.
Banking and borrowing are subject to DVC’s current rules, so always verify deadlines and restrictions before moving points between Use Years.
What happens if you do not use your points?
Unused DVC points do not remain in your account forever.
If you are not going to use eligible current-year points, you generally need to bank them before the applicable deadline. Otherwise, points can expire at the end of their Use Year.
This is one of the practical differences between DVC and a traditional hotel rewards program. You need to actively manage the points attached to your ownership.
Annual dues continue whether you travel or not
The purchase price is only one part of DVC ownership.
DVC owners also pay annual dues associated with their Home Resort. Those dues contribute to the resort’s operating expenses, maintenance, reserves and property taxes.
The amount varies by resort and can change from year to year. If you financed your DVC purchase, loan payments are another expense separate from annual dues.
This is why DVC should not be described as simply prepaying decades of vacations at today’s hotel price. You are purchasing the ownership interest now, but ongoing costs remain.
For a closer look at the financial side, see our guide to Disney Vacation Club costs and point prices.
What does DVC membership not include?
Another common misunderstanding is assuming that buying Disney Vacation Club creates an all-inclusive Disney vacation.
It does not.
Most importantly, DVC ownership does not automatically include theme park admission. Your accommodation and your Walt Disney World or Disneyland tickets are separate.
Our guide to whether DVC includes park tickets explains the current ticket situation and the difference between included admission and potential member ticket benefits.
DVC also should not be purchased on the assumption that every current discount, lounge, event or other member perk will remain available for the life of your contract.
Core DVC ownership and DVC perks are different things
This difference becomes especially important when comparing buying directly from Disney with buying a DVC contract on the resale market.
The ownership interest, annual point allotment and ability to make eligible DVC resort reservations are the heart of the timeshare. Discounts, special events, lounges and other Membership Extras are additional benefits with separate eligibility rules.
Some of those extras can be restricted based on how and when a membership was purchased. They can also change over time.
Before paying extra for a direct purchase because of the perks, compare the current Disney Vacation Club perks, DVC discounts and the underlying benefits of Disney Vacation Club ownership.
Can DVC points be used outside Walt Disney World?
Yes. Disney Vacation Club is not limited to Walt Disney World.
DVC has resorts at Disneyland Resort and standalone Disney destinations such as Aulani in Hawaii, Disney’s Vero Beach Resort and Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort in addition to the large collection of properties at Walt Disney World.
Members may also have access to other vacation options depending on their eligibility and the current DVC program. Those alternatives can operate differently from a standard DVC resort reservation and may have separate point requirements, fees and restrictions.
For example, see our guide to using Disney Vacation Club for cruises before assuming a cruise works like booking a villa.
Can you try DVC without buying it?
Yes. You do not need to own a Disney Vacation Club contract to stay in a DVC villa.
One alternative is renting a reservation from a DVC member. In a typical rental, the owner uses their points to reserve an accommodation for someone else, and the renter pays for that reservation without buying the underlying timeshare interest.
Renting does not give you DVC ownership and does not automatically give you the Membership Extras available to an eligible owner. But it can let you experience the villas and resorts before deciding whether long-term ownership appeals to you.
Start with how to rent Disney Vacation Club points and our broader DVC rentals guide.
Who does the DVC system tend to work best for?
The structure tends to make more sense for travelers who can actually use its biggest advantages.
- You expect to take Disney vacations repeatedly over many years.
- You prefer DVC or deluxe-level Disney accommodations.
- You can plan far enough ahead to use the 11-month and 7-month booking windows.
- You are comfortable making a long-term timeshare commitment.
- You can afford the purchase and continuing annual dues without relying on uncertain future perks.
- You are willing to keep track of Use Years, banking deadlines and point expiration.
A traveler who normally books inexpensive off-site hotels, travels unpredictably or dislikes planning months in advance may get less practical use from the system.
That does not automatically make DVC a good or bad purchase. The value depends heavily on how closely your real travel habits match the program.
If you’re trying to pressure-test the financial argument, our article asking whether Disney Vacation Club is a ripoff looks at the potential disadvantages more closely.
How the entire DVC system fits together
The easiest way to understand Disney Vacation Club is to follow the chain from ownership to vacation:
- You purchase an ownership interest at a DVC Home Resort.
- Your contract provides a set allotment of Vacation Points each Use Year.
- DVC points charts determine how many points a particular accommodation requires.
- Your Home Resort gives you earlier booking priority there.
- You use your points to reserve eligible accommodations, subject to availability.
- You can potentially bank or borrow eligible points to adjust how much you have available in a particular Use Year.
- You pay annual dues for as long as you own the contract.
- Your ownership ultimately ends when that resort’s contract reaches its expiration date.
That is the core of how DVC works. The lounges, discounts, special events and other extras can be useful, but they sit on top of that ownership and reservation system rather than defining it.
Disney publishes current program information on the official Disney Vacation Club website. For the rest of the ownership questions, continue with our main Disney Vacation Club guide.
