The NEW Problem That's Suddenly Plaguing Disney Vacation Club Members

Are you a member of the Disney Vacation Club?

Riviera Resort

The pricey timeshare-style program from Disney allows owners to buy points that they can then use to book stays at a variety of Disney properties, including hotels at Disney World and Disneyland Resort. You don’t have to be a DVC member to stay at those particular resorts, but if you travel to Disney destinations often enough, it might be worth buying into the program. However, recently there has been a big problem facing DVC members.

If you’ve been a Disney Vacation Club member for several years, you may have noticed that recently, there’s been a BIG push for people to join DVC. Disney has been advertising the perks, offering tours, and hyping up the new resorts constantly, trying to get people to buy in.

Saratoga Springs

And honestly, it’s been working pretty well! For Disney as a company, this is good news. But for the average consumer? Well, it might not be so convenient. Because now, the pool of DVC members is much greater than it was before, which means the pool of available reservations to book is much smaller.

Wilderness Lodge

When you become a DVC member, you choose a “home” resort for signing your contract. With that particular resort, you’ll be able to book your stay 11 months in advance. At any other resort, availability will open 7 months in advance. But thanks to the influx of members, many DVC people are having a hard time finding availability at that 7-month mark, meaning that it’s more of a challenge to snag reservations that aren’t your home resort.

Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort

This is particularly a problem during popular travel dates or holiday seasons. During those times of the year, some people have begun the frustrating practice of “walking” reservations. What does that mean? Allow me to explain. Let’s say, for example, that you want to stay in a Disney World hotel December 23rd-27th. “Walking” a reservation would mean that you start booking early — like making your reservation for December 15th when it opens up, then waking up every day and modifying the reservation back a day until you have your desired dates. This practice makes it very hard for the people who are actually booking for December 15th to find their desired room or dates.

The Disney Vacation Club Imaginatrium

But what about the new hotels? Yes, Disney has added new DVC properties in recent years, like at Disneyland Hotel or the Fort Wilderness Cabins. And at the end of 2024, they’ll be opening a DVC tower at the Polynesian Village Resort. But with each new property, more and more people are tempted to buy DVC, and therefore the demand is sometimes outpacing the supply.

Disney Vacation Club

Ultimately, this makes it more of a challenge for DVC members to get “bang for their buck” when it comes to those contracts. They’re often having to book single-night stays randomly to actually use their points. That can be frustrating when you paid big bucks to get those points in the first place!

Riviera Resort

We’ll make sure to keep you updated with any other Disney Vacation Club problems, so stay tuned to DFB for the latest.

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