Food For Thought: Best Uses for DVC Points (Part 1)

When you buy into the Disney Vacation Club (DVC), you’re investing in happiness. For decades to come, you can visit Disney’s most exquisite resorts for “free.” The only money that you’ll spend is your original investment plus annual maintenance fees. 

Even so, DVC involves a significant financial outlay. You’ll want to maximize your investment by getting the most out of every DVC point you have. Here are a few suggestions for the best uses of your DVC points. 

Understanding the Seasons 

When are you most likely to take a trip? You travel when you have vacation days, right? You’re an adult with a job and responsibilities and possibly even children. You can’t just head off on a trip whenever you want, although I highly recommend that you tie a bunch of balloons on your house and fly off when you’re in the mood for adventure. 

Anyway, Disney understands this vacation behavior better than any other company on the planet. They price all their hotel rooms to reflect the anticipated demand on a given day. While DVC Points Charts aren’t quite as fluid, every resort fluctuates at set times. 

You’ll want to research the DVC Points Chart for every resort where you might purchase a contract. I say this as a firm believer in the mandate that you should buy a DVC contract at the place where you’re most likely to stay. By comparing and contrasting the Points Chart for each hotel, you’ll appreciate just how much more value you can get at specific properties. 

A Closer Look at the Points Chart 

Your best use of DVC Points will always be during the Adventure and Choice Seasons. Historically, Disney fans would refer to these timeframes as the offseason, but the company’s parks don’t really have slow periods these days. 

When you visit during Adventure Season and Choice Season, you’ll pay fewer points than if you go during peak season. Disney DOES still have peak seasons, times when the parks are mobbed with people. The company knows when these dates are – usually major holidays and Spring Break – and charges a corresponding number of DVC points to stay at resorts. 

In other words, accurate points pricing is a basic tenet of DVC membership. The times when Disney is most crowded are the times when you’ll expend the most points for a single night’s stay. Conversely, the times when Disney has the smallest crowds are when you’ll maximize the value of your points. 

However, the situation isn’t cut and dry. You’re most likely to have vacation time on major holidays, and that’s the easiest way to schedule a Disney visit. Your challenge is to balance your vacation days without spending an excessive amount of your DVC points. 

Inconveniently, the DVC seasons are different at DVC resorts. I’m going to make some blanket statements here that may not apply to every hotel. Presumably, you’ll want to visit Walt Disney World, where most DVC resorts are. And the DVC Points Chart has a couple of assumptions along these lines. 

The Adventure and Choice Seasons cover the “down” portions of the calendar. At Orlando DVC resorts, you’ll (generally) find the lowest nightly point totals during January, September, October, the first 20 days of November, and the first two weeks of December. 

The Math of the Points Chart (with Examples) 

I’ll pick three DVC resorts to demonstrate the pricing discrepancy: Disney’s Old Key West, Disney’s Beach Club Villas, and Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows. 

At Old Key West, a studio costs 10 points nightly during Adventure and Choice Seasons but then increases 30% to 13 points during Dream Season. Premier Season, the most expensive season, costs 20 points. Yes, you’ll pay double here for Premier Season as you would for either Adventure or Choice Season. 

Percentage-wise, Beach Club isn’t as bad. The first two seasons are 15 points nightly, while Premier Season maxes out at 25 points. Overall, you’re still paying 10 points more per night during Premier Season than the offseason options. 

The Polynesian has the most substantial overall skew. A standard weeknight in a room without a view costs 16 points to start. A weekend night in a Lake View room is 24 points. Unlike the other hotels I’ve mentioned, this resort charges more for Choice Season than Adventure Season. The same options are 18 and 24 points then. 

The huge increases occur around peak season. Magic Season ranges from 23-32 points nightly, while Premier Season spikes to 31-42 points nightly. So, staying during Adventure Season could save you as many as 15 points nightly. During a one-week stay, you’ll spend 109 more points for the most expensive season as opposed to the cheapest! 

At Old Key West and Beach Club, the results are similar. During the offseason, you’ll spend 76 points for a week’s stay at Old Key West. For Premier Season, the total is 152. Meanwhile, at Beach Club, the DVC point requirements are 107 and 181. 

Across the three resorts, that’s an average difference of 86 points between the seasons! That’s like having to buy another 100-point contract just to spend Premier Season at Disney! And I’m only evaluating the cheapest rooms in the DVC lineup. The skew can be worse for one- and two-bedroom hotels. 

The other important point to make here is that you should avoid weekend night stays whenever possible. Old Key West’s nightly cost on Fridays and Saturdays during Adventure Season is 13 points as opposed to 10 points on weeknights. Most DVC hotels charge two or three points more per night on Fridays and Saturdays because people are more likely to travel to Disney on the weekends. 

Friends, let me be blunt. Choosing the right time to spend your DVC points is crucial to maximizing your investment. And I haven’t even factored in how much more you’ll enjoy park visits when they’re less crowded.

Check Back Next Time for Part 2 of Food for Thought!