A Basic Introduction to Disney Vacation Club Ownership.

 Disney Vacation Development, Inc. markets and operates the Disney Vacation Club, which is a points-based vacation ownership and exchange system of timeshare resorts.

All DVC ownerships are a deeded interest in real estate, and each interest equates to a specific number of Disney Vacation Club points, which are awarded each year on the first day of the anniversary month . A percentage of ownerships at Disney's Aulani Resort are also being sold as a guaranteed fixed week and unit. For these fixed intervals at Aulani, the owner will have the right to use their deeded week and unit, or to exchange that usage week for the equivalent allotment of Disney Vacation Club points.

All Disney Vacation Club resorts have been established on either a ground lease, or as a term-for-years. This means that the timeshare ownerships have a specific expiration date, at which point the usage rights will revert back to Disney Vacation Development, Inc.

The Disney timeshare calendar year is divided by Disney into distinct season categories: Premier, Magic, Dream, Choice, and Adventure. The particular dates that fall within these seasons will vary depending on the resort, and some resort calendars will not include all five seasons. Some locations will have only four season designations. These DVC season designations should not be confused with other terminology used by external usage systems such as RCI to denote demand values. For example, RCI considers Beach Club Villas to be red season usage all year long because of the traditional high exchange demand for the property- regardless of
the calendar date or the specific Disney season in which a reservation will fall.

There are different ways to exchange your Home Resort for another resort stay. This includes internal exchange within Disney Vacation Club, internal exchange for non-DVC properties and services, external exchange, and private exchange and rentals.

Internal exchange for another DVC resort-. The easiest way is simply using your DVC points to make a reservation at another DVC resort. If you own multiple DVC contracts at different home resorts, your points may be combined as DVC Vacation Points for reservations made less than seven months in advance.

Internal exchange for a non-DVC resort - To do this, your Home Resort Vacation Points are converted to Reservation Points, which are then used to reserve accommodations at non-DVC Resorts, except for accommodations available through the affiliated exchange company, which at this time is RCI. This privilege  does not transfer via resale, so the only way to get this perk is to purchase the timeshare interest directly from Disney Vacation Club at full developer price. Reservation Points cannot be banked, borrowed, transferred or used to reserve accommodations through RCI or another third-party exchange system. Nor can they be used to reserve accommodations at DVC Resorts. Reservation Points must be used to reserve a non-DVC resort through the Central Reservations System. These points will expire at the end of the Use Year in which they are converted.

External exchange- Owners may also use a third party exchange system such as RCI, or a smaller system such as SFX Resorts.


Private exchange or rentals- While commercial rental of Disney Vacation Club points is prohibited (in other words, you cannot buy a DVC ownership with the sole intention of renting for a profit), owners who purchased primarily for personal use can rent or swap their DVC vacations with other individuals.

A Disney Vacation Club Use Year is a 12-month period beginning on the first day of the anniversary month.  Each unit in a DVC resort has a specific use year assigned to it. All ownership interests deeded from that unit  will be assigned the same use year, which is shown on the purchase agreement and on the DVC Member Card. Because the Use Year is tied to the individual ownership interest, it cannot  be changed unless the underlying deeded interest is also changed.