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.

How Use Year and Anniversary Date Impacts Disney Vacation Club Ownership

Disney Vacation Club Use Year: Use Year is a twelve month period beginning on the first day of a month. This is also sometimes referred to as the anniversary date. Each unit in a 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.

Home Resort Priority Period: Owners may make reservations at their deeded home resort up to eleven months in advance of their desired check in day by using their Home Resort Vacation Points.

Club Reservation Period: Owners may make reservations at other Disney Vacation Club Resorts up to seven months in advance of their desired check in date. At this point in their use year, an owners points are no longer considered Home Resort Vacation Points, but rather are considered to be Club Points. During this period, all Disney Vacation Club owners will be able to request reservations at all Disney Vacation Club resorts.

Special Season Reservations: Because of very high demand at Disney Vacation Club Resorts during certain periods, Disney may establish a Special Season Preference List to try to ensure that all owners have an equal opportunity to make reservations. Owners are added to a Special Season Preference List on a first come/first served basis- but owners cannot be on a particular list more than once at a time. For these situations, Member Services may begin contacting owners from the Preference List up to fifteen months in advance of the high demand period. It is not unusual for an owner to be on a list for more than a year, therefore additional reservation windows apply to these requests.

Home resort owners may request to be placed on a Special Season Preference List up to thirteen months prior to their desired check-in date. Disney Vacation Club Owners may request to be placed on a Special Season List for a resort other than their home resort up to twelve months in advance of their desired check-in date.

If you are called from the list and offered a Special Season Reservation, and you choose to decline it your name will remain on the list for one additional year. If you decline a Special Season Reservation more than once, your name will be automatically removed from the list. If you call to have your name added again, it will be entered as a brand new request and placed at the bottom of the list. When you choose to accept a Special Season reservation, your name is removed from the list.

Member Services can tell you if a Special Season list has been established for a particular Disney Vacation Club resort.

Banking Deadline: The banking deadline is no less than eight months from the owner's use year anniversary. For example: December use years owners must bank their Disney Vacation Club points by the end of July. Points can only be banked from the current use year to the next use year, and one points have been banked, they cannot be moved again as this transaction is final.

Borrowing Limit: The borrowing limit is a maximum of one use year forward. Again, points that are moved from one use year to another can only be moved once. This transaction is final.

Wait List Limit: A member can get on a waiting list for a certain type of room at a resort if it was not available when initially requested. A member cannot have more than two active wait lists at once, and wait lists cannot be established outside the normal reservation windows except when the period has been designated as a Special Season Reservation.