Did you know that in 2019, almost 156 million people visited Disney parks around the world? This may not come as a huge surprise, considering how much both children and adult love these theme parks!
Perhaps you’re looking to take your family on a Disney trip sometime soon, or maybe you’re even considering it as a fun vacation for just you and your significant other.
In any case, it’ll be well worth your time to use DVC rentals when you whisk yourself away.
Want to hear more? In this article, we’ll show you how you can use DVC rentals for your Disney trip. That way, you and your family can have a blast!
What Is DVC Exactly?
First of all, what is a DVC rental? You should probably learn a little bit about something before you delve into how to use it, after all!
“DVC” stands for “Disney Club Rentals.” It’s essentially a vacation ownership program, which people like to also call a timeshare. However, it doesn’t exactly work like a regular timeshare.
Instead, some people like to consider it as a “prepaid vacation program.” This is because with timeshares, you pay to have part ownership of a property, but with DVC, you don’t own any part of the Disney resorts. Instead, like the name “prepaid vacation program” implies, you pay upfront for the right to go stay at these resorts throughout the year.
How Does DVC Work?
Basically, you can buy points with DVC. For those who can pay upfront, great! You can then pay for the full amount in full, without having to worry about any other payments later on.
But what if you can’t afford to spend that much money all at once? Not to worry! You can essentially take out a loan and pay the amount off with an easy payment plan.
Either way, you’ll get the points you paid for on a specific day of the year. Once you receive these points, you can then use them at various Disney hotels.
What’s great is DVC points aren’t just for hotels either! In fact, you can redeem your points for amazing experiences, such as reservations on the Disney Cruis Line.
DVC points are also good for certain hotels that are non-DVC but still owned by Disney. There are even a few resorts you can use DVC points are that are both non-DVC and non-Disney owned.
As you can see, DVC allows you many benefits for your Disney trips!
How Do the Points Work?
You now know that you can buy DVC points, but how exactly does the point system work?
Well, when you’re looking at a DVC property, it’s usually a hotel or resort with multiple available rooms. There is a total amount of points assigned to each property based on these rooms.
As you might’ve guessed, when you purchase points, you’re basically purchasing the right to use certain rooms. In theory, you could purchase enough points to rent out a whole hotel! But that’d take an insane amount of points, so you’d have to be pretty well off financially to do that.
Inside a DVC property, rooms might have different values, just like how you’d pay less for an economy room vs a suite. Also, points can change by season, based on demand.
Once a DVC property is assigned points, it’s set in stone. The only way the assigned points can change is if they add more rooms.
However, do note that DVC properties are allowed to rearrange their points. For example, an economy room might cost 100 points and a suite might cost 300. They can rearrange it so that the economy room costs 75 and the suite costs 325.
How to Use DVC Rentals
If you want to get in on using DVC points, then you should know that when you buy them, they’re for one specific property. When you get your points disbursed, you can then make reservations up to 9 months in advance! So if you already know you’re taking that regular summer trip to Disney World with your family, book it in advance to avoid disappointment.
If you do want to use your points at another DVC hotel, then you can make reservations up to 6 months in advance. As you can see, you have a 3-month advantage at your “home” DVC location.
Unused or Extra Points
What about if you don’t use up all your points in a calendar year? Do they expire?
The good news is, you can always have them roll over into the next year! So that means your money is never wasted, no matter how many points you purchase.
On the other hand, what if you’re having so much fun during the year that you run out of points prematurely? Another great piece of news is that you can borrow points from the next year!
One thing you should know is that when you either roll over or borrow points, the action is permanent. You can only perform these actions once and you must use the points in that year or you’ll lose them forever.
Have Fun and Stay in Comfort on Your Next Disney Trip
Now you know all about DVC rentals and how you can use them to your advantage. So the next time you take a Disney trip, forget about staying at those boring, expensive hotels. Instead, put your money to use by purchasing DVC points so you and your loved ones can stay in beautiful accommodations that not only have tons of amenities, but are often near Disney parks too!
If you found this article on renting a DVC useful, then make sure you also take a look at the rest of our blog section for more helpful tips!
