When the newest Disney Vacation Club resort sees a 72% jump in sales it usually means overall direct sales should be strong for the month. But such was not the case in March 2024.
In March 2024, 114,212 Disney Vacation Club points were sold for the 12 DVC resorts located at World Disney World and The Villas at Disneyland Hotel. It was the second smallest volume sold in the last 12 months and well below the 169,974 points direct sales had been averaging over the previous six months.
Disney’s Riviera Resort led all resorts in sales in March 2024 with The Villas at Disneyland Hotel in second place and The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort in third place. The Cabins was the only one of the three resorts to have an increase in point sales from February to March. Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, which experienced a slight uptick in sales the previous two months, sold only 1,100 points in March.
The largest single deed sold in March was a 600-point deed for Riviera. The largest point sale spread over multiple deeds was 1,100 Riviera points in two 350-point deeds, a 220-point deed, and a 180-point deed.
Disney’s Riviera Resort — In March, Riviera sold 72,275 points. Although less than what it sold in January or February, March’s point total still exceeded the 57,187 points the Riviera has averaged over the previous 12 months.
Disney has been selling points for Riviera since March 2019. In that five year period 4,282,280 points have been sold, about 63.5% of the resort’s 6,739,966 points. Sales have averaged 72,162 points a month over that time.
One Fixed Week deed was sold for Riviera in March. Disney has sold 119 Fixed Week deeds for the resort.
Disney has declared 256 of Riviera’s 341 vacation homes for the DVC inventory. There are still 85 vacation homes that have not yet been declared and are under the control of Disney. The declared inventory accounts for 5,081,401 points, or 75.4% of the resort’s total points.
Villas at Disneyland Hotel — In March, approximately 16,086 points were sold for Disneyland Hotel, the fewest number of points sold in the brief 11-month history of the resort. Disney has sold 640,610 points since sales were first recorded in May 2023. About 19.7% of the resort’s estimated 3,255,992 total points have been sold to the public.
The number of points sold for the Disneyland Hotel can only be estimated. The data available from the Orange County (California) Clerk-Recorder’s Office is limited and the exact number of points sold cannot be compiled directly; instead, the number of points can only be estimated based on the Transfer Tax paid on each deed. This was not an issue when all deeds were sold at the same base price. However, in late January, the base price for the Disneyland Hotel was raised from $230 to $239 a point, Deeds recorded in March are a mix of both old and new prices and it is difficult to determine which price applies to a specific deed. For example, a deed with a Transfer Tax of $25.30 could represent 95 points if purchased at $239 a point or 100 points if purchased at $230 a point. Although the difference is slight, it means that point totals for the Disneyland Hotel are not as exact as for the other DVC resorts.
The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort — In March 2024 12,326 points were sold for the Cabins at Fort Wilderness, DVC’s newest resort. This represents a 72% increase over the 7,159 points sold in February. Initially, when sales began on February 1 they were limited to existing DVC members. But on February 27, 2024 sales opened to non-members as well.
Disney has now sold 19,485 points for the Cabins, which is about 0.7% of the resort’s estimated 2,780,943 total points.
The 72% spike in point sales for March may sound impressive but, on closer inspection, that statistic is misleading. February’s sales were recorded over the last nine business days of the month for a daily average of 795 points. March’s sales were over 21 business days for a daily average of 587 points.
In March, four Fixed Week deeds were sold for the Cabins. These are the first such deeds sold for the resort. So far, Disney has declared only 30 of the 363 cabins for the DVC inventory. These 30 cabins are allocated 229,820 points, about 8.3% of the resort’s total points.
On April 2, Disney Vacation Club introduced better incentives which should lower the buy-in cost for most purchasers. The April sales data may shed some light on whether or not the new discounts are helping, though it will not be until May that we have a clearer picture.
The sales data includes all 12 DVC resorts at Walt Disney World, as well as Disney's Vero Beach Resort, and Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort. Point sales data is not available for The Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel. The data is compiled from deeds filed by Disney Vacation Development and recorded with the Orange County (FL) Comptroller, the Indian River County (FL) Clerk of Court, and the Beaufort County (SC) Register of Deeds. Thanks to Chris from DVC.market for assisting in the compilation of the sales data.
Wil Lovato is a contributor to DVCNews.com and has been a Disney Vacation Club owner since 2009. His DVC Home Resorts include Copper Creek Villas, Bay Lake Tower, Animal Kingdom Villas, and Aulani. He can be found posting on many Disney discussion forums under the username of “wdrl.”
