Many Disney Vacation Club owners find that their Home resort is not their favorite. The reasons for this are many: bought whatever resort DVC was heavily marketing, bought a cheaper resort rather than a favored location, prefer a resort built after purchase, etc.
A DVC member's Home resort provides him / her with a four month booking advantage over owners of other resorts. For some locations / seasons / villa sizes, having that advantage can mean all the difference in the world. Other members seem to have little trouble booking their preferred accommodation seven months from arrival.
Three bedroom Grand Villas are the ultimate in Disney Vacation Club luxury. Most have three private bedrooms, at least four bathrooms, a dedicated laundry room, dining room and more. Of course that luxury comes at a price. In many cases, reserving a Two Bedroom villa and a One Bedroom villa will cost fewer points while accommodating the same number of guests.
Using points for destinations outside of the eleven Disney Vacation Club resorts is generally regarded as a poor value. When comparing cash prices to DVC point costs, the value is not nearly as good for most destinations outside of the DVC program.
On the other hand, using DVC is typically cheaper than an all-cash stay. Since the commitment has already been made to buy into DVC, using points may be preferrable to paying additional dollars out of pocket for the occasional non-DVC trip.
Historically Disney has allowed guests to use FASTPASS ride tickets at any point after the listed return time. A FASTPASS with a return time of 12:05 - 1:05pm could actually be redeemed anytime from 12:05 through the end of the calendar day.
Last week it was revealed that Disney intends to discontinue this policy in March 2012. FASTPASSES will be valid only for the indicated ride time, plus or minus a few minutes.
