For the second consecutive month, sales of Disney Vacation Club points by Disney Vacation Development topped 200,000 points. In February 2012, 217,876 points were sold for the nine DVC resorts for which sales can be tracked. This represents an increase of 3.6% over the previous month and a 28.0% increase over February 2011.
For the seventh month in a row, more points were sold for Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa than any other resort. Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas was second in point sales, and Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort was a distant third. With recent reports that Saratoga Springs is now officially "sold out", it is expected that Animal Kingdom Villas will see a significant increase in its monthly sales figures.
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The sales data includes all seven 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 California Hotel or for Aulani, Disney Vacation Club Villas. 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.
Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort - Although it may no longer be the focal point of DVD's sales efforts, Bay Lake Tower continues to rank third in sales among the nine DVC resorts for which sales can be tracked. In February 2012, 31,501 points were sold for Bay Lake Tower, which represents an increase of 13.6% over the monthly sales average for the last six months.
DVD can only sell 98.0% of Bay Lake Tower's total points (5,618,859) to the general public. As of February 29, 2012, it had sold 94.99% of those points, which leaves it with about 281,771 points that it can sell. These numbers reflect points that DVD has reacquired from owners through foreclosures, exercising its Right of First Refusal on resale transactions, and other buyback reasons. Since sales started in September 2008, DVD has reacquired 355 deeds containing 62,679 points.
As the chart below shows, February is the most common Use Year at Bay Lake Tower and also has the most unsold points. October is the least common Use Year at Bay Lake Tower and has the fewest number of points still available for purchase at this time. Bay Lake Tower also has three Units containing 78,560 points that DVD has yet to use to support sales. DVD will not designate the Use Year for those Units until it begins to draw points from those Units to support sales. Unless one or more of these Units are assigned to the October Use Year, it is likely that buyers wanting that Use Year may begin to experience shortages in the coming months.
Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - In February 2012, 67,610 points were sold at Animal Kingdom Villas, an increase of 11.7% over the previous month. Although Animal Kingdom Villas sold more than twice as many points as Bay Lake Tower, it still trailed Saratoga Springs by nearly 35,000 points.
Animal Kingdom Villas has been available for over five years and DVD has sold about 4.9 million of AKV's 7.4 million points (66.18%). This reflects 264,772 points that DVD has reacquired from DVC Members through foreclosure proceedings, exercising its Right of First Refusal on resale transactions, and other buyback reasons.
In the last six months, Animal Kingdom Villas has averaged 60,640 points in monthly sales, while Saratoga Springs, which was the focus of DVD's marketing efforts, averaged 92,210 points in monthly sales. With Saratoga Springs now considered "sold out", sales for Animal Kingdom VIllas should improve in the coming months. As sales improve, DVD with have to declare more Units for the DVC membership. The percentage of a resort declared for the membership determines how much of the resort can be booked by members on any given Use Day. DVD has declared 74.96% of Animal Kingdom Villas with the last declaration occurring on October 27, 2011.
Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa- With 102,465 points sold in February 2012, Saratoga Springs sales led all other DVC resorts for the seventh month in a row. It was the fourth time in seven months that Saratoga Springs' monthly sales exceeded 100,000 points.
In February, it was reported that Saratoga Springs was "sold out." Given the normal lag time of two to four weeks between when a buyer initiates a purchase and when the deed is recorded by the Orange County Comptroller, it is likely that a significant number of points will still be reported as sold during March and April 2012.
