With 225,474 Disney Vacation Club points sold in March 2018, Disney recorded its best start to a new year since we began tracking sales in July 2010.
For the quarter ending March 2018, 676,809 DVC points were sold for the 10 DVC resorts located at Walt Disney World. This represents a 35.5% increase over the same quarter in 2017 and is 6.0% more than the first quarter of 2011, the previous high, when 638,262 points were sold.
Copper Creek Villas & Cabins dominated sales with 175,167 points sold in March 2018. However, sales were also strong for several of the “sold out” resorts at Walt Disney World: Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort sold 5,068 points, its best single month of sales since January 2015; Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa sold 8,079 points, the most it has sold since March 2016; and Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas’ 6.023 points is the most for that resort since January 2017.
DVC members continue to buy small 25-point deeds. In March, 186 25-point deeds were sold, including 47 deeds for Animal Kingdom Villas, 34 deeds for Saratoga Springs Resort, and 28 deeds for Disney's Old Key West Resort. These small deeds account for 9.7% of the deeds sold in March, but only 2.0% of the points sold for the month.
Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge — Ever since December 2017, when Disney shifted its marketing focus from the Polynesian Villas & Bungalows to Copper Creek, sales for Copper Creek have increased significantly. With 175,167 points sold in March 2018, Copper Creek set an all-time high for the resort for the third consecutive month. The resort has now sold 28.3% of its 3,321,966 points.
Copper Creek’s 175,167 points in March was the best month for a single resort since the Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa recorded 226,439 points in sales in July 2013. The best month recorded by the Polynesian was 169,377 points in April 2016.
In the 12 months since sales began for Copper Creek, the resort has averaged 78,274 points a month. However, in the three months since it became the focus of Disney’s marketing efforts, Copper Creek’s monthly average has jumped to 142,020 points.
On March 6, 2018, Disney declared 10 more vacation homes at Copper Creek for the DVC inventory. Disney has now declared 70 of the resort’s 184 vacation homes. In terms of points, Disney has now declared 1,435,625 points, or 43.2% of Copper Creeks total points. This means that on any given Use Day Members can book up to 43.2% of the resort using points. As Disney sells more points for Copper Creek, it will declare more vacation homes for the DVC inventory.
One Guaranteed Week deed was sold in March 2018. Since sales began, 18 Guaranteed Week deeds have been sold, accounting for only 0.23% of the points sold so far.
Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows — Disney sold only 19,946 Polynesian points in March 2018, but it also reacquired 3,930 points through foreclosure proceedings and by exercising its Right of First Refusal on third-party resale transactions. Although Disney still has about 22,000 unsold Polynesian points in its inventory, the majority of these points have probably already been committed to sales and are awaiting closing.
The sales data includes all 10 DVC resorts at Walt Disney World, as well as Disney's Vero Beach Resort, Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort, and Aulani, Disney Vacation Club Villas. 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.
Wil Lovato is a contributor to DVCNews.com and has been a Disney Vacation Club owner since 2009. His DVC Home Resorts include Bay Lake Tower, Animal Kingdom Villas, and Aulani. He can be found posting on many Disney discussion forums under the username of “wdrl.”
