After reaching a low point in February 2023, Disney Vacation Club direct sales have improved, but only slightly.
Disney's Animal Kingdom VIllas - Kidani Village
April 2023 saw a slight increase over the previous month in the number of Disney Vacation Club points sold for the 11 DVC resorts at Walt Disney World. A total of 120,411 points were sold, only 1.2% more than in March 2023.
Ignoring the months when sales were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, April’s point total is near the bottom in monthly sales over the last ten years. But when compared to the 119,040 points that sales have averaged over the last six months April’s 120,411 point total may represent the "new normal” for sales of DVC's Florida-based resorts.
The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort led all resorts in sales for the month with Disney’s Riviera Resort in second place. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas--benefiting from some short term sales incentives that where introduced in March--moved into third place with 10,701 points sold. It was the most points sold for that resort since March 2022 (12,443 points). Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, which sold 10,159 points in March, dropped to fourth place as it sold only 3,125 points in April.
In April, the largest single deeds sold were an 870-point deed and a 700-point deed, both for Grand Floridian. The largest Riviera deed was a 600-point deed. There are also nine 25-point deeds sold for Grand Floridian. No 25-point deeds were sold for Riviera.
Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort — In April 2023, 57,570 points were sold for the Grand Floridian. Disney has sold 1,010,956 points for the resort, 56.8% of the 1,779,822 points that have been assigned to the 202 Resort Studios located in the Big Pine Key building. Disney still has about 753,000 Grand Floridian points it can sell to the general public.
At its current pace, Grand Floridian may remain in active sales for another 12-13 months, wrapping up in mid-2024 as sales are expected to begin for the new tower on the grounds of Disney's Polynesian Village Resort.
Two Fixed Week deeds for Grand Floridian were sold in April 2023. So far, Disney has sold 41 Fixed Week deeds for the new Resort Studios: 11 deeds for standard view; 25 Lake View; and 7 Theme Park View. Since sales resumed, Disney has not sold any Fixed Week deeds for the Deluxe Studios or larger accommodations at the original Grand Floridian DVC building.
Disney’s Riviera Resort — In April, Riviera sold 42,700 points. Excluding four months in 2020 during the pandemic, it is the third fewest number of points sold in a month since sales began in April 2019 for the resort. Disney has sold 3,621,344 Riviera points, or 53.7%, of the resort’s 6,739,966 points. There are just under 3 million Riviera points that Disney can still sell to the general public.
For the sixth consecutive month, no Fixed Week deeds were sold for Riviera. Disney has sold 111 Fixed Week deeds for the resort: 93 Fixed Week deeds have been sold for Deluxe Studios, eight for one-bedroom villas, eight for two-bedroom villas, and two for three-bedroom grand villas.
On December 16, 2022, Disney declared 25 more vacation homes for the DVC inventory, increasing the number of declared vacation homes from 199 to 224. There are still 117 vacation homes that have not yet been declared and are still under the control of Disney. The declared inventory accounts for about 4,458,999 points, or 66.2% of the resort’s total points.
The sales data includes all 11 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 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.”
