Buyers responded favorably to special sales incentives offered for the oldest Disney Vacation Club resort, helping overall direct point sales to show a 4.7% gain in month-over-month sales.
In April 2024, 119,573 Disney Vacation Club points were sold for the 12 DVC resorts located at World Disney World and The Villas at Disneyland Hotel. It represents a 4.7% increase in sales over March 2024 (114,212 points) and only a 0.7% decrease over sales in April 2023 (120,411 points). Disney’s Riviera Resort led all resorts in sales while Disneyland Hotel was a distant second place. In third place was Disney’s Old Key West Resort, which sold 12,605 points. Over the prior 12 months combined Old Key West sold just 18,165 points.
It is not surprising that Old Key West, for which sales started in 1991, sold the third most points for the month. In early April 2024, short term sales incentives were introduced for the resort. While these incentives are in effect, buyers can add on points at a significant discount compared to buying points for the newer DVC resorts. For example, new members can add on 200 Old Key West points for $165 per point while a 200 point purchase for Disney’s Riviera Resort would cost $202 per point.
The largest deeds sold in April were nine 500-point deeds: four deeds for Riviera; three deeds for Disneyland Hotel; and two deeds for Old Key West. The largest split sale was 675 points split between two 275-point Riviera deeds and one 125-point deed for Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney's Wilderness Lodge.
Disney’s Riviera Resort — In April, Riviera sold 71,630 points, the third consecutive month that sales have fallen for the resort. April’s sales are 5.2% less than what Riviera averaged over the prior six months but 19.4% more than what it averaged over the previous 12 months.
Disney started selling DVC points for Riviera on March 27, 2019, and the first deeds were recorded on April 12, 2019. Since then, 4,349,380 points have been sold, about 64.5% of the resort’s 6,739,966 points. Monthly sales have ranged from a high of 181,289 points in January 2020 to a low of 7,910 points in June 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic, the most points sold in a month was 93,218 points in April 2022. This is not particularly surprising since Riviera sales have overlapped with no fewer than 4 other actively-selling resorts: Disneyland Hotel, The Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort, The Cabins at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Aulani, Disney Vacation Club Villas. It is also common knowledge that DVC will soon reopen sales for Disney's Polynesian Villas & Bungalows.
Two Fixed Week deeds was sold for Riviera in March. Disney has sold 121 Fixed Week deeds for the resort with 72 deeds having been sold for the last six weeks of the year.
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.
The Villas at Disneyland Hotel — In April, approximately 20,517 points were sold for Disneyland Hotel. Disney has sold 661,127 points since sales were first recorded in May 2023, about 20.3% of the resort’s estimated 3,255,992 total points.
Monthly sales for Disneyland Hotel have averaged 55,094 points, but that figure is misleading. During the first six months of sales, Disneyland Hotel averaged 86,737 points a month. In the last six months sales have averaged only 23,451 points.
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 April 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 April 2024 6,726 points were sold for Fort Wilderness, DVC’s newest resort. Disney has now sold 26,211 points for The Cabins, which is about 0.9% of the resort’s estimated 2,780,943 total points.
In April, two Fixed Week deeds were sold for The Cabins, bringing to six the number of such deeds sold for the resort. Unlike other resorts that offer Fixed Week deeds where late November and December are the most popular weeks, five of the six Fixed Week deeds for the Cabins are not in the last six weeks of the year: One in late June (week #26); three in October (weeks #40 and two in #43); and one in early November (week #44). The sixth Fixed Week deed is for week #52.
On April 3, 2024, Disney declared 33 additional cabins, bringing the number of cabins declared for DVC’s newest resort to 63. DVC members will be able to book using points up to 63 cabins on any given Use Day. There are still another 300 cabins that have not yet been declared. Disney will be able to use these 300 cabins for cash rentals or any other purpose it desires.
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 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.”
