Direct sales of Disney Vacation Club points improved significantly in March 2011 compared to the previous month.
Based on deeds filed and recorded with the Orange County (FL) Comptroller, the Indian River County (FL) Clerk of Court, and the Beaufort County (SC) Register of Deeds, Disney Vacation Development (DVD) sold 262,756 points, an increase of 54.3% compared to February 2011. March’s point sales total also represented an increase of 35.4% in the average monthly sales over the previous six months.
The data includes sales for all seven DVC resorts at Walt Disney World, 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, a Disney Resort and Spa.
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Anticipating continuing strong demand for BLT, on March 21, 2011, DVD made another declaration of Units at BLT adding three Grand Villas and six two-bedroom villas -- represented by 222,765 points -- to the DVC inventory that can be used by Members to book using points. DVD has now declared 96.04% of BLT for the DVC inventory. A final declaration should add the two remaining Grand Villas and eight two-bedroom villas.
In March, it appears that DVD was offering the September Use Year to new buyers who do not specifically request a different Use Year. During the month, DVD assigned five declared Units to the September Use Year and one declared Unit to the December Use Year. The February Use Year remains the most dominant Use Year at BLT, accounting for well over a third of BLT’s total points.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas - With 57,450 points sold in March 2011, AKV saw a 17.3% increase in sales compared to February. In addition, the March sales figures represent a jump of over 600% compared to November 2010, when only 7,985 points were sold at AKV.
DVD has declared 70.34% of AKV and has sold 61.92% of the resort. However, there are still over 2.8 million points to sell at AKV. At its current rate of sales, it will take over 48 months before AKV sells out.
Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa - In the last nine months, DVD has made several adjustments in SSR’s price, and these changes are reflected in its monthly sales totals. In July 2010, when SSR was priced at $95, DVD sold over 40,000 points at SSR. Toward the end of 2010, when SSR’s base price was raised to $120 a point with incentives, its monthly sales dropped: Only 5,098 points were sold in December 2010 and 9,880 points in January 2011. DVD then adjusted SSR’s price to a flat $99 a point and sales have increased. March’s point total of 37,374 points is more than double the total for the previous month.
Another sign that sales are improving at SSR is that on March 17, 2011, DVD began selling deeds to SSR Unit 142A, a previously declared but unused Unit. This marked the first time since September 2009 that DVD had to use a new Unit to support sales. By comparison, BLT had six new Units used in the month of March alone. DVD has now used 12 of the 15 Units that it declared in January 2009 when it included 30 TreeHouse Villas for the DVC inventory at SSR.
Disney’s Old Key West Resort - The slowdown in OKW sales continued in March 2011 with only 1,252 points sold in the month. Although that amount puts OKW on a par with BCV and BWV sales, it is a far cry from March, April, and May 2010, when OKW averaged almost 12,000 points a month. Since it has not increased OKW’s price of $90 a point, it appears that DVD’s supply of OKW points is limited and is affecting how much it can sell at this time.
