Any Disney Vacation Club purchase is a pretty big financial commitment. At today's prices the minimum 160-point buy-in will run $15,000 or more, plus hundreds more in annual dues. Additionally buyers are committing to decades of theme park tickets, travel expenses, vacation dining expenses and so on.
Walt Disney World recently altered its policy regarding Advanced Dining Reservations. Previously guests were able to make most dining reservations 180 days in advance of their arrival. Now reservations are limited to 90 days in advance.
Disney Vacation Club members would seem to benefit from a longer window given the planning reqired to book accommodations up to 11 months in advance. However many found it difficult to plan their meals as much as 6 months in advance.
Similar Disney Vacation Club accommodations can often go for very different nightly point rates depending upon the resort and room class. For instance, a Studio villa at Disney's Old Key West Resort costs at little as 8 points per night in Adventure Season while a comparable unit with a Magic Kingdom View at the Bay Lake Tower is 17 points per night. With many options available ranging from economical to luxurious, it raises the question of which approach members prefer and why.
With the banking and borrowing provisions afforded to Disney Vacation Club members, realistically one could still justify membership even with trips taken every-other-year or even once every three years. Still with the variety of Disney experiences offered--not to mention frequent visitor perks like the Annual Pass discount--many DVC members appear to visit much more than once every 2 to 3 years.
One popular perk of Disney Vacation Club ownership is a subscription to the quarterly member newsletter.
The member mag has undergone a bit of evolution in recent years, culminating in its 2007 name change from Vacation Magic to DIsney Files. Disney Files arrives in members' mailboxes every 3 months providing a look at pending DVC projects, trade destinations available through RCI, member perks, resort happenings, other news from throughout the Disney corporate empire and more.
