Buying a Disney Vacation Club contract through DVC Shop saves you literally thousands of dollars compared to buying directly through Disney. And largely, your experience as a DVC owner is the same. You own a contract with a home resort and a certain yearly allotment of points that you exchange for wonderful accommodations. However, the experience of resale owners and direct owners is not identical; one key difference is the resorts eligible for booking.
Since January 19, 2019, Disney Vacation Club has implemented a restriction on resorts resale owners can exchange their points for a stay. Disney’s Riviera Resort was the first new resort to include resale restrictions, and thus far these same restrictions have been applied to all new resorts since.
Resorts Opened Before January 2019
If you buy a resale contract with a home resort of any of the original 14 resorts, you can stay at any of those resorts. These resorts are:
- Aulani, Disney Vacation Club Villas
- Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – both Jambo House and Kidani Village
- Disney’s Beach Club Villas
- Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
- Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort
- Disney’s Old Key West Resort
- Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows (including the new Island Tower rooms)
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort
- Disney’s Vero Beach Resort
- The Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel
- The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort
For example, I own a resale contract with a Bay Lake Tower home resort. I am eligible to book a Bay Lake Tower reservation 11 months before my check-in date. Additionally, 7 months before my check-in date I can book at any of the above additional resorts. I have used my Bay Lake Tower contract to stay at Beach Club Villas, BoardWalk Villas, Polynesian Villas & Bungalows and more. My Bay Lake Tower resale contract is technically “restricted,” but with so many great resorts to choose from it does not feel like noticeable hindrance.
Resorts Opened January 2019 and Later
Resorts that have opened after January 19, 2019, have different resale restrictions. These resorts are:
- Disney’s Riviera Resort
- The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness – A Disney Vacation Club Resort
- The Villas at Disneyland Hotel
And it is a fairly safe assumption that any new resorts, including Disney Lakeshore Lodge, that open in the future will carry similar resale restrictions.
Resale restrictions for these resorts fall into two broad categories: original 14 home resort or home resort of a 2019 and newer build.
Home Resort: Opened Before January 2019
If your resale contract has a home resort for any Disney Vacation Club Resort that opened before January 2019–one of those original 14 resorts listed above–you cannot use those points to stay at any Resort that has opened since. For example, I cannot use my Bay Lake Tower resale restricted points to book a stay at Disney’s Riviera Resort. In fact, it’s not even an option online. With only my Bay Lake Tower resale restricted contract, I cannot see availability for any of the 2019 and newer resorts in the DVC online booking tool.
Home Resort: Opened After January 2019
If you purchase a resale contract with a home resort at any resort that opened after January 2019, you can only use your points at your home resort. For example, if you purchase a Villas at Disneyland Hotel contract through DVC Shop, you would be buying a resale contract and therefore restricted to only using those points at Villas at Disneyland Hotel. You cannot use those resale Villas at Disneyland Hotel points to book a reservation at any other DVC Resort.
Does It Matter That My Points Are Restricted?
On the surface, resale restricted points limiting your resort eligibility may seem like a big deal. But in practice, in my opinion, it has been negligible.
If you buy a resale contract with home resort of one of those original 14 resorts opened before January 2019, you still have so many choices of immersive properties to stay at. This is particularly true if you primarily plan to stay at Walt Disney World Resort–there are so many quality resort options to book beyond your home resort. Yes, the reality is there are a couple of resorts you cannot use your points to stay at, but the number available to you still far outweighs those not available for you to book.
If you buy a resale contract with a home resort of Disney’s Riviera Resort, The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness – A Disney Vacation Club Resort, The Villas at Disneyland Hotel, or any future new builds that carry the same restrictions, you are then limited to only staying at your home resort. However, you will be able to book 11 months in advance of your desired check-in, so you still retain the home resort booking window advantage. And if you love that resort and know you want to stay there time and time again, there is really no appreciable downside to not being able to use your points elsewhere.
Plus, whatever your resale restricted home resort, if you really want to stay at a resort your points are not eligible for, you can work with DVC Shop to rent out your restricted points and use that money gained to book a DVC Shop custom rental or confirmed reservation at that restricted resort.
Overall, restrictions on eligible resorts for your resale contract are important to be aware of. But I personally think saving thousands of dollars on the initial purchase price by buying a resale contract instead of buying directly through Disney is well worth it.
Featured Photo: Emily Murray.
Written by
Jacqueline R.
Contributing Writer
Jacqueline is a PhD scientist with a passion for synthesizing detailed information in an understandable format. She is a Disney Vacation Club owner, overall Disney fan, and the primary content creator on the YouTube channel Pixie Dust PhD.
