Disney Vacation Club has been providing its members with exceptional vacation experiences for 30 years.

Clearly, DVC is no fly-by-night timeshare scam, but what’s involved in a DVC membership? Is it worth it for your family?

If you’re interested in signing up with Disney Vacation Club you’ve probably come across the term ‘DVC Use Year’. Find out more about this concept and more in this brief overview of DVC. 

How Does DVC Membership Work?

The first step when signing up with DVC is deciding how many points you need according to your family’s vacation needs. The current price of points is $201 each and the minimum number of points you can buy is 125.

It’s easy to get carried away at this point, so always keep your budget in mind.

It’s true that you’ll save a ton of money over the years when you opt-in for membership. Yet, with ordinary vacations, you don’t pay for your accommodation years in advance. 

Costs Involved in Buying a DVC Membership

So, you should still consider how much you can afford to pay monthly on the costs to purchase your membership when you’re looking at the number of points you want.

You’ll also need to pay a certain amount upfront for your membership as well as closing costs and Annual Dues. These last two aspects depend on the Home Resort you select when signing up. 

How Do Points Work?

When you buy DVC points, you use them to book vacations. DVC deducts any points you use from your total points allocation for that year. 

Then, every year, they recharge your account with your total number of points again. Any leftover points are valid for another 12 months if you bank them in advance. That’s where your Use Year comes into the picture.

What Is a DVC Use Year?

Use Year refers to the month in which DVC deposits your next allocation of points into your account. For example, if you have a March Use Year, you’ll receive your annual allocation of points on March 1st every year.

There are eight different Use Years that Disney allocates when you sign up for your membership. Pay attention to the Use Year assigned to your contract, you can’t change it later.

Your points will automatically reallocate in the Use Year closest to the time you bought your points.

The official Use Years are:

  • February
  • March
  • April
  • June
  • August
  • September
  • October
  • December

The simplest notion when it comes to choosing a Use Year is basing it slightly before the time you usually vacation, but you need a little more information to make a good decision. 

Your designated Use Year also affects a few other aspects of your membership.

Why Is Use Year Important?

Remember, when you select a Use Year, you get to book your home resort 11 months before your check-in date. That means if you want to have access to the greatest number of points, you should pick a use year close to the start of that booking window.

Everyone else who’s chosen that home resort has the same opportunity. So, if you want to travel during a busy time of year, like Christmas, you need to book on that day.

Banking Your Points

Another thing affected by your Use Year is your banking date. This refers to the latest time you can notify DVC of your intention to carry your points over to the next year. 

You must bank your points eight months into your use year. If you have a February use year, your points expire on January 31st.  That means you must bank your points by September 30th if you can’t use them before their January expiry date.

Your Vacation Dates

Another important thing to note is how point deductions work. Disney deducts your points to the dates of your accommodation booking. So any reservations you make after your Use Year date, come off your next allocation unless you bank your points.

You can’t make an advance reservation using this Use Year’s allocation during the time frame of the next one. For example, if you have an April Use Year and you book from 30 March to 4 April, you’ll use two days of this year’s allocation and 4 days from next year. 

It’s easy to see that if you have unbanked points you could lose out on your allocation this year.

Borrowing Points

You can also borrow points from next year if you don’t have enough for your desired vacation. You can only do this at the time of booking.

So, if you want to use a lot of points for your reservation, you’ll need to juggle your banking and borrowing activities accordingly. 

Canceling Bookings

If you have to cancel a booking that falls within the last four months of your Use Year, you won’t have time to bank the points you get back from your cancellation.

So, unless you can rebook within that Use Year, you’ll lose those points.

What Can You Do With Expiring Points?

There’s one last way to salvage something out of your points at the last minute. You can rent them out to someone else. 

Another DVC member who wants to extend their booking or go on an extra holiday might pay you for the use of them, or a non-member might want to use them. You can rent your existing booking to them, or make another reservation on their behalf.

The best way to rent your points quickly is via an authorized broker, but you can also advertise them on your own. 

Making the Most of Your Vacations

Choosing the right DVC Use Year is only one way to maximize your Disney Vacation Club membership. You can also take advantage of last-minute discounts as well as renting your points out to other people.

All these aspects add up to a complete vacation package that delivers numerous savings for members. 

If you aren’t a Disney kind of person, browse our travel section for more great vacation ideas.