After reading the title of this article, you immediately might feel FOMO — the fear of missing out.
In all honesty, I wondered if I’d be feeling this as my family took our first trip to Walt Disney World on Disney Vacation Club points last month as new members. We purchased a small resale contract with DVC Resale Market to become DVC members earlier this year, adding a very modest direct contract shortly after. Due to the significant minimum direct point investment, we aren’t close to having the number of direct points needed to obtain “Membership Extras.” Frankly, I don’t know if we will ever have enough points to qualify for these perks, as limited as they are as of today.
Staying at a DVC Resort as a Resale Member
I know many resale members (especially new members!) might wonder if they will be treated differently than their direct purchase counterparts during their Disney visit. Is there a special note at check-in that says “resale,” or somehow a marker (outside of the digital card system, which you may choose to show or not show) on you that somehow mentions how you bought your points? The short answer is… no.
Points are points! Whether you bought, borrowed, or rented points — you will indeed still feel the same Disney magic when you visit. My family had a wonderful trip last month. At no point were we identified in any other way besides DVC members. I think with the challenges that Disney has faced in rolling out digital DVC Membership Cards, Cast Members are likely trying to do their best to make sure that everyone is having a magical experience as always — despite if whether a member has access to “Membership Extras” or not.
Are the DVC Membership Extras or ‘Perks’ Worth It?
After all, you will often be reminded that you should never buy DVC for the perks, as those are never guaranteed. The last few years have shown this exact point in action. With the uncertainty on annual pass sales resuming for DVC members, I believe that many members are wondering what the future might hold for these perks in general.
Although we won’t be able to go to Moonlight Magic or visit the Villian’s Lair anytime soon, I’m confident that our trips will continue to be just as magical! At Disney’s Polynesian Villas, the resort activity Cast Members knew us by name by the time we left. The look on my son’s face as he searched for the animals from our balcony at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village was priceless. No “Membership Extras” needed for those memories!
Do you view access to “Membership Extras” as a significant added value to a DVC membership? Please let us know what you think below!
Thank you for your insight. It helps me to be sure that resale is the right way to go. I have always weighed up the benefits of the perks over the savings that are made buying resale in my research as a prospective DVC member And have always felt that the perks could be taken away at any time. So the savings hold more value for me. Living in the UK and contemplating purchasing DVC , the savings that resale give me, help in increasing the frequency that we can visit you all over in Disney world .
I can’t wait for next year when I take the plunge and join you all .
Thanks for this post , and thanks to the team at DVC fan for all the useful vlogs and info.
Michael, I’m so glad that this was helpful! I feel like everyone wonders what it feels like on the emotional aspect of things — of course, there are the tangible financial savings, but I wanted to give a true perspective on how it felt being there. If it felt “different.” It didn’t whatsoever!
Good luck in your search and I’m sure you’ll be hearing “welcome home” before you know it!
Thanks, Michael! I’m so glad that this was helpful for you as I truly didn’t know how I’d feel on our first trip “without perks.” I’m sure you’ll be hearing “welcome home” very soon!
I’m a resale member and have considered direct. But overall I don’t see the value. Some of the events don’t work with my travel times. And the AP discounts (if ever again) never made sense since I have gone mostly once per year. I bought resale 5 years ago. Previously I rented points to stay at Beach Club. Since I bought I stayed in 2018 1 night at Bay Lake, 6 nights Animal Kingdom Kidani (I had 7 at AK but arrival day was Epcot and 1st full day MK so it made sense). In 2019 I stayed at Vero Beach to try that out. 2021 I stayed at Hilton Head in April. Then 1 night at Copper Creek and 7 nights at Beach Club later that year. This year I did 5 nights at Copper Creek and then visited Vero again. At no point did I feel like less a member. You can work the other discounts like Disney Visa on some dining and merch. Sure you miss out on the Epcot lounge or whatever. But this year I still got the perks of extended hours for deluxe resorts. And when you enter the park you still get the “welcome home” scanning your magic band. I’m grandfathered in so I can still use my points at Riviera. I occassionally get tempted to buy direct, but then I check resale price differences and just am not there yet.
Great article. I purchased direct through Disney in July. The only reason I did this is because I am not yet an annual pass holder. If or when they return I was worried I wouldn’t be able to purchase one without having that direct contract. The other perks are certainly not worth the thousands you’ll save by purchasing resale. Any additional contracts I purchase will be done on the resale market.
I bought my resale back in 2000 and at that time resalers were given full Blue Card status. Living in Wisconsin I only visit 1 or 2 times a year, and have still not been able to attend any of the ‘magical’ events or after hour events for Blue Card members. I have however been able to stay in a deluxe hotel whereas before purchasing would only do ‘Value’ resorts for about the same price. So, the only advantage of having a Blue Card for me is getting a discount on merchandise, but I still after 20+ years feel I get my money’s worth out of my resale. Also, I own at OKW but I took advantage of buying the extra 15 years back when it was offered so my membership goes until 2057 at which time I will be 107!!
As a DVC member I can say I have been very disappointed lately. We have not been able to use those so called perks to our benefit at all. And they have lost our points or can’t get access to them so when they are able to the area we wanted is no longer available. We had to cancel our cruise because after waiting two years for it to happen they decided if you were not vaccinated you could not go and off course you don’t get to use your points for a vacation club. And they are only good until March. So…. when they can’t get the points and it’s spring break time guess what!!!!! You don’t get what you want. SO I FOR ONE AM NOT A HAPPY VACATION CLUB OWNER. ohh and when we went in October our day was cut short by six hours…..no one informed us that there was a time limit on the day we got tickets….did we get a discount? That would be a great big NO. TERESA FROM MICHIGAN
I’m a new resale member myself. On one hand I was disappointed to learn that I couldn’t attend a Moonlight Magic event that was happening while we would be at Disney, but on the other hand, we were tired! We didn’t really need to visit another park at night. It was almost a relief we didn’t “have to” go.
I wonder with even the price of annual passes if I would ever buy them. Annual passes themselves are pretty pricey at the more recent increases. You have to visit Disney a lot to make those passes worth it. And without the (number of or) minimum direct points either, we’re just not visiting that much.
Now… if they let direct members buy, say, a 10-day pass that either doesn’t expire, or expires the way points do, I’d have to consider adding direct. But the current reasons to buy direct just doesn’t make sense. They say Don’t buy for the perks… but without the perks, we’d literally be agreeing to pay more for no reason. The resale savings can be substantial, and Disney is making it harder (by increasing the minimum) for people to buy in.
I need incentive to give Disney that kind of money. Even a smaller buy-in would be a step in the right direction.