Are the Cabin’s at Fort Wilderness the First DVC Moderate?

Out of the Fort Wilderness Cabin filings, we found that Palmetto Trust was included in the filing related to this new DVC Resort. There has been a lot of speculation about what this new trust-based ownership product will and won’t look like.

Another tidbit of information that Paul mentioned regarding the filing on the Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness is that, on average, one night at the Cabins will cost roughly 21 points. This is estimated by taking the total number of points being declared for the first 30 cabins (229,820), dividing it by 30 cabins, and then dividing it by 365 days.

An average of 21 points per night puts it at a rate cheaper than a 1-bedroom at every other resort. For comparison, a Boardwalk Villas 1-bedroom Standard View, one of the most economical 1-bedrooms on Disney World property, averages 29 points per night, and an Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jambo House) Value 1-bedroom averages 23 points per night.

This likely places the Cabins as the cheapest point per night room on property that sleeps 6 people (by far since you need a 2-bedroom to sleep 6 in other DVC resorts). Obviously, the Cabins are missing the Washer/Dryer of a 1-bedroom, and by square footage, the Cabins at 504 square feet are by far smaller than even an Animal Kingdom Lodge Value 1-bedroom at 629 square feet.

Currently, in Disney’s room tiers (Value, Moderate, and Deluxe), the existing Ft Wilderness Cabins are considered a moderate accommodation. Looking at the estimated points per night, this begs the question, is this DVC’s first moderate resort?

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Why DVC Moderate?

While we don’t really know what (if anything) will change with DVC’s new Palmetto Trust, we can speculate…

There has been some discussion that Palmetto Trust would have points in multiple DVC resorts and give members of the trust the ability to book at any of these resorts at the 11-month mark. One problem that has been raised by many is if this new trust does contain multiple resorts and an owner in the trust can book any of these resorts at 11 months, wouldn’t that make it impossible to book the most popular resort? Imagine how hard it would be to get if Beach Club Villas were part of this trust, even at the 11-month mark.

When you look at other timeshares that have a trust similar to what DVC is creating with Palmetto Trust, such as Marriott Vacation Club, they have a tiered system.

Marriott’s tiered system gives you more benefits if you own more points. If you have the least amount of points, you can book at the 13-month mark for 7+ nights, but it will cost you 20% more points. At the 12-month mark, in the lowest tier, you can book for 7+ nights, and at the 10-month mark, you can finally book in 1-night increments. The booking window changes as you buy more points.

What if DVC did the same? They could do something as simple as copying MVC and making it so the lowest tiers can only book at the 10-month mark or pay a point premium to book at the 11-month mark. But what if they created a tiered resort system?

If the Cabins are truly considered a DVC Moderate resort, perhaps DVC could incorporate a tiered system where you could book at DVC Moderates at the 11-month mark but then potentially have the opportunity to book at Deluxe resorts at the 7-month mark. Over time, DVC could add more moderate resorts to the tier. Could OKW and SSR become moderate resorts? Perhaps Disney won’t actually call it DVC Moderates but will instead change the name to something more attractive, like “DVC Select Resorts”!

How would you get into the next tier? It could be by buying more points. But maybe it is by collections of resorts? This would be similar to the current system where you own at a particular resort, but you would own at perhaps two or more resorts in a collection.

They could create collections, which may have different buy-in price points. Hypothetically, they could create a collection for the monorail resorts, Wilderness Resorts, Epcot resorts, Disney Springs resorts, Beach Resorts (Hilton Head, Vero Beach, and Aulani), and Disneyland Resorts. It will obviously take a long time if they were to create these collections as existing deeded resorts would need to expire to become fully part of the trust.

Or if DVC decided to really create tiers of types of resorts, they could have DVC Moderates and DVC Deluxe collections. The Cabins could just be the start; perhaps a DVC Moderate resort at Port Orleans, Caribbean Beach, or Coronado Springs is next? It wouldn’t be too difficult to refurbish some of the Caribbean Beach buildings and dedicate them to being a DVC moderate resort the same way they did for the Resort Studios at VGF.

When Points aren’t Points…

Another thought is that the points we see for the Palmetto Trust could be valued completely differently than the DVC points we know today. Think of it like currencies of money. Each Palmetto Trust point could be worth 2 DVC Deeded Trust points and, therefore, would be significantly more expensive. So, where we’re seeing a 21-point-per-night average, it would actually be equivalent to 42 points per night in the current system. This seems unlikely as it would create even more confusion in an already confusing system.

A paid system for more benefits?

Another possibility that was rumored back in June 2022 is a paid member perks program. How this could work with the trust is you may be locked into your home resort or collection of home resorts, and to book earlier at other resorts, you would pay to join the membership program. The perks program could also offer other benefits, such as access to lounges, Moonlight Magic events, etc.

Additional Thoughts on the Trust System…

There has been a lot of speculation of other ways the trust system could benefit members of the trust beyond being able to book at multiple resorts at the 11-month mark.

For example, currently, when owners buy into a DVC resort, the expiration for that resort does not change. If you buy at Boardwalk, Beach Club, Boulder Ridge, Hilton Head, or Vero Beach, the deed expires in 2042, meaning as of today (January 2024), you have only 18 years left of membership. When buying into a trust, it’s possible that your membership could be for 50 years from the date of purchase. It may even be possible for Disney to sell shorter contracts for less money. Properties may still have lease end dates, but Disney could easily choose to re-up the lease and continue to have the property be part of the trust.

Dues could be more evenly spread out. Right now, resorts like Hilton Head and Vero Beach pay the highest dues each year mostly because of insurance, with both properties having the potential for damage from hurricanes. Depending on how Disney groups resorts, it’s possible to average out the dues between resorts and lower the cost per point. Of course, this could also be a drawback if you don’t want to pay dues to help subsidize the beach resorts.

A trust might allow Disney to explore other destinations. The risk of selling deeded property is that Disney needs to sell that specific property. Aulani, which has been for sale since 2011 and is still not sold out, is proof that it is difficult for Disney to sell out a property completely when it isn’t attached to a theme park. With a trust system, Disney could sell collections of resorts, which would be more attractive to buyers. Maybe a resort attached to a different theme park could be a start; for example, could DVC resorts at Disney’s international theme parks like Disneyland Paris be an option?

Existing DVC members should also be able to join the trust. How Disney will actually execute this remains to be seen, but again, looking at Marriott Vacation Club as an example, MVC owners (and Vistana owners who came from the SPG merger) are able to elect each year to trade into the Abound program which is the new program they introduced in 2022. Think of it like how you can currently trade your points with Interval International. It could work similarly to that, perhaps even with a 1:1 point exchange, assuming my earlier thoughts of Palmetto Trust points not being the same is not true. DVC could then offer the points you are electing to trade into the trust to other members of the trust – which could allow for availability at existing resorts for members of the trust.

Conclusion

While it is fun to speculate, it is all simply speculation. It is possible that the Palmetto Trust will change nothing about how DVC works, and most owners will not see a difference between deeded property and buying into the trust system for now. 2024 will definitely be an interesting year to see what changes occur with Disney Vacation Club!