Lessons Learned as a DVC Newbie

I recently passed my one year mark as a Disney Vacation Club member! Over the past year, we’ve taken incredible trips to Walt Disney World, Aulani, and Disneyland using our DVC points. While I had done a lot of research before purchasing, I’ve learned new lessons with each trip booked. With a year under my belt, below are my biggest lessons learned as a new DVC member.

Disney trips will change – for the better.

Vacationing “DVC style” is simply different. The psychology behind knowing that you will be coming back can change how you vacation. Our prior WDW vacation style was more intense. We were theme park commandos, always rushing to fit in one more attraction. Disney Vacation Club encourages us to take it slower and spend time enjoying the parks and resorts. This leads me to my next point…

I wish we had bought more points!

Initially, we thought we’d visit Walt Disney World or Aulani once a year for about a week. (How wrong we were…we ended up doing four trips in our first year!) If we had purchased more points from the start, we likely could have had a lower cost per point. Whether direct or resale, the price per point is often lower when you buy more points. Add-on-itis is now alive and well in our household, and I check DVC Resale Market daily for my next contract!

7 month availability is a mixed bag.

I am glad that I spent time researching the typical availability of DVC rooms before buying my contracts. Seven month availability can vary depending on resort, type of year, and room size. The research helped me decide which resorts to purchase and helped set expectations for booking non-home resorts. Truthfully, every trip we took last year was booked within the seven month window. In fact, we haven’t even stayed at our home resorts yet! We’ve been successful by being flexible on travel dates and resort preference. If your preferred resort is fully booked at the seven month window, continue regularly checking the DVC vacation planning tool. Don’t forget to set your waitlists, too. You may be pleasantly surprised as people adjust their travel plans.

Use Year Regrets

Besides not buying enough points, my only other DVC regret is not buying the right use year. Use year may not matter if your travel seasons change regularly or if you take multiple trips throughout the year. We travel in the spring and late fall, so an October use year would have been a better choice for us.

The Power of Community

The best lesson learned has been just how special the Disney Vacation Club member community can be. Disney Vacation Club members are very diverse, coming from all over the world and utilizing their membership in different ways. Joining the DVC Fan Facebook Group and watching The DVC Show podcast are both great ways to learn the ins and outs of DVC and share tips and planning ideas with other members. In just a short time, I’ve been fortunate to connect with so many passionate, kind hearted, and helpful DVC members.

What have been your biggest lessons learned as a DVC member? Share in the comments below or in the DVC Fan Facebook Group.