If you’re new to DVC, you may be surprised to know that it’s fairly common for people to own more than one DVC contract and sometimes even more than one home resort. Having more points and home resorts is fun, but it also means that trip planning can take a little more thought. When it comes to using DVC points from more than one home resort, there are a few different strategies that you can take:
Alternate Contracts for Each Trip
I see this as the simplest means of using multiple contracts. For example, if you have two home resorts, one trip can be at the first home resort, and another separate trip can be at your second home resort. In this scenario, there is no need to combine points, and you can still be sure to get the 11-month advantage at each home resort. Even with a smaller contract that is under 100 points, you can bank or borrow to reserve a longer trip.
Create Split Stays
At 11 months out, you could book a few days at one home resort and a few days at the other to create one split stay trip. For instance, I like to do split stays with my BoardWalk contract and Grand Floridian contract. This makes it easier to visit Epcot and Hollywood Studios during the BoardWalk portion of the trip, and the Magic Kingdom during the Grand Floridian part of the trip. Plus, Disney makes it easy to do split stays since bell services can help transfer your luggage.
Pool Your Points
If you have two different home resorts, you need to wait until the 7-month mark to pool points from both contracts to book at one resort. This route is often less favorable since you would have to wait for the 7-month mark, which means you don’t get the best availability. Not to mention, if you did pay a premium to have home resorts that are more in demand (i.e., Beach Club or Grand Californian), using those points at the 7-month mark isn’t always the most economical use of your points.
Another slight inconvenience is that if your points are from different Use Years and thus different DVC memberships, you will need to take the extra step of transferring points from one membership to the other in order to combine them. You can make a point transfer by calling Member Services.
If you have multiple DVC contracts with different home resorts, how do you like to use them?
Donna
January 24, 2025Lauren I’m a fan and love your articles.
I have a direct and resale contract. My direct is at Disneyland hotel so I use those points to book at the new resorts like Rivera.
Also when pooling points at your home resort you can use your home resort priority for the first days. By having these days already booked when the 7 month window comes you can then grab the extra days up to seven from your start date with your non home resort contract. Often the first day at seven months is full and thus blocking you from booking dates beyond which are often available since they fall outside 7 months. But if you already have that first day/s reserved you can extend your vacation with non home points when the first day at your home resort booking hits 7 months.