At the first of the New Year I always look forward to receiving 2 things from The Disney Vacation Club in the mail.
First, I watch for the small envelope with our annual dues bill. Yuck! While I don’t like paying the bill, it means we can make reservations for another year. Yea!! Dues cover everything from the front desk, Security, and bus service to property tax. Dues keep the properties running.
The second thing I actually look forward to receiving is a large envelope with the annual DVC Vacation Planner. This is the fun part of the first of the year mail. It lists all the DVC properties and how you can use your vacation points for the coming year.
The Vacation Planner has developed over the years. Originally DVC would send you new point charts every year for what is now Old Key West. Then it became point charts for Old Key West and Vero Beach. It has slowly grown into what we got this month. This year’s edition is almost a “coffee table” picture book that is 9” x 12” with lots of pretty pictures.
The first section is called Reservation Tools and is a synopsis of the rules and regulations that govern DVC and making reservations. Next comes the “fun” parts. The next section has point charts for all of the DVC properties.
First up is Aulani, or properly “
Aulani, Disney Vacation Club Villas, Ko Olina, Hawai’i” DVC's newest member. Points here range from 18 points a night (126 for a week) for a Deluxe Studio (standard view) during Adventure Season to 184 point a night (1288 for a week) for a Grand Villa during Premier Season (ocean view). Next up is the new
Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Points here range from 14-16 points per night or 102 points for a week (standard view Adventure Season) to 1287 for a week (Premier Season) in a Magic Kingdom view Grand Villa. These are followed by point charts of
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas, Disney’s Beach Club Villas, Disney’s Boardwalk Villas, Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort, Disney’s Old Key West Resort, Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, The Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, and The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge.
That now makes 11 Disney Vacation Club properties. A property you own points at is your “Home Resort” and you have a home resort priority where you may begin to make reservations 11 months from your arrival date. At resorts you do not own a membership you may only make a reservation 7 months out from your arrival date. This 4 month window is your Home Resort Priority.
Other Disney properties that you may use your membership to make reservations for are part of the “
Disney Collection”. The Disney Collection includes Moderate and Deluxe resort accommodations at Walt Disney World as well as campsites at Fort Wilderness Campground. Also included here are accommodations at Disneyland in California, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, and Tokyo Disney Resort. The last section of the Disney Collection is cruises on Disney Cruise Line where for 2011 will go to The Bahamas, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Mexican Rivera, Alaska, Panama Canal and 2 Transatlantic crossings.
The Vacation Planner then shows you all the fantastic places you may go with
Adventures by Disney,
The World Passport Collection and the
Concierge Collection where you may book reservations almost anywhere in the world.
We have been Disney Vacation Club members since 1993 and have used our membership mostly to stay at Walt Disney World. Our home resort is Old Key West. We stay there the most but have also stayed at Saratoga Springs, Boardwalk, and Beach Club resorts at WDW. There have also been stays at Vero Beach, Hilton Head Island, and 2 cruises on Disney Cruise Line. The Vacation Planner is a dream book of how else and where else we can use our membership. It’s like being a kid looking through the Sears Christmas Catalog to find what toys you want for Christmas. This is our dream catalog of vacations that we can take this year, or next, or the next. With Disney Vacation Club the possibilities are almost endless. Where do we go next? I think the next trip may be Ridge’s solo trip to take more WDW pictures to post here.
