Your room can be a big part of your Disney vacation. If you like to sleep in and order room service, you may be spending more time in there. Even if you’re the get up and rope drop the park type, the location of your resort can change your whole vacation. Where you stay also determines what your resort dining options are. These tips for booking DVC point stays will have you thinking differently about your next trip. Here are some scenarios and a bit of magical insight to consider when it’s time to plan.
Stay Magical: Tips for Booking DVC Stays
DVC Basic Tip: Your home resort booking advantage, giving you the ability to book there four months earlier than other Members, can be very valuable. If you’re just looking into buying DVC, choose a home resort that you want to stay at so you can take advantage of this early booking benefit.
You can book eleven months in advance at your home resort.
Members eligible to book at other resorts can make reservations seven months out.
Use a wider than necessary search when booking DVC rooms.
Many people who have booked a hotel room have done this one. Have you tried to book a room somewhere and, when something wasn’t available, shifted the dates a day or so either way? Sometimes it’s just one night that’s not available in the dates you’ve selected. DVC can work the same way. Maybe out of the week you want to stay, there are just one or two nights that have no vacancy.
To see availability for a certain time period, check for more dates than you’re interested in when searching.
Let the DVC resort refurbishment schedule guide your stay.
Whether it comes to the time of year or the resort you’re choosing to stay in, you will want to consider the DVC resort refurbishment schedule first. With updates done every seven years, it seems like one or more DVC resorts are being refurbished at any given time. Checking for planned construction in advance can help you avoid noisy stays or time periods when all amenities may not be available. Shifting your visit just a bit could help you stay at a more ideal time.
Book your DVC home resort as a back up 11 months out.
Even if you don’t want to stay at your home resort this trip, you may want to book a stay there as soon as you’re able. If you want to visit on specific dates, you may not want to risk it at seven months out. Having a stay booked at your home resort ensures that you’ll at least get the dates you want. You’ll have a place to stay.
If you’re able to dedicate time to looking around for new availability from cancellations, you can always change your stay.
The best time to do this is probably around the 7 month out mark. Members may be switching their reservation around based on what’s available outside of their home resort. If you find something you like, you can modify your reservation to the one that suits you better. If you don’t find something for the dates you want, or at a resort you’re interested in staying at, you at least have your home resort to count on.
Be flexible with your DVC points.
When you purchased your contract, you may have chosen a Point Value that made sense for you at the time. Maybe you visited every summer when the kids were in school. The amount of points you have may have been the perfect fit for a week at a specific time. As life goes on, change happens and you may vacation differently. Remember to be flexible and consider banking or borrowing your points or even taking advantage of one time use points when necessary. As a new Member, you may start out using close to the amount of points you purchased every year. After you’ve vacationed with your contract for years, it might be time to switch things up. Getting out of habits and being flexible with which resort or room type you’re staying in can lead you to memorable new experiences. You might find a new favorite!
Book DVC at two different resorts on one stay for better options and convenience.
This next tip for booking DVC is particularly helpful for those with very specific dates in mind. Maybe you’re visiting with family who can only go during one particular week. Maybe flights have been booked already because of a great deal. Whatever the reason, if you are locked in to certain days, consider staying at two different resorts on your trip. Yes, you’ll have to pack up your stuff and switch rooms at some point on your vacation. However, dedicating this little bit of time could help you secure certain dates and save you time over all.
Here’s an example of how that could go. Maybe your family is very excited to get some good Magic Kingdom time in. Staying at Bay Lake Tower, or other Magic Kingdom resorts on the monorail, can save time in transportation to and from the park. On the last half of your trip, you might want to bounce between Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Staying in the Crescent Lake area is very convenient for that.
Book at different DVC home resorts to take advantage of value point options.
A split stay, as mentioned above, can also help you use your point value more efficiently. When we say value we don’t just mean the rooms specifically called value accommodations or the absolute lowest point per night villas. Since each resort has a point chart dedicated to that property, you’ll find the same room style with a comparable view can cost fewer points at some properties.
If you consider how much a night is in a studio in 2025 at Disney’s Old Key West Resort, 9 to 22 points per night, versus a similar style of room at The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, 16 to 32 points per night, there’s a fantastic opportunity for savings.
Remember renting DVC points is an option.
This is one of the out of the box tips for booking DVC stays. If you’re interested in booking a stay at a resort that’s hard to book, consider renting DVC points. The home resort advantage can really make a difference. For stays that are important, you won’t want to risk it. Let’s say there’s a special anniversary trip or you plan to stay at Disney more than once during a certain year. Renting DVC points may be the answer for getting a reservation you wouldn’t be able to get with your own points.
You could always rent your own points out for a year too. Let’s say you buy resale at Riviera. That resort is fabulous but we know with resale contracts now you can only stay there and not at other resorts. If you want to switch it up one year, you could rent your points and rent points out to stay somewhere else. It’s an idea.
A Tip to Remember: DVC Resale Restrictions with Booking
If you’re new to DVC or considering adding on at another resort, remember resale restrictions may change your strategy. Those who want the flexibility of booking at other resorts should not buy resale at the following properties:
- Disney’s Riviera Resort
- The Villas at Disneyland Hotel
- The Cabins at Fort Wilderness Resort a Disney Vacation Club Resort
These properties, and those built after them, fall into a different category than the original 14 DVC resorts where resale Members can book interchangeably at the others.
Tips for Booking DVC FAQs
When can you book DVC reservations?
The online booking window for DVC opens at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Make sure you’re signed in prior to this time to speed up the process.
Which DVC rooms are hard to book?
DVC Members love to get the most for their points. When you’re deciding how many points to buy, the point charts might entice you toward a lower point amount. Each home resort has a lower point, studio style accommodation. In most cases, these are the rooms the resorts have the most of. However, due to the lower point cost and the great fit for many parties, these are also the most popular.
As new resorts open, or existing resorts have expansions, booking difficulty can change. For example, over at The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, it was hard to book but opened up quite a bit with the addition of the Big Pine Key DVC building. With Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows adding the Island Tower building, we might expect this to become easier to book with so many more rooms.
Different resorts also have even more cost effective options like the Tower Studio at Disney’s Riviera Resort and the Studio – Value Accommodation in the Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House section of the resort. Many Members are interested in the best value rooms and there are less of these than others. This makes them hard to book, especially if the room is not at your home resort. There are very few of the Three Bedroom Grand Villas at each resort which can make them more difficult to book as well.
Is there a waitlist for DVC reservations?
If the stay you want to book is unavailable, you may have the option to join a DVC waitlist. From DVC:
To easily Waitlist a Resort, just search online for the Resort you want and specify your desired dates, room type and the number in your party. If the Resort with all the specifications you requested is not available, simply choose “Waitlist This Entire Stay.”
If your Waitlisted Resort becomes available, your Waitlist request will be confirmed automatically and a confirmation will be sent to you.
DVC Resale Experts Can Help
If you have questions about booking, the DVC Resale Experts have answers. Finding your home resort and choosing the right amount of points are two choices you need to make when you first become a Member. Even if you’re adding on points, you may have questions. With decades of experience selling Disney Vacation Club, the Experts are happy to help you and answer your specific questions.
Get a complimentary DVC contract valuation if you’re thinking about selling points.
See our DVC resale listings available to buy or add on.
