Do you have the 18th of November circled on your calendar? Can you repeat every line from any Disney movie ever made? Do you vacation at a Disney resort every year?

As a true DVC fan, you’re probably tempted to take things a step further by making things official with a DVC membership.

Do you love Disney enough to commit to 50 years of debt? Should you rather continue renting your accommodation every year?

As unmagical as it may sound, it all boils down to doing the math before you commit. Let’s take a simplified look at DVC rental deals versus buying DVC timeshare, versus booking directly with Disney.

The Cost of Buying a DVC Membership

When you attend a DVC sales presentation, your salesperson will convince you that Disney Vacation Club is a great deal, and it can be, depending on your priorities. 

Many of the pros and cons of DVC membership are subjective based on your circumstances. For instance, for some guaranteed Disney vacations every year is a dream come true, for others, it’s a life sentence.

Similarly, from a financial point of view, buying a DVC membership can work out cheaper if you use all the perks offered, and if you can afford to pay your upfront costs in cash on the day.

If you finance a DVC membership, you’ll pay a lot of interest over the years, making it less affordable than renting accommodation as you go along. 

The cost of buying a DVC membership also depends on the specifics of your contract.

The most important thing to remember in your calculations is to include the interest you may have earned if you’d banked that money instead.  In one example, our calculations brought us to a total cost of $2192 for a two-week vacation with DVC.

If you opted to sign up for the DVC buying process via the DVC resale market instead, you could pay even less than that. 

DVC Rental Deals vs Renting Privately

It’s easy to rent accommodation directly from Disney. You simply check the DVC availability, search for any special offers, pay your money, and receive your confirmation letter.

We came up with a total of $5,115 when booking a two-week vacation directly with Disney. Remember, that’s the current price, it will escalate annually. 

In this example, DVC membership wins hands down, but there’s another way to secure your Disney vacation. You can rent the same vacation via a DVC owner.

If you go this route, you might not get the exact vacation you want, but if you did, it would cost $2812.

The financial saving via DVC rentals does mean you’ll miss out on some special perks available to members only, though. 

So, after all these calculations, the cheapest option is renting DVC points from a member, followed by buying your membership through a DVC resale broker. 

The bottom line is, that renting directly from Disney never works out cheaper. 

Planning Your Family Vacations

If you’d like to make Disney a part of your family getaways by signing up with DVC, it’s always a good idea to try out the product first.

Whichever way you look at it, the best way to do this is through DVC rental deals.

Would you like to discover more commonsense ways to make the most of family life? Browse our blog for all the best tips.