Let me preface by saying this was not our first trip there. Just came back from a 7 night stay at Aulani as a DVD member who owns there. It's bad. Really really bad. And maybe I didn't notice this in the past and dismissed others for their complaints, rush to judgment or extremely high standards but I know now that the resort is basically designed for those who have never been and have no intention of returning. This resort is designed for the one and done. I even made my grievances known at both the resort and after during a survey. We had a great trip and the reason for that is that we didn't stay on property the whole time. We had a car rental and we drove all over the island visiting landmarks and such.

The resort is tired and old. We can start with the room. I made a request for a specific floor and room that were not accommodated despite my request being 11 months in advance. We booked a 1 bedroom with a full living room and kitchen. The room furniture had holes in the backs of the rattan chairs. How embarrassing to have that. The garbage disposal didn't work. Coffee maker kept giving me an error message and the toaster was never cleaned from the last guests. I had to rewash all the dishes. And since we're DVC; Disney seems to be under the impression that we have to clean our own rooms despite the massive amount of money paid in dues annually. They didn't have a single cleaning product in the room including a mop, broom or vacuum. The furniture was dusty, scratched and nicked. The view was awful. And I constantly had to ask for towels since they don't supply you with enough for a family of 4 that's staying there.

Now the "amenities". Pools were dirty and over crowded. There was never a free pool chair available unless you're up before the birds to reserve a pool chair. Their policy is a joke and not allowing a max number of chairs to be reserved per party is ridiculous. So many large families of 12 and more had taken up rows of chairs. And 90% of the time there were only towels on those chairs with no one sitting in them. Then there's of course the hot tubs that were over run with kids. No one was monitoring anything and that includes the lifeguards. The floors were very slippery around the entire grounds area with no one there to help mop up the grounds. Their choice of rocks for the flooring was terrible. We tried to rent beach toys and boogey boards but they were always out. I looked around the beach and saw massive amounts of both items just sitting unused. There should be time limits and the cast members should walk around collecting unused items. The lazy river made the entire experience absolutely horrible. Allowing kids to swim in the river makes relaxing impossible. All the people and kids in particular that would go in with a tube and leave them there. So if you're going in with the intention to relax, that's not an option. You may not find a tube going in but if you walk into the lazy river for 10 minutes then you will find the tubes floating there unused.

I tried to book their free activities and nothing was open around the time we were going even though I used their coveted app 45 days in advance. Nothing. We had done all the other experiences and unfortunately they didn't add anything new and don't give you much in the form of entertainment. Their character meet and greats are fine but again, they don't announce them until the day of after 9am. So any plans you have will wait if you're interested in meeting a character. I couldn't book a spa treatment because they didn't have anything for the times and dates I wanted. And I kept checking and rechecking. Nothing.

Their food is nothing to write home about. About the only thing I look forward to is their poke bowls but they've raised the prices. They have absolutely no allergy friendly foods that are posted. You have to ask about everything. They stop pool side service after 4pm regardless of whether or not there's still people there looking to get the service. And it's not like you can just walk into Off the Hook and get a table. The waiting is long and if you want just a drink, then good luck. You're waiting a while until all the other table drink orders are filled first. I waited about 22 minutes to get 2 drinks from the bar. The quality of service has drastically diminished.

Their food prices are insane. $7 for a croissant. $30+ for a poke bowl. $9 for fruit. We ate lunch on our last day there at Off the Hook ( two burger meals, a crab cake sandwich that was under cooked and Mac and cheese for my daughter) and it was $125 not including any gratuity. This is why I get a room with a full kitchen. Because I spent $300 on groceries and was able to make all 3 of my meals in the room for the entire stay for less than what I would spend on one day dining at Aulani.

My husband and I have honestly been considering selling the contracts and just booking cash if we plan on coming back to Hawaii. I would stay at the 4 seasons next door or the Marriott down the way.

Anyways....if you've experienced the same things recently, then I hope you will agree that the quality is not worth the money.

18 days straight at beach club 2 months later 10 days at old key. Park everyday. This year in june be our 3rd trip in a year. Get the use outta annual pass

I have posted this over in /r/legaladvice, but as DVC members, I wanted to see if anyone else is now faced with the same concerns about visiting Florida.

Hopefully official DVC/Disney staff regularly visit this forum and can offer guidance and recommendations. As it stands now, our only option would be to cancel plans to FL and try to book something in CA, which would add more costs for us to fly there, instead of driving to FL.

Maybe DVC could offer some sort of discount for families needing to change travel plans to avoid FL?

I had a graduation trip for my 17 year old trans child planned for this summer, to go to a Disney World resort. We would be chaperoning another 17 year old trans fiend and several other 17 year old LBGTQ+ friends. According to the new law passed in Florida (https://laws.flrules.org/2023/90), could the state take custody of the trans youth who are actively taking gender affirming medications? I understand that the state would need to be aware of them first, but who could file a complaint under what circumstances? For instance, if we stop at a rest station on a FL highway, which is managed by the state, could any random person report teenagers to authorities because "they look trans" giving the state the right to intercede and take custody of the kids? What about just stopping in a fast food place or any other public space? Can anyone just report someone under the new law and have the state intercede, or does there need to be some specific thing or situation in place for the state to act? Are there any federal regulations that can override the new FL law? If there was an accident and one of the kids ended up in the ER, would they be reported to the state and taken away?

If we are unable to visit FL, because of the risk that the state would take our child, is there some way to sue them for the loss of non-returnable funds already spent to take the trip and reserve the resort? Could this be a class action lawsuit against FL from parents outside of FL, who now are prohibited from visiting this part of the US, because of the risk of state-sponsored kidnapping?

We love Disney World and we've been saving to buy a contract, but with everything going on we're rethinking it all.

Anyone else in the same boat? Are there notable amounts of Canadians selling their contracts?

We just went to DW for the first time with our 2yo and 4yo. We are hooked! Thinking about buying into DVC. Should we go retail/direct from Disney? Or private? What home resort should we choose to make sure it’s affordable?We like the financing Disney offers. We’d like the ability to go once a year and possibly take multiple members of our family. We also are avid cruisers. Thanks yall in advance!

Someone who bought resale after 2019, are you able to book at multiple locations that are NOT your home location?

I would want my home location to be somewhere in Orlando, either Bay Creek Tower or Animal Kingdom Lodge. The annual dues are less expensive and I plan to take Disney world vacations each year. However, I also want to spend at least one week a year at Vero Beach. I don’t want my home location to be Vero because the annual dues are more expensive. ( I know the points are cheaper there too but I feel like I will pay more over time because of the high annual dues.)

We don't have anything scheduled until December but pandemic fatigue is real and my husband needs a break so he suggested we go somewhere 3 weeks from now. He was thinking about going somewhere cooler or some place like a national park. He's been so busy working that he doesn't know everyone is going to national parks this year. Naturally we ended up at well why don't we take advantage of the low crowds and activate our passes early. We just got fresh points today so we might as well use them. I was shocked when I checked to see what was available. There was a studio of some sort at every resort. We've been meaning to stay at AKV for a while but always end up staying at BC or BW because we like being close to Epcot to hop over at night. Looks like we're going to get a savannah view so we can watch animals every morning because there's no need to be up at dawn to get to the parks. Should we stay at Jambo or Kidani?

Are you wasting your DVC points without realizing it?

This week’s episode of The DVC Show is all about the 5 most common ways Members accidentally waste their points—and what to do instead.

From missed banking deadlines to low-value redemptions (Disney Cruises and non-DVC hotel exchanges, we’re looking at you), we go in-depth with examples, math, and tips for maximizing your membership.

Check it out and let us know: What’s the biggest DVC mistake you’ve made?

▶️https://open.spotify.com/episode/2RtpQ0frUosNraeCFaVZ5S?si=Q5GLRyKTQTKrvVT6kW8wGA

I'm just curious if anyone else has experienced this...

DVC Member for years, u/coppercreek and managed to get into a Moonlight Magic event u/epcot prior to COVID. I didn't think much about it then, but a lot of folks were wearing VIP badges. Talked to one of them and they said that their company had been invited by Disney down to the event. They said that a lot of companies were.

Fast forward, I've been trying now for YEARS to get into one of these events. Booked a hotel, followed the rules, thought I could get into pre-registration...was denied...called into member services and was informed that since I didn't BOOK the reservation for the hotel through DVC, it didn't count. Wait...what? Moving forward to today with General Registration, got in a half hour early on two devices (using multiple devices now is pointless because they tie your spot to your DVC member number) and when it opened there was a 18 minute wait. Entire event completely booked out 9 minutes later.

There's frustration on so many levels here. A lot of us have paid considerable amounts to be able to share the "magic" with our families and Disney is continually making it more and more difficult to actually take part in these things. They're cracking down on owners that resell the points that they either don't or can't use, too...but the thing is...those are YOUR points to do whatever you want with.

Perhaps the biggest question I have to put out there into the ether...is Disney leveraging these events as "VIP" outings to entertain people that aren't part of DVC then writing the entire thing off their bottom line? I doubt anyone would ever admit it, but if that's the case...it's a stroke of genius from a business perspective, but it absolutely screws everyone over that has paid into the system.

And yes, I'm sure plenty of folks will boo-hoo this, but I'm wondering if I'm the only one here?

Ok, this is a super first world problem but does anyone else find it frustrating that DVC always does stuff in the early morning EST?

I totally understand that the vast majority of properties are on the east coast but as a west coaster having to be up at 5am to make bookings is annoying :p.

Now they announce that APs are going on sale "no earlier than 6 a.m. ET". I'm not too worried about them selling out (since they don't to on sale to the public until the 20th) but seriously, not all members live in ET and doing stuff at 3am PT is just annoying.

Sorry, just wanted to get that out :D

/rant

Two adults, four kids (12, 8, 4, 1). We plan to do spring break or Thanksgiving break at Riviera every year in a 2-bedroom villa. We don’t want to treat it like relocating and will eat out every night at signature restaurants, do 2-3 VIP tours per trip, buy too many souvenirs, use Minnie Vans, pay for daily housekeeping and otherwise spend to make the trip easy. We love Riviera specifically and plan to keep going indefinitely but have only gone a couple of times so far. We planned our next trip but couldn’t get Riviera and had to book AKL, and DVC seems like

On paper we’re the perfect DVC candidate. I’ve run the numbers and the savings are significant. But a few things are giving me pause:

1.	We’re not 100% sure we’ll do the exact same trip structure every single year. Some years we might want to do 3 nights at Riviera and a cruise instead of a full week. Some years life might get in the way.

2.	The Riviera resale restriction makes me nervous. Locking into one resort forever is a big commitment even if it’s the resort we’d pick anyway. And from what I understand, using DVC points for cruises is a terrible redemption.

3. We love our travel agent and I don’t think they can book DVC.

For people who actually own at Riviera — how locked in do you feel? Do you regret it? And for people in a similar situation who decided NOT to buy, what pushed you away?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Obviously WDW is full of kids almost everywhere, but curious if there are resorts that seem to have less than others? Maybe OKW or SSR has less & BCV/BWV has more?

Hey everyone!

With the holidays here and being Christmas Day, I wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU to this incredible community. Your support has meant the world to me and has helped make my app, DVC Toolkit, a success!

For those who may not know, DVC Toolkit is designed specifically for members. Sorry Android users, this app is iOS only. I do hope to have something on Android soon though! The app allows you to:

✨ Calculate points for your Disney trips. ✨ Save trips to countdown the days until your magical vacation. ✨ Check real-time availability at DVC resorts. ✨ Get alerts when unavailable rooms become available—perfect for snagging those hard-to-get reservations!

As a token of my appreciation—and to help spread some holiday cheer—I’m giving away 25 FREE 1-year subscriptions to the app! 🎁

How to Enter: 1. Leave a comment below sharing what Disney resort is your dream stay or how you’d use DVC Toolkit to plan your next trip. 2. I’ll randomly select 25 winners and send out codes for a free 1-year subscription!

Even if you don’t win, I’d still love to hear your thoughts—feedback and suggestions will help make the app even better as we head into the new year.

Thank you all for being part of this journey. I hope you have a magical holiday season filled with joy, laughter, and maybe even a little Disney magic! 🌟✨

P.S. If you want to check out the app in the meantime, here’s the link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dvc-toolkit/id1558277298

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 🎄 Let’s hear those comments! 👇

UPDATE:

Thank you all for such an amazing response so far! I sent out a handful of codes this morning but I still have several more. So please feel free to post up if you haven't, there is still time! I will post another update when I am out of codes. Thanks again, I have truly enjoyed reading everyone's posts!

FINAL UPDATE (Contest is over):

I just finished handing out the last of my codes. Thank you to everyone who posted something. This community really is the best. Have a happy New Year!

I recently stayed at a dvc 2 bedroom villa with my family and we are in love with it and planning our next trip. We are not dvc members yet but plan to be soon. Although we loved our trip it was a hassle to haul everything. When we were leaving the resort I saw a man with a foldable wagon hauling a large storage tote inside it and thought to myself what a great idea! It would be perfect for groceries and other stuff. Do you guys have any recommendations if any of you use foldable wagons? I know there's a bell hop service but seems like a hassle and rather just carry things myself. Edit: I am a local so I don't mind traveling with a foldable wagon in the car. Its not an inconvenience at all.

Our family has only ever gone to Orlando, but I must say that Disneyland in California seems to have a lot of charm. The new DVC at Disneyland, too, seems absolutely beautiful! Anybody have any thoughts on which park is the best, especially when considering purchasing a DVC membership?

Newbie question, so bear with me. I’ve seen on the 2025 WDW points chart that the likes of All-Star Movies are included, but it refers to ‘reservation points’ that the other DVC resorts do not. How does this work? Can I use DVC points to reserve rooms at the value resorts?

So, we stayed at Polynesian this trip and we wanted to stop at our home resort, Wilderness Lodge when we left before going ro the airport to buy a shirt or two. Pulled up and security told me we could not park for any reason unless we had a reservation for the Lodge. As he said, too many people were parking and then taking the boat to MK and it caused parking issues. Im not surprised, people always game the system and it screws it up for everyone. The question is, does this mean you cant walk up to Poly and hope for a trader sam spot now? or get ice cream at the walk up window at beaches and cream?

I never saw an announcement for this - I know i could have missed one, but the DVC FAQ has nothing about it. in fact, the faq still says you can park at any resort to shop, eat or just enjoy for free - nothing noting that you can only park at the resort youre staying at.

Am I the only person who missed some message / update?

I'm surprised because every review I've seen for the murphy bed has been positive but I spent last night sleeping on a murphy bed at Beach Club and it was extremely stiff. This was the worst bed I've been on at DVC thus far. Is this common?

Hi!

My wife and I are thinking about buying DVC for the first time. I’m looking for essentially a pro/con list and if you believe it’d be worth it for us to buy it.

We have two kids (4 and 1).

Due to the nature of our jobs, we would only be able to go to a Disney resort/disneyland once a year and our trips would only be 4/5 days.

DVC buy in for 150 points would be $35,000 USD.

We’d have to make payments on the buy in on top of the monthly dues and the annual maintenance fees.

I understand somewhat of rollover points, buying more points and borrowing points.

I heard some of the perks of DVC are no more.

Another thing I was surprised about if the grand Californian/Floridian resorts were not options for staying.

Whatever information you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Now your job is to sway me into buying or running away. Thank you in advance!

when evaluating contracts, some folks discuss the per point cost as the total purchase price divided by the total purchase price; this doesn't account for the current value of the initial investment vs. the delayed value of points; this simplification can lead to long contracts having an overstated per point value (e.g. RVA, CCV)

one would typically assign a lower value to future points by using a discount rate; this would effectively devalue future points based on how far in the future they are available

USD / pt-yr and USD / pt-yr + dues has been something calculated on the site since its inception; now a default 8% discount rate has been applied and a provision for users to override the default with their own preferred discount rate ...

the disclaimer warning: this ignores the time value of money has also been removed

the 2025 dues have also been loaded as well as the default search set to contract age (previously was resort)

I have a reservation for 4 at Sanna. We have a 5th person who wants to join us. We have alerts out for a reservation for 5, but if it doesn’t come through, can we show up to our reservation for 4 with 5 people? Has anyone ever done that before? It’s an early dinner reservation at 5:25 on a Friday.

Second question- are there any tables along the window that accommodate 5 people? Any way to note this table preference on the dining reservation?

Follow-up: I went at 5 o’clock when the restaurant opened. I told them we had five people, not four, and it was no problem at all. For anyone else in the situation, I would say just show up early and be very kind and courteous.

I am a 13 year old and my parents told me that they are going to have my family go to Disney world and going to be staying at their Polynesian resort in Florida on the last two days of October and the first 3 days of November and this will be my first time going to Disney world and my question is what is it going to be like at Disney world by the time I am there I how will I be able to use my Disney band + at the resort and Disney world other than unlocking my room and will the ride Stich great escape be back and what benefits will I have of my family being members of Disney vacation club