“Welcome Home.”
Two simple words, but two simple words I waited almost a quarter of a century to hear.
| Not gonna lie, totally worth $3.75. |
These are the words that greet you when you begin your vacation as a Disney Vacation Club member. The words they feed you to distract you from the sting of $4 ice cream bars. The words that justify spending $15 on a single photo of your boyfriend screaming like a little girl on the Tower of Terror. The words that let you hug a sweaty college kid in a mouse suit without it being weird. (Well, without it being too weird.)
And I bought into it.
Not just figuratively, though I did fall pretty hard and pretty quick under the influence of pixie dust, but literally as well. And in the lucky seven years I’ve been a member of DVC, I’ve been asked countless times about what it is, how it works and whether it’s the right choice for my family and friends. I’ve always answered them based on experience – this time, for CM:502, I’m going to answer based on business.
Disney Vacation Club - DVC as we members call it - is The Walt Disney Company's vacation ownership program. Some might compare it to a timeshare...but some might also compare Disney World to Six Flags, and that would be wrong too. The official line describes DVC as "a vacation ownership program that's not only flexible and affordable, it's a convenient and cost-effective way for you and your family to see the world - now and for years to come!"
Ok, fine, it's a timeshare.
Founded in 1991 when the first DVC resort (renamed Disney's Old Key West Resort five years later) opened in Walt Disney World, the program sells "points" to members as real-estate interest, which can then be used to stay at any of their resorts or traded out for stays at participating partner hotels. Unlike a traditional timeshare, DVC points allow flexibility not only in location and dates, but also in accommodation size. From a studio or a three-bedroom treehouse grand villa in Disney World to a suite in New York or a week on a cruise, you can vacation anywhere...provided you buy enough points.
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| Disney's Vero Beach Resort |
Predicting that families would not want to vacation exclusively at Disney theme parks, DVC's expansion in the mid-1990's included resorts at Hilton Head, SC and Vero Beach, FL. Since then, a total of six more DVC resorts have opened at Disney World, another one at the Disneyland Resort in California, and most recently, a brand new DVC resort in Hawaii. By providing choices branded with their name and commitment to quality, Disney invites potential DVC members to invest in a lifetime of family vacations.
(And by lifetime...they really mean 50 years or when the deed runs out, whichever comes first depending on which resort is your "home". Sorry, future kids. Mommy's only got your Disney dreams covered til 2042.)
So who are these potential members? If their website is any indication, you'd think it was a gaggle of pint-sized girls in princess dresses paying the bills. Surely, of course, it's the parents - and grandparents - of thousands of these girls that DVC is targeting. Enticing Mom and Dad with the giggles and smiles of their own children, promising them adventures even after they've outgrown their Cinderella gowns. (Not pictured: the tears and tantrums that show up on hot July afternoons, the short fuses that manifest by day three of sharing a single bathroom, and the sulky attitudes of the teenagers who won't want to be seen in public with you by the time your contract is a dozen years old.)
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| (Not the author's family, though there have been moments...) |
Disney isn't selling a timeshare with DVC - we all know what we're buying when we sign the deeds. It's all over their site - "The Disney Difference". Heritage, tradition, memories, family...magic. Prior to recent rebranding efforts as they look to expand beyond theme park fans, DVC's tagline was "If you believe in magic, you belong." There was even a theme song that, unfortunately, I can't locate on youtube. People trust Disney for their legacy of service, quality, and the nostalgia of it all, and DVC believes if you've experienced it once, you're going to want to own a piece of it.
I know I did. And this was the view from my bed last summer.
Welcome home, indeed.
