2021 is the start of a new year, but the Disney Vacation Club continues to feel the effects of the worldwide pandemic and slow economy.
Disney's Riviera Resort Three Bedroom Grand Villa
A year ago, Disney Vacation Club point sales were riding high. In January 2020, Disney sold 222,185 points for the Walt Disney World resorts, the third time in a 10-month span when sales topped the 200,000-point mark. Disney’s Riviera Resort, which had opened the month before, recorded its best month with over 181,000 points sold.
Twelve months later, the numbers are vastly different as the COVID pandemic continues to impact Disney’s sales. Thousands of Disney hotel rooms remain shuttered due to lack of demand. These rooms were previously filled with guests who were prime candidates for a DVC purchase. As a result, Disney sold only 87,124 points in January 2021, 60% less than the same period one year ago.
In the last six months, DVC sales have averaged 93,194 points and have exceeded the 100,000-point mark only twice. By comparison, before the pandemic sales never dipped below 93,594 points (November 2014) and had averaged 173,756 points a month over a 10-year period.
The phrase "new normal" will continue to dominate DVC sales reports until guest demand warrants reopening of resorts like Disney's Port Orleans Riverside and Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House.
Disney’s Riviera Resort — In January, Riviera sold 51,538 points, which is 70% less that what was sold for the resort in January 2020. The resort has now sold 1,774,725 points, or about 26.3% of its 6.7 million points.
Three more Fixed Week deeds were sold in January, bringing to 49 the number of Fixed Week deeds sold for the resort. Standard view studios account for the most Fixed Week deeds with 22, followed closely by 20 preferred view studio deeds. The other Fixed Week deeds sold so far include four preferred view two-bedroom deeds and deeds for one standard view one-bedroom, one standard view two-bedroom, and one grand villa.
Effective January 15, 2021, Disney added 24 more vacation homes for the DVC inventory at Riviera. The resort now has 147 of its 341 vacation homes declared. The DVC inventory now contains 2,913,418 Riviera points, or about 43.2% of the resort's 6,7 million total points. This means that on any given Use Day DVC members can book about 43.2% of the resort using DVC points. The undeclared inventory remains under the control of Disney Vacation Development, which it can use for cash reservations or any reason it chooses.
The sales data includes all 11 DVC resorts at Walt Disney World, as well as Disney's Vero Beach Resort, and Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort. Point sales data is not available for the Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel. The data is compiled from deeds filed by Disney Vacation Development and recorded with the Orange County (FL) Comptroller, the Indian River County (FL) Clerk of Court, and the Beaufort County (SC) Register of Deeds.
Wil Lovato is a contributor to DVCNews.com and has been a Disney Vacation Club owner since 2009. His DVC Home Resorts include Copper Creek Villas, Bay Lake Tower, Animal Kingdom Villas, and Aulani. He can be found posting on many Disney discussion forums under the username of “wdrl.”
