Direct sales for the Disney Vacation Club resorts in Florida continued to its upward trend while the newest DVC resort on the West Coast cooled in August 2023.
In August 2023, 242,783 Disney Vacation Club points were sold for the 11 DVC resorts located at World Disney World and The Villas at Disneyland Hotel. This marked the fourth consecutive month in which overall point sales surpassed the 200,000-point threshold, a feat that had never occurred in the 13 years that DVCNews has tracked direct sales.
The 191,111 points sold for the Walt Disney World DVC resorts is the best monthly total since 310,866 points were sold in April 2022 and 43.8% more than the 132,931 points those resorts averaged over the previous 12 months. The Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Disney’s Riviera Resort accounted for 95.0% of sales. Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort was a distant third with 2,387 points.
The Villas at Disneyland Hotel sold 51,672 points in August, the fewest number of points sold in its brief four-month history. It represents a drop of 68.1% from the 162,107 points that were sold just two months before. Although this is a large drop in point sales such drops are common in the early days of sales for a new resort. In 2022, sales for the Big Pine Key building at Grand Floridian dropped 58.4% in its fourth month from its high, and in 2013 the Grand Floridian saw a 64.7% drop in its fourth month from its high.
The largest deeds sold in August were four 1,000-point deeds, three for Grand Floridian and one for Disneyland Hotel. The largest deed sold for Riviera was a 622-point fixed week deed.
Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort — In August 2023, Grand Floridian led all resorts, including Disneyland Hotel, in sales with 133,058 points. It is the second best month for sales since they resumed for the resort in March 2022, trailing only the 177,819 points sold in April 2022.
Disney has sold 1,405,358 of the 1,779,822 points (79.0%) allotted to the 202 Resort Studios located in Big Pine Key. DVC still has about 366,975 Grand Floridian points it can sell to the general public.
At the rate of current sales it is possible that Grand Floridian will reach a “sold out” status before the end of 2023. It is difficult to predict when that might happen because Disney could speed up or delay that process by manipulating the incentives it offers in the coming months.
Three Fixed Week deeds were sold for Grand Floridian in August 2023, bringing to 45 the number of such deeds it has sold for the new Resort Studios. Since sales resumed, Disney has not sold any Fixed Week deeds for the Deluxe Studios or larger accommodations at the original Grand Floridian DVC building. Nor has it drawn any points from the Residential Units in the original building to support sales.
In August Disney reacquired four Grand Floridian deeds. These deeds were not foreclosure actions but were likely Disney exercising its Right of First Refusal on resale transactions. The four deeds contained 665 points and were all drawn from residential units located in the original Grand Floridian building. The deeds were reacquired by Disney at $115.00, $135.20, $141.00, and $145.00, with a weighted average of $134.74 a point.
Disney’s Riviera Resort — In August, Riviera sold 48,472 points. It is the most since 58,839 points were sold in December 2022.
Disney has sold 3,793,287 Riviera points, or 56.3%, of the resort’s 6,739,966 points. It still has about 2.8 million Riviera points that Disney can sell to the general public.
One Fixed Week deed was sold for Riviera in August. Disney has sold 114 Fixed Week deeds for the resort: 94 Fixed Week deeds have been sold for Deluxe Studios, eight for one-bedroom villas, nine for two-bedroom villas, and three for three-bedroom grand villas.
Disney has declared 224 of Riviera’s 341 vacation homes for the DVC inventory. There are still 117 vacation homes that have not yet been declared and are under the control of Disney. The declared inventory accounts for about 4,458,999 points, or 66.2% of the resort’s total points.
Villas at Disneyland Hotel — In August, 51,672 points were sold for Disneyland Hotel, DVC’s newest resort. Disney has sold 455,747 points in the four months since sales launched, about 14.0% of the resort’s estimated 3,255,992 total points.
Because the data available from the Orange County (California) Clerk-Recorder’s Office is limited, it is not possible to track some items such as Fixed Week sales. Even the exact number of points sold cannot be measured directly; instead, the number of points can only be estimated based on the Transfer Tax paid on each deed.
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. Thanks to Chris for assisting in the compilation of the sales data.
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.”
