3. Membership discounts

Image: Disney

This is a sore subject for the bean counters at The Walt Disney Company. As the accountants and corporate strategists constantly attempt to find new ways to optimize corporate revenue, every discount is effectively a thumb in their eye. That’s why Disney changed the rules for DVC members to eliminate such savings for certain members. Specifically, they now prevent participants who buy via resale from enjoying discounts. Anyone who owned prior to April 5th of this year is grandfathered in, of course, but the action itself is telling. Disney employees with an eye on the bottom line resent that DVC members pay less for many of the same services than regular guests.

How notable are these savings? That’s in the eye of the beholder. DVC members can present their cards at various restaurants and stores onsite for a savings of 10-20 percent off the standard rate. In many instances, the discount is similar to owners of the annual pass, with the primary difference being that the latter group has to renew each year to maintain a discount. DVC owners buy in permanently.

How big a deal is 10-20 percent? That’s again a personal opinion. A 20 percent discount at a restaurant basically means that DVC ownership pays for your server’s tip. That’s not a huge deal. Over the course of 20 meals, however, it can add up to several hundred dollars. Similarly, 10 percent off of merchandise only pays for sales tax. Again, if you buy in volume like we do at Disney stores, such a discount can mean a hundred dollars or more in savings over the course of an extended trip. And speaking of annual passes, DVC members save on these and even enjoy access to the Disney Gold Pass, which is only available to Florida residents otherwise.

One of the unheralded aspects of DVC membership is that the average guest stays longer, and so a clever implementation of these two discounts can pay for a couple of days of one’s vacation. This feature is precisely why bean counters asked Disney to require proof of DVC membership to attain discounts. It’s also why this sort of data isn’t added into your Magic Band information. Disney doesn’t want to give you the discounts. You have to fight for them, which isn’t very cool of the company, but it demonstrates how strong a value DVC savings are.

4. Special perks

Image: Disney

The other wonderful benefit of DVC membership is that you enjoy a combination of the options available to Florida residents AND guests staying on site. I’ve already mentioned two such scenarios: Extra Magic Hours and access to the Gold Annual Pass. Two other options are just as valuable.

DVC owners can purchase a subscription to Tables in Wonderland, just the same as Floridians. While the program includes some redundancy with the DVC membership’s 20 percent restaurant discount available at some locations, it’s more of a catch-all. That’s because a large majority of Disney theme park restaurants participate in Tables in Wonderland, thereby reducing your dining cost significantly. Yes, exclusions exist on holidays and during other blackout periods, but a Tables in Wonderland card pays for itself at $150. That’s also $25 cheaper than the cost for Florida residents, another advantage to DVC.

Finally, you can add a Disney Dining Plan to your account just the same as vacationers staying in basic Disney rooms. From the company’s perspective, anybody staying at one of their hotels is viewed identically. There’s no differentiation between guests booking rooms online or through travel agents as opposed to DVC members or someone renting DVC points via a service. Everyone’s got the same ability to book a Dining Plan, enjoy Extra Magic Hours, or the like. The end result is that DVC membership lets you save dramatically over the lifetime of your membership while enhancing your current theme park visits.