As the Disney Parks brace for longer-than-initially-anticipated closures, their timeshare division, Disney Vacation Club, is now offering updated information for members.

Part of the statement below from Terri Schultz (Senior Vice President, Disney Vacation Club, Guided Adventures & Expeditions and Golden Oak) indicates the severity of the closures.

As a result of this unprecedented pandemic and in line with direction provided by health experts and government officials, Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort will remain closed until further notice. This closure affects all Disney Vacation Club properties, including Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort and Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa.

During this temporary closure, it is our priority to continue providing you with helpful and efficient service, even as the majority of our Cast Members are working remotely, including those in Member Services and Member Accounting.

Reservation Cancellations

It was confirmed that until otherwise announced all reservations automatically cancelled during the closure time on a week-by-week basis. Members do not need to cancel the reservation online or contact Member Services.

In light of the unusual circumstances and to provide more flexibility, Disney Vacation Club established a temporary cancellation policy to supplement our existing cancellation rules. Details include:

  • Vacation Points returned due to a cancellation of a resort reservation will not be placed in a holding account and will be returned to the current Use Year. This applies to all reservations checking in within the next 30 days.
  • When a reservation involving Borrowed Points is cancelled, the Borrowed Points will be returned to the Use Year they were borrowed from. This applies to all reservations regardless of arrival date. Please allow up to 15 business days for this process to be completed.

The following existing cancellation rules continue to apply:

  • Reservation Points returned due to a cancellation of a Disney Collection Resort reservation will be returned as Reservation Points to the current Use Year.
  • Reservations made with points Banked from the previous Use Year will be returned as Banked Points to the current Use Year.
  • One-time use Points will be returned to the current Use Year as one-time use Points.

Banking and Expiring Points

The statement also addressed banking and expiration, the plans and policy around which have not yet been fully finalized.

In addition, some Members may have questions about reservation cancellations involving Points that are set to expire soon. At this time, we are evaluating the banking and expiration policy and the use of certain Points impacted by the closures. As a part of our evaluation process, we need to be considerate of the impact any changes could have on future inventory availability for the Membership overall. A decision will be made when we better understand how long COVID-19 will impact our operations.

Moving Forward

Disney Vacation Club is anticipating high call volume in the days ahead and encourages referencing Disney Vacation Club website for general information and to only contact Member Services for assistance with existing reservations. Members who would like to book a new Disney Vacation Club Resort reservation or modify an existing reservation may continue do so through the Member Online Booking Tool.

Schultz concluded the statement noting, “we look forward to ‘welcoming you home’ as soon as we can.”