Despite what some think, DVC is not guaranteed income for Disney.
Most current DVC members will not be going to WDW 40 years from now. One way or another, when they are done with DVC, they are going to get rid of their interest.
The first possibility is that they give their DVC memberships to family members or friends who presumably want to go to WDW.
The next possibility is that they sell to someone who wants to go to WDW. DVC did not make those buyers suddenly interested in visiting WDW. They wanted to go anyway and decided that a DVC resale works best for them financially. The money in the resale is transferred from one individual to another. Except for a small admin fee, Disney gets nothing in the transfer.
Alternatively, if DVC members cannot find buyers or renters, then they simply stop paying their annual Maintenance Fees and default. Disney is now stuck with points that they then have to sell. And, of course, Disney can sell these points only if someone wants them, only if Disney continues to make WDW a place that people want to visit and buy DVC points at.
Again, DVC does not represent guaranteed income for Disney. Disney still has to keep WDW a place that guests want to visit. Otherwise, DVC (and WDW) becomes worthless. Corporate Disney needs to maintain a profitable WDW and, in doing so, indirectly boosts the value of DVC.
What DVC does mean is that someone vacationing at WDW 40 years from now is going to be paying less than WDW’s rack rates. (If not less, then DVC becomes worthless and members simply default, leaving Disney with lots of unoccupied rooms.)
DVC steals guests away from Disney’s highly profitable Deluxe Resorts and transfers them to timeshares with much lower annual Maintenance Fees.
What DVC does mean is that corporate Disney is sacrificing profits for the next 40 years so they can make a quick buck this year on the initial sale.
Most of those within corporate Disney that are pushing for more DVC at WDW aren't going to be around in 20 years. Heck, a lot are not going to be at Disney in 10 years. 10 years from now, DVC is someone else’s problem. All they know is that they were able to cash in today on someone else’s future.
Sound familiar?
Merry Christmas.
