Shannon, Peter, and Sue discuss the holiday announcements at Walt Disney World, including Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and the new Disney Jollywood Nights. Disney Vacation Club direct sales are strong for May 2023, driven primarily by the debut of the Villas at Disneyland Hotel and continued popularity of the Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort. N115

Season 9 of the My DVC Points Podcast was brought to you by:

DVC Resale Market - Industry Leader in DVC Resales

DVC Rental Store - DVC Point Rentals

Monera Financial - Exclusively Financing DVC Contracts

Patreon supporters in the My DVC Points VIP Producer Club.

Walt Disney World announces a new hard ticket event for the 2023 holiday season called Disney Jollywood Nights at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Among the attractions are a holiday special with Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy at the Theater of the Stars, a sing-along at Hyperion Theater, and the return of the Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam nighttime show. Multiple meet and greets will be offered, including Mickey and Minnie and friends, Phineas and Ferb, Max as Powerline, and Edna Mode and a Super friend. Most rides appear to be open during the event, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will offer a virtual queue. Guests can also enjoy two limited capacity entertainment experiences: a Jazz Lounge at the Brown Derby and an “other worldly soiree” at the Tower of Terror courtyard.

Tickets go on sale June 29th for on-site guests and July 6th for all guests. The ticket price range from $159 to $179 per person, and a DVC discount of $10 is offered. Dates are as follows:

Source: Disney Parks Blog

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is returning to Magic Kingdom. Nothing new has been announced for the event and it appears the castle lights aren’t returning as there is a new Frozen-themed castle show that will be on both party and non-party nights which will light the castle “In a whole new way”. TRON Lightcycle / Run will use a virtual queue during the event

Tickets go on sale June 29th for on-site guests and July 6th for all guests. The ticket price range from $159 to $199 per person, and a DVC discount of $10 is offered. Dates are as follows:.

Source: Disney Parks Blog

DVC News is reporting strong opening sales for the Villas at Disneyland Hotel. Sales started on May 2nd for existing members, and between May 15th and May 31st, 1,151 deeds were registered with Orange County for a total of 147,288 points. Note that this is likely only part of the total sales for the month, and new member sales did not start until May 30th. Average deed size was 128 points and the median size was 150 points, which means more than half the deeds were 150 points or larger.

In addition another 135,000 points were sold at Walt Disney World resorts, with 40% of those sales coming from Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort. Grand Floridian is now 60% sold and expectations are that it will be sold out within the next 12-15 months. Meanwhile Riviera sold 41,500 points - below recent averages. After sales started in April 2019, Riviera is now 54 % sold after 4+ years, and is likely to take at least another 5 to 6 years to sell out. Even taking the COVID-19 pandemic into account, this cannot be seen as a success by DVC.  For instance Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas, which is 15% larger than Riviera, sold out in 7 years without the benefit of luxury rooms or direct resort access. It is likely that Riviera will still be selling long after Grand Floridian, Disneyland Hotel, and even the upcoming Polynesian Tower are sold out. 

Source: DVC News - VDH, DVC News - WDW DVC

The restaurant was originally scheduled to be closed for refurbishment June 11th through June 17th, but now Disney is reporting it will stay closed until sometime in late June. The restaurant will not be open for dinner, but will provide a limited breakfast menu. Guests with breakfast reservations will still be honored but will be directed to dine in the Flying Fish dining room next door.

The nearby Pizza Window will also be closed until late June.

Source: WDW Magic, Walt Disney World website

It takes an incredible community of DVC members to produce our content. We're always recruiting people to help research, produce, edit, or join our shows to share their stories. Thus far, we've had over 400 DVC members on our shows.

If our content has been a blessing to your family, please consider supporting our show through our VIP Producer's Club at Patreon.com and join us for the Patreon After-Party from our live shows.

Facebook admins and moderators of the My DVC Points Community Group: Sandy Symianick, Gina Grotsky, Shannon Ford, Caleb Allison, and Mary Anne Tracy. "Take Flight" music by Martinrowberry1 on Pond5.