DVC Resale Restrictions Explained: What You Lose (and What You Keep)

What Are DVC Resale Restrictions?

DVC resale restrictions are limitations placed on contracts purchased on the secondary (resale) market after January 19, 2019. These restrictions do not apply to:

• Contracts bought directly from Disney (retail)
• Resale contracts purchased before January 19, 2019

If your resale contract falls under the restriction, you lose access to specific resorts when booking — but you keep every other DVC perk.

Which Resorts Are Restricted?

Post-2019 resale buyers cannot book the following resorts using restricted resale points:

All resorts that opened before 2019 (Animal Kingdom Villas, Bay Lake Tower, Saratoga Springs, etc.) remain fully bookable on any resale contract regardless of purchase date.

What Exactly Do You Lose?

Post-2019 resale buyers lose the ability to use their restricted points to book rooms at the affected resorts. Here's the full list of what changes:

What You Lose

• Booking Riviera rooms — You cannot use restricted points to book any room type at Riviera Resort, including studios, villas, or the signature Tower Studios.
• Booking Disneyland Hotel Tower rooms — The newer DVC tower at the Disneyland Hotel is off-limits with restricted points.
• All future DVC resorts — Any resort Disney builds after 2019 will be unavailable to restricted resale buyers.

What You Keep

• Full access to all 14+ pre-2019 DVC resorts (WDW, Aulani, Vero Beach, Hilton Head)
• All standard DVC perks: banking, borrowing, waitlists
• The ability to rent out your points to others
• Blue Card status (if you have enough resale points — subject to Disney policy)
• Home resort 11-month booking advantage at your home resort (if pre-2019)
• Access to exchanges through RCI

Why Did Disney Add These Restrictions?

Disney's official position is that restrictions help maintain the value of purchasing direct from Disney. The practical effect: buyers who want guaranteed access to Riviera and future resorts must buy directly from Disney at retail prices — which run $200–280+ per point versus $80–165 per point on the resale market.

For Disney, it's a way to protect direct sales of new resorts. For buyers, it's a tradeoff to understand before committing.

See our resale vs. direct guide for the full comparison of what you give up and what you save when buying on the secondary market.

Does the Riviera Restriction Work Both Ways?

Yes — and this is critical for Riviera buyers specifically.

If you buy Riviera on the resale market, your points are double-restricted:

• You cannot book non-Riviera DVC resorts — Resale Riviera points can only be used at Riviera itself (and other post-2019 restricted resorts, if you buy those direct). You lose access to all pre-2019 resorts.
• You cannot book other post-2019 resorts — Restricted resale points from any one post-2019 resort cannot be used at other post-2019 resorts either.

Riviera resale currently trades around $120/point — a steep discount to its ~$240 direct price — precisely because of this double restriction. The market has priced in the limitation.

How to Tell If a Contract Has Restrictions

There are two factors that determine whether a resale contract has restrictions:

1. The resort it's attached to— All Riviera, Disneyland Hotel Tower, and Cabins at Fort Wilderness contracts sold resale have restrictions (both the post-2019 general restriction and Riviera's double restriction for its own resale buyers).
2. The purchase date — If the contract was originally purchased from Disney before January 19, 2019, it has no resale restrictions, even if you buy it today.

When evaluating a listing, ask your broker: "Is this contract subject to post-2019 resale restrictions?" A good broker will disclose this upfront. If they don't know, that's a red flag.

Our step-by-step resale buying guide covers what to ask brokers at each stage of the process.

Should Resale Restrictions Change Your Buying Decision?

For most buyers, the answer is no — with one important exception.

Restrictions Don't Matter If…

• You plan to stay at pre-2019 resorts (Animal Kingdom, Bay Lake Tower, Beach Club, Polynesian, etc.) — the vast majority of DVC inventory
• You're a Walt Disney World buyer with no interest in the Riviera or the Skyliner corridor specifically
• You prefer the lower price per point on resale contracts from unrestricted resorts like Saratoga Springs (~$95/pt) or Animal Kingdom Villas (~$100/pt)

Restrictions Do Matter If…

• You specifically want to stay at Riviera (known for its Tower Studios, Skyliner access, and EPCOT proximity)
• You want access to future DVC resorts that haven't been announced yet
• You're considering Disneyland Hotel Tower as a home resort for Disneyland trips

In these cases, buying direct — despite the 30–60% price premium — may be worth it for the unrestricted access.

Resale Restrictions vs. Other Buying Risks

Restrictions are one of several factors to weigh when buying resale. Others include:

• ROFR risk — Disney can take your contract before closing if you bid too low. See our ROFR explainer.
• Contract type — Loaded vs. stripped contracts affect your true cost. See loaded vs. stripped contracts.
• Use year — The wrong use year can cost you points. See our use year guide.
• Home resort — Your home resort determines where your 11-month booking window applies. See the home resort advantage guide.
• Annual dues — Low purchase price means nothing if dues are high. See DVC dues by resort.

The Bottom Line

DVC resale restrictions sound scarier than they are for most buyers. You still get access to 14+ excellent DVC resorts, the full booking system, and the ability to bank, borrow, and rent points. What you lose is a handful of newer resorts — and for many buyers, that's a worthwhile tradeoff for the 30–60% savings on purchase price.

The exception: if Riviera or future resorts are specifically why you're buying DVC, restrictions matter enormously. In that case, buying direct is the right call.

To model the actual cost difference between buying direct and resale — including the break-even math — use our DVC cost calculator. It accounts for your purchase price, dues projection, and trip frequency so you can make the call with real numbers.