Is the Membership Magic Beyond Annual Pass Perk Worth It?
Disney has shared new details about “Membership Magic Beyond,” the $99 DVC membership upgrade coming in January. The new service has several benefits, but I’d like to focus on one of the more interesting perks, the Annual Pass exchange. In my previous article, I wondered how this exchange would work. Today’s update provides some clarity. DVC members can purchase the Disney Sorcerer Pass using points (75 for a new pass and 65 for a renewal). On the surface, this looks like a decent deal. But it might not be for everyone. Let’s dive in to see if it works for you.
First, we need to do some simple math. Since we own at Animal Kingdom Lodge, we’ll use those numbers to come up with our answers. In 2025, Animal Kingdom Lodge dues will be $9.65 per point. Using that value, a new Sorcerer Pass will cost $723.75 (75 points times $9.65 per point). Renewals will cost a mere $590.20. Those are significant savings from the $1,079 (new) and $929 (renewal) AP prices announced last month.
Ah, but let’s not forget about the Membership Magic Beyond fee. We need to add $99 to those prices. So now it’s $822.75 (new) and $689.20 (renewal) when using points (sure, that $99 comes with other perks, but we’ll conveniently ignore those for now). Those numbers sound good, but they don’t tell the entire story. Why?
DVC points are most valuable when used to book DVC Villas.
My family never exchanges our points. For anything. Again, I’ll use math to explain why. We just returned from a stay at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House. We were in a standard view studio (but enjoyed a beautiful savanna view). For simplicity, let’s look at one night of our vacation. We used 16 points to stay in a Villa last Wednesday night. Based on my 2024 dues ($9.08 per point), that studio cost us $145.28. A Jambo House room on a Wednesday night in early December will run you $492.60. That is a massive difference, one that will quickly eat into the savings you get when exchanging your points for Annual Passes.
Yes, this is an overly simplistic look at DVC numbers. In addition to dues, a DVC contract requires a hefty down payment. But we’ve owned our contract long enough that our initial buy-in no longer matters to the math. We’ve saved more on DVC stays than we paid as a down payment.
Let’s look at another scenario. Say you’re a local DVC owner who doesn’t intend to stay on property as much next year. You still want those passes, so that DVC points exchange sounds pretty good. Well, maybe not. You can make more money by renting your points to non-members. David’s Vacation Club Rentals currently offers $16 to 18 per point (our Animal Kingdom Lodge points get the higher amount). If I rented 65 points (DVC’s AP renewal exchange rate) to a David’s customer, I’d receive $1,170. That’s an excellent return, one that can’t be matched by DVC’s official exchange.
Conclusion
If you’re considering upgrading to Membership Magic Beyond for the Annual Pass exchange perk alone, you probably have your answer. However, the upgrade also includes a variety of other benefits, such as preferred seating in DVC lounges, exclusive character meet-and-greets, discounted park tickets, Memory Maker, and more. When you factor in everything, the upgrade is hard to pass up. That preferred seating perk, for example, will likely come in handy when McKim’s Mile House debuts in Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland next summer.
