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Just about a year and a half after we first shared details on a new program from The Walt Disney Travel Company and Disney Parks and Resorts North America to assist guests with saving for their future theme park vacations, the ‘Disney Vacation Account’ service is now live at DisneyVacationAccount.com.
Similar to the Christmas Club-type savings accounts, the program allows for guests to estimate and budget for their upcoming stay at either the Walt Disney World Resort, the Disneyland Resort, Aulani, Adventures by Disney or the Disney Cruise Line. One major distinction this time around, however, is that the Walt Disney Travel Company (who is sponsoring the program) is clearly making the distinction that Disney is not acting as a bank, but rather as a liaison between the guest and a non-interest bearing account at ‘the Program Bank’ which is currently JP Morgan Chase — the Disney company never comes into possession of any of the payments. This third-party bank system allows the account to maintain its FDIC insurance coverage.
Another major change to the program since we first announced it is that the account ceiling has been raised to a total of $25,000. Also in lieu of interest, guests are now entitled to a $20 Disney Gift Card for each $1,000 entered into the account, with some restrictions, including a minimum age of the account of 120 days and potential cancellations of said gift cards if the account is closed without having applied the funds to an actual vacation.
It’s also worth noting that unlike the traditional method of initially making a reservation and applying payments to it, this program does not necessarily tie into an existing reservation, meaning one is not required to make use of the program. Guests are so advised (through the terms and conditions) that the vacation prices may actually vary [increase] between the time the account is opened and the reservation is made.
There are also various other configurations that help complicate the program including the ability to combine multiple DVA accounts towards a single vacation, using one DVA account to help pay into another DVA account owned by someone else and simply contributing to someone else’s DVA account.
For more information and to begin using the new Disney Vacation Account program from The Walt Disney Company, visit DisneyVacationAccount.com.
