Hey everyone, it's Jacqueline for Pixie Dust PhD.
Back in late April, Disney Vacation Club teased that the Top of the World Lounge would be
returning "soon".
We finally have more details, so stay tuned to hear everything you need know.
There aren't too many facts to go over for the Top of the World Lounge re-opening, so
let's get right into it.
Beginning July 11, Disney Vacation Club members with access to member benefits can go ahead
and use the Top of the World Lounge.
It's going to be open most nights from 6:00 p.m. til around midnight, of course featuring
fireworks viewing.
Presumably you will still be able to pay to enjoy some refreshments: drinks, light snacks,
maybe some desserts--that hasn't been officially confirmed yet.
And presumably, Top of the World Lounge is still going to occasionally close to members
for special events for things like New Year's Eve and 4th of July.
That's again not officially confirmed, but they did say that Top of the World Lounge
would be open most nights; so, ya know, every night is not guaranteed.
The big change, of course, then is Top of the World Lounge is only available to Disney
Vacation Club owners who are considered full members, and have access to those membership
magic extra benefits.
If you already own Disney Vacation Club and you're not sure if you do or do not qualify,
I would suggest you go ahead and check out your membership card.
Online, once you're logged into your DVC account, you can click "View My Membership Card" and
then you'll be able to generate a temporary card.
Note that physical Disney Vacation Club membership cards have been phased out, so this is just
a temporary one.
Mine has a white background because I am not a full Disney Vacation Club member that gets
access to those benefits.
If you are a full member, my understanding is this will be blue, and your list of things
you can access is going to be much longer.
Funnily, this still lists Top of the World Lounge for me even though I don't have access
to Top of the World Lounge anymore.
So I guess they do need to update these temporary cards.
But with the phase out of the physical cards, you do have your Magic Mobile pass.
And if you've already added that to your wallet app on your phone that will tell you with
certainty whether you do or do not have access to Top of the World Lounge.
There are two different types of affiliations: DVC ND, like mine, or DVC Y.
If you have DVC Y then you do have access to the Top of the World Lounge.
If you have DVC ND that means you don't get any discounts or these perks, so you will
not be able to head up to the Top of the World Lounge.
Essentially, if you already are a Disney Vacation Club owner and you have access to perks like
the EPCOT member lounge, Moonlight Magic, the Disney Vacation Club member cruise, discounts,
things like that, then you will also have access to Top of the World Lounge.
In contrast, if you're an existing Disney Vacation Club owner but you don't have access
to those perks--like I, personally, cannot go into the EPCOT member lounge with my restricted
membership--then you are not going to gain access to Top of the World Lounge.
For those of you who are looking at buying DVC, but do not yet own a Disney Vacation
Club contract: if you want access to all of these perks, as of right now--and this is
subject to change, you would need to buy 150 points directly from Disney.
There is a resale market where you can buy contracts not through Disney, and those have
limitations.
So if you bought a resale contract, now moving forward--assuming you don't already own Disney
Vacation Club--then you wouldn't get things like access to Top of the World Lounge, or
the EPCOT member lounge, or Moonlight Magic, or all of these extras.
Like I said, the amount of points you need to buy directly through Disney to qualify
for these membership extra benefits has changed in the past and may change in the future.
For a brief timeline of changes in the past, check out this video where we talked about
it previously.
I will also leave the link in the description below.
As for what happens in the future, stay tuned and I'll do my best to keep you updated.
If you do have access to Top of the World Lounge, it sounds like procedures to access
the lounge will remain largely the same.
Typically, it has been first come, first served, and there was no indication that that would
be different moving forward.
In the past, you had to check in with a Cast Member in the lobby of Bay Lake Tower; they
would look at your membership.
They're supposed to also match your membership to a government issued ID to make sure that
the names match, although that doesn't always happen so your mileage may vary.
But it sounds like that process will largely be the same.
The difference now though, is that when they're looking at your Magic Mobile pass, only those
with the DVC Y affiliation will be allowed to go up, and anyone with the DVC ND is not
allowed.
We also know that Top of the World Lounge is now officially being referred to as Top
of the World Lounge - A Villain's Lair.
So presumably, there is a fun retheme coming; maybe the menu items are all themed to villains.
We don't really know the details of that yet, but there is now a theme whereas before it
was just like a cool place.
I'm sure once we get closer to the opening we will learn more about the extensiveness
of this theme.
Now prior to the lounge closing down related to the pandemic closures in March 2020, all
DVC owners could access this lounge.
So this is obviously a big change.
I've seen some rumors floating around of people claiming that the lounge is paid for through
member dues, so we all have to have access to it.
I've never been able to verify that.
I do own a resale contract at Bay Lake Tower; in looking through my home resort rules and
regulations, as well as my annual dues statement, I've never seen any mention of Top of the
World Lounge.
Very honestly, I don't know exactly how Top of the World Lounge is operated.
But given that it's not stated in any of my DVC contract language, I do think it's operated
outside of Disney Vacation Club itself.
And therefore, they are able to change access to the lounge, and they have done this in
the past.
For example, back when the lounge was quite new, you actually had to be a Disney Vacation
Club member staying in Bay Lake Tower to access the lounge.
Then I believe it was a couple of years later when they tested opening up the Top of the
World Lounge to DVC members staying on property, not necessarily only in Bay Lake Tower.
This expanded access for all Disney Vacation Club members, whether or not you bought directly
through Disney or on the resale market--so therefore do or do not qualify for membership
benefit extras, and whether or not you're staying on your Disney Vacation Club points
or you're just staying on property having paid that cash rate, is how Top of the World
Lounge has been operating for a smattering of years recently.
But with this Villain's Lair retheme, and a push from Disney Vacation Club to making
buying through them directly instead of going to the resale market more appealing, we are
now seeing this expanded access get restricted down once again.
As a resale member, and particularly as a resale member with a Bay Lake Tower contract,
I am of course a little bit bummed.
But at the end of the day, when you're buying Disney Vacation Club you're ultimately buying
a number of vacation points to exchange to stay in rooms.
I'm still getting that main benefit so it is what it is.
Let me know how you feel about the proposed Villain's retheme and the new restricted access
in the comments down below.
But, for those of us living in the United States, there are far more important things
to be directing your criticism and anger towards.
If you're feeling especially fired up, I hope you're channeling that energy to something
very productive, and perhaps not for Disney Vacation Club.
Happy Pride.
Stay safe and well.
And we'll see ya real soon at Pixie Dust PhD.