CFW Sales Tracking - includes all proofed county deeds through 8/31/25

[Sandisw]

But it's really hard to judge that in light of the dues disparity.

I guess that is where I differ. If the cabins were something I wanted to have as a home resort, the dues would simply not put me off owning there.

But again, I am just not sure that the reason behind the lagging sales…and they are bad… are the dues.

On a 150 point contract, you are an extra $600 to $700 a year over other options direct.

It’s more…but enough to keep that many buyers away? I just don’t think it’s that.

I think it’s just not a product worth buying for many when you can get PVB or RIV for a similar price and have a lot of room options to choose from.

 

[tidefan]

I guess that is where I differ. If the cabins were something I wanted to have as a home resort, the dues would simply not put me off owning there.

But again, I am just not sure that the reason behind the lagging sales…and they are bad… are the dues.

On a 150 point contract, you are an extra $600 to $700 a year over other options direct.

It’s more…but enough to keep that many buyers away? I just don’t think it’s that.

I think it’s just not a product worth buying for many when you can get PVB or RIV for a similar price and have a lot of room options to choose from.

I agree with most of this. It's not just the dues... it's the dues, stacked on top of restrictions, stacked on top of uncertainty with the trust model (potential point reallocations, etc.). That's why I still contend there's too many variables confounded to pinpoint a certain reason as to why the sales are the way they are.

I know that if the sales model was the same as what, say, PVB is, we would have probably bought a FW at CFW, but there are just way too many unknowns... and the dues...

 

[Patmcpsu]

I asked AI to compare cash rates between Poly Longhouse Studio and CFW for the rest of the year. It said CFW is an average of 28% cheaper.

I then asked AI to compare cash rates between Poly 1BR Villa and CFW for the rest of the year. It said CFW is an average of 60% cheaper.

And this is for a simple cash booking, where DVC complications don't apply (dues, resale restrictions, trust model). The cabins are a niche product that doesn't have the mass-appeal of a monorail resort.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I asked AI to compare cash rates between Poly Longhouse Studio and CFW for the rest of the year. It said CFW is an average of 28% cheaper.

I then asked AI to compare cash rates between Poly 1BR Villa and CFW for the rest of the year. It said CFW is an average of 60% cheaper.

And this is for a simple cash booking, where DVC complications don't apply (dues, resale restrictions, trust model). The cabins are a niche product that doesn't have the mass-appeal of a monorail resort.

Id bust out a calculator or excel and do the math yourself. AI cant be trusted.

 

[Brian Noble]

It's not just the dues

I agree with this!

It might be partly this...

it's the due

...because even though the dues are cheap on a room-night basis, buyers are comparing sales quotes that include "dues on 100 points" (or 150 points, or whatever) and it does look bad there.

But it is probably not this...

stacked on top of restrictions

...because Riviera seems to be Just Fine. Of the five active resorts in sales, more than half of them have resale restrictions.

It is defintely not this...

stacked on top of uncertainty with the trust model

...because this is just way too inside baseball even for some folks on DISboards. I am confident that it is a total nothingburger on the sales floor.

I think the real reason is just that it is a niche product that is not the model most people have in their heads when they think "one of the more expensive Disney resorts." Some people get it, and for those that do, it makes a lot of sense. But, they are isolated to the point where folks feel they need a golf cart just to get to the resort infrastructure, that infrastructure is arguably not comparable to any of the other resorts for sale, and the overall transportation situation is awkward.

I think if the SSR Treehouses had been their own thing, they'd've been hard sells too.

 

[Patmcpsu]

Id bust out a calculator or excel and do the math yourself. AI cant be trusted.

I'm not manually pulling the nightly rates for 3 different rooms over the span of 112 nights. AI is great for fetching data, and its results are in-line with my informal guesses of:
Poly 1BR villa: $1200/nt
Poly Studio: $700/nt
CFW Cabin: $500/nt (62% less than $1200, 29% cheaper than $700)

But if I just threw my guesses out there, I would be accused of making numbers up. My point still stands that the demand simply isn't there.

 

[Brian Noble]

I often do this by just comparing a handful of nights using the MouseSavers rate chart. For my "typical" late February/early March trip, the lowest rate per night is:

Poly studio resort view: $884 (Sun-Wed)
Poly 1BR resort view: $1272 (Sun-Wed)
Cabins: $627 (Sun-Thu)

That puts the cabins at just about half the 1BR, and about a 30% discount from the Poly studio. Those will vary slightly by date, but it's ballpark good enough.

https://www.mousesavers.com/2026-disney-world-room-rates-season-dates/

 

[tidefan]

I'm not manually pulling the nightly rates for 3 different rooms over the span of 112 nights. AI is great for fetching data, and its results are in-line with my informal guesses of:
Poly 1BR villa: $1200/nt
Poly Studio: $700/nt
CFW Cabin: $500/nt (62% less than $1200, 29% cheaper than $700)

But if I just threw my guesses out there, I would be accused of making numbers up. My point still stands that the demand simply isn't there.

I completely disagree about demand. You are looking at price per night, OK, but that is just one measure. What about occupancy rate? Those cabins are all booked solid, not just the ones on points, but they are typically filled up with cash guests as well. I mean the demand is there, now does the pricing meet the demand? Well that may be a different question. From the lack of incentives that CFW has had, it seems like DVC isn't too concerned about the pace of sales.

I think restrictions also matter more here, because in order to resell, a buyer would have to want to ONLY stay at the cabins. For someone like me, that'd be fine, but many may not want that. It's like how I would never buy RIV resale, because it's not my cup of tea, but I'd be stuck there if I bought it.

I guess my point is that, heck, I may be the biggest fan out there of CFW. We love it and have managed to stay there 4 times already (though it is getting much harder at 7 months that it was even a year ago). Being that as it may, I'm not buying there because yes, the Dues, but also restrictions, and yes, even the inside baseball of the trust (maybe I've read way too many of Sandi's posts )...

 

[Mouseforward]

I completely disagree about demand. You are looking at price per night, OK, but that is just one measure. What about occupancy rate? Those cabins are all booked solid, not just the ones on points, but they are typically filled up with cash guests as well. I mean the demand is there, now does the pricing meet the demand? Well that may be a different question. From the lack of incentives that CFW has had, it seems like DVC isn't too concerned about the pace of sales.

I think restrictions also matter more here, because in order to resell, a buyer would have to want to ONLY stay at the cabins. For someone like me, that'd be fine, but many may not want that. It's like how I would never buy RIV resale, because it's not my cup of tea, but I'd be stuck there if I bought it.

I guess my point is that, heck, I may be the biggest fan out there of CFW. We love it and have managed to stay there 4 times already (though it is getting much harder at 7 months that it was even a year ago). Being that as it may, I'm not buying there because yes, the Dues, but also restrictions, and yes, even the inside baseball of the trust (maybe I've read way too many of Sandi's posts )...

The sleeping layout, and lack of multiple room size offerings are not to be underestimated as a selling hurdle to people new to DVC. The bunk beds are a ticking clock as kids will grow out of them. Cabins work great for 6-8 years of family life and then they are less useful. So that 50 year contract is quite a commitment.

I think the gap between small kids and empty nest is a real problem , by the time I was 11-12 my parents were renting 2 cabins. That plan does not work anymore with the age limits on who can be in a room, and the long term commitment of points.

 

[tidefan]

The sleeping layout, and lack of multiple room size offerings are not to be underestimated as a selling hurdle to people new to DVC. The bunk beds are a ticking clock as kids will grow out of them. Cabins work great for 6-8 years of family life and then they are less useful. So that 50 year contract is quite a commitment.

I think the gap between small kids and empty nest is a real problem , by the time I was 11-12 my parents were renting 2 cabins. That plan does not work anymore with the age limits on who can be in a room, and the long term commitment of points.

Yes, but then you can just book elsewhere at 7 months...

I don't disagree that the Cabins are for everyone, however, I do think that there is demand for them. For us, we go with mainly just the two of us. Do we need the bunks in the bedroom, no, not really, but we really, really enjoy the full kitchen.

That said, we drive to WDW (about 8-9 hours) every time we visit, so that changes the calculus (it's why I dislike BWV, the parking there is horrible). There is no more convenient place to load/unload than right in front of your unit and the Cabins give you that...

 

[disneylandtour]

I agree with most of this. It's not just the dues... it's the dues, stacked on top of restrictions, stacked on top of uncertainty with the trust model (potential point reallocations, etc.). That's why I still contend there's too many variables confounded to pinpoint a certain reason as to why the sales are the way they are.

I know that if the sales model was the same as what, say, PVB is, we would have probably bought a FW at CFW, but there are just way too many unknowns... and the dues...

If I was approaching this from what I perceive as a typical new DVC buyer (knows the parks and the resort to some extent, but probably doesn't understand all of the contract issues, like the trust, etc), I think these things here would be the biggest issues:

(1) Perceived value. The point charts for the cabins and the studios (longhouse, resort view) are nearly identical. They are extremely close--to the point of being the same for most of the year. Yet in terms of cash sales, Disney values the studios as significantly more expensive. On a typical night in April - Poly longhouse studios go for $612, while the cabins go for $424. It's 50% more to stay in Poly in terms of cash, yet its almost the same (in terms of points) to stay at Poly. Sometimes it's a point less or a point more to stay at one over the other. This is likely the first thing that is not lost on a typical DVC buyer. Compared to cash, points at the cabins are worth significantly less than points at Poly.

(1.5) this maybe occurs to them as well--the specific difference between points and cash. ON that example night I use above a cabin is $424 in terms of cash. A DVC cabin on that same night is 28 points. The cabin dues on 28 points is $340 - (28 x $12.15). So the value of owning the points for that night is only $76. $28k is a lot to shell out for a DVC contract if the realized or perceived savings are $76 per night.

(2) Compared to Poly, on a 150 point contract, dues are about $700 more per year at the cabins. True, if you loved the cabins (or wanted to bring your dog) probably not a deal breaker. But that $7k every ten years, which is not nothing.

(3) Lack of amenities and overall resort feel. Within easy walking distance, Poly has three pools, a number of bars, a range of restaurants, a gym, a couple of stores, monorails, busses, and boats, etc. Though there are ammenities in Fort Wilderness, they aren't close (or very walkable) from the cabins.

And those are the three things that I think sway a lot of potential customers away from the Cabins. I do agree that a lot of the other issues are likely invisible to the typical new purchaser (trust, restrictions, resale value, etc.). So there needs to be a lot of love for the cabins or a lot of value there (hello, couple traveling with two dogs) for what I perceive as a typical new DVC buyer to get over this first wave of concerns, which I think are likely apparent to a lot of potential buyers.