Disney Vacation Club sets a member 'First Wave' stay at Lakeshore Lodge for June 2027
Disney Vacation Club will let eligible members stay at Disney's Lakeshore Lodge on June 24 to 27, 2027, four days before the Walt Disney World resort hotel opens on July 1. The four-day, three-night package adds 3-day Park Hopper tickets and resort dining, and books through the Disney Collection exchange. Phone reservations open November 7, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.
Disney Vacation Club has scheduled a members-only preview stay at Disney's Lakeshore Lodge for June 24 to 27, 2027, four days before the Walt Disney World resort hotel opens to the general public on July 1. The Member "First Wave" Experience runs four days and three nights, and reservations open to eligible members on November 7, 2026. A six-hour phone-only booking window and a points-only payment rule on the first two guests make this a narrower offer than a normal Disney Vacation Club stay.
Key Details
- Experience: Member "First Wave" Experience at Disney's Lakeshore Lodge, four days and three nights
- Dates: June 24 through 27, 2027
- Resort opening: July 1, 2027, so the preview lands four days ahead of opening day
- Booking opens: Saturday, November 7, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, by phone to Member Services
- Eligibility: members eligible for Membership Extras; anyone on the membership, including Associates, may hold the reservation
- Points: booked through the Disney Collection exchange, with a chart based on double occupancy
- Plan at: https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/member-first-wave-disneys-lakeshore-lodge
What Disney Vacation Club announced
The announcement arrived on Disney Vacation Club's Instagram account as a short motion piece, and the caption carried the two dates that matter: "Introducing an exclusive Member 'First Wave' Experience at Disney's Lakeshore Lodge on June 24-27, 2027," followed by "Booking opens on November 7, 2026." Disney describes the stay as a chance to "be the first to stay at the newest Deluxe Resort Hotel at Walt Disney World Resort."
That fine print is worth reading before the dates. Every frame of the piece is stamped "Artist Rendering. Under Construction," and the opening card adds the line that sets the terms of the whole offer: "Requires eligibility and an exchange." This is not a cash rate on a room block. It is a Disney Collection booking, and the rules that come with that are covered further down.
The dates, and how they sit against opening day
Disney Vacation Club's own page for the offer puts the stay at four days and three nights running June 24 through 27, 2027, before the resort hotel's official opening on July 1, 2027. Walt Disney World's site lists the same opening date for Disney's Lakeshore Lodge, which will sit on the shores of Bay Lake with 967 rooms ranging from duo studios through villas to waterfront Lake Houses.
The gap is four days, not four weeks. Guests on the First Wave stay check out on a Sunday and the resort opens the following Thursday, which puts the preview close enough to opening that the hotel should be substantially finished rather than half-dressed.
What the three nights include
The video steps through the package one card at a time. The first is the room itself.
The second card covers park admission. Disney Vacation Club's page specifies a 3-day Walt Disney World theme park ticket with the Park Hopper option for each guest ages 3 and older, which means the ticket is not a single-park-per-day product and does not have to be bought separately.
The third card is the vaguest of the four, and Disney has not detailed it publicly beyond the phrase on screen: "made-for-member experiences."
The last card promises dining at the resort hotel "and more," again without naming venues in the post itself.
Who can book, and how the points work
Eligibility is the first filter. Disney Vacation Club states that members must be eligible for Membership Extras benefits in order to book the First Wave Experience, and that anyone on the membership, including Associates, can make the reservation. Membership Extras eligibility is the same test that governs the rest of the Disney Collection, so members who already know they fall outside it will fall outside this too.
The payment rules are the second filter. The stay is part of the Disney Collection exchange, and its points chart is based on double occupancy. Payment for the first and second guests in the travel party has to be made with Reservation Points and nothing else. For guests beyond the first two, Disney Vacation Club will take a Disney Gift Card, JCB, Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover.
Booking through the Disney Collection is an exchange rather than a home resort stay, which is why the fine print on the opening card names an exchange alongside eligibility. Members who value their points at their home resort trade rate should price that against the points chart before November.
The booking window
Reservations open on Saturday, November 7, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. This is a phone-only booking: eligible members call Member Services at (800) 800-9800 or (407) 566-3800, and Member Services is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern that Saturday exclusively to take First Wave reservations.
A six-hour phone window on a Saturday, for a resort with 967 rooms that is opening for the first time, is the detail most likely to decide who actually gets one of these stays. Members who want the dates should have their eligibility and their points balance confirmed well before the line opens.
What this means for Disney Vacation Club members
Disney has run member-first previews before, but tying one to the opening of an entirely new Walt Disney World deluxe resort gives members a reason to hold points into mid-2027 rather than spend them. The offer is narrow by design: Membership Extras eligibility, a points-only rule on the first two guests, and a single Saturday morning to call. Members who want to weigh it should read the points chart and the terms on Disney Vacation Club's own page for the offer at disneyvacationclub.com before the November 7 window opens.