Disney Dreamlight Valley is Disney’s take on Animal Crossing. You will establish a valley and welcome some of your favorite Disney characters to move in. As you decorate your valley and build houses for potential valley residents, you will complete tasks and earn rewards.
As you’d expect, everything here is Disney-themed. A lot of things can be earned through Star Path events (also known as seasons or chapters in other games), but even more can be purchased through a premium store, which uses a premium currency called Moonstones.
How to get Moonstones in Disney Dreamlight Valley
The easiest way to get Moonstones is to purchase them via the in-game store. Moonstones range from 4.99 USD for 1,200 Moonstones to 49.99 USD for 14,500 Moonstones. Gameloft and Disney have taken a lot of heat over their decision to have premium currency in a game you have to pay for. They are not the first to do this, and they won’t be the last.
That said, they also offer up the opportunity to earn a few thousand Moonstones every month, so read on to find out how!
Moonstone Chests
As with other games that offer premium currency, Gameloft does allow you to earn Moonstones in-game, and I would argue they are pretty generous. The first way to earn free Moonstones is to find the blue Moonstone Chests that provide you with 50 Moonstones. One Chest spawns per day, as long as you log in, and up to three Chests will remain active within your valley at one time.
If you play daily, or at least log in every three days, this is an easy way to earn 350 Moonstones per week.
DreamSnaps
Once you have unlocked both Scrooge McDuck and Venelope, you will eventually get the quest, “The Haunting of Dreamlight Valley.” Working through this quest will unlock something called Dream Snaps, a type of weekly task that will have you creating specific photo opportunities that use colors, styles, and sometimes things from Disney franchises.
Simply submitting a photo each week will earn you 300 Moonstones, but if you get a lot of votes – more on this soon – you can earn a lot more.
For the sake of our running tally, if you do everything we’ve discussed so far, you will have earned 650 Moonstones in a single week!
Vote on DreamSnaps
Submitting a DreamSnap is not a requirement to vote on DreamSnaps. As we noted above, after submitting a photo, there is a chance you can earn even more Moonstones if other players vote on your picture, just as you can vote on others. If you submit enough votes within the week, you can earn an additional 50 Moonstones; that brings our weekly running tally to 700.
Earned during Star Paths
Moonstones can be purchased with Star Path points, whether you do the free Star Path or the Star Path that costs 2,500 Moonstones.
That said, you are limited to only a few hundred free Moonstones through the free Star Path, while you can earn thousands in the premium Star Path, amongst other great benefits and rewards.
Purchasing DLC bundles
Gameloft has been releasing a ton of DLC for Disney Dreamlight Valley, and while you can opt to just purchase the new content, they also offer bundles that include in-game items and Moonstones. For the latest DLC release, Honeyglow Woods, players received the new content and 2,000 Moonstones.
What can you buy in the Premium Shop?
The Premium Shop in Disney Dreamlight Valley is full of things to purchase, but knowing what you are picking up is as important as making the purchase itself.
For example, a lot of bundles might include actual buildings for you to place in the Valley. Over the past few years, I’ve purchased replicas of Tower of Terror from Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park, and The Haunted Mansion. Currently in the shop, there are fantastic bundles themed around Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and more. A lot of these sets come with brand new buildings, clothing items, decoration items, and accessories.
Other sets, however, come with skins, not actual buildings. The Tropical Bundle, which is currently available in the Shop, provides a number of skins for your Valley. This includes a reskinned main castle, central plaza, and fast travel well. These are not new items, but rather skins for items. It is important to recognize the difference.
If you want new outfits for your Valley friends, those are typically extra purchases. Some, like the ones for Belle, are included in her bundle; others, such as specific outfits for Mickey Mouse, are standalone purchases.
Companions can also be purchased in the Shop, and this is personally where I love to spend my money. I went on a spending spree this week for the purpose of this article, so I’ll talk about my purchases shortly. That said, you can get some really cool companions in the Premium Shop, including Prince Eric’s dog Max, BB-8, R2D2, and more.
My own shopping spree
With some Moonstones provided by Gameloft, I went on a bit of a shopping spree to see what I could get. With Summer coming to a close and Fall fast approaching, I decided to get a head start on my Halloween planning, and, therefore, bought a bunch of The Nightmare Before Christmas items.
My first pack of items cost about 4000 Moonstones and included a Halloween arch, fountain, spooky hill, and a small collection of bottles. These items will fit perfectly with my Jack Skellington house, and I will be able to create a really cool Halloween diorama as we get closer to October.
For another 2000 Moonstones, I also purchased a fox companion wearing a Zero costume and a small dog house. I was a bit disappointed that Zero himself wasn’t a companion I could buy, but an arctic fox with a costume is still a pretty good option, in my opinion.
I spent a ton of other Moonstones as well, picking up building and item packs based on Ariel and The Little Mermaid, as well as Belle and Beauty and the Beast. These items were perfect for my nautical and princess areas, and will provide me with a ton of options when it comes to making cool designs and future DreamSnaps.
Are Moonstones worth spending money on?
Personally, as much as I love Disney Dreamlight Valley, I am probably unlikely to purchase Moonstones with real money. That said, for those who really want to invest in their experience, I’m actually glad the option exists.
This system will be really bad for people with FOMO, or fear of missing out. You need to be very selective in what you buy, especially if you are only using Moonstones you can earn for free, or through DLC packs. That’s what I’ve been doing ever since Gameloft introduced this system, and I’ve collected a lot of cool stuff, while sidestepping the things I don’t think I’ll really use.
What cool items would you spend your Moonstones on?
Authored by
Adam Roffel
Adam has been writing about video games since 2014 and board games since 2018. If he's not rooting for the Toronto Maple Leafs or Toronto FC, he definitely has a controller in his hand - probably playing on a Nintendo platform - or is sitting at a table playing a board game. Adam also has firm opinions on a few key topics: there are much better board games than Settlers of Catan, and Nintendo doesn't need to compete with Sony and Microsoft.
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