awesome ticket discounts

[dizfanz]

I just read in the Unofficial Guide to WDW, that being a member of DVC entitled you to Florida resident discount on park passes, which included the Fl Res. Season Pass. This pass allows you unlimited access to the major parks during the off-peak seasons. Being that I have no kids right now, I go during Value Season anyway. The prices for this pass are on this website, plus you can get a discount on top of this if you belong to the Disney Club. Is this great or what? Or was I the only DVC member that didn't know this?

[DebbieB]

It would be great if it was true, but it's not. The guide is incorrect. DVC Members (or any other timeshare owners) are not considered Florida Residents to be eligible for these passes. :(

[tiggersnj]

I was told that we are not considered Florida residents , you have to have a valid driver license with a mailing address in Florida. That's directly from CM unless they changed the policy - now wouldn't that be nice.

[dizfanz]

The Unofficial Guide specifically said that you do not have to provide a driver's license. You only have to live in Florida part of the year. Guess what, we as members of DVC have purchased a real estate interest in Florida and thus qualify. You must provide your deed to get the discount, that's about it. I recommend every checks out this book. Again, it's the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World by Bob Sehlinger, the 2001 edition.

[TnRobin]

Read your DVC documents they specifically state that membership in DVC does not consitute a Florida residence for the purpose of Florida Resident tickets.

Sorry :( :(

[Disney*All-Stars*]

DizFanZ

Did you do just that, show a copy of a deed and got a Florida seasonal pass? I'm assuming your actual residence is in Pennsylvania. I know some people don't necessarily have a FL driver's license.

[dizfanz]

Well, I guess the book was wrong. It would have been nice though.
Sorry to get everyone worked up.

[Dean]

I wonder how many contacts the unofficial guide has gotten about this incorrect info. I know it's been posted here at least 4 separate times. You would need a valid drivers liscense, voters registration card, utitlity bill or the like. to get the discount.

[DebbieB]

you aren't the first person to bring it up, someone posts it about once a month. We all wish it was true...!:D

[Olaf]

All we have needed in the past to prove FL residency is one of the following: Florida driver's license,
Florida state-issued ID card (must have Florida address),
Current utility statement with your name and Florida address along with a corresponding picture ID,
Florida voter's registration card with corresponding picture ID, A college ID for a Florida college, Florida-based military ID.

We're military currently stationed in TX, but both of sets of our parents live in FL and we established residency with one of their addresses.

[BillM]

Olaf's info is correct. You only need one of these, not all. We have held Fl Resident Seasonal passes for 3 years. We show utility bills with our name and address. Al;so take alonmg our property tax bill.
On our last renewal in January, we went to the CM booth at Int. Entrance to Epcot and renewed the passes with only the above.
We are 4 month residents of Fl. and permanent residents of KY.

[normr]

You are a Florida resident if you:

Have lived continuously in Florida for six months
Have established legal residency in Florida

The easiest way to become an official Floridian is to file a declaration of domicile. The document, which states that you reside at a given address, is notarized by the county clerk of court's office. There is no time requirement before you can legally be declared a resident, although some institutions, including come colleges, set their own time limits before affording you residents' benefits.

[Dean]

Actually what the state requires for residency is somewhat irrelevent, Disney can decide to accept whatever or whoever they want for discounts. Just because they call it a resident pass does not mean that must accept the same qualifications as the state requires for the discounts as residency, they can accept more or less. So don't get caugh up in the formal residency arguement.

[gmboy95]

I totally agree...all of this talk about what constsitutes a FL. resident seems to be a bit silly....Disney is the one selling the tickets...they can set there own standard....and further, as a very satisfied member of DVC, I can say that a small pet peeve of mine is why after spending 20 something thousand dollars on a time share that does not appreciate over time...it would seem nice to have some type of significant discount that others would not get....yes i understand there is significant savings on the accomodations, but i am not foolish enough to think disney is not making a tidy profit off of this...just a small pet peeve...looking forward to going home in August!!!!

[msdis]

Not to start something, but a woman in my dentist's office discovered I was a disney addict, she is too, and long story short she told me how she gets fla. resident's passes. She uses someone's address she knows in Fla. who does have a legal residence, then she gets a fla. license for about $20-$25. Said you can even use a po box. Not saying this is right but just goes to show. HMMM..........maybe Rich will let us all use his address. JUST KIDDING! I'm in the majority that feels DVC members SHOULD get a good discount. Come on........ we use it less that Fla. residents AND we spend big bucks all the way around. We are going in Sept. and guess what? We will NOT be buying passes of any kind. Not that I am boycotting or protesting but the price is too high and we were just there in Feb. and not that much has changed. We usually only take in a few hours a day in the parks and it just doesn't make sense, so we will skip it for a while.

[Muushka]

I agree msdis, the AP is way too expensive now. I am looking forward to going to other Florida attractions besides WDW, but will always enjoy staying at DVC!

[KNWVIKING]

... if we all found a way to get FL res passes without actually being FL residents:
First: Would you ?
Second: Would you feel the same way about FL residents that use WDW pools without staying on property ?

[adamak]

I think I would (but don't know if I dare to). First, it's not like I'm not paying at all. I'm just paying a little less. So that's a big difference between stealing towels vs this. This will not hurt other DVC members' previledges.

Secondly, if I get a bigger discount, I probably will go down there more often.... so Disney is getting more money from me.

On the other hand, I think I would only "fake" my residence if my parents are living down there.... and that I would stay down in FL very often. I think getting a PO Box or that sort is crossing the line.

I really hope DVC will consider giving us a slight discount (like $5 or something)..... just to show some appreciation.

[Werner Weiss]

We all know that Disney is a business. And we know that Disney could extend the Florida Resident discount to DVC members if Disney wanted to -- it would be as simple as changing the name of the discount to the "Florida Resident and DVC Member Discount."

So the question is, would it be good business or bad business for Disney to do so? In other words, would Disney generate enough new revenue (and profit) to more than offset lost revenue from the discounts given to those DVC members who otherwise would have purchased higher priced passes?

I believe it would be good business for Disney.

Keep is mind that in addition to the increased number of passes that would be sold, there's also the extra restaurant and merchandise revenue that's achieved when members go to Disney parks instead of going to off-site locations or just hanging around the DVC condo.

Finally, it would be a powerful sales tool for the DVC Guides to be able to tell prospective buyers, "You'll also save on park passes because you'll get the same benefits that Florida residents get. No other out-of-state residents get these great discounts."

[KNWVIKING]

...also disagree. Starting with the DVC sale pitch: Didn't they offer free park passes way back when DVC first opened to jump start sales. Once sales took off,they ended that perk. Sales at on-property resorts are a red hot ticket right now,all the salesmen need to say is "Sign here".
As for the first part: WDW would have to collect enough data to show DVC members aren't going to the parks. I think that day is coming soon. My DW and I now go twice a year and soon it will be difficult to justify $1000.00 a yr for AP's to basically see the same things when central FL has some much to offer. Like you said,Disney is a business and they will react when it affects their bottom line.

[mikesmom]

Folks, I believe Disney views the DVC as A SEPARATE BUSINESS. Yeah, I know that's not real logical from the outside, but lots of big corporations work that way.

When the passes were included (way back when) it's my understanding that DVC Realty, or whatever the name is, actually purchased the passes from the park to give to new members. It was an incentive, a sales tool. They could write it off as advertising. They don't need a sales tool now, they can barely get the things built fast enough before the last one sells out.

I don't think DVC management much cares how the parks are doing and I don't think park management pays much attention to how DVC is doing. That's probably also why we don't see much DVC merchandise out there. DVC is a realty management company that doesn't do logo merchandise. The part of Disney that does merchandise doesn't see a buying group (us) of 50,000 as large enough for them to make a whole separate line of merchandise. They get that many people in the parks each day.

Just my opinion.

[doubletrouble_vb]

I have to disagree with that last part...50,000 IS a big enough number to get Disney's interest. The real problem is that the 50,000 (which may be a much higher number when multiplied by guests of members) are already committed for the most part to going to Disney.

However if that horde of 50,000 chooses to do any part of their trip going over to competitors then Disney will think about it. After all if you take even one day to go somewhere else you will probably eat, drink and shop there as well...if you like whatever it was you did you'll probably become a repeat customer over that way. And...gasp...you might even buy into a competing point system.

As long as you don't stray Disney will do nothing. Perhaps what everyone should do is start commenting to CM's that you are headed over to Universal for the day....especially if they are offering discounts. Disney may pick up the hint.

[LIDisneyFan]

Somewhat tangent to the topic, but:

I can say that a small pet peeve of mine is why after spending 20 something thousand dollars on a time share that does not appreciate over time...

Gee, I could swear the both the Disney and resale prices have been going up at a good clip.

Now, I DO think Disney would be wise to extend the AP FDlorida discount to us, but if they had a mind to do that, they would have done it when they created their new 5 year pass (whatever it's called). So, as nice as it is to keep dreaming...


and by the way, yes, I do find myself going to Disney parks less frequenty (and more to Universal) than if I had AP's, so I DO spend less money at Disney. And I buy 5 day hoppers instead of AP's. So, tat's lkess $$$ for Disney again.

But, I doubt they'll ever make that understanding leap.

[Dean]

Most timeshares depreciate worse than New Cars where one paid MSRP. They're usually worth about 50% when you drive them off the lot. Just to hold the original sales price and not even consider inflation, etc is a major plus. It's only by buying all 8 of my timeshare weeks/contracts resale that I feel I can turn them over for a profit or at least without a loss. Anyone who expected to break even on a resale (even at DVC) was smoking something. Sure it's worked out that way, at least for now but who could have predicted. If you'd have told me a year ago that I could sell my OKW contracts for around $65 pp, I would have flat called you crazy.:D

[downontheBW]

We make sure we use our passes sparingly. Last time we visited, we were at BVW 4 nights but only used 1 day of a 5 day hopper. We visited MGM->EPCOT->MGM->EPCOT (had to get all the fireworks in, too) all in one day. Lucky BWV is right in the middle. ;)

If the passes were not so expensive we would use them more freely. We usually spend plenty of money on meals when in the parks, much more then we do at the hotel. Hmmm...I wonder who from DVC is monitoring this forum? Are you listening???

[NJParkhopper]

The good thing about being a DVC member is that now you have money to spend on the fun part of the vacation. So park passes are the biggest expense we have but the parks are part of the whole experience we feel (who doesn't get moved emotionally by things like Illuminations- Reflections of Earth, etc.) It would be nice to get a discount, but when I look at my family enjoying these things, the money for the passes is worth it.

There are ways to absorb some of the cost. We use a Delta SkyMiles credit card that gives us free air miles. We accumulate so many miles between my business travel and paying our monthly expenses (groceries, gasoline, satellite tv, etc. ) with the card that we fly free each year to Orlando in December and drive the other trip in May. This radically cuts down on our travel costs.

Eating some meals like breakfast or lunch in your vacation resort is another way if you are being cost conscious.

I don't know... I think it can work out if you do a little planning and saving.

[NJParkhopper]

p.s. Werner Weiss... loved your Yesterland site. Very nice!

[nickglover]

you can have my Tampa utility bill, as long as you pay it!!!!!! (kidding)

[jeanneg]

I, too, would love to see a bigger discount for DVC members. Back when the passes were included, my husband (who prefers golfing to the parks) would join us for dinner, shop a little and maybe do a lame attraction or two. Now with the prices so expensive, he rarely joins us at the parks....it seems to be too much of a waste of an admission just to go to dinner. Now we sometimes eat outside Disney in order to be together and this is all revenue that the Mouse is losing. As a shareholder as well as DVC member, I'd like to give my business to Disney, it's just not practical to spend close to $50 to attend a theme park to visit a restaurant.
Perhaps a twilight discount of some sort would be in order... either that or a more reasonable discount on the LOS pass. Hopefully the powers that be will read these posts and do something about it. They need to remember that we DVC'ers are their most loyal customers.