Question re member discounts at resorts

[Travel60]

Does anyone know why the fact that we are DVC members isn't imbedded in our key card or bracelet? It is really a pain to have to carry around that extra card. I almost lost a discount on a relatively expensive item today when I didn't have my card handy (back in room). Fortunately, I remembered that I had taken a picture of it with my camera, showed it to the store clerk and got the discount. Seems like a little magic programming could solve that.....

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Ha, you're assuming Disney IT has any magic whatsoever.

 

[supersnoop]

Because you could let anyone use your band. It's not a photo ID.

 

[n2mm]

No matter, you still have to carry your photo ID, so one more card is not a big deal . The same goes for the AP discount. You have to produce the actual AP card to get that discount along with a photo ID.

 

[disneynutz]

Disney wants to tell prospective direct buyers that we get discounts, they don't want us to actually use the discounts.

Bill

 

[bumbershoot]

It is really a pain to have to carry around that extra card.

NOt to me.


ID: I still do get carded sometimes, and even if it's a pity card I still HAVE TO HAVE IT or I'm not getting my Le Fin du Monde, so I bring it
Insurance card: you never know when your day will end with a slip and fall and a broken ulna and radius (thanks, DS, for letting me know just how EASY it is to do that), and even though it's the law that you'll be treated without insurance, they are a total PITA about it until you show them that card
CC: we rarely charge to the room, but even when we do, you never know when the system will go down
a bit of cash: for when you don't want to charge that $2 for refilled popcorn to your CC
any applicable discount card: for discounts


I still wear a lanyard; my Ravenclaw lanyard with a Witz brand clear hard plastic waterproof awesome case that carries all of the above. Not difficult at all.

 

[erionm]

The Point of Sale (POS) system does not connect with MDE, so it has no way to know if you are eligible for a discount. No one here actually knows if the POS Disney uses could even be programmed to check for discount eligibility.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The Point of Sale (POS) system does not connect with MDE, so it has no way to know if you are eligible for a discount. No one here actually knows if the POS Disney uses could even be programmed to check for discount eligibility.

Or what else would break when they tried it.

 

[DenLo]

I have heard the Point of Sale computer system is a real nightmare to use let alone when any programming changes are made to it.

 

[ColonialMouse]

Of course they could fix it if they wanted to. But why would Disney want to?

Bruce

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

I would imagine that Disney IT has a backlog of projects that they would like to do Then they rank these according to how much revenue they would generate. The ones that generate the most revenue get funded. Unfortunately, baking the DVC discounts into the Magic Band would generate negative revenue, because 100% of those eligible would take the discount as opposed to just those who think to bring and use their membership card. It would increase customer satisfaction at the expense of revenue. If there are projects that increase customer satisfaction and also increase revenue, that would get funded at the expense of projects like this.

However, it is possible that it could be a revenue enhancer. Disney trinkets that are sold in the parks tend to be impulse items. If you have a process that stifles the impulse because you don't have your card with you, it eats into sales. By the time you think to get your card, you may not return to that shop or even that park.

There are many ways to implement this from very low capital investment to high capital investment. An option with high capital investment would require that there be additional revenue generating opportunities beyond quashing discounts. For example, you probably could not justify installing fingerprint scanners if all they enabled was this.

Here is a partial list.
1) Rely on the PIN, which you already need to make a charge with your Magic Band. This is deemed sufficient ID to enable thousand dollar purchases, so it should be sufficient.
2) Apple Pay. This is already working everywhere they accept magic bands, and Apple Pay is secured by bio-metrics. You could tie the MDE app to Apple Pay and have foolproof ID. And the customer pays for the capital investment because they have to have a phone or watch. Presumably Androids could work as well, but I am not as familiar with Android Pay.
3) Embedding a photo ID into the Magic Band itself.
4) Fingerprint scanning. This is done at park entrances, and could be done elsewhere, but seems overkill for the risk they are protecting against.
5) Scanning your shoes. Disney recently patented this.

 

[Sammie]

As stated there is no way to be sure who the magic band belongs to and you have to have photo ID.

 

[erionm]

Of course they could fix it if they wanted to. But why would Disney want to?

Bruce

Do you have first hand knowledge that the POS can be upgraded to access benefits or just speculation?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Do you have first hand knowledge that the POS can be upgraded to access benefits or just speculation?

Oh, some POS could be made to access everything. It might not be the existing POS.

Obviously, if it involved a POS migration, that wildly increases cost/labor/mayhem to do it, and "DVC and AP discount access" would never serve as sufficient business case for that. That's the kind of implementation that happens because "current POS is going to implode" or "cannot get hardware that supports this obsolete software any more."

 

[sgtdisney]

You can log into the DVCMember Website and get the card there. Take a screen shot and you can use it like a regular membership card, just pull up the photo on your phone. The virtual card usually has a 90 day expiration, so you can't keep the picture forever. We left our card home on our last trip and stopped by the DVC desk. The castmember showed us how to do it and it worked. At least that is our experience this past June.

 

[CarolMN]

You can log into the DVCMember Website and get the card there. Take a screen shot and you can use it like a regular membership card, just pull up the photo on your phone. The virtual card usually has a 90 day expiration, so you can't keep the picture forever. We left our card home on our last trip and stopped by the DVC desk. The castmember showed us how to do it and it worked. At least that is our experience this past June.

That only works if you have a DVC Member account. My DH doesn't - I do all the website / booking, etc. and he doesn't want or need a DVC account. (He isn't a very good computer user, either, so that's a good thing). He's called, I've called. I emailed and STILL no card for him in spite of our multiple, repeated attempts. No idea why they only sent out my card with the 25th anniversary mailing - he;s even listed as the "Purchaser" (I'm just an "additional purchaser"). Beyond frustrated about this.

 

[disneynutz]

That only works if you have a DVC Member account. My DH doesn't - I do all the website / booking, etc. and he doesn't want or need a DVC account. (He isn't a very good computer user, either, so that's a good thing). He's called, I've called. I emailed and STILL no card for him in spite of our multiple, repeated attempts. No idea why they only sent out my card with the 25th anniversary mailing - he;s even listed as the "Purchaser" (I'm just an "additional purchaser"). Beyond frustrated about this.

If he is on the deed, he has an account, just not activated yet. MS can give you the codes needed for activation, you can login for him to get the 90 day ID card and I think you can also order a permanent card from the website.

Bill

 

[CarolMN]

If he is on the deed, he has an account, just not activated yet. MS can give you the codes needed for activation, you can login for him to get the 90 day ID card and I think you can also order a permanent card from the website.

Bill

Yes, I'm sure you are correct. Hate that DVC is forcing someone to open an online account who neither wants nor needs one. IMO, it's just one more opportunity for someone's personal info to be out there when it doesn't need to be.

We'll call later today so that he can activate his account & print out a temporary card. Doubt a physical card will be here prior to our next trip.

 

[n2mm]

If he is on the deed, he has an account, just not activated yet. MS can give you the codes needed for activation, you can login for him to get the 90 day ID card and I think you can also order a permanent card from the website.

Bill

I agree, my husband and daughter don't use their online accounts, but I set them both up. At any given time, I'll log into one of those accounts when doing a search. It's nice to have a backup so when I can't get into my own account, I log into theirs just to make sure it's not me having an issue. So all three of us have our own online account and access, but we all have our own new DVC cards too. But if we need the digital ones, we have access to those also.

 

[bumbershoot]

Yes, I'm sure you are correct. Hate that DVC is forcing someone to open an online account who neither wants nor needs one. IMO, it's just one more opportunity for someone's personal info to be out there when it doesn't need to be.

We'll call later today so that he can activate his account & print out a temporary card. Doubt a physical card will be here prior to our next trip.

He doesn't have to manage the account at all; you can just do that. (not that Disney lawyers would agree to this but I'm not a Disney lawyer)