2010 Planner - Really???

[Goofyhouk]

Just got my 2010 planner (geez...only 8 months left in the year). Is anyone else perturbed by the size of this thing? 175 pages. As Jay Leno would say, not only are Americans getting fat, but so are our planners. I mean, when did the Unofficial Guide people start making the planners? They are pretty, but DVC must have something better to spend our maintenance money on. They must spend close to a million dollars on printing and mailing these things to all 100,000+ members. And the calendar insert is only for 2010. Heck, I have already made reservations for next March.

Do you remember the old planners. My 2004/2005 planner was 48 pages. It covered 2 years in the book - no need for an extra insert for the next year. And the calendar insert covered 2 years.

I wish DVC would go back to more utility and less fluff.

I now relinquish the soapbox to someone else.

 

[karrit2000]

Just got my 2010 planner (geez...only 8 months left in the year). Is anyone else perturbed by the size of this thing? 175 pages. As Jay Leno would say, not only are Americans getting fat, but so are our planners. I mean, when did the Unofficial Guide people start making the planners? They are pretty, but DVC must have something better to spend our maintenance money on. They must spend close to a million dollars on printing and mailing these things to all 100,000+ members. And the calendar insert is only for 2010. Heck, I have already made reservations for next March.

Do you remember the old planners. My 2004/2005 planner was 48 pages. It covered 2 years in the book - no need for an extra insert for the next year. And the calendar insert covered 2 years.

I wish DVC would go back to more utility and less fluff.

I now relinquish the soapbox to someone else.

Okay I'll take over the soap box from you.

Personally I preferred the Binder Planner we had back when I first joined. Each year we would receive replacement pages to put into the binder with all the updated information. There were special dividers & if there was a new section added they would send the approprite dividers to add to the binder. If there was something new during the course of the year they would mail us pages to cover the new information, resort, alternate vacation option or whatever. This bound annual thing that we get well into the current year is virtually useless and they won't publish anything until after the annual meeting each December. I know we can get the point charts online & print them out whenever we want them but it would be nice if they would alert us via e-mail whenever they put the new ones up on the website. I think the current planners of the past few years are a waste of our dues money. They used to include maps of all the DVC properties similar ro what you get when you check in. It gave you a good idea of the layout of the resort before you ever got there. This current planner is just a slick, glorified advertising tool that isn't very useful.

Stepping off the soap box now, who's next?

 

[dianeschlicht]

Okay I'll take over the soap box from you.

Personally I preferred the Binder Planner we had back when I first joined. Each year we would receive replacement pages to put into the binder with all the updated information. There were special dividers & if there was a new section added they would send the approprite dividers to add to the binder. If there was something new during the course of the year they would mail us pages to cover the new information, resort, alternate vacation option or whatever. This bound annual thing that we get well into the current year is virtually useless and they won't publish anything until after the annual meeting each December. I know we can get the point charts online & print them out whenever we want them but it would be nice if they would alert us via e-mail whenever they put the new ones up on the website. I think the current planners of the past few years are a waste of our dues money. They used to include maps of all the DVC properties similar ro what you get when you check in. It gave you a good idea of the layout of the resort before you ever got there. This current planner is just a slick, glorified advertising tool that isn't very useful.

Stepping off the soap box now, who's next?

Yep, I've been saying this same thing for years. It was not only cheaper and easier,but much more environmentally friendly to have the point chart sheets sent each year. Of course, now with so many "rule" changes that happen, I would think the real issue would be sending those out too! Unfortunately, most of that is NOT in the books they send.

 

[Dizny Dad]

Love being DVC - but the outward appearance of some of the management decisions is disappointing. I have said on other threads, and join in on this one too, "Does it make any sense to receive a planner after your 11 month window has come and gone?

Good planning.

 

[ssawka]

Disney is so behind the times when it comes to IT! I would personally prefer to have an online only version of the planner. When I receive my printed copy, I may take a quick look at it but really I use the member site to do any planning. Seriously, this is 2010 and Disney just got Dining Reservations online, and we are still waiting to be able to make DVC reservations online? With all the money that Disney brings in, they can't afford to build some decent Internet applications?

 

[WelovMickey!]

Okay I'll take over the soap box from you.

Personally I preferred the Binder Planner we had back when I first joined. Each year we would receive replacement pages to put into the binder with all the updated information. There were special dividers & if there was a new section added they would send the approprite dividers to add to the binder. If there was something new during the course of the year they would mail us pages to cover the new information, resort, alternate vacation option or whatever. This bound annual thing that we get well into the current year is virtually useless and they won't publish anything until after the annual meeting each December. I know we can get the point charts online & print them out whenever we want them but it would be nice if they would alert us via e-mail whenever they put the new ones up on the website. I think the current planners of the past few years are a waste of our dues money. They used to include maps of all the DVC properties similar ro what you get when you check in. It gave you a good idea of the layout of the resort before you ever got there. This current planner is just a slick, glorified advertising tool that isn't very useful.

Stepping off the soap box now, who's next?

Wow that's what I want. If Disney is looking....BRING THE BINDER BACK!

 

[chalee94]

They are pretty, but DVC must have something better to spend our maintenance money on. They must spend close to a million dollars on printing and mailing these things to all 100,000+ members.

i agree with the rest of your comments, but i've read several times that our maintenance fees/annual dues are not used to pay for the planners...

 

[bumbershoot]

Disney is so behind the times when it comes to IT! I would personally prefer to have an online only version of the planner. When I receive my printed copy, I may take a quick look at it but really I use the member site to do any planning.

And see, I'm the opposite. While I would like it if I could make reservations online, to me I NEED the charts to hold in my hand, make notes on/around, etc. I dislike the online PDFs of the charts.

i agree with the rest of your comments, but i've read several times that our maintenance fees/annual dues are not used to pay for the planners...

I've read the same thing.

The '09 is 151 pages, '08/'09 is 136...I assume the extra pages are to better describe rules and such, and to include Bay Lake and the Grand.

And the calendar insert is only for 2010. Heck, I have already made reservations for next March.

I got a 2011 insert...


Not saying I wouldn't mind the binders, they sound really nice! But I also don't mind the pretty pictures (though as DS said while looking through it...where are all the little boys? lots of girls having fun at WDW, but not enough boys...).

 

[TagsMissy]

I wish I could complain about the new planner, it's size, the info in it is.... but I'd need to actually receive it first...

 

[lsutiggeratwk]

I'm with the last poster - I still do not have my 2010 planner. I will soon be making my reservations for 2011! i've given up thinking that I will ever get it back from the mailman - I'm sure he is reading it cover to cover

 

[twinklebug]

There are two reasons I can think of explaining why DVC continues to keep producing the resource wasteful book:

1) Job security. I'm positive there are a few people on this annual project and if it were to go away a good chunk of their work will go with it.

2) Sales. They're hoping we share the book with non-members and there's always a chance that new pictures and descriptions might entice us to add-on. (I realize most of us put it on a shelf and it stays there untouched)

The approach should be to update the member website in a timely manner and to offer free instant fast passes in lieu of the book What do fast passes have to do with the planner? Nothing, I just like the thought of it.

I like the binder idea, I wish they'd go back to that. They should produce a nice one and send it out once and then send updates asap. It really ticks me off that I print the new point charts as soon as I see them online and then 5 months later they send them out.

 

[toniosmom]

I'm with all of you. I probably open my planner book once for a glance. I do everything I need online. I understand that there is a segment of the membership that is not computer-saavy, so they may need the information in a hard copy. However, can't we make it a less-expensive, more-environmentally friendly thing to produce? I'm sure most would say they don't need this pretty book, which is A YEAR TOO LATE. We should be getting 2011 planner books now, not 2010!

With regard to needing to have the points charts in my hands, I completely agree, so I print them out and keep them in my "vacation" folder. As far as the rest is concerned, it's pretty to look at ONCE and then I put it on the shelf to collect dust. They don't need to see US on DVC.

OK, so they don't use our membership dues to fund it. I still think it's a HUGE waste of money -- money that can be used to improve the resorts.

 

[LilGMom]

We got our planner yesterday and I had to actually rip a few pages to get them unstuck from each other. Other than that I just wish that we could get a planner either closer (like four months) to the beginning of the year or get the next calendar year's planner mid-year. So that we'd be getting the 2011 planner right now as opposed to the 2010 planner mid-year.

I like the idea of the binder, maybe they had too many people calling and saying that they'd lost their binders and that is why they stopped using them.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I like the planner. A binder would also be fine as long as it's not bland black & white boring print. If it has some color and pictures it would be fine.

Bottom line is I want a hard copy. I hate running to the computer for all my info needs. Seems like my nose is always buried in a computer for something.

MG

 

[dianeschlicht]

I like the planner. A binder would also be fine as long as it's not bland black & white boring print. If it has some color and pictures it would be fine.

Bottom line is I want a hard copy. I hate running to the computer for all my info needs. Seems like my nose is always buried in a computer for something.

MG

The binders definitely were NOT black and white boring print! They were point charts much like what we have in the planners now, but they came as individual pages that we replaced the old ones with when we recieved them. They usually sent two years charts at a time...one on each side, and there was a seperate one for each resort. If there were any changes to the POS or rules and regs or even changes in the trade options, those also were included with nice color pages. They all fit nicely in the sturdy cloth covered ring binder we recieved with our purchase. It has a ncie printed DVC logo on the front, and I still keep mine, even though they haven't updated it for years. For several years I just kept adding the new charts to the binder anyway, but when all the rules started changing so often, I quit doing that.

PLEASE BRING BACK THE BINDERS AND FILLER PAGES!!!

 

[karrit2000]

The binders definitely were NOT black and white boring print! They were point charts much like what we have in the planners now, but they came as individual pages that we replaced the old ones with when we recieved them. They usually sent two years charts at a time...one on each side, and there was a seperate one for each resort. If there were any changes to the POS or rules and regs or even changes in the trade options, those also were included with nice color pages. They all fit nicely in the sturdy cloth covered ring binder we recieved with our purchase. It has a ncie printed DVC logo on the front, and I still keep mine, even though they haven't updated it for years. For several years I just kept adding the new charts to the binder anyway, but when all the rules started changing so often, I quit doing that.

PLEASE BRING BACK THE BINDERS AND FILLER PAGES!!!

I have to agree that it was definitely more than a simple Black & White Binder. The pages for each resort were all color coded for that resort. Each resort had it's own color. When they first started with the online PDF's they carried through with the different colors. I was disappointed when they started making everything the same color combinations. I've still got mine somewhere too. And all the pretty pictures and room layout diagrams were all there in full color too. As soon as the point charts were established for the next use year we would be mailed our new pages. While it wasn't a slick coffee table book/magazine like we get now all the necessary info was there and updated as needed in a timely fashion.

As for the person who commented on Disney's IT, from what I remember they shut it down & contracted out their IT department years ago. Working in the IT field myself I have first hand experience of what you don't get when you contract out the bulk of your IT work. A company as big as Disney should definitely have kept that in-house.

And I still think it should be required that they notify us immediately when the new points charts are posted on the website. I don't check it every day or even every week. And a lot of times I have trouble even getting into the website never mind trying to download the PDF's.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

I really like the new planner.

I like to have something to hold in my hand...and it does give me something to hold in my hand for my $10k.

My only complaint is that I didn't have it 6 months ago!!!

 

[DisneyCruisin']

We just got our planner today. I like the idea of the binder with yearly updates. Maybe if we went that way they could get the updates to us before the 1st of the year each year. Not having the planner until May is ridiculous!

 

[stopher1]

We finally received ours a few days ago. It is pretty yes, bulky yes, wasteful yes. But I like having a hard copy myself, and don't always just want to see everything on a monitor. I do like the binder concept though, and having read the various comments about that type - wish that DVC would revert back to that method. Easily updated, hopefully not as wasteful, etc, etc. My biggest beef with the whole concept is yeah, we should have received a two year copy for 2011/12 this week...or much earlier this year - NOT 2010, more than 1/3 of the way into the year. The communication with the membership just stinks IMO, and should really be well in advance of changes, not the day before or day of - and "planners" should be in hand well in advance of their target dates so that they can actually be used for planning purposes - not just another basic sales brochure.

 

[dbs1228]

still have yet to recieve my planner, just joined in 2010 AND added on twice still no planner! I received (2) 2009 planners in 2010 since I joined, a joke!